June 2019
I was writing this newsletter on June 6, the 75th anniversary of D Day, when Americans, together with our allies from Britain, Canada and free French forces, invaded the German positions at Normandy, June 6, 1944. Last month we celebrated Memorial Day, we will soon be celebrating flag day on June 14 and next month we’ll celebrate Independence Day on July 4. My family went to Normandy a few years ago and had an amazing tour. It was exhausting – about 12 hours non-stop, and sobering, as we learned how many people died or were badly injured and how lucky the Allies were that the German high commander, Erwin Rommel, had left Normandy to celebrate his wife’s birthday, and Hitler refused to send planes. Even though we took the tour and watched the movie, The Longest Day, I still can’t imagine the horror that our soldiers encountered at Normandy, or in any war. If you haven’t been to Normandy, I highly recommend it. If you haven’t stopped to think about the value of our freedom, I highly recommend that you take some time to do so, and to think about the many men and women who put their lives on the line so we can have that freedom.
1. The SkillBites Show
Each month, we bring you an expert to help you get your book done, leverage your book, grow your business or improve your life. The shows are recorded, so if you can’t listen to one live, you can listen to the recording by clicking here.
Our next SkillBites Show will be held on Friday, June 21 at 2 pm ET. Our guest will be Dr. Kim Redman, Visionary, Founder and CEO of Creatrix Go Quantum, Keynote Speaker, Multiple #1 International Best Selling Author, and Board Designated Master Trainer in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis, Time Line Therapy® and NLP Results Coaching. Dr. Kim works with Conscious Entrepreneurs who want to create legacy and mission, wielding the Expert Model™ to break concrete ceilings and launch them nationally and internationally into crazy success. Her topic will be The Conscious Entrepreneur: How to Connect Deeply with People, Live on Purpose, and Make Money Doing It.
To listen to the live presentation, you can call in at (641) 715-3660, Access Code: 467398.
Last month we heard from Jerry Rosenthal, published author and lean six sigma master. Jerry shared a number of tips, tools, processes and practices to achieve improved outcomes both personally and professionally. If you missed this presentation, you can listen to it by clicking here, or you can read a summary of the show on the SkillBites blog at http://resources.skillbites.net/blog/.
Do you have expertise that you believe would benefit the SkillBites community of entrepreneurs and authors? If you would like to be the guest on the monthly SkillBites Show, contact me at judy@skillbites.net or 610-783-4519.
2. New Developments
We are excited to be working with Jeff Bruno and his team at Your Outsourced CFO to write their training manual for teaching their methodology to new CFO’s on their staff. We are also pleased to be working with Eric Walton again, to publish a new edition of his book, Downline Leadership and to publish his new book, The 5 Pillars: Five Actions to Build Your Network Marketing Business.
SkillBites will soon be going through a remodeling. We will be updating our website and possibly our logo as well. I would really appreciate your feedback. What do you think of the SkillBites logo? Do you feel that the current website is attractive? Can you readily find the information you are seeking? What would you change? Please email me at judy@skillbites.net with your feedback.
3. Tip of the Month: Amazon Ads – Part 4
In the prior three parts of this series, I shared why it’s a good idea to promote your book with an Amazon Ad campaign, what you need in place before you begin your campaign, and the initial steps for setting up a campaign. In this newsletter, I cover the remaining steps for creating an Amazon ad campaign.
After you have selected the bid amount, the next step is to choose the keywords. These are the words and phrases that customers use when searching for books like yours. You can select automatic or manual selection of keywords. I recommend that you choose manual, so you can identify the keywords that are most relevant for you. Manual keyword targeting also allows you to edit your keywords while your campaign is running.
There are 5 types of keywords to consider, which range from broad to specific. It’s important to choose words from each type, and then when you have a sense as to which words are triggering people to click on your ad, you can refine the list.
- Broad terms describe your book and the category. For my book, How to Build Successful Business Partnerships, for instance, “business partnership” would be a broad term. If a person’s search included the words business and partnership in any order, along with other terms, the ad for my book would display.
- Phrase terms are dependent on the word sequence. So if my keyword is “business partnership”, my ad would only appear if someone used the exact phrase “business partnership”, either by itself or with other words before or after it.
- Exact is the most restrictive type. My ad would appear only if a search included only the term “business partnership”.
- Negative phrase excludes search terms that aren’t relevant, so my ad won’t appear. For instance, the target market for my book does not include people seeking advice on marriage, so I might exclude the search “marital partnership”
- Negative exact is similar to negative phrase, except that the search must use the exact keywords I am excluding for my ad not to display.
It is recommended that you select as many keywords as you can, since you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Aim to select 200 or more keywords. Include the titles and authors of other books in your genre that are selling well. Don’t forget to include negative keywords, which will prevent your ad from showing when a shopper’s search uses the negative keywords you have identified. By eliminating irrelevant searches, you can reduce your advertising cost.
You can upload your keywords in bulk from a spreadsheet. Amazon provides a spreadsheet template or you can use an Excel spreadsheet.
After the keyword section, the next step is to create your ad. You can select “custom text ad” or “standard ad”. Custom text gives customers a glimpse of your book. Ads must be no more than 150 characters for the text. You’ll want to write text that attracts your ideal reader to click on your ad. You can look at the text of other sponsored product ads in your genre to get a sense of what you might want to say.
You’ll see a preview of your ad, and can click on the link to see where your ad will show, beneath the search results. Make sure you save your campaign. Once you click on Launch Campaign, your ad campaign is launched!
Don’t stop there, though. You’ll need to track your results, do some testing to see what works, and tweak your campaign. If this sounds too overwhelming for you, let me know. If you are approved for our Amazon Ad campaign service, we can set up a campaign for you and do the keyword research, as well as the testing, tweaking and tracking. Then you can keep it running. If interested, contact me at judy@skillbites.net.
4. Ready to Get Your Book Published?
I have recently completed the development of an online course called Publish It! This course provides guidance on the steps needed to go from manuscript to publication, as well as how to get your book on Amazon, and how to promote and leverage your book. I am seeking beta testers to review the course for me and let me know if there is anything in it that is confusing, or that I need to explain better, or that is missing that should be added. If interested in being a beta tester, email me at judy@skillbites.net, and I’ll fill you in on the details.
5. It’s About Time
Earlier this year, I ran a 4 week workshop on book writing. The reviews were so favorable that I have decided to run the workshop again. As one participant exclaimed, “Wonderful program and enjoyed the group energy! Gets the momentum going!” If you’ve wanted to write a book but are struggling with finding the time, or aren’t sure what topic you should write on, or don’t know how to proceed, this would be a perfect program for you. The workshop is virtual, so you don’t need to go anywhere. If you miss one of the sessions, you can listen to the recording. The fee for the 4 one-hour sessions is just $197. To sign up for the upcoming workshop, contact me at judy@skillbites.net. Only a limited number of spots still available.
6. Earn Commissions For Referrals
Do you know anyone who has been wanting to write a book but has been stalling? Let them know that SkillBites offers a variety of services to make book writing and publishing easy, quick and convenient. When you sign up to be a SkillBites affiliate, you can get a commission for each person who signs up to purchase SkillBites services through your unique referral link.
Thanks for supporting SkillBites. If there is anything you think we ought to be doing better or anything we should be doing that we’re not, please let us know. We value your input.
Cordially,
