Here’s How Writing a Book Helped Boost My Company’s SEO
Most entrepreneurs have “write a book” somewhere on their to-do list.
And I don’t mean a memoir or a children’s story. I’m talking about a book that will help establish authority in your industry while boosting your company’s SEO.
The days of buying a link in a blog or on a directory site are over. Now you have to get press and link-backs in organic and legitimate ways in order to rank on Google. To get that kind of coverage, you have to be considered an expert.
And that’s what prompted me to write my book.
The Salesman Who Doesn’t Sell is my best advice about business and entrepreneurship collected in one place. And I don’t just talk about my experience with True Blue Life Insurance. I discuss working in my family’s businesses, customer interactions I had while learning my trade, and ways I’ve seen other companies succeed.
And while my book hasn’t necessarily climbed best-seller lists, it’s established me as an authoritative figure in the business world, leading to guest spots on podcasts and contributorships with leading publications. All because I could say, “Look, here’s a real book I wrote that’s on Amazon. I know what I’m talking about.”
But there’s more to this than writing the thing (and yes, that’s probably the hardest part). You have to know the best ways to leverage it once you’re done.
Here’s how:
1. Know What You’re Selling (Hint: It’s Not Your Book)
Few people write a book for the money. It’s all about marketing.
Anytime you write a book, you should have a goal. If the goal is to make money from book sales, you’re launching an uphill battle. That’s not how people make money with books these days.
Most people use their book to do other things: promote their service, pose themselves as an expert, or get into some kind of top sales funnel. In short, you’re selling you.
You have to decide what main goal you’re leveraging this book against. Then you begin to generate buzz and give yourself context. Part of this comes from the conversations in press coverage around the book. Part of it comes from the book’s introduction.
It’s considered best practice to begin your book by thanking the reader for picking it up, and then directing them to your webpage for more information. You’ve probably seen explainers in e-books or pop-up windows saying, “If you like this book, go to this website and enter your email address. I’ll send you more resources to accompany it.” People see that you not only wrote the book on a subject, but you’ve got even more content to supplement it.
2. Build Your Personal Brand Around Your Book
One of the best things to use your book for is building yourself as a brand.
Businesses may come and go, but your personal brand has much more staying power. I’ve used my book to build links to both my insurance website and my personal website, the latter of which I can use as a platform for launching my next company down the line.
Additionally, your book and personal brand can lead to contributorships — major link-backs from big publications like Inc., Entrepreneur, or Fast Company.
You can write an article for one of those places, and include a link to your personal page in the bio. You’ll be able to harness all of that web traffic for your personal growth. But you can’t even get on their radar without a book first.
When you’re emailing one of these publications to be a contributor, if you can say, “Hey, I wrote a book, and here it is on Amazon,” it opens up a lot of doors. They’ll be able to see you’re doing more than just building a company blog for your own gain. Writing a book is a way of contributing to the bigger picture of your overall industry and that’s what publications want from their contributors.
Of course, you don’t want it to be you, you, you all the time. But there’s a way to leverage your book for your personal and corporate identities simultaneously.
3. Grow Your Company’s Brand
As the founder, having a book gives your company legitimacy.
You’ve got all your expertise and ethos laid out in one place. You’ve literally written the book on your industry.
Whatever your current venture is, having a book makes the next one even easier. It’s a feather in your cap — especially if it’s a good book. Look at Tony Hsieh of Zappos. He wrote Delivering Happiness, and it exploded. Now it’s one of his greatest marketing tools for attracting talent.
With my business, I’m able to attract people that like to do business the way I want to do it, transparently and ethically. They’ve read my book, and like that we have similar beliefs. Being able to bring on talent that aligns with your ideals is huge as a founder.
And that may be one of the biggest benefits at the heart of all of this. Writing a book enforces your beliefs, but it also makes you focus on them. You have a book out on the topic, so now you have to practice what you preach.
And that way, your book becomes the ultimate goal setting sheet. For you, and for those you bring into your company.
If you want to learn more about what I do, you can visit True Blue Life Insurance. And for more information about building your business, please visit my personal site to read more from me, including my book, The Salesman Who Doesn’t Sell.
