The more I work with authors to help them understand the ins and outs of online book marketing, the more I realize that there are 5 basic and fundamental mistakes that 9 out of 10 authors consistently make.

Just by avoiding these five mistakes, you’ll be ahead of the game…far ahead. So, here are five things to avoid when marketing your books online:

1. Flawed Keyword Research

This is the #1 big kahuna and the place where 99% of authors quite simply stuff it up.

The vast majority of the authors I’ve worked with haven’t succeeded in using the Internet to effectively market themselves simply because they don’t approach the whole process the way an Internet marketer would approach it — in other words, there’s no real plan to dominate a set of keywords related to your book or your expertise.

Success online ultimately depends on your ability to determine which keywords are worth targeting, which aren’t, and how much traffic you can expect from what you are going to go after.

Thankfully there are tools out there that do all three. There are links down at the end of this articles where you can find them. Be sure to to take a look.

2. Too Little Content

Surprisingly, even prolific writers with dozens of books under their belt — gifted authors who can write volumes on their subject — somehow think that they can skate by online with just a few pages (or even paragraphs!) of content.

Simply not true.

Here’s the truth — every search engine, Google included, loves to see lots, and lots, and lots of content.

This is why behemoths like Wikipedia get so much traffic. There are millions of their pages in Google’s index.

How many pages would you say are in Google’s index from your site? My guess is it’s probably between two and five.

You’ll never rank well for anything other than your name with that kind of site. Bottom line: if you shortchange people online, you’ll destroy your reputation in a heartbeat.

If you want your site found, and you want potential readers to care about your book, demonstrate why they should by providing great free content upfront.

3. Ignoring Social Marketing and Web 2.0

If you haven’t noticed, the Internet is changing. In just these past few years, sites like Digg, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo.com, as well as services like Twitter, have revolutionized how we interact online.

The top-down style of the old media is quickly disappearing, if it hasn’t disappeared already. It’s being replaced by a system where actual people, not jaded editors, decide what’s worthy of our attention.

You’re missing out on some of the great opportunities for promoting yourself and your books online if you aren’t using the sites mentioned above (along with dozens of others I haven’t even mentioned yet).

(Just check out the links I’ve given you below for the resources that will make it easy to find tons of sites that can help you sell more books.)

4. Failing to Build a Loyal Following

It’s amazing how many authors don’t jump on the most useful online marketing tool there is — the ability to build a base of support and loyal fans through things like mailing lists, or “followers” on Twitter, or subscribers to an RSS feed, or any number of other methods that traditional Internet marketers use everyday.

Why is this important? Because it’s always true that people who already know your work and like it will be much easier to sell more “stuff” to.

If someone buys one of your books, they’re an ideal customer for your second, third, and fourth books.

But when you don’t have a system in place to reach those people who bought your first book, you’ll be going through the entire process of attracting and acquiring new readers over and over and over again.

Wouldn’t it be easier to write a couple emails and send them to your fans?

Or just to put up a new blog post to announce your latest book?

This is exactly the way an author can build an empire.

5. Focusing on the Sale

Huh? This is a mistake? But now that’s the point of all this, right?

Yes and no.

So here’s what I’m arguing: If you focus just on “moving product” (i.e. on selling books now) and ignore the other stuff you should be doing (see #4 above), you’re not going to be putting enough effort into building a real presence, and a loyal following, online. But it’s that very loyal following that can be counted on to buy many thousands of books time and time again.

What’s better, selling one or two books a day now, or selling thousands of books a day a year from now?

You shouldn’t be struggling.

Start to build your own information empire the same way many Internet marketers do. I’d suggest not trying to just sell a book here and a book there. Begin to concentrate on developing terrific content that will reach the people who desperately need your book.

Sales (at a level you would have never imagined before!) will no doubt follow.

If you aren’t generating a full-time income by marketing your infomation on the Internet, then you aren’t doing it right.

There’s no doubt in my mind that at least 9 out of 10 authors make vital — but ultimately avoidable — errors when attempting to market books online.

Want to find out if you’re one of them? Visit my free online book marketing blog and find out what the “Ten-Percenters” know that you don’t.

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