Using Google Alert

Google Alert is one of the best tools to monitor the web for information that is free and easy to use. You no longer have to Google search for any new information e.g. reviews of your book on blogs everyday. Just put in your search word into Google alert and it will send an automatic email
whenever there is a new entry for those words are found anytime. For example I have
entered the title of my book "A Circle of Souls" as a search word. Google sends me an email daily at a set frequency listing any possible links that have newly appeared on the web. It saves me a lot of time and I can be alerted of any updates in real time.

The power Ning

Using Ning to network with other authors and readers is wonderful.
First sign up for an account then search for networks that might
interest you. Then make friends and spread your word.

Choosing a web hosting service

Building a website is very essential to promote any product today. But you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars in hosting and design. I highly recommend 1&1 to host your web. They have extremely cheap packages, very user friendly web based tools that is included in the package or that can be added on for reasonable prices. You can construct your website, buy your domain and manage mail boxes all in one place. Visit www.murdermysterythriller.com To see a simple website for my book. It is important to have a website that loads fast and is well optimized.

Using Domain names to drive traffic

Choosing a good domain name is extremely important. It should include the most important text that describes the book, eg a murder mystery could use something like www.murdermysterythriller.com
Buy your domain name early on, even years ahead because time out on the web has major influences page rank.

Using Google to increase book visibility.

I would share a few things I learnt at the google book
partnership program talk while at the BEA NY 2009. They scan the whole book into their data base. A set default value of viewership is set by the author/publisher e.g 20%. A link with the search results can show up in the Google search window linking to a particular page of the book. Then only 20% from that page is viewable. This increases the visibility of the book and the links
to buy the book are listed right next to it. Either author or
publisher can submit a book to their program. I suppose submitting an electronic file from the
publisher is faster or one can submit the actual book. I have seen
many other publishers use this feature.

Amazon author central

Amazon has come out with a new feature for authors. Now at www.amazon.com/authorcentral You can add your biography and picture that wil come up along with your book page. It takes about 1 week to go online once you put in your information. It is still in beta phase and is agood tool for authors to use and get out there.

Use Amazon to improve visibility

From the Book Expo America 2009
It is important to be able to search inside the book (SITB) as this enables a larger chance to be found and bought. Books with this feature do sell more books. To submit it You must have a SITB account. Here's the link just in case.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=14061791 or www.amazon.com/sitb