Something occurred to me earlier today as I was writing on Amazon (I'm a keen reader and forever buying and reading interesting books).
I like to review some of the books I've read. I always find it helpful to see what other people think about books before I buy them and like to return the favour.
But, isn't this writing content for someone else? Surely that defeats the object of being an effective marketer?Well, the answer to this is almost certainly true.
Once the review goes up on Amazon's site it is their resource and all value from it is lost. It's just helping Amazon to maintain it's monopoly at the top of the search engine rankings.
So, here's an idea. I don't know if I'll get round to implementing it, but anyone else writing on Amazon can feel to run with it.
Start a book based blog (on your own domain).
Put the reviews that would have been placed on Amazon on the blog.
Use the blog to drive traffic to Amazon through the Amazon Associates affiliate programme (sure, the profit might be tiny, but it's content that would have been used elsewhere).
Focus on books which are more obscure or less reviewed. That way, there's less competition.
As a bonus, use the blog for backlinks to your other sites.
Now, that's Marketing 101, but it's a more efficient use of content then just donating it to Amazon.
Any ideas to refine this process further, or on what else can be done with the user generated content? Just reply below and share your best ideas.
2 replies on “Make More Use of your User Generated Content”
It is so funny that you mentioned this. I just did the exact same thing (almost) last week! I placed a gig on Fiverr stating that I would review your book on Amazon and then also place the review on my blog.
I started a book review blog on blogger. It's free and since Amazon is now integrated with blogger, I can easily link to the books I am reviewing.
Win/win!
BTW: I've gotten a good response for this gig on Fiverr so far. There are a ton of people who self-publish on Amazon and desperately need reviews.
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