Recently, several dealers in quick succession have asked me questions about search engines, their web sites, and sales in general. Each has asked in their own words, but they all amount to roughly the same questions:

• How are book records positioned in search results, and what governs their visibility?
  
  
• What recent changes have taken place in search engines and how am I affected?
  
  
• What kind of sales results are other dealers experiencing? What are realistic sales expectations? Will customers "just show up" and buy books?
  
  
• What other strategies can I employ to boost my sales?

These are all fair questions, and the answers are not intuitively obvious. For booksellers in particular, there is an ever-increasing reliance on independent web site sales. The major listing services are filled to capacity with a glut of books, and competition is fierce. To further stir the mix, 2004 promises to be a year of rapid, even spectacular change.

The basic, fundamental answer is: You Have to Be There to Be There. This may sound purile, but it carries some profound, basic implications, namely:

• Those with web sites have a distinct business advantage over those who do not.
  
  
• Your web presence can be leveraged in many ways outside the scope of search engines.
  
  
• You must maintain and promote your web site even if it is not yet generating revenue. Your presence alone may not be sufficient for sales to happen, but it is also absolutely necessary to have a presence if you are to derive any revenue from the Internet outside the scope of listing services (i.e. Alibris, Amazon, etc).
  
  

As an independent bookseller, the Prime Directive is for your web site to become your largest source of revenue. It is therefore important that you are kept informed, and take steps to further this goal. To that end, in an attempt to provide some guidance with respect to these issues, I humbly offer the following:

I could describe some of the mechanics involved in this, but they would not be useful to you because, frankly, they are abstractions having little to do with running a business. So before attempting to address this, there is a critical point I must emphasize:

We have absolutely no control over what search engines do, or fail to do. Search engines are corporations, just like any other, beholden to no one but themselves. Their agenda is to make money. All we can do is try to work within the boundaries of the rules as we understand them.

But nevertheless, we do rely on search engines a great deal. For example: In mid 2003, without warning, all of my parent's antiques web site, as well as ALL of TIAS's records representing the inventory of some 1,000 antique dealers (over a million collectibles), disappeared completely from Google! Their official response to inquiries from TIAS was a form letter that read: "Google makes no guarantees with respect to the time that indexing will occur, or whether it will occur at all." Nice, eh?

Some six months later, the records are slowly re-appearing. And, sales are starting to increase to where they were prior to the disappearance. Understand: Nothing that anyone said or did apparently had any effect on this -- Google took its sweet time, at its own pace. The fact that a thousand antique dealers relied on them for sales was utterly irrelevant to its agenda.

Now -- having said this, Google and Yahoo (and all other search engines) do offer many ways that you can purchase "Sponsor Slots," "Categories" "Click-Through's" and other abstract kinds of marketing mechanics. They have, in fact, implemented an amazing array of ways for you to spend money.

What is important about this (and what is seldom, if ever, addressed early on) is: These are all VERY EXPENSIVE marketing techniques.

If you elect to pursue any of the methods Google and Yahoo provide for site promotion, you must be very careful about what you buy. Here is a clear example:

I recently created a complete web site for a collectibles dealer. The site was indexed and, sure enough, the pages all achieved high rankings in search results, as I expected they would.

But, the dealer was not satisfied with this and wanted more. I offered him a variety of ways to promote his site for little or no cost, but he essentially didn't want to do any work. So, he elected to purchase a Yahoo "Sponsor Slot." I strongly advised him against this, but he insisted that "everyone's doing it" so naturally he should, too. How do you respond to something like that? I said: "Suit yourself."

The result: He is now paying $1.45 PER CLICK for visitors to his web site. I'll repeat that in case you missed it: That's One Dollar and Forty Five Cents per click. Believe it.

The bottom line: He now receives an ENORMOUS bill every month, and he will continue to pay it for the next 11 months (he agreed to a one-year contract). Is he getting any more visitors? Yes. Is he getting any more sales? Not really -- a few. There may be a slight increase, but nowhere near enough to justify the huge amount of money he is now obligated to pay.

Why didn't his sales increase? Well, in my humble opinion, the obvious answer is probably the correct one: Most people don't click on Sponsor listings because they have found through unpleasant personal experience that clicking on a Sponsor match frequently takes them to a highly-commercialized web site, complete with popup's and spyware. Personally, I almost never click on a Sponsor Slot. Do you?

This is a situation in which there may be little else the dealer could do cost-effectively to improve his visibility. "Being There" is by far the most important factor.

The simple rule is: If your pages are indexed, your books will be found by those wanting to buy them. BwWeb's pages achieve high ratings in search engines because the composed pages conform precisely to the HTML specification as written -- not as Microsoft and other companies have implemented it. Above all, the abstract data ("context") directly supports the page data ("content") without violating any rules. I can show many instances where this is the case. I produced this software specifically for this purpose.

But I also created it because it DOESN'T COST ANYTHING for these pages to achieve their high rankings. It's free. Personally, I don't think it gets any better than that.

Good Guerilla Marketing is the art of maximizing results while minimizing costs. It means adopting a very, very pragmatic attitude. You take the road less travelled, wherever it may lead, because it works for you. You look for opportunities, and you follow your instincts to do what it takes to achieve your goals, even if it means doing something others are not doing. And, most importantly, you must gauge the results of your efforts so you do not waste time or money -- they are the lifeblood of every successful business.

Addressing this question alone could occupy pages. Suffice to say that there have been some changes in the way indexing bots operate and the internal rules governing site indexing, but these change are primarily targeted at removing offending web sites with multiple domain names, spam sites, abuses and the like.

The impact of recent changes is measurable. To the best of my knowledge, few of the changes of which I am aware have had a significant impact on the sites or pages we have put up for dealers, or which they have put up themselves. However, it is also fair to say that Google is really the only major search engine that has made significant changes -- some for the better, some for the worse. In particular, there is more relevancy given to "paid" sites than in the past. This is money talking, and Google is in business to make money so perhaps that should come as no surprise.

Be that as it may, it also appears to me that the same basic rules that applied a year ago are still in force: Without paying fantastic sums for "positioning," the most important factors with respect to how your pages are indexed, and where they fall in search results are: (a) precise conformity to the HTML standard, (b) mutually supportive content and context, and (c) avoidance of anti-spam violations.

Another change in Google is that the number of links to your site has greater ranking relevance than in the past. This is a good reason to establish "reciprocal links" with associates; i.e. offer to put a link to a friend's site on your site if they will do the same for your site. I have also recently found that "Pages of Links" to individual web pages within a site can have a positive effect, though it is hard to qualify how much of an effect they may have. Nevertheless, I have added a "Page Indexer" capability to the BwWeb software for this purpose.

It is also now taking longer for new listings to appear in Google. Last year, the average lead time was 3 to 6 weeks. Now, it looks like that number has gone to 6 to 12 weeks -- or more. No one knows why. Patience is called for here.

Again: We have absolutely no control over what search engines do. Re-submitting your site over and over too frequently could prevent it from showing up at all (because you may reset the indexing clock every time you do it). We just don't know, so erring on the side of caution is probably the best strategy.

This is a complex topic. Search Engine Watch is a good place to keep abreast of the latest developments (this is probably the best site). For more cutting edge stuff, as changes are happening, you can follow the discussion on Webmaster World, but there are technical complexities addressed here, so if your eyes start to glaze over, it's time to leave.

I'll answer the last question first: They might show up. Or they might not. There are absolutely no guarantees of any kind. Get used to it.

The myth of "If You Build It, They Will Come" is just that -- a myth. Specific cause and effect relationships are at work here, and there are many, many factors.

For 2003, sales results are all over the map. In some cases, our clients have had excellent results, and their web presence has been a booming success. In other cases, the results have been less spectacular -- several sales per week, perhaps. In some cases, a book a week or less. And in some cases, there have been no sales at all.

I suspect this is not really a surprise to anyone. I learned many years ago that there is no way to predict how a given dealer's books will perform when introduced to a given marketplace. It was true then, and it's true now -- gauging performance is an after-the-fact exercise, not a predictive one.

Certainly, good luck plays a role in this, but luck is just one of many factors. When you set up your web site, you've taken the first and most important step towards building an independent on-line business. But the process is not over -- it has just begun.

Building an on-line business is a sequence of events, just like any other business. The steps to be taken are very much like those that would be taken to build any other business, and some are more critical than others. And, the steps are different for every dealer -- there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for success.

Above all, one thing is clear: Sitting and waiting is not a strategy!

Some of our dealers have taken proactive, measured steps to promote their web sites, build their own customer bases, and develop the one-on-one relationships that are so important to long-term stability. In general, they are doing much better than those who do not take these steps. This should be no surprise either.

One dealer who complained of poor sales came right out and said: "I thought you were going to do all of this for me, I didn't think I was going to actually have to do anything." I can at least admire him for his honesty, but I'm afraid I can't say the same for his approach to business.

Many. So many, in fact, that a book could be written on the subject -- and many have been. All I can do here is summarize some of the most obvious ones that involve little or no cost.

Perhaps you're already doing some of all of these things. If so, congratulations! -- you're doing something right and I'd be willing to bet your sales reflect the efforts you're putting forth.

If you're not doing these things and your sales are sluggish, I think it's time to consider other strategies. These are all very simple things, but they also require a commitment of time, planning, and execution to accomplish. Other, more esoteric strategies are being used by some dealers, but whereas they may work well for them, they may not work well for you. I have chosen these because they have proven in the past to produce results.

Here are some things every dealer can do to improve their sales with a minimum of effort:

Web Site Link in E-mail

Even at this late date, I still see many dealers who do not provide a simple link to their web site in their e-mail correspondence. This is foolish, given that e-mail is the best way of letting potential customers know that your web site even exists. There have even been cases where dealers have asked me to look at their web sites -- and then not included any links to follow! I had to call them up and ask.

I assure you -- people do not "just somehow know" how to get to your web site. You have to make it conspicuous and easy to get there. Always assume the reader does NOT know how to get to your web site.

So: EVERY piece of e-mail you send, regardless of who you send it to -- your mother, your best friend, or your worst enemy -- should ALWAYS have a conspicuous "http://www.mywebsite.com" address in your message heading and/or closing. If you have a store, then your address and (optionally) your telephone number should also appear. Do not use "cool" embedded HTML links as offered by Microsoft Outlook and other programs -- assume the reader is using a text-only email program (a great many of us do). Type the complete address, literally, so it can be cut and pasted.

But however you present it, that web site link is absolutely critical! You will get more curiosity clicks from that link than any other method.

It still astounds me how many dealers tell me they don't even have a customer database, let alone a Wants database. Even some of my early BookMaster users just "didn't bother" to enter the name, address and areas of interest of past customers when they bought books. If not, that's really a shame -- because a customer database is one of the most important assets of an independent bookselling business.

If your bookselling software doesn't provide a means of keeping track of customers in database form, do it the old fashioned way: Enter the information into a spreadsheet, a label maker, a word processor -- anything! Even NotePad would be better than nothing.

Bottom Line: If you don't know who your customers are, you can't initiate any further dealings with them. This can be a recipe for failure for an independent bookselling business. Take the time to develop this to its fullest reasonable extent -- it will pay dividends for years to come.

Catalogs are dead, you say? "We don't do that any more?" It's the Internet Age and everything is pointy-clicky now?

Utter nonsense. I will not take up space here relating success stories of dealers who use BwWeb to compose custom catalogs for their customers -- many of you have already heard some of the stories and repeating them here is unnecessary. Suffice to say that custom catalogs can be a very lucrative and efficient way to sell books. Indeed, there are dealers I could name who make MORE money through custom catalogs than through their web site sales.

You do not need to go back to the old days when you had to absorb huge printing costs. You do not need to waste time doing customized page layouts and typographics, or spend vast amounts of money on mailing labels and postage. Electronic catalogs are just fine, especially when BwWeb composes them, and customers almost universally respond favorably to them.

You don't even need to e-mail the pages -- just put the pages on-line in a directory in your web site (which you can create for this purpose at any time) and direct customers to the page(s) with a simple URL in a short, pleasant e-mail message.

The key to success with catalogs is knowing who to send them to. Again, that means having a customer database. Your customer records should all have KEYWORDS in them, so you can selectively retrieve entire groups of customers with the same or similar areas of interest. These are the people for whom you will compose your catalogs, and to which you will selectively direct them.

There are as many ways to do this as can be imagined -- the sky's the limit. But, you have to know who your customers are and what they want to buy. If you don't know, you need to address that first.

One last point on catalogs: You may find that it can still be very worthwhile to compose and produce printed catalogs to mail to selected customers. People often like to receive such things, which they can read at their leisure away from the computer. But once again, you have to know who to send them to.

A newsletter may seem silly to some (What "news" do I have to offer? Who cares about me anyway?), but you'd be surprised how many customers like to be kept informed, especially if they've had past positive buying experiences to whet their appetites.

A newsletter doesn't have to be fancy or even lengthy, but it does need to include some enticements for customers to visit your web site -- after all, that's the whole point of the exercise, isn't it?

And, it doesn't even really need to contain "news" as such -- just information that might be of interest to the majority. Whereas articles about the cute tricks your cat can do may be mildly interesting for a few people to read, most customers would much prefer to hear about all the new book offerings you have, and how they can get a 20% discount if they act before a certain date. Or perhaps they'd like to hear about your recent donation to the local library, and how you're offering some nice remainders at this URL (click here), or that you've absolutely GOT to clean out this bookshelf so we're offering these at 40% off, etc etc etc. You get the idea.

Don't dismiss this out of hand. An electronic newsletter can be an amazingly productive vehicle for bringing in repeat business. And, it's FREE.

One additional point: A newsletter reminds buyers that you exist. They may have forgotten to bookmark your site, or perhaps they just haven't thought about your site for a while. Often a newsletter, a special offering, or a custom catalogue reminds them that you exist -- and gives them your website address again.

Note: Our "Works II" sites have a "Newsletter Sign-Up" option available and we strongly encourage all dealers who have Works II sites to include this option in their base page layout.

This is a tried-and-proven guerilla marketing technique. A special offering basically means that you're making it a point to draw someone's attention to a particular book or group of books for sale. You don't even need to reduce the price -- all you have to do is let them know you're offering them. There are many creative ways to do it, including Gift Certificates, volume discounts, "Become An Affiliate" offerings, etc etc. If you want to offer 2-For-1 Sales, discount prices, etc, that's up to you. The important thing is to make the customer aware of what you're offering.

One dealer has a standard message she sends out every week to her past customers called "This Week's Special Offerings." This is nothing more than a selected group of standard book descriptions taken from her web pages and strung together in a single e-mail message. No prices are reduced, no pitch is offered, no graphics, no flash animation -- nothing, just plain old book descriptions using plain text. The result is that she sells many of the books every week because of it -- books that would probably not have sold otherwise.

Note: For dealers who have Works II sites, the shopping cart has a built-in coupon system, which allows you to set up coupons for a specific period of time. It allows either a percentage discount, or a dollar amount. You just makes up a code and enter the details, then send the code out to your customers with a link back to your site.

Yes, that's right, I said classified advertisements, the old fashioned kind, such as the local PennySaver or Shopping News or whatever low-cost/high-circulation regional paper you may have in your area. The cost is usually low, especially if you schedule it for several months up front. All you have to do is run a little 5-word ad in bold letters that says: "Rare Books For Sale www.mywebsite.com." I suspect you would be surprised how much additional business you can get from this.

You can also try something like: "Sign up for our email newsletter on rare books at www.mywebsite.com." This also works well in small specialty magazines and printed newsletters that relate to your specialty. They don’t have to be local if they are very specialized and target your market directly.

This is one case where promoting your web site itself can pay off. You need to attend local events and be a participant, enabling you to hand out something with your web site's address on it. A business card is fine, but something more creative might get more attention.

One dealer told me how she attended a Humane Society fund-raising event and, after making a modest donation, was given permission to hand out little cardboard stand-up's of dogs and cats with her web site's address on the bottom of each one. She made back her donation and material outlays in sales before she even got home from the event -- the orders were waiting for her.

Another dealer gives out a baseball cap whenever someone buys more than XX dollars worth of merchandise. The hat has a book logo, the store's name, and web site address on the front. If they buy from the web site, the hat is shipped with the books. No one has ever complained and the hats have boosted sales at very little cost to the dealer.

A local dealer I've known for years sells tee-shirts with a color photo of a young, innocent-looking girl clutching a book to her bosom. The caption says: "Please Be Gentle, It's My First Edition" with the web site address on the back in big bold letters. I've seen people wearing these all over the county. This is a profit-making enterprise with the added side benefit of free advertising.

Join Bookseller Mailing Lists

It has been my experience that booksellers are, by and large, a wonderful group of dedicated professionals. More often than not, they will gladly assist a fellow bookseller if a problem surfaces or guidance is needed. Some booksellers even "join forces" and mutually support one another's sales efforts -- sometimes with great success.

Bookseller Mailing Lists are good places to seek this kind of assistance. They have many members who correspond with one another regularly, on a daily basis. They share ideas, experiences, news, and a lot of good information. Some even allow you to upload catalogs of books for sale.

This one is a little harder to recommend. Froogle is Google's merchandise-only database and is still in Beta testing at the time of this writing. It's relatively easy to create Froogle-compatible upload files using BwWeb. I've created Froogle templates and they are available to anyone who wants them. There is also a Froogle Datafeed manual in PDF format available, as well as a general overview of the Froogle composition process.

Froogle has been reported to have an impact on main search engine positioning because Google considers items in the Froogle database to be "inappropriate" for inclusion in their main database -- go figure.

Froogle is now out of its Beta stage, and it does get a lot of traffic. And, it's free. These alone are probably reasons to investigate it. I know of several dealers who are using BwWeb to create Froogle uploads, but I do not know as of this writing what kind of results they are experiencing.

• There is a website called SelfPromotion.com. It offers a wealth of information and some very clever tools for improving your site's exposure, particularly in multiple search engines and directories. I recommend investigating this site.
  
  
• Visit LitteraScripta.com. This is an outstanding site created by Deanna Ramsay (in her usual impeccable style) offering a wealth of bookselling information, tools, resources and links. You can also learn more about book selling and collecting software.
  
  
• Find as many directories to get listed in as possible. Try searching Google for "bookseller directory", "bookstore directory", "book directory", etc. If you belong to an organization (such as the ABAA or other), make sure that their site contains a link to your site, and yours to theirs. Do this over and over and over -- it will increase your ranking (and your exposure). There are geometric forces at work here, so don't underestimate the potential impacts.
  
  
• If you list on ABE, use your free homepage to link to your own site. Be sure you do NOT direct your customers to perform searches on ABE or any other "helpful" listing service. Doing so is tantamount to telling your customers to go buy from someone else. Direct your customers to your own site, nowhere else.
  
  
• Join Global Book Town to increase your exposure.
  
  
• If you have an older site that you are no longer using (such as an ABE homepage, or perhaps a free GeoCities site or something like that), do a search on Google to find sites that have linked to your old URL. Send e-mail to each site and ask the owner to update the link to your new site.

I do not have all the answers, not by a long shot. But, I am reasonably certain of the facts that I do possess, and I have made my recommendations accordingly. You must ultimately be the judge of what is best for you and your own business.

The new BookWriter Professional software contains a number of features to help booksellers efficiently pursue alternative methods of sales promotion and development. I am focusing on this because I believe it will become an increasingly-important aspect of being a successful independent bookseller as time goes on. I will advise everyone when the software is ready to go.

I hope this write-up proves to be of some use to you.
Sincerely,

Thomas A. Sawyer
TAS Software Innovations
bookwritersoftware.com