Self-publishing a book on Amazon can be overwhelming! There are so many different steps. If you're here because you recently hit the publishing button, good for you! Now the real work begins. If you're not quite ready to publish your book on Amazon, kudos for getting a head start.

Marketing your book is where the fun & the work really come in. It's a constant cycle of trial and error until you find something that works. I've been focusing a lot of my attention on the 5 things mentioned in today's blog. No, I'm not a best selling author (yet), but I have seen an increase in my rankings and sales since I started. Today, I'm going to share what I learned with all of you.

Here are 5 ways to increase traffic to your book on Amazon. I hope it helps!

1. Relevant Keyword Phrases

Amazon allows you to enter up to 7 search keywords for your book when you are publishing it. What some people don't realize is that it doesn't have to be one word per box. You can enter keyword phrases to help your book become more searchable in the Amazon Kindle Store.

How do you know what keyword phrases to use? Think about what your book is about and make a list of relevant words you would use to describe your story. Then head on over to Amazon and start typing those in. Right away you'll see additional phrases populate. These phrases are popular searches on Amazon. Take a look through them and see if any of them may work to enter in the keyword boxes.

Continue to do this for all the initial words on your list until you have a good pile of keyword phrases to choose from. You can do this on Google as well. Type in the keywords and see what pops up. Keep that list because you can change around phrases as often as you like. If the initial 7 keyword phrases aren't working, you can always change them out until you find ones that work!

1. Eye Catching A+ Content Graphic

I don't know if this is available to everyone, but I've seen it on plenty of Amazon author pages and I recently was able to do this with mine as well! I've included an example below. You can see if you have a section to add by clicking on "promote and advertise" in your KDP account. Scroll down under the Kindle Countdown Deal section and you'll see "A+ Content"

I used Canva to create mine after searching several books in my genre. 970 x 300 pxl size worked best for me. Based on my research I would say focus on these three things:

- Keep the number of words limited, but make them memorable

- Use bright colors

- Pick an image that readers will need to do a double-take on

1. Book Covers That Work For Your Genre

I learned this the hard way. I wanted to be creative. I wanted to "stand out" and be different. By being stubborn, I fell under the radar. It wasn't until I spent time looking at the top ranking books in my genre that I gave in. Readers are dedicated to the genre they love. They know what to look for. Whoever said "don't judge a book by its cover," clearly wasn't talking about publishing.

Your cover doesn't have to be cookie cutter, but it does have to fit with the genre you're writing in so that a reader knows what to expect if they choose to buy your book. With SO MANY options these days sticking to what works will help you keep a leg up and not have readers scroll past because they think your book doesn't relate to them. Here is an example of my original cover and current cover for my rockstar romance, Behind the Strings to help with a visual.

1. Keep Your Blurb Short & Intriguing

Make sure that when you're writing your blurb that you're thinking about keywords here as well. Amazon will pick up on the keywords in your blurb when trying to pull up the right information in a search. I usually want to pull my hair out when writing a blurb. It can be even harder than writing a book at times. How do I summarize 70,000 words into a tiny package? It's hard, but it can be done!

My biggest piece of advice here besides the keywords is to keep it short and to the point. You only have a few seconds to hook someone in. Use your biggest hook in the first sentence. Create intrigue in each sentence that follows. Then with your last few words get their jaw to drop. Make them say, "I HAVE to know what happens next."

Some people say to never end your blurb with a question. I say, if it's a darn good question, go for it!

1. Add Your Book to Categories Like Books Are Ranking In

When you're setting up your book, Amazon allows you to place it into two categories. But, you can add an additional 5 by sending a message to them. This will help with your book rank in other categories and help readers find you easier. To figure out what other categories you may want to put your book find books similar to yours and see if they are in any additional categories that will also work for you. I personally use Kindle Publisher Rocket for this, but you can also look on the book's information page on Amazon under the product details section.

Once you've found additional categories you'd like to be added to you'll have to head back to your KDP account. Click on help and then scroll to the bottom. There will be a button to contact them on the left hand side. Click that and several categories will pop up under "How can we help?" You'll click the first one about product details and then update Amazon categories.

And there you have it! 5 ways to help increase traffic to your book's Amazon page!

If you found this information helpful, don't forget to comment below and let me know! Any other questions or topics you want me to cover? Let me know!