5 Free Ways to Promote

Once upon a time, regardless of the product to sell, everyone viewed the Internet as an easy and free way to get rich without trying. All you had to do was announce your product on your website, blog, and social media, and the sales would come rolling in.

I don't know if that was ever true, but if it were, it's no longer true. Now, everybody and his brother, including their cats and dogs, have websites, blogs, and social media accounts. Multiple millions of voices scream from the Internet, "Look at me. Look at me."

What Can You Do?

What's a mere non-millionaire entrepreneur to do? As an author with shallow pockets, I've come up with a short list of effective things I can do to draw attention to what I offer. These are strategies that pay off in the long-term--and not just in increased sales but in increased life satisfaction.

1. Brand yourself and your product. Cost? $0.00. You brand yourself by knowing what separates you from the thousands of other authors. What kind of book do you write that others do not? What can readers expect when they buy your book? Use every website open to you to present that brand and reinforce it.

2. Be yourself and show your authentic self to readers and industry professionals. Cost? $0.00. Never try to be someone you're not. It's surprising how many authors put on airs and pretend to live a lifestyle different from reality. Of course, if you're a mean nasty person, it probably is better to temper that because you do want people to like you.

3. Be professional at all times. Cost? $0.00. If you say you're going to do something, do it. If readers email you, make every effort to answer them. If readers or other writers do things that tick you off, keep it to yourself or share with your circle of friends who would never blab about you. You don't want to be featured on an Internet segment of "Authors Behaving Badly."

4. Be kind. Always. Cost? $0.00. A lot of people think being kind and considerate means being a wimp. It doesn't. Often, it takes a really strong person to show kindness to others especially in the face of rudeness. You just never know what someone else is going through in life. Maybe they take it all out on you because you're convenient. Maybe if you give kindness, you'll get it back when you need it most. In life, karma is often a tit for tat event.

5. If you can't say something good, say nothing at all. Cost? $0.00. This is tied to all of the above. It really is better to keep your snarky remarks about others to yourself. I don't know about you, but I get tired of the constant snark and complaints I read all over the Internet. All of that is negative energy in action. If you pay too much attention to it, you run the risk of being infected by negativity. Who needs that?

Takeaway Truth

These are all simple things to do, but they're not easy. They require you to focus on the positive. Create positive energy in your life by the way you live, and that positivity will spread to all areas of your life.