Promotion, Schuhmotion, Where Should I place my Ad?

How Exposed Are You?
You published a book and want to make it a bestseller. You decide to take out an ad. But the plethora of sites offering ads is mind-boggling. Web ads are everywhere and the big boys have got it down to an art. They know how much to bid for ad placement and how much to price it, based on demographics and quantity of readers. But what are you going to do with your limited ad budget?

Website Analytics to the Rescue
The first thing to do, before you plunk down any ad dollars is to bring up a few possible sites and check their Rankings. Many ranking companies exist out there. But the two big ones are Google PageRank and Alexa Analytics (owned by none other than Amazon).


PageRank is a bit difficult to understand because it deals with traffic in and traffic out. Even Google.com has only a 9/10 because traffic comes in and leaves. Twitter.com has as 10/10.


Alexa ranking is easy peasy. The lower the number, the more frequently visited the page is. Google.com, not surprisingly is Alexa ranked #1 in both Worldwide (WW) and US. Twitter, by comparison is #8 WW and #10 US. What it means is that more people visit Google.com but don't tend to stick around as much as Twitter.com.


Amazon.com is PageRank 9, Alexa: 10 WW and 5 US.


Now, let's take a look at some popular Book Marketing Sites for Indie Authors. (Note: the data is only valid as of the date this blog post was drafted):

1. Pixel of Ink - PageRank 4/10 Alexa: 14,686 WW 3156 US
2. EreaderNewsToday - PageRank 4/10 Alexa: 17,952 WW 3487 US
3. Kindle Nation Daily - PageRank 4/10 Alexa: 42,476 WW 9985 US
4. World Literary Cafe - PageRank 4/10 Alexa: 76,540 WW 16,869 US
5. Kindle Fire Department - PageRank 3/10 Alexa: 85,882 WW 23,104 US
6. ePublishaBook - PageRank 2/10 Alexa: 198,825 WW 62,088 US
7. DigitalBookToday - PageRank 3/10 Alexa: 330,362 WW 108,545 US
8. Rachelle's Window (this blog) - PageRank 1/10 Alexa: 461, 200 WW 57,064 US
9. the Kindle Book Review - PageRank 2/10 Alexa: 474,262 WW 85,136 US
10. KindleMojo.com - PageRank 2/10 Alexa: 1,223,287 WW 230,601 US

Okay, enough numbers. How many hits will you expect a day on these sites? It is almost impossible to tell unless you are the site owner. Surprisingly enough, my blog (the one you're reading) outranks several of the advertising sites, especially in the US. It is getting approx 350 pageviews a day. My PageRank is lower since I do a lot of author interviews and always include all their links, which leaks "traffic" out of my site. Each link to another person's site adds to their PageRank. For more Alexa ranges, check out my Promo Sites List, now reorganized in rank categories.

The question is, how much do you have to pay to get the exposure? I can't answer this, but I can point you to tools that will help you make an informed decision. The two I use are WebQuantified and Alexa. So go ahead, download the tools and install them in your browser, and good luck with your choice of ad placement.

Rachelle Ayala is the author of Michal's Window, a provocative love story involving King David. Available at Amazon, Barnes &Noble, and Google Play

This post is reblogged from World Literary Cafe, WriterGirl's Blog Stats are updated 7/19/2012