15 Reasons to Go on a Blog or Virtual Tour—Book or No Book

Some people think blog tours and virtual book tours are dead. I disagree. They provide a powerful tool to promote the release of your book or your blog.

Most often, authors use blog or virtual book tours to increase the visibility of their books. Indeed, this is a fabulous tool for getting the word out about a new release. As I mentioned in my last post, I have frequently used virtual book tours as part of my book promotion plan.

However, there are many other reasons to use this marketing tool even before you have a book to promote or long after its release. Plus, if you plan to build a business around your book, you’ll find it an effective growth strategy.

Here’s my list of 15 reasons to go on a blog tour, or a virtual book tour:

1. A blog or virtual book tour will increase your visibility as well as the visibility of your book, your blog or your business. If your posts or interviews appear on 30 different sites, people will start to say, “I see you everywhere.”
2. A blog or virtual book tour will introduce you, your book, your blog, and your business to a different, hopefully larger, audience in your target market, the audience of the blogger who hosts your post.
3. A blog or virtual book tour can introduce you, your book, your blog, and your business to an audience in a new target market.
4. A blog or virtual book tour can make you, your book, your blog, and your business more discoverable. The more mentions on the internet, the more times search engines like Google catalog these, making it easier for people to find you, your book, your blog, and your business.
5. A blog or virtual book tour can help you to achieve expert status. When your posts and interviews appear on other respected bloggers’ sites, by association you gain respect. Additionally, when your expert content is found over and over again in search engines, you appear to be a thought leader. This especially can be true if you achieve #1 Google search engine results status.
6. A blog or virtual book tour can help you build your mailing list. At the end of each one of your guest blog posts or interviews you can provide an incentive for readers (or listeners) to visit your blog and sign up of your mailing list.
7. A blog or virtual book tour can attract more visitors to your blog or website. If your posts and interviews always include a bio with a link to or the URL of your website or blog, people will click on it to find out more about you.
8. A blog or virtual book tour can help you build your social networks. If you are allowed to include another link in your bio, such one to Twitter or Facebook, you can gain new followers. Often a blog post will include your Twitter handle at the beginning of the post with the announcement that it is a guest post.
9. A blog or virtual book tour can help you sell more books. If you include a cover image of your book, mention your book or hyperlink to a site where the book is for sale, people will click through to purchase.
10. A blog or virtual book tour can help you create a brand. If your messaging is always the same, you always use the same head shot, the same bio, the same tagline for yourself, people will begin to perceive you a certain way.
11. A blog or virtual book tour can help you attract more media attention. The more visible and discoverable you are on the internet, and the more you appear to be the expert on a topic, the more likely it is that the media will call on you when they need an authority. They look to Google for their sources.
12. A blog or virtual book tour can help you become a bestseller. Many authors conduct these on one day to become an Amazon bestseller for a day or an hour. However, doing one for a month or two can make you a bestseller for much longer.
13. A blog or virtual book tour can help you earn more speaking income. When an organization seeks a speaker and find you online—along with your many blog posts on well-respected sites—you can command higher pay.
14. A blog or virtual book tour can help you enroll a course or sell a product. You can do a tour a month before your course begins or just when you release a product. A link to the sales page embedded in the post may garner you some sales.
15. A blog or virtual book tour can land you a #1 Google search engine results page spot. Enough content on one topic and links to your site will help you achieve this. And it makes finding you, your book, your blog, or your business very easy for those who might the interested in what you have to offer.
16. A blog or virtual book tour can increase business. If you guest post on blogs whose readership might be interested in your services, and you provide a link back to your site, they will click through to learn more. Hopefully, they will also hire you.

I’d love to have you add your own reasons for going on a blog or virtual book tour. Add them in the comment section below.

Photo courtesy of renjith krishnan |freedigitalphotos.net