3 Ways to Turn Recommended Reading Lists into Cash

One of the common pages found on business blogs is a Recommended Reading page. In theory, it’s a great idea, and many consultants and business owners are on the right path when they ask for advice on how to monetize those lists.

My advice is to think beyond Amazon affiliate links. Creating a huge list of books linked to Amazon is okay, but there are better and more effective ways to entice people to buy the books. Here are a few creative ideas that you could quickly put into place.

1. Create a Book Review Series

Not only are series posts a great way to keep yourself blogging regularly, but by creating a regular book review series, you are opening up a new potential revenue stream. If you’ve got 20 books you plan to recommend, space out those recommendations over time, creating lots of future content. Then, update your Recommended Reading page with your books as you review them (this will keep that page constantly fresh).

Dedicating an entire post to a single book (where you use the title of the book in the post title) will help with search engine ranking for that book, especially if it’s a bit obscure. Do your due diligence with bookmarking and promoting it through social media, too. You may attract a new set of readers to your blog who are especially interested in the book.

The idea is to review the book and encourage people to buy it. Talk about why you like it, how it helped/inspired/educated you, and why your readers should purchase it as well. Always include an image of the book, which you can get from Amazon or whatever affiliate program you are working with.

Simple book review on page SEO:

• Use the title of the book first, and then add : Book Review. Example, Live What You Love: Book Review.
• Make sure the images have an alt tag that is the exact title of the book.
• Don’t overdo it with using the title of the book throughout your post. For every 100 words, use the title only once – two times at the most.
• Use the title of the book in your meta description at the very beginning.

Bonus Points

• Include a brief review or two from other book readers. This is easy to do if you use Amazon as an affiliate program, as they make customer reviews available to associates to use.
• Include information about the publisher, number of pages, and where to buy the book.
• Try Chris Brogan’s style of video reviews for books. Showing that you actually own a physical copy of the book helps readers trust that you’re not just putting up a fake review for some cash.

2. Launch Book Giveaway Contests

This is a great strategy for both personal and business blogs. Everyone likes to get something free. If you are really recommending a book, you probably won’t have an issue with giving one of them away free, right?

Try launching a book giveaway and make the contest entry simple. For more popular books and best sellers, make the entry a little more interesting by asking readers to leave a comment that answers a question related to the topic at hand. If your blog readers are mainly other bloggers, and the book is popular, try asking them to write a post related to the topic.

You could also require contestants to subscribe to your newsletter, become a Facebook fan, follow you on Twitter, or even ask them to come up with creative re-tweets for the post. Feel free to get creative!

How to Monetize:

• Include a brief review of the book, along with an image and pricing information in your contest description.
• Remember to use your affiliate link everywhere else you put the book title.
• Include a sentence encouraging readers to buy the book if they can’t wait until the contest is over.

3. Add Suggested Reading to Every Post

This is especially good for consultants who freely give great advice on their blogs. Add a section at the bottom of each post (or at least the relevant ones) called Suggested Reading, and include a large image and a decent recommendation for that book. Include the price of the book and where to buy it.

Make sure that you talk about why you are suggesting the book. You may also want to include your favorite quote. Whatever you do, make it different and interesting. Try putting this section in a box with a different background color from your blog so that it stands out.

As you add new books, be sure to update your Recommended Reading list page (again, to keep that page being refreshed regularly).

Resources

Useful Plugins and Widgets

• Amazon Reloaded for Wordpress
• ReviewAzon for Wordpress
• GoodReads Javascript and Javascript-free Widgets (not monetized)

Book Affiliate Programs

• Amazon Associates
• Border’s
• Barnes and Noble

Things to Remember

• Don’t forget to include and test your affiliate links.
• Tell your readers that you make money from those purchases. You can do this with a general earnings disclosure somewhere on your blog, or you can flat out tell them in the post (using something like ‘affiliate link’ in parentheses). Just be sure you tell them. In the U.S., this is a federal regulation you must adhere to as a blogger or website owner.
• Always include images of the books. Even if you go the regular route of putting your books in a list on a page, include images.

Other Creative Ways

What other creative ways have you used to monetize recommended reading beyond the standard list on a page? If you have tried any of the above, let us know how well it worked for you.

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