Update: GeoRiot is now geni.us. Find out more!
GeoRiot is now GeniusLink
I came across this quote the other day, by GeoRiot CEO, Jesse Lakes:
“We have watched BookLinker grow and do amazing things in the Amazon book space. We couldn’t be happier about acquiring their service. Both GeoRiot and BookLinker have a very similar goal, so it makes perfect sense for us to team up. We’re hoping to improve some things with BookLinker using existing GeoRiot technology as well as learn a few things from their streamlined workflow to make GeoRiot better. Stay tuned for those improvements in the coming months.”
This news is of particular interest to us authors. You may remember my earlier post on GeoRiot and how they solve the global link translation problem – or what they call the “Purchasing Gap.” This refers to the fact that you may use a single link for your books, that will automatically redirect visitors to the appropriate Amazon bookstore, depending on their location.
What’s what, now?
There are currently twelve Amazon countries selling your books (soon to be more). But are you unknowingly missing potential sales in some of these nations? Using a service like Georiot, you can make links that direct customers to the right shop. Think of it as a global Amazon link.
For example, let’s say I visit your website, see the cover and description of your book and want to buy it. I click on the link and visit Amazon.com. Now, since I bought my Kindle in the US, that’s great. But if I had bought it from the UK, I wouldn’t have been able to buy the book directly from Amazon.com. Instead, I would have had to head over to Amazon UK and buy the book there.
Normally, this means logging into amazon.co.uk, searching for your book, going to the book page (usually after a bit of searching as Amazon, for all its merits, has a pretty strict search engine) and then, finally, buying it. There are a couple of tricks you can play with, however, to help you out.
Trick #1
When you want to share an amazon address like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TT0LN30/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00TT0LN30&linkCode=as2&tag=pearseus-20&linkId=QTDSMEZ2II2I3Q2D
you can safely remove anything that comes after the ASIN, and the link will work just fine. You see, the ref=… part simply describes to Amazon where the visitor came from and gives its marketers some valuable information. What you really need to share, however, is the first part, highlighted above and isolated below:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TT0LN30/
Trick #2
If you live in the UK, Germany, India, Brazil etc, you can visit your local Amazon. But what happens if you click on a link and are taken to Amazon.com, because the blogger doesn’t use a global Amazon link? Don’t simply leave the book page, wrongly assuming it is not available to you. Don’t waste time searching your local Amazon store, either. Just substitute the .com in the address for your local shop, and you’re done! In the example above, and if you live in the UK, turn
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TT0LN30/ to
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TT0LN30/
and you’ll get the same book, only this time on your local Amazon shop!
Georiot and Booklinker
Naturally, not everyone will know the two tricks mentioned above. To help out your guests, you need a global Amazon link, one that takes them directly to their proper Amazon countries to buy your book. This will convert more browsers into paying customers, get more international sales and even get more reviews.
Until now, you could choose a service like Georiot or BookLinker. GeoRiot has now announced to the writing community that they have acquired fellow universal link translation service, BookLinker. Both services provide excellent tools to help authors better connect their readers to their content by translating clicks from international visitors to ensure they are sent to the appropriate Amazon storefronts, so it’s only natural that they should join forces.
So, how is this going to affect the way your links work, if you’re already using one of these services to boost your marketing efforts? Thankfully, the acquisition shouldn’t change how you use either tool. Both will continue to operate independently, as each is built for a specific audience. However, the BookLinker website has already received a hefty makeover, and the service will now use GeoRiot’s patented link translation algorithm to significantly improve how clicks are handled from international visitors.
What’s the difference?
If you’re unfamiliar with either of these companies, here is the basic rundown:
GeoRiot is geared towards online marketers who promote products (including books) across multiple online stores and need a powerful tool to help them with that marketing. With deeper reporting options, and advanced targeting to send consumers to different stores with the same link, GeoRiot is meant to fill more “advanced” needs. How does it know which bookstore to send visitors to? , It determines so automatically, depending on where they are and what type of devices they are using.
GeoRiot is best-suited for users like affiliate marketers, record labels, book publishers, commerce sites, and “power users” who want more control over their links and need deeper insights into their clicks.
BookLinker is a great tool for independent authors, or bloggers promoting books and authors on Amazon to international readers. The tool is perfect for users who don’t need extra features, and prefer a branded short URL that works across Amazon’s global network of storefronts and basic reporting.
So, if you’re looking for an easy way to share your books across the globe, you now have two great options, depending on your exact needs!
Hi Nicholas, Many thanks for the information that I found most interesting. As one who has not used either of these systems before, it will be interesting to see how I get on.
I’d love to hear what you think of them, if you do use them. a guest post, perhaps? 🙂
Will do.
Thanks Nicholas. I’ve known about booklinker and how to change links for a while although out of concern when they said they were going to add advertisements I found https://relinks.me/ that also offers the option of QR codes, and are very good at replying to queries. Must investigate Georiot… Thanks!
Thanks for sharing that alternative 🙂
I use book linker, but as an affiliate on .com and uk Amazon i should probably use one georiot link instead of two affiliate links and a book linker one. 🙂 when i found booklinker there wasnt georiot though. I do like the book linker makeover as well. It looks good.
Cheers
MTM
Thanks for sharing that 🙂
Good piece, Nicholas.
Thanks again, Nicholas, for a great article!
Glad you found it useful 🙂
I have been using Georiot for a few months now, and I love it for readers. I want them to be able to click and get directly to their own store.
But there are a few of us who are exceptions. I hate it when I click other people’s global links, because they take me to the .ca store, and I have a .com account. Then I have to manually switch stores.
Why don’t I switch to my own country’s store?
– limited reviews
– no ‘look inside’ feature
– I can’t send new purchases to Cloud Reader, only to my phone or other device, and I don’t want my dozens of purchases downloading automatically on my phone.
Lol – thanks for the good examples of when you might not want to use a global link, and welcome! At least, using my trick, you can easily switch from the Canadian to the US store 🙂
Great information, Nicholas! Thanks for the information!!
Glad you found it useful 🙂
I never knew the 2 tricks… so obvious now you mention it, lol!
I looked into Georiot once… and then forgot about it! But its a great idea, I will have to do something about it.
Same here. I keep adding to my to-do list 🙂
Excellent information – put in the right link, and any non-US customers will also be able to get your book quickly. Definitely worth the effort.
I didn’t know about the ref= part – now I won’t be able to forget it!
And the part about simply replacing .com with .co.uk – priceless.
How is it that one simple post like this can kick understanding up so quickly? These tips may be obvious – but beginners don’t know them. I’d bet many seasoned writers don’t know them, either – I’ve never seen a mention.
Thanks, Nicholas.
Aw, thank you so much for the kind words! Yes, it’s one of those esoteric things no one seems to mention, but that are so obvious in hindsight 🙂
As a Canadian, I’ve been using the trick for awhile, changing .com to .ca and then just clicking the link to follow. I have to admit, though, that it always kind of annoyed me to have to do this, as if all readers lived in the United States.
Wow, Nicholas, you’ve outdone yourself with this post. Excellent advice for all! Bookmarking… and sharing widely. BTW, do you still sound like Barry White? LOL
Lol – sadly so. Even worse, Electra’s been away all day, so all this sexiness is wasted. 🙁
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
AUTHORS & READERS This will interest and BENEFIT YOU 😀