They say “Readers are Leaders” (“Leaders are Readers”?). We all know that anyone who’s a known leader in their field is guaranteed to be an avid reader of books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and internet articles and posts, always seeking to stay educated and up-to-date on the latest information in their area of expertise and skill.

But with all the great (and not-so-great) books and eBooks on the market, we’re all looking for ways to cut to the good stuff and keep from wasting our time with the rest. By doing video book reviews for your audience, you can drive traffic to your website and give your readers the information they’re looking for!

Here’s a great example: New England Multimedia shot the following book review video podcast for Suzanne McDonald of Newport Interactive Marketers. Suzanne sat down with fellow Newport Interactive Marketer Priscilla Pilon, blogger at Weekend in Paris, to discuss Rawn Shah’s book “Social Networking for Business.”

[Click here if you can't see the video.]

Book Review Tips that’ll bring your audience to your website and keep them coming back:

1. Choose books that will appeal to your target audience. Who do you want coming to your website and finding out that you can meet their other needs, too?
2. Include a complete transcription of your video in the description on YouTube, and in the blog post the video is embedded in. Transcription is a winner for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) juice, and appeals to people who prefer reading to watching video.
3. List the important bullets, points, and takeaways for those with little time to read or watch a video. (Suzanne did so on the blog post this video is featured in: “Newport Interactive Marketers video review Social Networking for Business book.”)
4. Use a rating system of some kind — perhaps 0 to 5 stars, or some other numbered rating system. Best? Get creative and use your brand or name to come up with your own rating point system. Tie in the name of your rating system with who you are and what you do.
5. Contact publishers and authors of little-known books and eBooks that would interest your target audience, and ask to review a copy of their latest book —  or a book they want to resurrect. You’ll get free copies for your library, and learn a lot in the process!
6. Use social media to spread the word about your book reviews. And always contact the author/publisher of the book or eBook you reviewed and provide a link to your review. If the review is good, you can rely on their social media skills and networking to drive traffic to your website. In any case, you’ll be sure to get blog comments from the author!

What are you reading these days?