Why you should write an e-book (and then give it away for FREE) - Part 1
One of the most powerful ways of attracting customers/visitors to your site is to write an ebook (electronic book). E-books are extremely popular on the Internet and as a method in Internet Marketing because of its ease in distribution as well as the fact that the entire process can be easily automated. This, of course, reduces maintenance considerably. In other words, it tends to lead your process to: set it up, market it, forget about it. Well, not literally, but you get the idea.
So why would you want to write an e-book and give it away for FREE? Here’s 9 reasons. The other 9 will be elaborated in tomorrow’s blog.
1. People will visit your web site to get the free valuable information. It goes without saying: the more people visit your site, the better chance you have of building a relationship with them. Remember, most people search on the Internet to research/learn about something. Providing free, quality and relevant information makes you look good.
2. Advertise your products or services in the e-book. You can advertise your products and/or services for free inside your ebook. Whenever your prospects read the book, your ad will always be there to gently remind them of who you are and what you do.
3. You will become known as an expert on the subject of the e-book. This goes hand-in-hand with the content quality of your book. Good quality in content is always appreciated. No matter what subject you are writing on; as soon as you put it down in writing there tends to be an aura around you of an “expert”.
4. Offer the e-book as a free bonus for purchasing one of your products or services. Today, just like the real/retail world, the Internet is full of deals and bonuses. However, people are getting used to the lame, cheesy bonuses that everyone offers. Your quality e-book will be like a breath of fresh air. Not only will you be recognized for taking this initiative, but it will complement your product or service as well.
5. Allow other people to give away the e-book to increase visitors to your web site. This is an age-old trick to “spread the word around”. This can be easily accomplished if your e-book contains content relevant to your target market. When you give permission to others to “give away” your e-book for free, you are creating what is generally called a “virus” (more like viral marketing, but more on that later). You send it to one person, who sends it to three other people, who in turn each send it to three other people. Soon, you have quite a few people reading your e-book.
6. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give their contact information before they can download your e-book. Everyone knows the true foundation of Internet Marketing is to build a quality subscriber base. If the e-book you offer contains quality information that your target market needs, you can ask for their email/contact information prior to allowing them to download the book. This way you can build your subscriber base and continue marketing to this list long after they have downloaded the book and read it.
7. The word "FREE" is the most appealing word on the internet. Let’s face it. Whenever you hear the word FREE or No Cost your eyes light up. This is because of the general tendency to make your last dollar go a long way. The Internet is closely related to a medium of free information. Giving away your e-book for free closely matches customers’ or prospects’ expectations.
8. Conduct market research asking people to fill out a survey before getting the e-book. You can also conduct a brief survey on questions/topics related to your business or industry. If the survey is short, you can often times get some pretty good, fair and accurate results for (literally) peanuts.
9. Make money selling advertising space in the e-book. If you know you have a good target market and the information you are offering for free in your e-book will be popular, you can approach other businesses and sell advertising space. This way, you can easily recoup any “costs” associated in creating the e-book.
Watch out for Part 2 tomorrow.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
So why would you want to write an e-book and give it away for FREE? Here’s 9 reasons. The other 9 will be elaborated in tomorrow’s blog.
1. People will visit your web site to get the free valuable information. It goes without saying: the more people visit your site, the better chance you have of building a relationship with them. Remember, most people search on the Internet to research/learn about something. Providing free, quality and relevant information makes you look good.
2. Advertise your products or services in the e-book. You can advertise your products and/or services for free inside your ebook. Whenever your prospects read the book, your ad will always be there to gently remind them of who you are and what you do.
3. You will become known as an expert on the subject of the e-book. This goes hand-in-hand with the content quality of your book. Good quality in content is always appreciated. No matter what subject you are writing on; as soon as you put it down in writing there tends to be an aura around you of an “expert”.
4. Offer the e-book as a free bonus for purchasing one of your products or services. Today, just like the real/retail world, the Internet is full of deals and bonuses. However, people are getting used to the lame, cheesy bonuses that everyone offers. Your quality e-book will be like a breath of fresh air. Not only will you be recognized for taking this initiative, but it will complement your product or service as well.
5. Allow other people to give away the e-book to increase visitors to your web site. This is an age-old trick to “spread the word around”. This can be easily accomplished if your e-book contains content relevant to your target market. When you give permission to others to “give away” your e-book for free, you are creating what is generally called a “virus” (more like viral marketing, but more on that later). You send it to one person, who sends it to three other people, who in turn each send it to three other people. Soon, you have quite a few people reading your e-book.
6. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give their contact information before they can download your e-book. Everyone knows the true foundation of Internet Marketing is to build a quality subscriber base. If the e-book you offer contains quality information that your target market needs, you can ask for their email/contact information prior to allowing them to download the book. This way you can build your subscriber base and continue marketing to this list long after they have downloaded the book and read it.
7. The word "FREE" is the most appealing word on the internet. Let’s face it. Whenever you hear the word FREE or No Cost your eyes light up. This is because of the general tendency to make your last dollar go a long way. The Internet is closely related to a medium of free information. Giving away your e-book for free closely matches customers’ or prospects’ expectations.
8. Conduct market research asking people to fill out a survey before getting the e-book. You can also conduct a brief survey on questions/topics related to your business or industry. If the survey is short, you can often times get some pretty good, fair and accurate results for (literally) peanuts.
9. Make money selling advertising space in the e-book. If you know you have a good target market and the information you are offering for free in your e-book will be popular, you can approach other businesses and sell advertising space. This way, you can easily recoup any “costs” associated in creating the e-book.
Watch out for Part 2 tomorrow.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
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