If you are not aware, our SeededBuzz community includes writers who have published eBooks. In fact, this article was inspired after reading a Seed planted by Joseph Rinaldo over at Read Rinaldo . He published the eBook “A Spy At Home” which you can download from Amazon.com for $1.99.
Why should you write an eBook?
When you hear the term eBook, you might automatically think of electronic versions of published full-length novels that you can download to your Kindle or iPad. However, eBooks can also be the equivalent to pamphlets that are informational and cover specific items. It is the latter that this article focuses on.
EBooks are a natural extension of your website. You’ve already established a following because people enjoy what you have to say and respect your opinion, so why not put that into a format that can reach others? Let’s spend a moment to see what an eBook can do for you.
Identify you as a credible authority on a given topic: You have spent months, if not years, building your website focused around your niche topic. In that time, you may have written 20 very popular posts that are constantly drawing visitors. This popularity shows that your readers value your opinion.
By taking those same points and compiling them into a single eBook, you can begin to establish yourself as an authority in your niche. For starters, you become a published author – something that many do not attempt to become. Secondly, your eBook becomes a reference material for those who would rather trust an eBook than simply a blog article. And lastly, with an eBook that mirrors your most popular articles, you create credibility to your leadership within your niche, which can lead to increased readership and branding.
Expanding on your topic: In many cases, online visitors tend to have an attention span to read about 500 – 700 words before moving on to the next article of interest. Consciously or not, bloggers tend to write within these boundaries (the average of the five most recent Seeds is 492 words.), making it a challenge to fully cover a topic in detail before losing your reader. With an eBook, however, the reader is already someone who will put in the added time to read a larger section of text.
With an eBook, you can not only cover the content that was in your popular posts, but you can further expand into the “nuts and bolts” behind your topic. In turn, your eBook becomes a practical reference tool for the readers who are looking for the detailed information, rather than a blog post that only scratches the surface of the topic. Not only does this help your readers to better understand your niche, but – as noted above – leads to identifying yourself as an authority on the topic(s).
Reaching a broader audience: How do you achieve your goal by creating a larger audience to your site? One thing you can do is write an eBook and upload it. If you upload it to your site, encourage your readers to download the file and share it with their friends (word-of-mouth advertising can be more successful than paid advertising). Another option is to upload it to some of the free eBook hosting sites, such as Lulu.com. This is a great way to reach audiences that typically do not read blogs.
Return on your investment: Beyond simply increasing your readership, eBooks can also lead to an increase in site revenue. If you happen to monetize your website, you can realized increased revenue through CPM advertising, affiliate marketing, as well as creating a larger pool of reader e-mail addresses. With CPM (cost per mile) advertising, the increased in viewership results in increased page impressions, meaning that your site will receive more revenue.
If you participate in affiliate marketing, you can include your personalized links into your eBook, directing the reader to your advertisers’ websites. If the reader of the eBook has already accepted you as an authority on the topic you are writing about, then they might be willing to sign up for whatever site you are directing them to more so than simply displaying the link directly on your website.
The last point would be the reader e-mail addresses. Depending on the type of website you are running, direct marketing via e-mail addresses (as through newsletters, special announcements, etc) can be a major source of revenue. By having readers register with your site in order to obtain your eBook, you create a larger pool of addresses for you to build your customer base. And since e-mails can be forwarded, the potential for continued growth is limitless.
This is only four reasons why you should consider creating an eBook to see if it is right for you and your site. For those of you that are interested, in my next article, I will provide you tips on “how” to go about creating the eBook. If you have already created one, please share your experiences with the rest of the community.