In the digital world, it's surprising to see countless webmasters and e-zine publishers fretting over the escalating costs of online advertising and promotion, oblivious to the treasure trove they're sitting on. This untapped resource could potentially alleviate their concerns for a considerable period.
As the webmaster of Carvers E-Book Marketing Center, I've observed numerous visitors who are unaware of the potential of one of the most effective and rapidly growing free advertising mediums - e-book marketing. This medium is so potent that it compelled me to abandon all my other online ventures and focus solely on e-book marketing.
Before delving deeper, it's crucial to understand e-book marketing. In essence, effective e-book marketing leverages the strategy of offering "value for free" to build trust and encourage future purchases from potential customers. This strategy is commonly employed by major corporations like Microsoft, which offers free software, and companies like Hypermart that provide free web space, hoping to upsell other products and services.
While not everyone can afford to give away high-end software products, there's still an opportunity for those on a tight budget to harness the same power and achieve similar results as the major online players. The answer lies in e-book marketing.
E-book marketing operates similarly to publishing an e-zine. It helps establish trust among potential customers and continually strengthens that trust by maintaining consistent interaction with your online business. Moreover, it serves as a rapidly growing free advertising medium that effectively draws people to your website.
Mark Joyner, the CEO of Aesop Marketing Corporation, created his first e-book titled "Search Engine Tactics," a subject directly related to the products and services his company offers. Since its release in early 1998, it has been downloaded over a million times, translating to 1 million readers! Based on independent research, it's safe to estimate that at least 95% of those readers visited his website. Can you imagine the additional revenue generated from his e-book, considering his sales pitch's conversion rate?
Terry Dean of Bizpromo has experienced similar results. In his e-zine, "Web Gold" Vol. 2, #40, October 8, 1999, he stated, "We produced our first electronic book for download back in December of last year. It was titled "101 High Profit Businesses You Can Start Online with Little Or NO Money." I announced it as a Christmas gift all of my subscribers could download. The first couple of months it was online, it received 500 to 2,000 downloads per week... I currently estimate that around 1/3 of my current business is still being generated by this one e-book being given away for free on hundreds of sites. I consider it the most valuable promotion my business has ever done!"
Even the highly intelligent and respected people at IMC have realized the effectiveness of e-book marketing and released their own e-book of articles previously published in their newsletter and on their website. So, what about the 24-carat goldmine you're probably sitting on? Let's consider two examples that will clearly demonstrate how many of you can start leveraging this medium almost instantly.
The first example is the content from the website of a person who visited Carvers E-Book Marketing Center a few days ago. Their website, "The Small Business Knowledge Center," found at http://bizmove.com, is a prime example of an online business that is truly sitting on a 24-carat goldmine.
On their homepage, you'll notice eight major sections, all distinct yet related to small business information. Here, I see eight unique e-books that, if compiled appropriately and released for free distribution, could potentially eliminate this webmaster's website promotion woes forever! Imagine if just one of those e-books brought similar results as that of Mark Joyner's. Imagine if two or three of them did!
While this is an excellent example, anyone with a set of articles, a short tutorial, back issues of their e-zine, or a collection of useful information can create an e-book. Let's consider a different example. Visit "Golfgateway" at http://www.golfgateway.com. You'll find a link on the left side titled "Tips from the Pros". Even golf-related websites could harness the power of e-book marketing.
By compiling an e-book of all past pro tips, effectively titled "The Little Golden E-Book of Super Golf Tips from the Pros," and then giving it away for free, they would have created a book that I'm 100% certain people will begin to pass on to their friends. The beauty is that these friends share the same interests and are therefore the same highly targeted prospects that are the most desired visitors to the Golfgateway website!
I'm also 100% certain that they would find or already have associated websites that would gladly offer their free e-book for download as an incentive to attract more visitors to their own websites.
It's probably quite ridiculous the amount of money that both webmasters from these examples spend on website promotion each and every month. When you consider the small cost to begin and continually harness the power of e-book marketing, it's almost crazy they themselves and others aren't exploring it.
While this article couldn't possibly provide you with all the techniques and methods required to successfully explore and experience the results of e-book marketing, I hope that I have brought this relatively new medium to your serious consideration.
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