Easy eBook Ideas

by: Dan Grossman

Everybody should love eBooks. You can give them away in order to promote your site, increase subscribers to your newsletter, or just as a free gift. You can write about something people want to know and sell them for a profit. There are a great many eBooks available out there for you to distribute or to purchase resell rights to, but that doesn't compare to having an eBook of your own.

The problem is that most site owners don't have the time or the patience to write their own eBook. Some start and think they don't have the writing skills to create something they'd want to share with others. So why not use some of the content you already have to create an eBook?

MAKE YOUR WEBSITE INTO AN EBOOK!

Especially if your site contains lots of useful information and reference material for others, this can be a great gift to give away to your visitors. Turn your entire website into an eBook and allow people to browse your site offline, or simply read through many articles without having to load them from your site. You can also place static advertising in the book on pages related to the ads.

Considering everyone can visit your site online, this isn't something you can sell, but it's a good gift to give away. This is a great way to brand your site! Every time someone opens up your eBook, they remember your site and because they have something that's going to last longer than the time they spend on your site online, it keeps your site in their minds a bit more. When they read through the eBook, you're likely to get repeat traffic as they return to your website to revisit and see what's new.

If you have especially long articles, tutorials or other content on the site, you could make individual eBooks for each and link to them from their corresponding webpages. Let your visitors finish reading when they have time, while still building your brand and reminding them of your website. If it's something they'll be referencing a lot (such as a how-to guide), they'll thank you for it.

MAKE YOUR EZINE INTO AN EBOOK!

If you've been publishing for a long time, you probably have hundreds of pages of content (whether you realize it or not) which can easily be made into an eBook. There are several uses for this eBook and several benefits to making one.

Your eBook can be used as a giveaway to subscribers in order to increase new signups. Increase the effectiveness of your signup forms with text like

"Get access to our backissues archive! Subscribers can download it as a free eBook and browse hundreds of pages of useful hints, tips, and tricks!"

This should increase your subscription rate if you're not already giving something away. If you are, your new eBook will make a great addition. You can also give it away to your existing subscribers as a gift; this should please many of them, keeping more of them as long-term subscribers.

If your eZine is top-quality with useful information in it each issue, you can sell your backissues as an eBook. Assuming your eZine is a focused topic, you may have covered enough to advertise it as a "how-to" guide. Just order the issues in terms of what they will teach the customer once they buy it. If your eZine is only available as a paid subscription, this can be a bonus you give away to your paying customers.