MARKETING YOUR WEBSITE WITH FREE DOWNLOADABLE EBOOKS
Unless you have a website that fills a unique need - which is virtually impossible - your competition probably numbers hundreds of thousand other sites selling a similar product or service. In order to compete effectively, you must use every marketing technique available to promote your website to the widest possible audience. One of the best techniques to create viral buzz is to create free downloadable ebooks.
You may wonder how spending your time writing an ebook that you then distribute for free is worth your while. No matter what you're selling, potential customers want to sample what you have to offer before they buy. Statistics show that the average buyer visits a site six to seven times before they are convinced to buy. You believe in your product or service and know that your customers will benefit by purchasing from your site. The question is, how do you convince a visitor that your offering is superior to your competitors?
One excellent way to persuade people to buy is to offer, free of charge, detailed information that provides a snapshot of the benefits they will realize upon purchase. Your customer needs to know that you know what you're talking about. Let's say you're selling gardening supplies. Visitors to your site may be looking for greenhouse kits, garden tools or hydroponic equipment. Before they're willing to part with their cash, they need to feel that you're a credible source.
You know your business better than anyone. It's easy for you to write a short booklet on the pros and cons of greenhouse gardening, or the best tools for any given garden task. You know all about the advantages of hydroponic gardening. The time required to produce a free downloadable ebook on any of these subjects is nominal when compared with the credibility you establish with customers.
Offering free downloadable ebooks can turn a ho-hum visit into a sale. You can market your book through your website, offering a branding option to other topic-related websites, whereby they can freely distribute your free downloadable ebooks with a link to their site as an incentive. Here's where the viral factor comes into play. The more copies you have in circulation, the more leads you gain. One reader forwards a copy to another, or steers a friend to your site. Get your link to this freebie in a gardening newsletter and you've got traffic!
Well-written and free downloadable ebooks, full of useful information on your potential customer's topic of interest serves a number of profitable purposes. You are seen as a credible expert. Your potential customer gets valuable information for free. It only follows that what you're selling is even more valuable.
Make your free downloadable ebooks available in safe formats. PDF files are best. Avoid .exe files, as your visitors may well regard these as dangerous. You want as many people as possible to download your ebook! Then watch your sales grow!
