Free eBooks hot or not?

[TannerD]

There used to be a day when ebooks online could bring you traffic etc is that still the case and if so how do you get it out to the masses?

 

[Dandelion]

Yes you can bring tons of traffic by giving free Ebook. Try to use some techniques. For example :you going to advice how to build a profitable niche site and time to time you place your site link in order to see how the niche site will be. Or you can put your site link in the footer area.

 

[dyanmarie25]

If you are just starting out, I would say it wouldn't hurt to offer people free ebooks, freebies, and rewards. You have to do those kinds of things for online marketing purposes. Eventually, these free stuffs would somehow attract the audience/viewers to visit your site more often.

 

[pwarbi]

I'm not sure if e-books are worth the effort these days, and while in the beginning they might have been effective, these days I think as soon as people see e-book they automatically think something is a scam, or they're going to be tricked into buying something.

That's not always the case of course, I just think that's the reputation they've got these days and so that would put me off going down that route.

 

[harpazo22]

I love free ebooks! You should market it on social media. A lot of people have Kindles these days and love to get free ebooks. Social media is a great way to get the word out. I don't think I'm going to be tricked into buying something or that something is a scam when I see free ebook. I just get excited to know what the content is!

 

[Steve Dawson]

E-books do have a bit of a reputation of being connected to scams and dodgy schemes, but they are more popular now than ever before. Theres a much greater potential audience for them than ever before and as long as your e book is good quality it will be a benefit to you. Promoting freebies such as this on social media is free and easy and the more unusual and eye-catching your book is, the more attention it will get for you.

 

[EF-Roger]

E-books do have a bit of a reputation of being connected to scams and dodgy schemes, but they are more popular now than ever before. Theres a much greater potential audience for them than ever before and as long as your e book is good quality it will be a benefit to you. Promoting freebies such as this on social media is free and easy and the more unusual and eye-catching your book is, the more attention it will get for you.

That was my first thought.

Can you go on further to explain how one can do this?

 

[MandyMarieB]

One thing that was pointed out to me yesterday, as I've been considering writing an e-book to market our practice, is that you have to make sure it's not a "how to" book, so that people can replicate your business! There is a very fine line between explaining what you do, and providing instructions.

 

[Kathryn M.]

I think the method still works if you have something worth knowing inside the ebook.

I think the days when you could tell people things like, "How to get traffic," How to make money online," "Social Media Strategies," etc. are long gone. Those topics are too general now.

New information, that no one has heard of, on niches that are not mainstream and have low competition keywords is where I think the ebook market is heading.

 

[omison]

Free isn't always quality. I use to love those e-books, downloaded tons, but found that the info was regurgitated quotes and insight from other e-books like it.

After awhile they all say the same thing...I just hated that it was delivered in the same way...so it was actually one type of e-book and the only difference was the cover? Boo.

 

[Cleveland76]

I think they've become played out. I would venture to say that most people are aware that they are simply bait to get you on a site's mailing list, after which they can anticipate a flood of daily emails nagging them to sign up for something or buy something. I absolutely dread when I get put on someone's "email drip" campaign, because it's several weeks of non stop constant automated emails pretending to be all warm and personal with me, drip feeding me silly superficial tips along with pushy sales pitch language. Not only is it a constant nuisance and distraction when I am trying to get work done, getting a bunch of email notifications like that, but it's also blowing up my phone while I am out and about at the store or driving. Worse yet, many of these make it impossible to unsubscribe from them, either with a fake unsubscribe link at the bottom which ultimately never works, or they just don't offer one at all. So I end up having to write another filter rule in Gmail to auto delete anything coming from them as a last resort, and report them as spam to Google.

I don't really see the point of taking information which would otherwise be a great series of posts on your site which can demonstrate your expertise to a much wider audience more readily, and hiding it in an impractical eBook, and forcing people to sign up to get it. Plus, Adobe Acrobat is annoying as well. Every time you launch it or do anything with it, it keeps placing itself in your task bar permanently and adding itself to your autostart, then nagging you about updates.

 

[omison]

I think they've become played out. I would venture to say that most people are aware that they are simply bait to get you on a site's mailing list, after which they can anticipate a flood of daily emails nagging them to sign up for something or buy something. I absolutely dread when I get put on someone's "email drip" campaign, because it's several weeks of non stop constant automated emails pretending to be all warm and personal with me, drip feeding me silly superficial tips along with pushy sales pitch language. Not only is it a constant nuisance and distraction when I am trying to get work done, getting a bunch of email notifications like that, but it's also blowing up my phone while I am out and about at the store or driving. Worse yet, many of these make it impossible to unsubscribe from them, either with a fake unsubscribe link at the bottom which ultimately never works, or they just don't offer one at all. So I end up having to write another filter rule in Gmail to auto delete anything coming from them as a last resort, and report them as spam to Google.

I don't really see the point of taking information which would otherwise be a great series of posts on your site which can demonstrate your expertise to a much wider audience more readily, and hiding it in an impractical eBook, and forcing people to sign up to get it. Plus, Adobe Acrobat is annoying as well. Every time you launch it or do anything with it, it keeps placing itself in your task bar permanently and adding itself to your autostart, then nagging you about updates.

Bah-zing!

You hit it on the head! Bait for suckers...about two years ago, maybe even three, they were cool...

But there are so many out now and the market is saturated with copycat scammers and frauds - it's hard to trust.

When I feel like I might see content I want I go for it, but unsubscribe later when I get it.

 

[treebark]

Here's the deal, you don't want to give away an e-book in exchange for an e-mail.
What you want to give away is a free report. Short and sweet! The fact is most people
Can't be bothered reading a 32 page e-book. A nice to the four page report will get you more signups!

The fact is outside of Internet Marketing e-books still work great! Internet marketers are just jaded!

Most people might sign up to a few lists. If you are entertaining and give helpful information
you can engage your list and have an offer in almost every e-mail.

Most people are not signed up to multiple lists. For example, a guy interested in golf looking to improve his game will certainly be interested in the latest driver that adds 10 yards to his game.

A free report titled " five tips to add 10 yards to your game" will get more signups than a 32 page e-book! After you build a relationship you can then turn around and sell him a 32 page e-book because you have already given him value and he trusts you. Maybe one of your tips added 5 yards to his game. He will then be much more likely to buy your e-book!

list building 101

 

[wahmkerrie]

Okay, I'm just going to tell my personal experience and the answer is yes and no! It really depends on the book and your efforts before and during the promotion. Recently I put two of my books on free days. The kid/parenting one tanked and no sales after. The cookbook did like 5,000 free copies and then sold like 15 the day after the free promo ended, then a couple a day since. Better than the zero it was doing before! So now I'm working on another cookbook, of course ;-) ... oh, but I did submit to a great site called freehomeschooldeals before the cookbook promo and they actually listed it so that helped. Plus I submit to about 150 Facebook groups during the promo of 5 days.

Then another niche book of mine about writing didn't do great but it's such a concentrated niche, whereas cooking is something we all have to do!

 

[pwarbi]

To be honest I've never really been a fan of e-books, and while I know some people do think they're still a viable option, its something that I'd tend to try and avoid.

The word e-book tends to be associated with scams these days, with more and more sites offering them that aren't strictly legitimate.

 

[Capital SEO]

Something that works that will require a small budget is hosting your E-book and require the visitor to provide their name and email to get access to the E-Book, Then create a Google Adwords campaign. Done correctly, you could use this to build an email list for future marketing purposes.

Good luck!

 

[pwarbi]

Using e-book sign up email addresses for other marketing purposes rarely works I would have thought, as I for one tend to bin and unsubscribe to any email I get that I haven't requested specific information from.

I might sign up for a specific offer that I find interesting, what I don't want then is multiple emails off the same company regarding things that I'm not interested in.

 

[arthnel]

I also agree that it goes right back to the content and who it's targeted to. A lot of Ebooks are just difficult to read because they are just dry and tactless with only the intention of capturing the leads. It doesn't have to be long and I like the idea of a report, as suggested earlier @treebark. I've had some very informative free Ebooks with some great offers coming in after I subscribed to lists so it's difficult for me to nullify the great effect they still have.

 

[pwarbi]

I've also noticed that with e-books and they'll often start out promising, but then it's as if they then run out of ideas so the test of the pages are boring and there just to fill the book.

 

[arthnel]

I know that experience very well @pwarbi. The first few pages have great ideas, concepts and pretty much lead you into a watered down, repetitive bout of information that just cannot help you. What makes it annoying too is that because you subscribed to a site to be able to download the Ebook, you keep getting all sorts of emails daily for offers that don't connect. That was one of major turn offs with subscriptions and Ebooks. I'm reading the book for your help. I subscribed for your help. I know you want to make more money, but don't get busy up-selling me stuff everyday without helping me. I think about plans everyday that would make it easier for me and for newbies to get Ebooks and make money online. Of course I'm going to sell it too, but it has to be different. If I can really help people to make money I know I will make lots of money too.