Planning to offer free e-books to your email subscriber list? Here are five ways to be sure that e-book gets saved to their desktop as opposed to getting tossed into the Recycle Bin. 1. Keep it simple. Your free e-book should be a sample of what's to come... marketing secrets revealed by a pro who knows what it takes to sell on the web! Keep it informative and entertaining, but don't give away the whole story or there will be nothing left for the piece de resistance. What's the climax? Why, that upcoming smoking promo that will be your seasonal cash cow, of course! 2. Keep it specific. I can't stress enough how much more credible you will appear if you reveal the details as opposed to "keeping it distressingly vague" like so many would-be marketers often do. Emotionally-charged copy is super, but don't forget to answer every single Who What When Where How Why in EVERY chapter that you write! 3. Keep it clean. ALWAYS choose a font that's easy to read, no matter what line of business you're in. This will be a book with lots of text. Book fonts are very different from headline fonts, and to confuse the two means an unprofessional look that means your e-book won't make it past the SAVE AS prompt. Text should be 10-12 point, and no larger. Also avoid "busy color schemes, like bright blue text against a red table, as they do tend to vibrate. 4. Keep it organized. I know it's dull, but you MUST give your e-book numbered pages, a set of chapters and a Table of Contents where your reader can easily look up what he'd like to learn. Think of how much happier you feel when you can skip right to the section that you want to read most at that particular time. Your reader feels the same exact way as you do! So impress him with a little organization. 5. Keep it brief. Again, this is supposed to be F*REE information. Please do not stress yourself out with hours of blood, sweat and tears in an effort to create what should be a simple but informative e-guide. Make it easy on yourself; outline your topic into three or four sections, sub-categorize again, divide into main points and then fill in the details. All told, you should have no more than 15 pages (and no less than 8 if you want to be considered an expert.) That's it, simple as pie and your e-book is packaged and ready to ship via email express. Congratulations! You're on your way to graduating to Pro Marketer status. Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved. Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips from the Web's Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006. |
