Here we are with the final installment to this 3-part series on how to be able to create an eBook to give away for free to help build your brand, promote your blog, market a product or service, or simply just to get the word ‘out there’ about what you’re doing online.
In part one we went over the eBook itself. The concept, the importance of quality and the way to lay your eBook out and design ideas. In part two we discussed the importance of building your list through partnering with someone like AWeber, for your list management purposes, and utilizing a great WP plugin tool called PopUp Domination, to be able to super-charge the growth of your subscriber list. We also discussed the importance of utilizing the PDF format of an eBook, by including relevant links and the ability to make a little money (never a bad thing) through using affiliate links relevant to your topic, too.
Nothing comes to those who sit on their ass waiting for the riches they dream about to just land in their laps. Building a solid, profitable email marketing list is no different. With this in mind, today I present to you my Top 10 List of additional things you can do to help promote and market your eBook to make sure that as many people as possible sign-up, by opting into your list and downloading your eBook to devour all its creative splender!
So, lets not waste any time at all, and get going!
1. Share it with Other Cool People!
You’ve worked hard on your eBook, now get it out there. Email a copy of it to other bloggers, particularly those within your niche, and ask for their feedback and if they would like to let their audience know about it. Any good blogger will be happy to point their subscribers in the direction of additional helpful content. You should be that insecure, people. Really.
2. Becoming ‘Social’ on the Subject!
Not using social media to get the word out about your free eBook is like literally going to an awesome water park in the middle of the summer and not jumping into one of the pools! Tweet and Facebook the hell out of it for a few days, and then stop being irritating and calm down, sending the odd-tweet out here and there throughout the course of the week (note to self, Chris – tweet about your free eBook… NOW!)
Tweet sent!
3. Create a Press Release for Online Distribution!
Online press releases are awesome. Why? Because they rank – FAST – in the SERPs. Create a press release, and be sure to stick in the title of your eBook, plus a couple of other related keywords (note: your eBook title does not have to be keyword heavy. Thinking branding FIRST, ranking second!) and you’ll see that it gets listed on Google very quickly. The reason behind this is that the search engines love new, relevant content, PR submission sites are great for that stuff. Better yet – have your virtual assistant do it for you – it can be a little timely, theres a lot of PR sites online!
4. Get Vocal!
If you have a podcast, or get the opportunity to be interviewed, or become a guest on other peoples podcasts, be sure to mention your free eBook. I do this regularly, and it always brings in a spike of sign-up’s. In fact, I went one step further and purchased an additional domain name, VirtualAssistanteBook.com, specifically for mentioning it in podcasts and videos – its a lot easier than saying “Download my eBook by going to my blog and finding the sign-up form to the top of the site and then entering your name and email to get it!”. Instead, its simply… “Click over to VirtualAssistanteBook.com to get my free eBook!”. Much easier.
5. Get Visual!
Shooting a quick promo video for your eBook is a great idea. You can start by showing a front cover image and then cutting to you talking about the contents and why people should download it. Putting yourself ‘out there’ on video is also a massive branding exercise, too (perhaps I should do a post on that – what you think?!)
6. Use Your Other Websites!
If you have other websites, or blogs, produce a quick post on the launch of the eBook, and link to the site you are wanting to promote/market with the free eBook, so that people can sign-up and download the eBook. You’ll be surprised how many people might check out your sites regularly, but dont actually subscribe to any of them. I find this happening more and more, as the Virtual Business Lifestyle blog gets more and more popular.
7. Create Some Additional Awesome Content!
Creating some additional awesome content, related to the content in your eBook and then posting it on other peoples blogs as a guest post, or on article submission sites, such as eZineArticles.com is another great way to drive traffic to your landing page. Just be sure to write well, and dont just do it for the link. People will see ‘link bait’ a mile away nowadays!
8. Blog Commenting (The RIGHT Way!)
Commenting on other, likeminded blogs to your own is another great way to help build traffic to your landing page. Again, just make sure the comment is a good one, with a genuine ‘let me help you’ approach – otherwise it will either a) probably get deleted by the blogger, or b) not get any clicks. I used to do this a LOT when I first started blogging, but nowadays I dont have as much time. I can tell you, however, it does work!
9. Start a Facebook Page for your eBook!
Not a lot of people think of this. They might prefer to just create a Facebook Page for their blog in general, which is okay, and something you should certainly do, but having two pages that you can cross-promote and mention whilst surfing around Facebook is better than one. Disclaimer: I have not done this with ‘Saving the Day’, but I have with other projects and although you have to do a little legwork in getting people to ‘Like’ the page, etc., it can really help to spread the word quickly. Try it, and let me know how you go with it. Again, this is something a virtual assistant is perfect for!
10. Mention your Free eBook in Your Email Signature!
Such a simply thing to do, along with a direct link to your landing page – yet, so, so many people forget to do this one very easy thing. Go for it!
11. Over to You!
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this series, and that its perhaps answered a few questions and solved a few problems for you, in case you’ve been thinking of putting together a free eBook, or perhaps have been stuck in the middle of finishing one up! Let me know of any other ideas and ingenius ways that you have seen free eBooks marketed and promoted online. I’m sure that there are tons I haven’t mentioned here… And we can all help each other with something like this. Just comment below!
In Closing… I will be getting this 3-part series put together in – you got it – a downloadable free eBook format next week. I will drop you guys an email when it is available. So, be sure to sign-up for my free eBook now (Below!), to get it via email, as soon as its available!
