Besides using search engine traffic, It is possible to generate a steady stream of website traffic by repackaging existing marketing collateral and content that might be collecting dust or virtual dust on your desk or hard drive and giving it away free.
If you’re wondering why anyone would want to give away his or her work for free, it’s called viral marketing. Some readers will download your ebooks or reports and then send them to friends, family and associates, especially if you invite them to. Client By Design has successfully used this method of traffic generation to pull thousands of visitors to our site and our client’s sites.
Just think of it as distributing your business card or catalog to targeted visitors and then getting others to give you referrals at no cost. This can lead to enormous amounts of visitor traffic, phone calls and orders.
–FINDING CONTENT
You might be sitting on a goldmine of information that your site visitors need. Whether it’s unused or just some older information in digital form (word docs, text files, notes, power points, etc or unwritten work) you probably have a lot of shareable info that you can repackage to either sell or give away.
If you took time in the past to write or compose it, it probably has greater value than you realize. So revisit your “my documents” folder or sift through some of your old files and look for original info: old newsletters, articles, research reports, product catalogs, etc that you feel would still have relevance to web site visitors today. Ebooks and reports can have a few pages, as little as one to five or as much as 200 or more pages of info depending on the message delivered.
–DISTRIBUTION FORMATS AND READYING DOCUMENTS FOR DISTRIBUTION.
Method 1: The self-executable ebook route:
Self-executable ebooks are compiled software applications that readers can use without meeting any additional requirements. A reader can simply launch (open) an ebook of this type and begin enjoying it right away without needing to download anything else.
These ebooks are popular because of their interactive capabilities, compact file size and ease of distribution. You can compile a full color ebook of magazine quality, with full color photos, compress it and end up with a file small enough to be sent by email.
Be advised, though, that it’s not a good idea to send exe files through email, unless they’re zipped since anti-virus programs and even some ISPs will block or delete them. In fact, it’s probably best to send the user a link where they can download the file themselves, until anti-virus and blockers become more sophisticated.
If you know how to make web pages, you can just use your favorite html editor to create web pages with useful interactive content. Once created, save the files on your hard- drive. Be sure to include an introduction, table of contents, graphics and links to your web site (if you have one) and contact information so your readers can contact you for more info, interviews or more ebooks.
Once your pages are complete, you will need to compile your files into standalone format with an ebook compiler. While there are quite a few compilers on the market, I have found two to be extremely useful. I use Ebook Generator or Ebook Creator to generate ebooks or reports.
One neat branding feature, both share, is the ability to create splash-screens that come up, once your files have been opened. These screens can hold a special thank you message, logo or some other notification that you want readers to see.
Ebook compilers are powerful tools that will help you get your ideas or info distributed online in a short time. Visit: http://www.clientbydesign.com/ecovers.html to learn more about these products
–Method 2: The PDF route:
If you don’t know anything about html or creating web pages, you can type your documents with a word processor or desktop publisher, add some nice graphics and then convert your documents to PDF files. PDF stands for portable document format and is a widely accepted standard for content distribution. PDFs are easy to distribute via download or email, depending on size and look great, if you create your original documents the right way.
To open and view PDFs, your readers will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on their systems. Acrobat reader is free and available for download on the web. It also comes pre-installed on most new PCs or comes distributed with just about any commercial software purchased these days. In other words, it would be rare for anyone to not-have acrobat installed on his or her system.
I use Win2PDF (www.win2pdf.com) to handle my PDF conversions. It’s real easy to use, since all I have to do is select it as my printer and print to it when I’m ready to create my file. It converts my document into a PDF and saves them to my hard drive ready for distribution. There are also more expensive and even some free software that you can use to create your own PDFs, including Adobe Acrobat (a PDF creation tool) www.adobe.com
–Tip It’s a great idea, to include your web site address or product/service links in your PDF (perhaps as a footer on every page) so readers can contact you for more information, order products or to download more ebooks/reports. Your readers will be able to click on your links from directly within your document and, if they are on the Internet they can visit your web site(s) to view more resources or to buy more products.
–WHAT TO INCLUDE
Regardless of the method you choose to publish with, you should:
1. Include copyright information (example: 2002-2003 Richard Bailey).
2. Include information regarding permission or NOT to reprint or redistribute your materials.
3. Include a table of contents for long documents.
4. Include your contact information (email, web site url, phone, etc).
5. Give credit where credit is due for any materials that you include in your ebooks, if you didn’t write the materials yourself.
6. Never break copyright laws – theft of other people’s work is downright wrong and can lead to severe legal penalties. If you are in doubt, just contact the author to get permission to quote or use their material.
–PROMOTE AND DISTRIBUTE YOUR EBOOK
Now that you’re ready to get your ebook out to the public, you will need a way to promote and distribute it.
The best method is to setup a web page that collects the user’s contact info and then, once they submit the form, you can take them to a download page or you can send an email download link via auto-responder.
Note: The auto-responder method is my method of choice since some spam (unsolicited email) weary site visitors and also a few frauds will type phony email addresses to get your free download. With auto-responders they won’t get anything unless they give a valid address. Plus, as an added bonus, you will have their contact info to follow-up with after they have downloaded your ebook. Use this info to invite them to subscribe to your newsletter or to get more products. Just be reasonable, not pushy and don’t sell or give away your visitor’s info, that’s the fastest way to a bad reputation, so always give explicit instructions on how to cancel (opt-out of) future email notices from you.
Be sure to encourage readers to forward your download link or a copy of your ebook or report to everyone they know or anyone interested in the same topic. Just tell them not to send to strangers.
Imagine selling products this way via free referral marketing. Or imagine putting just the first chapter of your ebook or document in a free download and having hundreds or thousands of people requesting to see the rest of your work or to learn more about your products or services all because of one free download. It could happen.
Be sure to promote links to download your ebook or report in your search engine, banner ad and other marketing efforts.
Certified Guerilla Marketing Coach and speaker, Richard Bailey
is an Internet Marketing consultant who develops methods and
technology to attract customers. Serving large and small
business from Real Estate Marketing to the Chemical Industry.
Contact Richard by visiting http://www.ClientByDesign.com or
call 914-206-9625
