Using Free Ebooks To Promote Your Blog or Business

Posted on August 30, 2007 by Nate Whitehill

As many of you know, last week, I launched a new online business. Developing this business has allowed me to experiment with some new direct marketing techniques which I have only recently learned about. One specific example is releasing a free ebook in order to promote your blog or business.

John Chow, Jane May, and Mitch Harper all do this. All are also successful bloggers and entrepreneurs. Obviously, there has to be serious benefits to using a free ebook to promote your blog and business.

Increasing Conversions

There are many ways to encourage people to take action towards a desired task. One of the most common is giving away something for free in exchange for people signing up for an email list (free newsletter). People who are signing up for your email list are referred to as “opt-ins.”

Recently, my business, Unique Blog Designs, distributed a free ebook. Why did UBD give away a free ebook?

The Advantage of an Ebook

An ebook is a unique way to distribute information. Unlike a blog entry, which is available to everyone, an ebook is essentially exclusive information depending on the terms of its distribution. In our case, the ebook is only available to those who sign up for our email list.

The ebook that UBD launched was titled, “5 Simple Tips To Improve Your Blog.” Like I said, we released the ebook to encourage people to sign up for our email list. I will talk about the advantages of an email list another time, but the point is that the free ebook is a means to an end and an opportunity to show your customers that you offer valuable information.

Of course, it’s best if the ebook you are releasing contains highly useful and applicable information. If that is true, then you are showing potential customers that they can associate “quality” and “usefulness” with your brand.

Time To Produce an Ebook

Many people think that writing an ebook is a time consuming process. That doesn’t have to be true. The free ebook UBD released is only 8 pages, but contains highly applicable information that new bloggers can use to improve their blogs. That ebook only took around 2 hours to write. It is well worth the investment in time considering it will certainly increase our opt-in rate.

Not only that, but giving away something for free has a lot of power. It shows your potential clients that you are willing to go above and beyond the normal expectations of doing business. This in of itself makes releasing the free ebook a worthwhile investment.

Increase Conversions

The fact is that by giving something away for free, you are increasing the conversion rate (number of opt-ins) for an email list. Mitch Harper of Interspire even says “every blog should have an accompanying ebook.” If Mitch says that, it’s good enough for me.

If you are interested in receiving the free ebook, “5 Simple Tips To Improve Your Blog,” then visit Unique Blog Designs and sign up for the newsletter.

Discussion: 32 Comments

32 Responses to “Using Free Ebooks To Promote Your Blog or Business”

mahdi yusuf

- 30th Aug, 07 11:08pm

definitely something everyone should look into, at one time or another! but content is key!
Nomar

- 31st Aug, 07 01:08am

Very nice Nate !! Good work
Rhys

- 31st Aug, 07 06:08am

I always thought ebooks were dead in the water, but apparently not (my housmate made a fortune on them selling “online gambling hints and tips”, was surprisingly enterprising actually!)
Ken

- 31st Aug, 07 06:08am

For me, it’s more like building a relationship with a reader and converting to higher visitors life time value. A visitors who come back for more, definitely worth it.
Ryan

- 31st Aug, 07 04:08pm

Its weird. I had been thinking of email lists and ebooks as sort of obsolete until reading this. I suppose it is the exclusivity that will keep it going in the long run.
KingJacob

- 31st Aug, 07 05:08pm

Its not just good for your blog but also good for your pocketbook if you can find relevant affiliates to throw in your ebook.
Charles Lau

- 1st Sep, 07 01:09am

Yes it’s time! We must have an ebook about ourselves in our blog…
Debo Hobo

- 1st Sep, 07 04:09am

Great use of a sound marketing tool.

I signed up for your newsletter how do I get a hold to one of your eBooks?
dojo

- 1st Sep, 07 06:09am

I always knew about the benefits of viral marketing, but never found the courage to write an e-book. The problem is that many ebooks are useless: badly written, made just for the traffic. I don’t download them since I don’t like my email to be collected, and maybe this made me not want to work on the aspect too much. The bad thing is that there are nice e-books made,but the crappy ones just make many people not interested in them anymore. And it’s a pity
Making The Money

- 1st Sep, 07 06:09am

Along the same theme, but I’ve always found that free software works even better than a free e-book. It’s finding something that you can give away (exclusively) that can be a problem but can also bring great rewards.
Bloggers Bliss

- 2nd Sep, 07 12:09pm

Definately worth looking into….when i get the chance
David

- 3rd Sep, 07 12:09am

Will you be doing another e-book? I am interested in trying to write one, but I haven’t come up with an “expert” opinion I want to spread in that format yet.
Chris Jacobson

- 3rd Sep, 07 10:09pm

Very nice marketing there.
Skellie

- 4th Sep, 07 06:09am

If you don’t mind me asking, does anyone know how the eBook graphic was made? Is there software which does that? I’ve always been curious…
Chris Guthrie

- 6th Sep, 07 08:09am

I’ll have to check out this eBook. I also agree that giving it away will increase conversions for newsletter subscriptions, but isn’t that kinda obvious? If it’s free people will sign up for it.
Blogs for Money

- 7th Sep, 07 12:09pm

Very interesting idea!
Click Input

- 8th Sep, 07 10:09pm

Certainly worth it, depending on how much time you put in.
Vijay

- 9th Sep, 07 07:09am

And I certainly agree with this! However, the ebook needs to be of value however small it is and should be somewhat or completely exclusive instead of an aggregator of content from around the web
ScottUA

- 12th Sep, 07 03:09pm

Excellent post Nate! I always use some sort of freebie to market my site. In fact, one little ebook that I give away on my blog/site has managed to help create a full-time income for my business. Never underestimate the power of giving stuff away…
Thomas Sinfield

- 17th Sep, 07 03:09am

I never realized some of the free ebooks where so short. I had always tossed the idea around, but then baulked at the idea of writing 20-30pages.
read books online free

- 23rd Nov, 07 05:11am

This site gives a excellent information regarding The Advantage of an Ebook.An ebook is a unique way to distribute information. The ebook is only available to those who sign up for our email list.
leather recliners

- 18th Jan, 08 04:01pm

very informative, thanks for the information, gonna try it out
Jack

- 4th Jul, 08 11:07pm

Ebook is a growing craze and it is going to be throughout the world and so think everyone should benefit from it
bhupsie

- 4th Jul, 08 11:07pm

This blog is supposed to be the commentable blog for ebook readers…so get in touch with ebook publishers and kindle service providers for the best service which you need.
Jeffrey

- 19th Jul, 08 07:07am

My name is Joe, reader of First lady president. I’m in the process of promoting this book far and wide and have been doing several of the ideas you discussed, Thank you for all of the ideas … I plan to implement as many of them as possible.Glad you’ll enjoy the book (and hope you enjoy Infoquake)!
Assam Blog

- 3rd Oct, 08 12:10pm

After reading this post, I have realized the importance of a free eBook. Now I will try to write one for promoting my blog. Thanks.
Virtual Assistants Service

- 23rd Apr, 09 12:04am

I love to do produce e-books but unfortunately i do not know the process. I hope you can post in your blog a detailed process of promoting e-book.
Sydney Translation

- 28th Apr, 09 05:04pm

Enjoyed the article. We will start some eBook writing. Is it best to publish or send it to others to publish on your behalf?