Creating an Ebook

Creating an Ebook

Ebooks or Electronic books are self-contained "executable" files of HTML. This HTML may be a web site you've created or HTML you've specifically prepared to be compiled into a downloadable .exe file for distribution. When downloaded, this file will self install on your clients desktop.

Ebooks are completely interactive with the Internet and can contain live links, graphics, forms, JavaScript, embedded video, can be protected via password/userid, search capabilities and more. This self-contained executable file can be distributed in a number of ways including; CD, floppy disk, download, etc.

With the rising popularity of the Internet, there is absolutely no better time than right now to develop your own informational product. Not only is there no better time, but it has never been any easier for anyone to develop and sell their own products.

Information is the number one best-selling product on the Internet. There are literally hundreds of Internet entrepreneurs quietly making a fortune simply by selling information.

Why are ebooks so popular? Internet users have a sincere desire to learn and want the information right now. They don't want to wait a week or two for the information to arrive. Ebooks provide your potential customers with instant gratification. As soon as they pay for their order, they can have immediate access to the information they desire.

Suggested Uses

Marketing - Provide your sales network with your complete sales presentation to freely distribute with their ID to track sales.

Promotion - Provide valuable information on a specific subject to bring traffic to your site.

Ezine Archives - Ezine publishers can provide their publication archives to enable subscribers to read back issues on their desktop, visit your web site, subscribe, submit ads, etc.

Catalogs - Provide a desktop catalog for you customers to view on their desktop. You can even provide a form to accept orders right through your ebook.

How To Manuals - Provide your affiliates with a complete "how to" manual for marketing, advertising and promoting your products.

Electronic Books - Writers can offer their books in an electronic version.

Web site - Create an electronic version of your web site to place on disk and be viewed on your client’s desktop.

Instructional - Provide an electronic training manual.

The first step in creating your ebook is to decide upon a subject. Select a subject in which you have a great deal of knowledge. The knowledge you have within your own mind is extremely valuable. Simply write about what you know and teach others how to do the same thing. It's that simple.

Creating an Outline

The easiest way to begin writing is to create an outline. Begin your outline with an opening statement or Introduction followed by a Foreword. Your opening statement might tell your readers a little bit about what they are going to learn or may be a statement in regard to the subject matter. Your Foreword might include information in regard to who you are, your credentials, copyrights, and what you want your readers to learn.

Your next step will be to either create a Table of Contents or go directly into creating your Chapter Titles. If you're writing your information in the form of a how-to manual, you may want to use a Table of Contents. This will enable your readers to quickly locate important information. If you're writing your information in the form of a book, then you can leave out the Table of Contents and simply use Chapter Titles.

Whether you're using a Table of Contents or Chapter Titles, write your titles so that when they're read, they tell the story. In other words, when you scan your titles they will give you a step by step description of what your information is all about.

Finally, at the bottom of your outline, wrap everything up by including a closing statement.

Once you've completed your outline you can begin filling in the spaces. Write your text in small blocks and leave a space between your paragraphs. Select a font that is easy to read and use black text on a white background. In addition, write in an everyday language that everyone can understand.

Designing Your Interface

Your ebook interface MUST look professional. No matter how good your information is, if your ebook doesn't look professional, it’s perceived value will be low.

Design your ebook to be easily navigated and make sure you include navigational graphics within each page.

In addition, your ebook should include all of the following:

• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Copyrights
• About page
  

Your first step in designing your ebook will be to turn your text into HTML. Simply divide your text into sections such as, Introduction, Table of Contents, Chapters, etc., and create a web page for each.

You can include graphics, live links, and almost everything that HTML 4.0 supports.

In addition to designing an interface for your ebook, you will also need to design a book cover. A book cover can increase your sales or downloads up to 300% and is an essential part of your ebook’s success. Your book cover should compliment your ebook and be displayed on your sales page.

Delivering Your Information

In order to deliver your information to your customers, you'll need to compress it into a downloadable file, better known as an ebook. There are different types of compilation methods however, for this example we will focus on HTML compiled ebooks.

Selecting an HTML Compiler

Although there are many HTML compilers available on the Internet, these programs are just that – HTML compilers. What this means is that you must create your ebook within an HTML editor and then import your files into an HTML compiler to create your ebook -- not a very user friendly way to create an ebook. That’s why we developed eBook Starter.

Tips for Creating Your Ebook

• Create a directory on your computer to include ALL the files for your ebook. These files will include HTML, graphics, backgrounds, etc.
• Ebooks should contain mainly text. To keep your file size down, avoid using large, slow loading graphics.
• Make sure your pages are viewable through any screen size.
• Include good navigational links throughout your pages.
• Use spell check to search for any possible spelling errors.

Using an Ebook as a Promotional Tool

In addition to ebooks making a great product, they are also very powerful promotional tools. Ebooks can provide the Internet marketer one of the best promotional tools online. With its vast variety of uses, just one quality ebook development and distribution can produce an on going promotional tool that will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for years to come. Millions can view your ebook, simply by giving it away.

The key to using this powerful promotional technique successfully is to create an ebook packed with valuable content and then give it away. I know what you're probably thinking. Why in the world would I want to spend time on creating a great ebook just to give it away? Well, not only should your ebook contain great information, but it should also contain information about your web site, products and services. Take every opportunity to mention any and everything you may be promoting and create links to each.

For massive exposure, select a subject with a broad appeal. If your site's focus is on web site traffic, consider creating an ebook on generating traffic. For example, Web Traffic: A Complete to Guide to Generating Massive Traffic to Your Site. Include several references to your site throughout your ebook, such as For even more great traffic generating tips, visit "Traffic Tips" your complete source for generating massive traffic to your web site. http://www.yoursite.com. Or, Winning awards can dramatically increase traffic to your site. For a complete listing of award sites, visit "Traffic Tips Award Sites" http://www.yoursite.com.

Here is an example of how powerful a good "free ebook" can be:

10 of your visitors download your ebook.
Your 10 visitors each give away 10 ebooks - 100
Those 100 each give away 10 ebooks - 1000
Those 1000 each give away 10 ebooks - 10,000
Those 10,000 each give away 10 ebooks - 100,000
Those 100,000 each give away 10 ebooks - 1,000,000

For massive distribution, make sure you include a short paragraph on your main page in regard to your copyrights and distribution. Let your visitors know that they may freely distribute your ebook. Your text might look something like this: “This ebook may be freely distributed”

If you really want to create a viral marketing ebook, create your ebook so that it can be customized with your visitor’s own information. In order to do this, you’ll need to purchase an ebook program that also includes an additional branding software program -- not all ebook software programs do.

However, eBook Starter does. Not only can you create your entire ebook within this powerful program from start to finish, but with the purchase of this software, you will receive a special branding software completely free. This special branding software will enable you to create customizable fields within your ebooks to enable your visitors or affiliates to customize your ebooks with their company name, affiliate URL or whatever you’d like.

Distributing free ebooks is one of the most powerful promotional methods online. Use it to your advantage.

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Autoresponder Courses

Autoresponder Courses

Autoresponders, also known as mailbots, automatic email and email on demand were derived from the very popular fax on demand and designed to automatically respond to any email message it receives with an automatic response.

Autoresponder programs vary from software set up to run with your desktop email program and automatically answer your incoming email to a script that runs on your server. The script may run a Web-based autoresponder system that utilizes a web page form, or it may run with your pop email account on your server. It is programmed to automatically send out a predetermined message when a message is received to a specified script address or email address.

In addition to the standard autoresponder systems, there are also autoresponders that can send an unlimited amount of follow-up messages. These follow up messages can be set up to automatically be sent out at predetermined intervals. In other words, you can set up your autoresponder to automatically send out a new message each day for as many days as you would like.

This powerful technology is currently being used by some of the top online marketers to reach thousands of potential customers. As you may know, it may take up to seven contacts with a potential customer before closing a sale. By setting up an autoresponder and offering a free autoresponder course, you can completely automate a portion of your marketing efforts.

Creating a Course

The first step in creating an autoresponder course is to decide upon a subject. Your course should focus on a subject in which you have a great deal of knowledge and target your potential customers.

Once you have selected your subject, you'll need to make a list of topics. Each topic will represent one lesson. If you have five topics, then you can offer your visitors a free 5-day course. If you have ten topics, then you can offer your visitors a free 10-day course and so on.

Separate each of your topics into course lessons. Your first lesson should welcome your subscriber to your course and explain a little bit about what they are going to learn, followed by the first lesson.

The key to creating a successful autoresponder course is to provide quality information that will be of interest to your target audience. Each daily topic must contain valuable information or your reader may decide to unsubscribe. In addition, make sure you include information in regard to your course such as the lesson number, lesson title, information about your products or services and highlights of the next lesson.

Your course should identify a problem, provide advice in regard to solving the problem and provide the solution with your products or services. Keep in mind, your course should not be written like a sales letter. It must provide quality information written to teach and inform.

Setting up Your Course

After you've written your course, you'll need to transfer your text into an autoresponder. You can find free follow-up autoresponders at GetResponse.

Sign up for a follow-up autoresponder and follow their instructions in regard to setting it up.

Once you've gotten your autoresponder set up, your final step will be to place your course information on your web site. This will include a description of your course and a mailto link to your autoresponder.

By offering your visitors a free autoresponder course, you are not only providing them with a great service, but you are also automating a portion of your marketing efforts. This form of free advertising can increase your sales considerably.

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Mini-Sites – Highly Targeted Sales Generators

Mini-Sites – Highly Targeted Sales Generators

If you're looking for a highly effective method of increasing your Internet sales, then mini-sites may be your answer. Mini-sites are one of the most effective marketing tools online. Not only are they effective, but they're also very inexpensive and easy to create.

The concept is simple. Create a one or two page web site that completely focuses on one specific topic. Everything within that page should have one purpose -- getting the visitor to take action.

This page should be neatly designed in standard HTML with no Flash or fancy plug-ins and very few graphics. There should be no banners or outside links of any kind and nothing that will distract your visitor's attention.

The sole purpose of a mini-site is to attract highly targeted traffic. The more targeted the better. For example, if you have a web site that sells a number of products, a good mini-site would focus on one specific product instead of all of the products. You could create a mini-site for each product you offer.

Designing Your Mini-Site

Each mini-site you create should be optimized for that one specific product. Concentrate on just a few keyword phrases, as this will help you to tighten your targeting. Remember ... the tighter the targeting the better.

• Title - Your "Title" should contain your most important keywords. You've probably heard that before, but I've found a slightly different method for optimizing the title. Since mini-sites focus on just one product, place the "most" important "keyword phrase" first. Not just your most important phrase, but the keyword phrase that you think people will use when they do a search. Instead of capitalizing the first letter, type it in lowercase, as most people type in all lowercase letters when searching. This will assist you in ranking higher in the Search Engine for your targeted audience.
• Description - Your description should focus on one specific product and not generalize. Make sure you include your most important keywords towards the beginning of your description. In addition, make sure your description describes your site in detail. You want your potential visitors to know exactly what you're offering. Your description should be less than 200 characters.
• Keywords - Concentrate on just a few keyword phrases.
• Heading tags - Search Engines pay close attention to the text displayed within the "Heading" tags. Place your most important keyword phrase within a "Heading" tag.
• Graphic Alt tags - Place a readable keyword phrase within your graphic "Alt" tags.
• Text - All of your text should focus on your product. There should be no filler text whatsoever. It should have one specific purpose -- getting your visitor to take action. Make sure you include your keyword phrases throughout your text.

If you'd like to set up your mini-site using tables, try to place your "Heading" text above your "Table" code. If this isn't possible, make sure you include your keyword phrases within your top left "Table cell" to assist you in ranking higher in the Search Engines.

Mini-sites are not limited to just your products. They can also be used with any affiliate programs you may be promoting. You can include extra incentives such as a free bonus for purchasing the product or even your personal recommendation. This is a great way to pre-sell the product.

Hosting Your Mini-Site

When hosting a web site, you normally must purchase a web-hosting package for each domain. However, if you host your site with Host4Profit, you can host additional domains within your account for only $5 per domain – very reasonable.

What’s more, I highly recommend Host4Profit, as not only do they provide you with 300mg of web space and everything you’ll need to develop your site, but they also have an affiliate program. If you refer just three people to Host4Profit, your hosting will be free.

Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Site

Once you have tested the effectiveness of your site and have a good conversion rate, (the number of visitors compared to the number of sales) you can buy targeted traffic. Goto.com is the number one pay-per-click Search Engine and will most likely produce the best results.

For additional options, visit PayPerClickSearchEngines.com. They provide information and reviews on a number of pay-per-click Search Engines.

The key to using this technique effectively is to bid on "very" targeted keywords. This will weed out the casual visitors and only attract your target audience.

There's no sense in paying for visitors who really weren't interested to begin with.

In addition to bidding on keywords, you can also advertise in targeted ezines and even purchase some targeted banner advertising. Be creative and take the time to test all of your promotions prior to spending a lot of money.

If you really want to increase your sales, create some mini-sites. They are one of the cheapest and easiest to create profit generators online.

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