Businesses of all sizes are generating more sales and increasing their revenue with ebooks. An ebook is a paperless book in digital format that you can download to your computer, handheld or other reader device. Readers use a software program like Adobe (for .pdf formats) or Microsoft Word to read it.
Here are five ways to increase your business revenue with ebooks.
Method # 1: Marketing
An ebook offers an inexpensive means of producing full-color marketing materials complete with graphics and audio components. Find good software or hire someone to help create your ebooks. Grab a digital camera and start snapping shots of your products, people using your products and services, your workers, etc. Then show off your photos and your products. Describe your services with power-packed presentations; web pages with interactive links for sound, visual presentations, communications (emails or forum posts) and more.
Method # 2: Education
When you need to explain your products or services to prospective buyers, educate your prospects and clients with ebooks. Have sample or short versions available for trial offers or free downloads. Then include full-fledged detailed editions with product / service purchases. Educate with visual, sound and interactive point-and-click methods. Invite questions and feedback from recipients for improvements on future products and services.
Method # 3: Communications
How often do prospective buyers and customers email you with a similar question that requires a book-length answer? Questions like, ?How do you create a basic website?? or ?How can you market on a tight budget?? inspire lengthy replies. Well, now you can write one long reply, turn it into an ebook and send it out ? repeatedly. You can free up more time for other things. Include your own marketing information inside your ebook so readers can look you up on the Internet, pass your information along, and give others the opportunity to find you, too.
Method # 4: New Product
Use surveys and take polls for new product creation. Include a link to a web page with a questionnaire and free download for recipients upon completion.
Method # 5: Sales Reps
Arm your sales representatives with professional, top-notch full-color media / product / service information kits presented via your ebooks to share with local newspaper, radio, television and other media reps, visitors and potential clients at trade shows and other events. Set up an introductory page in your ebook, then an index where people can click and quickly find your history, mission statement, product and service descriptions and images, contact information, testimonials, etc. Then copy the ebooks to disks and CDs to distribute at events. This gives people the opportunity to learn more about you when they have more time afterwards.
How to Develop Ideas for Your Ebook
As you gain experience with your topical area you'll probably be able to identify some of your target audience's problems or concerns. And, knowing their concerns or problems, you'll likely be able to offer a few solutions.
Once you have identified some solutions, you can expand your thoughts to a few paragraphs. To explain them clearly and give examples, each solution may be become a chapter of several hundred or even thousands of words.
You can often research your topic and look for additional solutions by using the search engines or by searching various article sites. Once you locate material that describes solutions you can express those solutions in your own words. You can add your own examples to make your expression of the solutions unique and more personal.
Preparing and Publishing Your Ebook
Most people use a product like Microsoft Word to prepare their ebook or article. With it you can check spelling and grammar, create chapters, headings, bulleted lists and a table of contents. You can also add photos and clip art to help explain and illustrate your ideas.
You may already have access to a commercial clip art package. Many packages are available at your local computer store.
Microsoft allows you to download and use any of over 150,000 images and sounds from their online library. To search and download art from Microsoft using Microsoft Word, select Insert -> Picture -> Clip Art. Then select the Clips Online tab. You will then be able to search photos, clip art and sounds for just the right images to illustrate your ideas. As long as your purpose is to enhance your own product, you can freely include Microsoft's images.
Once your ebook or article is complete you'll want to create a PDF file. This is the most popular format for downloadable ebooks and articles. People using both Windows-based PCs and Macintoshes can view documents in PDF format.
You can "print" your document to a PDF file using any of several free conversion applications. Newer PCs often come with this conversion software preloaded. If your PC does not have this software you can get it free from several sources. Three free products that create PDF files from virtually any Windows applications are:
After creating your PDF file you can then upload the PDF to your server. You'll need to upload it in BINARY format rather than ASCII format. To make sure you did everything correct you should download your PDF and test it to make sure it is viewable.
In today's world the internet is a must use tool in business 2 business sales prospecting. Think about the time it saves you in finding and gaining up to the minute information on any potential business, organization, and associations. The internet allows you to conduct searches to find businesses, and the names of the people you need to contact to sell your product or service.
Your online presence must produce the message and image that your target market will gravitate to and return to time and time and again. Clients are looking for solutions to their problems your site must provide a means to help them find the solutions that they are looking for. Your site must do what it promises to do. In order to please your clients you must ?Under promise and over deliver?.
Online phone and e-mail directories are another way to find potential clients. Yellow pages.com (www.yellowpages.com), Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com), and WorldPages.com (www.worldpages.com) are three that you can use to find prospects. You can also run a search for more directories that can help you find your targeted clients.
You can also hire a list company like Dun & Bradstreet (www.dnb.com), InfoUSA (www.infousa.com), or IDG Communications list service (www.idglist.com) which now allows you to search and order lists of potential clients that you can download directly to your computer. Run a search to find other list companies that can offer this same type of service.
Business organizations are another way to find clients. If they have a web site listing you can use these listing to find the decision makers in the company's that you wish to do business with. You would find it extremely helpful if you would join some of these organizations related to your industry, because other members may be a big help in reaching some of these decision makers.
Use your web site to get information to your prospects when you are not around. This can be accomplished by locating the exact URL (web address) for each piece of information that you need to see. Then send those URLs to the prospect in the order that the pages should be viewed. Send an e-mail explaining the importance of this with instructions on the order to view the pages.
You may also use an auto-responder which sends out an instant reply when someone contacts you online, fills out a form on a web site, or sends an email to a specific address. The auto-response could be an electronic receipt, information requested, or an e-course. This is extremely helpful today where people are always looking for information, they are pleased by instant access to the information that they have requested.
If the products and services that you are selling are complex you need a more in depth presentation. WebEx (www.webex.com) will allow you take your prospects through your own customized PowerPoint presentation from afar. You can also use webcasting in your sales presentations. Webcasting is like television done over the internet. If you wish to see a demonstration of how webcasting works visit WebCasting, Inc., at www.webcasting.com and look at its demos.
If you are in telephone sales or do a lot of long distance selling you can use your web site to enhance the prospective client's satisfaction by directing him through the site while you are on the phone with him. This gives you the ability to walk the client through the site which is the next best thing to sitting at a table with them demonstrating or explaining your product. You can lead the prospects down the path of links that you created for your web site or you can follow an entirely different path that is dictated by the prospects questions and concerns. In order for this to be successful you must know absolutely what is on your site and what is not. You cannot allow yourself to get caught of guard by a client's question.
Staying in touch with your clients is another service that the internet offers. You should make sure that you build long term relationships, and inspire loyalty with all of your clients. If you find an article that you feel will aid your clients with their business, email it to them with an ?I'm thinking of you? note. Don't forget about using e-mails to communicate messages.
Both Brian Scott & William Dupree are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Brian Scott has sinced written about articles on various topics from All Rights Reserved Copyright, Watches Reviews and Keyboard Synthesizer. Learn how to become a published book author! Download Brian's free e-book, , at www.BookCatcher.com. Visit Bria. Brian Scott's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
William Dupree has sinced written about articles on various topics from Direct Marketing, Small Business and Coffee Advantages. William Dupree who has over 20years of experience in interactive marketing is the owner of Interactive Marketing & Promotional Solutions (www.intmktprosol.com) located in New York City, which specializes in developing interactive marketing strategies for. William Dupree's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.