Have you ever wandered how those marketers that give away ebooks and reports actually benefit from doing so? It might seem a little strange that someone would put their time and effort into creating a quality product and then just give it away for nothing but there is an excellent reason for marketing this way, you see, those free ebooks will generate sales and leads for years to come, all on the backend.

What is the purpose of a free ebook? The purpose of a free ebook is to drive traffic to a website that will result in sales, subscribers, adsense clicks or any other goal you may want to achieve. The main purpose for a free ebook is presell/generate leads for a paid product, you would presell by explaining advantages and benefits subtly in the ebook and generate leads by providing links within it.

How do I create one? let's say you have a product about gardening that you sell for $47, you could then write a short report that would compliment that product such as a review, a short extract of it, a short report about gardening that would not go into as much detail as your paid product, the point is that it is very relevant to your paid product but does not have as much value, I mean you don't want to give away a free ebook that reveals all the methods contained in your paid one, you just want to generate interest for it.

How do I distribute it? You can distribute a free ebook in a number of ways such as in your signature file at forums, to your email subscribers, free ebook directories, your website, arranging joint ventures with other marketers, there are many different ways to distribute your free ebook, you just have to find where your target audience is and offer them your ebook, most people love to get stuff for free so you shouldn't have to much trouble trying to get them to take it.

How do I get my ebook to go viral? This is one of the most powerful ways to market online, viral marketing, you want your ebook to spread as far as possible and to reach as many prospects as you can so you should give people a reason to pass your ebook on to others for you. This can be done by allowing people to "rebrand" your ebook, basically you allow them to replace the links to your products with their affiliate links, therefore the people who pass on your ebook can actually make money doing so. If people have a good reason to pass your ebook on, then they more than likely will.

Free ebooks can be an extremely effective way to advertise your website and products and if you can put the effort in and make a great product, then it is possible it will generate you sales and leads for years to come.