Congratulations - you may have already created a free e-book
I think eventually we all go down the route of creating an email newsletter and obtaining email subscribers.
It’s long been proven as potentially one the best way to get traffic, regular readers, and also to produce sales.
Even if your site is very new and you’re not receiving any traffic yet, it’s definitely something to keep in mind.
In fact, the content you’re writing at the moment (even if it’s your first ever article, 2nd, 5th, or 10th) can be used to help you create an email list.
You may not be ready to sign up to an autoresponder service for months yet (typically you’ll do this once you’ve started to receive some form of traffic, even if it is only 4-5 people a day), but you should always keep this at the back of your mind.
Step 1 - Create An Article Series
One of the main things on your mind when you first start your email list is, how can I entice someone to sign up to my list?
In the vast majority of cases this is usually achieved by giving something away for free.
This is usually something of value that your readers (and subscribers) will appreciate.
But if you’re just starting out, what can you give away for free?
Answer - your already written content.
Here’s something that I am currently in the process of creating.
I’m producing an article series.
This can be done by using one seed keyword and approaching it from a variety of angles.
A few examples:
In the Make Money Online niche (obviously do your keyword research and come up with better keywords than I have, but this is just for the purpose of an example).
Your main seed keyword is, “Make Money Online”.
So, your article series could be:
- Make Money Online by Blogging
- Make Money Online with Pay Per Click
- Make Money Online with Facebook Marketing
- Make Money Online Through Pinterest
- Make Money Online with SEO
- Make Money Online with YouTube
Another example, let’s say in the weight loss niche.
Your seed keyword is “How to Lose Weight”
So, your article series could be:
- How to Lose Weight by Running
- How to Lose Weight Without Going to the Gym
- How to Lose Weight Without Dieting
- How to Lose Weight by Cycling
- How to Lose Weight in a Month
- How to Lose Weight to Fit Into Your Wedding Dress
Okay, my choice of keywords isn’t great, but this is just an example as I say, and hopefully you get the general idea.
You are basically using one seed keyword and then making it into a longer long-tail keyword and writing an article.
The best way to find your keywords would be to take your “seed” keyword, go to the “Alphabet Soup” section on Jaaxy, plug it in, and see what it comes up with.
See if you can find 15-20 longtail keywords and then get to writing.
You could actually link all these articles together on your website.
At the end of each article you could have a simple summary, “Check Out My Other Articles in the (Make Money Online) or (How to Lose Weight) series” and then link to each individual article.
You could make a new menu tab on your home page and call it “Make Money Online Article Series” or something similar.
Then create a new post which simply states that you have created an article series and then have a link to every single article.
Here Comes Your FREE E-Book
Now let’s say that you produce 20 articles in this series that are 1,500-2,000 words in length.
Copy and Paste all of those articles into your writing document of choice, I'll say Microsoft Word for ease.
You can then convert all the articles into one PDF.
Well done, you’ve just produced a 30,000-40,000 word e-book.
As the PDF is your own you can link to affiliate offers within your content (obviously don’t overdo it).
Let’s say you are promoting Wealthy Affiliate, you could have 2 links per article, you could place a hyperlink at the bottom of every page, something like, “Discover How I Make Money Online”.
And voila, you now have an e-book with maybe 30-50 affiliate links.
This can then obviously be given away to anyone who signs up to your email newsletter.
You could also add at the bottom of each of your “series” articles something along the lines of, “Download my free E-book which covers the various ways to (Make Money Online” or (How to Lose Weight)”
This is a very basic way to make a free e-book that you can give away (or even share on document sharing sites, but let’s go there now, as I don’t want to overcomplicate matters).
You may think to yourself, why would people want to read what they can already find on my website anyway?
Well in truth, not many people would stay on your website and read 20 articles. You may have regular visitors who come back again and again, but they will typically read your newest article, and maybe follow your internal links to older articles, and then move on,
So, in reality you’re just making things easier for them.
To Summarize
You take 15-20 articles that are in some way related and flow smoothly from one to the next. You plug them into Microsoft Word, add some links (maybe even to more content on your site), you convert to PDF.
Job done.
Well done for creating your first ever e-book.
I know this is a very “rough-and-ready” explanation, so any questions, please ask, and I’ll do my best to answer, or steer you to someone who obviously has far better knowledge on this subject than me.
Thank you for reading.
Partha
Recent Comments
115
This is an excellent post - you can also use the above steps to create a Mastermind Course and offer your ebook as a free Mastermind Course or sell it for some $'s. The content you create is a very valuable asset that can be used in many ways. So keep on creating.
Thank you Sharon and you make an excellent point.
Plus I totally agree with our content being a valuable asset.
I think when you look back and realise you've created 100, 1,000, or 10,000 posts just how much of a commodity you have at your fingertips.
Partha
Super Idea Partha! You have many good points. .. I have not written an Ebook before but it would be fun to do. As for now my schedule is full so it have to wait. I might ask you a few questions about this topic Just need to come up with some good ones. 😄
Hahaha, of course Hilde, anytime.
This is just an "easy, no need to think about it method".
You've already created your e-book content anyway.
Even writing an e-book from scratch is the same method.
Each "article" is just a chapter to your book.
You'll do great, I know that for sure.
Partha
Just like that, an eBook is born, nicely done Partha. I think it's a great idea and unlike some, I wouldn't presume to know how to do this.
Normally, whenever the idea of an eBook comes to mind, it is very quickly dispatched under the heading "No idea where to begin".
Now, I have a blueprint that has been 'starred', sorted, thank you.
LOL, you said it Twack.
You can't please all of the people all of the time.
I've mentioned it a few times in the comments here - everything's a little bit "No idea how to do this" until you've actually gone ahead (scared witless, unsure, and striving for perfection) and done it.
Your first ever article.
Your first ever social media post.
Your first ever video.
etc. etc. etc.
Partha
Thank you for sharing! So once we copy and paste in PDF, we simply copy the link and paste it somewhere that those people who join for the email list; they can access as a free gift? I am not sure how to give that permission or how to configure it.
Hi Meena,
There's a bit more to it than that.
Once you have an autoresponder service you can set all of this up automatically.
Here's Kyle's initial training on email marketing: Email Marketing - Getting Started Guide And Jay did a whole series of training webinars on email marketing, here's a couple of them: Email Marketing 2018: 1st Steps to List Building Email Marketing 2018: Sending Your Blog Posts
See more comments
Awesome!!
Thanks for sharing, this info is Gold! 🙏🏽
I have only just finished Level 1 ready to embark on Level 2, this info is priceless, so quick and easy.
You say basic, however, starting out for me this is great an something I can easily do, I guess with anything you learn the more you develop your skills and expand your knowledge base.
Thanks for taking the time out.
Much Appreciated
Michelle X:-).
Hi Michelle,
Aww thank you, I'm so pleased it resonated with you in some way.
It's probably not something that many people think about at the beginning of their journey, but as you produce more-and-more content, as Sharon mentioned below, it becomes a valuable asset.
You could even go back after you've written say your first 30 articles and write what is known as a pillar post (a much longer, ultimate guide type of post), summarising your first 30 articles by taking the main learning point from each article and producing a new article that is 5,000-10,000 words long (pillar posts are great for SEO). You could then even convert that into a mini-ebook, etc. whatever floats your boat.
The whole point is - it's your content, you produced it, it's becoming more-and-more valuable day-after-day, so you decide what you want to do with it.
Partha