The truth about how to write a best selling ebook is probably not what you have heard from other Internet marketing gurus, but facts are hard to ignore.
First of all, the main advantage to writing a best selling ebook instead of having a a “real” book published, is that it can be instantly delivered to the reader.
Although the format is alive and well, the basic ebook is actually a weak substitute for a real hardbound volume.
How to write a best selling ebook, or any other information product, is almost entirely a marketing exercise.
Everything about an ebook; from the topic you select, to how the content is positioned for the reader, to the copy writing strategies you use to sell it, boils down to determining what the people want and are willing to pay for.
Most ebooks are written in PDF format, which just happens to be the least useful and has the lowest perceived value to readers. This obviously affects how much you can realistically charge for the ebook, regardless of how valuable or useful the information is that is in it.
The real truth about how to write a best selling ebook isn’t as bad as it sounds; writing ebooks is not yet dead by any stretch of the imagination.
Although ebooks have none of the tangible attributes of information portability and convenience for readers; they do provide ease of creation, handling, and deliverability for authors.
One drawback for ebooks, is that for any topic where there is a physical book available, you will likely lose the sale to people like Amazon.com or eBay, regardless of whether it is downloadable or not.
It may not be fair, but people trust Amazon and when faced with a choice, will buy from them first. They perceive real authors as being those who are delivered in ink and parchment.
The truth about how to write a best selling ebook if you intend to write 300 or more pages, is to have your book self published.
People that love to read books and read a lot of them, will generally want a “real” book to read, not an ebook.
A best selling ebook solves people’s problems, and the good news for people who want to make money with ebooks is that the best sellers are nowhere near 300 pages in length.
A best selling ebook that is only 10 to 50 pages long can often turn a tidy profit to the authors that provide a solution to problems people need solved for them.
Believe it or not, people don’t like to do in depth research online and are often skeptical of FREE information on the Internet.
If you can demonstrate that you are credible, or co author with someone who already has the credentials and can provide a solution to a real problem; you will definitely get sales.
The “instantly downloadable” aspect of the short ebook becomes a major selling point when you are selling to a highly motivated person with a problem.
The gurus will tell you that the key to creating a successful ebook is to “write what you love” and the money will follow.
The truth about how to write a best selling ebook is that regardless of the topic, you need to do four things correctly:
- Identify a potentially profitable topic
- Research the viability of developing a document
- Find the “hot button” issues of potential buyers
- Realize how the problem is viewed in the mind of the prospect
Creating valuable short problem solving document, is the best way to write a best selling ebook.
Although there are no set rules that tell you if your blog content really sucks; there are some very good indicators that will give you a chance to change your style of writing before you fade away into the blogispheare.
Newcomers in particular are told to post content on a regular basis in order to generate web traffic. So, they obediently pump out article after article on a daily basis, trying to get some traffic generated.
After writing and writing for several weeks or months without getting any real results; they begin to wonder if the reason they’re not getting any comments, links, and more traffic is because of their writing skills.
Should you be patient, continue to write, and wait for traffic to come? Or is it that your blog content really sucks.
Since everyone’s writing style is different, it’s hard to tell if your blog content really sucks or if something else is the problem.
The problem with creating anything, is that no one can really tell you exactly how to do it.
You can benefit from everyone’s opinion and learn from their experience, but in the end… you put the paint on the canvas, the pen on the parchment, or shape the clay for the figurine.
You are the creator and the results are always subjective.
If you want to know if your content really sucks, here are some of the hundreds of most common telltale signs that will tip you off that something is wrong with your blogging.
- Your blog posts read like journal entries
Initially blogs were written as online journals however, blogs have since evolved and have become more like online magazines, with highly polished content.
If your blog reads like a personal diary instead of a magazine or newspaper; it’s probable that your blog content really sucks.
- Your blog doesn’t receive any comments from readers
Blog comments are a direct measure of reader engagement. Your content is probably unworthy of your readers attention if no one is commenting on your blog, especially if you have a couple of hundred subscribers.
- Your visitors don’t stay on your blog more than a minute or two.
Anything less than a two minute stay on your blog is bad news and if less than a minute, your blog content is probably driving away visitors.
Find out how long visitors are staying on your blog by installing Google Analytics.
- You don’t get any fan mail
As a beginner, you can’t expect much or any fan mail; but as your site progresses, you should be receiving something more than a Tweet on Twitter. People will go out of their way to comment on good blog content and if they don’t on your blog, you can be doing better.
- You don’t spend enough time on each blog post
Although it’s possible to write a great blog post in 10 minutes; it doesn’t happen often. Most of the superior bloggers spend anywhere from 1 to 5 or more hours on each blog post they write.
If you’re cranking out content believing that quantity is better than quality; you are dead wrong.
If your blog content really sucks, you are probably spending less than 15 minutes per post.
- Focusing on SEO before you get your first link
In a deliberate effort to stuff your blog content with keywords to improve your SEO; you could be driving away human traffic.
If your blog content really sucks, you are probably writing garbage content trying to please the search engines instead of writing to your audience. What you really need to boost your search engine ranking is for people to link to your site.
- You feel you need SEO to build a popular blog
SEO alone cannot make a popular blog. You need great content first, then optimize it for the search engines.
Without great content, no amount of SEO can make your blog great. People will visit, find your blog wanting and immediately leave.
I’d love to tell you that producing great content is easy but it’s not. There are no shortcuts to good content other than hiring a ghost writer, and even then there is no guarantee.
There are no easy fixes to great blogging.
If your blog content really sucks, you are probably showing some of the above symptoms; so get to work and correct the problem before it gets any worse.
There are numerous reasons why so many Internet marketing small business start-ups fail, but you don’t have to follow the same path to defeat.
First of all, you need to treat your Internet Marketing small business start-up like the conventional storefront business that it is. The only difference is that you will not have a storefront.
Set your business up with a physical “storefront” address, which on the Internet, is your business website URL.
Don’t treat your business like a short term “get rich quick” scheme. Remember that you’re in it for the long haul to make some serious money.
Do your due diligence and research. Take some time before you even think about setting up your website to do some serious planning and then set up a written business plan with step by step goals that you intend to achieve.
Many Internet Marketing small business start-ups fail because their owners decided to run with their gut feelings and digress from their business plan. Others started their businesses without any business plan whatsoever and just “winged it”.
Both scenarios are paths to failure.
All Internet marketing small business start-ups fail without any clearly defined goal to follow through on.
Another reason why so many Internet marketing small business start-ups fail is because of financial issues primarily at the start up phase.
Some savvy business owners can become successful without any financial support by taking advantage of the millions of free Internet resources that are offered online.
It’s important to understand financial goals relative to the overall health of your business.
You can start a successful Internet Marketing small business online with little to no capital, if you learn about and avail yourself to these free resources.
Again, it’s important to remember that Internet Marketing as a career should NOT be treated as a get rich quick plan.
If you’re seriously thinks of going into Internet Marketing as a career; look into it as a long-range business.
One of the hardest things to learn is not to get lured into joining sites to get free bonuses like ebooks or software, that later require an upgrade to be fully functional.
Once you start the cycle, you will quickly find yourself the recipient of thousands of email offers from other online marketers.
Believe it or not, this is also why so many Internet marketing small business start-ups fail.
They become bogged down, sidetracked, and totally overwhelmed with information overload and “special One Time Only” offers that supposedly eliminates all the work necessary to succeed with your “storefront” business.
Here are a few tips to steer you in the right direction if you are interested in pursuing a career in Internet Marketing.
- Do some thorough research on Internet Marketing before you commit yourself to a business.
- Learn about affiliate marketing, blogging, search engines, SEO, online advertising,business websites, video marketing as well as the terminology used in the business.
- If you still believe you can make money with Internet Marketing, sit down and prepare a thorough written business plan with your goals and your expected return.
- Get online and search for a trustworthy Internet Marketing mentor to help guide you and provide recommendations when you inevitably run up against a wall.
In addition to these tips, you should look at yourself in the mirror and truthfully assess if you have the initiative, knowledge, self determination, desire and other traits that successful Internet Marketers possess to become successful.
These are primarily the reasons why so many Internet marketing small business start-ups fail; but since you are now armed with this knowledge, you don’t have to follow the same path.
