Growing in popularity, eBooks are relevant pieces of digital media that businesses use to drive all sorts of marketing goals. Developing the skillset for creating eBooks that convert is a powerful tool for any marketer. eBooks can serve as catalysts for passive income, lead magnets that help you market to your audience and resources that add more value to your services.
But the value of your eBook really depends on how well you have optimized it for conversions. Here are 9 simple tips to make sure you’re creating eBooks that convert to help drive your business goals.
1. Pick the Right Topic
Successful eBooks offer real value to the audience, addressing a pain point and helping to solve a problem. But it’s not enough to pick an eBook topic that offers valuable information. It must also address a problem that people are willing to spend money on to fix.
Start by browsing the current Kindle ebooks available in your chosen category. Are they mostly paid or free? Are they getting a lot of purchases and positive reviews? Researching your market can help you decide if your ebook topic is worthwhile and profitable.
2. Come Up With an Amazing Title
Your title is an important element to help your ebook gain visibility and get conversions. The last thing you want is a generic title that blends in with the crowd. Take a look at these 3 eBooks listed on the Kindle Store, as an example:
All these eBook titles:
- Are unique
- Illustrate the value their eBook offers
- Optimize for a specific keyword (“email marketing”)
Take the time to carefully brainstorm different title versions that have all these elements. Especially if you’re publishing on Kindle, it’s important to identify keywords to target and include them in your title.
3. Proper Structure for Creating eBooks that Convert
The structure of your eBook is the most important aspect besides your title. When people shop for eBooks online, they’re often able to get a sneak peek of the table of contents:
This offers more detail about the value your eBook will offer. So take your time to structure your ebook and create a detailed table of contents to help drive conversions.
4. Write and Rewrite
Once you have your eBook structured, you’re ready to write it. Your eBook doesn’t need to be long, but it should offer enough details and resources to answer all of your audience’s questions about your chosen topic. Start with a basic draft, then add in graphs, illustrations and links to secondary resources to offer more value. Perfect your eBook as a resource so you can confidently sell it to your audience.
5. Create an Attractive Cover
Unless you’re a professional graphic designer or you have one on your in-house marketing team, you’ll want to hire someone to create an attractive cover for your book. An unprofessional eBook cover will never drive conversions.
6. Pick Your Publishing Platforms
The next step is to decide where you want your eBook to be published. You will likely publish it to your website — this is a good choice if you’re using the eBook as a lead magnet or simply don’t want to associate with third party platforms. If you want to get more visibility for your eBook, you can also publish it on a platform like Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, the iBooks Store, etc.
7. Format for EPub and Proofread
When self publishing an eBook, be sure to properly format it for the platform you’ll be publishing on. You can’t simply upload a Word Doc containing your book. You’ll need to create a special file format with specific line spacing, indentations, headers, etc. You can always hire someone to do this for you. Either way, make sure you proofread your eBook after it’s been formatted for EPub to avoid any strange formatting issues before you publish.
8. Price Strategically
When you upload an eBook to your distribution platform and go through the publishing process, you’ll be asked to set a price. If you simply price based on what you want to earn, it will be very difficult to drive conversions. Instead you have to look at your direct competition and price strategically. Common eBook prices include:
- $0.99
- $2.99
- $9.99
It’s also okay to offer your eBooks for free to encourage downloads and gain reviews. You can raise the price down the road.
9. Market Effectively
If you want to drive conversions for your eBook, you can’t simply publish and forget it. You need to actively promote it to build trust with your audience and attract interest in your product. Instead of blasting social media with “Buy my eBook!” posts, incorporate it subtly into your content. Reference it in a blog post, recommend it in a marketing email, etc. You can also offer exclusive discounts to leads as they move down your sales funnel, encouraging them to convert.
Keep on Optimizing
With traditional books, there’s not much you can do to improve them short of publishing a new edition. With eBooks, you can constantly optimize and update your work to drive more conversions. Revamping your title, refreshing your cover, or adjusting your pricing could potentially improve your conversion rate significantly. Keep monitoring performance and making improvements to get the most out of eBooks for your business.