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View Full Version : Has Anyone here written an E-Book to market thier services?



Harold Mansfield
05-13-2010, 02:59 PM
I was wondering how powerful the e-book method is and how many of you have gone this route and how successful it is/was for you?

Also, did you/do you distribute your e-book freely, and encourage others to promote it, or protect it and charge for the download or require a sign up of some sort?

vangogh
05-13-2010, 04:16 PM
I haven't but it's something I think about all the time. Mostly a lack of time keeps me from putting one together..

I also ask myself the same questions as you do about whether it should be free or paid and how it should be distributed. Don't think about it as though there's only one way to succeed with an ebook. The answers to your questions come down to what your goals are with the ebook.

You can use an ebook for:

1. Marketing/Branding - here you'd probably let anyone download it and encourage them to distribute it freely. You want as many people to see your name and read your ideas so do what you can to let the ebook itself travel.

2. Increasing rss subscribers. Chris Garret (http://www.chrisg.com/subscribe/) has a couple of ebooks you can only get by subscribing. The link to download them is in the feed. He's not the only one to do this, but he's the first person I noticed doing it. I forget how he promotes the ebooks. They're on the page to subscribe I linked to above, but I think he also promotes the ebooks in other places.

3. Additional income. Here you'd put a price tag on the ebook and advertise on your site and anywhere else you'd market a product. A friend of mine wrote an seo ebook and a few years ago told me it led to a few grand a year. It maybe took him a month or three to write and now it's a source of passive income. He's since written another ebook (maybe 2) for sale and as his subscribers have increased over time I assume he makes even more income from their sales.

Aaron Wall built a business around his seo book, though he's since changed the business model to a membership site.

4. Sales letter. Brian Clark of Copyblogger fame gave away free ebooks early for marketing, but in the last couple of years most of his ebooks are really a long sales letter. They're useful in their own right, but Brian uses them to ultimately sell something, usually a membership site.

Here's his latest free report on seo copywriting (http://scribeseo.com/seo-copywriting/). It offers some useful advice on copywriting for seo, but ultimately exists to sell membership to an seo copywriting tool. He previously offered an ebook that was a sales pitch for his teaching sells course. The course is currently closed so the ebook is offline, but if you send me an email to remind me, I'll send you the PDF.

What the whole thing comes down to is what are your business goals. The ebook is one tool at your disposal that can be used for a variety of things.

phanio
05-14-2010, 11:52 AM
Steve makes some very good points - the goal is what it is you want to accomplish - and the return you expect for the time and cost you put into it.

If you plan on charging - don't short change yourself. I always feel that if something is free - it probably is not worth my time - usually just trying to move me in another direction to buy something else I don't want.

Consumers still equate price with value. Thus, given the seo ebooks mentioned above, what you think you would find more value from - a seo ebook for $5.95 or one for $29.95?

vangogh
05-14-2010, 12:50 PM
Price is an interesting thing. I completely agree with you that we generally associate more value with the higher price. At the same time I know there's a reason most every product you see on an information shows a price of $19.99 as either a one time payment or as a series of payments. That seems to be a price point at which people will have no problem spending.

Now that I have an Iphone I've also noticed that I'm willing to spend 99 cents of $1.99 on things I'm not all that sure I want. At that price I figure if I can get even a few hours of enjoyment from an app the money was well spent. Similarly with ebooks I'll hesitate when I see one priced at $97 and yet be willing to make an impulse buy at $4.99 or $9.99.

I guess it depends on what you're selling and who you think is your market. It probably also makes sense to test different prices to see which leads to the most profit. You might sell less at $97 as opposed to $4.99, but will you sell 20 times less?

greenoak
05-17-2010, 01:24 PM
i hope you read how IttyBiz (http://www.ittybiz.com) did her's...she sold 175,000$$$$ right off the bat......she detailed her launch of it on her blog....it may have been a course...not sure.. i think i mentioned it on here last year...
i was properly amazed.
i figure there is so much free info out there i dont consider it...maybe i should tho...like how to distress and rehabb furniture..
actually i would love to sell something i dont have to manhandle out to someones car or truck!!! it sounds pretty neat.......ann

DeniseTaylor
05-18-2010, 02:28 PM
Hi

I think it depends on the industry. But I would tend to go with this plan:

Create an newsletter (free) and sell your ebook. Here's why:

If you create a newsletter (an ezine), you will establish and develop relationships with your subscribers. Make the content valuable, but brief. Give them information they need and find very useful, but don't give away the store, so to speak.

The newsletter will help you develop an audience who likes what you have to say. It will keep people coming back and keep reminding them of you over and over, because people don't always buy the first time they land on your site. Needs change as time goes by, too.

Then, through feedback and analysis, determine what your visitors need and want. Discover what information is really valuable to them. Put that in your ebook and sell it. You can offer it through your newsletter, but don't push it down their throats. That could make them unsubscribe. The right amount of subtlety works very well.

Then, inside your ebook, dovetail the information with your offline business. This will help you convert ebook sales into long term valuable customers. You can offer your offline services through the newsletter too, but the ebook gives you another level through which to win them over.

Now if what you really want is to convert them to customers and don't care about the ebook sales, you could skip selling the ebook and give it away for free. But you would miss out on intermediate revenue stream. Not everyone will sign up for the big sale, but they can benefit from the contents of your book. Plus, since they paid for the book, there will be a tendency to keep it and refer back to it, rather than deleting it as they would with something free.

If you make them happy with the information you provide, you will create customers. And make sure to give it time, because often the conversions improve as time goes by. You should do testing to increase conversions, as well.

Brian
05-18-2010, 06:02 PM
I have written a 330 page e-book. For years I had been blogging, posting on contractor forums, sending a newsletter, and writing articles for various purposes. When I realized the volume I had written, I simply compiled it all together and had a pretty sizable e-book. So, while it was years in the making, it didn't take too long to actually put together.

It hasn't made me rich, but it does sell steadily and provides a little bit of passive income.

More recently, I realized that a lot of the material had applications outside of my industry. So I eliminated the contractor specific material and produced another e-book. It is too early to tell how it will do.

I definitely think that a newsletter is a good idea. I've done one for 10+ years. Last year I started doing an e-mail version as well.

vangogh
05-19-2010, 12:44 PM
Interesting Brian. I was thinking the same thing about my own blogging. I've written a ton of information and probably enough to compile an ebook. It would require organizing my blog posts into a more meaningful structure and I would want to rewrite a good amount of the content so readers who buy it wouldn't feel like they were paying for something they'd already read. More using the existing posts as first drafts. I also see where the ebook could be designed differently.

Overall though it would save a lot of time in putting the book together since I wouldn't have to start from scratch.

With newsletters do you write something new or do you send out your latest post or posts as the newsletter?

Brian
05-24-2010, 02:37 PM
With newsletters do you write something new or do you send out your latest post or posts as the newsletter?

The newsletters are always new articles. There is certainly overlap in the content between the newsletters and blog posts--sometimes I will expand on an idea, or present it from a different perspective, or something similar.

vangogh
05-25-2010, 11:44 AM
I think that's a good way to do it. I've seen it both ways. Some newsletters are just the latest blog post and if I'm already subscribed to the blog post it makes me wonder why I would need the newsletter too.

I think it works best like you're doing it. Give me something new in the newsletter and then feel free to link back to your blog posts of forum threads or whatever other content you have on your site. Overlap is fine, but I wanted something unique in the newsletter otherwise why do I need to subscribe.

KristineS
05-25-2010, 12:37 PM
We had an e-mail newsletter for a while, and that's how we did it. The newsletter had tips you couldn't get anywhere else, but it also referenced blog posts. The combination seemed to work well. I'm sure we had people who read the blog and didn't subscribe to the newsletter and people who read the newsletter and didn't subscribe to the blog, but those who did both didn't complain about the overlap.

Brian
06-06-2010, 05:50 PM
I recently discovered an interesting way to use e-books. The idea is being promoted by Harvey Segal through an affiliate program. He is offering a free e-book that explains the idea. I just started testing the idea yesterday, so it is too early to report any results.

I signed up for the affiliate program, so I will not post any links. But if you Google "Harvey Segal Ultimate Supertip" you will find plenty of sites that will lead you to the e-book.

I think that the basic idea--give away an e-book to promote your business--has merit. But it will certainly be easier to apply to some businesses than others.

bizjunkie
06-15-2010, 05:55 PM
I have been thinking about an ebook - but, since I already know the information I would put out, I think others might know it too and no one will buy my ebook.

Some great points here - I get tons of newsletter every week but hardly read any of them. I think the only ones I really read are the ones that I don't get their blog.

vangogh
06-15-2010, 10:04 PM
Why would people necessarily know what you know. It's easy to think that, but the truth is your knowledge is unique to you. No one else has exactly the same experiences in life you have. I guarantee there are many things you know that others would be happy to learn.

It's an easy trap to fall into. We think that because something is easy for us it's not as valuable.

Some people will probably know the information you'd put into your book. Most probably won't. And all you need to do is find enough of the people who don't to make a good profit on the ebook.

Brian
06-16-2010, 11:30 AM
It's an easy trap to fall into. We think that because something is easy for us it's not as valuable.

Some people will probably know the information you'd put into your book. Most probably won't. And all you need to do is find enough of the people who don't to make a good profit on the ebook.

I agree. In addition, we often need to hear something multiple times before it sinks it. Sometimes a unique way of putting a particular point or a certain example makes it click. We don't need to discover something new to write a good book--we need to say it in a way that resonates with the reader.

Brian Phillips

amir
06-16-2010, 12:16 PM
I think the question is not if one should write an e-book or not. The question should be, who is going to buy the book and HOW you would get them to know about your book.
I think everyone should write e-books about their products / services / things they know. Either to sell them or give away for free, in order to promote other services/products.

The biggest obstacle I faced was having many e-books and no way to promote them.

I eventually ended up having a 'university' link on my website, giving the information for free, in the hope that someday someone reading it will use my services. I can tell you this approach has worked wonders!

Amir

KristineS
06-16-2010, 01:21 PM
I eventually ended up having a 'university' link on my website, giving the information for free, in the hope that someday someone reading it will use my services. I can tell you this approach has worked wonders!

Amir

I've seen other businesses that have used this approach and had success as well. Educating people can be a really valuable sales tool, particularly if you sell a product or service that is kind of abstract.

Education is also a great way to get people to your website and have them go away with a positive feeling about your company. Even if they don't do business with you then, they will have a positive association with your business in their mind.

RMMarketing
06-21-2010, 06:44 AM
One thing that you can do after you write an ebook is to get it published into a physical book that gets promoted on Amazon. It should build instant credability with your customers when they see that you are a published author.

Use CreateSpace (https://www.createspace.com/) as they will print the book on demand. The whole thing will cost you around $10 (to get the proof of your book) and the setup process is pretty painless.

Rich

vangogh
06-21-2010, 11:46 AM
Rich, have you used CreateSpace before? I'm curious how they compare to some of the other print on demand services. I've actually decided to start putting together an ebook. Something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I haven't decided if I'll go the hardcopy route, but I may, and for $10 it's certainly worth seeing how the proof looks.

As an aside I used to work for a company that owned the patent on print on demand. This was back in 2000 when the bubble was still big and growing. When things started going downhill it was one of the first things the company ditched to make money. I thought it was the one thing the company owned that was actually worth something and selling it off was the worst thing they could do. Oh well.

Spider
06-21-2010, 02:22 PM
I published my book "Keep Your Eyes On The Prize" (paperback) through BookSurge, another Amazon company, that recently merged with CreateSpace, also an Amazon company. BookSurge were very helpful, and if that sort of help and service is carried through by CreateSpace, I can recommend them thoroughly.

vangogh
06-21-2010, 07:41 PM
Probably the same level of support then. Amazon seems to generally be a good company when it comes to supporting their products and services.

The only complaint I have with Amazon is they kicked me out of their affiliate program, because I chose to live in the wrong state. Colorado recently decided to push the sales tax thing on affiliate sales so Amazon pulled out of Colorado by kicking anyone who lives here out of their affiliate program. I think Colorado was wrong in their decision and I think Amazon is overreacting. In the end it's only people like me that really get hurt since we lose a viable way to make some money. My account was actually closed a couple days before I was going to add a page to my site listing all the design and development books I recommend.

I still like Amazon and think they're a great company, but a part of me wants to keep from using any of their services over the whole thing. Kind of a silent protest I guess. Not that I expect it to have any effect, but if I'm not good enough for them…

RMMarketing
06-23-2010, 06:00 AM
Rich, have you used CreateSpace before? I'm curious how they compare to some of the other print on demand services. I've actually decided to start putting together an ebook. Something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I haven't decided if I'll go the hardcopy route, but I may, and for $10 it's certainly worth seeing how the proof looks.

As an aside I used to work for a company that owned the patent on print on demand. This was back in 2000 when the bubble was still big and growing. When things started going downhill it was one of the first things the company ditched to make money. I thought it was the one thing the company owned that was actually worth something and selling it off was the worst thing they could do. Oh well.

Yes I have used them before and the whole process is pretty smooth. It takes a couple of weeks from the time you submit your book until it goes live. They will send you a copy of your book as a proof (which is where the $10 or so comes in). If you like the finished product, you log in and approve it and in a couple of days it will be listed on Amazon.

One of my many projects on my "list to do" is to hire a ghost writer to write the book for me in my Niche. Since I really want to start marketing my service to larger clients, I would then bring a copy of my book to the first meeting with them as a gift. That should give me some instant credability with them since Im a "published author". Just got to start interviewing ghost writers on this one.

Rich

Patrysha
06-23-2010, 09:30 AM
Hey Rich...make sure you include me in the interview process :-)

Harold Mansfield
06-23-2010, 09:39 AM
The only complaint I have with Amazon is they kicked me out of their affiliate program, because I chose to live in the wrong state. Colorado recently decided to push the sales tax thing on affiliate sales so Amazon pulled out of Colorado by kicking anyone who lives here out of their affiliate program. I think Colorado was wrong in their decision and I think Amazon is overreacting. In the end it's only people like me that really get hurt since we lose a viable way to make some money. My account was actually closed a couple days before I was going to add a page to my site listing all the design and development books I recommend.


Ouch, that sucks. I think I remember hearing that either N or S Carolina was facing the same thing.
That has to be a huge blow to anyone in the business.
How do they enforce it? By enforcing it on the companies that pay affiliate commissions?

vangogh
06-23-2010, 11:34 AM
Thanks for the info Rich.


Ouch, that sucks

Yep. North Carolina was the first and I think Rhode Island was the second. Colorado was number three. The timing was so bad too. It all happened about a day or two before I was going to add a page to my site listing all the books I've read and recommend with links to Amazon. Now I'm less inclined to even buy anything from them.

Spider
06-23-2010, 02:05 PM
...It all happened about a day or two before I was going to add a page to my site listing all the books I've read and recommend with links to Amazon. Now I'm less inclined to even buy anything from them.Are you not penalizing Amazon (and yourself, more notedly) for a something your state government did?

vangogh
06-23-2010, 03:58 PM
I haven't stopped using Amazon, other than as an affiliate. I still buy from them same way I always have. All I'm saying is this makes me not want to.

It's not just the state. The state wants the sales tax on the books sold. Amazon claims it has no physical presence in the state and so doesn't need to collect sales tax. The state says that since affiliates are located in the state they do have a physical presence here. Many states meed money given the economy over the last couple of years and they're looking for ways to collect more revenue. I think the states are going about it the wrong way, but I also think Amazon is overreacting to the situation by pulling out and dropping affiliates.

Both are fighting with each other and the main victims are Amazon affiliates. I don't think that's fair and blame both the state and Amazon.

Getting back to me as a customer I only buy books from Amazon. I also like to buy books in the bookstore, mainly Barnes & Noble, despite the higher price in-store. Since this happened I've maintained my usual wishlist at Amazon and purchased books from them. I've also checked the books at the B&N site and found that in some cases the book cost less at B&N, even more so since I'm a member and get an extra discount.

I'll be doing the same thing with the Borders online store. Perhaps I'll end up buying different books at different sites.

No I don't think I'm penalizing myself for any of this and I do think Amazon is partially to blame for the situation so if they are being penalized it's from their own doing. As far as the state is concerned, not being able to sell affiliate products through Amazon means I earn less and so pay less income taxes to the state.

Spider
06-23-2010, 06:20 PM
Well, I'm surprised someone hasn't sued someone else for interference with interstate trade - a big no-no in the Constitution, I believe.

vangogh
06-23-2010, 06:58 PM
I don't think anything illegal is going on. The states have a right to try to collect sales tax and Amazon has the right to run their affiliate program as they see fit. What I think has been and will continue to happen is one state after another will do the same thing as North Carolina, Rhode Island(?), and Colorado have done. For now it's relatively small states in regards to population so Amazon can easily pull out of the state. In time enough small states or a few big ones might tip the scales. I think New York has thought about the issue, but hasn't done anything yet.

Amazon claims they make a very small % of their overall profits through affiliates. Hard to know. Amazon certainly has the brand now, but at the same time think of all the sites you encounter that post affiliate links to Amazon products. I bet a very large portion of links to books go through Amazon and through the affiliate program. You have to think the money they get through affiliates is significant enough to want to keep. Plus the sales tax should only count on sales within the one state. If that's the case then either Amazon's margins are razor thin or this is about something else.

The unfair part is that in the end it's people like me that suffer the most. Not that Amazon sales have ever made up any part of my income, but I've finally reached the point where the audience for my blog is large enough where I think it could. I'm not talking about a lot of money, maybe a couple hundred or so a month. Hardly a lot of money, but still a nice amount to help me reinvest in getting some other projects done.

Business Attorney
06-24-2010, 04:23 PM
Amazon has a very long page that goes into detail on sales taxes on customer purchases here (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468512). As you can see, it IS very complicated.

vangogh
06-24-2010, 07:59 PM
I only skimmed the page, but it's easy to see how complicated this is. I'm wondering now if it's something other than sales tax that's the issue in the 3 states. Amazon is saying that sales in some states are subject to tax so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Could the physical presence thing be more about some kind of corporate tax above and beyond sales tax? If it's something like that I could sooner side with Amazon in this. I don't really think that having an affiliate living in a state should constitute a physical presence by the company. I probably do place a little more blame on the state for my now inability to sell Amazon affiliate products, but at the same time there's a feeling of Amazon saying "If I can't play centerfield then I'm taking my bat and ball and going home and none of you can play either."

greenoak
08-15-2010, 10:18 PM
im real interested in the ebook idea too..as part of our branding, ..and maybe some money......... ...it would be about what we are known for already... our whole furniture thing.... ..how to do it like a tutorial....i think it would be a popular subject with a big target market...... and we would have all kinds of deep hands on experience to write about..

vangogh
08-17-2010, 12:05 AM
Ann why not write something about how to recognize a valuable antique or how to keep your furniture in great shape so it lasts. I would think there are a lot of topics you could cover and it would be a great way to promote your site. You could set it up so the ebook could only be downloaded from your rss feed, so that people have to subscribe to your blog to get it. Or you could put the address on your business card or an in-store flyer that you hand out to customers to encourage them to visit the site.

greenoak
08-17-2010, 06:32 AM
thats my idea vg...and i could also market it on my facebook....800 fans so far..... and i think it would work....the subject would be more about rehabbing and painting and recycling good used furniture....how we paint it , how we turn it into good stuff for the modern family.... etc etc....customers come to us for that kind of info all the time...and to buy what we have rehabbed or created.......
what i need its the copywriter to come into the store for a few hours...see my outline, take the pictures and talk and listen and get the whole idea down....then write my e book...
maybe i will have to insource it....a new word i learned on here....

vangogh
08-17-2010, 03:42 PM
Rehabbing recycled furniture is another good topic. I think there are a lot of topics you could turn into an ebook with your business. And lots of was to make the ebook pay off in some way. If you're looking for a copywriter, keep in mind we have a few here. They may not be able to come into your store, but they may not have to either.

Patrysha
08-17-2010, 06:03 PM
what i need its the copywriter to come into the store for a few hours...see my outline, take the pictures and talk and listen and get the whole idea down....then write my e book...maybe i will have to insource it....a new word i learned on here....

You'd have to find an experienced copywriter who lives in your area (not an easy task, but there's more than likely someone competent enough for the task within driving distance) unless you have the budget to have them come to you...which might be worth it if they can produce a great ghostwritten book that sells and generates interest/sales in your store. But the trip really shouldn't be neccesary if you have good communication with a great writer.

Another option is to write it and then have someone else take care of the editing and layout. You don't necesarily need to write you could talk it through and have a writer transcribe and edit...

So many possibilities just depends on what you want to set your goals and budget at...

greenoak
08-17-2010, 07:16 PM
right, i know there are some good writers on here...hopefully all of them real busy ... but i do want someone who can come in and get the flavor of OUR place...etc...
i hardly know anyone who makes much money selling ebooks........but it would be a good branding thing besides the money..
.IM TRYING TO GET AROUND TO MAKING THE OUTLINE SO I CAN focus on the next step... ..the w hole green movement is huge and we fit right in.... i love the subject....usually our marketing is me thinking it up and having someone here do it with me tweaking it...thats my fallback plot... if i cant find anyone... ...
im thinking about 20 pages and pictures and $$9.99.....does that sound likely?
..ANOTHER ONE I THINK ABOUT SOMETIMES IS RETAIL SURVIVAL....WHICH WE SEEM TO HAVE DONE... BUT THATS A PRETTY HUGE SUBJECT...
I do have lots of posts on that subject on my greenoakshoptalk blog... which would be a start....
i do have a budget if it seems right... we spend a ton on marketing...right now we are in the middle of a 200 commercial run on wsbtv in southbend indiana...the writer did it so fast i couldnt believe it...i gave him tons of notes and we talked and he shot the pictures and talked some more...and somehow he condensed it into 30 secs...and had my main ideas in it just right.... my key headlines...a fun place to shop...and save money with style...and showed the big variety...we had just 2 little adjustments.... .its on my blog and facebook...i was pretty impressed with him...
i

Patrysha
08-17-2010, 07:21 PM
Regarding your television ads...What was your call to action in your ad and what was your baseline for that action prior to the ad run? It's not about judgement, it's about measurement.

greenoak
08-17-2010, 07:37 PM
well the rep called to ask me how our big sale went and when i said great...she said ...see i told you it would work....i thought that was pretty simplistic...a lot more besides the ad was going on...and the ad had just started when our big sale happened....we had been pushing the sale date for weeks and use our big mailing list ...so i couldnt credit the tv for all that...
the call to action was fairly general ... come see a really different kind of store...made clear by the pictures... the call to action also was to get them to our website...which works very well if they get there...anyone who likes our style and sees the website would want to come...

i know you are supposed to measure,, but there are so many things happening at once i do have a tough time measuring....3 really good things this year ::1. we have a new wonderful worker.. .2....800 facebook fans we didnt have last year and 3. good , different product choices...
now you throw in the the tv commercial for a few weeks.......now how would you measure all that? our sales have gone up this year a little...and a bit more in the first 2 weeks of august while the ads running.... but aug.8 was our biggest event of the year too...
if this august ends up over 10 percent better than last we will probably credit the tv....i do a lot of guesswork!!!

Patrysha
08-17-2010, 08:25 PM
Are you happy with that? Some people simply don't want to measure because it is fun to guess. I mean you do get the ebb and flow of things after a while. There is a vibe about a store or restaurant or any business really that you can rely on from year to year. And if you are happy with that then there is no need to measure. It's not difficult or complicated, but it does take time and effort to set up and then to monitor. It could be worth it but it might not neccesarily be any better than what you currently do.

greenoak
08-17-2010, 08:39 PM
im not sure what you mean by monitoring or how you could do it...but i would definitely like the information.... you could make a lot smarter buying decisions if you knew all that..... ...but i dont see how, in a big general situiuation....like how was business in the last quarter, when so many things are happening at once......
i go a lot by customer feedback...i hear about facebook all the time so i know the customers are involved with us and its working...and free!!! and ive heard about the tv some too....but in general i believe in long term ads and all that...
it woiuld be easy if you were just advertizing one thng in one place.... but thats not our situation...

Patrysha
08-17-2010, 08:57 PM
Feedback is one form of measurement, but it is unreliable. Okay for general trends, but not neccesarily the best form of measurement to use to guide things. I've read more than one story of business owners who got told their campaign/store/promotion etc was seen or heard somewhere the owner hadn't advertised...

And I don't know of any successful business that only advertises in one medium or one particular way, but there are tons of ways to differentiate a bit between each element of the campaign so you can do some tracking. None of it is scientific or completely accurate...not for most small businesses...but it can give better guidance than guesses. Customer Reward programs are the best way to really track what your best prospects and customers are up to though.

vangogh
08-17-2010, 10:56 PM
Ann one thing you can do to measure, track, monitor (whatever word you want to use) the success of your advertising is to add something unique to each. If you were directing people to your website it's easy. You mention a different url in each so

Your tv commercial says to visit greenoaksantiques.com/page1
Your newspaper ad says to visit greenoaksantiques.com/page2
Your radio spot says to visit greenoaksantiques.com/page3
etc.

If you're using an analytics package like Google Analytics you can see which url is getting visited the most.

You can do something similar with people coming into the store. Set up a coupon that's slightly different with each ad. The newspaper ad could have an actual coupon. The tv and radio ads could say to mention some word for a unique offer. Then you count which "coupon" did the best. This kind of method isn't perfect, but it does start to tell you which ad is sending more people into the store or at least which is getting more people to say the secret word or hand in a coupon.

greenoak
08-17-2010, 11:36 PM
my c ustomers have never reacted to coupons ....ive tried them a few times... .i never use them myself...do you?
...i do check my statcounter for the area viewers come from....

vangogh
08-18-2010, 06:42 PM
It doesn't have to be coupons. The idea is to have something unique on each ad so you can tell one from the other. Tell people on a commercial to say a certain word for a free gift or some percent off their order or anything you want. When people say the magic word you know the commercial worked. You do the same with other places you advertise and see which is having the biggest impact.

How have you tired coupons in the past? If no one reacted to them it could have been a sign of lots of things. Not necessarily an indication your customers don't respond to coupons.

greenoak
08-18-2010, 07:37 PM
good ideas vg...thanks ... if we continue with the tv i might try the secret word thing..that sounds kind of easy....we got a super deal on the current run...200 ads thru august....and they are on good times... but i dont think that package is offered very often....

most of our customers come when they can...usually being from out of town.so maybe thats why coupons have fallen flat for us....
..,..actually i dont care for them at all... and kind of resent when some coupon clipper gets a better deal than i would get....
i wish there were more facebookers on here...i think thats probably my best marketing right now.and im a real novice.......i posted about candles 2 days ago and have heard several comments about it in the store...

Patrysha
08-18-2010, 08:04 PM
You may be trying to overcomplicate things. Being on FaceBook is not about being a perfect marketer, it's about interacting with your target market. Why not ask them for pictures of your stuff in their houses? Easy enough to turn pics into a video and have more content for FB and other social media links...your customers don't care that you are a novice at this FB stuff...most of them are too...especially with the demographic i think you would most appeal to. They are on FB because they are less techy (in many cases) than you...if they were more techie you would find them on older platforms like email groups and forums...Ask the people who comment in store what they'd like to see you feature...and then do it and then feature the customer (or customers) who recommended it...they'll share that with family and friends for sure :-)

vangogh
08-19-2010, 01:48 AM
Patrysha the picture idea is a great one. Perfect for getting Ann's customers to interact more with her and the store in general. Turning them into a video is a great idea too. Another thought is to ask others to vote for their favorite and then display that picture prominently on Facebook, Ann's site and blog, and also in the store. The in-store picture could have a caption saying "as voted on by our Facebook fans" along with the URL for the Facebook Fan Page. The Facebook pages later shows a picture of the picture hanging in store.

Run something like that every month and you have a wall of winners in the store all showing pictures of things they bought in your store. Customers get to see how wonderful your furniture looks in people's homes. It's social proof that people are buying and enjoying your furniture, and it also helps people imagine your furniture in their homes.

greenoak
08-19-2010, 07:58 AM
thats a good idea...vg..and patrysha./.and really using more pictures fits my hope of good content.....we ask for the pictures already.... and use them on the pin up page on our website.... we could do more on that for sure...i think the facebookkers would like a video..or at least their own album....
patrysha, i think you are misreading the facebookkers ...its part of their day..and they are letting me be part of it.... ..its way easier and so different than a forum or emailing.... my target girls are way tekkier than me, just by their age...i grew up with off and on on my electronics..theyve been on computer since school... ....... most have the income and of the age to use all kinds of stuff i cant...like iphones...they love aps whatever that is..ha ha..some have pink ipads... . and many drive big expensive cars...they are the computer generation compared to me...yesterday a 4 yr old was talking to his dad in video on a phone in his stroller....they like my store and ideas maybe but wouldnt really go to a forum for them..imho...facebook is perfect for them...fast and low comitment..
i totally consider getting 800 followers on there as very good marketing.....im pretty sure lots of business people out there in retail are paying so called marketing experts trying to get to that kind of number for their stores.... if i see a store with numbers up there i really try and study thier methods........ im so thankful for it....and wish i knew how we did it.....i get to talk to 800 people who like our store whenever i want....im not national...these 800 are mostly actual customers... its bringing in money and lots of buzz....and its women who can get here easily...im still doing all the other marketing...but i want to learn facebook as well and as fast as i can...imho its the main thing out there right now....one woman even said , i dont need to be on your email, im on your facebook....
thanks patrysha...youve added another thing to my to do llist...work on customer pictures more....its all about vanity isnt it!!!!

Patrysha
08-19-2010, 09:53 AM
Yeah, I could be misreading...or it could be a difference in how we percieve techie and our age difference and the differences in our target markets. There are people who have done well with FB but the rules and standards are changing all the time and it's not stable enough to say do x or do y and this will result...but the heart of it all is delivering what the customers are looking for. Most of the resources I've come across for FB have been geared towards online marketers and not so much towards small locally geared business.

greenoak
08-20-2010, 07:40 AM
so right, we arent in the same marketing place, my income doesnt come from online, .my targets have to drive to my store.........i dont think its age....???.. ...most of my peers are trying hard, like i am to cash in and be effective on facebook.......
..did you realilze i could send an ad out to women between 30 and 40 who like gardening and live withnn 50 miles of me? thats pretty powerful.... thats why i would love to hear a discussion about the difference between impressions and clicks.... its a facebook decision i have to make sometimes..and im on the learning curve and guessing away like crazy.......

RealProfitStrategies
08-22-2010, 04:48 PM
An ebook can work great as an introductory product to your services. Keep in mind that you still have to market the ebook to get it out to people. Does it make sense for your business to invest the time money and energy that it takes to market an ebook designed to market your services, when you could be marketing your services directly?

Two things you could consider are making a really well-put together, high quality ebook with a great sales page and selling it as a product and recruiting affiliates. Pay them a nice commission and give them plenty of affiliate tools (pre-written email copy, banner ads, articles they can use, etc.) so that they'll be motivated to promote it. This way the affiliates will handle a lot of the marketing for you, which will not only get you exposure, but you can also use this strategy to build a list of email subscribers and sell them on your services over time.

Or you could give away the ebook for free on your website as an incentive for people who sign up for your email newsletter, and then once they're on your list, you can use the emails you send them to market your services, establish credibility, etc.

greenoak
08-22-2010, 05:46 PM
sounds good...im looking at it as some really good content they might be willing to pay for....and i could easily market it thru my facebook...810 fans,!!! today... and my website and blog...and our email list, over 2000 mostly actual customers....
right now im kind of worried about the production costs , like you mentioned..there would be some time, especially for t he first one....and ..my worker wants us to buy a piece of expensive software to do it right....
also im thinking about the text too....the basic stuff i want in it...so its a big learning thing right now....
i see a lot of good in the free thing.... but gettting 9.99 from 100 people sounds pretty good too!!!
im way too much of a novice to think about affiliates....but its interesting....it w ould really have to be pretty good for that!!!
ann

vangogh
08-23-2010, 12:48 AM
If you're looking to create an ebook then there are no production costs. The cost is mainly in time to write the book, unless you find you need to purchases software to help design the book and turn it into a PDF. But the beauty of ebooks is the cost for each copy is essentially nothing. What kind of software is your worker wanting you to purchase. All you need to do is create a PDF and I believe Microsoft Word can export files as a PDF. If not on its own then with a free or inexpensive add on.

The idea behind affiliates is that someone like me could promote your ebook. If I send someone to your site and they buy the book you give me a percentage of the price of the sale. You would want software to set up the affiliate program since there's a lot of tracking involved. You need to know that a specific sale came to your site through my site and how many of those sales you received in a month. There are several programs that you can use to run an affiliate program and I think most will run in the $150 - $250 range. There are also a lot of decisions to make like how much of a cut your affiliates make. Too much and you don't make anything. Not enough and affiliates are less likely to want to sign up for your program.

greenoak
08-23-2010, 06:17 PM
thanks vg...i will tell her that......my worker was thinking about secrutiy and talking about getting something from adobe...
i think i should keep the first one pretty simple and just go with a pdf file...i knew what the affiliate things were generally...not too interested in that so far.....
i would have production costs in paying her to do it.. her going thru our our pictures and rewriting from my outline and notes...its my idea but im not going to be doing the work..i love the idea of no production costs after that....
.ann

vangogh
08-23-2010, 11:44 PM
I'm guessing she was thinking the professional version of Adobe Acrobat, which by the way you could still use. You can get a 30 day trial. If the content is completely written you should be able to format it within 30 days. It's not necessary though. Nice to have and use, but not necessary.

True about the production costs. What I meant is that all those costs go into producing copy #1 of the book. From copy #2 on there are little to no costs involved. Some, but pretty close to $0

billbenson
08-23-2010, 11:51 PM
My question in using Word or similar to save as a pdf is can you include the security that pdf writer would? There are a number of free programs out there that write pdf's. Do they have the same security as adobe? Maybe they are actually better because they are less likely to be hacked as well??

greenoak
08-24-2010, 05:20 AM
i think that wasa her reason bill....i dont really care about the cost if we could use it elsewhere....

vangogh
08-24-2010, 12:56 PM
Why do you need the security on an ebook? I don't think it's worth trying to prevent people from sharing it if that's what you're thinking. People will find a way to share your book with or without security. They do it with physical books now and yet books still seem to sell.

How is your book going to be hacked and what would be the damage?

greenoak
08-24-2010, 02:45 PM
she wants it and thinks its important, .... so im ok with buying it...i dont really have all your answers....she was reading advice about it somewhere else...
...i gather its so someone cant download it and sell it for themselves....why does anyone buy that program?
also today we are talking about putting hyperlinks in...and have it suitable for online readers and downloaders...
i have the outline started and a chart showing what pictures and text and links i want on each page....shes reading up on ebooks also so thats good....she does all the computer stuff for her church and soccer league....shes way above me...i dont understand this stuff at all...i just want the finished idea..andi wantit to be as rich and useful as possible....
ann

billbenson
08-24-2010, 02:48 PM
I was thinking about the ability to prevent someone from altering the document such as the copyright statement. Password protection would protect that, just wondering if the free pdf writers have the ability to do a good job of password protection or writing to a pdf from word for that matter. Hard to prevent people from copying and pasting the document.

It really was more of a curiosity question not necessarily relevant to this thread.

vangogh
08-24-2010, 03:32 PM
I can understand that. I'm not sure how much of an issue it is. People so motivated will find a way to do that anyway I would think. Most people aren't going to alter your document and for those that want to, there are plenty of free tools to let them remove the password protection. Like I said above you can download the free trial of Acrobat Professional and do what you want for 30 days. The more you "protect" your PDF, the more you also limit how your customers can use it. I think it's better to do right by your customers as opposed to worrying about protecting your product from the few who will find a way to remove protection anyway.

billbenson
08-24-2010, 04:12 PM
Kind of getting of the theme of this thread, but I was thinking back to a recent thread where David stated he used pdf's because they can be protected and he needs to be sure they can't be altered because they are legal documents. Just wondering about the difference between adobe and free pdf writers in this regard.

greenoak
08-24-2010, 06:36 PM
i figure she has her reasons......it must have a lot of features not just security... i know that was one issue .... sometimes i just delegate., especfially in the computer field...like i always believe my dh when he says he has to have something new , ha ha...
....we have a lot of internet things going on maybe she sees some useful things you arent seeing...
im glad to see this topic and learn as much about ebooks as i can ...but the hardware isnt my thing...
an ebook is probably the closest i will ever get to passive income....if i can get it done...
what do you think of the links within the ebook?

vangogh
08-24-2010, 08:02 PM
Bill I don't know for certain, but I would imagine there are free or low cost options to add security to PDFs. Acrobat Professional is still the main program people use, but it's not the only one Foxit (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) is a Windows program for working with PDFs. Their PDF suite costs $129 (much less than Acrobat Professional) and their PDF creator by itself is only $29.99 and it looks like it can add the security. Not free, but hardly expensive.

Ann you may want to see if Foxit will work for your needs. It's probably a better option than exporting from Word and it's more than affordable at $30. Even the full suite isn't too expensive.

I guess one of the things none of us had mentioned is the ability to reorganize pages in the PDF and add the bookmarks for people to easily navigate you ebook. Both are in the Foxit PDF Organizer.

greenoak
08-24-2010, 08:08 PM
what do you think about using links in an ebook?

Patrysha
08-24-2010, 08:54 PM
what do you think about using links in an ebook?

Does it fit the intent and purpose of the book? Are the links relevant and useful to the reader? Links are great for books you just know are going to be read online, but if you know it's going to be printed (ie a recipe or how to book is more likely to be printed than a tutorial on WP is going to be)...

vangogh
08-25-2010, 12:25 AM
I completely agree with Patrysha. The most important thing to ask yourself is does this benefit the reader. If the link adds value to the reader then add it. If it doesn't then you don't need to include it. I would think more people would be reading it on a computer. Not everyone will buy an ebook and the likelihood is it will be read on a computer by most, at least enough to justify adding links where they benefit the reader.

greenoak
08-25-2010, 05:56 AM
my workers idea was to make it for both on line and paper readers....her idea was to have it a live link on line and a go here web address on paper...we wouldnt want them to feel like they were missing good info if they were on paper...
... i would guess my target age group, under 40, is mostly on line...
the links would be good i think..especially back tomy blog and our other blog ....and to a couple of real active rehabbing forums......and maybe help spread the interest in the book...
i havent seen many ebooks...are links used very often?

vangogh
08-25-2010, 12:11 PM
Links are fairly common in ebooks. They won't all have links, but many certainly do.

When you say paper do you mean a print copy of the book that people can order? More and more I see both being offered.

greenoak
08-25-2010, 08:33 PM
no i meant the download on their paper...

vangogh
08-26-2010, 03:23 AM
I'm not sure I'm following. When you say their paper do you mean they're downloading the ebook and then printing it?

prettyimpress
08-27-2010, 10:28 AM
Just another guy told me that I can write an ebook today. But I really don't know what to write and how to operate. But from your posts, I've learnt a lot. Thank you.

vangogh
08-28-2010, 12:42 AM
It's not easy to know what to write about. Think about the things you're interested in and think about information people want to know. Look to the subjects you see other people writing about. For example there are a ton of ebooks about making money online. It might even seem like so many how could another sell. The truth is you see all those how to make money online ebooks, because a lot of people want to know about it and are willing to buy those books.

Writing about something you're interested in is also important though, because if you're not interested you probably won't make the time to write the book. You can always pick something you want to learn about and research the subject and take notes while you.

greenoak
08-28-2010, 09:21 AM
yes.... printing it on their printer...so they can have it in hand instead of on the computer screen....
we are making progress on my ebook....who knows tho...we are so swamped right now....so much inventory is flooding in .... probably 100 boxes in the last week ....our store is turning orange for fall!!! and we got over 100 lanterns , to last us thru january.... so weve really been under a lot of pressure just to keep the store presentable as we work thru all the incoming....