Have you noticed the trend of boosting sales with free ebooks? We see them being offered everywhere for just about any topic. eBooks are convenient to read on smartphones, laptops, eBook readers and other devices.
Free eBook giveaways are a smart way to boost your sales. By creating your own downloadable PDF eBooks, you can attract more people online and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
In this post I have 6 tips to help you increase sales using downloadable free eBooks.
Why Create Free Downloadable eBooks?
Use a freebie eBook as a giveaway for your blog readers in exchange for their email address. Offering your readers to subscribe to a newsletter is not as compelling as offering them value-driven content through an eBook.
You can convert your blog audience into loyal subscribers by helping them learn something new or solving a problem through your downloadable eBook.
Your eBook then becomes your opt-in incentive to build your subscriber list. It’s a proven way to get email addresses for email marketing for free.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a way to continue your relationship with your target audience by building trust and loyalty through emails that you send.
It’s an essential tool for any business, especially if you author a blog. Many people will come and go on your blog but you will never know who they are or have the chance to build a relationship. Email marketing helps you make a more personal connection with your audience.
Although many bloggers use social media to connect with their audience, you do not own those networks. When you build your email subscriber list, you own that list.
Consider the fact that when you post content on your Facebook Page, only about 2% of your fans will actually see your post.
On the other hand, when you send an email, 90% of it gets delivered to your subscriber’s inbox. Your email marketing efforts will be seen by more people.
You are also sending email to a very targeted audience because they specifically asked you to send them information.
Having an interested audience helps to drive conversions. After all, that is the end result you are looking for right?
Converting your blog traffic to sales.
That is exactly why you need to build an email list.
Choosing an Email Marketing Provider
An email service provider offers services to:
- Create opt-in forms
- Send automated emails
- Send broadcast emails
- Analytics to track campaign success
Before you can build your subscriber list, you’ll need an email provider. There are many to choose from. Find the one that best suits your needs.
I highly recommend ConvertKit for growing your email list. It is an email marketing company built for bloggers like you.
One of the key features that persuaded me to switch is the fact that you can create an incentive email and attach your freebie PDF eBook for instant download.
When your reader opts into your email list, they can receive an instant email message to confirm their subscription. Instead of the “subscribe” link, you can attach your PDF and change that to a “download” link.
Your readers will be happy with this one-click process that takes care of both confirming a subscription and download a file.
If you use other email marketing companies, it works differently. When a reader opts in to your freebie eBook:
- Receive an email to confirm their subscription.
- Click link to confirm.
- Receive a second email with a link to download the ebook PDF file from an external storage service.
In this case, you will have to store the PDF somewhere. You can use free services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Then you copy the download link to the second email that your new subscriber receives.
Honestly, I find ConvertKit to be so much easier for me and subscribers! I save a lot of steps by having an all-in-one-solution.
How to Build Your Email List using eBooks
Now that you understand the importance of creating and growing your email subscriber list, let’s explore how to effectively use this marketing method.
Create a High-quality eBook on a Useful Topic
The first step is creating your PDF eBook. Depending on the relevant topic you plan to write about, I recommend keeping it short and on point. Ten pages is a good balance.
Think about what benefit your readers will get from your free PDF eBook. Its purpose is not to promote your product or services. The main purpose is to provide value to your readers.
It’s always best to write about a topic that you know a lot about already. That makes it so much easier!
- Choose a source document creation program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
- Create your outline.
- Start writing your eBook.
- Find some cool images. You can get them for free at Pixabay.com and then use Canva.com to create text over your images. Add one image every page or two to make your eBook more readable.
I found some nice eBook templates on Canva.com. If you choose to use one of these, write your content first and then copy and paste to the eBook template.
After you finish writing your guide, have a friend read it to make sure it makes sense and to find errors.
Depending on how you created it, you’ll have to convert it to PDF format. If you use Canva.com, you can just download it as PDF. If you use a software program like Word, you can save in PDF format.
After you create you PDF eBook, upload it to a free service like Dropbox or Google Drive. Then copy the link to your eBook. You’ll use this link for users to download it.
Offer your Free eBook as a Giveaway
There are many ways to use your free PDF eBook as a marketing strategy to boost sales. Always make sure your PDF provides good, quality information so a reader will feel like it was worth the download.
If your guide is detailed with a real value, it’s a great way to get new business. You can easily start a giveaway via your blog or your social media sites.
Give Your PDF eBook to New Subscribers as Free Gift
Getting new subscribers is easier if you give your PDF eBook away as a free gift. You can entice website visitors to sign up for your email list by offering your free downloadable guide.
After they sign up, set up your autoresponder to send a conformation email that includes a link to the download location.
Post your eBook Download Link in Social media
Social media is a great way to get your free eBook in front of a lot of people at once! You can include the link in various social media posts where you comment on a key highlight of your PDF. This will gain some interest for you.
You can also create a capture page where people can opt-in to your list and then download your ebook. Check out Clickfunnels and grab your free trial.
Sell Your eBook on Amazon
If you write a really interesting eBook that offers a ton of value, consider selling it on Amazon. They have their own system for converting content so you’ll have to check into that first. It’s a template that all their digital authors use. This will really help you establish yourself as an authority.
Release a Series of Free eBooks on Similar Topics
If your first ebook is a success, keep on going! Write additional ebooks on similar topics. This will help you understand what people really want.
Over time, you can create one ebook that is a compilation of all your ebooks to offer evrn more value to your readers!
Final Thoughts on Increasing Sales with Free eBooks
I hope you enjoyed these tips about boosting your online sales with eBook giveaways. What type of content do you like to include in ebooks?
Learn more about the most powerful email marketing tools to build your list, increase conversions and drive sales!
Thanks much. You really helped because I was wondering where I was going to upload my free ebook for subsrcibers. I didnt know that i could do it in google docs or dropbox.
So glad i found your site. As a new blogger I need all of the information I can get
Thx again!!
Thanks Lisa.
This is what I was searching for. Will use your method.
And apart from convertkit, is there any other service to avail such opt-in.?
Hey Shadab! There are many email autoresponder providers to choose from for opt-ins. If you search Google, you’ll come up with many. I have none that I can recommend as I tried many in the past and now using ConvertKit.