Writing an eBook for your business is a great way to showcase your expertise, build brand recognition and engage clients, as well as create leads and improve your site’s search engine optimisation (SEO). You see a well written eBook has the potential to be shared over and over again, promoting brand credibility, not to mention the fact it’s a great way to market your business.
The good news is that you don’t have to write like a Pulitzer Prize winning author to put together a great eBook for your business. All you need is a little know-how – which is why we’ve put together this short guide of useful hints and tips to help you get started.
5 Easy Steps to Writing an eBook
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Choose your eBook topic
When it comes to choosing the topic for your eBook, brainstorming, researching and listing what you’re passionate about are great techniques to get you started. Think about what your customers and prospects ask you for over and over again. Keep track of the types of information and expertise they ask you for as this makes the perfect subject matter for an eBook.
Take time to check out what your competitors are doing, including how they reach their clients and prospects and any eBook topics they might be writing about. This may inspire you to write about something similar that you know potential customers are responding to, only you can produce a new and improved version of a topic.
Once you have a shortlist of eBook topic ideas, rate them in order of how excited each one makes you. You want to choose a topic that you are excited about and are an authority on as these are the ones that you are most likely to feel most committed to. Next think about your own business priorities and try to choose that topic that marries audience interest with your own current business priorities and passion.
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Know your target audience
The next step is to identify your target audience and think about how you’re going to reach them and how they will find or purchase your eBook.
It’s important to choose a topic that you know and love but at the end of the day, you also want to produce an eBook that is informative and going to add value to your target audience so you need to thoroughly research your topic to ensure there are going to be readers out there eager to download this information.
Never assume that you think just like your target audience and take time to think about how well you really know your customers. If you really want to engage potential readers then you need to ask them what they want so that you can fully understand their needs.
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Start writing your eBook
With your topic decided, it’s time to plan your eBook with a breakdown of all your content. Start with a clear outline including a breakdown of every section, a title for each chapter, subject headings etc. Or try creating a mind-map of all your ideas as a creative alternative to setting out your eBook content.
Remember, your eBook doesn’t only need to contain words and in fact, content is much easier to digest if it’s broken up with great looking graphics and images – even video.
The time you invest in this planning stage will make writing your eBook much easier and help keep your production on track. Schedule time for writing and create a production schedule so that you have an end goal and publication date in sight.
If you’re not a wordsmith yourself then you can always think about hiring a content writer to produce a good quality eBook for your business. Also take into consideration the look and feel you want for your eBook and use a graphic designer to help ensure your eBook is reader-friendly in layout and is branded consistently with the rest of your marketing collateral. Creating your eBook as a PDF is a very popular format as people can easily access this download from a lot of devices. Your eBook can also include useful links back to your own website
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Select a great title
The title of your eBook will be something that is going to draw your target audience in and make them want to download it. The perfect title is something that sums up the main premise of your eBook in just a few words – easier said than done! To make life easier for yourself, think of a succinct (but catchy) title plus a subtitle that lets you convey a bit more information. At the end of the day, your target audience should be able to read you eBook title and have a good idea of what it’s all about.
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Promote your eBook
There are plenty of ways to give people access to your eBook and it is possible to make money by selling your eBooks if your reputation is good enough. But for small business owners, it’s a good idea to make your eBooks available as a free download from your website or via your business blog, share it with business contacts and industry groups as well as emailing it to people who sign up to your newsletter.
Don’t forget to announce the launch of your eBook in your eNewsletter, customer email blasts and via your social media channels for maximum reach.
Note: Try to avoid common mistakes
One of the most common mistakes out there is for people to produce an eBook about what they consider to be a ‘hot topic’ that they actually know nothing about. If you go down this path then creating an eBook is going to be a huge amount of work. Avoid this mistake by writing about something you actually know about. Also, never assume that you know what your audience wants and instead take time to survey customers and ask them to choose between a few potential eBook topics.
Finally, if you want people to spread the word about your eBook then it’s important to make it actually useful. An eBook with valuable information and your company credited at the end will do wonders for your brand credibility and business reputation.
For great tips and advice on all things web and digital, speak to the team at your local Kwik Kopy today.
