5 Ways an e-book Can Benefit Your Business

Written by Laurie Zinn@LineByLineLLC10 years ago

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Businesses are in constant content generation mode. We’re writing blogs, sending out e-blasts, and getting involved in social media – all to establish that connection with our customers, become a trusted resource, and gradually earn more business.

One important piece of content that is often overlooked in our content generation efforts is an e-book.

What is an e-book?

An e-book is an electronic book that can be downloaded to a computer, a tablet or a reading device such as a Kindle or Nook. E-books contain numbered pages and chapters, just like a printed book, but are often faster and easier to publish.

How Can an e-book Benefit Your Business?

Maybe it’s the size that intimidates most business owners from attempting to write an e-book, or the fact that most business owners don’t consider themselves authors.

But you don’t have to be a New York Times Bestselling author to write an e-book for your business. All you need to do is share what you are already an expert at.

An e-book can offer many benefits to your business:

1. Credibility. When you write an e-book about a topic that is helpful or informative to your audience, you establish credibility. Your audience views you as a trusted professional in your industry.
2. Credibility = Sales. The more credible you are, the more likely someone will be to buy from you. People prefer to do business with those they know, like and trust, and writing an e-book is an effective way to establish that trust.
3. Capture email addresses. Providing a free, downloadable e-book on your website is a great way to share your information in exchange for an email address. Then you can use their email address build your email contact list.
4. Repurpose your content. Once you have your e-book written, you can repurpose the information, or breathe new life into it, by using it in other ways. You can break the e-book down into a series of blog articles, use the facts or tips for social media posts, or convert it to a slide show presentation.
5. Use it as a revenue generator. E-books can be offered for free as a way to collect email addresses, or you can charge for them. If your first e-book was free and offered value to your customers, they may be willing to pay for your subsequent e-books.

An e-book packed full of useful content for your readers is well worth the time invested to write it. It has the power to grow your potential customer base, position you as an expert, and generate more sales for your business.

Laurie Zinn is a Columbus-based freelance writer and owner of Line-By-Line. She helps businesses communicate with their customers through website content, blog articles, email marketing campaigns and social media. For more information about Line-By-Line, visit http://line-by-line.us or contact Laurie at laurie@line-by-line.us.