More and more businesses are making use of eBooks as a value-add, offering their customers useful content with real-world applications. I, for one, am a huge believer in the efficacy of eBooks.
E-books are popular for a number of reasons:
- They are inexpensive, or even free, to produce and publish.
- It’s easy to promulgate e-books to a very large audience.
- You can manage the distribution yourself.
- It’s a great way to connect with customers and offer useful content.
Simply put, if done right, eBooks can become one of your most powerful and effective content marketing tools.
In this article, I’ll be sharing some tips on creating an eBook that your audience will want to get their hands on.
Make it visual
An eBook that incorporates striking imagery is so much more impactful than one that consists of text only.
Photo by Alice Pasqual on Unsplash
That doesn’t mean that your project is doomed if you don’t have access to a designer, mind you. You can always get some breathtaking free stock photos here or make use of one of the free e-book templates that the generous folks over
at Hubspot have made available.
If you know where to look, creating a good-quality eBook doesn’t have to cost you a dime.
Keep the copy concise and to the point
Remember, this is an e-book, not a novel. People download eBooks because they’re looking to solve a business challenge, so make sure that the copy is restricted to only the essentials.
- Bullet points are a great way to break up ideas into easy-to-digest snippets.
Photo by Fervent Jan on Unsplash
Include a call-to-action
An eBook without a clear call-to-action doesn’t serve much of a purpose. You want the reader to convert some goal at the conclusion of your e-book. You also need to ensure that the CTA stands out and clearly defines what you want the reader to do.
Here are some basic examples of CTAs:
- Subscribe to our newsletter!
- Send us an email
- Rate our service
- Join our community
- Share this eBook on Facebook
The content needs to add real value
Yes, it’s easy to create an eBook and the ease of doing so often means that content marketers put very little effort into their creations.
Ask yourself: what do my customers need to know? What skills or resources do they need that I can provide them with? Get this right, and the content will market itself.
Include contact details and social media links
Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
Make it easy for readers to get in touch with you, and to share the content on their own networks and join your community. Because e-books are generally in PDF format, you can include live links, enabling your readers to click through to various social media networks without having to manually open their browsers.
Include a table of contents
If your e-book only comprises a page or two, you probably don’t have to bother with a table of contents. However, if there are multiple pages and sections in your tome, a table of contents that links to the relevant content makes it easy for readers to jump to the section of interest.
For an example of a visual-driven eBook, check out the one I wrote about web design.
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