Author: Joan Clout-Kruse
"I want to write an eBook and make some money," my earnest writer, Nancy, said to me. She heard that eBooks make money and she wanted to use this easy method rather than write a traditional book that takes much longer to publish. There are thousands of articles on the Internet that show you how to write an eBook, but very few that tell you what you need to do to market and sell your eBook online.Writing the eBook is the easy part.
There are many other things that need to be done to sell your eBook. Listed below are some of the basic activities that need to be done so that people will come to your Website and buy your eBook and you will make money. If you don't know what some of the terms I mention below mean, then start searching the Internet for these words and buy an eBook that covers this information.
1. Do your research Before you begin writing, do your research. Research your area of expertise and determine if your eBook is likely to be profitable. Do an Internet search for your topic and see what eBooks are out there on your subject. Check out the prices. Soon you will know how to write an eBook with your niche that will sell.
2. Build a website that attracts traffic First you have to have a place to sell your eBook. It must be traffic rich with keywords that attract a targeted traffic -- people who already are looking for the type of eBook you have to offer. Build your keyword rich Website and the Internet surfers will come and visit you.
3. Build your listCollect business cards at networking and speaking events. Add the names and email addresses to your autoresponder. Drive traffic to your Website by writing eZine articles on your subject and sending them to eZine article services. Offer a free report if they sign up for your newsletter which you will send to them once or twice a month. Oh yes, you have to get an autoresponder service to collect your names. Do an Internet search for "autoresponder" and you will find several services that offer this.
4. Write a sales page Start looking at Websites that offer an eBook similar to yours. Check out their promotional sales letter. Would you buy the product based on their sales letter? If yes, then write a sales letter similar to theirs, but don't copy word for word. Create your own exciting copy that will make people want to buy your eBook.
5. A Paypal account with a Paypal button on your sales pageStart with a Paypal account to use to sell your book and make money. Later, when your sales are bigger and you have more than one product to sell on your site you can sign up for a commercial credit card account.
6. Promote your book in forums, blogs, and social networking sitesOn blogs and forums everytime you make a comment include your name, eBook title and Web address if possible. Sign up for Facebook, Linkedin and other social networking sites to promote your book and direct people to your site. Include a chapter, or part of one, on your networking sites to give people a taste of the eBook. There are eBook directories that can help promote your eBook.
7. Write articles for article directoriesWriting articles of 600-1000 words and sending them to eZine article services is a good way to get people to come to your site. Check out the site EzineArticles as they have good articles on how to use them and the guidelines are similar for other services. This gets your name and Website address out there in Internet world and some people will come to your site and sign up for your eZine. Then you will have more names added to your list.
8. Joint VenturesTeam up with other eBook authors to cross promote each other's eBooks. Promise to send referrals to each other and recommend each other's products. It may be difficult at first if you don't have a large list of names, but give it a try. If it is a good eBook partners may be interested in promoting your book for a 40-50% commission. Selling your eBook takes weeks or months of work. Begin doing these activities while you are writing your eBook. Don't wait until it is finished. Wouldn't it be nice if you already had a built in list of names to announce your new eBook to? This can happen if you have been steadily acquiring business cards and adding them to your list.
Plus get signups for the eZine (online newsletter) that you promised your subscribers you would send out once or twice a month.Get started writing and submitting articles, building your website, building your list, creating your sales copy, posting to your blog, and getting joint venture experts to promote and sell your eBook.Little did Nancy know that selling an eBook would take lots work. But if she takes some baby steps every day she will get it done in her own time, and so will you.Copyright 2008, Joan Clout-Kruse. All rights reserved.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/write-an-ebook-make-money-390793.html
About the Author:
America's Book Coach, Joan Clout-Kruse, helps entrepreneurs and business professionals write a book that will get them recognized as an expert, attract more clients and boost their income. Sign up for the Free Sneak Preview of Joan's Writers Retreat where you'll learn how to write, market and publish your book at http://www.BizBookWritersRetreat.com
Saturday, May 3, 2008
How To Make Money Online With Elance
By James Burchill
Do you write? Can you string together words and sentences – like this? Would you like to make a few extra bucks (maybe more…) without the hassles of a traditional job? You would? Then welcome to the wonderful world of freelance writing on Elance.
-- What is Elance?
Elance is a website forum, a marketplace that allows people from all over the world to actively participate in buying and selling their products and services. As a freelance writer you can offer your writing services with very little effort on your part. If you can surf the web, use email and generally communicate in English (yup, it’s the principal language used on Elance) then you are pretty much good to go.
-- How Does It Work?
It’s quite simple; Elance is a subscription based website that charges you a small fee to become a member. At the time of writing basic monthly subscriptions begin at $30. Once you’re registered you can browse all the active (open) projects and bid on the ones that interest you. As a member you can even set up a personal store front (profile) and showcase your products and services to potential buyers (and it’s not unusual to get direct enquiries from buyers this way.)
-- If Your Bid Is Chosen
If your bid is selected you will get the chance to decide if you want to proceed with the project or not. If you decide to go ahead then you and the buyer enter into an agreement (Elance provides templates and samples at no charge.) You provide the services to the buyer and the buyer pays you what they promised – simple.
Elance gets a small commission on all projects that are awarded. But don’t worry, there is no cost to you for winning projects – that’s the buyers responsibility and the buyer will be billed directly (it doesn’t even come out of the agreed project payments!)
-- So How Much Work Is Available To You?
That’s a good question; after all if you are going to spend at least $30 a month on a basic subscription, you really need to figure out if the subscription is worth it. The number of open projects varies, however it’s not unusual to find between 150 and 200 writing projects available at any given time.
-- And How Much Are These Projects Worth?
There are currently two types of project postings on Elance: BASIC and SELECT. If you have only chosen a basic membership then you can only bid on Basic projects. You will need a Select membership to bid on the select projects.
And the reason you would buy a select membership is simple – select projects pay more, are less likely to end without being awarded (yes there are people on Elance who post projects to “get a feel for the market” and have no intention of actually awarding the project!)
So back to the main question – how much are the projects really worth? Again, this data varies over time (I cover this and more in my new report on www.ElanceExposed.com), however here’s a quick ‘rule of thumb’ that I’ve found to be fairly accurate: If you multiply all the number of open projects by $250 and multiply that again by 70% you will get a fairly good idea. For example, 200 open projects X $250 X 70% = $35,000
-- But What About the “Big” Projects?
There are big projects on Elance, they get posted infrequently but they are available. As you might imagine these projects are usually posted by companies – not people – and they usually pay 5 to 10 times what a regular project pays. With this kind of payout you can imagine the competition is quite high, however pitching to a business is not the same as pitching to a person.
-- What About Gotchas And Other Issues?
There aren’t too many. The biggest one that springs to mind is that Elance currently does not offer a refund policy on their subscriptions. You actually have to get on board and sign up to get a feel for the Elance market. And to be quite frank, you really need to give yourself a fighting chance and sign up for three months.
If you signed up for a three month Select membership you would currently pay $150 USD. That’s not a huge amount of money, but it is a bit steep if you find out that Elance is not for you.
-- Here Are a Few Elance Quick Facts:
* 100,000+ potential buyers visit Elance Online every week
* Web's #1 consulting site and top 1,000 most visited site
* Awarded Best of the Web by Forbes (2003)
* Reliability Certified by the Better Business Bureau
-- And Here Are a Few Neat Benefits of Using Elance:
* Easily market yourself to a global pool of prospective clients.
* Pitch your services at prices you establish.
* Make a profit as an independent consultant.
It’s true, thousands of service firms and individuals take advantage of Elance as a marketing channel. And Elance actively supports your efforts with aggressive online and offline marketing delivering high volumes of traffic.
-- Remember, You Can Win Work 3 Different Ways:
(1) Answer the phone after people check out your online profile and work samples.
(2) Develop pre-priced ‘buy now’ packages that buyers can purchase instantly.
(3) Bid on projects – many buyers post their requirements directly online.
-- Conclusions
Before you dive into Elance you might want to do some digging on the Internet to get a feel for what others have experienced. For instance you might want to find out more about the bid success ratios, the real differences between Basic and Select projects, how many projects will pay you more than $1,500 and so forth.
You can make money on Elance if you know what you are doing, and quite frankly all it takes is a little time and patience. Good luck, and happy bidding!
JAMES BURCHILL is an experienced Internet Marketing & Business Development specialist providing strategic and tactical solutions to select clients seeking to architect their on and off line marketing success. James is a published author, a passionate advocate of technology and the Internet, as well as an avid study of classical advertising and marketing strategies.
Prior to establishing his own unique consulting practice, he served as VP of Professional Services and VP of IT & Consulting and implemented multi-million dollar solutions for Oracle, the British and US Governments, Rolls Royce UK and many others. James taught Computer Science at one of Toronto's leading colleges and continues to coach private clients on a select basis. For more information visit James' Elance site at http://elance-exposed.jamesburchill.com or checkout his main website at http://www.jamesburchill.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Burchill
Do you write? Can you string together words and sentences – like this? Would you like to make a few extra bucks (maybe more…) without the hassles of a traditional job? You would? Then welcome to the wonderful world of freelance writing on Elance.
-- What is Elance?
Elance is a website forum, a marketplace that allows people from all over the world to actively participate in buying and selling their products and services. As a freelance writer you can offer your writing services with very little effort on your part. If you can surf the web, use email and generally communicate in English (yup, it’s the principal language used on Elance) then you are pretty much good to go.
-- How Does It Work?
It’s quite simple; Elance is a subscription based website that charges you a small fee to become a member. At the time of writing basic monthly subscriptions begin at $30. Once you’re registered you can browse all the active (open) projects and bid on the ones that interest you. As a member you can even set up a personal store front (profile) and showcase your products and services to potential buyers (and it’s not unusual to get direct enquiries from buyers this way.)
-- If Your Bid Is Chosen
If your bid is selected you will get the chance to decide if you want to proceed with the project or not. If you decide to go ahead then you and the buyer enter into an agreement (Elance provides templates and samples at no charge.) You provide the services to the buyer and the buyer pays you what they promised – simple.
Elance gets a small commission on all projects that are awarded. But don’t worry, there is no cost to you for winning projects – that’s the buyers responsibility and the buyer will be billed directly (it doesn’t even come out of the agreed project payments!)
-- So How Much Work Is Available To You?
That’s a good question; after all if you are going to spend at least $30 a month on a basic subscription, you really need to figure out if the subscription is worth it. The number of open projects varies, however it’s not unusual to find between 150 and 200 writing projects available at any given time.
-- And How Much Are These Projects Worth?
There are currently two types of project postings on Elance: BASIC and SELECT. If you have only chosen a basic membership then you can only bid on Basic projects. You will need a Select membership to bid on the select projects.
And the reason you would buy a select membership is simple – select projects pay more, are less likely to end without being awarded (yes there are people on Elance who post projects to “get a feel for the market” and have no intention of actually awarding the project!)
So back to the main question – how much are the projects really worth? Again, this data varies over time (I cover this and more in my new report on www.ElanceExposed.com), however here’s a quick ‘rule of thumb’ that I’ve found to be fairly accurate: If you multiply all the number of open projects by $250 and multiply that again by 70% you will get a fairly good idea. For example, 200 open projects X $250 X 70% = $35,000
-- But What About the “Big” Projects?
There are big projects on Elance, they get posted infrequently but they are available. As you might imagine these projects are usually posted by companies – not people – and they usually pay 5 to 10 times what a regular project pays. With this kind of payout you can imagine the competition is quite high, however pitching to a business is not the same as pitching to a person.
-- What About Gotchas And Other Issues?
There aren’t too many. The biggest one that springs to mind is that Elance currently does not offer a refund policy on their subscriptions. You actually have to get on board and sign up to get a feel for the Elance market. And to be quite frank, you really need to give yourself a fighting chance and sign up for three months.
If you signed up for a three month Select membership you would currently pay $150 USD. That’s not a huge amount of money, but it is a bit steep if you find out that Elance is not for you.
-- Here Are a Few Elance Quick Facts:
* 100,000+ potential buyers visit Elance Online every week
* Web's #1 consulting site and top 1,000 most visited site
* Awarded Best of the Web by Forbes (2003)
* Reliability Certified by the Better Business Bureau
-- And Here Are a Few Neat Benefits of Using Elance:
* Easily market yourself to a global pool of prospective clients.
* Pitch your services at prices you establish.
* Make a profit as an independent consultant.
It’s true, thousands of service firms and individuals take advantage of Elance as a marketing channel. And Elance actively supports your efforts with aggressive online and offline marketing delivering high volumes of traffic.
-- Remember, You Can Win Work 3 Different Ways:
(1) Answer the phone after people check out your online profile and work samples.
(2) Develop pre-priced ‘buy now’ packages that buyers can purchase instantly.
(3) Bid on projects – many buyers post their requirements directly online.
-- Conclusions
Before you dive into Elance you might want to do some digging on the Internet to get a feel for what others have experienced. For instance you might want to find out more about the bid success ratios, the real differences between Basic and Select projects, how many projects will pay you more than $1,500 and so forth.
You can make money on Elance if you know what you are doing, and quite frankly all it takes is a little time and patience. Good luck, and happy bidding!
JAMES BURCHILL is an experienced Internet Marketing & Business Development specialist providing strategic and tactical solutions to select clients seeking to architect their on and off line marketing success. James is a published author, a passionate advocate of technology and the Internet, as well as an avid study of classical advertising and marketing strategies.
Prior to establishing his own unique consulting practice, he served as VP of Professional Services and VP of IT & Consulting and implemented multi-million dollar solutions for Oracle, the British and US Governments, Rolls Royce UK and many others. James taught Computer Science at one of Toronto's leading colleges and continues to coach private clients on a select basis. For more information visit James' Elance site at http://elance-exposed.jamesburchill.com or checkout his main website at http://www.jamesburchill.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Burchill
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