Things You'll Need:
- Ebook or an idea for an ebook
- Internet access
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Step 1
Find your target audience. Let’s say you’ve written a self-help ebook about motivation. The first question to ask is who will be looking for an ebook on motivation? Business professionals,writers or athletes? Once you narrow down your target customer groups, make a list of any interests your customers may have. The more information you can compile about your target customers, the better.
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Step 2
Outline a marketing plan. How you market your self-help ebook will play a gigantic role in how many sales are made. The information gathered on your target audiences will give you definite ideas as to where your customers hang out online.Search engines, article directories, bookmark sites, forums, banner ads, pay-per-click ads, affiliate programs and joint venture partnerships are all viable ways of marketing your self-help ebook. Generally, the more money you have to invest in marketing, the less time will be required. Search engine placement, writing articles, social networks, bookmark sites and forums are all cost-free marketing methods, but they take time to learn and implement (see Resource listings below).
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Step 3
Identify the target keyword groups. Regardless of which marketing channels you decide on, keywords and tags are how customers find what they’re looking for online. Any sales pages, websites or articles you write must be keyword optimized to the same search words used by your target audiences. There are several free and paid keyword search tools available online to help (see Resources below).
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Step 4
Narrow down your topic keywords to as specific an area as possible using keyword phrase groups. This is called finding the long tail keywords for your product’s listing. So if you’re marketing a self-help ebook on motivation, try to target a specific audience or area where motivation can be applied. An example long tail keyword phrase for this would be “business success motivation.” Tags are pretty much the same thing as keywords in that they work as locators for your product. Tags are most commonly used at bookmark sites, blogs and just about any Web 2.0 content-oriented application (see Resource below).
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Step 5
Put up an ebook website. Ultimately, a mini-site centered around your niche area is the best way to build rapport with your customers. Rapport building--especially when working within the self help niche--can have a powerful impact on customer trust and on establishing yourself as an expert in your niche. If you're just starting out, putting up a product sales page for your self-help ebook should be the first thing you do. Make this page heavily keyword-targeted with engaging content that lists the best of the best of what your self help ebook has to offer.
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Step 6
Market a freebie offering. Nothing draws a potential customer like a free offer. A condensed version of your self-help ebook, related free ebook, handy tool or even one-on-one email consultations are a great way to get traffic to your sales page. The added benefit of offering a freebie is that you can build a list of prospects for any future products you want to sell. In the long run, marketing a free offer for any of your self-help ebooks can be just as important as marketing the ebooks themselves.
