People often ask, “what is a mini E-Book” and why is it important in the scheme of my business? To answer the question of “what is a mini E-Book?”: a mini EBook is a 5-25 page executable file or PDF document that discusses a very specific topic. While the mini E-Book has become wildly popular as an Internet marketing tool, it is also used in non-IM niches.
A mini E-Book can be used for a number of different purposes. In general, however, a mini-E-Book is usually used to convey a very specific – and little known – secret about a niche topic, whether it be car waxing or pet care. What is a mini E-Book and how is it different from a regular E-Book? A mini EBook is smaller than a regular E-Book because it doesn't aim to be comprehensive. Instead, it concentrates on providing highly-specific, crucial information about a specific technique or idea. Successful publishers will often going beyond a pre-set scope in their mini E-Book.
While smaller than a normal E-Book, it can still be sold through the same avenues. For instance, publishers who start by asking, “what is a mini E-Book?” often end up asking “where can I sell such a product”? It's simple: they can open a vendor account at http://www.clickbank.com, pay the $50 initial product fee, and then begin selling any amount of mini E-Books.
Additionally, a mini E-Book publisher can also give his or her product away completely free of charge in order to generate traffic. This is often employed by skilled Internet marketers, who will coordinate a massive free give away – and then include some back-end component to return readers to their sites. So what is a mini E-Book and why is it important? It's a short book or report on a specific topic that either generates revenue or facilitates traffic generation.
1.2 What Makes a Mini E-Book a Mini E-Book
What makes a mini E-Book a mini E-Book? A normal E-Book generally spans from between 30 and 75 pages in length; however, there are a number of E-Books that are considerably longer. Ken Evoy's “Make Your Site Sell” (MYSS) -- once dubbed the Bible of Internet marketing – contains well over 700 pages of marketing advice, rife with powerful illustrations and examples. This could hardly be considered a mini E-Book.
Rather, large tomes like Ken Evoy's and even smaller E-Books, such as ones that span from 30 to 75 pages are usually considered full E-Books because they cover a range of topics in considerable depth. They are comprehensive and complete. In stark contrast to the large, comprehensive E-Book is the mini E-Book. So what makes a mini E-Book a mini E-Book? Obviously, the size is important: a mini-EBook generally spans around 5 to 25 pages.
Another important distinction when considering what makes a mini E-Book a mini E-Book is that it is not comprehensive – and this is crucial. Unlike a full EBook, a mini E-Book should give a piece of an incomplete idea, prompting the reader to take action – whether it be to purchase the complete version or to opt-in to a newsletter.
Another part of what makes a mini E-Book a mini E-Book is that it is generally free. Rather than capturing revenue, as most large product launches must do, it seeks to penetrate a specific niche crowd and to pull them in as leads. Additionally, it seeks to give list subscribers a specific incentive to circulate the report, which again will bring in additional revenue.
In summary, what makes a mini E-Book a mini E-Book? It must be short, targeted, incomplete, and yet still effective at persuading list subscribers to circulate it; but most importantly, it should be free.
1.3 The Role of Mini E-Books in Internet Marketing
What is the role of mini E-Books in Internet marketing? In Internet marketing, mini E-Books serve almost exclusively as a viral tool that generates traffic and opt-in list subscriber growth. In many cases, the role of mini E Books in Internet marketing is to generate viral and explosive growth through word of mouth promotion. But before you attempt to integrate mini E-Books into your marketing campaigns, there are a number of important things you should first consider.
The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that your product must have a target market. If you have no list to promote to and no idea whether or not anyone is actively looking for the solution you present in your mini E-Book, do not write it. Start with market research and determine what people really want to know about your specific niche. You can do this by searching forums for hot topics that have received a significant amount of replies. Take one of these topics and generate a quick report about it, using a controversial angle – something that will grab someone's attention and compel them to buy.
Next, determine how you will market your mini E-Book. You can start by looking for joint venture partners. Find webmasters who have lists related to your topic. And then approach them quietly with your offer. But make sure it is compelling. Webmasters with big sites get offers like yours every single day. Yours must stand apart and provide a compelling incentive, such as a large affiliate commission.
Again, the role of mini E-Books in Internet marketing is to generate viral traffic. If you don't have people promoting your E-Book through word of mouth, then you might as well not write it. So start with the market research. Find out if anyone will actually buy your product. Once you do that and develop a good product, start contacting your potential JV partners with a good, compelling offer.
1.4 The Purpose of a Mini E-Book to YOU
What is the purpose of a mini E-Book to you and your business? Is it simply another means through which to generate revenue? In many cases, yes, it is. Often, if you have a list, you can use a bunch of mini E-Books to supplement your income by creating a product in 2-3 days and then selling it for as little as $7.
Who on your list wouldn't buy it, provided that the information was useful and the sales page was compelling? The purpose of a mini E-Book to you and your business that we will discuss in this article has more to do with traffic generation. Many people don't realize this – even as they pound away on repetitive search engine optimization tasks – but the mini E-Book is often the absolute best means through which to generate traffic.
Why spend hundreds of dollars purchasing content and hiring optimization specialists when you can simply create a mini E-Book, give it to your list for free, and watch it spread like wildfire, as your subscribers give it to friends – and their friends also give it to other friends? Of course, to ensure this level of success, you will have to create content that is worth reading and answers an oft-asked question.
You will also want to give your list some sort of incentive to spread the project for you. Perhaps you could make it a re-brandable report with affiliate links that could potentially generate revenue for promoters. Additionally, you will want to teach them how best to disseminate the report. Make sure you stress the importance of the purpose of a mini E-Book and YOU to your email list, so they understand how spreading it will benefit them. Many talented list owners, including the famous Jimmy D. Brown, will attest that this strategy has the potential to pull in massive amounts of traffic with minimal amounts of work.
1.5 Mini E-Books - The Pros
There are dozens of ways through which you can generate traffic. To name only a few – you could optimize your site for the search engines, you could begin a link building campaign, or you could even create an opt-in list and use that to recycle traffic. In this article, “mini E-Books – the pros,” we will discuss using mini EBooks, which are often the best and fastest way to generate traffic.
Mini E-Books – the pros: they're easy and fast to create and they provide considerably more perceived value than a single article. In fact, simply bundling any report in PDF format or executable file format will instantly increase its
perceived value. This means that people will actually spend the time to read it. In many cases, people now simply disregard information and articles on webpages, but if it is packaged as an actual product, it will have a higher perceived value. What are the other pros to mini E-Books? Another huge pro is that they are small enough to read in a single sitting. Why is this good? It's good because a person can read the entire report and then take action while the thoughts provoked are still mulling around in their heads. This means that you can get an even greater response, faster.
Another important pros that this article, “Mini E-Books – the pros” stresses is the raw viral power of mini E-Books. Rather than promoting them yourself, you can simply spread the word that you have put out a completely free, easy-to-use report that is less than 20 pages long. If your subject is interesting, if your crowd is receptive, and if your pitch is reasonable and enticing, you can expect a significant response. In a nutshell, the pros of a mini E-Book include its ability to provoke immediate, focused responses and its ability to act as a tool of viral promotion.
1.6 Mini E-Books - The Cons
In this article, “Mini E-Books – the cons,” I will explain some of the negatives to creating a mini E-Book, rather than a full-length E-Book. While most would assume that there are no negatives, there are actually a number of important things you will want to keep in mind before churning out a mini E-Book to sell to the closest buyers.
The first of the cons we will cover in “mini E-Books – the cons” is completeness of information. If you are trying to entice someone to act on something, then your mini E-Book being incomplete is not a con; instead, it's a pro, as it will put pressure on the readers to take action as soon as they finish reading it. However, if you don't plan on circulating your mini E-Book for free, this incompleteness means you will have to charge a considerably lower price.
The second problem we will cover in “mini E-Books – the cons” is perceived value. While special reports or mini E-Books have a higher perceived value than website articles, complete courses or full E-Books have a considerably higher perceived value than a mini E-Book. Take, for instance, John Reese's Traffic Secrets, which came in the form of MULTIPLE books and MULTIPLE CDs. This high perceived value – and, of course, an excellent marketing campaign – allowed John to successfully earn more than $1,000,000 in under 18 hours selling a $997 product. If he had been selling a 15-page special report, he never could have asked for such a high price. If he was lucky, he might have been able to pull in $27.
The last con we will cover in “mini E-Books – the cons” is that it is harder to find joint venture partners for lower-value products. This means that you will have to find a considerably better incentive if you realistically want to find joint venture partners.
No Comments