How To Produce The PERFECT Viral Ebook
by Harvey Segal
Viral marketing is probably the number one method for generating
traffic and sales - IF it is set up properly.
Take the case of a viral ebook - which means a book that can be
passed from one person to another bringing benefits (profits) for
each party in turn.
How is this achieved ?
The basic concept is that the book contains links to affiliate
products. When a reader of the book makes a purchase from a link
then the affiliate receives the commission.
The creator of such a book will allow some of the links to be
'rebranded' which means a person (who we will refer to as the
rebrander) can replace them with his own affiliate codes thus
collecting commission. This is the obvious incentive for him to
pass the book around and begin the viral progression.
If we want to maximize the benefits for everyone and create the
perfect viral ebook we need to have THREE key factors in place.
1) Wide Distribution
There are many permutations in the ways that you can offer an
ebook. It can be free or paid, and for either option you can
charge for rebranding or offer it free; plus you can have part
customization or full customization. On top of that, for a paid
book you can offer resale rights and even the right to grant
resale rights.
Let's keep it simple.
What we want is the widest possible distribution so that we get
the most commission from the affiliate links.
So we will have a FREE book and FREE rebranding rights.
2) Quality Affiliate Links
It goes without saying that your book should contain good content
on a topic of interest.
But will readers click on those affiliate links ?
The answer is 'NO' if you copy the poor example of many authors,
for instance:
- have you ever opened an ebook and been faced with a barrage of
affiliate links ?
- or seen affiliate products which have nothing to do with the
theme of the book ? For example in a book about hypnotism you get
a link to a web hosting company.
So what is the best way ?
The secret is to have highly relevant links and weave them
naturally into the content in a low key style without appearing
to push for a sale. So when you discuss a particular topic and
want to show where more detail can be found, or how a particular
problem can be solved, that's where you can mention the affiliate
product as a source of further information. If you want to see
really good examples of how to do this read the free book at the
end of this article.
See - that last sentence was an ACTUAL working example of how to
weave in a link.
3) Maximum Return For Both Parties
You need to get the rebranding balance right.
If you give away an ebook and allow all the affiliate links to be
rebranded that is a great deal for the rebrander - but what do
you get out of it ? No affiliate commission, just subscribers
maybe for your mailing list if you have a sign-up form in the
book.
Conversely if you hand out only a few affiliate links for
rebranding then that provides little incentive for the rebrander
to distribute the book.
Ideally what you want is the maximum motivation for your
rebrander which would be
* to allow free rebranding
* to allow ALL the links to be rebranded
but in a way that you can still benefit.
Can that be possible ?
Fortunately it is, using any of 3 different methods
* if the links in the book are for your own products
* If the links are for products for which you have resale rights
* If the links are for 2-tier affiliate programs so that you
collect the 2nd tier commission when a rebrander, who has signed
up under you, makes a sale
And so, if you use these techniques you can begin a viral
marketing campaign which will continue to generate traffic and
sales with little on-going effort on your part.
EXCEPT for two issues we need to resolve
1) What happens if everyone rebrands the book and only makes
purchases from their own copy ?
Well, I have found that in practise only a minority (say 10%)
will take the time to rebrand a book which means that the
majority (90%) will be reading your book and purchasing from YOUR
links.
So there's no problem here.
2) Suppose you plan to produce a viral book. It's about a popular
topic - so it's bound to have a wide circulation - but you can't
find any of the three types of suitable links to put in the book,
i.e. links to a product of your own, to products with resale
rights or for 2-tier affiliate programs.
Is there a solution ?
There is and you can find out the answer in my book "101
SuperTips" - it's actually tip 100.
As you might expect this book is free, with valuable information
linking to highly relevant products, and you can rebrand it,
again for free.
By all the rules above it's a candidate, I hope you agree, for
'the perfect viral ebook' and a profitable source of revenue for
you.
=======================================================
Harvey is the author of several viral ebooks including 101
SuperTips, a collection of unique Internet Marketing tips, which
you can collect at
http://www.supertips.com/101/
As a further example of viral marketing you can reproduce this
article and change the URL to point to your own rebranded
version.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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