Teach!
Yes, you too can be an online professor! Why not? Surely you know something related to whatever you're trying to sell that would be worth people's time. Sites such as keen.com allow you to register to allow people to call you for help on just about any topic you choose. You set the rate for the calls (they can even be recorded), and in your listing make sure to mention your site. If you get good ratings as an instructor, you will appear to be more knowledgeable, and more traffic.
There are more sites that will allow you to register to teach online, so find one that suits your needs. Just do a search on virtual universities. You may even earn a little money from this tactic.
Free Ebooks
I've seen people claiming this tactic is dead for some time, but you still see new free ebooks coming out all the time. What's the point of the free ebook? Why, to get word of your business out, of course, just like any other sort of advertising. But to be truly successful, you have to be more subtle with free ebooks. People are tired of seeing ebooks that are nothing more than advertising for a given website or are a mass of affiliate links.
So how do you use a free ebook to market your site? First, write about something your customers would like to know but you need more space than an article to tell them about it. Do your research, and offer something worth the customer's time. Just because you aren't earning money directly from sales doesn't mean your ebook should only deserve to go straight in the trash. Give value just as if you were earning money from the sales of your ebook.
This does mean make very little mention directly of your site. Mention your site at the beginning, in an "About the Author" section, as well as at the end, and only when directly relevant at any other time.
Use affiliate links sparingly, and only when they are of some value to the reader. Just because you have an affiliate links for rides on the Space Shuttle (I can dream, can't I?) doesn't mean you should mention it in a book about quilting.
Be yourself when you're writing. It really isn't that hard to write. Just think about how you would tell a friend about your topic. Use a bit of humor when appropriate and really enjoy telling your readers about your topic.
With free ebooks, you have a few options for distribution. One is you can be the sole distributor, not allow anyone else to offer it. Now, this can be good as an incentive for subscribing to your newsletter, but it's not going to get the attention of people for you beyond that. Be certain that you want the information to be exclusive to your visitors if you decide to do this.
You may also decide to let others freely redistribute your ebook. This has the advantage of greater exposure of your site to others, and if you have affiliate links, possible increased sales. Once again, you have to make the book valuable enough for others to want to offer it to their visitors.
Finally, think about letting others rebrand your ebook, either for free or a reasonable fee. This means their name gets in the ebook as the distributor, and they get their affiliate links in the ebook. Now, your link is still in there as the author, so you aren't losing all your traffic, and you are gaining in credibility, but you are losing affiliate sales, unless they are 2-tier programs and you have the person sign up under you. This is a direct way to make money from your free ebook.
|
