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20 Ways To Increase Website Traffic And E-Book Sales

by Catherine Franz

Here's a fast, easy list for you. Use it as checklist to see what you need to do to increase traffic. Or use it as a review list if you have already been working on improving your website traffic. It will help you find ways that you might have known or forgotten.

1. People love to receive free or win free stuff, whether they really need it or want it. A free e-book is perfect to satisfy those needs over the Internet. They will visit your website to get the free valuable information.

2. Give away the full version of your e-book in exchange for testimonials. You can use these customer statements to improve your ads' effectiveness.

3. When you create an e-book, you change your image to "Expert". This will gain people's trust and they will buy your main product or service quicker.

4. Publish your website in e-book format. Put the e-book on a disk or CD-ROM then include it with your direct mail packages. This can increase the number of people that buy your product or service.

5. Offer your e-book as a free bonus for buying one of your main products or services. People will buy the product or service more often when you offer a free bonus.

6. Tell-A-Friend technique: Allow people to download your free e-book only if they give the e-mail addresses of 3 to 5 friends or associates that would be interested in your e-book. This will quickly build your e-mail list.

7. Create a directory of websites in e-book form. List websites of people who agree to advertise the e-book on their websites or e-zine. This will give them an incentive to give away or advertise your e-book.

8. Allow other people to give away your free e-book. This increases the number of people that will see your ad in the e-book. You can also include a mini catalog of all your product or services that you offer in the e-book.

9. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give you their contact information before they can download your e-book. This is a very effective way to conduct market research.

10. Make money selling advertising space in your e-book. You could charge for full-page color ads, classified ads or banners ads. You could also trade advertising space in your e-book for other forms of advertising.

11. Give away the e-book as a gift to your current customers as a way of letting them know you appreciate their business. Place an ad in the e-book for a new backend product you are offering.

12. Get free advertising by submitting your e-book to freebie and freeware/shareware websites. This will increase the number of people that will download your e-book and see your ad.

13. Make money by selling the reprint rights to those that would like to sell the e-book. You could also make even more money by selling the master rights. This would allow other people to sell the reprint rights.

14. Hold a contest on your website so people can win your e-book. You will get free advertising by submitting your contest ad to free contest or sweepstakes directories. Just make sure you publicize the winner's information. They love the acknowledgment.

15. You will gain valuable referrals from people telling others about your e-book. Word-of-mouth advertising can be very effective.

16. Make money cross-promoting your e-book with other people's products or services. This technique doubles your marketing effort without spending more time and money on your part.

17. Increase your e-zine subscribers by giving away your e-book to people that subscribe to your e-zine. This will give people an incentive to subscribe. Allow your e-zine subscribers to also give it away to multiply your subscribers.

18. Give away the e-book to people that join your affiliate program. This will increase the number of people that subscribe. You could also create an e-book for them to use that will help them promote your product or service.

19. Give away the e-book in exchange for people leaving their contact information. This will help you follow-up with the prospects that buy your main product or service.

20. Offer a free e-book that contains a couple of sample chapters. If they like it, give them the option of ordering the full version. It would work just like a software demo or shareware.

You will want to print this list and keep it in your website improvement file if you aren't quite ready. Or add it to your planning list.

Catherine Franz, a Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, non-fiction, training.

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