Now that you have succeeded in building a readership base for your blog, you might feel the need or desire to monetize it. How? Add an e-commerce section, and start selling ebooks.
You know some bloggers go “pro” and earn a living from their blogs. As a writer, you likely birthed your blog out of a desire to build an author platform, but you know books typically don’t bring in only a small amount of income.
But you can turn your blog into a livelihood as well as a platform. Put your attention on using your writing skill and expertise to help your blog generate revenue.
What to Sell from Your Blog
You are probably thinking, “E-commerce section? I am a writer. What would I sell on my blog?”
Lots of things. In fact, you could sell almost anything under the sun—including ebooks.
And for authors and bloggers, there’s nothing better than selling ebooks from your website. You know how to write, so producing a manuscript is easy for you. And there are several benefits of selling eBooks on your blog.
Today, freelance writers, authors, industry experts, and creative professionals increasingly use ebooks to achieve multiple benefits—all of which can help you earn an income from your site.
Here are five reasons why you should set up an e-commerce section for your blog, and start selling ebooks.
1. Your Ebooks Make You an Expert in Your Niche
Writers aspire to win the love and trust of their followers as well as build credibility. The credibility factor can help your book or blog have a significant impact on your audience.
To start off aggressively, write ebooks on the most sought-after topics in your niche. By providing answers, solutions, and insights your readers seek, you establish yourself as an industry expert.
Set a price for your ebook, though; do not sell it for free—even if you publish a PDF-type ebook that you sell from your site. If you make the ebook a free offering, the value gets lost on your audience, and, despite the useful content, your audience may not take you seriously.
As soon after you display your ebooks for sale on your site, your audience will look at you as an author who is an expert in his niche. Yes… It’s a psychological factor, but trust that your authority will skyrocket and your work will start getting more attention and respect once you are an author—even the author of an ebook. Don’t be surprised if your blog starts getting more engagement, such as comments and social shares after the ebook launch.
2. Ebooks are Inexpensive and Reader-Friendly
Tablets and smartphones dominate our lifestyles. And many people read books on these devices as well. After all, who wants to carry physical books when they can downloading ebooks on their gadgets?
Habitual readers not only prefer to read online but are quite happy to shell out a little money for compelling content. Those in your market will be thrilled to find you have provided a new resource.
Plus, you don’t need anyone to help you set up your ebook. You can create your manuscript and easily convert the Word document into a PDF file. Even better, convert your Word file into an Epub or Kindle format. There are lots of people who can do this for you inexpensively, or you can do it yourself. Or use a Word template that turns your document into an ebook you can sell on Amazon or other ebook distribution sites.
For learning more about converting your Word file into Epub, visit this site. If you prefer Kindle format, click here.
3. Generate Passive Income
Writing and compiling ebooks requires time and hard work (even though many so-called pros will tell you it’s easy and fast). You need to write a valuable book and have the manuscript professionally edited before you convert it to a PDF, Epub or Mobi file. Plus, you need a professional cover.
On the positive side, the initial efforts you take can pay off for a long, long time—if you do the work required to get the ebook into readers’ hands.
After you have published your ebook, you need to promote it. As you do, your followers (and other people) will start purchasing it. That’s when you begin generating passive income. Depending on the value of the content in your ebooks and the effectiveness of your promotion strategy, you could even make a living out of the revenue from these products.
If your blog enjoys strong traffic already, your sales will pick up right away. If not, you will have to wait for gradual growth in sales (and do more promotion). Either way, your ebooks will generate revenue.
4. Boost your Email List
For any online business, email subscriptions or list building provides a considerable asset. An email list offers a powerful method for engaging and contacting your audience frequently.
Ebooks serve as magnets when it comes to increasing blog subscriptions. While many bloggers offer them free as a “lead magnet,” you can place a small price tag on your ebook and still attract a lot of subscribers.
Besides getting subscribers, ebooks play an essential role in generating interest in your other products among your blog readers. Once they purchase an ebook, they are more likely to want information on and buy your premium offering.
5. Create more Business Opportunities
Last, but not least, ebooks can open up numerous business opportunities for you. By creating a well-researched and well-written ebook and designing it professionally, you not only market your blog but yourself as well. When you readers notice how good you are at creating in-depth and beneficial content, they will want your other products services, such as coaching, consulting, online training programs, webinars, teleseminars, and more.
Additionally, if your ebook gains even a moderate-level success, this can lead to bigger writing opportunities. You could be invited into joint authorship opportunities from other authors or bloggers, be approached by agents or publishers, or be invited to write for publications other well-trafficked blogs.
Ebooks Provide the First Step to Blog Monetization
Ebooks are just the tip of the iceberg.
As you start creating ebooks, you will generate many other ideas for products and services you can offer from your site—including more books. And that’s when you will begin to create the type of income that will pay your bills…and more.
Do not give up even if you don’t see immediate results, though. Being patient is the key when implementing a new idea. Start the e-commerce section of your blog with a simple-but-valuable ebook today, and you soon you turn your followers and blog readers into buyers.
Do you sell ebooks from your blog? Tell me in a comment below about your experience.
About the Author
Sanjay Bojan is a blogger and researcher who contributes on various high profile sites including Forbes, Huffington Post, and TechCrunch. For writing wok and brand promotion, you can contact him at sanjay.bojan2@gmail.com.
Image copyright: geralt / Pixabay.com
Your post is very informative, I learned a lot. thanks 🙂
Hello, Amazing information shared by you on E-books. Keep it up and Thank you very much.