Listen to your audience when making an eBook by doing keyword research, tracking your user activity, observing your competitors and just flat out asking your audience what they need.
For maximum conversion rates to your email newsletter, you must offer your readers an incentive to “drink the kool-aid” (as they say). There are several sources of content for your eBooks, but deciding what content to use can be the most tricky part.
Here are four creative ideas for making an eBook based on what your audience is telling you:
Do keyword research: Possibly the most important step in making an eBook is finding out what users are searching for. Developing a fantastic product is not good enough, you need to title and optimize the email collection page for keywords that users are searching with. We can’t stress this enough – don’t launch an audience development campaign without doing your keyword research first. Otherwise, you’re wasting valuable time creating a product that not many people will ever find or see!
- Use the free Google Keyword Tool to find keyword phrases that have a high search volume.
- Google the keyword phrase “in quotes” to find out your competition.
- If the ratio is good, you have yourself a winner.
- Read our tip on How to Choose Keywords for Your Blog Titles for more tips on how to use the Google Keyword Tool.
Identify your most popular content: With your analytics package, identify your online articles with the most number of clicks and length of time spent on them. This will help you determine the type of content on your site that’s most useful to your users.
If the article is extensive, you may be able to use it as the whole eBook, or you may need to compile multiple articles. We recommend reports be at least 3 pages but can be as long as 30. When you’re done, don’t forget to do your keyword research before you title the eBook.
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Ask your audience: Still not on the social media bandwagon? Well here’s a great place to start. Join Twitter and other popular social media tools in your industry to talk with your audience. Don’t be shy, come right out and ask what topics they’d like to read about.
Don’t underestimate how loyal of an audience you can build when you just ask them for feedback. As a bonus, you’re guaranteed new subscribers when you let them know that an eBook was written based on their feedback, even if it’s only the person who suggested it. Remember to do your keyword research before deciding on a title.
Start observing: There’s a lot to gain by watching what other publishers in your niche are offering and writing about. While a newsy eBook may or may not have longevity, it certainly has curb appeal. Like we said, eBooks don’t have to be that long, they just need to be fulfilling to the user.
So, if you’re a fashion magazine and you see five or six email newsletters in your inbox about the new Jennifer Aniston haircut, it may be a good idea to create an eBook called “6 Steps to getting the Jennifer Aniston Haircut”. Then promote it to your network and for pete’s sake, do that keyword research before you title it.
When it comes down to it, making an eBook is all about listening to your audience, whether it’s though search volume, user activity, social media or your competitors.
