I want to begin with a question and ask you how often you see the words “free ebook” when you are surfing the Web looking for information?

Thousands…. right?You may have noticed that whenever you visit a blog or website there is something free being given away.

It doesn’t matter what topic you’re searching on everybody seems to be offering a free ebook on the subject. The big question is, why?

Why should anybody go to all of the time, trouble and effort to write an ebook that is going to given away for free?

You see the point is NOT to sell the free ebook you create and make a boatload of money from the sales. The entire point of a ‘free ebook’ is to give it to people in exchange for their names and email addresses.

Not that the ebook isn’t valuable in itself, but the real value is in the names and email addresses of those who download your free ebook.  They are much more valuable than the free ebook will ever be because they represent ongoing business for you.

The truth be told, with the thousands of free ebooks that are available online, there are only a few very, savvy marketers who know exactly how to put together a ‘free’  ebook and market effectively so that it takes on a life of its own and continues to produce phenomenal results for weeks, months or even years after the it is released. These savvy marketers use their free ebooks to build massive mailing lists, quickly and efficiently.

Don’t get me wrong. It is not only internet marketers that you will find using this free ebook technique but many others. It spills over into brick and mortar marketing as well…or maybe that’s where it started. Who knows? The lines between Internet marketing and Brick and Mortar Marketing have become a bit blurred over the years.

Don’t believe me? Then go ahead and carry out a search for “free self help ebooks” in whichever search engine you prefer. You’ll find free ebooks about all kinds of products and services. You will find free ebooks about marketing beverages, sports, music, B2B marketing and dozens of others. This is the reason you are writing these free ebooks. You are aiming to provide your future customer with great information in exchange for their details so that you can continue to market your products and services to them.

This is more commonly known as an opt-in list and one important key to effectively using free ebooks to build an opt-in list, either online or off-line is that it must contain good, solid information. It is important that any information you provide through your free ebooks is always well written and accurate…  no poor grammar or misspelled words are allowed. The information needs to be presented to readers in a clear way, as well.

Another key is that good ebooks, whether they are free or paid for, must be helpful to  the people who read them. Make sure you check your facts and include relevant, timely data.

As you’re creating your free ebook you also want to keep in mind that the whole point of your ebook is NOT the actual book itself. The free ebook is only a means to an end.  In the planning stages you will want to decide exactly what you want your free ebook to accomplish and keep those goals in mind as you are writing.

Giving away a free ebook works and it works well which is why it is recommended to blog and website owners. It is as simple as creating a valuable free ebook that is of high quality so when people read it they will want to tell others about it.Now that you have written the ebook you may as well make sure you put it to work by adding your own products that you can sell or selling affiliate products. If anyone buys one you get paid! Always make sure the product is relevant to what you are writing about of course. So I recommend you start by learning how to write an ebook that people will love to pass on to their friends.

People are always looking for information when it comes to learning new things or needing to know facts which is why ebooks are so very popular online. There are great income earners already out there as topics so rather than try and forge the way yourself you may want to start by jumping on the band wagaon of these already successful areas.

If you are looking for a way to build your home based business writing ebooks then here are 4 great topics that you can focus on to help you create your own ebook money machine :

Health & Weight loss

This is a billion dollar industry and you can still make a great income by writing on any area of health, fitness and weight loss. Maybe you can find a way to add a new angle to an existing subject? Maybe there is a weight loss program that worked for you that you can right about?

Think about all the different titles you can have in this one area alone

• How to lose 10lbs in 10 days or less
• How to get fit in only 20 minutes a day without leaving home
• How I lose 849 lbs on this weight loss program and how you can do it too

The list of different topics is endless

The second great area you can cover is dating and relationships
Another great area that you can write about to create your own ebook money machine! There are millions of lonely people in the world and if you can find a way to help them discover mister right or meet their ideal woman then they will be falling over themselves to buy the ebook that you have written.

Making Money
Always a great area to cover because people are always in need of additional income and using the internet to make money is another all time favourite. Whether you are talking about making money from home selling products, or completing surveys think about writing an ebook that provides a number of options and gives information about where to find out more on each topic.
Or you could review the 10 best money making opportunities and also highlight any scams

Hobbies and Crafts
There is nothing better than the satisfaction that comes from knowing you created something from scratch which is why this is such an expanding niche.Not all hobbies focusing on making something, some of them are done for pleasure like dancing, train spotting or some other area. Crafts and hobbies - where to find information on them, lists of ways to get started, where to buy supplies - these are just a few of the areas you can covere.

I have touched on four hot industries that you can write and sell your ebook on but there are more. A large propotion of those who have been successful online sell information products and ebooks. Your whole business could be the business of writing information that you provide for people.

Spend the time making sure you always provide content that is of high quality, grammatically correct and leaves the reader feeling they have learnt something. Unhappy customers from badly written products is definitely something you want to avoid, along with refund requests.
You can learn how to create your own ebook money machine by simple writing ebooks in markets that you know are already poplar and selling them.

It seems that these days, your dollar won’t get you as much as it used to. The cost of living keeps going up while wages are going down. When your paycheck is no longer enough to cover all your expenses, you may want to consider working a second job. Don’t worry about finding something in the Help Wanted section of today’s paper.  Instead, go and look for work on the internet. A great way to earn supplemental or primary income these days is to sell products online.

You can market your services and goods to people from near and far with the recent technology and online marketing, so it’s much easier now to make money online. There are no barriers when you have a global market that’s constantly awake to sell your merchandise. There are no worries about catching people at the right time of day; they will come to you when it’s the right time. The internet is like an open sign that is always flashing over your door. When you decide that eBooks are your item of choice, you’ll be selling one of the biggest items today.

When you need to make money in a hurry, odds are you don’t have much money to spend in the first place. Creating your own niche business can be costly unless you start with eBooks. Since you aren’t paying for printing costs or mailing, you will have next to no start up expenses. When you create products that are virtual in nature, you will save yourself money and time. With so many different things to write about, you should find one that you really know. Find something that you have a deep understanding of and go with it.

Depending on who the author of your eBooks will be, you will have some choices to make. If you are creating the works on your own, start investigating right away. Devise a list of subject matter and research what is already available. Just because someone else has a similar product, you don’t have to fear poor sales. Giving the public something they need and making it shiny and brilliant will increase the chances of high sales volume. Mix it up by making your eBook part of a package deal. Combine services they need with the information you’re providing and make it a hit.

You can always add your own insight to something and give it a new twist. A lot of your business will stem from how you market your product. If you make people think that they can’t do without your book they will buy it. If you’re going to write on a new topic, try starting with something you know. Go with things that you are good at!

Entertain your customers. If you lay things out in a simple but interesting manner that still makes people laugh or smile, they’ll tell others about your book. You can expand your topic into several eBooks if you don’t give too many details at once. Create a chance to make more money by creating return customers. Just give your reader the truth and they’ll come back for more!  It similar to when you try to make money blogging; you can earn money only in so far as you’ve established your reputation and earned the trust of your readers.

If you’re going to use a ghost writer or duplicate information that is used elsewhere, you must protect yourself. Make sure you have full permission and right to the content. Get your contractual agreement in writing to ensure that you don’t have any legal problems in the future. Make sure everyone knows what they will receive as far as pay is concerned. Money can cause problems later on after sales are booming.

When it’s all wrapped up and ready for release, dress it up and make it more marketable.  Make your eBook sales page one that gets attention and creates interest. Draw consumers in and make them customers for life! If you use marketing strategies like effective search engine optimization, you can gain more business than you ever imagined, and keep your customers coming back for more by hooking them in the first time.

Calling all editors, publishers, journalists and freelance writers. It is time to breathe more life into your copy. Turn your articles into living pieces that spark measurable debate and that allows you to engage with your readers mind and soul - we’re talking revolution.

As it was in the beginning

Publishers have for many years relied on letters to get feedback from their readers and although email has opened up this method of communication it is still time consuming and difficult to monitor and process, and for the more popular articles, it is either a case of only a fraction of the received correspondence ever being used, or where online comments have been allowed, well written and good comments can be buried under poorly written and abusive comments.

As well as being an overhead for the publisher, it can also be an unrewarding medium in terms of the amount of effort required and response that is received, just consider the number of letters that go unread and unpublished.

As it is now

The Internet has brought new channels of communication and created opportunities that allow us to challenge traditional methods. The Internet has matured, no longer the preserve of computer geeks but an everyday technology that has been embraced globally, by the young and old, allowing the traditional way things were done to be re-evaluated. There is now the opportunity for newspapers, trade journals, magazines and ezines to change the mental process.

Readers of any article often would like to comment, traditionally this has required them to feel strongly enough to write a letter, or now, with the convenience of the Internet, send an email or write a comment. Emails make communication easier but it still takes time to compose an email and time for the majority, is what they haven’t got.

Although interesting a letters page or a list of comments are at best a snapshot of views or an endless unmanaged list of comments; a well crafted and well written letter on any given subject may hold the view of the minority, or the majority but due to the free text form it is difficult, or near impossible, to measure.

As it should be

Now consider the advantages of linking articles to online surveys where as a publisher you will have the ability to obtain valuable readership feedback in a form that can be properly measured. Communicating with your readers is one thing but having a channel that allows your readers to effectively communicate with you is just as important.

Want a snapshot of opinion? Did they like that article? Did your readers agree with what was said or do they take the opposite view?

Now it’s easy

In the past surveys would have taken considerable effort to design and publish and altogether was a process too long winded and therefore reserved for the niche and bigger topics.

However, using a hosted survey site surveys and questionnaires can be created and published via the Internet by anyone who has a pulse. Professional looking surveys and questionnaires created in minutes that make the perfect complement to articles that prompt opinion and debate.

The advantage over letters, e-mails and comments are that all the feedback is managed and measured and sites like Survey Galaxy will provide you with a real time poll that you can either keep to yourself or share with your readers.

It’s not even one or the other now

Linking articles to online surveys will not only extend the life of the article but will involve your readers in the discussion and in a way where that they know that their opinion will be counted.

If you think they would rather send an email? - not a problem - just include the facility within the survey and get the best of both worlds.

It’s quick, low cost, and easy to do; it will empower and engage the reader, provide first class feedback and having established a communication channel you then have the opportunity to promote other related articles.

Join the revolution and have your say about this article here:- Readership Feedback Survey