Make More Money From Your Ideas

"I'm interested in producing photographic e-books on a wide variety of subjects but especially on popular tourist destinations such as Broome, Canberra etc. What is the best way to market these e-books through my web site?"

Hmmm ... First, do you know whether there is a market for these e-books? In other words, are you sure that people are interested in buying an e-book with photographs of Broome, Canberra, etc.? If you're not yet sure, I suggest you invest in some low-cost market research first.

If there does seem to be a market, I suggest you start by creating just ONE e-book first, then give it away. Yep, that's right - start by giving it away free.

Do this by buying some cheap Google advertising to drive traffic to a page on your site. On that page, ask the person to give you their name and e-mail address in return for downloading your free e-book.

Then sit back and wait a while. You will soon find out (a) whether people are interested enough to visit your site, and (b) whether they are interested enough in the e-book to give you their name and e-mail address.

If you find that there is enough interest, great! You can now start charging money for it and start producing more e-books.

On the other hand, if there isn't enough of a market, consider whether you can spin off your idea into other products instead. For example, instead of just photographs, can you create downloadable wallpaper files for PCs? Or what about calendars? Or attach a quotation to each photograph and create an on-line course?

Whatever you do, I do strongly recommend that you do your research first and test it with a "pilot project".

Labels: e-books, free products, market research