It is hard enough to make your online presence known on the internet despite many tried and tested marketing tactics and strategies out there. The competition is fierce as every business is trying to grab the consumer’s attention. Yet lead magnets are an often ignored tactic that can help marketers convert website visitors into leads and customers.
A lead magnet is a tactic that uses the lure of some free service or an item in exchange for contact information. You can then approach them directly with more personalized communication, resulting in quality lead generation and conversion.
There are many lead magnets you can use. Blogs, newsletters, trial subscriptions, consultations, samples, etc. However, eBooks are a lead magnet that can be used to deliver premium content to website visitors in exchange for contact information. They are an excellent option to secure more leads. EBooks go through a meticulous writing and screening process before being published on the internet. The information they contain is perceived to be more authentic and beneficial than alternative sources. Thus they enhance your brand’s authority and trustworthiness and increase the chances of turning visitors into leads.
You can optimize your eBooks into effective lead magnets. The key is to make them look professional, knowledgeable, and reliable. We’ve highlighted a few steps to creating a high-quality eBook for lead generation below. Read on.
1. Determine your target audience
This is literally the first step of any marketing tactic or strategy you choose to employ for your business. Before you start creating an eBook, you should know who you are marketing it to. If you want to generate leads from eBooks, you have to narrow down your potential target audience’s circle. If the circle is too large, make strategies to categorize them, and target these groups individually.
2. Target market research
Once you have your target audience categorized, you need to research their needs and preferences. Identify their search intent. Understand the keywords they are more likely to use in search engines. For this, you will need a deep set of information about consumer behavior. You can also perform a keyword analysis to identify keywords that generate more traffic to your website.
If you have a blog where you publish content regularly, you can convert them into eBooks or integrate them into the articles. These eBook articles will help to create curiosity amongst your website visitors. This way, popular blogs and articles will help you create popular eBooks.
3. Decide your topic for the eBook
Your keyword research will help you understand your target audience’s interests and search intent. Once you have that figured out, you need to transform popular keywords into topics that will pique their interest. For starters, you can start by addressing a specific problem through your titles. People are often looking for answers, and if your eBook has them, they are bound to download and open it.
Some tips to customize your titles are:
- Use specific headlines/titles: You don’t want the incoming traffic to perceive the title as vague or irrelevant.
- Use catchy words: Good vocabulary is always a winner.
- Use subheadings to expand the topic: Subheadings can make the topic clearer and shed light on the content the reader expects inside.
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4. Write something fresh
When you start writing an eBook, you have to focus on the importance and relevancy of the topic. But, there are high chances that there is similar content available online beforehand. Your eBook will only be relevant if it adds up to the information already present online. Think about how you can offer something new and informative to the audience, something of value. Make it meaningful and fresh, instead of repetitive and dull.
Before you start writing, always prepare an outline of all the areas you will address in the eBook. Break down the chapters and make notes about all the information you want to cover in the respective chapters. Make sure you maintain a chronological or hierarchical order of information. Make sure you follow the proper eBook structure. Include a table of contents and a short introduction at the start. Good vocabulary is a plus, but don’t overdo it to a point where a reader might have to sit with a thesaurus on the side. Keep it simple yet effective. Once you are done writing, finish formatting it and move on to the next phase.
6. Design the eBook
What makes eBooks such an effective lead magnet is that they can be designed into a work of art. They don’t have to be bland and colorless. They can be a lot more than that.
After you are done writing and formatting your eBook, it is to get creative with the design. You want to use simple yet elegant fonts like Verdana, Arial, or Georgia. Using Times New Roman can suck out the life out of your writing. Using black as the font color is the safest option, but a little improvisation with your color palette wouldn’t hurt. Make sure it complements the color of other visual elements. If you are using images, graphs, and charts inside, maintain the quality. You don’t want big pixels creating an ugly mess. Focus on designing an eye-catching cover. After all, a book is most often judged by its cover. And an eBook is no different.
If your eBook has a captivating design and format, consider more than half of your marketing efforts already done. Good design will compel your target audience to at least take a peek at the content. Finally, convert the file into a PDF and make it easy to view and print.
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7. Optimize the eBook
Once you prepare your eBook, you must optimize it to convert website visitors into readers and leads. The purpose of optimization is to secure a good ranking on SERPs. This includes the option to add a CTA within the eBook’s content or link it to blogs on your website. The latter is an effective way to decrease bounce rates on your website is blogs create a more engaging experience. You can also create a unique landing page for the eBook with a CTA and use SEO and PPC techniques to increase both paid and organic reach. SEO, of course, comes with its added long-term benefits to your website and online authority, which is why we recommend this.
If you want to maintain exposure, make sure your eBook has options to share it on social media. This will help in ‘spreading your message’ and creating more brand awareness. In the end, continue regular marketing efforts such as email marketing, paid social media ads, and collaborating with digital bookstores to maximize leads and revenue generation.
Conclusion
EBooks are a tried and tested way of generating leads and turning them into customers. They are most effective in business-to-business marketing. Either way, eBooks are informative and help to increase your brand’s reputations. They are one of the most reliable ways to market your products or services and turn traffic into leads. So, do you have a compelling story to tell? Write an eBook, we say!