You’ve put your heart and soul into the writing of your E-book.  Not to mention your blood, sweat and tears. And maybe some even some of your wallet if you hired a designer to help make it look better then your child’s homework assignment.

And after all of that, it is finally finished and the time has come to put that baby out on the market and sell it for…FREE? You’ve got to be kidding!!!

Yet, look around. It’s happening everywhere. All around the Net, there are Free E-books sprouting up like dandelions in spring. And while the old adage “Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right” is absolutely true, (your mother DID tell you that, right?) It is also true that when the band is playing loud and clear it is time to sit up and listen and take a closer look at what is going on.

Why Free?

What makes FREE so valuable to bloggers and business that everyone is doing it in droves? Do you need a free E-book? Is the bandwagon passing you by? Do you need to jump on? IS it OK to charge for your E-book or does that just make you look greedy when everyone else seems to be giving away all the information for free?

In the next few weeks we are going to be breaking down some thoughts and questions about e-books in more detail and if you have perplexing E-book puzzles percolating in your mind drop us a line and we will address them as well.

For today, let’s just tackle one thing at a time.

The Value of giving it all away for free.

Why would a sane, sensible business person invest blood, sweat, tears and CASH to give away something that won’t make them a dime? The answer is that they don’t. They are looking at their E-book as one of a few different  marketing tactics- all geared toward making them income in a variety of different ways. The difference is that while nobody may be handing them over a single dollar, smart business people realize that you can’t always draw a straight line from product to cash. Sometimes that dollar needs to go around the bend.

We are going to break down just one of the ways a FREE E-book can bring more income into a business.

The Loss Leader Strategy

In it’s simplest terms a Loss Leader is a service or product that a company offers for free or at a no-profitable price to bring in new customers ( or greater numbers of existing customers) and hopefully then sell  other products at a greater profit.

Anyone who has ever been to a “great sale” at a retail store has been party to a Loss Leader Strategy.  They know that if they can get you in the door to buy the unbelievable bargain jeans at $9.99 you will also likely walk out with the $100 designer boots as well (and why not, since you saved SO MUCH on the jeans!) And since you feel as if you got a great deal, you may be feeling more generous in return. That is never bad for business. If they can secure customer loyalty and insure future sales as well, the discount price of those jeans just became worth every penny.

E-books as a Loss Leader

E-books can be a great tool for a Loss Leader Strategy of a blog or on-line business if you are trying to achieve any of the following goals.

• Gain readership credibility as an expert in your field
• Secure customer loyalty so they are more likely to purchase paid content
• Generating marketing attention and potential subscribers outside of your own website
• Generate a subscriber list for future promotions and sales.

Quality is King or…Give Away Your Best Foot

There is a potential downside to giving away the farm however. Your Loss Leader is your calling card. It’s the front door of your home, the backdoor into your business. What you have given away for free is the expectation that the client now carries with them and part of the reputation or branding that you have created for your business. There is always a temptation to think that since you are giving something away for free that it doesn’t have to be that good, or you can save your best for the clients who PAY for it. While it’s true that those who pay should get a bigger slice of the pie, make sure the TASTE they get in your free version leaves them craving everything you’ve got, not thinking they just took a bite of yesterday’s leftovers.

So give it away? Sure. It could be worth every penny you spend. Just be sure the client is getting more then they ever expected too. WOW them. Excite them. Give them a gift that surprises them with quality and value and watch what it will give you back in return.

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