Can Ebooks Help Your Marketing Effort? Five Points to Consider
Thin is out. Fat is in.
It’s no surprise that search engine giants like Google frown upon thin online content. After all, who wants to read a short, poorly written blog post with little relevant information?
The trend is now toward “fat” content, extensive quality content that includes videos, white papers and infographics and now, even ebooks. The takeaway? Google likes fat content because it demonstrates quality content that is of interest to searchers.
Ebooks are a perfect tool to enhance your content marketing strategy. We offer five points to consider:
1. Ebooks aren’t going away…and neither is Google.
According to the Huffington Post, ebooks sales are expected to continue to grow to $8.69 billion in 2018—up significantly from the $2.31 billion in 2011. Unlike paper books, in which titles may eventually go out of print, ebooks will be around forever (and, it appears, so will Google).
Google is the undisputed juggernaut of search engines, so from a marketing perspective, it’s important to keep the company happy with best practices. It’s going to be a key player for a long time to come.
2. More is better
One of those Google best practices? Create more high-quality content. Sites that rank high in Google search engine results pages have thousands of words on each page. More is better, and ebooks provide the perfect venue. They also can help your company’s information turn up on under the Google “Books” search section tab (right between the “Images” and “Videos.”)
3. Ebooks reinforce your brand
Ebooks are a great venue to showcase your strengths and increase brand awareness. They also help establish your company as an authority in your field. Remember: showcasing your strengths does not equal “spammy” content. To be effective in promoting your brand, make sure that, like a blog post, your book is full of information that is relevant and immediately applicable. You may wish to consider giving potential clients free downloads of your ebooks.
4 . Ebooks help others find you.
We’ve already mentioned how ebooks can help with Google’s search engine results pages, but ebooks are also an excellent tool for lead generation. They allow you to offer expertise to potential clients and target audiences. Free downloads and excerpts give readers the opportunity to get to know your business values and philosophies.
Remember: these readers are searching for someone with your knowledge and experience. Make it easier for them to find you!
5. Ebooks are surprisingly easy to create (and cost nothing to publish).
Of course, only you can determine if your valuable time is worth the ROI for an ebook, but the cost of publishing an ebook shouldn’t hold you back—- it’s free.
Unlike “vanity” publishers (who sometimes charge exorbitant fees to get a book in print), ebook authors can upload and publish their books for free through venues such as Kobo, Amazon, and Smashwords. There are even affordable software programs than can easily format your book. It’s not rocket science, but it does require time to ensure that the formatting has gone smoothly.
Ebooks offer a lot of value for content marketing—provided it’s quality content marketing. No one wants to see formatting, grammatical or spelling errors throughout your book, so it’s always a good idea to get a set of “fresh eyes” to take a careful look at it.
If you can present an informative, high-quality and useful ebook, you’re providing Google—and potential clients—another way to find you.
Want to learn more about effective content marketing strategies? Take a look at the following articles for more information:
Why Every Medical Practice Needs a Blogging Strategy
Blogging Tips: How to Write for Your Audience
Established in 2000, Proclaim Interactive is an award-winning, think-out-of-the-box digital marketing agency located in Wilmington, NC. Proclaim Interactive provides website design, social media management, SEO and general marketing services designed to amplify clients’ messages. For more information call 910.795.4143.
