studio1c

Going online in today's economy may seem dangerous, but going online in any economy is all about making a small investment for a possible large gain. After all, some of the largest and most lauded companies in the modern world focus on online sales, namely Google, Yahoo!, Ebay, and Amazon.

An eBook, or special report, may seem to be more about making direct income than passive income, but eBooks are technically passive income and often you give them away for free (and can call them special reports).

This may seem confusing, but more companies succeed with marketing by building a client pool that is larger and more effective than their competitors. I'll show an example.

You write an eBook on Why SEO Is So Important and sell it for $30. You sell 100 copies and make $3,000 off the eBook. That is the optimistic outlook. It might sell 5 copies and do nothing, especially if you are not well placed in the online world.

While you do this, a competitor offers a free special report on How SEO Will Change Your Business and all potential buyers have to do is sign up for the mailing list. 5,000 new emails in a matter of months isn't impossible for this special report if your site is well placed. And that's 5,000 chances to turn surfers into buyers. Really, I'd take the free

eBook in this case, especially since you have more longevity over the course of the next months, and can easily sell another eBook or the same eBook with bonuses once you have the emails.

So when should you sell your eBook and when should you give away it for free?

Giving out eBooks is good for any business, in almost any situation, simply because it's a proven method of getting a powerful client pool. Selling eBooks can be quite profitable in the end too, and this is more income right now. However, if you aren't well placed online, if your site gets a few hundred hits a week and is six months old, you often won't sell many copies.

Now, who says you can't do both? You give away 1-3 special reports, then when you have a valuable client pool, you can really make money in a variety of ways, namely advertising your products like brand new eBooks.

As a ghost writer for one major eBook on online marketing and published author for another eBook, I can attest selling eBooks can be very tough in the beginning. However, your experience is valuable and that's what works. Eventually, most well written eBooks with a set business plan behind them succeed.