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Selling an e-book cheap to build trust?

by dsbusiness23
30 replies
I am planning on putting an e-book online to download for my website and join my mailing list, and I am thinking of selling it for real cheap like 10 dollars maybe.

It's 66 page e-book on my target market, lowering cholesterol naturally. I am wondering if anyone is familiar with uploadnsell as an option of selling an ebook,.. I feel that perhaps if I put out a decent price on the ebook that I will build rapport with my customers and they may buy other products I recommend.

I'm curious about anyone's thoughts of this business idea? Would this have people taking advantage of my generosity and not buying affiliate products I recommend?
#build #cheap #ebook #selling #trust
  • Profile picture of the author genietoast
    There are quite a few marketers who use this strategy.

    But have you considered using RAPbank?

    This allows you to sell a product, give the affiliate 100% commission or a fraction of the commission, and then you offer an upsell to some of your other products.

    That's another way to implement that strategy, too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zachmo
    You may want to write something very interesting about the e-book that will also serve as its preview so people can tell that it is something worth buying for even for a higher price.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben Armstrong
      If the book is of a decent quality and you're interested in building a list then I would give away part of the book (A chapter or some of the best parts) for free in exchange for email addresses. If people really like what you've given them for free then they'll have no problems paying another $10 for the entire book once they're on your list.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    Um could you explain what you are referring to rapbank?,.. should I ask warriors to look at my e-book before I put it up? Should I sell it cheap? I just wanna know what would be my best strategy here?
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    • Profile picture of the author webfighter
      Originally Posted by dsbusiness23 View Post

      Um could you explain what you are referring to rapbank?,.. should I ask warriors to look at my e-book before I put it up? Should I sell it cheap? I just wanna know what would be my best strategy here?
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    • Profile picture of the author paulie888
      Originally Posted by dsbusiness23 View Post

      Um could you explain what you are referring to rapbank?,.. should I ask warriors to look at my e-book before I put it up? Should I sell it cheap? I just wanna know what would be my best strategy here?
      If you really want to build a list of buyers quickly, put up your product on Rapbank, offer 100% commission and sell it for around $10.

      You can also have a higher-priced one time offer on the backend, if you'd like.

      The key is offering 100% commission on the front end, as affiliates obviously would gravitate to this, and it'd be made even more appealing with the instant commission payout if you use Rapbank.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Two things are more or less certain:-

        (i) Even if you sell it for $1 rather than $10, you'll be building a buyers' list (people known to have a credit-card or PayPal account and to be willing to use it online to pay for a digital download) and that's far more valuable, pro rata, than any other list;

        (ii) If you give away the e-book to incentivize the opt-in, instead of selling it for $1 or $10, you'll build a far, far bigger list to start with. There'll be many people whose trust you could have established with a free download and an email series whom you'll lose by starting with a $10 product instead of with a free download.
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        • Profile picture of the author orbis
          Do You Guys think that selling e book only without folow up products can produce good income
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          • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
            You need to distinguish between whether you are giving it away to join your mailing list, or if you will be selling it.

            I wouldn't charge for a product you are using to build your mailing list, off the front of your site.

            People are already reserved to give away their email address, even when the product is free.

            The benefit of giving something away for free is that you can promote products on the back-end.
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            • Profile picture of the author Roy Penrod
              Pay close attention to what Paul and Alexa are saying. There's a lot of good info in there.

              Too often we think in terms of "this" OR "that". Look at what Paul & Alexa suggest and ask yourself "How can I do all of that?"

              What can you give away for free that will build you a bigger lists so you don't lose any prospects who just won't purchase until they trust you?

              Can you write a 5 page report with some information that will answer some of their questions then direct them to your product? You want to make it useful but incomplete.

              You can build a prospect list with your free report then try to convert some of them into buyers.

              You can build a buyer list using Rapbank and 100% affiliate commissions.

              You can do both.

              Roy

              P.S. Paul Hancox (copywriting genius and all around nice guy) has a great WSO on creating presell material (like the free report I mentioned). It's called ... wait for it ... Presell Mastery. lol

              It's an absolute must-have if you're going to create any form of presell material, whether it's free reports, articles, or videos. It helps you figure out what your message should be and how to say it.

              Get it while it's still a WSO.
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              • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
                Consider developing your product so as to be distributed over several days, as well.

                Of all the blogs I've studied, Alex Frazier, a then 16 (now, 17) year old blogger when I came across this technique...delivered essentially a course over 7 days. I feel that doing this helps to foster a longterm relationship, and repeated exposure to your brand/site/product.

                With automated processes, it is entirely possible to do this. If you can write several eBooks, with a similar overriding theme, you can structure it as a course, and deliver it over all those days.
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                • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
                  It sounds like you are still in the process of thinking through your business model.

                  For instance, what are you going to do with the people that buy the $10 ebook? What do you sell them next?

                  You will not make a living selling a $10 ebook, so if it is part of a bigger plan then I suggest you post what that plan is so we can assess the full funnel.

                  Some major issues with selling a $10 ebook

                  1. The value makes it look cheap which disuades people from buying (even if the material is good)

                  2. The price is too low to attract partners, even if you give them 80% of the profits, the commission is not great so you won't get many people promoting for you and thus you lose the leverage affiliates and market authority holders can give you...UNLESS it is tied to an upsell or back-end where they will get paid as well

                  3. When people look to sell stuff cheap it tells me they don't know how to add real value to a marketplace...now this may be an exception, but in the hundreds of people we have coached, that's my overall observation.

                  What I would recommend is that you come up with a higher-end package of information (in the $67-$97 range is good) which can be the material from your ebook bundled with an audio series or video series, day-by-day checklist, additional written content (Ex. for cholesteral, perhaps a recipe book and exercise guide), interview or two with experts, etc... will all let you get to a higher price point that will be more attractive to partners and overall, will have more margin and make you look more trustworthy and more important in your market.

                  In that sense, I would look at your ebook as being a "piece" of your ultimate product offering.

                  Then, you work on an up-front sales funnel that provides a focused campaign to draw traffic and convert them into warm leads and ultimately - customers.

                  Jeff
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                  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
                    So a lot of people are saying if I give it away free, I would build a huge list. However I figure that the quality of this e-book is great and if my customers get it free, I fear they will not buy things I recommend as they already got my quality e-book free. So why would they need one of the products I promote? Assuming the products I promote are in the same niche as my e-book.
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                    • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
                      Originally Posted by dsbusiness23 View Post

                      So a lot of people are saying if I give it away free, I would build a huge list. However I figure that the quality of this e-book is great and if my customers get it free, I fear they will not buy things I recommend as they already got my quality e-book free. So why would they need one of the products I promote? Assuming the products I promote are in the same niche as my e-book.
                      The logic behind this is that people think, if you give things away for free, you do nothing more than cultivate a list of freebie seekers.

                      It just depends.

                      Use your product to PROVE that you are good....hit them with a 5-7 automated course, and at the tail end, sell them on a service.

                      They get one shot to tap into YOU for a highly discounted price, compared to what you normally charge.

                      Everything just DEPENDS. I've given my products away for free, and have received many many emails from people telling me to let them know when I release a for-pay product.

                      If your product is crap, and you give it away for free, don't expect people to come back regardless. If it's crap, and you charge money, they'll be upset. If it's crap, and you don't charge money, they'll feel as if you wasted their time.

                      If you DO give it away for free, just be sure to have a PLAN.

                      Send a course over 7 days, and mid-way through, or after your most powerful delivery...say something like "Many readers have recommended that I release a service....."
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  • Profile picture of the author NateRivers
    I think you're strategy is good. Try it out...
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    well specifically should I sell my e-book for like 10 dollars? I want to mainly use it to build trust with people.
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    • Profile picture of the author tush
      Selling that book at that price depends on many factors... How is your salles copy? Do people trust you enough? Is the book exciting? You see, if these things are not in place, people will not buy it even if you price it at $1.

      Just a question for, if it was not for building rapport, how much do you think that book is worth? Do you have conten that you are going to package to make another book? If this is the best of your best, I would recommend that you find other ways of building rapport( they are so many by the way) and sell that book at its right price.

      Cheers
      tush
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    Could I send the book to some warriors so I can get an idea of how much I should sell it for? What I should use it for, rather to build trust or as a main product?
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    • Profile picture of the author Vogin
      First of all, a book of 66 pages is not a good idea for a tool that builds your list.

      Such a thing needs to be short, straight to the point and beneficial, I'd say 20-30 pages at most.

      You also need to clarify whether you want to build a list of buyers or a list of freebie seekers.

      So while it's a good idea to sell your thing with which you desire to build yourself a list of customers, bear in mind something called perceived value - you may want to investigate this thread, especially the posts by Bill (tpw)...
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    Thank you! I have created another thread about having my lower cholesterol e-book reviewed by some warriors so that I can decide what to do with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Here is my strategy: Have 1 ebook for people to download for free. This is mainly for building your mailing list.

    Then have another ebook as an upsell and charge no more than $10.

    You can also recruit afiliates using this ebook and give them 100% commission for bringing in people from the sale.

    Last but not least, have your backend products to sell to those who brought the ebook.

    To make this strategy successful, your $10 ebook must have good quantity content but requires your backend to either enhance it or complement it. It cannot be an ebook that solve all the problems.

    I am a believer of short reports, so I would encourage you to have more than one ebooks to seel as front end products.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    I do have a 10 day mini course of free information on my website already.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    Well without much traffic, I havn't had many opt. ins
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    • Profile picture of the author marcuslim
      Anything below $10 is impulse buying. People don't think too much when making impulse purchases, they just buy it if the offer and sales letter look good enough. Plus the good thing about a cheap ebook is that expectations are lower, so if your ebook is decent enough and provides much more value than the price, then you will wow your customers and start off your relationship with them on a good note.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    What would someone here recommend as a free site for selling the e-book cheap or not, with affiliates or not?
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I think you need to consider who your buyers are. I see IM ebooks that go for a $100+ in here - those in IM seem to expect it and will buy at those prices - IM related topics slide more as business tools and textbooks than the average informational guide.........but consider...

    What if you are in a niche where your buyers know sh** from shinola about IM? They go to bookstores and pick up paperbacks at 7 bucks a hit. So they see something with 50 pages for $49.00 are they really going to pick that book up? I try to keep my prices more in line with those that aren't in IM forums and don't expect wildly jacked prices that go with selling on name only. Maybe the most renowned experts in the field can get with that one, but on the average you don't want prices that shock your viewing audience. A book which as less pages than a novella on cholesterol with IM guide prices is likely to do that.

    Keep it real to your intended audience.
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    Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    As has been brought up a bunch on this thread, I am thinking of selling it for like $10, I think honestly i'm being crazy its worth much more than that but hey whatever will bring in money and more importantly build my list. So I was asking what free site I could use to sell it. I don't know that much about e-commerce
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    Well you see I already have that set up on the website, its a 10 day mini course free if I get a name and email.

    What I want to set up is something along the lines of this... "Your gonna think i'm crazy cause you can get my e-book XXXXX for just 10 dollars today, I could be charging 49 dollars or other x amount for it, but if you sign up for my 10 day mini course I will offer it to you for just $10 one time!!!"
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    • Profile picture of the author Roy Penrod
      Originally Posted by dsbusiness23 View Post

      What I want to set up is something along the lines of this... "Your gonna think i'm crazy cause you can get my e-book XXXXX for just 10 dollars today, I could be charging 49 dollars or other x amount for it, but if you sign up for my 10 day mini course I will offer it to you for just $10 one time!!!"
      I wouldn't even mention the ebook at that point. You're selling the 10 day mini course, not the ebook. It needs to stand on its own.

      You use the mini course to show your prospect that you know what you're talking about and build trust with them.

      Then you tell them why your ebook can solve their problems or give them more of what they want.

      And don't be afraid to charge more than $10. You can test your price and see which one converts more prospects into buyers.

      Roy
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