Gifts- How much and how large of an ebook?

Doc, instead of thinking in terms of page count, think in terms of the intent of your giveaway.

In your SEO example, you might want to highlight one very useful task, such as how to optimize on-page factors without "overoptimizing". Give away the farm, show off your expertise, dazzle readers with your brilliance, and then offer to extend the experience via your list.

In the traffic example, you could give away one method that works. Again, give away the farm on this one particular method.

Remeber, the objectives of your giveaway are to a) capture interest, b) offer a sample of what people can expect from you and c) make them look forward to getting more from you. A list that no one opens or reads after they get their freebie is worthless, or worse.

If you can do that in ten pages, great. If it takes 50 to explain that one aspect of what you offer, that's great, too.

Over at QuickSprout, Neil Patel did something similar with providing SEO information to his audience. He didn't hold anything back. Anything. If you read his free Advanced SEO Guide, you'll find perhaps one of the largest, most comprehensive, advanced guides to SEO. Though it took him, I believe he had said, 6 years to write (it was either 6 years or 6 months....I can't remember right now...). Explore how he leveraged that free information. He used it to solidify himself as an authority, captivate people, and lure them into higher tiered offers. That may be an approach worth considering?

One thing that you have to pay close attention to is not the number of pages in the book, but rather, the quality of information that you provide your customers with. People want high value and you should provide it when writing any e-book no matter what the topic.

If you provide high-quality information inside the book, then it really doesn't matter how many pages it has because the customer will get what he or she needs out of it.

Of course, you can do upsells inside your book by providing a bit of information about a more in depth product that you plan to offer and that is fine to do. Just make sure that you provide value over quanty because that's most important.

I'm just afraid of writing too much.

I agree with the comments on value - it's probably not the precise answer that you were hoping for, but write however much is necessary to get your point across and really help your target audience.

Rather than exact length, focus on crafting enough content to add value, but without 'waffling' too much. Get to the point, cut out the fluff, and keep it succinct.

Just as important here (in fact, even more so) is the topic that you pick. Make sure your e-book really grabs the attention of your audience by addressing a problem that they genuinely have, rather than one that you just think they might have. There's often quite a big difference! I find it useful to sit down and brainstorm the 'ideal customer' to get under their skin. Get it right down to one specific person - either someone you know if that works, or a fictional character - and work out what they need. Writing for this one person is much easier, and has far better results, than trying to write for everyone with an internet connection.

Next, pick a title that they can't resist. So, for example, 'SEO tips and tricks' isn't really that likely to get anyone too excited. Something like, '3 unknown SEO strategies for page 1 rankings and increased sales', on the other hand, could do the trick. Of course, you can always test things like that once you're up and running to see what works best :-)

I hear you, completely.

I tend instinctively to look at it something like that, myself.

I agree with the "very narrow and very deep" approach which John mentions above, and take that as my guideline, rather than length. However, I think about 15 pages is the longest I've ever given away as a free report, and some of mine are 5 pages. I want to provide them with something which they can't get elsewhere, which will impress them enough (and brand myself enough) to make sure that as many of them as possible open my subsequent emails. I can't earn a living without them opening my emails, and the main thing that initially determines what proportion of them open my emails is what I've given them in the "free report". I need it to fulfil all the purposes set out here, and it has to be as long/short as it takes me to do that.

I'm also interested in Neil Patel's approach, as discussed by Howie above and in one or two other posts, though I've never tried it, myself.

Why not write as much as you can in as much detail as possible first, then you can decide what to do. You could then edit it down and perhaps as suggested use it as a teaser, at least that way you already have all of the information.

or if it is substantial enough then sell use part of it as a freebee and link it to the full book which you sell.

Just make it valuable. You could have a sales page with 10 DEEPLY coveted bullet points. Then dedicated each page for a bullet point, and expound on the theory/knowledge/content/info. People will go for this, especially if you have what they're looking for.

You think an ebook is the best way to go? What about a report series, 5 reports, each with the upsell opportunity - sending them installments is a good way to center yourself in their memory.