The simple fact of the matter is, that to enter the world of internet marketing, you need something to promote and sell (well you want to make money at it don’t you?), whether a physical item, or – information. The very nature of the internet – where knowledge can be shared and exchanged at the click of a button – lends itself perfectly to . . . the e-Book!

The advantages of the e-Book over selling physical items is that there is no need to buy or store stock, no time and effort incurred in packing anything up and shipping it off in the post – and your customer can pay their money for your product and get immediate access to it from a download page. In an age where demand is for instant gratification, an e-Book is ideal – easy and effective! And once written, you can sell unlimited copies of it without having to produce each item – so it’s both time and cost-effective too.

When thinking of a subject to write about for your e-Book, the secret to greater success, and finding your ‘niche market’, is very simple. Like they tell all first-time budding authors – write about what you know. Whether it’s a few chapters on ‘How to Stop Smoking’ (if you’ve been successful at this), on the mechanics of owning a motorcycle, how to earn money online, or even ‘Tips on Flower Arranging’, you can bet that someone out there in ‘cyberspace’ wants to know about it. If the subject of your e-Book is also your hobby, so much the better. If you’ve got passion for your subject, you’re going to convey that enthusiasm in what you write, and make that e-Book even more interesting and useful.

Of course, if you have knowledge or practical experience on a popular subject in which there is a large potential market to sell your e-Book, perhaps health and fitness, or food and drink, you could be more likely of success, but remember you’ll also be competing with many others. So choose your subject carefully!

However, in writing your e-Book, don’t forget to give your customer value – and they could become customers for your future e-Books too! Make the content and quality of your e-Book meaningful – whatever its length, it has to be good, or you’ll leave your customers feeling disenchanted. Give away a few free bonuses – an extra report perhaps, or some free training that they would have to pay for elsewhere. Aim for customer satisfaction!

If you don’t know how to go about creating an e-Book (you could always write an e-Book explaining how to do it!), then it brings me to the ‘more of this in a moment . . .’ that I mentioned above – the launch of a FREE course in all aspects of internet marketing, including creating e-Books. Visit the website below for what you need to get started online.

There is nothing worse than an internet marketing e-book or how-to e-book that is filled with junk. Thus, in order for your internet marketing e-book to be a best seller, it has to offer useful information. If it doesn’t, you’ll get return requests and charge-backs left and right. Besides, if you don’t have quality content in your internet marketing e-book, you can’t comfortably offer a money back guarantee which is actually a vital aspect of marketing e-books for profit.

As a small business web site owner, you may have asked “Why don’t we get any hits?”. Did you know web pages can load and appear correct with improper or deprecated HTML code? A browser may ignore your mistakes, and display what it thinks you meant, and it may look great. Web robots may not be as forgiving.

Following is a list of 8 basic elements for good search engine placement that need to be considered in your design and web site promotion. For details on code issues from the worldwide authority, visit the World Wide Web Consortium to view DOC-TYPE and other quality standards.

1. DOC-TYPE Statement
2. Page Title
3. Proper HTML Code
4. META Description
5. META Key Words
6. First Paragraph of the Home Page
7. An Extra Page of Just LINKS
8. Back-links (Links to your pages)

These 8 key items are either missing or poorly designed in 85% of all web sites. Some search engines may only list the other 15% in their directories. In other words, as few as 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it into some search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being blacklisted, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it’s corrected. This could explain why you “never get any hits”.

Web sites can be simple and professional without using fancy software to create your pages. Veteran programmers hand code and many create the HTML in NotePad. Web authors who choose to use flash, frames, or the latest software may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because the visitor may lack the technology or newest version of browsers. If they are turned off and leave without giving your site a fair viewing, it could mean lost profits.

Most designers use prepackaged software to create web pages. If the software leaves out any of the key elements, the code is hidden, and you’ll never know your site was not optimized for search engines. The designer may not know, or care, about these items as long as the page looks attractive. Note: Search engine algorithms vary by company, so some elements such as “an extra page of links” may not be as important today with some search robots. Back-links refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.

Finally, business visitors want information. They do not visit your home page to be entertained. Most have a need (problem) and want a fast answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video unless that’s your core business. Anything that distracts from a positive first impression may violate my “5 Second Rule”.