An eBook can be used for much more than just a standalone product that you are selling. Over the course of this article I’m going to show you ways to give away your eBooks that will end up making you more money in the long run then if you just sold it.

So how can you give an eBook away and still make money?

It’s simple

You can use it as a viral marketing tool. It provides you an opportunity to give something to other people to increase the number of visitors coming to your website.

The more people you have visiting your site the more business you will accumulate. Giving away your eBook can work as a great viral marketing tool to bring business to your website.

A second example of how giving it away can lead to more business is using your eBook on your website as an incentive to get your visitor’s email address and name. This will allow you to gain leads and build your particular email list or database.

People don’t want to just give their name and email away anymore. We’re so inundated with email. We get so much information in to our email box that we’ve become very protective and cautious of where we give our name and particularly, where we give our email address.

So you have got to go above and beyond now in order to win that person over so that they want to give you their name. They want to give you their E-mail address in order to get whatever it is that you’re willing to give them. An E-book that has tremendous value can be a great incentive in order to do that.

I’ll give you another quick tip that goes along with this strategy. I’ve seen many people who ask have a form with people submit their email and name, press submit, then are taken to the next page where they can download the eBook.

The problem with that is somebody can give you a bogus name and a bogus E-mail address that doesn’t lead anywhere, and they get the reward for doing that.

I don’t like to do that. I’m a straight up, honest business man, very transparent. I want you to respect me the same way that I respect you.

So to avoid getting bogus information I take the visitors who submit their email and name to a thank you page that says, “Thank you. The information for where you can download the free eBook has been sent directly to the email address you provided.”

By doing this, the people who were honest and gave me a real email and name will get the reward for doing so. Those who gave bogus information will never recieve the information. The information will be sent instantly by an auto responder which provides a link where they can download it.

Although you may look like your building up a database with a lot of names and email, if half of them are leading to false emails it is useless. You should really think about this concept because it won’t do you any good building up a database that is full of bogus information. You want to be sure you have set up measures to weed out people who would leave false information so your database and your business is protected.

Let me move on. Another way you can use an eBook and why it’s so important is you can use the eBook to conduct research by asking people to perhaps fill out a survey and then use the eBook as a reward for filling out the survey.

Asking your market is the best way to find out what new products or service they want, or how they feel about a new product you may have launched. One of my mentors, Alex Mandossian, has taught me so much in regards to marketing and he is known to use Ask Campaigns. Basically, this is when you learn what your market wants just by asking them.

A quick example. Alex does all kinds of high-level teleseminars with some of the biggest names in business. Particularly, he’s done them with Brian Tracy, Vic Conant of Nightingale Conant, he’s done them with Harv Eker, Mark Victor Hansen, Bob Allen. You can name it. He’s done teleseminars with the who’s who in business.

I know that he is setting up teleseminars right now with people like Bill Clinton, Lance Armstrong and Steve Jobs of Apple.

He has a definite methodology to it, and the way he conducts his teleseminars is he asks people to submit their most pertinent question to the expert that he is interviewing that evening.

By doing this Alex doesn’t even had to create any questions ahead of time because the people who are paying for the call are telling him exactly what they want to know and hear. So he just asks those questions.

It is as easy as that. You can use this strategy. By providing an eBook at the end of the survey it will entice people to complete it and in return you will gain some really great market research.

I’m sure you’ve even been there. You’ve been asked to complete a survey, but don’t get anything for doing it. Today, most people won’t give up time unless they see value in what they are doing. Your eBook will be that value at the end of the survey.

The best part is, you now know exactly what your audience wants and you can use this to create a product to generate even more business.

You can now see there are many different way to give away something creatively to generate more business in the future. Put your thinking caps on and ask yourself what might be other ways this is possible.

By exploring your creativity ideas will come to you when you need them the most!