5/16/2023 0 Comments Book sample pageI only add subscribers to my list who leave that box checked. That checkbox is an offer to “receive a free 30 day course on designing better web applications.” Or something related for each of the books. If you were paying attention you may have noticed another checkbox on those subscription forms. That’s my explanation for the lower conversion rate, I’d love to hear if you think it is being caused by something else. Also Designing Web Apps has text tied to the button explicitly telling you to download it. On the Authority page the email box is directly tied to the sample chapter and on Designing Web Apps they seem like two separate elements. When looking at the actual pages I think it is pretty easy to figure out why. It’s interesting that the form for Designing Web Apps converts at 2.4% (a conversion being an email address) whereas Authority converts at 5.2% (more than double). Here are the stats for each book individually: If I had known how well they would add subscribers I would have added them much earlier! In the three or four months since adding these forms to my book pages I’ve had over 1,000 subscribers through those forms. I was actually surprised with just how many. That’s where the real value of offering an email form comes from.ĭid you know that really a lot of people will fill out that email form rather than just downloading the chapter directly? That’s a lot of subscribers to your email list. Here’s an example of the full download setup for Authority:Ĭonvenience is nice, but if you know anything about me you know that I always try to improve and streamline the marketing as well. That makes it easy to pull up on a mobile device.īut of course some people won’t want to add their email address-that’s okay-so I still let you click the chapter image to go directly to the PDF. So on my sales sites I make it easy by offering visitors an option to have the sample chapter sent directly to any email address they want. My solution is to place it in Dropbox or (more often) email it to myself. Plus, there’s another way you can make it more convenient for more readers: email it to them.ĭo you ever download a PDF, but then wish you had it on your iPad? I do that all the time. Because most people who download your sample chapter will forget about it without actually reading it, you are missing out on a lot of potential. Now just clicking the link to download the PDF may be convenient, but it isn’t in your best interest as the seller. That’s expected since it is much more visual and will grab more attention. I’ve found that moving from a text link to a more visual graphic can double the number of downloads of a sample chapter. Here are two examples from The App Design Handbook and Authority: Instead I like to make a graphic visually displaying the chapter contents as an open book. You could just include a text link, but that doesn’t look very good (and won’t draw attention from many visitors). Then at the end of the document I add another page saying “if you enjoyed this chapter, purchase the full book for more information on X, Y, and Z.”Ĭombine that with a link to the sales page and you have a nice little PDF that can work as a sales tool wherever it gets passed around the web.Īfter creating your sample PDF the next step is to link to it from your book sales page. Remember, visitors are using this PDF to decide whether or not to purchase your book, so be convincing. I like to start with a personal note in the beginning introducing the chapter and maybe providing some context for the book, then add the full table of contents in the PDF. FInd content that you think will really resonate with your visitors and convince them to buy. You can pick and choose some of your favorite sections from around the book to combine into a single sample. Simply export one chapter of your book to a PDF document and you are ready to go.Īlso your sample doesn’t need to be a specific chapter. Since you can’t give away the entire book and ask for money later, it’s best to give away a sample chapter combined with a detailed table of contents. Many other types of products have trials or lite versions as well. 14 or 30 day free trials are common, so that you can make sure it will work for you. When buying a web application you have an opportunity to try it out before you buy. How do you decide whether or not to buy a book? It seems interesting, but is the author just good at writing a description and getting a few raving testimonials?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |