Aaron Hoos

In my recent blog post, I wrote that there are only 3 ways to grow your business.

The first way an entrepreneur can grow their business is through replicating their sales funnel. In today’s blog post, I want to talk about the second way that an entrepreneur can grow their business: By creating passive income.

“Passive income” is a phrase entrepreneurs use to describe something created once and then sold over and over (unlike a service or a manufactured-each-time product). An ebook is an example of a really popular form of passive income: You write it once and then resell it over and over again.

WHAT PASSIVE INCOME OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE?

There are plenty of passive income opportunities available but they can generally be divided into two models:

• Access-to-information: This is where you create a piece of content and then sell access to it. For example, you might sell downloadable ebooks, reports, or templates; access to listen to audio files or view video files; access to knowledge centers; whatever. Your customer pays you in order to get access to information in whatever form that is convenient for you to create and for them to access it. You’ve seen these sites: There’s usually a “Buy Now” button for someone to purchase an ebook.




• Advertisements with content: This is where you create content and post ads on the content. As people click to your site and view the content, they also click on the ads and the ad revenue earns you money. In this model, you write and post the content and people view it for free and revenue is generated through ads. You’ve seen these sites, too. They’re the ones with Google ads or banners scattered throughout the content.

Of course, I’ve only described a really simplified example of each. You can mix and match and add layers to make it more effective. For example, one common way of selling digital content is with a two-step approach: Ask for your leads to become prospects by signing up for a free ezine. Then, build a relationship with these prospects and offer them your ebook.

You might want to also check out a related blog post entitled 5 levels of content monetization for a different way to look at passive (and active) content sales.

WHICH PASSIVE INCOME OPPORTUNITY IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

That depends on you and your subject matter. Here’s what I often recommend to my clients:

Posting free content with advertising is just fine but you only get paid when you send people OFF of your website to an advertiser’s site. And chances are, those advertisements are for a product or service that could be considered “competition” if you are also selling similar products or services to the same target market.

So, if you have a sales funnel that includes other products or services, don’t erode your sales in exchange for advertising dollars. Selling access to digital content is just probably better. However, if you don’t have any products or services but want to earn some income, creating content and posting ads can be a way to earn income from an industry.

Having said that, there are lots of sites out there with ads on their sites and they do just fine building traffic and earning advertising revenue. But most of my clients are real estate and financial clients and they want to build a long-term relationship with a customer, so the goal is (usually) to keep website visitors rather than send them to advertisers’ sites. The advertising model sends customers away while the access-to-information model keeps customers on your site and builds your brand’s value.

HOW DO I GET STARTED WITH PASSIVE CONTENT?

Start by figuring out if there are any services or products that you can turn passive. Pay particular attention to existing products or services that you tend to repeat. That’s a good start. This blogpost entitled Are your products and sales funnel taking up too much of your time? will help you to identify opportunities that can become passive.

• If you are creating content for the access-to-information model, check out my blog post How to sell an ebook on the web. (Note: I mention an ebook in the title but you can use this information for just about any information that you sell, no matter what the format).
• If you are creating content for the advertising model (free content on a site, plus ads) check out my blog post How to start a new business for $10: A step-by-step guide.

PASSIVE CONTENT TIPS

Be sure to create compelling, unique content that addresses a problem or issue in the industry you’re working in (I call this The Pickaxe Factor). By doing that, you’ll be more likely to attract potential readers. If they’re reading your content on your pay-for-access-to-information site, they’ll be more likely to pay to read. Or, if they’re reading your content on your freely-available advertisement-model site, they’ll be more likely to click the advertising.

If you’re creating passive content that you’ll sell through the access-to-information model, pricing your content effectively will prove to be a challenge (because it’s a challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs). Check out How much should I charge? A magic formula to easily find the best price for your product for some pricing ideas.

And remember: This might be called “passive income” but it doesn’t mean you should stop marketing. Passive income requires very active marketing, especially in the beginning. Have a plan to market like crazy so you can build traffic to your content (no matter which model you choose).

You’ve finished writing your ebook. You sit back in your office chair and breathe a sigh of relief. It’s a long document, brimming with a mix of wit, personality, and (of course) your expertise on the topic. You’re certain that it will offer your readers the insight they’re looking for. But something’s not quite right.

After you look at it again, you start to wonder: Is it just a giant “wall” of text? Does the ebook really pop the way you’d like it to pop?

A common, initial temptation is to google “royalty free images” to shoehorn throughout the content to break the up the text (and add to your page count!!!). But is that really the right thing to do? It’s tempting. It’s easy. But it doesn’t add value.

Instead, here are 9 ways that you can add value to your next ebook. These ebook elements will help to break up that wall of text, they’ll add some visual interest, and they’ll help your ebook to really pop in the mind of your reader.

Ebook value-add #1: Callout boxes

These are boxes that you see in magazines all the time. They’re filled with additional information, facts, tips, and hints. They’re often pretty “listy” (bullet lists or numbered lists) although I’ve written plenty that were formatted as paragraphs. Use these to add extra context or background, or to add some additional tips that your readers might want to learn or be reminded of. Don’t add more than one per page and try not to add one on every single page. Check out some of your favorite magazines for ideas. In some of your callout boxes, you can reiterate ideas that were spread across several pages, or you can show how the current point fits into a larger list. This is also a good place for an anecdote, quick tip, or to highlight a special link that is related to the topic.

Ebook value-add #2: Examples

Although you’ve probably used examples in specific situations throughout the body of your text, (for example, in this sentence) it doesn’t hurt to pull together several concepts into a longer example that is formatted in a different way. I tend to use examples to illustrate several concepts with a fictional story. But on a related note, I also use…

Ebook value-add #3: Case studies

Case studies are (usually) true life examples (perhaps “anonymized” to protect the subject of the case study). These can be used in a similar way as an example. However, since case studies are usually true life, I tend to use them less as illustrations of a point and more as inspiration or proof of the content. So I tend to use both in my ebooks. Strike a balance so you don’t overwhelm your readers, but remember that everyone learns differently, and some people respond better to examples while others prefer case studies. (Personally, I’m a case study person).

Ebook value-add #4: Appendix

One appendix (or several appendices) at the end can be a great place to put all that background information that you want to write but that you doubt your readers will always want to read in the body of the text. It’s the stuff that is important to know but, once you write this, you think that most of your readers will probably already know quite a bit of it. Chances are, you’ll write it into the body of your text and pull it out. (In many cases, I’ll write the first 5 chapters of an ebook, then pull out the first 2-4 chapters and put them in an appendix because my good sense and experience tells me that those first chapters were just warm-up and the real reason people bought the ebook started in chapter 3, 4, or 5.) There are other things you can add into an appendix: Industry information, lists of tips and ideas, a long reference list, step-by-step instructions, interviews with people, etc.

Ebook value-add #5: Templates

I love adding templates to an ebook. I like templates because, if you are a business trying to build a brand, templates are a great way to get people printing and using stuff that has your brand imprinted right on it. On the other hand, templates that have been shoehorned into ebooks can look funny if the header, footer, and page number of the ebook appear in the template. Often, I’ll create a file that has the ebook plus individual PDF documents that are each a separate template. The sky’s the limit with templates.

Ebook value-add #6: Resource lists

I like to add these usually at the end of a chapter. These can link to other content in the ebook, other content online (including specific blog posts you’ve written, which is something I advise my clients to do), Squidoo lenses, Amazon books, and other digital products (via affiliate links). The goal here isn’t to replace your wall of text with a wall of links. I wouldn’t have more than half a page of links at the most, preferably less. Think of it like this: Many of your readers might skip over this resource list, but some of your readers will want more information, now or in the future. They’ll look to your chapter and they’ll dig into some of your links for more information or another perspective.

Ebook value-add #7: “You will learn” overview

We all learn in different ways. I learn best when someone gives me an overview of what I’m about to learn and then gets into the lesson. If I don’t get an overview first, I struggle with trying to fit each individual piece of information into the big picture. So devote the first part of each chapter to an overview (a bulleted list or a couple of “big picture” paragraphs) outlining what the chapter is about.

Ebook value-add #8: Glossary

You’re an expert but not all of your readers are. They need a little extra hand-holding, and that probably includes definitions and explanations of key concepts. A glossary can be arduous to write (trust me! I’ve written a ton of them) but your readers will find it helpful.

Ebook value-add #9: Now it’s your turn

I find that my ebooks tend to become a little academic after a while. They might start off with lots of practical advice but I’m just wired to talk about concepts over practice… and most people who are sharing their expertise will probably trend that way, too. So, by adding a “Now it’s your turn” element periodically throughout the ebook, you’ll force yourself to step back from the concepts and consider what your readers will want to do in this situation. Then give practical, step-by-step instructions.

A WARNING TO LAZY PEOPLE

Most ebook writers will read this post and hopefully find some ideas to inspire them to add value to their ebooks. But some writers — the lazy ones! — will see this as a way to add bulk to ebooks for a padded page count. That is not my goal here. You could use these ideas to add bulk to your ebooks, but that won’t generate customer loyalty or long-term profit. It won’t wow your buyers with extra value. It only wastes your time (time you could spend adding value) and pisses readers off.

But to the rest of us — those who actually want to build a loyal and happy readership — these are useful ways to make your ebooks more valuable to readers. So, on your next ebook, why not add a couple of these elements!

In one of my very first jobs, I worked at a gas station. Once I made a mistake at something, and although I can’t remember the mistake itself, I remember my boss asking me: “If you didn’t know how to do it, why didn’t you ask?”

It was the most ridiculous question I’d ever heard because I didn’t know that I didn’t know or else I would have asked! I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing, I just did it incorrectly. There was no way for me to know that I was doing it incorrectly and, therefore, there was no reason to ask. As soon as the error occurred, I asked. But my boss couldn’t wrap his brain around that.

Our customers face a similar conundrum: They know they have a problem or need and, in order to search out a solution, they look for what they think is the best solution. But it’s not always the best solution. And that’s why Henry Ford famously said, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said ‘a faster horse’.”

I see this in my own business: When I write for a client, I frequently hear something like, “we need to have more content in more social media.” But that’s not true. Businesses don’t need to access ALL social media to be successful. They need to say the right things to the right people in the right social media.

All businesses see some type of customer response like this. The customer does their best to figure out what solution is needed based on their perceptions of the problem. But maybe their perceptions of the problem are completely wrong! Or maybe the solution they believe they need is completely inadequate.

Dutch consultant Robbert-Jan Van Oeveren wrote a great blog post about uncovering what our customers are really after (even if they don’t know it themselves). He talks about how today’s businesses have the opportunity to put the customer at the heart of their organizations, and he offers some ideas (and a very useful graphic) to describe what businesses must do to understand what customers want.

Use Van Oeveren’s blog post as a starting point to rethink what your customers want. In fact, move beyond just thinking about customers and consider everyone in your sales funnel: Are you communicating to people at each stage of your sales funnel in a way that connects with what they are REALLY looking for?

Read Van Oeveren’s blog post here: Designthinking: How to convert need into demand.