Make Money By Giving Away Special Reports

I wrote this article for EzineArticles, but I thought I’d publish it here too with the hope that it will spark a few ideas for ya. Enjoy!

Make Money By Giving Away Special Reports

A lot of internet marketers create special reports in their niche to sell to their customers or to use as incentives to sign up for their newsletter.

However, there are ways to profit from special reports without selling them or requiring your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter first. In this article we’ll talk about three different methods of making money from special reports by giving them away for free.

Affiliate Marketing

No matter what your niche is, or your target audience, chances are there are numerous affiliate programs that you can promote to your readers.

If you don’t already promote affiliate products or services, it’s easy to find them by searching through affiliate websites like Clickbank or Commission Junction. You can also do a Google search for your keywords along with “affiliate”.

For example, if your website or blog is about beauty tips, you could do a search for “cosmetics+affiliate” and come up with lots of programs that offer their products through an affiliate program.

Now it’s time to write a short report – about 15 pages or less – with some beauty tips and advice. Choose a good quality product to promote and link to it strategically throughout your special report. Make sure that you’re providing great content that is useful to your reader, but find a program that complements the information you’re giving them.

Here’s another example. You can write a special report about how using a detox diet can cure acne. List the benefits of using a detox diet and how it works, then link to an ebook with your affiliate link that teaches people how to cure acne with a detoxification diet. You give your readers the “what” and “why”, the affiliate program gives them the “how”.

Click here for more ways to make money with affiliate marketing.

Promoting Your Own Products

While affiliate products can generate a substantial income, there’s nothing like having your own products to promote. You receive all the profits, plus you can create your own affiliate program and have people promote your product for you.

Writing a special report about your products is a great way to get the word out about them. Let’s go with the “beauty” niche again as an example.

You’ve either written an ebook with your own beauty secrets or you’ve purchased the resale rights to one. Now you want people to know about it, so write a short report listing a few of your best beauty tips.

Include lots of details and pictures. Maybe you’ve got some advice on how to create the “smokey eye” look using eye shadow. Now link to your ebook and tell your reader that there are even more great beauty secrets in it that aren’t mentioned in the free special report.

Promoting Your Services

You may not have your own product, but you might offer services like graphic design or consulting. Writing and distributing a special report is the perfect way to show that you’re an expert in your field.

With your special report, you can show your readers that you have extensive knowledge about the services you offer. You can also list the benefits they would receive if they used your services, and don’t forget the disadvantages of NOT using your services.

Let’s use copywriting as an example. We’ll assume you have great copywriting skills and you offer your skills to clients for a nominal fee. Explain in your short report how copywriting can increase sales by improving conversion rates.

Now mention how a poorly written sales page can generate a lot of traffic but few sales. This works for not only internet marketers but brick and mortar businesses as well. Any time someone writes an advertisement for a newspaper, radio or TV ad, they’re using copywriting skills.

If their ad isn’t converting well, they’re losing out on sales which means their wallets won’t be as fat. We’d all like to have fat wallets, and paying for your copywriting skills will help us achieve that. Your special report will send that point home.

Profiting From Special Reports Doesn’t Have To Mean Selling Them

If you get creative, there are lots of ways for you to make money from giving away special reports. By not selling them or making your readers give you their email address, you’re increasing the chances that your special report will go viral. You’ll reach potential customers and clients that you normally wouldn’t reach which means more business for you.

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