PalatnikFactor.com

How many people a year buy books? Millions? Billions? Think worldwide…That’s how you have to think in terms of selling a product online…WORLDWIDE…specially a product that can be digitally delivered.

About 4 months ago I launched my first eBook landing page for an eBook subject millions of people are looking for. Though they may not be looking especially for an eBook (they are looking for books on the subject, discs, etc…), I knew to target the whole market.

I’m not going to lie, the results weren’t great but for the amount of money and time invested, it did decent without my blowing out a campaign.

Note: Google told me due to customer feedback, etc…they will rank ebook sites with low quality scores unless you have an established site.

I sold about 10 ebooks in a weeks’ time which isn’t great at all. The price point of the eBook was $17, so that was $170 in a week spending about $40-50 in PPC. Note that the beauty about selling an ebook is that the profit is pure profit because the ebook doesn’t cost ANYTHING once it is done. The price point of $17 is a lot of money for an ebook but you have to show there is value in what you are selling if not people will think it’s too cheap. You have to find the right price to make it affordable and give it real value.

I decided to lower the cost of my ebook to $10 and will see what happens. Also, I will add more ad groups and try different online avenues to see how it performs. If this works, there are hundreds of subjects that you can sell ebooks for. The trick is finding the right formula for that ONE ebook, after that…you’re golden.

It’s a great way to generate extra weekly/monthly income online.

So, to answer the question in the title of this post, NO. Though people may not find an ebook a real replacement for a real book, it can still hold value to many. You just have to make sure you make your ebook seem credible with good design and content.

I’ll write a post with my update launch of the ebook site (I have two and not sure what I’ll try first) and we’ll see how it performs. May do well or may be a total failure…either way, it’s worth a shot.

You may not think much of it as a business stand point, but you should. Going green is becoming important to many people, as it could even make or break their decision to buy from you. As “Going Green” is becoming an important trend to many. If your business is “green”, they may just buy from you because of it compared to your competition.

Ever since Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, the awareness to save and preserve our planet has been a very important issue that has caught the attention of the world, young to old. As many can make many efforts to make some changes in your home and personal lives, many are taking these same practices to their business. If you have, you should show it, capitalize on it. It matters.

Here are some tips to green your business I’ve got from different sources:

- Cut Water Waste (leaking faucets, etc.)
- Use Better Paper, and Less of It
- Turn off lights and unplug electronics
- Buy less toxic cleaners
- Set computers to sleep and hibernate when inactive, and lose the screen savers.
- Stock bathrooms with postconsumer recycled tissue products.
- Reduce commutes
- Open the windows or doors
- Replace high-energy-use light bulbs, fixtures, and equipment.

You can do a lot more by getting creative and find ways to minimize electricity and use environment-friendly products.

As you try to be or you are a green company, make sure you let your consumers know. You can state anywhere on your website that you are a green company or get certified as a green company by getting a seal on your website. One company that does this is the Green Business Alliance.

You can also check out GreenBiz.com for more info on going green and green business practices.

One thing people are quick to base their success with search engine marketing as they first launch a campaign is conversion rates. Sure, conversion rates is probably the most important aspect of your campaign but the way to make sure you get good conversion rates meeting a good ROI is making sure you pay as little as possible for that click.

If you read the post below, #1 Quality Score Factor in Google: Quality Ad, you will see that the campaign I'm working on started decent…actually…pretty good CTR's but my quality score was still not what it could be with those numbers. Within 24 hours of that post, here is what happened (image shows pertaining to one particular ad group):

I was never TOO concerned about my conversion rate cost at first, but rather making sure to have a good CTR so Google would allow me to pay as little as possible for a click with good ranking. I am now seeing the reward and making tweaks to pay as low as I possibly can per conversion. Again, it does all come down to ROI (Return on Investment), but make sure you are willing to go through the motions to get there.

**For further information on Quality Score, you can read a post I did for the Search Engine Journal, Ads in a Quality Score World.

No matter how many things you try to figure out to see how Google is judging your ad to determine your cpc (cost-per-click), YOUR biggest concern should be the quality of your ad.

Maybe you really haven't thought about it, but what you should worry about most is creating the most compelling ad for searchers and THAT will result into clicks and hopefully conversions for you. So, what is that you may be doing wrong? For one, I used to create campaigns and let them be. We're so busy with so much stuff that we forget that tweaking certain things in your ad can make the biggest difference to an eye and turn into a click.

Let me give you an example. I created a campaign that had decent clicks but I thought I should get more…way more. As time is always a factor, my ads were pretty decent but I didn't really see what my edge was vs. the competition. Why would someone click on my ad and not their ad? What makes my ad different then the other guy with the same product at almost the same price? Do I offer free shipping? What do I have that they don't? WHAT MAKES ME STAND OUT?
**The image below is in a 4-hour span.

{please note I cannot specify what product I am selling and what my ads are for some obvious reasons to readers, hope you understand =)}

Anyway, I did research into the product itself and how the brand identified itself and how I would be able to do the same. I posted a new ad to compare CTRs (Click-Through-Rates) and of course, the results were great. My click through rates were way better and yet to make more tweaks. What's your edge? Your identity? Ask yourself those questions when creating your ads.

Sure, Google can give you a POOR quality score result for certain keywords but with a QUALITY ad, you can change that in days. Make sure you give yourself a chance but bidding enough to place in the front page.