Tag Archives: Writing

Writing an eBook: First Steps to Creating Passive Income

Writing an eBook Just Makes Sense

Learning more about writing an eBook can be the first step in creating information products to build passive and residual income in your online business. You may not be aware that eBooks are more popular than ever, especially after books on Kindle have become all the rage. Readers are able to print out eBooks, and I believe this may be the biggest reason they continue to grow in popularity.

The first eBook I wrote and sold online was on the topic of real estate “farming”. This is a common activity among people working in real estate and refers to the process of choosing a geographical area that you can “farm”. I used to knock on every door in my farm once a month. It consisted of about three hundred homes. Over the years I became quite proficient at this activity and turned my door knocking into a steady stream of excellent clients. It just made sense that I would share this knowledge and experience with others.

So, where do you begin? Writing an eBook may appeal to you, but you must understand the process to truly be successful with this. Here are some steps to help you move forward:

Choose a topic that you know well and one that is of interest to others, Search on Google and at Amazon to see what is already available and what is selling well.
Purchase a domain that will serve as the “home” for your new product. Remember than an eBook is an information product and I will refer to is as such.
Create an outline for your eBook to make sure you cover everything you intended.
Start writing! Writing an eBook takes time, but it will be well worth it over time as you add another information product to your inventory.
Begin blogging about your topic and discuss your upcoming eBook.
When your eBook is complete, set it up as a product on your new domain.
Discover creative ways to market your eBook, including adding affiliates, hosting teleseminars and webinars, advertising on Facebook and other sites, and connecting with people locally who would be interested in learning more about your topic. This worked extremely well for my real estate farming eBook.
Ask others to interview you to introduce you, your topic, and your eBook to their audiences.
Think about what else you could create that would be a helpful addition to your new eBook. Think checklists, workbooks, and templates. These are amazing add-ons and will bring you additional revenue over the years.

Writing an eBook can be an excellent way to begin your online marketing as an entrepreneur. Remember that an eBook is a digital information product that will serve you for years to come. And once you have written one eBook, begin outlining your next one. Jim Edwards has a new training program for writing and marketing eBooks that is second to none. Check it out and get started right away.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I’ve been an online entrepreneur since 2006. If you are ready to get started on your journey to multiple streams of online income, visit my site at Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and download your complimentary training to get started today.

How to Create Online Courses from Your Writing

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Learning How to Create Online Courses

Everything you write can be repurposed into another format, allowing you to create many types of content for your audience. Today let’s discuss how to create online courses based on your writing. I’ve actually done this successfully several times myself and want to share how this will be effective to build your business. It all comes down to choosing the topic you will teach to others, creating an outline to work from, and then preparing the material you will use during your online course.

Most likely you write about many topics under the umbrella of your overall topic. For instance, my overall topic is internet or online marketing, but within that I write about blogging, publishing, affiliate marketing, list building, information products, social media, traffic generation, video marketing, traffic generation, and so much more. When I set out to create an online course I am focusing on just one aspect of my business. This is based on what my clients have been asking me about most during the previous month or so, what is needed by my community, and how I wish to position myself in my business.

The next step is to create a tight outline of exactly what I want to include in my online course, as well as what information I will exclude. I have learned over the years that having a thorough and complete outline is crucial to this process turning out well. Dividing your online course into logical sections is a part of this, and making sure that you start at the beginning of your topic instead of somewhere in the middle is also very important.

Finally, it’s time to create your online course. I name my course, purchase a domain name, set up a site with a sales page and a membership site, and create a slide presentation. This may seem like a lot of work the first couple of times you go through it, but finally it will all fall into place like clockwork, I promise. Learn the rhythm of creating presentations that appeal to your audience and everything else will come together seamlessly.

As you can see, learning how to create an online course can be easier and more simple than you might have previously thought possible. Take the time to choose a topic that you know enough about to teach to others and that will position you as an authority on that topic. And make sure your audience is interested in learning all about the topic before you choose it. Start creating your outline right away, making sure to write down every single thought and idea that could be included. You will find that the outlining of your course allows you to think back to ideas, concepts, and strategies you may be taking for granted right now. Then, create your online course by adding content to your membership site, as well as by teaching webinars live. Don’t forget to add additional content and materials, such as study guides, templates, workbooks, checklists, and short videos.

Now you know how to create an online course to build your business. What other questions do you have for me on this topic?

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And be sure to check out my Really Simple Online Courses training course.

Writing for Visibility as an Online Entrepreneur

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Why Writing for Visibility is So Important

Everything changed for me during the summer of 2010. That was when my first book was published and I was not prepared for what was to come. Established marketers began asking me to speak at their live events, to collaborate on joint venture projects, and to share my knowledge and experiences with their audiences. It was as though overnight I had become a different person. It was wonderful and scary all at the same time, and I was determined to learn from what was unfolding. Writing for visibility had become an integral piece of my entrepreneurial pursuits.

Soon I realized that a certain level of celebrity came along with being a published author. All of a sudden people knew my name and wanted to be associated with me. I took this all in stride and catapulted my business to the next level during that year. I also began writing my second book right away, and within another year I had three titles under my belt as my writing for visibility strategy took off.

Writing every day is a habit you want to take on. It was so difficult for me at first, but once I established the habit of writing it became second nature. Also, everything I write gets repurposed into other writing and presentations. Even a relatively short article like you are reading here will become a part of something much bigger over time. Remember that you are writing for visibility as you blog, write articles and short reports, and complete your book.

Remember that I started out as an online entrepreneur back in 2006, when there was no social media to speak of and publishing belonged to the traditional publishers. You have a distinct advantage in being able to connect more easily with people on social media and to embrace self-publishing as a means to increasing your visibility more quickly.

Choose your topics wisely, as people will tend to associate you with the subject matter you write about. I am careful to only write about the topics I have experience in and want to be known for in my online business.

The idea is that people will find your blog by searching for certain keywords on Google. They will find your book(s) by searching with the same phrases on Amazon, and they will find your podcasts by searching over at iTunes. This all adds up to millions of potential prospects and clients at any given time. I’m including podcasts in this discussion because you will always want to include your show notes so that listeners know what to expect from your call. I am not including YouTube because that is almost exclusively a visual medium.

Write every day. Write about yourself to find your voice. Write in a more determined way to build credibility. And be meaningful and purposeful as you are writing for visibility. You’ll be so glad you did this as you look back over your body of work a year from now.

Getting Into the Habit of Writing

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How to Acquire the Habit of Writing

I was the person who always wanted to become a writer, but who did very little actual writing. This started when I was about ten years old. I would write the occasional poem or one page short story, but mostly I just talked about the stories I wanted to write without taking any action. This continued throughout my adult life. At some point I accepted the fact that I wasn’t cut out to be a writer, that others were more talented than I could ever be, and that I was now too old to write anything of great meaning and importance.

And then, at age fifty I came online and became an entrepreneur.

I realized almost immediately that I was going to have to write if I wanted to make a name for myself. So I threw my old beliefs out the window and started writing every day. In the beginning this was short, awkward blog posts on topics I didn’t know much about. Then it was slightly longer articles on every topic under the sun. And then, in the spring of 2007 I did something that would change my life forever…

I challenged myself to write an article a day for the next one hundred days.

This was a big deal for someone who had never written more than three days in a row before this time. But I was determined to follow through with this challenge and so I began. I didn’t write those hundred articles in the next hundred days. Instead, I wrote a hundred articles in seventy-eight days. And long before my challenge was completed something wonderful happened – I got into the habit of writing and actually thought about what I would be writing each day.

Getting into the habit of writing is a worthwhile habit to cultivate. Since that time back in 2007 I have written at least five hundred words just about every single day. This has manifested into fourteen bestselling books, hundreds of short reports, thousands of blog posts, and even more email messages to my community. It has also increased my visibility, credibility, and profitability steadily over the years.

Are you ready to get into the habit of writing?

I believe you must have a plan in order to do this successfully, like I did with my hundred day challenge all those years ago. Schedule a time to write each day. Decide what you will write. And tell others what you’ll be writing about.

Long ago I started the thirty day blog challenges where participants wrote one blog post each day for thirty days. This was effective in turning lots of people into writers. Do something similar for yourself and see what happens as you get into the habit of writing and grow your business exponentially.

Email Marketing: Writing to One Person

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Email marketing was not an activity I had any knowledge around when I first came online. I began joining people’s list and receiving their regular emails, but when I needed to start doing this for myself I was at a loss as to how to structure each message.

Early on I had started sharing a little bit about my life and business, but I would word it in this way…”I know all of you are interested in how I got started online.” Or “Many people wrote to ask me when my next teleseminar was going to be.”

The problem with writing in this way is that you are attempting to write to everyone instead of writing to the one person who will read your email. I also did this on my teleseminars, addressing “all of you” instead of simply “you”. Even though this may be perceived on a subconscious level by the people you are connecting with, it is perceived nonetheless and will definitely affect your relationship with them over time.

When a mentor pointed this out to me and I made the change to my email marketing, my business changed overnight! I began to have greater engagement with the people on my list, as well as more sales. Each person on my list felt like I was writing just to them instead of to hundreds or thousands of people.

I would encourage you (in the beginning I would have said something like “everyone who is reading this”) to go through your own autoresponder sequence and broadcast messages to see how your wording is structured. And host another teleseminar as soon as possible to start speaking to just one person instead of to everyone. Do this with your blog posts, short reports, and videos as well.

Over the years I have studied with some of the greatest online marketers of our time and they each emphasize what I am sharing with you here today. By making the Internet a place where I person is able to connect with one other person, instead of one person connecting with the masses, you are able to leverage the power of reaching so many while still speaking to just one person at a time.

I ask my students to do an exercise where they write an email message to their list and see how many times they can use the words “you” and “your” and how few times they can use “I”, “we”, “my”,or “us”. It takes some getting used to, but the result is most definitely worth it and your email marketing campaigns will become epic instead of random and commonplace.

You have come online to build a business that will serve the needs and desires of yourself and your family. When you take that leap of faith and follow what you know in your heart will change your life forever, you open up the possibilities forever. You also set an excellent example for the people closest to you. It is my goal to serve you in a way that will allow you to take the necessary steps to success as an online entrepreneur.

Do you see what I mean?

The Art of Writing Persuasive Sales Copy

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Are You Writing Persuasive Sales Copy?

Writing persuasive sales copy can change the way your online business is perceived, as well as increase your bottom line. Learning how to write in this way is a skill that can be learned and I will share some tips on that here with you.

Storytelling – We all grew up listening to and learning from stories, so it just makes sense that storytelling would be the magic ingredient in writing persuasive sales copy. Your stories enable you to take complex or abstract ideas and present them in a simple and easy to understand format.
Write Like You Speak – Writing your sales copy in a conversational tone is key. Instead of writing to impress your reader, simple write the way you would naturally speak to them. Writing persuasive sales copy is about communicating one to one through your words.
Features and Benefits – No one really cares about the features of what you are selling; it’s the benefits those features will bring to your prospect that will make them more likely to buy. I have found that by presenting the benefits first, and then relating them to the features, your reader will understand exactly what’s in it for him if he takes the action you are suggesting.
Sub-Headings, Bulleted Lists, and Short Paragraphs – Most of us are “scanners” when it comes to reading through large chunks of writing. If you take the time to break it up into sections and divide the text into short paragraphs, your reader will be able to work their way through your sales copy more easily. They will also be far more likely to purchase. I also recommend sub-headings for each section and bulleted lists that explain exactly what you are offering and what will be included.

I hope this post has been helpful and that you have more clarity when it comes to writing persuasive sales copy.

Releasing Your Writing Inspiration Into Reality

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How to Find Writing Inspiration

Once I came online and began writing I decided not to look too deeply for writing inspiration. Instead, I choose to be inspired by the bigger picture of what I’m able to achieve in my life because I write every single day. With that said, there is something to being inspired to write a post or an article or even an entire book based on a single, or even a series of events and this has certainly happened to me on a regular basis over the past decade.

Earlier today I was reading a post on writing inspiration from author Jeff Goins, and this is what I’d like to share with you from his latest post and podcast:

Quotes and takeaways

You have to dig deeper than others to create interesting ideas that are going to move, motivate, and connect with others
“What is obvious to you is amazing to others.” -Derek Sivers
Don’t settle on your idea until you have time to explore it
“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” -Michelangelo

As a writer we have an obligation to our readers to come up with ideas that will motivate and inspire them to think bigger and do more. Connecting with others is a natural way for us to be inspired, both in a positive and negative way. For example, someone may react in a disapproving manner to something you have written and this may result in you rewriting it and making it better than it was before.

The quote from Derek Sivers resonates with me as an online entrepreneur because of my own experiences with friends and family. When I began blogging they thought it was the most awesome thing in the world, and this made me take a closer look at what I was learning at that time.

Allowing our ideas to percolate is a part of the process. While driving across the country recently I had time to reflect on the various aspects of my business and to map out changes in my mind that I implemented each night in front of my computer.

I think of writing inspiration as being composed of the ideas I have that are currently locked inside of the block of stone. It is up to me as the sculptor to discover and release them. What inspires you to write and create?

Writing Online: Write What You Know

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moon-pie When I first came online and started a dozen blogs I made the mistake of thinking that I could write on a variety of topics, most of which I knew very little about from personal experience. Writing online is no different from any other type of writing in that you will do best when writing about what you already know well.

Writing coach Suzanne Lieurance discusses this topic in her recent article, entitled Write What You Know. In it she says:

“If I Can Do This, You Can Do This!

Ever since I left the classroom after being a full-time teacher for many years, I’ve been making a living writing about all sorts of things. The best part is, most of these things are based on my own life experiences.

For example, when I was a child growing up in the South, every day I saw my grandmother pack my grandfather’s lunch for work, and that lunch always included a Moon Pie. Years later, I thought about those Moon Pies and sold an article about the history of the Moon Pie to an educational publisher.”

This reminded me not only of my days of eating Moon Pies but also the idea that we all know so many things based on our life experiences that make excellent and enjoyable reading for others. This is what I recommend if you are struggling with writing online to start your business…

Spend thirty minutes each day writing about anything you know about. This can be current events, stories from your childhood, or something related to a job, vacation, or other experience you have had. This is non-fiction writing, so keep it factual and interesting. Over time, make a point in your writing that is related to what you will be writing about for your online business. I have said for many years that I can turn any topic or situation into a marketing lesson, and this holds true to this day.

Imagine how easily people will get to know, like, and trust you if you continue to share stories with them about subjects and situations you know well. I still enjoy telling stories from my days as a classroom teacher and while I was in real estate. Remind to tell you about the time I was alone on the yard with over a hundred elementary school students when a little girl had a grand mal seizure. Or the time I hosted an open house in an empty home and two escaped convicts ran through the back yard. You just can’t make this stuff up…

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Tag Archives: Writing

Writing an eBook: First Steps to Creating Passive Income

Writing an eBook Just Makes Sense

How to Create Online Courses from Your Writing

Learning How to Create Online Courses

Writing for Visibility as an Online Entrepreneur

Why Writing for Visibility is So Important

Getting Into the Habit of Writing

How to Acquire the Habit of Writing

Email Marketing: Writing to One Person

The Art of Writing Persuasive Sales Copy

Are You Writing Persuasive Sales Copy?

Releasing Your Writing Inspiration Into Reality

How to Find Writing Inspiration

Quotes and takeaways

Writing Online: Write What You Know