Get a presence on the web

First things first. You’ll need some web space for your book. You can either pay a host or you can get free hosting service. I recommend you pay (for an inexpensive web host at least), and I’ll tell you why.

There are many providers of free web pages, and a quick Google on “free web hosting” will illustrate that to the tune of page after page of providers.  However, some of the services are unreliable, have annoying popups or other advertising, or have strict requirements on what you can and can’t sell.

If you want something for nothing though, a good starting point is your own Internet Service Provider (ISP). Some ISPs, such as AOL, MSN, EarthLink, or RoadRunner may provide free web space as part of your monthly subscription. What they do not provide free is a domain name for your web site, such as www.yourEbook.com.

Likewise, other free web hosting services do not allow you to use your own domain name. Besides the annoying ads and rules, the domain name issue is a huge reason not to use free hosts. If you want to be professional and maximize sales, you will need your own domain, and not www.somecompany.com/withdistractingadvertising/yougetwhatyoupayfor.

Tip: Even with the big ISPs, free hosting is not an ideal for you. It’s just not that effective to have a site called www.personal/internetserviceprovider.com/home.html.

You can purchase a domain name to match the title of your ebook or the name of your business easily through any cheap yet secure service. This should not cost you more than $10 per year, so don’t pay more than that. Some fee-based web-site hosts will register your domain name for you as part of their pricing. Remember your domain name is one of the most important steps of your web presence, if you need help choosing the right domain name, Web Name Consultants are the best.

I recommend paying for web hosting service. First of all, it’s pretty cheap these days. You can get your own web page with tracking features for around $10 – $20 per month. You’ll get enough space to store a library full of your own ebooks if you wish. And you can use your own domain name.

Rather than list all the possible web hosting services you might use, We highly recommend E-Hosting they cater to the internet marketing types  CLICH HERE to see E-Hosting.

And if and when you add more ebooks to your library, then you should consider using forwarding services as necessary so that you can direct traffic to your best ebook-selling site.

The web page for your ebook should contain a sales letter that is immediately visible. In fact, your web page really doesn’t need to contain much else, unless you choose to use additional pages for other uses.

Here are the components of a great sales letter.

1. a catchy headline.
2. a list of amazing benefits for the reader. Tell visitors what problems your ebook solves or how it will improve their lives.
3. testimonials. Quotes from people who have read the book or from people who know you and are willing to write something great about you for your site.
4. a guarantee.
5. a link to a sample chapter.
6. a link to purchase the ebook.
7. the price. Going rates are $5.95 to $19.95.
8. about four pages in length.
9. a narrow page with wide margins for easy reading.

10. dark text on a white or light-colored background, for easy reading.

Tip: Get testimonials early in the game by offering your ebook free to those who will in exchange, give you a one or two sentence testimonial.

You should also provide a mail box where visitors can send a check for your ebook, but this is only to show them that you have an address. It adds to your credibility, but don’t expect many orders, if any, through this channel. In fact, if you only provide a postal mail box address and do not provide your customers with the ability to click and pay by credit card, you can expect to lose 95 percent of your buyers. However, put the address on the site, and do process orders that come in that way. Use a box that is not your personal residence for reasons of personal security.

Services abound that will accept credit card payments and send you the money. A common one is http://www.paypal.com. Paypal and most other services charge an upfront fee and percentage, but the charges are reasonable. Get set up immediately. You want your customers to buy immediately.

Finding a web designer online is much of the same old same old. Do an Internet search, or ask one of your technical friends for recommendations.

Use the home-page designing software provided by your web host, or just pay the web host’s fee-based designers.

What I recommend is that you tap into your ebook cover artist. Remember how I said you should develop a relationship? Once you get to that point, you can get some additional advice and help from them. Ask if they also do web page design or if they can refer you to someone good.

Note: Novice web designers use software such as MS Word or FrontPage. Experienced web designers may use Macromedia Fireworks with Dreamweaver or other package.

Definitely outsource your web page design, at least for your first ebook. This is worth the money, in the same way that hiring a ghostwriter and cover artist is worth the money. After you outsource your first web page, and some time down the road when you have more time on your hands, you could learn a bit about web design. Then you can copy the page you had designed professionally and use it as a template to self-design additional pages for new ebooks that you create.