Would you like to write an eBook for your website but don’t know where to begin? Many website owners consider writing an eBook for their website but give up on the idea because the task of writing any book seems arduous. Don’t be one of them – writing an eBook is not as difficult as you think! There are two ways of going about it:

• Write your own eBook
• Hire professional ebook writers on a ghost writing basis

EBooks for inbound marketing campaigns

With the growing popularity of automated marketing tools like HubSpot and Marketo, downloadable ebooks have become a popular tool for lead generation. An inbound campaign is generally planned around several pieces of content. Often, that will include:

• An eBook
• A landing page describing the ebook and presenting the sign up form
• One or more related blog posts that act to drive traffic to the eBook landing page
• A series of ‘lead nurture’ emails that will be sent (over time) to the leads who download the book

If you’re just beginning your journey with an automated marketing tool, consider engaging an experienced content agency with a team that understand bound marketing and can help you to plan the campaign, in addition to creating the required content.

Writing your own eBook

The idea will seem daunting at first but like every big task, if you break it down into smaller chunks, it won’t feel so unmanageable. The biggest mistake inexperienced writers make is that they start writing without a plan or “outline”. Without a plan you’re in danger of wandering from topic to topic within each chapter and becoming frustrated with the writing process. This is where most people give up. To make a simple plan, follow these steps:

• List broad topics you would like to cover in your eBook
• Consider each broad topic a chapter
• Give each broad topic a heading – that is your chapter title
• Do the titles have a natural chronological order? If so, list them in order
• Under each chapter title, write notes about the information you’ll include

With that done, you have ‘outlined’ your book. Now it is simply a matter of expanding on the subject matter.

If you writing skills aren’t up to bringing it all together, or you simply don’t have time to do it yourself, you can always hire a ghost writer.

Hiring a Ghost Writer

Hundreds if not thousands of eBooks are being written by ghost writers every day for website owners like you. Their services are generally not that expensive, particularly when you consider what a fabulous marketing tool an eBook can be – you can sell it or give it away. It’s a one-off expense.  If you require a relatively simple eBook, each chapter can be written as an article – so if you have 15 chapters, you can give the ghost writer your 15 chapter titles and ask for 15 articles, then fashion this into an ebook.

The best way to approach using the services of a ghost writer is to provide the writer with an outline you have prepared. Give them clear instructions on what information you want included. The clearer your instructions, the more likely you are to be happier with the end result. Best of all, as term ghost writer implies, the writer’s name doesn’t go on the book – your name does.

If you don’t feel able to plan the eBook, seek out the help of a content strategist to help you decide on a topic that will appeal to your target audience.

Once you decide to write an eBook for your website, the whole process may take only a week or two – particularly if you hire a ghost writer.