Ebooks are a popular form of content marketing.
In this sense and ebook is something a business uses to capture attention and usually email addresses.
The business offers a free ebook on their website. People enter their email address and they instantly receive the PDF ebook via email.
It’s an opt-in to the company’s marketing effort. Kind of a trade off. Some good content in exchange for permission marketing.
For this post we’ll focus on one, but a very important, aspect of creating a good ebook: The Introduction.
Because without a good introduction you’ll lose the reader before they even get to the good stuff.
You know the reason people say don’t judge a book by its cover? Because they’re bad at creating covers.
The intro to anything is important. The first impression. It matters. It’s huge.
Here is how you can create a great ebook intro.
Option 1. Tell A Story
When we’re kids we love hearing stories. We love when our parents read us a bedtime story. But we also love listening to adults tell stories from their past. Real life stories.
And you know what?
We love stories as adults too. It’s the best way to give advice without preaching.
And it’s a great way to grab attention.
So for your next ebook think of a story that relates to the topic. A nice little short story that will grab the audiences attention and get them thinking about the topic.
Let’s say a dentist creates an ebook on oral health for children and new parents.
The intro to that ebook can be a great little story about a patient and their parents.
Option 2. Action Sequence
Have you ever seen a Tom Cruise movie?
Most people have.
And you know what? It’s really just about any movie.
They start out with a big action scene. They just throw you into the middle of something crazy.
In Top Gun you’re thrown right into an encounter with MIGs and Cruise has to save the day.
Then you get into the rest of the content.
You can start your ebook by jumping right into something big. Something meaningful.
A web design firm creates an ebook to share tips for writing website content. They could jump right into a very helpful tip with the intro.
Grab attention. Earn trust. Give something valuable. Then get into the rest of the book.
Just jump right in.
Option 3. Stats
People loves stats. They add context to what you’re talking about. They show that you’re not just sharing something you believe, but something that’s backed up by something.
I’m sure the dentist could easily use Google to find stats on the importance of brushing teeth or flossing and things like that. Eating healthy.
That will grab attention.
And don’t be afraid to cite and link to the sources. You won’t lose the reader. You’ll earn their trust. They want to know that you’re not just making up a statistic.
Tip #1. Short & Sweet
A few final tips…
Keep the intro fairly short. You don’t want your story to get too long. You don’t want your action tip to get too long.
Just enough to hook them and pull them in.
Like setting the hook on a fish. You give a quick jerk of the wrist. You don’t jerk over and over. You don’t do one huge jerk.
Short and simple.
Tip #2. Easy To Read Visually
Also breakup the content in the intro. Nobody wants to open a brand new ebook and see huge blocks of text. Especially on their smartphones.
Short sentences and short paragraphs are easy to read especially in intros.
Tip #3. One Step To The Next, Buildup
Finally, you want to lead the person through the intro step by step. Build to the main content.
Don’t get off point for anything. Go back and review your intro. Make sure only content that fits is there. Otherwise remove it.
Always lead people to the next step. Like a cliffhanger on a TV show.
Conclusion
Ebooks are great for building an audience and getting their permission to email them. You can have great content within the ebook, but if you don’t have a great intro it won’t really matter. Nobody will make it to the good stuff.
So use these strategies and tips when creating your next ebook. It will definitely help you help your audience.
