There are a ton of e-book scams out there. The term scam is a bit much I know, but although you can actually make money with those programs, it’s usually a low percentage of people who will be able to. Most will try, fail, and wind up out $100 or so. Using this greasy industry as a backdrop, John Chow has moved to try to rattle things around a little. He’s produced his own e-book on how to make money online.
The book is essentially a lightly polished version of his better blog articles all condensed into one document. So why would he even bother since it’s all up on his website? Well he admits that the broader plan is essentially link bait and exposure. But there’s a far more interesting aspect of his plan that’s been pointed out in the comments to his post regarding the e-book. The PDF file is littered with his affiliate links. What a fantastic idea! That way, he gives out a free e-book on making money online which is a very, very popular topic. The people reading this e-book are likely already motivated to make money online. As they subscribe to services that John uses to make his money, they use his affiliate links to get there. Once signed up, John reaps rewards through his affiliates, all the while the individual trying to make money online doesn’t need to fork out any cash. Free book, good advice and John gets paid in the end.
This entire plan is a brilliant idea that has required some creative thoughts. The idea that affiliate links need not live on a website seems counter-intuitive, but here it is, presented in a perfectly reasonable medium. The link bait aspect is already working very well as you can already see a lot of pingbacks to John’s post.
To you all, take this as yet another example of how to go about things in a different way. There’s nothing wrong with sing tried, tested and true methods, but a little spice thrown in there by doing something completely unexpected can go a long way as well.
John Chow, marketing, monetization
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Wendy Friedrich // May 29, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Nice comment on John’s blog Well done site Now I have to go back and read some/ or all of the articles you have here Amazing
Quite a few have caught my eye Gave a 5 star rating
2 Marc // May 29, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Thanks Wendy. I try my best to provide articles that people will enjoy. I’m always pleased to hear that people are in fact enjoying them
3 Utah SEO // Jun 3, 2007 at 4:27 am
I just read John’s ebook a few days ago. I thought it was pretty good, although nothing new if you read his blog. However it is nice to have all that good advice in one place. John offers a lot for great advice on his blog so I was already a fan even before reading the ebook.
4 Marc // Jun 3, 2007 at 5:59 am
Yeah that was yet another component of his plan that was impressive. He really didn’t have to write any of it, he already had. Using his previous articles reduced his workload but still allowed for a well written book.
5 make money online // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:46 am
That PDF was awesome and I read it front to back a couple of weeks ago. He really did some great stuff, but I do think it’s time for the next big thing.