If you’re thinking about selling an eBook or course online about a particular topic but don’t know where to start then one of the easiest things you can do is setup a survey and use Google AdWords to drive people to that survey, asking them what questions they have about your particular topic of interest.
With just a simple HTML page and a text box, you can ask people interested in a specific topic exactly what their questions are and then use them as the basis of your information product.
In this post I’ll give you an outline of how it’s done. I’ll assume you’ve already chosen a topic to write about and will focus strictly on the survey.
To start, go to GoDaddy.com and buy a domain relating to your topic of interest. For example, we might get FixingLowerBackProblems.com if we were going to setup a survey for people with lower back problems. Because we’re going to run Google AdWords to get people to fill out your survey, the domain name should include keywords relating to the topic you want to write about – this will help your ad appear higher in AdWords.
Next, get some cheap hosting and setup your survey page. You should keep your survey page short and simple. Here’s an example:
Just include one text box where you ask what questions your visitors have. You can also include a picture of yourself or what you’re writing about. Don’t ask for their name or email address as that’ll put a lot of people off because they think you’re going to spam them.
If you’re not familar with how to hook up a form to a PHP page then click here to download a sample one where I’ve done everything for you.
After you’ve set up your survey page you can use Google AdWords to set up a few ads to get people to complete your survey. Don’t pay more than 20 cents for a click. If you’re unsure how to setup Google AdWords to attract the most clicks then read my “Killer Google AdWords Ads” series.
Collect about 30-50 survey responses and you should start getting an idea for the types of information people are after. Use those questions as the framework for your eBook. Of course there’s more to creating an eBook but if you use a survey to find out what people are interested in you’ve got a bigger chance of writing a relevant eBook that will actually sell because you’re answering the questions (or problems) that people are searching for.
This post was “guest blogged” my me, Mitchell Harper. I also run my own blog where I focus on tips to increase your website traffic to your blog. I have been online for over 10 years and run a successful software company called Interspire.
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