Why Real Estate Agents Should Write E-books

The idea of residual income is what draws many people to write an e-book. It's no secret that e-books are, when done correctly, can be a great source of residual income. There are a million e-books out there about how to write an e-book, how to make money selling e-books, and every other combination; This not one of those articles. In this article you will learn how you can make residual income by GIVING AWAY free e-books about real estate, property investing, buy or selling a home, and more on your real estate website or blog.

You could send some time writing a full length e-book about selling your house or a property investing guide to Bulgaria. The problem with those is, you have to get people to buy them in order for you to make money. I know what you are thinking, how am I supposed to make money with my real estate e-book if I just give it away?

The simple answer, affiliates.

With affiliates, you can make money simply by sending people to certain retailers. The retailer will pay you for helping them make a sale.

Here's how it works; You write a e-book about all things real estate, include various affiliate links through out the book, you give the e-book away for free, people then read your e-book and hopefully click on your affiliate links, they buy something via your affiliate link and then you get paid your referral fee.

So, the more e-books you give away, the more opportunity you have to make money.

In this article you will learn; how to get real estate affiliate links, what the best real estate affiliate links are, how to incorporate real estate affiliate links into your e-book, and ideas for promoting your real estate e-book.

E-Books - How to Get Affiliate Links

Finding affiliate links can be as simple as visiting some of the major real estate related websites. These major websites, such as eLoan or Homedepot.com, usually have a affiliate application on the website. You can certainly go this route and sign up for affiliate status at the different real estate related websites individually, but I recommend and affiliate network such as Commission Junction.

Commission Junction is affiliate portal where you can view, search, and apply for real estate related affiliate links all in one spot. The website even tracks your earning from all of your real estate affiliates. This way you have a one stop destination for all your affiliate needs.

You will first need to create an account with Commission Junction. Once you have completed that step, you will be able to search for affiliate links associated with real estate. The question is, how do you know which real estate affiliates to join up with?

Outdoor E-Books - How to Choose Affiliate Links

Choosing affiliate links really depends on the type of real estate e-book you will be writing. The first step is to research what real estate affiliates are out there. Sign in to you Commission Junction account and look up affiliates you think might be useful. This will give you a good idea of what types of affiliates are out there for real estate topics.

You could also consider looking at setting up affiliates with people in the travel section, books, or even electronics. It all depends on what you are writing your e-book about and how many links you want to add to it.

When researching real estate affiliates, there are a few things you want to look at.

The first thing you are sure to want to look at is the incentive. The incentive is how the affiliate will pay you. Some affiliates will pay a flat fee, while other may pay a percentage.

Your first instinct might be to sign up for the real estate affiliates that have the largest incentives. Keep this in mind though; the larger the incentive, the harder it is to sell. Try sticking to one real estate affiliate that offers a large incentive and then see about adding a few, smaller, real estate affiliates.

Outdoor E-Books - How to Incorporate Affiliate Links

When creating an outline for your e-book, keep the real estate affiliates you researched earlier in mind. See if there are any ideas that just jump out at you as a possible way to add affiliate links.

Lets go over an example:

Say you were writing a e-book about getting ready to sell your home. One of your chapters might be, "Checklist of Things to Do". In your to do list, you could create an affiliate link for things homeowners may need to purchase on the list. For example:

Replace Old Appliances

Old appliances can make your house look dated to potential buyers. Spending a few hundred dollars on stainless steel appliances can boost your bottom line by thousands of dollars

In that example you could link stainless steel appliances to websites like home depot or other websites you have affiliate status with that sell them. So, should your reader click the affiliate link and buy an appliance with in a certain amount of time, you'll get a percentage of the sale.

Other ideas could include:

Adding reviews of books and products and linking to them.

Recommend certain products and link to them

Suggest websites and link to them

The ideas are only limited by the affiliates you can find.

Outdoor E-Books - How to Promote Your E-Book

When it comes to promoting your e-book, the sky is the limit. Because you are giving away your e-book, you don't have to worry about trying to sell it. All you have to do to make money with your real estate e-book is get people to read it.

Once you have you real estate e-book posted online, via a web host, you can start linking to it. You can send links in emails, on message boards, in forums, on networking sites, and anywhere else you can think of. Think about the types of websites your potential readers would frequent. Then look for marketing possibilities.