Are Ebooks Still an Effective Online Business Tool?

Ebooks have long been the tool of choice for many online businesses to create products and promote their websites. They are a very cheap means to develop information products such as self-help books, courses, and reports. There are always free ebooks being given away as bonuses to anyone that subscribes to a mailing list or purchases a product. It appeared, for a time, that ebooks would always be the means to distribute information across the Internet. However, the times have changed and ebooks are losing their status as the dominant online tool.

Although ebooks are still used widely today, their popularity has steadily decreased. People have begun to get bored with all the free ebooks they receive and no longer consider them an incentive to sign up for another newsletter or mailing list.

The Rise of Audio Books

Technology has grown to the point where most people are no longer limited by a slow Internet connection. The days of the old dial up modem are over – replaced by broadband and high-speed connections. This opens up the door for a number of ways to distribute all kinds of information, not just ebooks.

The last few years have seen a rise in various multi-media instruments. Streaming video allows people to view entire seminars and presentations live as they occur. Flash technology can make learning interactive and fun. But one of the most overlooked and most effective informational tools is the audio book.

Like ebooks, audio books can be created fairly cheap – if you make the recording yourself the cost is next to nothing. And like ebooks, audio books can be bought and transmitted to customers over the Internet the exact same way.

The Benefits of Audio Books

There are various benefits to using audio books over ebooks. First, audio books appeal to a far broader range of people. There are people who would not read a 100-page book, but they would listen to it. People can upload the audio book onto their MP3 player or burn it onto a CD and listen to it as they exercise, drive to work, or ride a train or bus; they don’t have to be stationary to take in the information – a benefit extremely appealing to anyone who is always busy or on the move. Blind people can purchase audio books to enjoy literature they would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience. The list goes on and on.

Besides expanding your customer base, the next best reason to use an audio book over an ebook is the increased profit margin. Audio books have a much higher perceived value than ebooks and therefore can be sold at a higher price, even though they can potentially be created for the same cost. It has been shown that people will pay up to two to three times more for an audio book than an ebook of the same material, especially when it is provided on a CD or DVD.

Ebooks are becoming stale on the Internet and will soon be shadowed by the various multi-media products being created. After learning the benefits of using audio books you should not be surprised to see an increase in this type of multi-media information product over the coming years, which may perhaps develop into the tool of choice for online businesses. The question now becomes, “What method will you choose for your business?”