eBook vs eCourse . Which will make more money for your blog?
I am pretty sure that by now you’ve probably started to realise that if you want your blog to be profitable (aka make you enough money that it’s worth your time doing it… or better yet make you more money than your current day job ever could).
Then you need to have something to sell.
Period.
Just creating a great blog, with awesome content and lots of loyal readers is not a business on it’s own.
I don’t care how much traffic you have.
You need to have a way of generating regular and reliable income.
And sadly neither affiliates, or sponsored content really can be described as either regular or reliable (not for 99.9% of bloggers anyway).
In fact they’d more accurately be described as about as trustworthy as Justin Beiber on a good day, and more like Beibs circa 2013 if you are still building your traffic. 
So what are you left with then?
Well usually it’s either one of two things (or a combo if you’re a total over achiever!); an eBook or an eCourse of some kind.
And unlike sponsored content, both of these methods of monetisation can actually be started (and be very profitable), even if you have very small traffic.
But the problem is, even the really clever bloggers who get to this point, still end up making one very crucial mistake.
One that is based on totally incorrect assumptions.
And one that I am about to smash to smithereens now.
So if you want to save yourself many years of just blogging your heart out for free, then keep on reading.
Because with these tips plus the awesome free tools I have for you below, you’ll skip over the trial and error part, and be able to create your first profitable eProduct right now instead.
Want to make sure your product will sell… before you even start creating it? Click here!
How to find the best way to make money on your blog (now!)
eBooks vs eCourses
OK, time for some straight talking here.
eBooks are NOT the best or the easiest way of making money on your blog.
I think they are great to have as a part of your product offering (especially if you have some great email sales funnels in place), but I don’t think they are by any means the best or easiest way to do it.
Now I think a lot of blogger’s decide to try them first, because they think they will be easier, and less time consuming, and are just a bit less scary than an eCourse.
They use them almost as a “test”.
A way of dipping their toes before they jump in.
But here’s the thing.
Normally these “tests” yield really disappointing results (for reasons I’ll explain below), and actually, depending on how you create them, eBooks and eCourses will probably take about the same amount of time (and money… and skill) to create anyway.
BUT… (and it’s a big, Kardashian styled one), you normally won’t make anywhere near as much money on an eBook as an eCourse.
So really, it’s not an accurate test.
And it’s one that actually a lot of people try, and then get discouraged by.
When really it should be the opposite way around.
And here are the reasons why
#1 – Price
You see eBooks are usually in the $5-40 range (and it would have to be insanely useful to get the higher end of this scale).
Where as eCourses are normally in the $50-$500+ scale.
So you would have to sell 10 or more eBooks to make the same amount as selling one eCourse.
#2 – Ease of sales
And here’s another thing that most blogger’s don’t know.
It’s actually not that much more difficult to sell a $5 thing, as it is to sell a $50 thing… or a $200 thing.
As long as its something your readers value, and you are able to successfully communicate the benefits your product provides for them, the effort and skills required are actually pretty much the same to sell both.
As is the amount of traffic you need.
Normally a “good” conversion rate for an online product is about 2% of either your email list OR the people who view the sales page (depending on the types of promotion you are doing).
No matter the price.
So if you have 100 people on your email list, you can expect to sell 1 or 2 of your products. Whether they cost $5, or $200.
And even if you are terrible at maths, I am pretty sure you can see which one is better value.
#3 – Perceived Value & Results
And speaking of value.
At this point in time, most customers actually perceive an online course as being far more valuable to them than a simple eBook.
Even if the content was exactly the same.
They are also far more likely to actually not just consume the information, but to actually take action and get themselves some results with an online course vs an eBook.
Now some of this again comes down to price (seriously, how much value would you ever assume you’d get out of a $5 thing, it’s too cheap!), and the rest comes down to format.
eCourses naturally have more of an interactive, and more engaging delivery method.
So more people will actually complete them, and put those learnings into place.
And then more people get results.
And then therefore more people are telling all their friends about this awesome eCourse they just took, and this increases your sales as well etc.. etc..
So to recap, eBooks and eCourses take about the same amount of time, skill and money to create, and the same amount of time, skill and money to sell.
BUT eCourses can be sold for 10 time or more what eBooks are sold for, AND they get your customers better results.
It’s not rocket science people!
And if you STILL don’t believe me, check out my simple calculator below to see how they compare, and how many you would really have to sell of any type of eProduct to make the kinds of money you want to make to finally start making a healthy profit from your blog.
