Why do you need to publish a printed book or an electronic version of the book? Writing a book organizes your thoughts around a subject, making you more effective in your field. Having written a book establishes you as an expert in your field. The book educates, teaches or entertains others, which increases your value to your clients, your business or your employer.

By adding value to the lives of others you increase your income. A book gives you a physical item to use to promote yourself or business. You can sell it at speaking engagements, thereby adding incremental revenue. A book or ebook can be sold from your website and other people’s websites, which drives more traffic to your site and more revenue.

A book or ebook creates a residual income stream. You can publish the same material in print and electronically, thus increasing your distributions channels. You can re-purpose the content of the book and publish parts of it in your blog, creating yet another traffic and revenue stream.

Tips:

• Write content and self publish it in a book, ebook, CD, DVD, etc. You can now do this without having to pay for it until someone makes a purchase. They are printed on-demand.
• When you write a print publication you can package it in electronic format for sale as well.
• And, you can record an audio track or even a video for distribution.
• Place the book for sale through 3rd party and affiliate sites. This gives you links back to your site, increases your search engine optimization and traffic.

Resources – Publish Books

• YouPublish – YouPublish is the easiest place on the web to share and sell your digital files. Completely FREE to use, join, and upload! Upload video, audio, PDFs, Word documents, photographs, and more. Sell your files or share them for free.
• LuLu – Publish. Sell. Lulu gives you access to the fastest and most extensive distribution system available anywhere – and at the same time, lets you maintain complete control over everything from how much your work costs to where it gets listed. Self-publishing doesn’t get much better than that.
• Scribd – Tens of millions of people come to Scribd each month seeking information and inspiration on subjects ranging from travel to religion and music. With our innovative iPaper document-reader technology and popular website, Scribd is changing the way written works are distributed, marketed and shared. Professional publishers on Scribd include print publishing and media companies, authors, corporations and organizations.

Social bookmarking allows you to store, organize, search, and manage links to web pages on the Internet. Social Bookmarking sites use metadata “tags” to organize links which lends to search engine optimization of the content. The social bookmarking sites offer web feeds of the bookmarked links which enables users to find new bookmarks that are shared by others.

Tips:

• Bookmark articles relevant to your customers or business using one or more of these sites.
• When you see relevant articles to your business, write a comment and link back to your site.

Resource List:

• Digg – Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users..
• AddThis – AddThis is the #1 bookmarking and sharing button on the Internet. We help website publishers and bloggers spread their content across the web by making it easy for visitors to bookmark and share content to their favorite social destinations.
• Delicious – Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet.
• StumbleUpon – StumbleUpon uses ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages that friends and like-minded stumblers have recommended..
• Facebook – Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet..
• reddit – reddit is a source for what’s new and popular online. vote on links that you like or dislike and help decide what’s popular, or submit your own!
• Mixx.com – Use YourMixx to tailor the content categories, tags, specific users and groups, and we’ll deliver the top-rated content as chosen by you and people who share your passions. Lists user-recommendations for stories, photos and videos. Customize the start page, join private groups, and rate content.

A survey is a means of collecting quantitative information about a group. It can be used to collect opinions or quantitative data. Surveys can be used in several ways.

Tips:

• Ask questions of your customers to engage them and start a dialog.
• Gather information on what your customers want.
• Identify the demographic you want to be talking with.
• Quantify feedback from your customers.
• Collect the opinion of your customer.

Resources: Surveys

• Zoomerang – The Leader in Online Surveys with Over 1 Million Satisfied Customers. Quickly and easily create online surveys to get the insights you need. You can build a survey in minutes with free access to over 100 professionally-designed online survey templates. Then, analyze and share your results by creating customized charts, posting them to your blog or website or just exporting your data to Excel, PowerPoint or a PDF.
• SurveyMonkey – Using just your web browser, create your survey with our intuitive survey editor.  Select from over a dozen types of questions (multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus, and more…).  Powerful options allow you to require answers to any question, control the flow with custom skip logic, and even randomize answer choices to eliminate bias.
• QuestionPro – QuestionPro is web based software for creating and distributing surveys. It consists of an intuitive wizard interface for creating survey questions, tools for distributing your survey via email or your website, and tools for analyzing and viewing your results. You simply build your survey and email it to a list of potential respondents. QuestionPro will take care collecting and recording the responses. Results are available in real time.
• PollDaddy – With your free account from PollDaddy you can create online surveys and polls for your website, blog and social network. Find out what your visitors are thinking today. Create your surveys and polls using our custom templates or create your own. Use our in-depth reporting engine to aggregate, print and export your results.
• Snap Surveys – With 27 years survey experience and thousands of users, Snap Surveys can supply survey software and research services for your specific market sector. Snap 9 is our user-friendly survey software for market research. Snap provides the tools you need to get your research done. Professional IT and research services for survey management and data processing from our in-house SurveyShop division.

Tips:

Here are some suggestions for how to use email as a marketing tool to grow your business.

• Author your own ezine or newsletter
• Submit content to leading ezines.
• Create a joint venture with leaders in field to cross promote your ezines.
• Sell ad space in your ezine.
• Set up auto responders which are messages that are automatically sent to your customer when they perform an action such as signing up for your list.
• Use email to communicate with your customers about upcoming opportunities, activities, news and events.
• Set up a separate email address for sales or services issues.

Resources: Email

Here are some free ways to get an email account.

• Hotmail – owned by Microsoft MSN
• Gmail – owned by Google
• Yahoo Mail – owner by Yahoo

Resources: ezine publishing services (NOT Free!)

For a small number of subscribers you can send out the email from your email provider. As the quantity of subscribers grows, you will need a more sophisticated tool.

• Awebber – Whether you’re looking to get your first email campaign off the ground, or you’re a seasoned veteran who wants to dig into advanced tools like detailed email web analytics, activity based segmentation, geo-targeting and broadcast split-testing, we’ve got just what you need to make email marketing work for you.
• iContact – iContact allows businesses, non-profit organizations, and associations to easily create, send, and track email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders.
• Constant Contact – Email Marketing and Online Surveys from Constant Contact make it easy and affordable for you to connect with your customers or members.

Do you have other favorites tips or resources that you’d like to share?

(For more tips and resources such as this, download the Free Report, “187 Free Ways to Explode Your Business”.)

Web conferencing is when you conduct a LIVE meeting or presentation using the Internet (many to many interaction). In a web conference, you sit at your computer and are connected to others in the meeting via the internet.

A webinar is a one-way web conference (speaker to audience) but can include questions & answer sessions.

A webcast is the transmission of non-interactive audio or video content over the internet (speaker to audience).

A podcast is a series of audio or video files that are downloadable from the web. It is an acronym for Portable On-Demand Broadcast.

A teleconference or teleseminar is the live exchange of information among many remote people via a telecommunications system.

Tips for Web Conferencing:

• Hold a live webinar.
• Record your webinar and make available as a webcast or podcast.
• Record your webinar and post the audio or slideshow to share with customers or potential customers.

Resources: Web Conferencing (most of these are fee based)

• Vyew – FREE! With Vyew you can conduct meetings in real time using a shared workspace, webcam, voice over IP (VoIP), free teleconferencing, text chat and desktop sharing. In addition to uploading, sharing and presenting content you can invite participants to annotate and collaborate on content during the meeting. Participants can be allowed to navigate the workspace independently to collaborate on different portions of the content. You can also record the meeting for playback.
• Glance – up to 100 guests see your screen…you can share your mouse and keyboard with guests, or even see and control their screens!  Inviting a guest is as easy as a phone call, email or IM.  There’s even free Glance phone conferencing available with every account.
• Adobe Acrobat Connect – With Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ Pro software, you can create instant, collaborative meetings with just a web browser and the Adobe Flash® Player.
• InterCall – InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing provider,. Our integrated web, audio and video conferencing makes web meetings, webinars, audio conferencing, online training seminars and multi-point video conferencing easier and more productive.
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting – Office Live Meeting is a conferencing solution that you can use to engage audiences in online meetings, training, and events. Learn how you can schedule, join, or present a Live Meeting by using newly available features, including audio, video conferencing, and uploading handouts for distribution.
• WebEx Communications – WebEx is an easy way to share ideas with anyone, anywhere. It combines real-time desktop sharing with phone conferencing so everyone sees the same thing while you talk.
• GoToMeeting – Easy Online Meetings – Anytime, Anywhere. Use GoToMeeting to present, demonstrate and meet all you want – for one low flat fee.

Resources: Webinars

• Dimdim – Display your presentations to anyone remotely with Dimdim, a challenger to Webex. Has a free version.
• SlideRocket – SlideRocket is the leader in online presentation software. With SlideRocket you quickly make stunning presentations, manage a library of slides and assets, share them securely with colleagues, and measure how they’re used. It has some web conferencing capabilities.
• ON24 Inc. – Global Provider of Webcasting and Virtual Events Solutions

Resources: Podcasts

• Apple iTunes – post your webcast to the iTunes store and make your content available to all iPod users.
• Podcast.com – Podcast.com is the premier podcast destination that provides access to a growing list of over 60,000 curated and constantly updated podcast feeds representing more than 1 million episodes of audio and video content.
• Podcast Alley – Podcast Alley is the podcast lovers portal. Featuring the best Podcast Directory and the Top 10 podcasts, as voted on by the listeners. Has forums covering how to make a podcast, podcast software, podcast directories, music for podcasts, etc.

For more resource lists like this, please request our FREE REPORT: “187 Free Ways to Explode Your Business” available from the right sidebar.

Video sharing is the distribution of your video clips on a web site. Video sharing services can host user generated videos, white label (private label) providers and web based video editing.

Resources: Video Creation & Editing

• Toufee.com – Create gorgeous flash movies & slideshows for your website quickly and easily – without any programming – with Toufee’s flash maker.
• Screen Toaster – A free online screen recorder. Capture video of onscreen action and share it instantly.
• StashSpace – Upload videos to your private online StashSpace to easily access, share, protect from disaster and loss, edit video online, and convert video to DVD. Works with full-length video.

Resources: Video Index

• Google Videos – The Google Video is an index and is the most comprehensive on the Web, containing millions of videos indexed and available for viewing.

Resources: Video Hosting & Sharing

• YouTube – Owned by Google and the largest on the web. With a simple one-time log-in, you can have your YouTube account automatically update your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and Google Reader shared items when you upload a video.
• Vimeo – Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make. We offer advanced privacy options, sharing tools, and high quality video encoding.
• Revver – We support the free and unlimited sharing of media. Our unique technology pairs videos with targeted ads and tracks them as they spread across the web. So no matter where your video travels, you benefit because we share the advertising revenue with you.
• MySpace Video – Share videos with your MySpace community.
• Yahoo Videos – upload your videos, watch and rate the videos of others, save your favorites, build playlists, and leave comments.
• MSN Soapbox Videos – User generated video content on MSN Video.
• Motionbox – Quick, easy, and reliable, Motionbox is a secure place to share, edit, and store personal videos. Make DVD’s and Flipbooks from your videos.
• TinyPic – A photo and video sharing service that lets you easily upload, link, and share your images and videos on MySpace®, eBay®, Orkut Scrapbooks, blogs, and message boards. A Photobucket company.
• Facebook Video – Lots of traffic. Share your video with your Facebook community.

Do you have more favorites? Please share them in the comments below.

If you would like more resources such as this, please order your FREE REPORT: “187 Free Ways to Explode Your Business” in the right column of this page.