Simple 6-step process to writing your own e-book.

One of the simplest paths to gain standing, leads, credibility and trust from your clients is to write your own e-book.

Many people are intimidated by the idea of creating their own e-books but the truth is, the process is really straight-forward and it can be terrifically profitable. If you’re already involved in activities such as blogging, article marketing and making relations with newsletters, an e-book is just one step beyond in the entire process but can truly give your credibility rating an additional boost.

Bear in mind that for an e-book to work the way in which you need it to, it must truly look at the issues, concerns, or needs of your market. The content must be top-notch. Here are 6 steps to writing your own e-book:

1. Select a subject for your target market. Don't make this into a huge product. Pick something relatively narrow within a major topic. For example, if the main topic is Internet Marketing, select something that fits within that category like article marketing, or you might go even farther and simplify it down to "keyword research for article marketing".

2. Brainstorm. Write down each idea you have, walk away and come back and write more. Put down everything and anything for now.

3. Organize your concepts into an outline. Divide your ideas into headers, subheaders, chapters and write descriptions of each point you include. Make sure to keep an eye on your references and write those down too.

4. Research. Hopefully you have picked a topic that you are acquainted with already but whether you have or haven't you'll need to do research to make your content as valuable as possible. Take notes, mark references and use quotes as you write your own e-book.

5. Put all of your organized ideas and research into a particularly long article of at least thirty pages. This is your e-book!

6. Get a second opinion. Probabilities are you'll spend rather a lot of time on this enterprise. Make sure that you step back every once in a while to give yourself a break. And when you're near the end, ask somebody else to read it for a more objective opinion. Whether it's your mate, better half or a fellow marketer, ensure you get a good, honest critique and, if possible, an edit of your work.

Once you are finished, you can either sell your e-book from your blog or site or you can offer it free of charge for people who sign up, the goal of which is to build your list.

If you decide on the first option, you'll have to line up a payment system. You don't have to charge a lot for your e-book to earn income and as it doesn't cost anything to make the book (if you do not count the time you spend on it) so anything you sell will be a profit.

So now are you ready to draft your own e-book?