Does your business enterprise need a boost? Consider using special reports to add revenue and build a business contact list for future use.

What are special reports?

Special reports are short reports that contain helpful information on a subject. The reports are anywhere from a few to 30 or so pages in length. If you have the know-how, you can write them yourself or hire a writing service to do it for you. There is very little work involved in creating them but they are versatile tools for building an online business.

One popular subject for special reports is how-tos. They direct a reader, step by step, how to do something. If you are knowledgeable with computer software and hardware, that is a perfect niche for special reports on your website. People are always having trouble figuring out their computers and you could help.

Marketing special reports

There are options for marketing your special reports. If you are trying to build a business list of customers, use these special reports as a freebie when any visitor signs up to be a part of your email mailing list. For this type of promotion, use a shorter report like a five page report on how to navigate problems with Windows Vista (if your website has a computer niche).

You can create a five-part course and use the first part as the free promotion. It is your hook. Once they sign up for the mailing list, you can grant them access to the other installments through emails that also advertise your website products. Signing up for a business newsletter subscription can also be the reason to gift a free special report.

Making money

All of your special reports don’t have to go towards list building. Besides your other products or services, you can sell special reports on your website. Many reports sell for between $5 and $20 a piece, but if you offer very valuable information, you can command a higher price. Sell single reports or create various courses to interest your customers.

People love to learn about money-making opportunities. They will pay the money for any information that is a how-to guide to making money on and offline in various ways. How have you made money? Begin there with the subject of your special reports.

As your business grows, create an affiliate program. This gives customers a way to help you make more money and also make some for them. Offer certain special reports as additional compensation for reaching a certain selling level in the affiliate program.

There are a number of ways to use special reports. As you build your library and your lists, alternate the free promotional reports and continue to sell your entire library, creating combination offers such as Buy Two, Get One Free.

While your special reports are building your contact list, they are also making you money. With such a low cost to create them, your profit margin will rise.
Top 30 Ways To Make Money Using Special Reports -

1. Sell it – and keep all of the profits. The most obvious way of making money with special reports is to sell them.

2. Sell it through affiliates – and keep some of the profits. This is the similar #1, but your affiliates lead buyers to your sales page and pocket a commission from the sale.

3. Sell it through affiliates – and give them all of the profits. How does this make you money? Well, you build a list of buyers plus you can earn money on the back-end, either by promoting other products in the report itself, or as part of the sales process, or both.

4. Give it away – and build your list. Use the special report as an incentive for people to join your list.

5. Give it away – and make affiliate sales. Embed affiliate links in the report, and you can earn commissions by giving it away. Just add a “Resources” page or sprinkle affiliate links where appropriate.

6. Break it up into blog posts. A blog needs regular content. Write blog posts easily from a special report.

7. Give it away as a bonus to a paid product. Increase the perceived value of a paid product by including a special report – or several – as a bonus.

8. Combine them into an E-book to sell. Turn each special report into a chapter, add an introduction, conclusion, new title and cover, and you’ve got a brand new E-book to sell.

9. Combine related special reports into an E-book, to give away. Same idea as #8, but you give it away for list building and/or affiliate sales.

10. Combine related special reports into a physical book, to sell. Turn the E-book from #8 into a book that buyers can publish-on-demand, such as on Lulu.com.

11. Use it as a basis for an article. Get the most actionable points from the special report, turn them into an article, and submit it to Ezine Articles or another online article directory.

12. Create an audio version to give away, or sell. Some people prefer audio products they can listen to while they’re on the go or doing other things. Give in to their demand by converting the special report into an audio report.

13. Use a special report as the basis for tutorial videos – to give away or sell. Videos are hot nowadays, so turn a special report into video format for increased value.

14. Combine the audio and video versions into CDs and/or DVDs – and sell physical products. Physical products don’t cost a lot to produce, but have higher perceived value than digital products.

15. Use the special report as the basis for a series of marketing videos to build your list and/or drive traffic to your site. Get 3-5 top tips from the special report and turn them into a video you post on YouTube and other video sharing sites, for instant traffic for your blog or site.

16. Use it as the basis for videos to promote affiliate products. Similar to #15, but use the videos to drive traffic to products you’re affiliated with, using your affiliate links.

17. Make it a prize on your Twitter giveaway. Want to get more Twitter followers? Offer a special report to all your new followers.

18. Give it away in exchange for answering an online survey to do market research. Set up an online survey and give respondents a free special report for their time.

19. Make it a surprise bonus for your customers or subscribers. Delight your existing customers with a free special report they didn’t expect to get and make them loyal to you, for life.

20. Create a teleseminar out of the special report. Create a list of frequently-asked questions the special report addresses, and set up a teleseminar.

21. Make it a monthly resource in a paid membership program. Add useful special reports in the members’ resource area, or make it the featured content of the month.

22. Break it up into an E-course, to sell or give away. Chop up a special report to create an E-mail course or pre-recorded audio course.

23. Use the special report to create free Web 2.0 sites, such as Squidoo and Hub Pages. Create content for Squidoo lenses, Hub Pages and other Web 2.0 sites that promote your products and/or services, or affiliate products.

24. Break it up into autoresponder messages for your subscribers. Use the special report to give your subscribers useful information regularly.

25. Rewrite it to cater to a different or more specific niche. With a few tweaks, you can make a special report appeal to a completely different niche or market. For example, turn a general business report into one just for work-at-home Moms.

26. Use the content to create a mini-site for affiliate marketing. Set up a mini-site (5 pages or less) to promote an affiliate product. Get content from a special report.

27. Create a podcast. Use a special report as the basis for a podcast, which can be in audio or video format.

28. Use it as an upsell or downsell to another paid product. Offer a special report to buyers of a related product.

29. Turn it into a brandable report for your affiliates to use to promote your product or service. Let affiliates give away a special report to draw leads to your site or list.

30. Cull out the most actionable tips from the special report and turn each one into a Twitter Tweet. Shazam, you’re an instant expert.

Surprise! I actually came up with 31 ways. Here’s the bonus: 31. Turn special reports into hand-outs, checklists or even main resource materials for a coaching program.