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Dear Friend, 

Here’s How To Write All The FREE Reports You’ll Ever Need For Your Business…

Free Reports are a very versatile tool that you can use for your business. They are generally 4-8 page information pieces that give your prospects valuable information they want and need to make informed decisions.

They can be on any topic that might have some value to your prospects. Sometimes we take for granted the information that we have as common knowledge, because we are so familiar with the topic and we hear about it everyday, but your prospects don’t have a clue most of the time.

You can use free reports as the special offer in your direct response ads, in your endorsement letters, in your just listed and just sold postcards, as handouts at a seminar, anywhere that people might like to have the information.

Free reports are also a great tool for your clients to use when they are referring you to a friend or co-worker.

The free report is a tool that you can send when you can’t be there in person. I like to think of it as your way of sitting down with your prospect one on one and having a conversation with them about the topic. A consulting session. Laying out their options for them and letting them decide what the best thing to do would be.

How do you write them? Doesn’t it take a long time? Where do you get the information? Those might be some questions that are going through your mind right now, so, as always, I’m going to give you some step-by-step instructions you can follow to create all the FREE reports you’ll ever need for your business.

Step #1: Choose a topic that relates to a single target market

The first thing you need to do is select a single target market that you are going to write your free report for. A target market could be renters who are paying more that $500 dollars a month in rent.

Homeowners that are living in smaller homes or condos and want to buy a bigger house.

Homeowners that have a high interest rate and could save money by refinancing now. Any target market that you can identify and that you have special information that they may not know is a great candidate. Just try and match your specialized knowledge to a segment of the market that could benefit by having it.

Step #2: Write the headline for your free report first

Now that you have decided on your target market and the topic you will write about, the first thing you need to do is write the headline.

I like to start with the headline first because it gives you an easy way to keep your free report on track – delivering on the promise of the headline. The best headlines for free reports are “How To” headlines. When you start your headline with a how to, it forces you to have a benefit after the words and will let your readers know what they are going to get for reading this report.

So if you’re target market is renters who are paying more than $500 dollars a month in rent, you might have a headline for your report that says “How To Buy A Home In Springfield For Less Than $500 A Month.”

The headline of your report is going to be the element that makes people want it. 

Emotional or provocative headlines often work best. 

That’s why I recomend turning to Cosmo, Self, Readers Digest…or any of those tabloids and magazines you see at the grocery check out. 

Those check out aisles are hotbeds of great headline ideas — because millions of those magazines are sold on the strength of those headlines. 

They have to grab your attention in a very short period of time…while you’re standing in line. 

If they can get you to pick up the magazine — there’s a good chance you’re not going to be able to read the article while you’re in line — and you’ll end up buying the magazine. 

So, look in the message board over at MarketingMonday.com to see some of the headline ideas from last week and see if you can come up with some of your own. 

Step #3: Create an outline for your report

The biggest secret to writing any free report is the outline. A good outline almost makes the report write itself. If you think in terms of a journalist, what questions would you want to answer in this report?

What questions would your prospects probably ask you if you were able to sit down with them one on one?

If you were writing the report for renters they might want to know how much money they needed to have for a downpayment. How much income do I need? Where are these homes located? Think like your prospect because they have all kinds of questions about the topic.

The most important question you can answer in your report is “What do I do next?”
You should always answer this question as the last thing in your report. The only purpose of your report is to get your prospect to take the next step, which may be a meeting with you or it may be coming to a seminar or talking to you over the phone. Whatever it is you need to tell your prospect what to do now to get the benefit they have just read about.

Step #4: Find an expert who can answer your outline questions (Hint: It might be you!)

Now that you have an outline of the questions you would like to answer with your report, you need to find the answers. You may have the answers yourself, or you may need to find someone who does. If you are a Realtor writing about low downpayment home loans, or “how to get a yes when you borrow money,” you may want to choose a lender who can answer the questions more clearly than you can.

Step #5: Interview your expert and get it on tape

Once you have found your expert, set up a time with them when you can interview them for 15 minutes over the phone or in person and tape record the expert answering the questions in your outline. If the expert is you, have someone ask you the questions and record your answers. Using this technique is a lot easier than writing the reports and you can get the whole thing done in less than 15 minutes.

Step #6: Transcribe the tape

Now that you have the tape of your interview, take it to a secretarial service and have it transcribed for you. This shouldn’t take them very long and they will be able to give you a hard copy and a copy on disk. When you see it on paper you’ll be amazed at what a great “writer” you are and how conversationally it reads.

Step #7: Format your transcript and you’ve got your free report

All you need to do now is format the report with a your headline in bold at the top of the page and edit out all the “uhmms and Uhhhs” from the transcript and you’ve got a great free report you can use to grow your business! Don’t worry about making it look fancy or putting graphics or illustrations in it.

The important thing is that all the information is there and it makes sense.

This formula makes it easy for you to write all the reports you’ll ever need for your business and the best thing is — you can do it all on one remodel day. Ok. Here’s your assignment. Pick a single target market and follow the steps in this article to create just one free report.

If you send it to me — I’ll work with you to make it as compelling as possible, and then next week we’ll talk about how to write ads for your report that will get your prospects calling YOU! 

Have fun with this, and hopefully in a couple of weeks we’ll have a nice collection of FREE Reports! 

Make My Life Better Day: 

Ok…welcome back to another Make My Life Better Day. 

This week, I want to talk about something that will definitely make your life better — and that is a designated place to work ON your business. 

Right now — I’m in Winter Haven, Florida sitting in what I call my Idea Lab. 

It’s a space that is completely optimized for what I do — and my 4 most valuable activities. 

Reading…Thinking…Writing…and Recording. 

I’ve essentially got a one bedroom condo right behind the cafe I go to every morning — and just a couple of hundred yards away from our MoneyMakingWebsites.com World Headquarters. 

But the thing about this space is that it is completely set up to eliminate interruptions and distractions. 

First — there is NO telephone…so nobody is calling me. 

There is NO Internet…so I’m not checking my email every 5 minutes or surfing around “researching” all day. 

It’s equipped with all the tools I need to be creative and productive. 

In one room, there are a couple of comfy Manhattan Club chairs from Pottery Barn. 

(If you’re looking for a fantastic reading chair…THIS is the one. We’re up to 8 of these now between Florida and Toronto. Check it out at PotteryBarn.com) 

There’s a big writing desk under a semi-circular etched glass window for lots of natural light. 

A big cork-board for outlining with index cards, and lining up my writing projects. 

In the back room there’s a big 7 foot project table and an 8′ by 6′ whiteboard. 

This is EXACTLY the kind of space I need to get my best work done…and it really improves my productivity immensely. 

What I would suggest for YOU is to think about a space you can go when you’re working ON your business, and your marketing — where you won’t get sucked in to all the things going on around you. 

A couple of ideas for you might be checking out the private study rooms at the library. 

Most libraries have individual study rooms — or small conference rooms you can book ahead of time for 2 or 3 hour blocks. 

Another idea might be a small business center where you can rent an office for an afternoon. 

whatever it is — make it a point to routinely use that space when you’re working ON your business…and you’ll get a lot more done. 

Using these blocks of time is fantastic — but using them in an OPTIMAL ENVIRONMENT  with explode what you can get done! 

Try it. 

Calamity Proofing Your Life: 

Ok — now here’s something to calamity proof your life this week. 

I’ve heard from 3 or 4 people about this idea — and I just read an article about it. 

The idea is to program emergency contact numbers into your cell phone using the capital letters I-C-E for In Case Of Emergency. 

The idea is that this information could save valuable time in an emergency. 

Sounds like a good idea to me — and I just programmed my phone today. 

That’s it for this week…tune in next time and we’ll be back with more ideas to get listings, find buyers and convert leads… 

Have a great week!