How to Design a Lead Magnet PDF eBook That Converts
A lead magnet PDF is a great way to grow your email list and start a relationship with your prospects. While it takes some time and planning up front to create your lead magnet, once it’s done and works well, people can sign up for your email list and download your ebook even when you’re sleeping.
As a small business owner, you may feel like you have a never-ending to-do list – just as you finish one task, two more are added to the list! You can save a lot of time by creating automations and systems to help remove some of the more repetitive tasks from your daily list. Growing your email list is one such automation that can be easily achieved by creating an ebook that is available to site visitors in exchange for their email address or other information.
In addition, regular communication with subscribers on your email list will help to develop a trustworthy relationship. Through your emails, you can position yourself as a subject matter expert by helping your subscribers solve their problems. Regular email communication will also keep your name at the forefront of subscriber’s minds. As a result, when they are ready to make a purchase, they will turn to you rather than your competition.
Small business owners frequently ask me how to design a lead magnet PDF ebook. If you are selling high-end products or services, it is essential to create a professional-looking ebook. So, how do you design one that attracts site visitors and converts?
In this post, I will show you how to design a PDF ebook that attracts your prospects and converts.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is a free item or service that you give away to your prospects in exchange for some information from them (usually a name and email address). The purpose of the lead magnet is to engage with your audience rather than trying to sell to them. Most site visitors are not ready to purchase on their first visit to your site.
( Example )
If you are familiar with marketing funnels, you will recognize that lead magnets tend to form the wide end of your funnel. It is the important first step that site visitors take on their journey towards purchasing from you. While this post will focus on the creation of ebooks, keep in mind that there are many other types of lead magnets, including surveys, checklists, white papers, or even videos.
Why do you need to create a professional lead magnet?
Most people who are visiting your site for the first time are not ready to purchase your product yet. They may, however, be ready to take a less-risky first step, such as providing their email in exchange for your ebook; this allows you to grow your email list and stay in touch with leads.
The success of your lead magnet PDF depends on its quality. If it’s attractive and interesting to your prospects, they will see you as a trustworthy and credible business. They may even take the next step in your marketing funnel; however, if your ebook was hastily thrown together, your prospects may lose interest.
What to prepare before designing a lead magnet ebook
• Know your target clients/customers
This is the most important step for creating a lead magnet ebook. You have to know who your target audience is and understand their behaviors.The goal of your lead magnet ebook is to help your audience solve a small problem. When you help prospects solve a problem, they will see the value of your brand and trust your expertise. As a result, they will buy your products or services to solve their bigger problems. Make sure your ebook is created for the right audience; otherwise, your lead magnet won't work. If you don't know how to define your target audience, please check out my blog post, 3 Simple Steps to Define Your Target Audience.
• Prepare valuable content and include your contact information
Create valuable content for your ideal clients to generate more interest in your products or services. Include high-quality graphics and images to support your content and provide visual interest throughout your written content.Make sure to include your contact information and add a call to action that lets your prospects know what action to take next.
• Coordinate your brand visual elements and brand style guide (logos, color palette, typography, graphics, patterns)
Incorporate your brand logo and visual elements throughout the lead magnet PDF to build recognition and credibility. Remember to create your ebook following your brand style guide – consistency helps to create a professional appearance.
Designing a downloadable PDF eBook
There are several ways to design a PDF ebook. I normally use Adobe InDesign to create an ebook for my clients, but if you are not familiar with this design program, you could also use Canva, Google Slides or Google Docs.
Front cover
The front cover is the most important visual design element for your ebook because you will be using it to promote your lead magnet. Believe it or not, a simply-designed cover will help you stand out from the overcrowded internet.
What to include: a catchy and short title, subtitle, logo, high-quality images or graphics
Pro tip:Use a bigger font for a short, simple title
Add a logo (it can be placed at the top or bottom of the page)
Add one or just a few high-quality images or graphics to avoid competing with your title. Or, as an alternative, you can avoid using images altogether.
Make sure to keep it simple.
( Example )
Table of Content page
A table of contents gives leads a quick overview of your content and allows them to find the information they are looking for quickly. If your eBook is a short-page item, you may not need to include it.
Introduction / welcome page
An introduction page can give some background about the subject or the creation of the ebook, but make sure to keep it short; readers will want to get started on the content.
Pro tip:For a PDF ebook, I suggest using a slightly larger font size than you would normally use for print. In my experience, I wouldn’t use less than 11pt for body text.
example of Lead magnet pdf welcome page
Content pages
The quality of your content is very important. Writing your ebook will be easier if you first outline the content and create a structure.
Think about your readers' problems. How can you help solve their problems using your expertise? Write your ideas down, step by step, to solve their problems.
What to include:
A footer including the page number, website, and title
AHeadline/sub-headline for each chapter
Quotes and infographics for visual interest
Pro tip: Keep in mind that your readers may print out your ebook. I recommend keeping the text inside the margins by at least 0.5 inches; this ensures that the text won't get cut off when it’s printed. I also recommend not using colors in the background. Again, your readers may want to print it out, but it can be hard to read the text when it’s on a colored background.
Call to action / Thank you page
Thank your readers and let them know what the next step is with a call to action.
For example:
Contact for a free consultation
Contact for a free webinar / seminar
Get access to the free training
Optimize an SEO-friendly file name
Once your PDF is complete, make sure to give your lead magnet an SEO-friendly file name. When you add an image of the ebook to your website, don’t forget to include a description.
By optimizing your ebook PDF, your ebook image will be shown in Google image search results and will generate an increase in traffic to your website.
For example:
When people search the keywords “brand clarity” or “brand clarity pdf” or “brand clarity workbook,” the image of my workbook is displayed in Google image search results.
Good image title: the-brand-clarity-workbook.jpg / Alt description: the brand clarity workbook-Free download
Bad image title: dsc_81723.jpg
Conclusion
Lead magnets provide a wonderful opportunity to start a relationship with people who browse your website. Not only will it help grow your email list, but it also generates trust and demonstrates your expertise in a given area. It may take some time to organize the content and design an effective PDF lead magnet, but your efforts will pay off when your site generates active leads for you around the clock, all year long.