With so many online tools available, you no longer need to rely on outsourcing design tasks. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I use a tool called Designrr to quickly and easily create professional-looking lead magnet eBooks for clients, and they love the result!
Designrr is an online Software as a Service platform that allows you to import existing content from a range of sources and format it into a beautiful, professional-looking, eBook, reports or white papers.
When you think of eBooks you might be thinking of the novel you’re reading on your Kindle, and while you can use Designrr to make a traditional book it’s really designed for you to create professional-looking documents that can be distributed online, usually as a lead magnet.
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is a piece of content that is given away for free in exchange for an email address or other information that can be used to contact the website visitor. Lead magnets are a crucial tool for small businesses because they allow the business to build a list of email subscribers and create valuable relationships with potential customers.
I’m sure you’ve seen it on websites, “get a free ebook/check-list/webinar/training course, just enter your email address”. You enter your address, gain access to the resource, and typically a couple of days later you’ll receive a follow-up email.
And this is the beauty of lead magnets: the visitor tells you they are interested in that subject by requesting information about it, and by providing you with an email address you can follow up with additional information about your product/services.
Examples of lead magnets:
- Give away an ebook with tips about your industry.
- Give away a checklist to help people with a certain task.
- Give away a mini online course helping people achieve a specific goal.
The email address will typically be added to an email sending service such as MailChimp or SendFox which will automatically send out follow-up emails, marking the marketing process automated and very hands off.
The starting point is the lead magnet and creating fresh content can be difficult, which is where a tool like Designrr can be very helpful.
What is Designrr used for?
Designrr is an online tool that helps you turn your existing content into great-looking eBooks people will want to download.
For example, if you have an existing website you likely have a number of blog posts containing highly useful information. After heading to the Designrr login page and starting a new project, you start with a single blog post and add it to the project.
Let’s say the information you want to provide isn’t from a single blog post, but a range of blog posts you’ve written over time. You can import multiple posts into a single project, format it as a book and end up with a beautifully designed, valuable, lead magnet.
Some clients I work with don’t have blog posts, instead they send me a Word or Google Docs file and I import that into the Designrr instead.
By covering the key information sources, the developers have made sure the platform can be used by ANYONE, all you need is content to feed in and out pops a great looking eBook.
So while I’ve used this to create lead magnets for websites there is nothing to stop you creating materials to send to clients, use in training courses, or sell as a digital product.
You can even use it to create Flipbooks you can embed into your website, like this example:
How good is Designrr
I’ve found Designrr to be excellent…but there is a learning curve. To start with this isn’t designed to replace WordPress/Word/Google Docs, you shouldn’t start an empty project and use the editor to create an ebook. It can be done, but the better approach is to use your editor of choice to create a document without a cover, table or contents, headers and footers, but with headings using the heading styles), and then import that.
I’ve found this works best as it allows you to focus on formatting the document after selecting a template of your choice. A template sets the overall look of your lead magnet, giving you a great looking cover image (which you can edit/change to suit your needs).
I love that additional images can be added via the built-in stock image library, or you can add your own if you have them, and impressively, there is even an inbuilt image editor that is very useful and removes the need to pull photos into software such as Photoshop.
What I’ve found fascinating is the ongoing development of the platform that’s added new features such as the ability to create a resource from a YouTube video. The impressive technology transcribes your video into text and even grabs screenshots, all of which can be exported ether as a standard ebook project or as a page for your website.
You can have unlimited projects, but note there is a limit to the number of transcription hours, the number available will depend on the plan you choose.
A great feature is the ability to create different types of 3D cover image, mock-ups that show the front cover of your resource in different situations, this is a great way to generate images for use in adverts as it make it look like photos have been taken with real props.
How do I make an eBook in Designrr?
Before you even log in to the website there are some key steps you need to take:
Step 1: Research Your Topic
You are likely an expert in the area you want to create an ebook about, but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on the existing information available and make sure you can include the most up to date information in your eBook.
Step 2: Write Content
Once you have your topic start writing the content. This could be done in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or perhaps even create a series of blog posts with the same information and publish them on your website.
The important thing is to have the text created before logging in to Designrr, it isn’t meant to create documents from scratch.
When creating a document keep these points in mind:
- Don’t add headers or footers
- Don’t add a cover page
- Do make use of styles (Heading 1, Heading 2 etc) to indicate headings
- Do add any photos or graphs you want to include
In regard to photos, don’t worry if you don’t have any, Designrr has a brilliant in build photo library you can use to spice up your document.
The reason you don’t add headers/footers/cover pages is that these are things we will add in Designrr, so for now you just want a minimal document that has your written text.
Step 3: Import Content
Now for the fun part, and this is where my work usually begins. Log in to Designrr and start a new project. You’ll be prompted to import content, this can either be from a website or from a Word/Google document.
Once the content has been loaded in, select the document style, pick a professional looking cover and go through the document to make sure it looks as good as possible. At this stage you can add in a table of contents, headers and footers.
I’d also recommended adding in the following:
- About the Author: A section at the back explaining who you are and what you do.
- Call to Action: Something along the lines of “Still need help with X? Get in touch via Y”
Step 4: Publish eBook
When you’re happy with the project it can be published to a PDF for easy distribution. This could be offered as a free download on your website, sent out to prospective clients or used with an online training course, the possibilities are endless!
Designrr Pricing
Designrr isn’t free, the standard pricing plans are all pay monthly. The good news is I managed to get a special pay only once plan and have arranged the same offer for you.
This is an affiliate link, so I get a little something from it, but it means instead of paying $29 per month you just pay $27 once for the starter plan.
Take me to the $27 lifetime deal!
Is Designrr Pro worth it?
Designrr offers several price plans, most are pay monthly. I’d recommend grabbing the lifetime deal to the standard $27 on time payment plan and trying the software out. You will inevitably be offered the chance to upgrade to a Pro plan.
The Designrr Pro plan is worth investing in as it provides you with over 200 cover designs and over 300 project templates along with a 3D book image generator and the ability to export to Kindle, iBooks and ePub.
If you plan on creating a lot of documents, these extra features are invaluable.
