I’m a firm believer that there is a ton of great information and insight available about many aspects of inbound marketing all over the internet and much of it is completely free of charge. 100% Gratis. In fact, I don’t “Believe” this, it’s just a fact, deal with it.
There’s often a stigma attached to anything “free”, people think that free means it has no value but nothing could be further from the truth in many cases. Giving away free eBooks and white papers is a legitimate inbound tactic in it’s own right, and if they are not great quality you’re doing it wrong. Now to be clear, by “free” I mean they don’t cost any money, you may need to hand over an email address, or pay with a Tweet but I promise, not a single credit card or paypal account required.
I’ve created this list of 38 (Now 43!) free eBooks and white papers from various sources, some I used myself when I was learning the trade, some I’ve picked up more recently and the rest have been recommended to me or are from trusted sources. This is going to be a work in progress so feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments and I’ll consider adding them to the list.
Blogging / Content
The backbone of any inbound strategy and one of the most fundamental tools is sure to be content marketing and blogging. These PDF’s will give you a great overview of various aspects of creating the all conquering ”great content”.
Title: Changes at Google Highlight the Importance of content marketing (NEW)
Publisher: JPL Creative Cost:Free
Title: How to Build and Operate a Content Marketing Machine (NEW)
Publisher: Marketo Cost:Free
Title: Guest Blogging Ebook (NEW)
Publisher: My Guest Blog Cost:Free
Title: 100 Content Marketing examples
Publisher: Content Marketing Institute Cost: eMail Address
Title:Killer Flagship Content
Publisher:Chris Garrett Cost: eMail Address
Title: Introduction to Business Blogging
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Title: Viral Copy: Trading Words for Traffic
Publisher: Copy Blogger Cost: Free
Title: 13 Copy Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Publisher: Portent Interactive Cost: Free
Title: A Practical Guide to Killer Marketing Content
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Title: The Content Marketing Manifesto
Publisher: Kuno Creative Cost: eMail Address
Title: The Content Marketing Playbook
Publisher: Content Marketing Institute Cost: Free
Link Building
Link Building it still a hugely important part of SEO/Inbound Marketing and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. There are significant number of strategies employed by link builders in order to successfully attract links many of which are discussed in the below ebooks.
Title: Becoming a Clockwork Pirate
Publisher: Kelvin Newman Cost:Tweet
Title: The Complete 6 Month Link Building Game Plan
Publisher: iAcquire Cost: Tweet/eMail Address
Title: The Linkbait BrainstormWorkbook
Publisher: Distilled Cost: Free
Title: 2012 Link Building Secrets Revealed
Publisher: Pole Position Marketing Cost: eMail Address
Title: The Inbound Marketing Guide to Link Building
Publisher: Optify Cost: eMail Address
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a set of tactics and strategies designed to increase the viability of a website in the likes of Google, Yahoo and Bing. A successful SEO campaign considers a wide variety of factors, both on the website itself and on other related websites.
Title: How to Perform a Technical SEO Audit (NEW)
Publisher: Koozai Cost: Email
Title: Getting Started With SEO (NEW)
Publisher: Web Gnomes Cost: Email
Title: SEO Starter Guide
Publisher: Google Cost: Free
Title: The Beginners Guide to SEO
Publisher: SEOMoz Cost: eMail Address
Title: The Marketing Director’s Guide to Search
Publisher: Site Visability Cost: eMail Address
Title: Driving Search Traffic Through Off-Page SEO
Publisher: iAcquire Cost: Free
Title: A Simple, Step by Step System for Better Results
Publisher: SEO Fast Start Cost: eMail Address
Title: Let’s Cut to the Chase
Publisher: The Escape Cost: Free
Title: Hobo Guide to Google SEO
Publisher: Hobo Cost: eMail Address
Title: The Web Developers Cheat Sheet
Publisher: SEOMoz Cost: Free
Social Media
If your Inbound Marketing doesn’t include social, you’re doing it wrong. Facebook, Twitter and more recently Google + are all essential to your campaign.
Title: The Definitive Guide to B2B Social Media (NEW)
Publisher: Marketo Cost: Free
Title: Unlocking Social Media for PR (NEW)
Publisher: PR Newswire Cost: Email
Title: Getting Started with Google +
Publisher: Koozai Cost: eMail Address
Title: A Geek’s Guide to Twitter
Publisher: Geekpreneur Cost: Free
Title: Social Media & Social Networking Starting Points
Publisher: Chris Brogan Cost: Free
Title: Beyond the Facebook Business Page
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Title: Introduction to Social Media Measurement
Publisher: HootSuite Cost: Free
Title: Learning Linkedin from the Experts
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Email/Outreach
If you’re going to effectively build relationships online, great use of outreach is a key tool to have in your toolbox.
Title: Quantifying Outreach – What We Learned From 300,000 Outreach eMails
Publisher: iAcquire Cost: Tweet/eMail Address
Title: eMail Marketing Field Guide
Publisher: Mail Chimp Cost: Free
Title: Optimizing eMail Marketing for Conversions
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Analytics
The ability to record and analyse your inbound marketing efforts are key in order to learn what works and to give insight into your overall campaigns. Having a huge amount of data is great, but what are you going to do with it?
Title: Unlock the ROI of your Marketing with analytics
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Title: Google Analytics a Beginners Guide
Publisher: Quick Blog Tips Cost: Free
Title: Regular Expressions for Google Analytics
Publisher: Luna Metrics Cost: Free
Title: The Complete Guide to Email Marketing Analytics
Publisher: Sign Up.To Cost: Free
Title: An Introduction to Inbound Marketing Analytics
Publisher: HubSpot Cost: eMail Address
Title: Web Analytics Demystified
Publisher: Web Analytics Demystified Cost: eMail Address
MORE!
Still wanting more? Are you crazy? Either way here are a few extra lists of a few hundred eBooks I found whilst doing research for this post pretty sweet no? I must admit, I haven’t read all of these, if they turn out to be pants, I’m sorry.
HubSpot Directory of Internet Marketing eBooks and White Papers
SEOptimise 25 Free Social Media Marketing, SEO eBooks, White Papers and Other Downloads (catchy title eh?)
Search Engine Watch SEO Whitepapers
Mashable 15 Social Media White Papers and eBooks
Chris Brogan – 20 Free eBooks about Social Media
What did I miss?
If I missed out a great free resource on the list (or if you think any of the above shouldn’t be here) make sure you a pop a comment below! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts
Thanks to everybody who helped me put together this post, and obviously to those who put together the eBooks in the first place!
Post by Gaz Copeland
hey Gaz
Pleased I could help you out and contribute to this fantatstic resource post. A lot of ebooks here I will have to check out.
Shelli : )
Great reads for this weekend.
Looking for more inbound marketing E-books.
Hi JC, thanks for the comment. These should keep you busy for quite a few weekends!
Thanks for the link to my Google Analytics eBook