The Wikipedia dictionary defines leverage as “A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot” and “By extension, any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage.”  The second component of that definition has the most applicability for online businesses.

Leverage is frequently defined in either economic or mechanical terms, but it has a much broader applicability, including the internet marketing industry.

So how shall we interpret “any influence” for our online businesses?

One of the fastest and easiest ways for an affiliate income business to gain the advantage of leverage is by re-using available content.  Most of the ebooks currently advertised on the internet reflect content that has been re-used, although some may have been originally written as ebooks, most began as a single blog post, or a response to a customer email, perhaps even a collection of Frequently Asked Questions.

In the world of finance, the benefit gained from leverage is generally described as a ratio of some sort, for example, a debt-to-equity ratio.  Such ratios are useful for accountants, but that is not the audience I’m addressing here.

How can we calculate the leverage advantage to be gained from re-using our existing content?  Consider the following simplistic example:   Assume you could write a single document for one customer in ten hours and then sell it for $50.00.  You have earned $50.00, but it would have taken you 10 hours to earn that $50.00; in other words, you have earned about $5 per hour (less than the current minimum wage) for your work but you would not have made any profit on that sale. 

Assume, however, you take that same document (modified to remove any customer-specific or proprietary information) and offer it as an ebook on the Net for $19.95, and that you ultimately sell 100 copies of your new ebook.  You would have earned $1995, less the $50 it cost to develop the initial document take away another $5 to customize it for any customer/proprietary info, leaving you with a much larger profit of $1940.00.

That’s the benefits of leverage, specifically the advantage resulting from re-using existing content. 

Once we become familiar with leverage, we can learn how to apply it in many different ways to our home businesses.  This article has addressed one of those ways.  Other articles describe additional ways that affiliate businesses can improve ROI by using leverage.

If you like what you’ve just read, and would like to learn how to leverage your efforts, and become a millionaire – get the FREE Infinite Income Plan report and put your income on autopilot.