Digital Products

In order to create a successful informational product, no matter what your format, audio, ebook, etc., you should begin with the end, rather than the beginning in mind.

People purchase info product to make them feel better, look better, have more fun or make more money. They want to solve a problem or learn how to do something themselves. So the object of your info product is to help your purchaser with a problem, at the same time structuring it to sell to a large pool of prospects who are looking for information on a your topic.

Your objective is to create an informational product that, no matter what the subject, will be highly sought after by your niche market. It’s an exciting prospect to be able to witness the journey from having a great idea and seeing the finished product. Many ups and downs, as well as successes and failures mark the creation process. Some days are better than others!

Keep in mind, it’s customers you need who are eagerly awaiting your info project. Before you begin, you need to research your niche pool of potential buyers by contacting owners of lists that would be most interest and suggest a joint venture. Look at whom else markets to your niche and have them introduce your product to their list, and you can offer the same in return. Both businesses will prosper by offering additional value to each set of clients.

Remember this. Creating your informational product and making it as good as you can possibly make it is important, even vital. However, even more important is the ability to sell the product you produce at the price you need to reward you for the time and effort put into the product’s creation.

If you need help with creating an info product, check out the four week webinar series given by The Expertise Experts.

Remember, April 24th’s GeekSpeak to English, 101 is about what to do with your blog, now that you have one!!

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

If you have been dabbling with internet marketing for some time now, you’re most probably aware of the fact that information products are one of the easiest and most profitable things that your could sell online. Information products may be eBooks, special reports or articles which you could offer for a price.

Preparing information products is quite easy, at least in theory. All you need are two things:

1. Information; and
2. Writing skills

Information is the hottest commodity in the World Wide Web. This is why the Internet is called the information superhighway. If you’d be able to provide the right kind of information, you will never run out of potential customers. This is especially true if you manage to find a hungry market where the demand for such information would be immense.

Writing an eBook is very similar to writing a special report. An eBook is work composed of approximately 30 or more pages. Anything shorter would be considered as a special report. Here are some simple steps you could take to come up with an information product of this type:

1. Select a topic from the niche you have previously chosen. This topic must correspond to a particular aspect of the niche, something that people would want to know about. For example, in our running example of dog grooming, supposing you choose the niche of shih tzu dog grooming, a good topic to write about is “how to select perfect grooming kits for your shih tzu.”
2. Prepare an outline for your work. It should be as organized as possible. Start with the most basic concepts, and gradually proceed to the more advanced ones.
3. Do your research! This is very important. If you’re offering something in exchange for your prospective customers’ hard-earned money, you should give them something valuable. A well-researched work is what they deserve.
4. Fill up your outline with the necessary information. If you have a great outline, this shouldn’t be a problem. All you have to do is to write about what you have researched and include them in the specific portions allotted by the said outline.
5. This is very important: avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism could ruin you. You need to learn how to respect intellectual property rights when you’re doing business online. There are no ifs and buts about it. You need to come up with an original work to sell.
6. Once you have finished the draft of your eBook or special report, have it proofread for errors. Make corresponding corrections.
7. Once you have your error-free manuscript, you would need to come up with an attractive and attention-grabbing eCover for your work. People always say that no one should judge a book by its cover. This is rarely practiced however. Many books, and many eBooks, are sold on the basis of their covers alone. Invest on a good eCover to boost your sales.
8. Then you would have to convert your work into .pdf format. Being in .pdf format would allow more people to read your eBook, as a variety of computer platforms recognize this file type.

Once you have completed these steps, you’ll own an information product that is ready to be sold!

But what if you are not possessed of writing skills, or you simply don’t have the time to write? Does this mean that you can’t come up with your own information product? Most definitely not, of course, as there are many ways to skin the cat, in a manner of speaking. For starters, you could always try outsourcing, or contracting the services of an outside party to help you prepare the information products you have in mind. Another option is to make good use of private label rights, better known as PLR in the industry today. Products sold with PLR would allow the purchaser to alter their contents and even name themselves as the author of the works.

There is no excuse why you couldn’t come up with your own information product. If the internet promises to be your ride to a good life, then an information product, quite surely, is your ticket to hop aboard that freight train.

1. Consulting
   Give your customers advice on topics related to your product or service. You can consult via e-mail, message board or chat room.
2. e-Book
   Compile related product information or instructions into an ebook. You could publish it in text, pdf, html or exe format.
3. Customer’s Only Discussion Board
   Make a place online for your customers to communicate about your business or similar information.
4. E-mail Newsletter
   Publish an informative e-zine that keeps your customers informed of important or helpful information related to their purchase.
5. Private Web Site
   Give access to a private part of your web site were customers can find helpful information non customers can’t access.

1. Use bullets to highlight your product or services benefits. Benefits are the key to selling anything, make them standout in your ad. You can use dots, dashes, or circles to highlight them.
2. Give a money back guarantee that surpasses a normal one. Instead of the normal timed guarantee, give them extra back. Tell them they can keep the free bonus or give them double their money back.
3. Tell your reader they’ll receive surprise bonuses. This’ll raise your reader’s curiosity and make them want to buy so they can find out what the surprise bonuses are.
4. Let your reader know this specific package will not be offered again. You must create urgency so people buy now. You may always sell the same product but not with the same bonuses or price.
5. Give them a couple tips in your ad that will help them with their problem. This will give your business credibility and gain your readers trust to buy your products or services.

1. Make your reader visualize they have already bought your product in your ad. Tell them what results they have gotten and how it makes them feel. They’ll already become emotionally attached before they buy.
2. Turn your ad into an article. It could be a story, or how-to article. This will lead them into your ad without them knowing it’s an ad. They’ll already be interested when they get to your sales pitch.
3. Make sure you show your reader that they are getting a bargain. Tell them the usual price you sell your product for is $99. Then tell them if they order today they can buy it for $69.95.
4. Direct your ad headline to your target audience. Your readers will feel important and belong to a select group of people who buy your product. For example; “Attention! Accountants, Discover A New Way To Increase Your Client Base!”
5. Tell your reader how fast they can receive your product or service in your ad. Their buying decision may be based on how fast they can receive your product. They may need it by a certain deadline.

Any veteran internet marketer will tell you that the first step towards attaining online wealth is to find a hungry market, or a niche, if you will. A hungry market is almost always profitable, given the great demand for appropriate products, as well as the virtual absence of competing enterprises servicing the said segment.

Once you have selected a profitable market, or a niche if you will, it’s time to think about what product you could offer. Products are the items you could sell. They are the ones that will ultimately deliver some profits for you. Business is all about selling something, after all. You have to offer something to get another thing in return.

Here are the more popular items you could sell online:

• Traditional information products. These include eBooks, special reports and even articles. They are excellent choices because all you really need is information and the writing skills to put them down in writing. The best way to convey information is through the written word. Also, traditional information products are capable of being delivered digitally. You won’t have to worry about shipping costs and storage space. Everything would be stored in your hard drive, and you just have to retrieve the same whenever someone purchases what you have to offer.
• Non-traditional information products. With the many things made possible by the internet, a lot of possible vehicles for information have also popped up. Products like video lectures, audio lessons, and podcasts have become prominent items that have proven to be hot sellers. Non-traditional information products are not limited to these choices, however. You could always come up with something new. The limit is your imagination.
• Tangible goods. You could also sell physical items. However, you have to bear in mind that such requires storage space (which can become problematic if you’re planning to sell high quantities of different products) and shipping charges (which can be a drag when it comes to really large items).

You’re not only limited to products, however. You could also sell your services online. Here are some examples of the kinds of services you could offer to prospective clients:

• Consultancy
• Web design
• Search engine optimization (SEO) advise
• Graphic design
• Data encoding
• Ghostwriting
• Copywriting
• Customer service handling

This requires appropriate skills. If you’re good with writing, then you could most certainly find a lot of clients who would hire your services for a fee. If you’re good with web design, you could be employed by some webmasters who are in need of good websites.

Choosing the right products or services to sell would depend on a few considerations. Let’s take a look at them.

• What product or service is most appropriate for your target market? What do the people in the said market need? What do they want? What product is most accessible for them?
• What product or service will you be able to offer? Some products require financial investments. Do you have the budget to pursue such? Or would you be better off in creating a product that requires little financial demands? Services require certain degrees of skills. Do you have those skills?
• What product do you think will be able to sustain profit for a long period of time. The length of the earning potential, or the market life, of the said product should be enough to reap great earnings for you. Profit, after all, is the bottom line for every business.

Once these considerations have been satisfied, you could safely say that you have found the right product for the business you want to pursue.

There is nothing better than being able to sell your own product. The problem is, how do you create a product that is actually sellable?

With the advent of the internet, product creation has taken a whole new aspect. Whereas in the real world, creators vie for ideas that are tangible and physically deliverable, the web allows creators to package information as profitable merchandise. It is the age of information after all, and information is one of the primary factors that drive online dealings.

Information products can take many forms. You could publish your own e-book. Or if you wish to come up with something less daunting, you could distribute your own special report. Electronic magazines, or e-zines, can also be sold through subscription. All of these are effective methods of conveying novel information.
The best thing about it is that you don’t even have to write them. If you simply don’t have the time to come up with an e-book, a special report or any information product, you could hire someone to write them for you. Ghostwriting services are abundant on the net.

But we’re getting way ahead of ourselves.
In creating a product, the businessman is confronted with many questions that more often than not derail the creation process. Hence, here are five answers to the five most common questions that an internet marketer encounters in information product creation.

1. What’s the first step in creating a product?
   The answer is simple: you need an idea. Coming up with that idea, however, is the difficult part.
   You have to realize that everything is a product, as everything is information that, when packaged correctly, is desirable to certain people. Try to update yourself with the latest trends. Read a lot of books and newspapers. Be on the lookout for things that might inspire a deeper study.
   Also, think in terms of titles. For example, you’re reading the papers and an article therein reports of unique wedding ideas. Think big. Think flamboyantly. Apply these thoughts to titles. You should come up with something as grand as “Ten Truly Magnificent Ways To Celebrate Your Wedding,” or “Ten Enchanting Ideas To Make Your Dream Wedding A Reality.”
   Remember, product creation is partly driven by packaging. Titles add so much to the overall feel of the product. And conceptualizing a title would assure that you would be able to keep your focus during the rest of the creation process.
2. Where do I get content?
   Information products are naturally carried out through content. If the content is good, the information would be excellently conveyed. There are three ways to get good content.
   First, write the product yourself. If you have the time to do so, then no one is better suited to convey the idea than you.
   Second, hire a good ghostwriter. As we’ve discussed earlier, ghostwriting services abound on the web. Look for a good and affordable one.
   Third, you could try public domain information. These are free to use, and they are easy to find for those who actually try to look for them. Basically, all works before 1923, and some works before 1978, are considered public domain information. You could reproduce these without having to pay any royalties.
3. How do I package my product?
   Selling them as mere .doc or .txt files would seem amateurish and unattractive. The usual format used for information products is .pdf or .exe. Of the two, .pdf is more widely used, but .exe offers more eye-grabbing features.
   Converting your products into .pdf is simple. There are many free resources available on the net that would allow you to do this. Creating a .exe file, on the other hand, would need some programming skills.
4. What price should I put on my product?
   Basically, there is no limit as to how much you could price your product. If you feel it is worth $500, then sell it for $500.
   Some are afraid that by pricing their products at a high amount, marketability would suffer. The truth of the matter is, it could go either way. Assigning a high price for your product may give the impression that it is something valuable. This would attract potential buyers.
   Additionally, you could add more value to your product by packaging it with freebies. An e-book with two accompanying software programs, for example, would perfectly justify a high price that is attached to it.
5. What if my product has run its course?
   Even if you feel that you have squeezed every possible profit from your product, you could still earn from it.

Try selling its master resale rights.
This simply means that instead of selling your product, you’d be selling the authority that would allow others to re-brand and resell your product any way they see fit. This shouldn’t concern you anymore as you’ve exhausted all the markets that would buy your creation. Let other people worry about marketing it for further profit, but do take their money as parting gifts for a product that has served you well.

Additional Resources: 50 Proven Informational Product Ideas

Are you a small business owner? Are you looking for ways to generate more income through your business? Why not sell digital products from your website?

Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books, T. Harv Ecker, author of “The Millionaire Mind”, and so many other “guru’s” will tell you, the key to a truly passive income is making your money work hard for you! Rather than you working hard for your money!

Think about it. You have all this information on your industry. How could you use that information to help others, and at the same time generate income for your business. Depending upon what business you are in, you could sell:

• ebooks
• software
• podcasts
• online courses

If you are a speaker or coach, think about how you can deliver your own content to your clients in easily downloadable digital products. You can also “burn” those digital products onto a CD Rom and see the “physical” product at your speaking or networking events.

Creating products doesn’t have to be a time consuming, expensive proposition. You can start with writing articles that you can, later on, develop into chapters or tips for an ebook. Audio products can be created with your computer, converted and placed on your website as an incentive to subscribe to your ezine, or as passive income for your business.

I’ve linked an additional resource, but if you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Debra

Additional Resources: Digital Selling Power

There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote
your business and drive quality traffic to your
website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them
into a daily course, which brings your customer back
to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free
gift for making a purchase or for filling out a
survey. Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an
innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by
inserting the disc into your sales packages.

The most effective marketing products are those that
are unique. Copyright your ebook, and immediately, you
have a powerful tool that you, and you alone, can
offer to the public. People will have to visit your
site to acquire your ebook, which increases the flow
of quality traffic and the potential of sales and
affiliate contacts.

Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it
frequently as the market and trends change. Add new
advice and techniques to show your prospects how your
goods or services can enrich their lives. By
constantly keeping abreast of new trends and
techniques, you can continue to see profits from your
ebook for years after your original creation.

Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can
test their marketing potential without putting out
hardly any cash at all. You can even produce an ebook
one copy at a time, each time you receive an order,
eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By
this method, you can gauge the saleablity of your
ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the
orders start pouring in. Ebooks allow you to learn
about your market and customer habits and motivation
over a period of time, without risking your precious
financial resources. They also provide you with an
invaluable way to gather marketing information, which
you can use in many different facets of your business.

Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and
problems are in your specific industry. Then figure
out how to solve these problems, and publish an ebook
with this invaluable information. This will increase
the value of your business, upgrade your reputation,
and get you known as an expert in your field.

You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking
the book down into chapters for a serial course, into
special reports available on your website, or into
audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into
several different promotional materials by excepting
some of the articles and using them to promote your
product. You can include a catalog in your ebook to
promote all the products or services you sell. You can
include a thank-you note for reading your book and an
invitation to download a trial version of your
product. Or you can include a form for your audience
to contact you for further information or with
questions, thereby building your business
relationships and your mailing list.

Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of
individually producing separate promotional materials.
You can use a single ebook to entice new prospects and
to sell new products to your current customers.

No other medium has this kind of flexibility and
ability for expansion. Think of your ebook like a
spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go
and create that web, and see how many customers and
prospects you can catch!

Additional Resources: 147 Killer Epublishing Strategies