To get your information products, you have a few options:
Research and write your own products
The simplest way to create product is to just write them. Whether it be articles on insurance, a report on video marketing or whatever, you can search for information on the subject and then write the product yourself. Websites like Google, Ask.com and Yahoo can give you large amounts of data to use in writing information products. All you really need is a writing program like Word.
Get a ghost writer to create the products for you
If you don’t want to write the information products yourself, or you feel you can’t, you can employ a ghostwriter. If you have a writing job and you realize that it’s going to take a huge amount of time to research the subject, you may end up losing money on the project. By hiring a ghost writer who is already an expert in the field, you eliminate that issue.
There are websites like guru.com, elance.com and GetaFreelanceJob.com where you can advertise for a writer. Joining some of these websites may cost you a fee (paid monthly, quarterly or annually), but they’re quite reasonable. After that, you advertise the job you have, and you can even put in a range of a fee that you’re looking to pay and a timeframe for finding a writer. Writers on the website then submit bids to you, and you pick which one you want. A nice feature of many of these sites is that they will set up an escrow account for the money you agree to pay for the project. That way, you and your ghost writer can both feel safe; the money is there, but the writer doesn’t get it until you get the material you’ve contracted for.
Interview an expert in the niche and sell the audio recordings or have it transcribed into an e-book
These days, with the advent of the Internet, you can chat (and interview) people all over the world using a phone or instant messaging system and then record the interview into an audio file. So long as you make some sort of financial arrangement with the person, you can then use the file as you see fit. First, there’s simple editing software (normally standard on most computers) that will let you edit the audio file. You can then burn it to CD’s or create an mp3 (or other file) that you can sell. After that, you or a ghost writer can also transcribe the file and create an e-book.
Selling other people's products by becoming an affiliate
With this, you sort of become the ghostwriter. You find an affiliate’s book with resell rights or a PLR product with resell rights and you can advertise it yourself through website, sales letter or article marketing etc. You will earn a percentage for each sale that is made of the information product in this case, or perhaps a small percentage for each time someone clicks on the link to take a look at the information product.
All of these are great ways to find your information products to sell, but of course, some take more work than others!
First, if you are to have any success at all in selling your information products, you need to get the basics right. Just because they are ‘basics’ doesn’t necessarily mean they are simple; plenty of people get these things wrong!
1. Establish a product for which there is a demand. If people don’t need or want your information product, no matter how well written it is, they just won’t buy it. If you have to set about creating a demand that can be awfully difficult and take a lot of time. It’s better to sell an information product for which you know there is already a demand. That way people will know they need your information product; you won’t need to spend time convincing them of that fact.
2. Make your information product of the highest quality that you can. Don’t try and make a fast buck with an inferior product. That is just scamming people and that can get you in an awful lot of trouble. If you take the time now to make sure your information product is the highest quality that you can offer, you will reap the rewards of higher sales and higher profits.
3. Your information product should be well presented. It should look professional, and be free from errors. Also, get yourself a company logo and use that on your info, for example, your e-books. You should also make sure that any e-books that you attempt to sell have an attractive front cover. You may want to get professional graphic design help with that, but packages available for your computer make e-book design quite easy these days.
4. Aim for repeat business. It is much easier to make a second sale to an old customer than it is to find a second customer to whom to make a first sale. Information products are usually quite inexpensive, so if you want to secure a reliable income long-term, you really need repeat customers to be coming back to you. For that reason, at the outset of deciding your information products, keep in mind where there is potential for sequels and updates in which people who bought your first information product would be interested.
5. Get the legal details right. Take care not to violate trademarks for instance by doing something as simple as using the Google logo in your information product without express permission. It is also important to check that the names of any of your information product are not already protected by a trademark. You can do this by visiting the www.nameprotect.com website.
Now you are ready to produce a killer information product that anyone would want to buy. Here are some things to bear in mind.
6. Do thorough research. You need to find out what sort of information products for which there would be a demand. You also need to make sure your information product contains only correct information.
7. Get the format of your information product correct for the information you want to get across to your audience. Don’t write an e-book where an e-mail course or article would be better. Also, whichever of these formats you choose, make sure they are set out in a way which can be clearly read and understood. Don’t sacrifice clarity for a fancy design.
8. Create your product after looking what else is available on the topic. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel with information products which have already effectively been written.
9. In order to sell more information products, consider giving some away. Through this initial free product you can build up people’s faith in your information products and encourage them to buy others from you.
10. The Golden Rule of selling information products is to create trust. Give people a reason to trust you. You can do this by publishing testimonials from people who have read your information products. Be careful to only use people’s names and e-mail addresses etc if they have given you permission in writing to do so. Also, offer them a money-back guarantee if they aren’t satisfied with your information product. Don’t panic about offering that. It shows that you are a reputable business owner and it shows that you have faith in your own product. People will be impressed by that.
Following these ten simple steps should enable you to sell as many information products as you want to.