It’s no secret that information products can be a highly profitable online business. For products like ebooks, mp3 recordings and other digital downloads, the start-up and overhead costs are minimal – allowing for a high profit margin. In addition, the ability to attract affiliates with high commission percentage gives you a great advantage in the online marketplace. But maybe you just don’t think your idea is good enough. Or maybe you don’t think you’re a good enough writer. Enough! You’re a smart cookie with great ideas – and with the right plan, you can make your information product a success.
Even though we may have the best intentions, it’s true that just because we think something might be a good information product idea, it may not pan out that way. To feel confident that you should move forward with your project, you need to do your research first.
Here’s some ideas to conduct research:
1. Look for other products on the same topic. If there is no other information product or book on the same topic, that may be a sign that the idea may not be profitable. A bit of competition is a healthy sign of a viable market and if you create a better product and have better marketing; you can blow your competition right out of the water.
2. Promote similar products as an affiliate. Sign up for the affiliate programs for these type of products and sell them through a Google Adwords campaign, to your mailing lists and/or on your website. If they sell, you might just have a winner.
3. Poll your readers and your target market. If you already have a mailing list reaching your target market, poll them on whether they are interested in such a product and ask what kinds of information they’d like included. You can also conduct polls through Google Adwords campaigns and other advertising methods.
Don’t be afraid to spend a bit of money on an advertising campaign to research your ideas. It’s better to spend $50 or so to find out that your idea may not be so fruitful than to spend countless hours developing your product and your marketing to find out you’ve created a dud. And hey, if you’ve done your research, you may find that you may just have a great seller and, in that case, you’ll have found out a lot of useful information by studying your competition and polling your target market. That means you’re REALLY ready to roll with your information product.
But Do You Have Good Enough Information to Share?
Many people seem to doubt their knowledge and expertise, but when they finally get the courage to share what they know, it’s amazing what results come with it. Even if you don’t think you can create your whole information product, there are options to help you along the way.
Here’s some ideas to develop your content easily:
1. Interview industry experts. You can record audio interviews with noted experts and sell the mp3s and transcripts.
2. Hire a ghostwriter to help you. There’s plenty of people who are excellent researchers and can help you put your content together for a fee. And don’t worry; it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You can use a service like elance.com to find a quality writer to help you write an ebook for a few hundred dollars. The time and agony you save may be well worth it.
3. Answer questions. If you’ve done surveys, you’ll probably have plenty of questions from your target market. So, instead of trying to create all your content from scratch, you can simply answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
Creating your first information product doesn’t have to be complicated. Just do your research and get started. Once you’ve done one, you’ll see how fulfilling it can be…and you’ll be creating your own Information product empire in no time.