THE PERFECT ONLINE PRODUCT... INFORMATION!
Jim Turner
(C) 1999
Once you get going on the Internet, there will come a time when you need to have your own product(s). That is, one that YOU developed and produced! The problem is that most people don't have a clue as to what they can come up with for sale on the Internet. Many of the marketing gurus say that you can't make it big-time until you do come up with your own product.
When you have your own product, there are several benefits to be realized. Here are a few that come to mind:
1) You gain a certain amount of prestige and respect from your peers.
2) You become known as an expert.
3) You get to establish the price.
4) You get to change, modify and revise it as you see fit.
5) You get to keep all the profits (unless you decide to share it with others in the form of an affiliate program).
So, what are you going to develop and produce to market on the Internet, either exclusively by you or by using some form of joint venture marketing and getting others involved? I would suggest information products. Why? Because of the ease at which these products can be developed and produced today.
When it comes to researching an information product, the resources that you can use are almost limitless. Since you are online, you have one of the most dynamic and innovative tools known to mankind for retrieving information... Internet search engines. You don't even need the large volumes of encyclopedias anymore. If you do desire to use encyclopedias, they can be found online and on CD ROMs. It's not even necessary to use any type of outside source to get the information for your product.
The information that I'm referring to is buried within your brain. This is information that you have acquired over the years, related to some hobby, profession or special interest that you have been involved in over the years. I would suggest that if you are over the age of 18, you probably have enough knowledge about some topic, that would allow you to produce an information product.
What are some of the advantages of information products?
1) They are unique to you. No one else can produce a newsletter exactly like yours. No matter how similar another may be to yours, it can never be the same. Why? Because your experience is unique. You see and experience life through your own eyes, ears and mind. Since there is no one else just like you, no one else can produce the same information product as you.
2) They are inexpensive to produce. In the process of producing a information product online, you will experience very few expenses. You obviously already own a computer and a modem. The biggest investment that you will have to make is the time required to perform the proper research and to develop your product. I spend about eight direct hours during the week producing this newsletter. Of course, most of the time is spent on promoting it.
3) You can repackage the information and distribute it in various formats. Case in point... this is the 20th article that I have written since the beginning of this newsletter. These articles have been used to play numerous roles: to post on others Web site, to publish in other publisher's newsletters, to provide content at my Website, to post at my discussion board, etc. Eventually, they will form the nucleus of my own ebook or hard |copy book. That's the beauty of information products.
4) It can be easily kept up to date. If new developments take place in your chosen field of interest, all you have to do is call up the file where you have your information stored and make the necessary changes. After so many updates, you can market the "new and improved" revised version. Again generating more profit.
Those customers who thought that it was good enough to buy the first time and was happy, they will certainly buy again. What are some examples of information products? This newsletter is a form of information product. On a weekly basis I share with you information that I have learned as I have been building an online business. Other forms of information products include; special reports and articles, ebooks, educational software, regular books, a discussion board, or members only Web sites, to name a few.
Let's take a look at newsletters. I know everyone is getting fed up with the explosive growth of newsletters and ezines. But there is another side to this phenomena... they are growing in numbers because they _work_ as they are supposed to. Have you noticed how many McDonalds and Burger Kings there are around today?
They keep growing because they serve a need. The same holds true with ezines. Over time, the truly bad ezines will not survive, just as with the truly bad restaurants. The purpose of a newsletter is to provide value added information to the reader while at the same time promoting the products and services of the publisher. If the content that the reader is expecting does not meet the reader's need, they won't read the newsletter, if they don't read the newsletter, they obviously won't see the links back to the publishers Web site.
Consequently, the site does not sell as many products, resulting in the site owner and publisher being driven out of business. By successfully publishing a newsletter, that your subscribers read, you can:
a) promote your products and services
b) refer your readers to interesting links at your Web site
c) announce new products that you are marketing
d) sell advertising space in your newsletter
e) sell advertising space at your Web site Another great information product is an ebook.
Again, you might say that there are too many ebooks around. Please refer back to my comments above about newsletters and ezines. An ebook can be used very much in the same manner as a newsletter. The difference being is that the ebook is a static product, whereas a newsletter is dynamic. It has something new and different every week. But an ebook can be use to compliment your newsletter.
It can be used as a freebie to give those who subscribe to your newsletter. Many publisher sell banner and advertising space in their ebooks.
Checkout this site for more on ebook publishing. It has a ton of free information and a discussion list.
The ebooks can be given away by others resulting in many other readers seeing your URL and coming to pay a visit with the hopes that they will make a purchase from you.
Closing Comments
As you can see, information products come in many different formats and can be used as a part of your overall Internet marketing strategy. They are inexpensive to produce and can be easily researched and developed, but most of all, the majority of the information that you will need is already buried within your brain.
You simply need to harvest it and spread it around. A good resource that you can use in helping you to develop your strategy and to produce your information product is a book by Barbara Besteni. She has a book entitled "Well, What Do You Know... What You Know Can Make You Wealthy." You can download the first two chapters here: http://www.videofile.com/infoform.html
It does a very good job of covering the topic of publishing information products.
Jim is the administrator of http://www.webprofitsource.com and publisher of WebPROFIT Tips Newsletter.
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