A book provides you with more credibility than anything else you can do: more credibility than an audiotape, a videotape, a seminar, a screenplay or a song.
People place a higher value on a book than on a tape-even though the same amount of work may have gone into the production. The fact is authors are highly valued in our society.
-Dan Poynter Para Publishing
What is an information product?
Information products are a fantastic tool to increase profits, credibility, traffic and much more.
The term information product can apply to all factual books, reports, transcripts etc. but in the online world, the phrase is used to describe electronically deliverable, knowledge based products.
They are often known as knowledge based goods, or digital goods and are available to download, or are e-mailed to the customer.
Information products are usually in written format, but in recent years, audio and video files have become more popular.
Here are some examples of possible information product types:
E-books E-zinesNewsletters ReportsSurvey results TutorialsTraining CoursesInterviewsHow to use information products to launch your business.
There are two main uses of information products, selling them or giving them away.
The reason for doing the first is obvious; you receive a fixed amount of money for each product that you sell. This is a profitable business, roughly twenty percent of internet sales come from information products.
The reasons for giving away your information product might seem less clear, after all why would you spend time creating a quality product if you aren’t going to make any money on it?
Here are a few of the reasons you might consider giving away an information product:
a. In exchange for a name and e-mail address for your list
b. As an incentive to subscribe to your membership site
c. Because it includes affiliate links that will make you money in the long term
d. To increase your reputation as a subject matter expert
e. To build up credibility with your customers so they will buy a higher value product
Most online businesses will seek to fulfill at least two of the above aims when putting together their information products, probably more.
Advantages of online information products
Online information products are cheap, simple to produce and they’re low risk products that you can create yourself.
Even better, they’re always in demand. Many businesses love information products and use them regularly as part of their product line and marketing plan.
Here are a few of the advantages of selling online information products rather than traditional physical products.
1. Low start up costs: Producing quality information products requires very little investment. Once you have a domain and a host, you only need the ability to create PDF files or similar and you are ready to create your product.
The production costs remain the same no matter how many copies of your information product you sell. Creating multiple products is the same as copying a file.
2. High service levels: There are no packaging or shipping costs with online information products and they can be delivered to the customer within minutes of order, with no possibility of getting lost in transit.
3. Low overhead: With an online information product you will not have to employ someone to oversee production, to manage your inventory, or to organize shipping.
You will not have to buy or maintain expensive equipment to manufacture your product and you will not have to hire premises to house that equipment.
Creating your own information products can provide you with a profitable source of income as well as building up your reputation as an expert in your subject area.
Business Planning Exercise: If you were to write an information product for your business, what could it be about? Brainstorm possibilities.
For example, if you owned a scrapbooking service then the information products could be on how to take a good picture or unique scrapbooking ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment