The Confidence To Create Your First Information Product
If you've been thinking about creating an information product, but need a nudge to get started on your project, I recommend you read this post. It's full of helpful advice for people who are considering writing and selling their own information product for the first time. Importantly, it also explains what information products are and how they can help you grow a business that makes money from the internet. And if this sounds too big or intimidating to take on, it then outlines why smaller projects might be worth exploring as well.
Not sure where to start? Check out our article on how we launched our "Get Rid of Pests Naturally Kit".
This article is written by Ron Rosedale and is intended to help you move from where you are to where you want to be. In this case, that means being able to make a living online. If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe with your favourite reader so that we can let you know when new advice and tips are available!
What Is An Information Product?
An information product is pretty much what it sounds like. It's an informational product. There's a great deal of information on the internet, some of it free and some of it not. The same goes for how much information there is in print as well. Many people use the internet to search for information about a specific topic or problem. This is why the internet is referred to as an "information retrieval" system because when you go online, you actually are searching for specific types of information.
Here's why this is significant. You may recognize that many people do not have time to do research on their own and ask friends, family and colleagues for advice before they seek professional help. The reason most people don't ask for help or advice from others when they need it is because most of us pretty much know the answer we want to hear when we ask other people how they handle a problem or what solution might work best for us.
This is the basic reason why people will ask the question of their peers and family: "What do you think I should do or how should I handle (insert problem or issue here)?". The person asking usually knows in advance what they want to hear because they already know what they want to do. We're all human and most people like to hear good news, not bad news, no matter how much we pretend otherwise.
So, this is a huge opportunity if you can see it and capitalize on it. Most people want answers to their problems or issues but don't necessarily have the time to do research long enough on the topic that they can get truly helpful information that works for them. Some people do have the time to do their own research, but most people don't.
Some people will pay for information online that they know will save them time and money. They trust the reputation of a website like Amazon.com to have verified and highly rated information products on their site so they can rest assured that they're getting legit advice from someone who has experience in what they're talking about.
What information products are NOT is a book you find on a shelf at Barnes & Noble or other bookstore that you might accidentally pick up, read and then decide was useful enough to buy. If this is what you think an information product might be, let me explain further.
An information product isn't a book you find at a bookstore that can be read in an afternoon. It's not a magazine article. It's not even really a blog post although some of the best information products have been blog posts or other types of articles online where someone shares their tips and advice in their area of expertise so others can better understand how to overcome the issue or challenge they're dealing with. And it most certainly isn't just text on a webpage where the author is telling you about themselves or bragging about all the things they've done to get results in their area of expertise.
What it does include is specific, targeted and focused information that helps the reader solve a problem or overcome an issue in their own life. It will be easy to follow and actionable. It will have resources that can be used to learn even more about the topic than the author originally shared in their information product. It might be a book, free report or course, but it's almost always longer than a blog post and will have resources available that extend the value of what's already been shared.
How Information Products Help Your Business Grow
Let me show you how this information product strategy works with a real business example. Most people agree that videos explaining a product or service are helpful because they tend to take up more screen time than text alone. Videos aren't always possible when selling a product if you're using an ecommerce solution for your business, but sometimes it's just the right type of sales tactic to increase the number of sales you make.
The process is simple. You offer a valuable video that explains what your product does and why it's such a good fit for someone who's dealing with a certain problem or issue. The video can also show proof, testimonials and other ways to prove you know what you're talking about.
Then people like me can share the link to this video on places like Facebook, Twitter or Google+. They can send it out in emails and post it on their blogs. People are more likely to share a video than they are to share an article of text, even though text is more search engine friendly and therefore has a much better chance of ranking well in search engines like Google.
But videos get shared more often and with greater ease, even though they don't always show up as a website link in the places they're shared. Viewers share videos so that others can watch them too without having to go through the hassle of finding them on the internet themselves.
If you're selling a product or service online, you could produce a video to explain your product and how to use it. The type of person that's willing to pay for your product is the type of person who wants quick results and is more likely to trust the advice of someone they know well and that they can easily relate with in their situation.
Or you could offer information in one-on-one coaching via email or phone call, which many people prefer because they don't want to feel like they're being sold something if they don't feel comfortable doing so online.
Or you could offer a free 7-day course or free report that takes people through a problem-solving process in bite-sized pieces so that they can understand your product and how to use it. Even better, you can offer two versions of the same thing on your website – one for those who want video and one for those who want text.
Now let me show you how I know all this works with this example from my own business: When I was selling my online coaching program, I'd get about 1 email per day from people asking me for more information about the program. They wanted to know if it was strictly video instruction or if there was some written component as well.
Conclusion
In the beginning, I didn't have a great answer for them because I hadn't really thought about that question. Truth be told, I'd never really considered using a written component as part of my sales process. But then someone asked me to do it and I said okay, just to make a sale because I knew they'd be better off if they had more information – and I was right.
I created a free blog post titled "Why You Should Invest in Personal Growth" and then sent this link to the people who kept asking me for more information. Within a few weeks they started sharing that post with their friends and family, which generated new subscribers to my list with little effort on my part.