Think you can’t create an information product because you are not an “expert”? The truth is that if you have been working in your field and learning for any length of time, you probably know more about your subject than 90% of people. Those are your customers.
Here are some tips for creating information products that will generate passive income for you and build your reputation as an authority.
Research before creating the product. What does your market want to know? What problem can you help them solve? Do a survey, ask for feedback from Twitter or Facebook followers, or ask your email subscribers for input. Don’t have an audience yet? Go to forums and other places where your future customers gather and see what is on their minds.
Buy and use information products produced by others. What do they do that works well? What can you do better? Never copy someone else’s work, but learn from it.
Your information product can be as long or as short as you need it to be to teach what you want to teach. Don’t assume that it has to be a 300-page book. Thin slice your content to give a solution to one problem faced by your customers.
Hate to write? Create an audio or video as the core part of your product…then have it transcribed. You or a ghostwriter can turn it into an ebook, workbook, checklist and more.
Don’t limit yourself to one information product. Your satisfied customers want more from you, so create a variety of products in different formats and at varying price points.
Your customers like to consume information in different ways, so add value to your product by offering the content in a variety of formats—written, audio, video and more.
Give your customers hands-on ways to implement what they have learned. Include exercises, workbooks, forums and other tools.
Don’t wait for perfection. It doesn’t exist. Make your product excellent, then release it.
Keep your downloads secure by using a shopping cart that provides secure file storage and delivery. The service I use is at http://ShoppingCartAndMore.com/. E-junkie is another inexpensive solution at as little at $5 a month, and it integrates with PayPal and many other payment services.
Don’t offer a product only in downloadable form. Create a physical version in print or on CD or DVD. Hire a fulfillment service or use a POD service such as Kunaki.com or CreateSpace.com. These companies offer an inexpensive way to create and dropship physical products.
If you’re giving away free content to promote your information product, only give part of the story. Make sure they need your product to get the full picture. One common guideline is to give away the what and sell the why.
Get started now. Create a simple product that you can finish quickly, get it out to your market and start making sales. Then start on the next product.
Want to discover more about creating passive income with information products? Get my new Kindle book and free bonus audio here.
I really like how you talked about starting small and simple. Many people don’t do certain things because they think that it is to big, or that they will fail… all they have to do is start small and simple. Thanks for the advice, great article.
Richard, small and done is always better than big and unfinished!
Thanks for the comment.