Everyone is an expert on something. You may not realize it or acknowledge it, but you are quite familiar with some service, activity, or product.

Whether you are a horse trainer who has won multiple competitions or a customer service agent at the local phone company, you have knowledge that others don’t have and surprisingly, you can make big bucks off of selling this information.

An information product simply has the definition of being any product that ends in the form of information. Basically, you’re selling knowledge you’ve gained through experience so others who don’t want to spend time going through the trenches can learn from your realizations or mistakes.

On average, you can make 1 sale for everyone 100 visitors to your information product’s website. If your product sells for $100 and you make at least five sales a day (equal to about 500 visitors to your website), you can make around $15000 a month.

So you’re thinking, why would people buy an information product when they could just use Google and get the information for free? It’s simple – using Google and searching through all of the websites is a time-consuming task and it’s hard to sort the good information from the bad – not mentioning all the advertisements you’ll have to dodge to get to any information at all. People are willing to pay because it provides them good, valid information that takes them no time at all to find – they can just read it and go to work with their newfound knowledge.

As a marketing executive and purchaser of many information products myself (Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer), I have been helping experts design and market their information products for over 10 years to great success and high profits. Here are some tips to helping make your product successful as well:

You can begin with as little as a CD of information, a transcript, or as much as a book. If you have a CD, first create a transcript of the CD and from the transcript, edit it down to your key points. If you have a book, you also need to edit it down to the key points. If the customer only wants certain particles of information from your product, don’t make them wade through everything else (remember – they’re buying your product to save time!). Also, a CD of just the key points should be created as well.

Once you have completed the key points CDs and have your information transcribed in some way, shape or form, create a workbook for the buyer. This way, they have benchmarks to make sure they really understand the information you’re trying to teach them and they know how much more information they need to consume before they’re ready to go.

While you’re creating the aforementioned parts of your information product, you must create a compelling title and subtitle to attract customers to your information product at all. If you don’t have a compelling title, they won’t be as interested in your product. Along with your compelling title and subtitle, you need to have a complimentary image or logo. The title and image must match and look nice when placed together.

This title and image will be used as the face of your company so make sure they are reflective of your product. You will apply the same title and image to all of your products including the CD, transcripts, key points guide, workbook, and anything else you’re including with your product.

Next, write and edit your biography; your information becomes more valid if you have extensive experience. People want to know where this knowledge came from and the different experiences you have had that may impact your outlook. Include your other information products in your biography because if this one is good, they’ll want to purchase your others as well.

Once you are done developing the title, logo, biography, and internal product, you’ll need to create other graphics to advertise your company. For example, take pictures of all of your products and arrange them together to graphically show customers everything they will be receiving when they purchase your information product. This image will be useful for catalogs, banner advertisements, a web store, a flyer, or an Amazon.com sale page.

When you have created your information product and have all of the images in place, don’t forget to market it! No one will buy it if they don’t know it exists – and this is one of the biggest mistakes I see.

About the Author:
Andrea Ratajczak is a seasoned marketing consultant and co-founder of PDA Marketing, a full-service marketing and design firm in Baltimore, MD. If you’re interested in having andrea help design and market your information product, contact her at andrea@pdamarketing.net or by phone (410) 788 – 2007.

When you have a look at the different ends of the selling-buying process, you find many of your prospective customers don’t like to be sold to, and many marketers like yourself often don’t like to sell.

Yet every business person knows they have to get clients somehow. Information marketing provides an easy way for you to get more clients without those irritating, slick, sales techniques. Often people think it is a matter of gritting their teeth and getting on with the dirty end of the job, when in reality it is a simple matter of giving people what they are looking for via your own information marketing products.

Let me put it this way. How many people do you know who ask a potential mate to marry them, on the first date? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? So, why would someone buy from you right away without first getting to know, like and trust you? That’s why you want to build a relationship with a potential client over time. I’ve found that information marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to do that.

Information marketing is about giving value to your potential clients first, so they get to know, like and trust you. Information marketing also ensures that your prospect gets something of value without having to undergo a sales spiel. This alone will skyrocket your credibility in their eyes. If you are prepared to “let go” of the traditional approach to sales and marketing, you can simply have an ebook or special report or ecourse do the selling for you. Sell to people by giving them information.

How I Made $9,000 in 5 Minutes Using Information Marketing
A few months ago, I made $9000 in 5 minutes using just a 20-page Special Report. I gave a 5-minute talk at a networking event where I offered my Special Report in exchange for people’s business cards. I ended up with cards from almost all 55 people in the room. After they got the Special Report, I offered a free phone consultation. Seven people took me up on the offer – and the result? Three people hired me.

Think of a Funnel When Setting Up Your Information Marketing System
Information marketing uses a four-stage process to move people from being a prospect, to a lead, to a client, to your champion. Think of the four stages as a funnel. Your goal as a marketer is to move a person down your funnel, because the further someone goes down the funnel the more money you make. You can use information products to move someone through each stage.

Stage 1 – The Prospect
In this phase, the person doesn’t even know you. There’s no relationship at all yet. Your job is somehow to get people to notice you. Some information products you can use in this phase of your information marketing are: ebooks, teleclasses, special reports, white papers, ecourses and articles.

Stage 2 – The Lead
This is the crucial phase I call the “Pivotal Point.” On my website, I use a technique to capture visitors’ names and emails by giving them a special report. Once people opt-in, they become a lead for me. I now have permission to do more information marketing with them.

Stage 3 – The Client
Once someone has given you permission to contact them, your job is then to convert them from a lead to a client. Once they have given you at least one dollar, they are a client. I offer an inexpensive one-on-one, 45-minute consultation with me where we strategize ideas for the client’s business and marketing plans.

Think how you can move people down the marketing funnel. How can you capture leads? What incentive can you then give them to move from one phase to another and become a client?

Stage 4 – The Champion
This is the best part! At this point you’ve given the client such great service and value that they buy from you over and over AND they refer you to others. They become your marketing machine. This is where the lifetime value of a client becomes so profitable.

More Information Marketing Tips to Remember
Okay, now you see the process of “dating” a potential client, here are some more points to remember:

• Always provide great value first. People have to learn to know, like and trust you before they commit with their wallet.

• Moving through the phases of information marketing can happen fast. This doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process. You can move someone from being a prospect to a client in a day or two.

• Always give clear guidance to the potential client on what to do next. Give them directions on how to move from being a prospect to a lead to a client to a cheerleader.

Ask yourself, what information relating to your topic are you asked about the most? Put together a special report that addresses the most common questions and challenges people face. Then find ways to leverage that report to get more leads. Information marketing is the most powerful way of “selling without selling” that I know.

About the Author:
Small business marketing consultant, James Roche, shows you how to attract more clients and make passive revenue with information products. Discover his proven and practical marketing strategies with his free special report, “The Shift: Quit Struggling, Make a Difference and Join the New Rich” http://www.marketingmadeeasyblueprint.com/free.

Writing on the internet can be very satisfying.

There are no editors to approve your work, and millions of people are constantly looking for new material to read. All in all, it is a wonderful way to get your message and information out to the world.

I had always wanted to be a writer. At some point in school I even had dreams of writing professionally. Somewhere along the way I was made to feel that my writing was not good enough, and I chose to believe that. Instead of persevering and continuing to write every day, I stopped completely. Twenty years later I came online, and the rest is history. I am now a writer, and no one judges the quality of my writing.

You can write articles, blog, write eBooks, or any of a number of other types of online writing. There are people who are searching for more information on your topic and your writing will be helpful to them.

Why Should You Write An EBook?
Writing an eBook in your niche or on your topic of expertise will position you as an expert in your field. It is crucial to have a book that you have authored, and an eBook is best if you want to make it available to others in just a matter of a week or two.

Many people do not like to write, so if that is your situation you may want to considering recording your eBook, one chapter at a time, and having it transcribed into an eBook. You can then add an introduction and conclusion, a table of contents, and some resources. Your eBook will be complete, and ready for you to sell online or give away to generate more leads for your business.

The word author is derived from the word authority, so once you have authored an eBook you will be perceived quite differently from others in your field. You will become the person who is asked to speak, do radio interviews, and considered to be the expert.

Writing your eBook will boost your career in ways you may never have expected. Getting started right away will make it easier for you to be successful online, no matter what your area of expertise.

Choose a niche topic that you will specialize in writing about. Set up a blog where you can communicate with your target market and provide them with information. Write a short report to give away to those who want to sign up for your list. Find affiliate products to promote to your list that will help them to find a solution to their problem. Remember that you are a problem solver first and a writer second. Use your writing to solve problems for others and you will be able to write your own ticket.

About the Author:
Connie Ragen Green has been online since 2005 and teaches people how to build their own online business in record time, offering free teleseminars weekly, as well as online courses in a workshop environment with webinars.

Lok states that not only is it possible to create and make money from an ebook without writing them yourself, but that in fact it is the easiest way to do it. He points out that the top marketing gurus rarely write their own books for just this reason. He also shows you how to recruit sales and marketing experts to take care of the sales side of the equation too, so that you don’t have to have any previous skills apart from the ability to put the contents of his book into action.

For those busy folks who would prefer to be the brains behind the operation and let the seasoned veterans do what they are good at, EBook Without Writing shows you the way.

The guide gets right down to practical specifics, defining exactly what a how-to books should be, how to research and prepare your book, how to make sure your book will be found online, how to take care of copyright and ISBN’s, how to format your book and design your cover, how to establish credibility with your readers, how to add value to your product, how to properly include references and resources, and how to publish and distribute your book. The book also comes with a series of free bonuses including access to audio and video tools web pages, checklists and plans, a list of helpful software, a comprehensive keyword index of terms used in the book, as well as page layout templates and a free copy of Fawcett’s ebook “Writing Success Secrets”.

For anyone who has any valuable life experience to share with others, this book will show you how to create your own profitable “how-to” ebook.

The book boasts having such a clear step by step process that anyone can have an ebook up for sale in one week, regardless of previous writing experience.  The book takes you through choosing a very specific niche that you can focus on precisely, how to come up with an ebook idea that will sell to that niche, how to write your ebook extremely quickly, how to get it edited free of charge, how to publish your book online, and how to market your book and start earning money from it.

Also included are four free bonus reports & ebooks; “5 highly effective online marketing methods that don’t cost ANY money” by Jay Conrad Levinson, a 24-page interview with Joe Vitale on how he made his latest ebook “Spiritual Marketing” a success, a report on how to get your ebook setup on Clickbank, and “Million Dollar Emails”, a full ebook on successful email marketing strategies, normally priced at $19. If information ebook production and sales are your game, a step by step walkthrough from these proven experts is a great place to start.