What is an information product and how you can make your own products

An information product is a product that provides valuable information and content on a particular topic. Anything from how to build a fish pond to the best places to see when visiting London – information products are sort after, highly valued (when written well), profitable goldmines!

They can be provided in a number of different formats and can be given away for free or sold for a profit. Either way you benefit.

This article seeks to provide you with all the information you need to get very clear on what information products are, the different types of formats available, how you can benefit from giving them away for free and some of the things you need to consider when creating information products.

What kinds of information products are available?

As well as the obvious written kind, you will also find that information products come in a very wide variety of formats.

Even text based information products come in different formats. You can have a booklet (around 7-25 pages in length) a special report or white page (20-30 pages), an ebook (over 30 pages)

Ezines and newsletters : You can send out your information using email and produce an ezine or newsletter. People also offer eCourses, tutorials, assignments and more.

Very popular right now is video – people find it a little easier to learn by watching and doing so an information product that teaches is well received in video.

Audio : For those who prefer to listen rather than to read there are audio information products.

DVD & CD : An alternative to automatically downloading your material from the internet is the option to send a hard copy in the post in a DVD or CD format.

Teleseminars : Getting a group of people on the phone and helping them solve a problem, entertaining them or providing them with some sort of value (either free or paid) is also an information product. Or at least it can be turned into one.

Other forms of information products

Blogs : A blog like this one is a great information product because it provides loads of free information that you can learn from. You get to know me, hopefully you feel I am worth knowing and you will sign up to receive my free information via email and stay in touch. So blog

Membership Sites : A different kind of information product but still one none the less a membership site will contain information for your audience on a particular topic.

All of this can be given out for free or you can sell – both methods offer you an opportunity to make money.

Why Is Giving Away Free Information Products something worth doing?

I often get asked where the value is in giving away free information products on the internet.  Well to begin with and probably most importantly, they help you build your credibility. People can read your information and decide whether you are someone they want to stick around to learn from or run a mile!

Providing free information products will also help you sell your service based business. If you have a service you offer and you want to attract potential clients then free information products is a great way to go.

For people who are looking for a way to make money online selling information products but you do not have a business – you just want to make money then there is still an opportunity for you.  By including affiliate links inside your free information product – at moments when you offer a learning opportunity – you can gain income from the product you recommend.

As an example if you create and give away a free information product on how to get your ex back after a breakup you can then go to sources like clickbank.com and pick an information product that teaches people how to get their ex back. You simply take the affiliate link that Clickbank provide you with an add it to your free product. Then you go to the many free ebook directories available online and you add it to them.

What Do I Need To Consider When Getting Started With Information Products

Well you want to first think about the niche area you want to write about and then do some solid research to discover what is already out there and more importantly what you can add to that conversation.

If you find there is a lot of information in a particular niche then don’t run and hide – dive in and take your place! If there is a lot of activity then it means people are making money otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. Your only job is to make yourself different to what is already available. How can you add more value, or say the same thing in a different way. Position yourself so that people will want to look at what you have.

Once you have an idea of what area that you want to focus on then sit down and write your information product – or outsource it and get someone else to do it for you. Shelancers.com is a great site to find someone.

Once your product is available – or while writing it – consider getting a professional graphic made so that it looks professional. I always get my graphics made by Semmy at http://www.myminisitegraphic.com/ because he is fast and reasonable. It really does add something to include a graphic.

Now you need to get your free product out there and with all the free social media available like Facebook, plus social bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumbleupon there is a lot you can do to get your finished information product out on the net. Plus of course you send it to all the free ebook directories I listed here.

That’s it! Keep writing and producing and sending it out and before you know it you will have a large number of free information products out there on the web.

Information Marketing Podcast