|
Hello there,
I hope it's been a good week for
you. I've been doing very well...I've moved from the massive
brainstorming of last week to taking action on my information
product ideas (stay tuned for details!).
As promised, I will continue to give
you some great tips on what I learned at the Publishing Profits
seminar. I know that a number of you are interested in ebook and
info product publishing, so this will be perfect for you.
There is a lot to cover, so we'll
just scratch the surface this week...but if you bear with
me...I'll deliver tons of great info for you over the next
couple of weeks.
Yes, You Can be an Information
Product Publisher
Even if you don't think you are
interested publishing information product...I would encourage
you to consider it as an additional source of income. After all,
as a business owner, you have your own area of expertise. If
people are looking for this information, why not provide it to
them?
It doesn't matter if you are a web
designer, an aromatherapy retailer or a gardener with a green
thumb. You have information and expertise to offer. People want
to know what you know. They want to have the skills you have.
And even if you decide info products
are just not for you, the marketing tips you will receive over
the next few weeks can certainly be applied to all your Internet
marketing efforts.
Here are Some
Starter Tips:
1. Do your Product Research:
There's no
sense in creating a product that nobody is interested in. You
can do
research in places like
WordTracker, which is a huge database of keywords that
people are searching for on search engines. There is a free
trial, so take advantage.
Just enter the general topic you are
thinking about...for example: "gardening" and see what comes up.
You can click on each phrase to dig deeper and see what people
really want to know about.
WordTracker also has a thesaurus, so you can search related
phrases. This will give you an idea of what topics people really
want information on.
Other keyword research resources:
Overture - Gives numbers and you can dig deeper on each
keyword (just click the keyword). It doesn't show you related
phrases...it will only show you results that include the precise
keyword(s) you enter.
Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions - Doesn't give numbers of
searches, but words listed at the top have more searches than
the ones on the bottom. It also shows you related phrases.
Newsgroups:
Newsgroups are a terrific place to
see what people are talking about and what information they want. You just need to weed through all the garbage and
advertising...but this is where Internet users go to talk.
For example, go to
Google Groups and search for your topic. You'll see what
people are writing about want to learn about. You can search by
category or by keyword. Spend some time looking around and
understanding the needs of your potential target market.
2. Research Your Competition
It is essential to check out what
other products are being offered on your topic. You will also
want to check what information is readily available for free on
websites ---- but remember, you are targeting a group of
consumers who want the convenience of having information all in
one place...you aren't targeting freebie seekers.
A Few Things to Remember:
No Competition Can be a Bad Thing: If your topic is
really hot, but no one is making an information product on
it...this could mean you have a sure fire winner.
However, if you come across this, I
would recommend doing further research into your market. It
could be that others have tried products and failed.
It could also mean that your target
market is filled with freebie seekers (example: people searching
for cooking recipes online generally expect to find them for
free - but you may find exceptions).
Just beware, be smart and do your
research!
Competitors & Partners: Competitors can be your
partners. A busy information site that gives away info for free
could be a potential affiliate (a person who is paid a
commission each time she makes a sale of your product).
Another publisher may have a
product that is complimentary, rather than competitive.
This is an opportunity for potential co-promotion, or you can
offer that product as backend sale, using your affiliate link.
Where to Find Your Competition:
Of course, you'll want to stop by
your favorite search engine and enter the keywords about your
topic. Check out all the top sites on that topic. Also enter
your keywords with the words "ebook", "CD", "software",
"course", etc.
One of the best places to find
competing products is
ClickBank, a distribution center of over 10,000 digital
products. The only problem is, you can't easily search the
ClickBank database of products. They don't have a search
function.
Fortunately, Maayan Marzan has
created some software that allows you to easily search the
Click Bank database. You can download the
Affiliates Alert software for free. This will give you a
good idea about many of the products that are already out there.
I use this software on almost a daily basis to research markets
and find products to promote.
Buy Information Products:
Buy a number of your competitors
products. This will give you the opportunity to see how these
products can be improved or where you might approach the product
from a different angle.
It will certainly come in handy when
you are marketing your product. You don't have to say, "My
product is better than X because...", but you can really focus
on the benefits your product provides that are not offered
elsewhere.
Okay, enough out of me!
Take this week to do your research and brainstorming. Next week,
we'll continue and talk about developing your products.
|
