Internet Business in a Nutshell Part 4: Info-Product Creation
Ok, so you’ve done your research, you’ve maybe started a few affiliate sales sites to test the waters and find out what most people in your target market seem to want with a passion. And, now you have ideas for information or software products that are just going to knock their socks off. So now what? How does one go about digital product creation?
A lot of people these days seem to have a knee-jerk response to this question: “Outsource it”. (Or, worse… some tell you to just slap anything together and sell it.)
But, these sorts of answers seem to be not much more than a cop-out, like the “Just test it” knee-jerk response, they seem to be simply a way to deflect questions that people either don’t want to answer, or maybe they don’t have the creativity or experience to offer an educated guess.
Everything has to start somewhere and skimping on that initial version because you haven’t done your research and you have no idea what your customers actually want and you are “testing”, doesn’t seem to me like the best way to do business.
Besides, I’ve tried a couple of the major freelancing sites over the years and I’ve always felt I got poor quality work at over-inflated prices.
So, just as good old fashioned experience and intuition can be a good way to avoid unnecessarily having to “just test” everything under the sun, right out of the gate… maybe experience and intuition can also be useful in knowing when to outsource and when to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.
In my experience, where your actual info-product is concerned, it’s usually better to do it yourself. Sure, anything else should be outsourced as much as possible, but, not the main product, in my view.
But, don’t worry, I have good news if you don’t have the cash, or the patience for outsourcing yet you think you don’t have what it takes to create your own info-product either.
Truth is, you’d probably be surprised at how easy it actually is to create an info-product without paying someone to hold your hand. Sometimes all you need is a little more confidence and someone to let you know that it’s not that hard to do and point you in the right direction. Besides, gaining the knowledge you’re about to share was the hard part.
Ideas for creating your info-product:
- Dictate an ebook: You don’t even have to type it yourself! Using any speech to text program, like the one that comes with MS Word, all you have to do is say what you want to say and then edit the document to your liking. (Speech to text is not perfect, but if you can’t type it’s fast and easy enough.) Or, even if you type it all out yourself… isn’t it just like doing a report back in school? You just research your topic and assemble all the information with your own insights. It’s not like you’re writing a novel and need to worry about plot and character development. It’s just a report on whatever amazing thing you’ve just discovered. The research is the hard part and maybe a better candidate for outsourcing.
- Create screen-capture tutorials: If your subject involves tasks that can be demonstrated on-screen, you can simply use a program like Camtasia, or CamStudio, to create what’s called a screen-capture video. You just record your screen while you show your customers first-hand how to do whatever it is you’re showing them how to do. Although these are recommend as the sole means of info-product creation by some, these “screen caps” shouldn’t be relied on too heavily and should not be used as the primary delivery method of your content, especially if it involves many steps or takes hours to complete, because long screen capture videos get boring and they make it difficult to find specific steps and needed information later on. That said, screen capture videos are a great way to demonstrate any “sticky” spots.
- Put up a website with a private members area: This is my favorite method for creating and delivering information products because it is a delivery system that can actually become the product itself when you put your information in a web page in one of your private members areas. Not only does it give you more security and control over your products and who has access to them, but you can also include any of the other types of products within the members areas… videos, downloads, interactive members areas, or whatever else you can think of. And, to top it off, it also gives you the ability to charge either a recurring or a one-time fee for access to any level or specific area of your site. This all around solution has served me well over the years and is actually the main focus of my latest product over at CBMerchantPro.com.
(The site is up, but I haven’t officially begun the marketing for it yet, so don’t run off and buy it today unless you want to pay full price. I won’t mind, if you do. ;~) But, hold onto your hats… I’ll announce the grand opening and a special discount price here on the blog any day now. [ I just included a new file upload system to store digital products for easy customer downloading and I’m putting final touches on the instructions for that.].)
It would probably serve my purposes better to just tell you to get a product outsourced or slapped together as quick as you can so you can try my system that makes it easier to sell your new product online… but that’s just bad advice and I can’t do it.
I can, however, tell you that even if you don’t have a product yet, you could easily create one with my system by simply filling in a members area with the information you plan on selling, without worrying about converting to PDF problems, or security, or wondering how you’re going to deliver it… You could just insert your information into the page and upload your downloads to the database and have it displayed it in the private areas where you allow customers to interact with the system.
So, in conclusion I say that info-products are easier than ever to create and outsourcing is a great tool for some things but it’s not something to be relied upon too heavily or used to create the core of any product. Besides it’s probably easier than you think to just create your own info-products when we live in this age conveniences like screen capture and speech-to-text programs, plus dynamic website software ;~).
Also, the experience of creating your own products can be more difficult, sure, but it also can be more rewarding and enlightening. I recommend you create as much of at least the core of your products as you reasonably can in a doable time-frame.
That said, all the secondary stuff just slows you down and takes time away from you creating your actual products… and for that matter anything that’s not your actual product, like the system you use to set up your “store” or sales or membership sites… (wink, wink) But, no seriously… these sorts of tasks should absolutely, without a doubt, always be outsourced as much as possible to save time and sanity.
And, now you don’t even have to hire out the work to create it all. I made it for you. If you sell information of any kind, it all of it just got a whole lot easier with my new software and systems. But, more on that later…
