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The Five Easiest-to-complete Information Products
Your first time out of the gate, youre going to be tempted to tackle an information product project that is much too complicated. After all, you know so much and cant leave out any of the valuable points! Or, you lack confidence that anyone will pay you a dime unless your ebook, book or course is crammed with every imaginable tip and technique.
Dont give in to this temptation, or youll be hamstrung and unable to finish that crucial first information marketing project. Instead, choose one of these easy formats for compiling and packaging useful information, and youll have your first product on the market and making money for you in no time.
Five Easy Information Product Formats
1. Compilation of expert contributions. Here you request others who are respected in their field to provide you with content that you bring together into a product. Why would busy experts provide you with original, thought-provoking and useful material? They often will do so at no cost if you come up with an interesting enough question for them to answer and tell them their contribution should be a page or less.
Promise them a copy of the finished report, where theyll be able to see how peers and competitors responded, too. Also tell them how youll be publicizing the product. No matter how well known they already are, prominent people love publicity. After all, thats how they got to be renowned in the first place. In most cases, youll set up this compilation as a downloadable PDF report.
Examples: Online Profits at the Speed of Light by Bob Serling (http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/online-profits.html) and First Contact Secrets by Chip Tarver (http://www.firstcontactsecrets.com).
2. Q&A report. Instead of asking many others one question, you can create a product by asking yourself then answering many questions. This works well when you simply collect commonly asked questions. You can also focus or the hardest ones, the most unusual ones or the funniest questions. If you find the idea of writing a formal article or a book intimidating, this may be the ticket for you. When it comes to anything you know more about than the average person, youre probably in the habit of answering questions on a daily or weekly basis anyway. This one too would get sold as a downloadable PDF report.
Examples: "Answers to the World's Toughest Questions about Law of Attraction" by Andrea Conway (http://www.successfulselfemployment.com/toughest-law-of-attraction-sse.htm) and "An Insiders Guide to Small Business Success" by Tim Knox (http://www.book-titles.ca/SuccessSecrets.htm).
3. Audio interview of an expert. In this option and the next two, you create an audio product in just one hour plus a little preparation time. Simply persuade someone whose opinions, experiences and knowledge others want to hear to be interviewed for an hour, and record the session. Voilà, a product! Many experts will agree to do this for free providing they receive a copy of the recording and permission to sell it or use it as a bonus product for something else.
Its easiest to record such an interview on a conference-call line using a service like Free Conference Call (http://www.freeconferencecall.com). Sell your interview either as a downloadable MP3 or as a CD that you send to the buyer by mail. Some information marketers also provide the option of customers buying a transcript in addition to or instead of the audio recording.
Examples: Inside College Eligibility (http://www.collegeeligibility.com) and Inside the Mind of a Listing Expert (http://www.realestatesalescoach.com/paulearnhart.htm).
4. Audio interview of you. Just flip option #3 upside down, and you have another quick-start information product: Someone else interviews you for an hour. The interviewer could be a friend or someone with a great voice and smooth interviewing skills whom you hire to do the interview. Record the question and answer session, and in little more than one hour, you have a product to sell.
Prepare for the interview by writing an introduction and conclusion for the interviewer to use and a list of questions. Keep the illusion of spontaneity by not writing out in full your answers to these questions. Instead, make notes on the points you want to make during the session and keep them in front of you as you and the interviewer go through the agenda, question by question. To the listener, interviews arranged in this way sound exactly like those in #3, so Im not listing separate examples.
5. Teleclass recording. This audio option differs from the interview format in that its instructional in flavor and may include participant questions and your answers. You can charge for this kind of session in two ways: First, those who participate in the call might pay to do so, and second, those who were not present on the call can purchase the CD or MP3 recording. While some teleclasses become products as a multi-session series, its best to start with just a single one-hour class.
Examples: Creating Donor Evangelists by Marc Pitman (http://www.fundraisingcoach.com/cde.htm) and Create a New Financial Identity by Joan Sotkin (http://www.prosperityplace.com/catalog/cd27330_identity.html).
When youve chosen the content carefully, provided useful information and described the product temptingly for your target market, these quick-to-produce information formats sell well. Henry David Thoreau put my point best: Simplify! Simplify!
BONUS : The Five Phases Of Feedback
You may have heard about the five phases of grief. Psychological professionals have outlined the pattern of emotions that humans cycle through during the grieving process. As a writing professional, Ive discovered the five phases of receiving feedback. Any writer who is advancing in their career has been through the sometimes shocking experience of having her work critiqued. Cycling through these five feedback phases is normal. Getting stuck in any of them, however, could bring your writing career to a painful halt. See if you recognize yourself at any of these phases:
Denial. Defensiveness sets in. How could they say that about your character? Cant they see how perfect she is? You go home and rant to your spouse about how clueless your critique group is. You shore up a line of defense and tick the points off on your fingers while your beloved nods and smiles.
Depression. What? Your draft isnt perfect? After all that work
you realize that your blossoming talent doesnt hold up without some pruning. You may hole up for weeks, or months, in this phase, daunted by the real work of writing: revision. Your balm: forays to the library and to read all those other successes.
Integration. Youre still alive, and is that a glimmer of desire to have another look at your manuscript? Take a deep breath and look clearly at the comments you received. Which feedback can be integrated and what needs to be chucked?
Enthusiasm. Okay, you know what to do now. Youve found some grace and youve taken the criticism. Outlining a plan for revision, youre ready to go. Youre over the worst of it. Youre even kind of excited about it. You can write a bestseller!
Acceptance. You move into work mode and start working through the details.
You realize that writing is suitable work for those who can handle the long haul. You recommit to the work of being a writer. Theres a lot to do, but with support you can write this thing!
To move through the five phases more effectively, here are some tried and true methods that I have used with my coaching clients.
To handle the denial, ask yourself this simple question: Whats true about this feedback? Take a step back from the work and be as objective as you can. Is it true that there is a lot of exposition in your novel? Is it true that your characters dont seem developed enough? Making this kind of assessment strengthens your skills as a writer. Taking your work apart, piece by piece, will allow you to delve into the craft of writing.
For the overwhelming emotions that drive you to hide under the covers, try giving yourself an acknowledgment. This simple coaching tool can help you to recognize your progress, and what you have done right. An acknowledgment could look like this: You gave the draft as much as you could when you wrote it. Look at how far you have come since you said you wanted to write. Working through the emotions goes more quickly if you are able to talk them out with a compassionate listener.
Call up your writing buddy or coach and give space to the feelings that without expression might keep you trapped for months.
When you get to the integration phase, give yourself a pat on the back. Youre maturing as a writer. Realizing that writing is more than the first flush of inspiration is a powerful step toward success. Give yourself a better chance at success by outlining a plan, creating a schedule, and sticking to the work of revision.
Enthusiasm is the fun part of the process. Here you reconnect with some of the original passion for the piece, but with the added commitment and knowledge that you are willing to show up to make your writing shine.
In the final phase, the flare and spark of enthusiasm settles into a warm, steady fire.
You are fueled by the respect you have for yourself for sticking with it, for your love of writing, for your admiration for others who have done this work and triumphed.
If you do find yourself stuck, if getting feedback has stopped you cold, get help. Meet with a writing buddy to talk out the feedback. Talk long walks and ponder your commitment to the work. What drives you to keep going despite the challenges?
Understanding your motivation to write, and to write that particular piece, will help you to move through the five phases of feedback more quickly. Receiving feedback gracefully is part of any writer's process, so make it work for you!