7 Steps To Creating An Information Product That Can Make You Money While You Sleep

If you write on a regular basis or even have lists of FAQ’s (frequently asked questions), you have enough content to create an information product to give away or sell. Set aside an afternoon to gather and arrange your content and piece your product (free giveaway/pink spoon, e-report, e-book, e-course) together. Once you have done the groundwork and added your final details the rest of the process can simply be outsourced in order to automate the sale and delivery of your product.

Here’s how:

1. Create a spreadsheet with 3 columns using these headings:

*Title – the title of your content or topic of the article

*Summary – a short description of the content

*Category – specific to your content. For example, I categorize my content as Home Office Organization, Marketing, Time Management etc.

2. Gather all your content together and fill your spreadsheet with the above information for each piece of content you have. Use your blog posts, articles and FAQ’s.

3. Sort your spreadsheet by the ‘Category’ heading. This will group together all the content within the same category giving you a good overall picture of the quantity of content you have for each category.

4. Determine how you will package this content. Your options are to:

*create a short e-report as a free giveaway to build your list

*create an e-book to sell (generally priced between $10 – $47)

*create an e-course complete with assignments and set up the information to be delivered over a 4 – 6 week period or even longer (generally priced higher than an e-book)

5. Create a new document in a program like Word. Build your product by laying out the content you have chosen to use by copying and pasting it into your document. Play with the order and formatting.

6. Proofread your document. Add content to connect pieces where needed or subtract content to ensure your material flows and is easy to follow.

7. Congratulations! You now have the foundation of your info product. Finishing touches include the addition of:

-headings

-subheadings

-images

-table of contents

-cover page

-conversion of file to PDF format

Note:

* You may also want to add a headshot and your bio written in third person on the last page. This can include a call to action consisting of an invitation to check out one of your related products, programs or services.

* After your product has been created it is time to launch. You will need to have a sales page and a plan for ongoing marketing and promotion of your product to encourage sales or sign ups in the case of a free giveaway.

* Decide how you want to accept payment. You can use a shopping cart system or PayPal.

Tools you will need:

a. A program like Word and/or Excel to organize your content and piece it together into a product.

b. A website to announce your product for sale or invite visitors to sign up for your free offering.

c. A shopping cart program to set up, deliver and sell your product and communicate using autoresponders.

Remember, once you have assembled your product you can outsource the technical aspects of the process. A Virtual Assistant can create your sales page and automate the process by adding “buy now” buttons or a sign up form doing all the back end work on your site and in the shopping cart. This will ensure that sign up, purchase and delivery of your product operate seamlessly.

Whether the goal is to grow your list or make more sales or both, product creation is a great way to boost business. It is a one-time creation and set up process that is fully automated. Once you have invested the initial time and effort it will work for you over and over again. It is a very real possibility that while you’re in dreamland at 2:00 am a visitor to your site will make a purchase proving that, yes, you really can make money while you sleep!

5 Simple Things You Can Do Right Now To Grow Your List

For those peak busy periods in your business when you are working on projects that are consuming a lot of your time, don’t put your marketing efforts on hold completely. It’s easy to let it slide for a while but try to be as consistent as possible because once you get away from it, it’s hard to pick it back up again.

Assuming you already have an opt-in form on your website for your free offering or ‘pink spoon’, and you don’t have much time, here are a few quick ways you can increase the size of your list:

1. Invite people in your social networks to sign up for your newsletter by enticing them with the next hot topic you’re writing about. i.e. “My upcoming newsletter will feature ‘x’. Not signed up? Click here to get your copy (include link to sign up page).”

2. Write and submit articles to the article directories. Include information about your free offering and a link within your by-line that takes people to the sign up form to receive it. No time to create a new article? Repurpose a previous blog post or newsletter article.

3. Ask in person. Are you giving a talk at your local networking group? Pass around a clipboard for those who would like to receive more information from you. Collect names and email addresses while they’re still excited about what they’re learning from you and are hungry for more.

4. Ask your subscribers to share your newsletter with friends and family i.e. “Thanks for reading! Forward this ezine to a friend or colleague who you know could benefit from this…”

5. Within your ezine, invite people to sign up. For example in mine I have a block that reads: “Did a friend forward this ezine to you? Make sure you get your own copy – it’s easy and it only takes a second. Sign Up Now (include link to sign up page)”

Marketing takes time and effort and it’s important to be consistent. When time is of the essence, there simply isn’t enough time to roll out the big strategies. All of the tips I’ve given you are still opportunities to market and can be implemented quickly and easily. Which one will you try?

It Pays To Invest Your Time Wisely

As business owners we need to ensure that we accomplish at least one revenue generating activity on a daily basis. Generally, when operating a small service-based business there are multiple revenue streams: active (one on one client work); leveraged (working with a group as in leading a training program) and passive (creating and selling a product).

For me, keeping on top of tasks for clients is a priority. They are my bread and butter and I am highly committed to helping their businesses grow and prosper. I’m sure this is the case for most business owners. Amongst these and all the other demands on our time, it can be a challenge to fit in other activities that generate revenue in a more indirect way. So how can we be active in building our businesses while continuing to serve our clients?

I received a great tip at a networking event that I’d like to share with you and that is to do one revenue generating (business building) task at the start of each day. This way it will get done before you get caught up in your usual daily routine.

What should you do in this time? Here are a number of suggestions that will directly or indirectly help to increase your revenue and build your business:

• Write an article or blog post geared to your target market that solves a problem for them

• Submit the article to the directories and generate more traffic to your site

• Read a chapter in a business book – learn and apply new marketing techniques

• Attend an online or onsite workshop, seminar or training session – you’ll have more to offer with ongoing education

• Create a free offer (your ‘pink spoon’) – people love getting something of value for nothing and are more likely to buy from you when they like your sample

• Attend a business networking event and learn the secrets of other successful business owners

• Network online – encourage followers to sign up for your free offer and grow your mailing list

• Follow up with a client and increase your value to existing customers

• Phone a prospect and discuss how you can work together

• Affiliate marketing – recommend a product or service you believe in and earn commissions on resulting sales while helping others

What can you add to this list? Plan to spend a half an hour to an hour first thing each day completing at least one of the above or similar tasks. Think of this time as an investment in yourself and watch your business grow.

How To Successfully Market Your Business With A Pink Spoon

If you have ever signed up on a website to receive information in the form of a free report, newsletter or ebook and had this delivered to your inbox, you have experienced the pink spoon. A pink spoon is a ‘free taste’ of what a business has to offer. It is like the ice cream franchise that offers potential customers the opportunity to sample a flavour of their ice cream using a pink spoon. If a potential customer likes their ‘free taste’ they will go on to make a purchase. This catchy phrase was coined by Andrea J. Lee, award-winning author, coach, consultant and online business manager.

Why is Pink Spoon Marketing a good way to boost business?

• It is a lead generation tool. Providing a free offering to visitors to your website is a good way to capture people’s names and email addresses.
• It allows you to keep in regular contact with your prospects. You are building a mailing list that you can broadcast to.
• It is a way to build relationships and trust. As you continue to communicate with your list, they get to know you and see the value of the products and services you have to offer.
• It generates new business. You will earn paying clients when your services fit with their needs.

A Pink Spoon can apply to almost any industry and there are many possibilities of what you can offer as a freebie. Here are a few examples:

• a 5 part (or 6 part etc.) e-course
• a free report
• a newsletter subscription
• a free chapter of your book

Are you ready to start setting up your pink spoon to build your database? You will need:

• An email marketing or shopping cart service with website sign up form and autoresponder capabilities, i.e. AWeber, Practice Pay Solutions. (If you’re not quite ready to start selling products you can still go with a shopping cart and upgrade your cart later with the selling features.)
• A pink spoon sign up form and attached thank you page on your website. The sign up form should be one of the first things someone sees when they visit your website. Generally the form is added to the top right of a web page and is really obvious. The form is usually quite simple asking for First Name and Primary Email with a Submit button. If it takes too long to complete the form or the info you are asking for seems too personal to give out on a website for a free offering, the less likely people will sign up. It is also good practice to indicate that you will never share your prospects information with anyone and that they have the option to unsubscribe at any time.
• An autoresponder or a series of autoresponder emails to be sent out on a predetermined schedule to deliver your free offering and broadcasts for ongoing communication with your list.
• Support with the process. If you are technically challenged, find a Virtual Assistant or a Webmaster who is familiar with this marketing strategy and who has the technical expertise to set up and customize the shopping cart and your website.

If you are willing to take the initiative, pink spoon marketing is something that can be set up once and continue to work for you time after time.