Podcast Recommendation – How to Create and Sell Information Products

One of the first overseas online friends I made with the help of Skype was Michael Pollock via his blog, SmallBusinessBranding. Michael also does a podcast called the SavvySoloCAST and I just finished listening to his latest edition – How to Create and Sell Information Products – Download the MP3 [ 68 Minutes - 23.5MB ].

The podcast features an interview with information product web entrepreneur James Maduk. I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast because it talked about one of my favourite topics – creating passive income streams online using information products. I became more and more pumped up while listening to this show as James described what he does and how others can do the same. In particular I found the following insights of good value:

Record Everything You Do

I’ll leave James’ detailed background story for you to listen to in the podcast, but basically he started on the web in 1995 but didn’t make his first Internet sale until 2001 (that is six years of learning – or six years of making mistakes as James put it). The best tip I received from James was his attitude about taking what is in his head and making it available as a digital product. As James learns online he records and narrates his activities to create information products. While he discovers what works for him in his business he also creates another product to sell. This really made me think about recording some of the processes I go through day-to-day in order to conduct my business and had me thinking about all the areas I could provide valuable information from what I have learnt over the years working online.

Consider the first time you work to create something new. You might only have to do it once and yes it takes time and energy to do it, but once it’s done you can then reuse this new skill or resource over and over each time the need arrises. Don’t you think other people would benefit from also having access to this knowledge? You can save them time and they can pay you for the expertise and experience. All you have to do is record your procedures as you learn. Capture your activities and turn them into a resource.

Multiple Websites And Products

I don’t know exactly how much James earns online but it’s clear he has a very stable revenue model because, and get this, he has over 100 websites (domain names anyway) and he is basically a one man show running from a basement with some family support. Every site probably doesn’t make money for him but even conservatively if you estimate 50 websites make an average of $200 per month that’s already $10,000/m.

The point is that over time if you keep at it, creating more and more information products, packaging them differently to create more products to service different markets, you create a solid, multi-streamed business that doesn’t depend heavily on a single site or product. There is no “eggs in one basket” syndrome here. If one product starts to drop off you have another 49 of which no doubt some of which are experiencing a peak in sales. That is a very smart long term business model.

Personality As A Differentiation Strategy

I’ve believed in this concept for a long time and it was great to hear James talk about it too. Your personality, if you can make it shine (and get yourself some groupies!), can be one of the best differentiation strategies that is basically impossible to replicate. There can only be one (and don’t go cutting people’s heads off) you, and you can leverage that distinctness to market what you sell. With so much free information online it’s very very hard to offer something new and original, and this is probably a major hurdle for a lot of people – they figure everyone is doing it and usually doing it for free so it will be too hard to make money from it. If you use your delivery method, your unique style of speaking or writing or creating and mix that with your own skills to create value then you can make an online business.

Offer your personalised collection of hand-picked, prioritised and formatted resources and sell the time you put in to make it and/or collect it. Yes you probably replicated what’s already online free but people will pay to have it all delivered to them in an easy to understand, clear package that just happens to be delivered with your own personal brand, which, if they have been reading your free materials they already trust and have a connection with and therefore are more comfortable to click the buy button.

Filling A Niche Is A Short Term Strategy

This was an interesting point that wasn’t too clear in the podcast but I will offer my take on it. James said that finding a niche is definitely a way to make money online but the problem is that that niche will very quickly be filled by competitors. If you are in early you might make some good money and certainly the more you make the more competitors will be there trying to capitalise too. If you go after niche markets be prepared to face an ongoing cycle of always needing to find a new niche (differentiation) to stay alive.

I think, and this is where I am extrapolating from what James said, a more solid long term strategy is to have multiple products. You don’t have to dominate a niche or be first into a niche, you just need a good network (spokes in a wheel was the analogy James used) that feeds itself. Taking the concept mentioned in the first point, if you have 50 products all selling for you, all linking together and cross promoting, then you have a stable *business*, not a one hit wonder that might enjoy six months worth of great sales. Sure if “great sales” equal a retirement fund for you then okay, milk that niche for all its worth, but that is rare and hard to do. If you can’t think of a way to be unique then don’t, take what you do know and what you are currently learning and create a personality branded range of educational materials that leverage each other to sell.

Be In Business At All Times – Capture That Email Address

This was also a great point. At the moment my idea with this blog is to just get out as much free good content as I can to all my readers and establish the “Yaro” brand. It’s working fine and I’m enjoying myself too which is great. From a business point of view I’m not really doing that great. I’m not making money and I’m too busy writing all the time to work on creating a revenue stream.

James really hit home the idea if you are offering free content then ask your visitors to “pay” with an email address (join a list or newsletter). Sure I have plans for a newsletter to come out soon but at the moment I don’t have the email addresses of any of you guys reading this except those that have popped me an email to ask a question or say hello. If I asked for your email address now I’m sure many of you would offer it in exchange for more content from me knowing that of course I won’t SPAM you, I will only use the list to tell you about more great content and it will all be optional, you can opt out at any time.

If you have some valuable content (podcasts, articles, ebooks, video etc) and intend to turn what you do into a business maybe you should have a think about ways you can ask your visitors to pay you with at least an email address that might one day help you make money by helping them connect with great products or services. As James said if you are in business then you are in it to make money after all – don’t be shy!

Higher Price = Higher Perceived Value

Another point I have been aware of that I’d like to reiterate, which was mentioned in James’ podcast interview, was the principle of pricing high for high value perception. James noted that when he priced his products at more expensive rates he received less refund requests. It was as if the value of the product went up if the price was higher despite the contents of the product. That value being a perception the customer feels when he or she makes the purchase.

A Great Podcast

If you are interested in making passive income online through selling information products definitely listen to this podcast. If you have any skills then chances are some other people want them too in which case you should consider packaging them up in a digital product and start your own Internet business empire. Thanks to Michael for taking the time to conduct this interview.