It makes me wonder, I get at least 10 questions each week that amount to people asking “Can I still make money with ebooks, digital information products or training programs?”
Roughly 15 years ago we started to see the first “underground” movement of PDF and MS Word based ebooks hitting the market – and many of us who pioneered that movement saw something pretty amazing happening, made some very NICE returns and became addicted to creating and marketing digital information products.
Indeed, many of us had already been in the product development and product creation space years before the online market heated up.
Many people entering the online business and e-commerce space today feel as though they may have missed the boat – that all of the opportunity was already gobbled up…at least that is the opinion.
On the other hand, you see the reality that ebooks have never been more in demand, that online training programs are skyrocketing in terms of numbers, platforms and revenues and the profits being driven by online training programs and digital information products has now eclipsed $1B many times over.
Having operated businesses mainly focused on delivering information products – we can definitively comment on the opportunity that exists today.
Digital Information Product Opportunity Has Never Been Better
Look, the sheer potential of selling your own ebook, reports, video courses, membership sites or other training/information online is GIGANTIC and continues to grow at double-digit rates.
There is simply no comparison, today’s acceptance and desire for information from independent publishers such as yourself is many times that of what it was even just 5-years ago.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been changes for us involved in publishing and marketing products into niche markets over the internet.
Sure do, in the non-IM space especially.
Here’s where things have changed somewhat…
1. More competition – competition in itself is not a bad thing, indicates there is money being spent (which is GOOD), but also means that you have to step up your game and come up with a way to rise above your competition. Being one of 30 products that are more or less the same is not a good place to be, you want to change the game and come up with something unique (through demonstrating results, showing more practical application of the information, building a bigger brand, changing the format and delivery of the material, taking contrarian view, etc…) It used to be that being one of 5 ebooks in a given space meant you brought in 5-figures a month, all that is different today is that 5 is now 30, 40 or 50 so it means you have move beyond just competing to stepping up your game
2. How you reach your audience: Look, marketing is in the midst of one of the biggest shifts since the internet was born (thanks Al Gore 🙂 The advent of video and social are the two biggest changes. We used to spend all our time in Google surfing for content, now we spend more time in Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc…watching largely content that we chose based on the Channel or Personality that we have chosen to follow and trust. What this means is that you MUST now build your own marketing CHANNEL to the marketplace – that means content, entertainment, engagement and value to form a bond with your market. In the beginning, this also means learning to network with other “Channels” who serve your market and help you fast-track that relationship building. Finally, the word-of-mouth and feedback mechanisms that make up social means you have to produce products that are liked – for information products that means a) They are well targeted b) They are useful and usable c) They produce results d) They have proven effective in the hands of at least some of your market
The potential market for information products, knowledge products, training products, etc…has never been bigger and is still growing – how you capture that market has changed…as it will again over the next decade.
The good news is that understanding how to structure your information product and how to reach your marketplace has always (and will always) give you the advantage over your competition. The unfair advantage that top information publishers have is that they understand how to stand out in front of their market, be known and get attention for their products and services.
We assist these top information entrepreneurs inside Information Marketer’s Zone get and keep the edge they need to dominate their markets – check it out if you really want to turn your hunger for becoming a top earning information/knowledge product publisher into reality quickly.
