We all had to go through the steep learning curve, but sometimes it takes working with someone just starting out again to remind me of how overwhelming it all can be when you are trying to get your own info product business up and operational on the internet.
So, here are a few questions that often get people stuck when they get started online — (If you have others, leave a comment and we can build this into an amazing resource for information product professionals)
1. What do I use to write and publish my ebook or written info product. If you already have it, then use MS Word to develop your ebook, report or infoproduct. We have some great looking templates to use that will give your MS Word ebook that professional look inside InfoMarketer’sZone, but you can do it yourself as well. Another alternative is Open Office – a terrific, free Wordprocessing program that also has a built-in ability to generate PDF published versions of your ebook. Ultimately, that’s what you want to have – a PDF version of your ebook to distribute online.
2. What do I use to create my website? It used to be that I would always say HTML is still the best and that you use a simple editor like CoffeeCup to create your webpages – and you still can do that, I do it all the time. But today, you have other options such as using WordPress (free blogging software from WordPress.org) where you can use some of the more advanced templates out there to create your own sales pages as well as the typical blog look you have as part of your WordPress install.   Today, I would not hesitate to go WordPress all the way – for static pages (like your sales pages and articles) as well as dynamic posts (typical of daily blog posts).Â
NOTE:Â If you get your webhosting from a C-panel host such as the one we recommend at Hostgator, they will include a quick install that automates the process of intalling and configuring WordPress blog on your web domain.Â
3. What do I use to take payments, provide an order page, handle all transactions (returns, sales, etc…) and allow me to manage my own affiliate program?
Ejunkie with Paypal is certainly one easy way to take payment and operate an affiliate program
Clickbank is another – which does pretty much the same thing, costing you a little more in fees/commissions but also opening to a wider potential Marketplace of affiliates
You can also go with a more robust option that gives you everything from a front-end shoppping cart, ad trackers, integrated autoresponder, affiliate management and more that works with Paypal or other payment processors – we like 1ShoppingCart for this sort of application.Â
4. How do I build a list, setup automated autorresponder follow-ups , send out newsletters and broadcast new announcements to my list? list building is one of the best ways to increase your profits – many marketers earn a full-time living from a few thousand, high-response subscribers to their lists. The foundation of your list including the up-front sign-up forms, ongoing autoresponse messages, newsletter templates and broadcasts, list management and integration with social networking sites is your Autoresponder Service. Pretty much the unanimous choice is Aweber – we have used them for nearly a decade with great success and satisfaction.
5. Where do I get professoinal looking graphics for my ebook covers, ebook title pages, webpage banners, blog banners, logo’s and the like…?
Regarding professional graphics – I ALWAYS get them outsourced.
There is a great source of royalty free images online here where you can often get some great pictures and graphics to add to your info products and/or websites.
Otherwise, for $50-$100 you can get great looking graphics developed by professionals on outsource sites such as  elance, or vworker.com
6. What is a squeeze page and how do I create one of those? Squeeze pages can be done in WordPress or HTML – there are many, many templates available for each or you can more or less copy the design (not content or graphics) from pages that you want to emulate. Simple, strong message and above the fold are the keys to a successful squeeze page
Here is an example of a squeeze page targeting ebook writers we have that converts extremely well.
Yes, this all seems like a ton of learning and can be overwhelming, but really you are learning skills and tools that can build you a high-income online information product marketing business – once you know this stuff, you can duplicate it again and again in minutes – well worth the effort for sure.
