For those of us who are deeply involved in publishing and marketing information products such as ebooks, courses, membership sites, seminars, etc…the incredible value in providing “training” is crystal clear.
For me, it started back in the late 1990’s inspired by Corey Rudl who came out with one of the very first ebooks titled Car Secrets Revealed.
Since then we have gone on to publish more than 20 different information products – the techniques and systems we have used are shared within the fast-start program over at Information Marketer’s Zone here.
InfoProducts Before The Internet
Going back years earlier, it was clear that mail order booklets, seminars and coaching programs were already six-figure businesses and then there was Nightengale Conant who published self-help information products via audio cassette and later good ol VHS video.
Fast-forward to yesterday’s announcement that Social Networking Rock Star Linked In is buying the online course website Lynda.com for $1.5 Billion and suddenly the rest of the world gets a glimpse into the size and value of the infoproduct, training and course market space.
Folks, this is a multi Billion dollar market where throngs of people (some professional, many NOT) are flocking to learn, improve, expand their knowledge and grow using information products.
So, How Do You Get Your Share Of The Profits?
What role can you play in this massively growing market?
1. Information Product Publisher
You can put together information products – reports, ebooks, audio interviews, videos, courses, seminars, coaching programs, membership sites in as little as 6-weeks or less and have your content available on a wide range of platforms from Amazon to YouTube as well as course hosting companies like Lynda. The really big money and opportunity in this space is fueled by information product publishing paving the way to being a respected and well paid expert on a given market. You can start immediately by targeting a market that you either have an interest and passion for and uncover commercial potential or a market where you already have expertise and simply want to share that with the world.
2. Information Marketing – Affiliate Products
Another way to enter this high-growth, high-profit market as it continues to grow massively is to put yourself between the hungry marketplace and content producers. There are many information product publishers that create great products but that don’t understand the fundamentals about marketing. That’s where you come in…you get their product out in front of the hungry marketplace and get paid between 30%-70% of each product sale for capturing the market.
3. Content Publishing – Ad Revenue and Affiliate Product Sales
Yet another method you may choose is to become a “content celebrity” in your marketplace. If your strength and passion is around blogging, creating videos, podcasting, writing, etc…then you can choose to become the content MASTER for your marketplace capturing the attention, interest and desire of your marketplace to the point where you can make big money because you have captured the eyeballs and loyalty of your market. Monetizing that attention can then be done with a mix of offering your own products, advertising revenue and/or affiliate commissions from products you refer to your loyal audience.
In reality, many of us who choose to make information products our passion and profit center get involved in all 3 of these areas, but starting out you want to focus on 1 picking the category that appeals to your skills and interests the most. Once you become established in one area, you can then branch out and add either additional marketing, content creation or product development to your portfolio and continue to build a strong, high-growth profit center to meet your ultimate lifestyle objectives.
