Each week I get new members over to InfoMarketer’sZone who are licking their wounds, having dedicated serious time and money toward launching their own ebook, report, video series, or other information product to discover it didn’t sell up to their expectations.
Now, there is no better use of your time, no better way to make a profit online than creating and marketing your own information products online…but only if you can reduce the risk of wasting your time and energy creating a product that flops – right?
3 WAYS TO TEST AN INFOPRODUCT NICHE OR TOPIC
Imagine the days before the internet where your only avenue to writing a book was through traditional publishing (where the publisher took on some of the risk, but also took most of the profit) or self-publish but without the benefit of being able to spy on or interact with your market in advance?
One of the greatest benefits of the web (other than for marketing your infoproducts) is in researching niche markets and in virtually eliminating the risk that your ebook, report or infoproduct will flop.
Here are 3-steps we have found virtually erase the chance that your information product will not sell…
1. First, and by far the best, technique is to look at other products selling in that niche. Typically you want to focus on a problem or desired outcome where there are already proven top sellers (Clickbank, Amazon, Commission JUnction, workshops/seminars, magazines, etc…) Let buying activity guide you to the niche, then differentiate yourself through the solution you offer (either how you provide that solution or the specific solution you offer) . If you follow this rule (most people don’t), you seldom will go wrong
2. If you are still unsure, then begin testing content around your topic, ideally in a way that your readers can react (launch or post to discussion forum, blog, social networking are all great for this). For example, I had a larger niche a year ago where I was uncertain what the real sub-niche should be…so I posted several blog posts around different topics and soon found out that two received much more attention and participation than the other dozen or so…these guided development of my first product in that market and it has sold great.
3. Start small, grow fast. A common mistake with information marketing is to start with too big a product. A 40-page ebook that hits on a very speciifc demand will do better than a 200 page ebook that may cover allot of ground, but misses the market in terms of targeting. So after following #1-2, start with a focused, smaller ebook or report and then use feedback to enhance it – even expand to additional products over time.  You may have to price your first product a little lower, but the feedback you get will allow you to build a much bigger product base and business over time.
YOUR TURN…
Being able to research and test your niche market is (to me) the single biggest advantage of self-publishing in the internet age…with these 3-steps you hopefully understand more about exactly how to use the net to your advantage in finding hot selling topics for your ebooks and infoproducts.
Have you used these techniques, if so…what did you learn? Leave us a comment.
