There are not many types of businesses that can be launched on the Internet without investments. One of them is the sale of information that each of us can compose.
Do you have knowledge in the field of earning money for beginners, working with any programs, creating websites? Make an information product and sell it.
How to make money on information products? The scheme of such a business is extremely simple, you make one or several goods, after which you sell them in any quantity.
It would seem that everything is simple, but only a few in the info business are successful, and do you know why? Developing a good product and selling is quite difficult.
How to create an information product and make money on it?
If you are a beginner in this business, then we strongly recommend that you use the course "". From it you will learn about all the intricacies of such a case, which is important at the starting stage.
To create an information product, you need to use special programs and understand them. It will also be much easier for you to do this, thanks to the course on.
This type of product is the most liquid, and if the price is not too high, then you can collect a lot of money due to a large number of sales.
What information product to create?
All beginners think about what exactly to create. There are quite a few options and it is not always advantageous to use the most common types. Here are some examples:
- eBook;
- video course;
- audio course;
- presentation;
- different collections.
The last point is worth mentioning separately. What kind of collections? It can be different programs, sources, licenses, instructions and much more. For example, you can sell a base of texts, styles and PSD files for Photoshop.
In parallel, it is better to create several formats at once. Some of them you can give away for free in order to collect subscribers for the Email campaign, and the second part (as a continuation), offer for money.
What topic to choose?
Most often, info businessmen use popular topics. On the one hand, their choice is based on a competent calculation, on the other hand, niches are overflowing and it is difficult to compete in them. What are these niches?
- making money on the Internet;
- losing weight;
- motivation and psychology;
- business;
- marketing;
- training in Photoshop;
- website development.
There are several more popular directions, but it is better to choose according to your interests and knowledge.
Once you've identified a common theme, look for common problems with your target audience. The best information products are created to solve all kinds of customer difficulties.
If you do not have a sufficient level of knowledge, then you definitely cannot compose a good and high-quality information product. Therefore, when choosing a topic, you need to build on your preferences.
I am often asked about information products, my attitude to them and whether I tried to make money selling information products. I also often receive offers from authors of information products to “collaborate” and “get rich”. Well, I come across conversations about information products on a regular basis.
In this, the aforementioned led me to the idea that I need to clearly state my position on this matter somewhere and, if necessary, give a link to it. The text below is my official position on information products and making money on their sale.
And so, let's get started.
To begin with, it is very important to clearly define what I will actually mean by the word "information product".
§ 1. Definition
Infoproduct- this is most often a collection of information on a particular topic, which was collected from open and free sources and put together in one place. Less often, this information is processed by the author of the information product and is presented as his own experience or best practices. A distinctive feature of information products is the explicit desire of its author to make money, and not to teach the buyer.
I understand that this definition of an information product is unique and can be easily interpreted. But, as I said above, this article is not intended for a scientific debate or convincing anyone of anything, but aims at personally identifying my position on information products, and from this point of view, the stated goal is quite consistent.
Now let's get back to the hero of the article.
§ 2. Essence
For example, mimicry. Information products are trying with all their might to disguise themselves as, manuals, etc. But they, in contrast to information products, are written from scratch by people who understand the topic (they are “written”, not “rewritten”) and the main goal is to “teach the reader”. Those. the meaning of creating a textbook is education, and an information product is always only money.
Yes, textbooks are different: good and bad, for centuries or for the existing system. But always the desire to convey some knowledge, and not the receipt of income from their sale, serves as the premise for their creation. Information products, I repeat, are always created with the aim of cutting down money.
And most of the information products are characterized by "peculiar". As a rule, this is a one-page site-footcloth on the advice of Western "experts", to which visitors are attracted by hook or by crook. The task of such a site is one - to sell. Precisely "vparivat", and not "sell" or, even more so, "offer". The mere appearance of such a site will only cause rejection for any sane person. Normal people don't buy from clowns!
An affiliate program is also a distinctive feature of almost all information products. Very often multilevel. And almost every time its presence is described on a par with the main content of the information product. And this, as we said in, is one of the signs of a scam.
In general, information products are always just an attempt. And the ways of “selling” information products clearly demonstrate this. In all the years that I have been on the Internet, I have never met a useful information product. Although they sent me a lot for testing. And I even bought several of them personally.
I believe that all these information products, magic wallets, clicks, sponsors and other representatives of this company will become a thing of the past as the literacy of Internet users grows. At the moment, they are an inevitable evil that finds its heroes and followers. But these are the problems of the heroes themselves with their followers.
§ 3. How to make money on information products
You got a rough idea of what information products are, now let's talk about making money on them.
There are two ways to make money on information products:
- 1. Creation of your own information product and its subsequent sale.
- 2. Resale of other people's information products.
Let's consider them in more detail.
§ 4. Affiliate programs of information products and earnings with their help
What are affiliate programs in general?
From the beginning, an abstruse definition.
Affiliate program(another name is a referral program) is a type of cooperation between an advertiser and a webmaster, in which a webmaster sells goods or services of an advertiser using special links (affiliate links, they are also sometimes called referral links or simply reflinks), and the advertiser pays a part of his income received by him (the advertiser) from clients (referrals of the webmaster) who came through these special links.
Now I will explain "on the fingers".
Let's say I have an information product. I want to increase his sales. One of the ways is an affiliate (referral) program. I create it.
You are registering in the affiliate program of my information product. After registration, an affiliate (referral) link to my info product becomes available to you. You post this reflink on your website (if any), on forums, etc. This link is followed by interested visitors buy my info product and I pay you a certain percentage of my profit from the sale.
That is, in fact, working with an affiliate program is a job as a sales manager: you sell someone else's product and get a percentage of sales for it.
The specifics of making money on affiliate programs of information products is that these are affiliate programs of information products. Above, I have already said what information products are in essence. Their target audience is very specific, therefore, the ways of selling information products to it are specific.
I think you understand that the methods of selling your own information product and someone else's information product are no different. Therefore, I can only advise you again to study the experience of well-known information businessmen.
Pay back their video courses, study and earn.
You are a couple of info-businessmen's partnerships.
§ 5. On the road
In the end, I want to give one piece of advice.
In the era of consumption, a product sells well when it is not the product itself that is sold, but the opportunities it provides.
If you apply this to information products, then you need to sell not the information they contain (remember, almost always this information is available on the Internet for free), but the time savings that the buyer will receive. Phrase
“Do you want to create your own website? Our information product will teach you how to create websites! "
maybe your information product will sell, but here's the phrase
“Do you want to create your own website? In this information product, we have collected the most extensive knowledge base on website creation for you! "
will sell your information product much better. I think you get the point.
That's all.
I would be very grateful to you if you share the link to this article with your friends and acquaintances on social networks.
Are you an honest person and are you genuinely outraged by plagiarism and internet piracy? Do you want yours to be legal and bring a stable income? This is possible by taking the following steps:
1. Choose a niche in which you want to make money
It is optimal if it will be a niche with which you are at least a little familiar: you work in a related field, your hobby is connected with this niche directly or indirectly, etc.
Do you have an online craft store? Some of your clients will certainly be interested in knitting courses and scrapbooking workshops. You don't need to spend extra money on advertising - you already have a warm audience.
However, another option is also possible: you "fell in love" with a course or an expert at first sight.
A friend dragged you to the webinar of a meditation master, and you are so imbued with the expert's ideas that you want to sell his online course and practice oriental practices.
In any case, it is worth selling something that not only brings money, but captivates and inspires. Only then will customers believe you.
2. Find a promising expert
You've decided on a niche, but where to find an expert who has a decent information product? Dig into your memory. Perhaps among your acquaintances there are such people: colleagues, relatives, neighbors ... Remember those who helped you, surprised you with their professional achievements.
This expert can be a wonderful massage therapist who gave you the opportunity to return to normal life after an injury, or a university teacher, whose lectures were always sold out.
If you don't have the right person around you, use good old word of mouth. Just call all contacts from your phone and write to your friends on social networks:
"Hello, Vasya! I am planning to open an online school (to promote an online course) in mental arithmetic. Do you have any acquaintances in this area? "
You can search for experts on thematic forums and groups on social networks, on Google and on YouTube. Watch the expert's speeches. Does he have charisma and do you like his ideas? This is enough to start thinking about cooperation.
3. Get acquainted with an expert and agree on cooperation
Do you live in the same city? Better to meet in person. Are you hundreds or thousands of kilometers apart? Skype or another messenger will help you. Do not be afraid that the expert will refuse you. If he has a little common sense, he will not mind a passive income of several hundred rubles a month. If common sense is missing, why do you need such a business partner?
Types of earnings on the sale of information products
It can be passive - through affiliate programs or active - through a common business with an expert. The first option is easier, the second is more profitable.
1. Affiliate programs
This type of earnings is quite simple: you tell people about an existing information product, they buy it, and you get a percentage of the sale (from 1 to 50%). As a rule, the more expensive the information product, the lower the percentage of the partner.
You can just send interested users to the landing page of an online course, but then how can you prove that the client came from you? To avoid such problems, the info-businessman creates an affiliate program, within the framework of which he generates referral links for his partners, which contain a personal identifier. They can be posted on your website, blog, page in the social network. When you click on the link, the system remembers that for the first time potential client X came to the landing page using your link. He can make a purchase immediately, in two days and in a month. In any case, you will receive your percentage of the sale of the course to Mr. X.
For example, you are advertising a course from Free Publicity School. The potential client sees only the name of the course, and not a lot of Latin letters mixed with numbers - so your link looks clear, aesthetically pleasing and does not lead a person to the idea that you are trying to make money on it.
2. Expert production
Strong experts often lack entrepreneurial talent. They have knowledge, practical experience and sometimes even a ready-made video course. But they have no idea how this priceless capital can be monetized. In this case, the expert has only one way out - to join forces with the information producer. Earnings on the sale of information products- a chance to receive from 150,000 rubles a month without start-up capital, working from anywhere in the world for several hours a day. A well-organized info business is easy to scale and automate.
Sergey Kapustin, co-founder of the Accel online school accelerator, was far from Vedic astrology until he met Dmitry Lakshmi and felt the power of astrology. Dmitry helped clients find their purpose, succeed in business and personal life. And in partnership with Sergei, he was able to build a large-scale information business for him at the junction of palmistry, numerology and Vedic astrology. Several thousand people have already been trained at the Lakshmi school.
An online school is a synergy of the entrepreneurial and organizational talents of a producer and the knowledge and charisma of an expert. At the beginning of a business relationship with an expert, it is important to sincerely answer the question: Do I like this person enough to create a joint business with him? If the answer is “yes”, it is necessary to discuss all the details of cooperation, from financial nuances to the terms of parting.
Attention! All conditions of cooperation must be fixed in the contract. So you will protect yourself from unnecessary arguments, problems and omissions and will be able to direct energy to earnings on the sale of information products.
Instead of a conclusion
Selling other people's information products can be absolutely legal, with mutual benefit for the "owner" and the seller. Pick a niche, find a charismatic and competent expert and connect with him. But if for selling under an affiliate program there is no need to closely communicate with an expert, then in the case of creating a joint business, at least mutual sympathy is required. Not sure about your production skills? Get involved from the founders of the Accel Online Schools Accelerator, in which they detail how to organize earnings on the sale of information products.
To make money on information products, you need to sell them correctly. To do this, you need to talk about the proposal to the target audience. There are special platforms where you can promote your product faster. Today we will tell you where to sell information products: we will offer several services and discuss the main features.
Information product catalogs
Information product catalogs are platforms where information businessmen and companies place their products. Usually, such services already have their target audience - you don't have to invest in advertising. But the sites take a percentage of each sale of your product, and sometimes they offer paid placement.
The most popular service for selling information products in Runet is InfoHit. The site's catalog is divided into 23 sections, each of which has an average of 100 products. The service is already used by more than 700 authors, and according to the analysis report, more than 2,000 unique visitors enter the site every day. If you place your information product on InfoHit, you will get a free target audience.
We are also on InfoHit - this gives additional sales
Publishing products is free. To start selling, you need to read the terms of placement and leave a request. Within 5 days, your personal manager will contact you - he will add the product to the catalog and help you set up the payment system.
In Runet there are small private stores of information products - for example, the store of Vyacheslav Vopilkin. But usually such sites are owned by a specific person who sells their products. In theory, you can ask the store owner to add your product to the catalog, but you will have to discuss a system for controlling sales and payments.
Affiliate program catalogs
Affiliate program catalogs are platforms where information products for sale are placed. You publish your product, the service automatically creates an affiliate program for it, people connect to it and promote your product. That is, you do not need to do anything, but you have to give part of the money from each sale to the person who brought the buyer. You set the amount of deductions yourself.
There are five popular catalogs in runet:
- Glopart . The service offers four tariffs to authors of information products. You can connect to the first one for free, but its possibilities are limited: for example, it allows you to add only 1 product worth up to 3,000 rubles, hold up to 2 promotions, open up to 5 dialogues a day. The minimum cost of the tariff is 500 rubles, the maximum is 2 900 rubles. The most expensive tariff allows you to place an unlimited number of goods worth up to 30,000 rubles. One-time payment, no subscription fee.
- E-pay . The service for the sale of information products offers to create a single account for promoting the products of other users and for their own products. On the site, you can sell information products yourself, but the service will take 45% from each transaction. If you connect an affiliate program, you will need to indicate additionally the interest that the partners will receive. Placement of goods is free.
- ClickPay . Another platform where you can sell information products by partners. Registration and adding goods are free, the size of the commission, as elsewhere, is set by the authors. But the system has strict rules and fines: for example, for piracy, you will be required to pay a fine tenfold of the value of the goods, and for a repeated violation of this kind the account will be blocked permanently, all the money from the account will be written off in favor of the service.
- JustClick . In addition to the affiliate program, this site offers a website builder, mailing lists, testing selling pages and many other services. That is, you can set up deductions and invite partners or engage in sales yourself with built-in services. The cost of connection is from 990 rubles per month, in addition, the site will write off 5% of the turnover and the cost of processing.
- QwertyPay . This site is similar to Glopart. You can also place one item worth up to 700 rubles in it for free. If the price is higher or you want to sell several information products, you will have to buy a VIP tariff. Its cost is $ 59 per year. In addition to deductions, partners will have to pay 3% from each transaction when withdrawing funds from the service to their wallet.
This is how your information products will look like in the catalog. Example from the E-pay catalog
We have already described these services in detail from the point of view of partners. Read about the amount of royalties, how directories work and reviews in a separate review.
Self-sale sites
There are services that allow you to do everything yourself - create websites, set up advertisements, carry out promotions, send emails. You will have to spend more time, but you will not need to deduct a percentage of each sale to your partner. In addition, you can influence the quality and quantity of traffic.
One of the most popular services for self-sale of information products is Getcourse. It can host webinars and trainings, sell online courses, and create homework assignments for buyers. An affiliate program with detailed statistics is available. In addition, the service offers:
- accepting payments through Yandex.Checkout, Yandex.Money, Qiwi, PayPal and other systems;
- sites with CMS - ready-made templates for landing pages, blogs, selling sites, subscription forms, registrations, and so on;
- tasks and processes - creation of auto sales funnels, call center automation and other opportunities;
- email marketing with database segmentation by 50 parameters and delayed sending of letters;
- CRM to control orders, collect statistics, track customer actions.
More than 3,000 authors already use the Getcourse platform. 9 trainers were able to earn 1,000,000 rubles in the first month of using the platform.
The service has many tariffs. The cheapest one costs 4,000 per month and allows you to interact with 1,000 users. The most expensive opens access to integration with 500,000 users and costs 199,000 per month. Discounts apply when paying for 3 months and a year. A trial period of 14 days is provided.
Here's what Getcourse offers to users
There are other sites that provide similar functionality. For example, on Chippay, you can connect an affiliate program, use a CRM system, a built-in mailing system, an advertising exchange, analytics, funnels and other functionality. There are free and paid plans. SmartPayment offers integration with AmoCRM, Unisender, SendPulse, PechkinMail and many other services. On the free plan, only accepting payments for goods and an affiliate program is available, on the paid plan, all integrations with third-party sites are included.
To have a lot of sales, you can use several ways to tell about the product at once: place information products in catalogs, services of partner programs and use platforms for self-promotion. If you want something more than one or two products, we will teach you how to make money on your own online school.
Selling information products is a promising and profitable business. And as long as humanity is interested in something new and wants to learn, information business will always be in demand. Therefore, you can make very large sums of money on information products, but you need to have exactly "high-quality" information, because there is not so much of that, in contrast to various consumer goods. Like manuals, "how to lose weight by 50 kg in 5 days", "become like Schwarzenegger in a week", "earn half a million in 3 days." The townsfolk ate such a divorce and few people bite at it.
The value and relevance of an information product depends on its content. Since it is exactly the necessary and useful information that is being sold, new opportunities for which buyers agree to pay.
But for the development of information business, it is required not only to create an excellent information product, but also to present it successfully, to present it so beautifully that the user realizes how important this product is for him and wants to buy it. That is, the created information product must still be able to advertise and sell. A good information businessman should always look for new opportunities to promote his product, because the information business is a complex of advertising actions aimed at a successful sale. And you need to strive to ensure that with a one-time creation of a product, sales are multiple.
What constitutes the price of an information product
The creation of an information product, as a rule, does not imply any financial costs, basically only time is spent on describing the manual, and then on a beautiful design. Design is also very important to many, so you shouldn't disappoint them.
When selling information products, you can secure long-term profit if you choose the right strategy. It all depends on you. Changes and adjustments can be made, if necessary, based on market requirements to increase the number of sales. And at the same time receive one hundred percent profit (unless, of course, you pay taxes).
- time spent on product development
- relevance in the information market (determined by demand)
- the number of competitors
At the same time, you need to carefully study the cost of similar products and set your price in relation to these data.
When launching the first information products, you shouldn't set a high price. After all, neither the author nor the product in his performance is still familiar to anyone, and few people want to buy a pig in a poke (if at all someone wants to buy from a stranger).
Discount at the start of sales is the secret of success
To begin with, you can conduct a promotional campaign, informing that the first, say, 25 buyers can purchase a product with a 50% discount, then the price will rise. The first low-cost sales will give the writer real feedback and possibly comments. If they are correct and to the point, it doesn't hurt to listen to them.
All people are very keen on discounts. This is in our blood. Therefore, make discounts at the beginning of sales - it always works positively.
1. Place an advertisement on your website
If you have your own site, you can post information about the product primarily on it. Or specially create a selling business card site. This can be done even on any free hosting. There you will need to design a selling page, which will brightly and temptingly tell you about the benefits of this information product and a subscription page. It goes without saying that you need to drive traffic to your site. Here contextual advertising, social advertising, banner networks and teasers can help you.
2. Mailing lists
If there is no ready-made website, and there is no possibility or desire to create a new one, you can use mailing lists. As practice shows, this is a very effective way.
For mailing lists, I advise you to use two popular services - Sendpulse. Before their appearance, the subscriber base was formed manually, then each subscriber (again manually) was sent a letter with an offer to buy a product, and after payment was sent the information product itself. At the moment, everything happens automatically, without the participation of the author.
3. Affiliate programs
Let's say there is a good information product. The author himself sells it for 500 rubles, say, 10 copies per month, with an income of 5000 per month. He recruits himself 10 partners who also sell 10 copies of the product per month, receiving 40% of the sale for this. That is, each partner brought the author 3,000 rubles, and 10 partners, respectively, 30,000. As a result, the author receives his own monthly income of 5,000 plus 30,000 partnerships. All were left with a profit.
There is a special affiliate program that deals with purely information products: 1Popov. Here you can place your affiliate program, get a link to attract partners. All questions with payment are taken over by the exchange. You get almost the entire amount of 90-95% of payments (the rest is a commission to the system).
