Entrepreneurs want to be of service to their community, but at the same time you need to be generating an income.  Have you considered getting some money rolling in quickly by creating an information product? Are you thinking about creating one of your own? How can you tell if your information product will truly appeal to your community and generate revenue?

Here’s a checklist of 6 things you need to ask yourself BEFORE creating your own information product:

Is your product excellent?

People become loyal, repeat customers if they like your product.  However, if they’re not happy, they won’t buy from you again, and they’ll discourage their network from doing so. Selling an inferior product may make you money in the short-term, but it will damage your online reputation and lose you customers in the long run.

Do people need it?  Is there enough demand?

You can have a superb quality product, but if there is no demand you still won’t make any sales.  If you can create a product that people really need, your sales effort will be much easier.

How will it generate sales?

Rather than selling a one-time information product, design one that is suitable for follow-up products and updates that you can offer to your existing customers for a reduced rate.  If the original product is of a high enough quality and really benefits your customers, they are almost guaranteed to buy the follow up product.

Does it look like a professional product?

Presentation is at least as important as content in establishing the credibility of your product, if not more so.  A great logo, clear graphics and a professional high impact front cover will all help to increase your sales and gain the loyalty of your customers.   A few well-chosen pictures can really lift your product and make it look more professional.  Photographs are available for reasonable prices from various image sites on the web.

Did you follow legal requirements?

Entrepreneurs want to avoid infringing copyright or trademark laws when creating an information product.  Online software is available to check your content for plagiarism, and your title and logo for trademark violations.  This will save you a lot of hassle and expense further down the line.

What can make your product stand out as different?

Including personal anecdotes and stories, if appropriate, can add a human-interest element that makes it easier to read or listen to your product.  You may also want to add a list of resources in your product – organizations, websites and other online resources that might be useful to your customers – that can really enhance its perceived value.

(By Guest Blogger, D’vorah Lansky)

In my previous article I shared with you tips for producing your teleseminars. Today I would like to share with you some ideas for promoting your teleseminars. Spread the word, through email and via the social networks, to let people know that you are holding a teleseminar or teleseminar series. Have a way that they can register for details and find out more information.

One option is to offer your teleseminar for free. Let people know that everyone is invited to attend; all they need to do is register. Let them know that, if they register, even if they cannot make the live event, they will get the replay link so that they can listen to the recording online. By offering the live teleseminar for free, you are going to grow your list. You can also provide a paid option for people who would like to be able to receive the MP3 recording and the transcripts.

To build your subscriber list, set up a new list in your AWeber or auto responder system. Post the opt-in form on your blog, on Facebook or on a Web page, and encourage people to register for information and call in details for your teleseminar. Their information will go into your auto responder system, which will allow you to send out a message thanking them for registering. You can also send out the call details and reminders the week before and the day of your teleseminar.

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Hi, my name is D’vorah Lansky and I’m known as the Relationship Marketing Wizard. I’d like to thank Kim for having me as a Guest Blogger on her site and for participating as a Guest Blogger on my site. Kim and I met several years ago as a result of discovering one another on the social networks. I admire Kim greatly and am so excited for her success and all that she is doing. As her community you know how fortunate you are to have access to such an incredible leader and educator. To view Kim’s articles and listen in to an interview I did with her, visit this page.

Harnessing the Power of Teleseminars as a Powerful Relationship Marketing Tool

A teleseminar is an online conference call that you provide to a group of people on a specific topic. By recording your teleseminar and making it available for your audience to enjoy, you will be able to build your list, reach a wider audience, and provide this valuable content to more people.

How to Broadcast Your Teleseminar

There are many options available for delivering and recording your teleseminar. I’ll share with you a free option that is easy to use and has many wonderful features. Visit Free Conference Calling to  and set up a free account. Spend some time reading through their documentation and set up a test call with a friend or business associate. This service allows you to create a podcast of your calls or your call series, download the MP3 of your recording and interact with your audience through a web interface.

Preparing for your First Teleseminar

For your first teleseminar, you may want to simply invite some friends or family members to attend. Deliver your message while live people are on the call with you. There’s something very powerful about delivering your message to a live audience that you can’t capture when you’re recording at home by yourself. When you have attendees with you on the call, you can’t say, “wait a minute let me rewind that.” This causes you to keep moving forward and sharing your message. You can always edit the audio recording and the transcripts afterwards. Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll be a pro. You get more comfortable as time goes on.

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As a business professional, you probably work with your ideal client all day long so you know who he or she is, what problems or challenges they’re experiencing and what they need from you to improve their life. But when you start thinking about creating an info product for that ideal client suddenly you’re stuck.

The truth is when it comes to an info product, it’s just a matter of speaking to that person and helping them solve their problem via a product versus live or in-person. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

There many different types of information products from ebooks to reports to audios to ecourses, so you need to decide which is the most suitable for your ideal client and what’s easiest for you to do – because if it’s too hard or too overwhelming chances are you’ll never get around to actually doing it.

Since ebooks are one of the most popular info products let me share with you some tips on how to easily create your own ebook. Successful ebooks are written with your audience in mind. They’re organized in an easy-to-read manner. They solve a problem, and they offer a benefit.  An ebook can be 20 pages or it can be 200, the important thing is to consider your audience.  Will they read a 200 page e-book on your subject?

Here are a few ways that you can create a book in a short time – often with little or no new writing required.

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You’re great at what you do and your clients love your services BUT there are only so many hours in the day.

The amount of people you can serve and the amount of money you can make is somewhat limited.  What you need is your own signature product that will get your brilliance out there even when you’re at a soccer game with your kids, on the phone with a friend or even sleeping so you can keep the sales coming in. Having a product will allow you to leverage your time and breakthrough to the next level.

It doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. It does have to provide high value content and it does have to be YOUR product. Affiliate marketing is useful to generate some cash but your own signature product is a must if you truly want to profit from your ideas.

How to use information products to launch your business.

There are two main uses of information products: selling them or giving them away.  The reason for doing the first is obvious; you receive a fixed amount of money for each product that you sell. This is a profitable business and roughly twenty percent of Internet sales come from information products.

Here are a few of the reasons you might consider giving away an information product:

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Have you ever had a case of entrepreneur envy? That’s where you keep looking at what everyone else is doing. While there’s incredible value to be found in learning from others, the danger is losing yourself in the process. I want to share with you how to identify your unique authentic marketing style so that you can connect with your community and grow your business.

 

 Be Authentic to Get It Done and Grow Your Business [6:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you provide a service – as a coach, nutritionist, interior designer, VA, etc. – then you’re a problem solver! You probably work with your ideal client all day long so you know who she is, what problems or challenges she’s experiencing and what she needs from you to improve her life.

You answer questions and problem-solve on the spot every time you work with your client, and the problem-solving probably comes quite naturally to you, and your clients  value the information you provide.

The question becomes:  How can you reach a broader audience of ideal clients who need you to solve their problems? One answer is to create an information product that will meet their needs.

So you can make this happen quickly, the key is to figure out what you know TODAY (without any extra learning and that’s already in your knowledge base) that you can use to help others.

After teaching this point emphatically at my recent class of Think It, Create It, Sell It, Theresa Anderson then shared:

“Finally, I am observing myself’ as I do things that seem routine for me. I’m writing down my processes so that I can see if there are things that I may be able to use to help others.  As I gather things from my computer folders, I am actually quite amazed at how much I have written or created!”

As you consider creating your own product, start observing yourself and how you do all the things you do. Especially those things that come naturally to you. Carry around a notebook for a week and jot down the questions you’re being asked along with your answers. Notice what you do easily.

Don’t underestimate what you have to share with your ideal client, nor take for granted that which comes easily to you. (That’s a pretty good sign it’s your special gift).  Too many entrepreneurs, especially women, think they’re not enough and that they need to learn more. My guess is that you know a lot more than you even realize, and you’ve got plenty to offer TODAY just as you are!

If you’re ready, right now, to get your info-product done so you can help more people (and make additional income) join me and a great group of dynamic entrepreneurs for Think It, Create It, Sell It. 

I just completed hosting the first class of Think It, Create It, Sell It with a great group of entrepreneurs who want to reach a broader audience with their knowledge (and get paid for it.

One of the biggest A-Ha’s participants got from this first class is that it’s MUCH easier than they thought it would be!

The belief is often that creating  an info-product is so hard…

But it doesn’t have to be.

After our first class, Theresa shared:

“My key nugget is that my product doesn’t have to be hard. My product is going to be something that I already know…. I’m making a list of the things that I have already written (either for a client, for a class, or from a college course) that I may be able to re-purpose.”

So if you’d love to have an info-product with YOUR name on it (so you could make money even while you’re on vacation) but don’t know where to start here’s a tip to get your started…

Do what Theresa’s doing and create an up-to-date list of all the content you already have. List everything you can think of – blogs, newsletter articles, class outlines, letters responding to client questions (stuff sitting dormant on your hard-drive)…

It comes down to repurposing what you already have.

And if you need more ideas then join us and we’ll brainstorm together – this is a very fun, interactive and implementation-focused group.

(By the way, it’s not too late to join us, you can listen to the recording and be up-to-speed for our interactive Hot Seat call Thursday.)

Have you ever had a case of entrepreneur envy? That’s where you keep looking at what everyone else is doing… Maybe they’ve got a great new teleseminar that’s sold out. Or maybe they just landed a spot on TV. Or their blog has lots of comments and you can’t get any! You start focusing your energy on everyone else and what they’re doing instead of thinking about the authentic marketing of your special brand of business.

I love to "follow" entrepreneurs that I admire and see what they’re up to and what’s working from them. There is incredible value to be found learning from others. But the danger is losing yourself in the process. Every single one of us is so different.  So yes learn from others, but ultimately you have to get it done in your own way.

Maybe you’re a writer and you’ve convinced yourself that you need to go on a speaking tour all around the country to promote your new book. But the idea isn’t attractive to you at all. You’re more of an introvert. You hate to speak and you have young kids and don’t want to leave home…  But "somebody" told you that you should go speak around the country. Chances are you’re speaking tour won’t be a success because your energy isn’t there. Listen to your gut, there are other ways to get publicity for your book. If it doesn’t feel right for you it’s not authentic marketing.

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I’m sure you can remember a time when you’ve had a less than ideal client. Spend a moment and get an image of that person in your head – that person who completely drains you; that person you have to “keep selling” to remain involved; that person you’re literally dragging and pulling along; and that person who leaves you feeling bad after every interaction.

I’ve been there many times and I tell you it’s awful – there’s nothing fun about it. My energy’s drained. I start feeling bad about my business and where it’s going, and I used to wonder if I had a choice.  The truth is not everyone is your ideal client and you absolutely have a choice with whom you work.

When I interviewed Lisa Cherney, the Founder of Conscious Marketing, for my Get It Done Training call and she spoke on how to attract ideal clients. It was fascinating to learn that even though Lisa has a lot of corporate marketing experience, when she started her own business she was initially attracting the wrong clients and started dreading Mondays.

She turned it all around, started enjoying herself AND making a great income working part-time when she became clear on who her ideal client is. So I want to share some of her tips with you.

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