At some point, you’ll want to provide a self-created information ace killer og seeds on your blog. It might be a free product you use as a subscriber opt-in enticement, or you may be ready to create a product you sell. Eventually, you will want both types of products available on your blog. Is it imperative to have your own self-created information product to make money online?
Not at all. You can certainly sell other people’s products and make a good income. However, you can bring in a lot more money and have control over the creation and promotion of a product if you create it yourself.
When you sell affiliate products, you earn only a percentage of income you generate. The product creator earns the remainder (usually a 50/50 commission split).
But if you sell your own products, you make 100% of any sales on your blog, as well as a percentage what your affiliates sell. There are lots of options with product creation — you can sell your own information product, your affiliates can also sell it for you, and you can add to that income by selling affiliate products. Creating your own eBooks, courses, guides, etc., gives you the option for multiple streams of income that can eventually become streams of passive income (meaning you don’t have to do anything except promote the product now and then).
Many new bloggers believe they lack the knowledge or ability to develop a product from scratch. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You have many skills that others don’t have — and you can share those skills and your knowledge about them with others who are eager for the information. It can be anything from parenting tips to building a birdhouse! It’s just a matter of finding out what your readers want, then learning how to create and design the information product, and present it to your customers in an appealing way.
You also need to carve out the time during your week to work on the product. Let’s look at the initial steps for planning and producing an information product to sell on your blog.
The hardest part of creating a product is determining what to create. When trying to decide, keep these two things in mind:
Be passionate about your subject matter. This will make creating the information product so much easier and the final result even better.
With your information product, be sure to offer a solution to a problem, teach something readers want to know, or show them how to do something that will improve their lives.
Now consider your blog niche and topic categories. Begin brainstorming some possible product topics you think might interest your readers and that would work well as a product. Make notes about these ideas. If you can’t come up with something on your own, begin research other blogs in your niche and look at the information products they sell.
Begin to notice other information products on the net. And even though a product may be out there doesn’t mean you can’t create something similar. The Internet is teaming with people looking for valuable information.
If you really want to know what kind of product your readers will find useful, ask them! Many bloggers overlook this step because they just want to get on with the process of creating the information product. They get inpatient. However, your readers’ feedback and opinions are vital to the success of your information product.
2. By involving your readers, you can create exactly what they want without just guessing or hoping they’ll like it.
When you engage your readers in every step, from the topic, to the format (ebook, course, etc.), to the medium (written, video, audio, combination), to the content, you further commit your readers and foster their enthusiasm and interest.
Start a conversation with them. Hopefully you have an email service so that you can send out a broadcast email. With a smaller subscriber list, you can offer a “survey” within the email, to ask questions about the information product.
