INTERNET SPINNER- #4

INFORMATION MARKETING

Before starting this post, I’d like to mention that indeed there is no short cut to success. Anyone looking to make the bucks quickly will only end up being frustrated (unless you resort to scamming which will only last a while). Now, I’ m not trying to say you won’t make money from trying some of the businesses mentioned and treated in this blog site. What however I’m saying is that you will need the virtues of patience, dedication and every dint of hard work to reach your desired destination…Seriously it took me a while to realize this but now it pays. It really pays, literally too…

Now let’s get started.

Another viable means of making money on the web is information marketing.

INTRODUCTION

Information marketing in Nigeria today is big. In fact it’s so big that every week or so, thousands of people venture into this new sector and it is still nowhere near saturation. Information marketing is a very viable means of actually making N100,000 every month if practiced right with virtues of hard work, persistence and dedication. 

In the next few pages, I will be intimating you on how exactly you can do this.

INFORMATION MARKETING

Information Marketing is simply the activity of providing information to another individual in exchange for a fee. Simple!!! “Ok slow down” I can here you say. “Did you just say I can make money simply by providing information to another person???”

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying…And this is how that can be achieved!

 Information marketing involves the creation of an information product, say an e-book, and selling it to people for a fee. The most important aspect of Information marketing is the information product that you are selling because this is what will determine whether you succeed in this challenging sector or not.

Now, In order for you to successfully create an info product on any particular topic or sector, it has to be something of the following nature:

• Something that you know very well: A gift, talent or skill-set that you were born with or some skill you have developed over the years

• Something that you have been taught, have practiced and now very good at it.

• A problem –solving skill. Maybe you are particularly good at helping people solve a particular problem. You can leverage on this skill by packaging this service and selling to people.

Creating an information product is not a day’s work, nor is it child’s play. Great work has to go in. If you are particularly gifted in something, then you need to sit down and package this into an info product. But you need to be sure that what you are about to sell has the potential of solving people’s problems.

Before you go ahead creating an info product, ask yourself one question:

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT?

How can you determine if your info product will be viable?

This single question will steer you in the right direction towards creating that mega info product that will get people scampering to get your product and you receiving an endless stream of credit alerts from your bank!

What do people want?

• One way of knowing this is by your gut-feeling. Sometimes, we can get an idea, and be very convinced that this idea is unique, and if implemented properly, will be very successful. You are convinced beyond doubt that it will work. This is what we call a gut instinct. Most times, if your conviction is very strong, it’s best we go ahead and implement our idea.

• Ask people directly. Another way of determining what people want is to ask them directly. How can you do this? For example, if you are selling on online or internet based product, then you know that most of your customers are online. So, go to an online forum, e.g.

www.nairaland.com, create a topic thread, and list at least 3-options of similar products and ask them to drop their email addresses in order to receive free information on any of the options. However, everyone must state which product they are interested in when submitting their email addresses. There you have it. In a few days, you’d have tens of emails addresses to market to. These are your potential clients. But better still, you would know exactly what they want.

HOW TO GET STARTED

1. Begin by making a list of the things you can help people with, problems and challenges that you can help others solve.

2. Concentrate on how you have helped people solve a problem. By this we mean you should take a hold of what your technique or approach is. Then write it down.

3. In as much as talent or natural skill-set is important, it is also necessary that whatever you want to go into is highly lucrative. So what if you have identified a topic or niche that is highly lucrative but you don’t know how it works or you don’t know how to go about it? Simple:

4. LEARN IT! Engage the services of a professional, someone you know has been in that sector for a long time, someone you know has considerable experience in that sector, who has actually been doing-it for a while. Let him tutor you. Let him teach you how. It might cost you, but that will be a very good investment. Ensure you learn from the best.

5. Begin to practice it. Begin to do what you have just learnt from the professional. Do it the best you can. This is a very important step. It is necessary that you do what you have just learnt, so you can assess how viable it is, first hand. If you don’t try it out, and just begin to sell it, your customers might experience problems along the way, which you will have no idea of how to solve, because you’ve never tried it out.

6. Now you can sell it! After completing steps 4 and 5 above, you must be pretty confident in yourself by now. Now sit down, take your time and put pen to paper. Create your info product. Write a compelling e-book on the new business model you have just learnt.

STEP 1: CREATE YOUR INFO PRODUCT

If you have duly followed step by step up until now, then you must be ready to create your special info product now. If you have a computer, then open up Microsoft word and begin to type. If you don’t have a computer, then get a pen and some paper and begin to write your info product. Once you are through, you can then take it to a computer centre and have someone type for you, and save in Microsoft word format.

Then, you need to convert your typed product to a proper e-book or manual. You can do this by adding some extra stuff like a cover page, table of contents, page numbers and some graphics. If you don’t know how to do this, just have someone do it for you at the computer typesetting centre. If you have properly created the e-book, then you’ll need to package it for distribution, i.e. the way you want to send it to your customers when they have paid for it. A good format is in PDF. If you have a computer, you can download a Microsoft word to PDF converter from www.pdf995.com. Install it on your computer, then open your info product in Microsoft word, select Print, then under printers, select pdf995 printer and click print. Select the location you want it to save to, and you have your info-product in pdf format, ready for sale.

STEP 2: CREATE A WEBSITE TO SELL YOUR INFO PRODUCT

This step is actually optional. You may choose to setup a website to sell your info product, or you may not. A website however, improves the image of your info product. On the website, your customers will be able to get more information about the product, get to know what it is all about, and also get more details about you or the info-product from the website.

You can setup a free website to sell your info product. To do this, simply go to www.blogger.com. Click on “Get Started” to create your free account.

 STEP 3:  DETERMINE A GOOD PRICE FOR YOUR INFO PRODUCT AND OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT

This is the next most important step. You need to ensure that your info product is optimally priced. In pure terms, if 100 pay N2,000 for your info product, you make N200,000. But if you price it at N4,000 and only 20 people buy your product, you make only N80,000. So, determine the price of your info product prudently, so you can make more money from it eventually.

Next, you need a means of payment. This is where the bank account comes into play. It will serve as the means via which you can collect payments, so it should be accessible by everyone interested in your product. Use a bank that is well distributed across Nigeria, especially when it comes to branch distribution. GTBank is a very good option.

STEP 4: MARKETING YOUR INFO PRODUCT

Marketing your info product is the most important aspect of the whole process, because this determines your sales. You have to bring your product to the attention of everyone who may be interested. So, you need to aggressively market your info product.

 Successful here and you’ve earned yourself some extra bucks!!!

Interested in a step by step guide on how you can actually create and sell your awesome product, I’ve got just the thing for you. It’s a detailed and easy to understand guide on how you can effectively make big bucks from Information Marketing.

For more info., Inbox me on Facebook at ayo david Oni-Orisan or leave your request here. Thanks