7 Ways To Create Your First Information Product

Today I want to spend a little time talking about how to create your first information product.

I’m not going to spend any time convincing you on why you’d want to create an information product – I’ll save that for another post.

Once you’ve got your idea picked out for what you’re going to do your product about, it’s time to go ahead and create an outline for everything you want to cover. You can do this by sitting down and just writing everything down on a piece of paper or using any word processing program on your computer. I’m also a fan of using notecards for this task. You can also use mindmapping software like Bubbl.us (completely free online) Mindjet Mindmanager (PC), or NovaMind (Mac).

No matter what you’re going to do, you’re going to want to do this outline or mindmapping first. Basically, get all your ideas written down somewhere.

Next, it’s time to start creating your product. So let’s cover the 7 ways to do that:

1) Sit down and write a book or ebook
If you like to write then this is the easiest way to get started. Just open up your favorite Word Processor and start working from the outline you created. You could actually create an entire ebook in just one day if you were really dedicated to it.

2) Outsource the writing
I have a full time writer that works for me now and I’m thinking about getting another – I just have so much content I want created that I don’t have the time or inclination to do myself. Of course, I don’t recommend getting a full time writer right away. It’s easy to outsource the project to a writer on sites like Elance.com, Guru.com, and Rentacoder.com. I usually try to stick to writers with high ratings and those whose first language is English. I find that it needs less corrections and proofreading if I stick to American writers – it costs a little more, but you can have them write an entire eBook for you for as little $200 and even really good eBook writers rarely cost more than $1500-$2000. You’re more likely to get exactly what you want it you give them your outline and even tell them the writing style you’d like them to use, but if you don’t want to go through the trouble, just give them the topic and tell them about how many pages you want and they’ll do all the research and create the product for you.

3) Interview an expert

Have a topic picked out, but not an expert in the area yourself? No problem. There are plenty of experts out there that you can interview. For example, there are probably plenty of authors out there looking for more exposure. Find one of them that you can interview in exchange for letting them plug their book at the end. It’s a win win and you get your product created without having to become an expert on the topic yourself.

4) Host a teleseminar

Here’s another great way to create a product. Ask your potential customers exactly what their top questions are on a certain topic, then host a teleseminar for those people and answer all those questions. Then sell the recording of the teleseminar to other people. This type of content is extremely valuable to people because you’re answering the exact questions they have on their mind.

5) Record a video

Just take a look at Youtube’s meteoric rise over the past 3 years to come out of nowhere to become the #2 most popular site on the Internet and you’ll get an idea of how popular videos are.

And the great thing is that people value video content higher than they do ebooks so if your topic lends itself to being an intstructional video, then do it.

6) License what you need

Here’s an easy way to get a product without having to do any work yourself. Just get it from someone else. There are plenty of products out there where you can purchase resell rights, private label rights, or purchase a license to sell the product. Just type in the topic of the product you want to create, and add “resell rights”, “private label rights” or “license” into your favorite search engine and the odds are good you’ll find a product already written about the product where the author is willing to sell your a license where can sell the product.

7) Get the content from other experts
I’ve purchased several products that were created just like this. Essentially you go out and find several experts on a topic and have them contribute their expertise to your upcoming product. This can be done as a series of interviews, as short chapters to a book, and on and on.

All you do is compile the content and *presto* instant product with very little work on your end.

So there you have it – 7 easy ways to start creating an information product. Remember, the most important thing to do is to take action. Follow the Nike motto – “just do it.”

Let me know what you think by posting in the comments below.