The opportunities are huge when it comes to selling information based products. Since creating 10 copies or 10,000 copies of the information costs the same, the profitability is very high if you have a high selling information product. The cost of an information product is simply your time, the time required to create the information.

It’s worth noting that most information products do not sell. Your information product must be written with a level of expertise or a high level of knowledge or experience, or it must be a unique perspective. Most information is not “expert level” and is often something that is not unique.

Potential Formats

Hard Copy – book, magazine, etc.

Electronic Copy – Email, ebook, blog

I definitely would direct anyone attempting to sell information to move towards the electronic format since there are no publishing costs.

Pricing / Profits

There are various ways you can charge for your information. If you think people will pay directly for your information then you can create a ecommerce solution to auto-deliver an ebook or something via email after receiving payment. I believe there are ways to set this up through PayPal to have it completely automated.

Most people sell information indirectly through a blog or website and generate revenue through advertising. This requires traffic or an audience since advertising requires eye balls.

Another option is to create some kind of membership or course, where people can pay to have access to a range of informational resources or course materials. Many people on the web make big bucks through membership offerings.

Gaining Customers

It’s near impossible to sell information without already having established trust with a group of people. Therefore, if you’re new to an industry, I’d recommend starting a blog and trying to build up an audience or readership. This will require effort and time, but once you have an audience to market an informational product to, your success/conversion rate will be much higher.

If you’re attempting to sell some sort of membership or educational course, maybe offer the first part of the course for free in order for readers to get a taste of what you have to offer. Either that or offer some sort of money back guarantee. These are very common and actually very effective marketing tools.

Bottom Line

Selling information products can be very lucrative; however, most fail to sell at all.  The key is to differentiate what you’re selling.  Be an expert on your topic and offer a unique angle or opinion on what you’re saying.  You must be different and of the utmost quality.

While developing your product, make sure you are building trust with a group of readers.  It is to this group that you will market your product.