Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Answers To Five Common Questions About Information Product Creation

There is nothing better than being able to sell your own product. The problem is, how do you create a product that is actually sellable?

With the advent of the internet, product creation has taken a whole new aspect. Whereas in the real world, creators vie for ideas that are tangible and physically deliverable, the web allows creators to package information as profitable merchandise. It is the age of information after all, and information is one of the primary factors that drive online dealings.

Information products can take many forms. You could publish your own e-book. Or if you wish to come up with something less daunting, you could distribute your own special report. Electronic magazines, or e-zines, can also be sold through subscription. All of these are effective methods of conveying novel information.
The best thing about it is that you don't even have to write them. If you simply don't have the time to come up with an e-book, a special report or any information product, you could hire someone to write them for you. Ghostwriting services are abundant on the net.

But we're getting way ahead of ourselves.
In creating a product, the businessman is confronted with many questions that more often than not derail the creation process. Hence, here are five answers to the five most common questions that an internet marketer encounters in information product creation.


  1. What's the first step in creating a product?
    The answer is simple: you need an idea. Coming up with that idea, however, is the difficult part.
    You have to realize that everything is a product, as everything is information that, when packaged correctly, is desirable to certain people. Try to update yourself with the latest trends. Read a lot of books and newspapers. Be on the lookout for things that might inspire a deeper study.
    Also, think in terms of titles. For example, you're reading the papers and an article therein reports of unique wedding ideas. Think big. Think flamboyantly. Apply these thoughts to titles. You should come up with something as grand as "Ten Truly Magnificent Ways To Celebrate Your Wedding," or "Ten Enchanting Ideas To Make Your Dream Wedding A Reality."
    Remember, product creation is partly driven by packaging. Titles add so much to the overall feel of the product. And conceptualizing a title would assure that you would be able to keep your focus during the rest of the creation process.
  2. Where do I get content?
    Information products are naturally carried out through content. If the content is good, the information would be excellently conveyed. There are three ways to get good content.
    First, write the product yourself. If you have the time to do so, then no one is better suited to convey the idea than you.
    Second, hire a good ghostwriter. As we've discussed earlier, ghostwriting services abound on the web. Look for a good and affordable one.
    Third, you could try public domain information. These are free to use, and they are easy to find for those who actually try to look for them. Basically, all works before 1923, and some works before 1978, are considered public domain information. You could reproduce these without having to pay any royalties.
  3. How do I package my product?
    Selling them as mere .doc or .txt files would seem amateurish and unattractive. The usual format used for information products is .pdf or .exe. Of the two, .pdf is more widely used, but .exe offers more eye-grabbing features.
    Converting your products into .pdf is simple. There are many free resources available on the net that would allow you to do this. Creating a .exe file, on the other hand, would need some programming skills.
  4. What price should I put on my product?
    Basically, there is no limit as to how much you could price your product. If you feel it is worth $500, then sell it for $500.
    Some are afraid that by pricing their products at a high amount, marketability would suffer. The truth of the matter is, it could go either way. Assigning a high price for your product may give the impression that it is something valuable. This would attract potential buyers.
    Additionally, you could add more value to your product by packaging it with freebies. An e-book with two accompanying software programs, for example, would perfectly justify a high price that is attached to it.
  5. What if my product has run its course?
    Even if you feel that you have squeezed every possible profit from your product, you could still earn from it.

Try selling its master resale rights.
This simply means that instead of selling your product, you'd be selling the authority that would allow others to re-brand and resell your product any way they see fit. This shouldn't concern you anymore as you've exhausted all the markets that would buy your creation. Let other people worry about marketing it for further profit, but do take their money as parting gifts for a product that has served you well.


Additional Resources: 50 Proven Informational Product Ideas

Monday, March 27, 2006

Podcasting

Podcasting is simply creating an audio file then uploading it to your website so your visitors can either play it off the site, or download it for playing later on an MP3 Player.

I love podcasting. It's an easy way to share information and drive traffic to your website.

It all started at the gym. I took my MP3 player, loaded with music, naturally. It was there that I realized I was held captive on the bike for 30 minutes and instead of listening to a podcast I could learn from, I was listening to music. It was then, and there, that I realized the potential of podcasting.

The term podcasting is identified with iPod, an Apple MP3 player. However, podcasts play on any MP3 player. In an effort to acquaint you with podcasting, I've got an ebook for you on how to choose an MP3 player.

Now, you'll be ready for the next blog entry on podcasting! Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Pay Per Click Advertising

Advertising your services or products on the Internet is both extremely effective and extremely competitive. There are several ways to go about attracting traffic to your website; Pay-Per-Click is one of the options you can choose from, along with developing an SEO, or search engine optimization campaign. Both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. One of the differences is that it takes minutes to set up a pay-per-click campaign versus months for a good SEO campaign.

Pay-Per-Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a "per-click" basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.

As with all marketing campaigns, there are advantages and disadvantages. If you understand the process and monitor your pay-per-click campaign frequently, it can be very effective. One of the greatest advantages is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay-per-click campaign is pay a fee.

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you're up and running. It doesn't demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier - and more effective - the process will be.

The downside is that pay-per-click is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results. This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position - which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth. You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period. For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 2,5000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor is the point at which your business breaks even. The idea, of course, is to show a profit, not to merely cover your costs. Therefore, you are aiming at a figure less than 50 cents per click.

Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be
paying too much for each individual hit.

The key (pun intended) to success is to learn everything you can about search engine keyword research. The good news is there isn't a limit to the amount of keywords you can add to your bid because additional keywords do not add additional cost. This translates into a lot less hassle for you because there is no need to optimize your site to index a particular set of keywords.

Obviously, some keywords are much more effective than others are, but they will not cost you anything except time to set-up your account in your pay-per-click bid. Of the popular search engines that offer pay-per-click, one called Overture provides an online tool that will give you the data on how often particular keywords are entered into their search engine. They also offer suggestions for keywords after you enter a description of your site.

In pay-per-click, this written description is crucial. You must understand that the object of your description is not to generally attract visitors, but to be as specific as possible so that only those visitors who are likely to buy your service or product go to your site. You must use expert marketing copy to guarantee that your description is both precise and enticing to attract the most ideal candidates to your site. This description is your most powerful tool to insure that your bid is profitable.

Another essential element of pay-per-click advertising is that you constantly monitor your bid. It is very important that you bear in mind that the results of the top search engines providing pay-per-click advertising, which are Overture and Adwords Select, usually appear on other popular search engines. Because of this, the competition for top ranking is intense, and very often you will find that the bidding price balloons too high for pay-per-click to yield a profit.

If this happens, it is advisable to withdraw your bid on that particular keyword and try another one. Remember: when you pay too much per click to make a profit, you are in essence losing the bidding war.

Since losing is not acceptable, you must have a plan in place to closely track the effectiveness of your keyword. It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a
monthly basis.

Not only is careful monitoring important, but the analysis of visitor behavior can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends. Expert monitoring and consumer analysis is essential to your overall business needs, and will also insure that your pay-per-click campaign is a success.

Additional Reading: Pay Per Click Profits

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Keyword Articles and Traffic

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of articles, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of articles.

Keyword articles are one of the most successful ways of promoting your website and attracting targeted visitors.

With the huge boost in the number of businesses marketing on the internet, gone are the days of just adding your site with a explanation of your product or service and sit back and watch the traffic roll in.

Daily we have to keep have to watch closely some of the new technology and methods to optimize our web sites to ensure that we receive enough traffic to help our business. This requires either an expert to do it for you or you have to keep up with an ever-changing technology.

Today we are competing with thousands perhaps millions of sites all offering related products. We are becoming dependant on the search engines like Google and Yahoo to promote our websites but to achieve a share of the traffic it is important that we know how to strategically place keywords or phrases on our web pages.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and articles experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to articles.

One of the most effective tools to market your site is the use of keyword articles. Words or phrases that people type in a search engine are called keywords. It is important that the keywords you use are not only pertinent and descriptive for your site but also they must have a high number of searches. A keyword that is only searched for a few times a month is not going to increase your traffic.

Another aspect to watch is if your website has a lot of competition then strategic keyword placement is very important. When someone types a keyword into a search engine the search engine uses an algorithm to sort out the most pertinent web pages from the database and then ranks them and then displays them. Tactical placement of keywords then becomes a factor in how high your website is ranked. The higher the ranking you have a better chance of your website being viewed.

So choosing the right keyword becomes very important. There is software today than can help you analyze keywords and which ones are the most effective and get the most searches. When trying to decide on keywords try to put yourself in the place of the person searching. If for example my site sells holiday accommodation in Greece and I am looking for a holiday in Greece work out what you are looking for.
Using software designed to analyze keywords this will tell you how many times it is searched for and the number of competing sites and also the ratio of click through to the number of searches. Avoid using very general keywords like holidays Greece. You need to target or narrow your keywords to products or services.

Once you have found the best keywords for your site you can further reinforce the efficiency of your keywords by including keyword articles that describe a holiday or the benefits of a holiday apartment in Florence. Again using the keywords in the title of the article and in the first paragraph. The keyword can also be used in the text of the article but don’t saturate the article.

Is there really any information about articles that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

Not a writer? You can subscribe to Private Label Publishing and receive royalty free articles each month to use to drive traffic to your website.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Domain Name Registration

So what are domains really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about domains--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

When a website is created, it is necessary to create a domain name to establish an online presence. It does't matter if it is for business or another venture. A domain name will establish you or your business and that is where you will be contacted.

Choosing an appropriate domain name is essential to your business. You want a name that will reflect your business, something that is professional, yet catchy enough to grab the attention of search engine visitors. The name that you choose will directly impact the success of your business.

There are companies on the Internet that will create a website, and find the perfect domain name for your business. However, the cost of these services is usually quite high, and even then, it is not guaranteed business.

If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

Some of the major search engines such as Yahoo and Google offer a step by step guide to building a website. They offer several different packages at different rates. The main differences in these packages are the sizes. If you're just starting out, the smaller package would be the best choice. The payments are smaller, but so is the space on the site that you create. It is always an option to upgrade at a later time.

If you are an established business, and already have clients, then it is probably a good idea to purchase a larger package. Although the larger packages do cost more it is not too much more. The advantages are that you get more space for your website, and also more email addresses.

There are several choices of extensions. There is yourname@yourbusiness.com, org, .net, .biz.

Some experts believe that by using the extension .com it give a website more credibility. However, more and more you are seeing websites with other extensions.

There are thousands of companies that you can purchase a domain name from at very inexpensive rates. The experts also believe that by purchasing your domain name from the company you are web hosting from is a mistake. It creates enormous problems if you decide to switch web-hosting companies. Very often companies will choose a web hosting company that offers a better rate and better services. Personally, I like purchasing domain names from GoDaddy.com

When choosing a domain name, keep it short and use keyword that describe your business services. If the company name does not describe your services, do not use it as your domain name. It tends to confuse and frustrate the potential client and they will find another site. Also, Google offers a page rank system, which ranks the website for content and by name. If you use the company name as your domain name, and the content does not have anything to with the domain name, then your website will receive a very low ranking.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

The Basics On How To Start Making Money With Adsense

The best course of action to take sometimes isn't clear until you've listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.

Adsense is considered as one of the most powerful tool in a website publisher's arsenal. It enables a person to monetize their sites easily. If used properly, it can generate a very large and healthy income for them. However if you are not using them rightly and just maximizing the income you squeeze from it, you are actually leaving a lot of money on the table. Something all people hate doing.

How you can start earning money with Adsense can be done easily and quickly. You will be amazed at the results you will be getting in such a short period of time.

Start by writing some quality content articles which are also keyword incorporated. There are a lot of people given the gift of being good with words. Writing comes easy for them. Why not make it work in such a way that you will be earning some extra cash in the process.

There are actually three steps to put into mind before you begin writing your ads and having an effective Adsense.


  1. Keyword search.
    Find some popular subjects, keywords or phrase. Select the ones which you think has more people clicking through. This is actually a keyword selector and suggestion tool that some sites are offering to those who are just their Adsense business.
  2. Writing articles.
    Start writing original content with keywords from the topics that you have achieved in your search. Take note that search engines are taking pride in the quality of their articles and what you will be writing should keep up with their demands.
  3. Quality content site.
    Build a quality content site incorporated with Adsense ads that is targeting the subject and keywords of your articles and websites. This is where all that you've done initially will go to and this is also where they will prove their worth to you.

It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of adsense is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about adsense.

The proper positioning of your ads should be done with care. Try to position your ads where surfers are most likely to click on them. According to research, the one place that surfers look first when they visit a certain site is the top left. The reason behind this is not known. Maybe it is because some of the most useful search engine results are at the top of all other rankings. So visitors tend to look in that same place when browsing through other sites.

Some of those who are just starting at this business may think they are doing pretty well already and thinking that their clickthrough rates and CPM figures are quite healthy. However, there are more techniques and styles to generate more clicks to double your earnings. By knowing these techniques and working them to your advantage, you will realize that you will be getting three times more than other people who have been previously doing what they are doing.

Finally, Adsense has some excellent tracking statistics that allows webmasters and publishers to track their results across a number of site on a site by site, page by page, or any other basis you wanted. You should be aware oft his capability and make the most of it because it is one powerful tool that will help you find out which ads are performing best. This way, you can fine tune your Adsense ads and focus more on the ones being visited the most rather than those who are being ignored.

Another thing you should know. Banners and skyscrapers are dead. Ask the experts. So better forget about banners and skyscrapers. Surfers universally ignore these kinds of ad formats. The reason behind this is that they are recognized as an advert and advert are rarely of any interest that's why people ignore them.

To really start making money with Adsense, you should have a definite focus on what you wanted to achieve and how you will go about achieving them. As with any other kind of business ventures, time is needed coupled with patience.

Don't just ignore your site and your Adsense once you have finished accomplishing them. Spare some time, even an hour, making adjustments to the Adsense ads on your sites to quickly trigger your Adsense income.

Give it a try and you would not regret having gotten into Adsense in the first place.

That's the latest from the adsense authorities. Once you're familiar with these ideas, you'll be ready to move to the next level.

Additional Adsense Resources: AdSense Revenue Exposed