Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Creating Your Own Information Product

The best example of an information product is something you probably have in your car: a map. A map is simply a physical representation of highways, streets, intersections, and landmarks that tells you about a detailed but specific topic: how the roads in a certain area are laid out and intersect with each other. You then read and interpret the map to solve a specific problem — namely, how to move from point A to point B. Your information products should work in a similar manner. You simply organize a specific, complete set of information about a given topic, present it in a clear fashion, and collect money for distributing the information.

Finding hot topics

Which information should you sell? The answer varies, depending on your knowledge, experience, and goals. The topic of your information product is essential, so ask yourself a few questions to get started:

• What am I good at? Suppose that you're at a party or get-together and a friend or an acquaintance hears about your job and life story and asks, “Hey, how did you do such-and-such?” or “What did you need to know to get that opportunity?” That's a source for your information product.

  If your life experience has trained you to excel at a difficult topic, such as assembling a complicated piece of equipment or laying out an interior design for a new home, you can capture and record that experience to help others and profit from the experience. People pay for experience all the time — if ...