As more and more entrepreneurs move to the Internet seeking their fortunes (it is the new gold rush, after all), “What’s the best product to sell online? ” has become the number one business question of the decade.

The next question is usually, “Why Information?” Again, the answer is simple: because no other type of product is easier to create, faster to bring to market, easier to distribute, and always more profi table than hard goods.

Informational products come in many forms. An info product can be a digital book ( e-book is the accepted term), a report or white paper, a piece of software, a web site, a newsletter, an audio or video, a tele-seminar, and so on.

Information products can also be nondigital items like spiral -bound manuals, stapled white papers, or CDs and DVDs. I prefer the digital variety myself, but millions of dollars have been made by sharp entrepreneurs selling information that is delivered to their customer ’s door.

Here are six reasons why information is the best product to sell online.

1. Fast to create, fast to market . Forget a product development cycle that is years in the making. Forget costly design and manufacturing processes. I have literally created info products in as little as two hours and had them generating revenue shortly thereafter. If you have an appealing topic and a computer, you have all the tools you need to create an info product that could sell in the millions.

2. No inventory to stock. Forget fi lling your garage with boxes of cheap watches and cases of mega vitamins that you will never sell. When you sell information there is no inventory to buy and stock. Your product is digital (I call it “selling electronic air ” ) and requires no space in your garage, just a little space on your computer. One of my most successful info products is a 30kb e - book that requires almost no space at all.

3. Low startup costs. When you sell information you can literally create a product for next to nothing. If your product is an e - book the only investment required will be the time it takes to

put words to digital paper. If you become an affi liate marketer of someone else ’ s info product your investment can be zero. You simply sign up to their affi liate program, get your affi liate link, and start the marketing process.

4. You can automate the sales and delivery process. Thanks to Internet

technology, you can sell info products 24 hours a day, seven

days a week, and never lift a fi nger. In fact, you don ’t even have

to be awake or at home to make money with an info product. I

know many successful information entrepreneurs who are get

ting rich working as little as an hour a day. They check the

web site and their e - mail, then go play golf or hang with the

kids for the rest of the day.

You can completely automate the sales and delivery process so your web site does everything for you. An automated web site can give a potential customer your sales pitch, take the order, process the payment, deliver the product by e -mail—and even follow up in a few days to make sure the customer is satisfi ed, and offer to sell them additional products.

5. You can offer immediate access or delivery. Online consumers are an impatient lot. They want things now ! These are people who stand in front of the microwave impatiently tapping their foot and frowning at their watch. Selling information is the best way to give your customers immediate satisfaction. As mentioned earlier, an automated web site can process the order and payment, then immediately e - mail the download link for the product to your customer.

6. There ’ s no shipping and handling. One of the things I never liked about selling hard goods was the manual process of taking the order, running the credit card, placing the order with a drop -shipper, or fi lling the order of my stock. I hated fi nding a box and packing peanuts, printing the label, taping it all up, and lugging it to the post offi ce. Every minute I spent fi lling orders was time for which I was not being compensated; therefore, my profi t shrank with every minute spent on shipping and handling.

Informational products require no shipping and handling. Most are delivered by e - mail. In the time it takes you to click your mouse, you can deliver an info product.

What If You Don ’ t Have Your Own Info Product to Sell?

Now we come to one of the most appealing aspects of selling information. If you don ’ t have an info product, creating or fi nding one is much easier than you think. What follows are some of my favorite ways to come up with info products without having to do it all myself.

☛ Sign on with an affi liate program and sell their products . There are thousands of companies that sell informational products and most, if not all, have affi liate programs that you can sign on with. I am a huge fan of affi liate programs because you can literally get started in business in just minutes. Becoming an affi liate basically means you become a reseller of the company ’s products. You promote the product, you make the sale, the company delivers the product, and you earn a commission.

☛ Partner with someone who can put your ideas into words. People whine at me all the time, “ Tim, it ’ s easy for you to create ebooks. You ’ re a writer. But I ’ m not a writer! That makes it hard for me! ” I could not disagree more. Even if you can ’ t write your name on a check, you can still create an information product using a ghost writer who will write the book for a fee, or fi nd a writer who will co - author the book for no up - front cost.

One of the best ways to create an informational product is by co - authoring. If you are an expert on a topic, but not a writer, fi nd a writer to co - author the project with you. You can hire them on an hourly basis or by the project. The idea—the subject matter— is much more important than the execution, so who actually writes the material becomes a moot point. In my opinion, expert knowledge is harder to come by than writing skills. I know many experts who can ’t write and many excellent writers who don ’ t have the expert knowledge to create an informational product. This can be a match made in heaven.

☛ Hire a ghost writer . A ghost writer is someone you hire to write the product for you, but they do so anonymously. You get the credit for the work. You supply the expertise and guidance.

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The ghost writer puts it in a coherent format for you. There is no shame in using a ghost writer. I know some brilliant people who are experts in their fi elds but couldn ’ t write a parking ticket. You would probably be surprised to discover that many of the most popular nonfi ction books have been ghost -written. You don ’ t really believe all those pro athletes and Hollywood actresses can write 300 - page books now, do you? Publish a directory . Can ’ t think of a subject that you ’re qualified to write about? Try compiling a directory. A directory is nothing more than a listing of specialized information that you target-market to a particular segment of the buying public. For example, my company publishes a drop -ship and wholesale industry directory that is a listing of company names, addresses, phone numbers, and web site addresses. I simply have someone research the industry and compile their fi ndings in a directory format, package it nicely, and sell it online for $27.

The key to creating a successful info product is this: the information must be worth far more than the price of the e -book itself. If you ’ re charging $ 27 for your product, it must give the buyer many times that price in perceived value.

Here are a few more tips on creating a winning information product.

☛ Narrow your niche . Make sure you are targeting a highly defi ned niche audience. Don ’ t try to sell to everyone. You can get a lot more money showing life insurance agents how to fi nd more customers to buy big insurance policies than you can trying to sell a product on generic sales skills improvement.

☛ Point out their pain . Make sure your info product hits a painful problem that members of your target audience will do just about anything to solve. The more intense the pain, the more they ’ re willing to pay to get rid of it.

☛ Let them take the puppy home . Give people a taste of what you offer in your info product by giving them a sample for free. Just like the wholesale clubs get you to buy tater tots in a 50 -pound bag by giving you one to try, you can induce people to buy

your information by letting them read the fi rst chapter or listen to the fi rst few minutes of an audio.

☛ Keep them entertained . People hate to be bored. Increase the power of your product by adding humor, drama, and other entertainment elements that make them want more and more. This will not only help with future sales to satisfi ed customers, it will also keep your refunds down and increase word - of - mouth advertising.

☛ Make it evergreen . Don ’ t make the mistake of creating a product that hits a fad or a fl eeting market. Create info products that can be updated with very little effort. This allows you to create a product once and keep the sales rolling in for years to come!

Tim Knox is a newspaper columnist, radio host, Internet marketer, and the author of Everything I Know About Business, I Learned From My Mama. Hi's web site is www.TimKnox.com .

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