What is the best way to build an infoproduct business or expand an already successful one?
Create a physical product
The hottest selling items on the Internet today are infoproducts. Ebooks, software, how-to courses, ezines, newsletters, self-improvement guides and an endless number of digital products are in demand on every conceivable topic. And with customers’ ability to instantly download their purchases, producing and selling a quality infoproduct can be your road to success.
Although the beauty of infoproducts is the ability to instantly download, the best way to increase your profits for the same product is to burn it onto a CD and include a printed companion manual. Selling a kit that might also include an audio CD and some kind of bonus materials has several advantages.
You can charge more for a physical product. Customers are willing to pay more for something they can have in hand and keep on the shelf or at their disposal on their desk. An accompanying manual or any other printed material is great for reading on the train home from work. And who hasn’t experienced the anticipation of the package delivery man at your door.
Another great benefit is that your affiliates now can earn larger commissions. There’s no better way to attract more affiliates and encourage your existing affiliate base.
But what about all the storage, packaging and shipping? Won’t that take a lot of time?
Yes, if you did it yourself. But that’s not necessary. This is where the whole concept comes together.
Since your goal is to build your business, not to take orders, burn CDs, print booklets, and get them to the post office, you can farm out all the work to allow you to concentrate on marketing and producing more and better products. Naturally it will cost money to have a third party do the work, but, again, the time you save can be better used to build your business.
There are many resources available to help you:
Manuals and booklets
Printindustry.com is a website run by a group of professional printers set up to connect a print buyer with printing companies. When you submit your print request, let’s say 500 copies of a 40-page booklet, it is emailed to all the member printing companies that specialize in that type of printing. They then respond directly to you with price quotes. This can save you huge amounts of time from shopping different sites for competitive quotes.
CDs and DVDs
Do a search for “CD replication,” and you will find many sites that will replicate CDs and DVDs for very competitive prices. For example, nationwidecd.com and tripledisc.com, to name just two, can supply a CD in a paper sleeve for under a dollar each.
For a little extra they will supply a jewel case with inserts in black& white or color, card board or vinyl sleeves, and any kind of labels. Nationwidecd also does some printing, so you might find other sites that also do both.
Fulfillment
A fulfillment company warehouses your CDs, DVDs, manuals and booklets, puts them together and ships the orders. These companies handle every step from processing credit card payments to returns.
Fullfilmentadvisor.com is a good site to visit for resources on every aspect of fulfillment.
Here you’ll find detailed articles on exactly how fulfillment companies work, how to choose a fulfillment house, problems to expect, costs, and more. There are also hundreds of links to companies that perform every type of fulfillment service.
Your role as a business owner is to provide the best product you can to your customers. Creating a physical package in addition to your digital product, and farming out the order processing and fulfillment, will allow you more time to focus on building your business and increasing your profits.