Dear Subscriber,

Information publishing is the ideal Carefree Business. It’s one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world, full of entrepreneurs making great livings. And, there is plenty of room for newcomers to get in on the action.

In today’s essay, Gary Scott shows you how to create profitable information products, the first step to getting your business off the ground.

Cheers,

Jason Holland
Managing Editor
The Carefree Entrepreneur

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The Secret Qualities of Successful Information Products
By Gary Scott

If someone asked you, "What’s the biggest chunk of the U.S. economy?" … you probably wouldn’t say "information."

But, expenditures on information and information products account for over half of this country’s economy. That’s roughly $5 TRILLION!

Why so much? Americans have an unquenchable thirst for information. We crave information to make us healthier … wealthier … more beautiful. But most of all, we want information so we can show others how much we know.

I’ve developed a highly-successful publishing business selling information that people want. You can, too.

The key is developing an information product that people not only want to buy but want to continue to buy (or renew). This isn’t hard – if you understand the following 7 Qualities of Successful Information Product Development.

Quality #1: Is the Idea Interesting?

Interesting ideas connect with a genuine fundamental aspect of life. And, the first person they have to interest is you. If you pick ideas that interest you, research and writing will be fun. But, interest goes beyond that. Your idea has to be truly interesting to your reader.

For example, my first retail publishing idea in the early 1970s was for U.S. investors to invest globally. The idea was sound and remained very interesting for a long time.

On the other hand, look at collectables. There will always be a collectables market. Yet, many collectables are attractive only because they are in vogue.

If, for example, you had a publication about Beanie Babies back when they were in vogue, you could have done well. Today, that publication would fall on its face.

Fads offer attractive publishing opportunities, but they don’t last. Publications about interesting topics survive.

Quality #2: Is the Idea Legal and Ethical?

I once got a letter about how I could mail First Class letters for only 3 cents! Indeed, the stamp on the envelope was 3 cents.

This seemed interesting, since I spend hundreds of thousands a year on postage. The letter promised that, for $12, I could get details on how to mail First Class letters for 3 cents.

This was too good to be true, but I was interested. A few days later, I got one photocopied page telling me how to do it. The page claimed that, as a business, the Post Office had made an offer to send my mail at the current rate. And it claimed that, as a businessman, I could counteroffer by putting a 3-cent stamp on my letters instead. If the Post Office accepted and mailed my letters, they accepted my offer. The idea was to simply mail all your letters with a 3-cent stamp, because most would get through. And, the idea was neither legal nor ethical.

The Postal Service’s Revenue Protection Department operates by spot inspection, true enough. So, yes, many of these 3-cent letters would get through. But, anyone mailing lots of them could expect to be investigated by the U.S. government. So, in the long run, it wouldn’t have been profitable. The fines (not to mention prison time) for these kinds of actions are very heavy.

Quality #3: Is the Idea Attractive?

Your idea has to attract first-time buyers. It doesn’t have to be pretty or pleasant. But, it must attract.

Attractiveness appeals to emotions in some way. The emotions can be good, bad, or even ugly. For example, one ad that worked well read, "I’m mad as heck at the government for cheating us – here’s how to get even." It’s not a very pretty idea. But, it’s certainly attractive.

A publication must hold your reader’s interest to succeed in the long-term. But, attractiveness gets potential readers to drop everything, read a sales story, and buy your publication.

Quality #4: Is the Idea Usable?

Your idea has to fill some need for your reader. This is vital to gaining repeat customers for your publication. The idea has to work for its readers.

A publication can be entertaining. With a golf publication, for instance, the pleasure of reading about golf courses may be enough to make it useful if the main goal is to give the reader satisfaction through description.

On the other hand, the goal might be to help the reader know how to get lower golf scores (pride). Or, show times at various courses when greens fees are reduced (savings).

Quality #5: Is the Idea Understandable?

Some years ago, the book A Brief History of Time was a New York Times bestseller for over a year. It was called one of the most-purchased/least-read books of all time. The author’s next books didn’t sell well. His books – all of them about quantum science – were just too complicated.

Ask: Is my information understandable for my target market? As A Brief History of Time shows, being interesting can sell a book. But if it’s not understandable, you won’t build repeat business.

Quality #6: Is the Idea Timely?

A successful publication is tuned to the times. If it’s too far ahead of or behind its time, it won’t do well in the long run.

I failed to understand this quality in the 1970s when I was first writing about investing internationally. I’d lived abroad for nearly a decade, so this idea seemed obvious. However, it ran contrary to public thought.

Twenty years later, most U.S. investors were ready for this idea. Today, it is so common that local stockbrokers give free talks on the subject, so we’ve had to adapt. Because I understand this quality, I’m able to change, update, and innovate my publications constantly.

Quality #7: Is the Idea Sellable?

In publishing, marketing is a very important part of success. You can have the timeliest, most usable, interesting, easy-to-apply idea in the world. But if you cannot sell it, you won’t make money. Defining your market and deciding how to sell your idea correctly is an integral part of the product creation.

I learned this lesson while pioneering the idea of investing abroad. As I said, my idea was right … but ahead of its time. Because I was out of sync with most American investors, my original selling failed.

The product wasn’t salable until I discovered avenues that led me closer to the small percentage of Americans who were interested. This process of understanding the customer is called "focus," and it’s crucial to publishing success. For example, I found that though I marketed across the country to all professions and religions, a large percentage of my original readers were Jewish, Southern, or chiropractors – groups that had less trust in the establishment. Once I understood that all three of these groups perceived that the establishment had been, at one time or another, biased against them, I was able to zero in and focus my sales in those areas.

Tap Into the Unquenchable Thirst for Information

People in the United States – and all over the world – are seeking information and advice on every topic imaginable.

And as a Carefree Entrepreneur, you can tap into that desire with your own information-publishing business. You can set it up from home – and work completely online if you want.

Gary Scott, a multimillion-dollar information publisher, has created a program to show you the ropes.

In his program, Self-Fulfilled: How to Be a Writer and Publisher, you get a proven plan for getting your publishing business going, step-by-step, with little startup capital. Plus, Gary shares the top contacts in the industry who’ll be happy to help you.

Get all the details here.

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There’s Always A ‘What’s Next?’ For The Information-Marketing Client
By Dan Kennedy

Let me tell you about a long-time client of mine. Because he is a multi-faceted information marketer, it’s not easy to accurately describe his business. It’ll take a few minutes.

He publishes a book and a home-study course about earning finder’s fees in the real estate investment world – the finder’s fee idea of my invention. These information products are sold via direct-mail letters, magalogs, booklets, and postcards, as well as websites and tele-seminars and through affiliates.

To get that far, he required copywriting for a collection of sales letters, magalogs, booklets, postcards, and websites, then, as soon as that was working, a series of ‘back-end’ letters to stop refunds and help retention; to get the buyers to attend follow-up training conference calls and tele-seminars where other courses are sold; and a letter to recruit affiliates to let him promote his products to their lists.

Next, all these course buyers needed to be sold into coaching programs – requiring another wave of sales letters, booklets, audio CD scripts, websites, email campaigns. Now that all that’s working, campaigns are needed for three different boot camps and an annual conference.

Next, we’re in discussion to have me (a) re-create all that for a different personality with a different kind of opportunity likely to appeal to these same customers and to the much larger number of unconverted leads, and (b) re-create the original system to be aimed at a higher level, more affluent, more sophisticated target audience.

Each successful step in the evolutionary growth and expansion of his business provides the next copywriting project I’m needed for. It should be noted he is also using other freelance copywriters and content writers for less critical and difficult project work.

This guy runs his business with his wife, two employees, works part-time, generates over $5-million a year with high net profits, and pays me well for my contributions – and better yet, is zero hassle. We speak once a month during a pre-scheduled phone call, otherwise communicate by fax. As soon as I finish one thing, we contract for the next.

He is not at all unusual.

As a matter of fact, there are thousands just like him, in hundreds of different product and business categories but all marketing "how-to" information, published offline and online, delivered in training programs, in coaching programs, by one-to-one coaches, and on and on.

Many have ascension processes for their customers, so that, with coaching as an example, the same information marketer may have programs priced at $3,000, $15,000, and $30,000 a year. They have insatiable need for new and better "front-end" marketing to bring in new buyers plus even more insatiable need for "back-end" marketing to ascend their buyers, bring buyers to conferences, and otherwise monetize buyers. They also have need for content, for everything delivered to buyers that gets created "fresh" week to week, month to month.

This is but one very good kind of information-marketer client, who I’ll call "Steady Eddie."

Another is the client who only periodically, even sporadically comes out of the woodwork to create and run a big but short-term promotion, for a product or event. I have clients like this I do a project for once a year and never hear from them until the next year.

There are other types of clients, too. The information-marketing industry is huge and diverse and blossoming thanks to proliferation of new media yet very much reliant on old media as well, and most importantly, in constant need for more copywriters and writers willing to learn how they operate, why their customers buy, what they sell, and then serve their needs.

Any such client’s successful campaign for something automatically births an endless series of Next’s, creating an endless series of assignments for the capable copywriter.

This is very important to understand. Like most businesses, a typical information-marketing business has, as its floor, one or several on-going, chug-chug-chug means of getting customers and making sales that get little or no tinkering for months or even years on end.

The client I spoke about at the start of this article is heavily reliant on a single direct-mail campaign I wrote 26 months ago, that has not needed change since.

But, good news about these information-marketing businesses: they are a bit like movie studios, in that they are very much about their next "release" and the marketing to make it a hit, and their next "release" and the marketing to make it a hit.

To their own lists of customers and unconverted leads, in their own media like websites and newsletters, they are rolling out one entirely new, built-from-scratch promotion after another after another all year long; as one is happening, the next is being readied, and the next to follow it is being conceptualized. A few months ago, when we saw the marketing of The Green Lantern movie, with fast food company, toy, comic book and magazine, video game, and online promotion. What we don’t see is all the work in progress for the marketing for the new Superman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Justice League of America films to follow, each in varying degrees of planning and development, for 2012, 2013, and 2014.

These information marketers work in much the same way, so there is also more than one to many new products, events, coaching programs, and services being readied for launch, and advertising, marketing, and promotion campaigns as well as content being written, on cycles of months to six months to even further out.

Few other industries or types of clients function like this. That’s why learning to write for information marketers can be so beneficial to the freelancer. Here, not only is there an abundance of available clients and opportunities and assignments, there is a way to eliminate the roller-coaster effect of getting an assignment and making money, but then being unemployed and having no income when you finish that assignment, then hunting for another gig. Here, there is a way to lock in steady work and income through a series of Next’s.

Dan Kennedy Will Personally Help You Succeed

In his Writing for Info-Marketers Training and Certification Program, Dan Kennedy gives a comprehensive guide to how the information-marketing industry works and how to break into this niche as a copywriter.

As a Carefree Entrepreneur, you can benefit from this knowledge in two ways. First, you’ll get to know the industry – which is ideal for Carefree Businesses – inside and out. Second, by learning to write copy, you’ll master a skill vital to your own business success. Even better, you’ll make extra money… maybe even discover you like it enough to make it a career.

For a limited time, Dan’s program is available at $500 off the regular price. But, this is a strictly limited time offer.

Go here for more details.

Ready to start earning 100% Commissions in your own Real Home Business?

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Hello, You’re Awesome

Here’s a quick update (in addition to the replay from last night)

Wes,

I wanted to send out a quick update on a
couple of things

If you didn’t see the Ustream from last night,
please watch it by Clicking HERE.

First, the server – we are now 100% sure
that the server will be up, and running
smoothly tomorrow morning.

Why has it been down so long?  Put
simply – the new members we were creating
crashed the database (sent out an email yesterday)
and we had to repair it.

We did.

However, immediately after repairing the
database, our traffic spiked to about 200
page requests a second.
(From people signing up)

If the database crashed again, all hell
would have broken loose – so to protect
the data, we started building a custom
Database solution, and decided to stop
new people from joining until it’s complete.
The good news?  It’s done, all of the
data is now being migrated over to the
new system.

You wouldn’t believe this crazy thing.
Anyways, tomorrow, after I load up
the site, and it’s working with now hiccups,
let’s bring in 1,000 new members

Second, the merchant situation.  Click Here
if you didn’t see the Ustream.

We’ve now got about 10 solutions almost
finished, and 2 that are really, really promising.
One of them (no promises until the dotted
line is signed) would actually give us also
an international solution, and be able to
actually get 100% approvals.

Third, we found a really, really good technology
team to fix all the blogging issues that we’ve
been having from 6,000 posts being created
on the site every day

I’m pumped.

Stay tuned – I’ll be updating you on the resolution
to all of these issues daily – so you’re always in
the loop.

Love you guys, and thanks for being rockstars

In Success,
David Wood
Empower Network Co Founder

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Hey Wes,
In your last issue of One Step Ahead, I got on the topic of your personal communication. Of what it should be accomplishing every time you reach out to your prospects or clients. And how important it is to make sure they get the message.
But how do you know if you’re succeeding? How do you know if your messages are hitting or missing your mark?
Well I’ve got some good news for you today.
There are some tell-tale signs you can look for that will give you those answers.
Clues from your market that will tell you if your personal communication is resonating, or simply going in one ear and out the other.
And I’ve got a couple tips for those of you just starting out can use as well.
So let’s get started…
To higher profits and beyond,
Rich

Three Checks To Be Sure
Your Communication Is Hitting Its Mark

By Rich Schefren

So we’re talking about your communication with your market this week. This is really an important and often misunderstood topic.
You see, all of your communication must have a point, a purpose. To create a connection, to gain agreement with your perspective, to boost retention, to establish loyalty…
Not just to produce content. (That’s what my latest Founders Club report is about – what your content needs to do to move a prospect closer to the sale.)
So writing with one or more of these goals in mind begs the question…
How do you know if right now your communication is achieving any or all of them? Let me give you a few ways that you can tell.

How do you know when you’re doing it right?

The first thing to notice is are you getting contacted by the marketplace? Do you get mail or emails from clients and prospects on any kind of a regular basis?
And not just correspondence asking questions (or customer service calls!) But are you getting mail that talks to you? Let me tell you about some of mail I get.
Whenever I talk about my dealing with ADD, I often get email, letters, sometimes boxes with gifts in them that have to do with my ADD. They’ll offer suggestions about what I can do to deal with it or relate what they’ve done to get over it that I should try. Personal things like that.
In other words, when I mention that I have ADD, people on the other side of that communication who feel like I care about them… who feel connected to me… who feel as if there’s a relationship between us… care enough to send me an email, a letter, a gift and express their concern.
So that’s one way of knowing your communication is hitting the target. Call it "personal fan mail." If you receive that kind of stuff, that lets you know you’re doing what I’m talking about here the right way.
Another way to know you’re hitting your mark is when people start telling your stories or quoting you – and giving you credit.
As an example of this, many of you might have heard Frank Kern say that, "launches are bonuses, not businesses." He says it pretty frequently and always gives me credit for saying it first.
When people quote you, re-tell your stories, etc. – and especially if they give you credit (if they just take your story it’s not really that wonderful) – that also tells you that you’re resonating.
Another way to know your communication is doing its job is if your market communicates with you telling you things that they’ve accomplished based on what you’ve told them.
That may seem like they may just be showing it to you in order to seek some approval from you. I don’t mean this in a derogatory sense, but in the same kind of way my daughters might bring home something they painted or colored at school and want me to put up on the refrigerator door with a magnet.
Like, "look what I did Rich based on what you taught me." It’s a pride of accomplishment they want to share. Often as a form of thanks for you helping them.
So those are just some ways that you know that you’re on the right track.

But what if you don’t have the big huge following yet?

Now if you’re just starting out, it’s a little harder to tell. You’re not as likely to get a ton of fan mail from your market.
But there are ways to gauge the impact you’re having, especially when you’re just starting out. One way is if you have a blog, to see how often people come back to read your posts? How often do they leave comments? Or you can check to see how many people are opening your emails, etc.?
The whole purpose of communication is about getting your marketplace, your prospects, your clients, to pay attention to you. To listen to your advice and your information. To accept it and then to spread it.
This is really important because understanding and getting clarity on your communication goals has to become before your positioning.
And speaking of positioning, one of the most important ways to do that is through your personal story. Many entrepreneurs think business is about their products and the benefits they offer their prospects. That’s a mistake to think like that.
And one of the best ways to connect with your market is through your personal story. It’s a powerful tool that can create lifetime relationships if you do it right.
And that’s what we’re going to cover in your next issue…

Questions or Comments on this issue?
Click here to send them to Rich!

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Tip of The Day:
The "Formula" For Success

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success."
- Thomas J. Watson

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In these 7 free videos Mike explained in simple east to understand steps how I could attract an endless stream of prospects to me ready to join and actually get paid to have these prospects come to me.

These videos have really changed the way I do my home business, and I think they can help you too.

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Here’s to your success,

Wes Waddell

Subject: Home Business Tips Week 7 – About Getting Organized

Hello once again Fellow Entrepreneur,

I sure hope you’re having a terrific week this week! 

I’ve been quite busy the last few days, but that’s a good thing! 

Today I have for you a really cool little organization product that I found that I think you might enjoy hearing about!

I LOVE THIS ORGANIZING BOOK! I JUST KNOW YOU WILL TOO!

Are you as tired of the clutter all over your home, or office as I was? Is your To Do list over a mile long? Do you struggle with procrastination? Would you like to have the ability to better prioritize? Would you like more available time in your day, to do the things “you” love to do? How would you like to get organized… once and for all?

If so, I highly recommend the book, ‘Finally Organized, Finally Free.’ I can honestly say it’s one of the best organizing books on the market.

No, it’s not FREE, but I can tell you from experience that it pays for itself from day one.  So, rather than me telling you all about it here and “as the book says: wasting time and energy,” I’m just going to send you over to the expert who wrote it for the full details.  Really, don’t miss out and don’t pass this up. Right now head over to:

http://weswaddell.com/getorganizednow
Enjoy your extra time,

Oh, one more quick little thing before I go… next week we’ll be looking at a small easy way to shift your thinking that could multiply your profits in a very big way.

Talk to you next week,

Wes Waddell

www.SpidersMarketingWeb.com

P.S. Get to: http://weswaddell.com/getorganizednow/ right now… don’t waste any more of your precious time.