Trying to Buy DMT online when you’ve never done it before can be intimidating. There are all sorts of things to consider from the title, structure and content, to what format to choose – not to mention all the technical issues like recording, production, design, packaging and manufacturing. The good news is that since there are many different ways to put together an info product you can choose something simple and relatively easy to produce, like an e-course, e-book or teleclass, and as you get more comfortable with the process, you can make more sophisticated and comprehensive products.
The first thing you’ll want to do is pick a niche, then a topic within that niche, then a title for your product. If you’re just staring out, the simplest and most basic information product you can create is an e-course. All you need is a word processor. When you’re done, you can load it into an auto responder which will send out your course based on a specific input (like someone entering their name and e-mail address on your website), which is a great way to capture leads. If you like, you can make a multi-part course and deliver one part each day.
The next easy and fast product to put together is a teleclass.You can make money by charging to be on the call – and you can also record it and turn the recording into a product, which could be an MP3 download or a physical Audio CD. Many teleconference services offer a recording feature and will allow you to access the recording as an MP3, which you can then post on your website.
If you do any public speaking, each time is an opportunity to create an information product. Buy a lavaliere microphone and a small recorder (which stays discretely in your pocket) and at the end of your talk, you’ve got something that can be turned into a product. Be sure to start the recorder at least 5 minutes before going on stage (you don’t want to be seen fumbling with the controls as you’re being introduced, which would be very unprofessional). When buying a recorder, get one that has a mic input jack (not a “line input” jack) and a “hold” switch, which will allow you to lock out the controls after you’ve started the recording.
Recording yourself doing a live talk isn’t ideal because you’ve got no-one monitoring the recording while it’s happening, but it’s better than nothing. Just make sure if you do choose this approach, that you don’t touch the microphone while you’re on stage because the noise that makes will most probably ruin the recording. A better situation is if you’ve been asked to speak at a seminar and the seminar promoter has paid a professional person or company to record the event. In that case, you can get a copy of the recording, which will (hopefully) be professionally done – just be sure to be clear with the seminar promoter in advance and make it part of your contract.
Another product that’s relatively easy to create is a coaching program. Many people don’t think of this as a “product”, but the truth is that anything for which you can charge money can be marketed as a product. The technical part of product creation is what many people find intimidating, so having a few options that are simple, like the ones mentioned so far can be helpful. Another “non-tangible” product could be a seminar.
Once you get into the realm of audio and video products, the technical requirements increase. Audio is easier to work with (not to mention cheaper) than video, so it’s a good idea to create a bunch of audio products first, before venturing into video. This way, you’ll learn a bit about the production process and then when you start making video, many of the things you’ve already learned will be applicable to video production as well. One of the things I like the most about audio production is that (unlike video), you can’t see where edits were made. If your audio editor is competent (or if you learn how to do it yourself), then the edits will be seamless and it will sound like there was no editing done whatsoever. If you’re making a physical product, you’ll end up with an Audio CD or DVD and if it’s digital it could be an MP3 File (for audio) or MP4 File (for video).