Info Products - A Smart Start

© 2004, John Calder
http://www.TheEzine.net

All Internet marketing, at the bottom line, is about selling something, either a product or service. The goal being to serve your customers and thereby earn a profit. New marketers often get started as an affiliate, receiving a commission selling for others. And that's a great way to start, because from there you can learn about Internet marketing in general, the technology behind it, and how to match a market to a product.

Sooner or later though most marketers want to offer at least some of their own products and services. They may still rely on affiliate programs to generate extra profits, but they want to establish a name and product for themselves. This helps balance and diversify income, especially if the marketer doesn't concentrate only on the Internet marketing niche.

There are of course many products and services to create and sell, but new marketers may want to carefully consider an info product for their first venture. Info products have several unique characteristics that make them ideal in this situation.

First, unlike physical products that must be shipped, info products can usually be downloaded after payment. Besides eliminating possible shipping problems, these products may be easier to sell, everything else being equal, because they satisfy the buyer's need for immediate gratification. From the marketer's viewpoint, this helps create an 'automated' source of income.

The other big reason to start with an info product is more financially based. If you create a digital product, your production costs will likely be very low, you won't have to tie money up in inventory, and you'll never have unsold products sitting on a shelf.

With costs being so low, even a few sales of your info product can create a profit, giving a new marketer confidence to move forward with the next project.