We create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And the data backs this up. In just one day, Google receives over 3.5 billion search queries<\/a>, 269 billion emails are sent<\/a> and over 4.75 billion pieces of content<\/a> are shared on Facebook.<\/p>\n What all this boils down to is that people are hungrier than ever for more content. But let\u2019s face it \u2026 we live in the era of fake news where every piece of content is judged for authenticity. As a result, people are becoming less trusting of internet \u201cadvice.\u201d<\/p>\n But even though there\u2019s a ton of information out there, lots of people are still willing to pay for great content.<\/p>\n And the most popular way to sell this information is with an information product.<\/i> This is information compiled in text, video or audio format that\u2019s then sold at a premium.<\/p>\n It’s the most common and easiest business model to get started in because you don\u2019t need any special skills to create an information product. Plus, most people are experts in some topic that other people are willing to pay money to learn. And since most products are digital, there are no raw material costs, no assembly costs, and no shipping costs.<\/p>\n And of course \u2026 information products work extremely well on display advertising.<\/p>\n But before we dig deeper into the world of information products and display ads, let’s first look at how you make these products.<\/p>\n It doesn’t matter what type of content you’re creating, the path from idea to revenue is the same: This is the most common information product. You can throw together a 20-50 page document on just about any topic, turn it into a PDF, give it to a designer and boom \u2014 you\u2019ve got a finished product ready to sell. The upside to an eBook is that it\u2019s really simple to create. The downside is that most people don\u2019t read eBooks, even when they pay for it. <\/i><\/p>\n Think about it. How many eBooks do you currently have on your computer that you\u2019ve either paid for or gotten for free for opting into an email list? How many of those eBooks have you actually read? If you\u2019re like most people, then not many.<\/p>\n Key Takeaway:<\/b> Since it\u2019s possible someone will ask for a refund or not buy from you again if they don\u2019t consume, make the value you offer very clear. What problem do you solve? Put that front and center and you’ll improve the chances of people reading your content.<\/p>\n A great way to package information is as a \u201ccourse,\u201d complete with video, audio, or maybe even just text. For example, platforms like Udemy let creators offer courses as a video and text combination.<\/p>\n You can turn the content that you would have written in an eBook into a course and format it into modules. Then make it available in an \u201conline members area\u201d on your WordPress website with a plugin like WishList.<\/p>\n Key Takeaway: <\/b>Dividing your content this way makes it feel<\/i> more valuable and encourages people to consume it.<\/p>\n A lot of the bigger online publishers \u2014 specifically in the internet marketing and financial spaces \u2014 sell digital or physical subscription newsletters.<\/p>\n [Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n Newsletters are great because when you add a cost to them, you get guaranteed income from a customer every single month.<\/p>\n Key takeaway:<\/b> In order to get people to read your newsletter after paying for it, you need to consistently provide new and valuable information. A commitment to quality content prevents customers from canceling their subscription.<\/p>\n The marginal cost of producing and \u2018shipping\u2019 a digital product is approximately \u2026 $0.<\/p>\n Businesses that sell physical books or newsletters have some production costs, but these costs aren’t high. Books and newsletters are just sheets of paper but the margins are high because the subscription cost for these products is in the $47 \u2013 $97\/month range.<\/p>\n Other reasons why information products make a great business model are because:<\/p>\n All of these benefits \u2014 combined with high margins \u2014 means that information products are the perfect fit for display ads. As I mentioned earlier, the marginal cost to produce and ship a digital product is about $0 \u2014 or very low if you\u2019re selling a physical information product like a book or newsletter.<\/p>\n This means you can spend more to market and advertise your product. Lots of marketers are willing to spend the entire cost of the front-end core product AND all the upsells and downsells just to get one customer. Why?<\/p>\n Because the value isn\u2019t necessarily in the revenue they\u2019ve brought in from the first product the customer purchased. The value is having the customer on their email list. Having a customer on your list makes it much easier to build trust and have a back-and-forth relationship with previous and prospective customers.<\/p>\n As the saying goes, your best customers are the ones who’ve bought your products and gotten value out of them. They’re more likely to buy other products you offer and maybe even premium coaching, courses, masterminds, etc., that combined, offer you an even higher revenue.<\/p>\n Even though you can create information products on just about anything, there are a few niches that tend to work very well with display ads. Particularly, \u201cThe Big 3\u201d: wealth, health, and relationships.<\/p>\n Everyone wants more money. Whether it\u2019s through investing, tax loopholes\/strategies or just getting a better job, there’s no shortage of \u201cmake money\u201d information products out there.<\/p>\n For example, investment training \u2014 offered in the form of a video series \u2014 from the US Tax Lien Association<\/a>. Here’s the ad: Lots of people want to be thinner, in better shape and have solutions to their health issues. The health market is a great one, especially if you\u2019ve overcome some sort of health hurdle in your life and want to share how you succeeded.<\/p>\n For example, this free eBook from BioTrust Nutrition<\/a> offers to help customers meet their health goals:<\/p>\n Every single guy wants more women and to date more. Women, on the other hand, want to understand why men act the way they do.<\/p>\n For example, Marriage Max<\/a> runs Google ads like this one: When people click on the ad they’re taken to a landing page where they can sign up to receive an email with answers to their questions:<\/p>\n Although information products in the Big 3 tend to work very well on display, you don\u2019t have to be in one of these niches to see success. There are a lot of smaller companies who are killing it on display in unconventional niches.<\/p>\n For example, Teach Sunday School<\/a> runs ads that promote the worksheets and tips they offer customers. You can really sell any product in any niche if your messaging and targeting are right. There might be a limit to how much revenue you can make \u2014 for example, the weight loss market is much bigger than the Sunday School Teaching market \u2014 but you\u2019re not doing too badly if you\u2019ve got two to three of these smaller businesses each making $5k\/month.<\/p>\n Once you’re clear on your niche and decided on how you’ll share your display ads, you have to improve your sales funnel. One way to do this is to buy<\/b> the products your most successful competitors are marketing and document every step in their sales funnel.<\/p>\n After doing years of competitive research, I\u2019ve noticed that there is a pretty basic sales funnel that works for most info products on display.<\/p>\n The diagram below outlines a very basic<\/i> sales funnel that works very well for anyone looking to get started selling an info product.<\/p>\n Many large companies have much more intricate sales funnels, with multiple upsells and downsells at various price points, but you can do well with a basic sales funnel, like the one outlined below.<\/p>\n At the top of the funnel is display traffic which is how you get people to see your landing page. This can be through avenues like display ads, search ads, or affiliate traffic. From here you have to decide what your leads will see when they click on your ad. You have to create a landing page that explains what your information product is.<\/p>\n Let’s say you offer an online course; your landing page can also include some kind of exit pop-up \u2014 like an offer to download an eBook version of the course \u2014 or discount offer. Based on the action your leads choose to take next, you can incorporate upsells, downsells or email marketing.<\/p>\n Upsells are products that are immediately pitched to the customer once they buy your core product. The idea being that since your customer has already purchased something they\u2019ve now entered a \u201cbuying state of mind\u201d and are likelier to buy another product.<\/p>\n For example, after customers buy a trial set at Harry’s \u2014 consisting of a Truman razor with a blade, foaming shave gel, and a travel blade cover \u2014 they get an upsell email with an offer to receive a full-size bottle of foaming shave gel and a bottle of aftershave moisturizer. It\u2019s essential to have at least<\/i> one (if not two or three) upsells for pretty much any product (info or otherwise).<\/p>\n Most marketers will price their \u201cfront-end\u201d offer very low \u2014 for example, new customers can get the Harry’s trial set for only $8 with free shipping \u2014 to make the purchase a no-brainer. However, the cost to get one customer might end up being the same price of your core product, meaning that if you have no upsells, you either end up with a profit of $0 or are in the red. Usually, the only way to achieve profitability is to have a few upsells.<\/p>\n Not everyone will buy your upsells, but many will. Think about it \u2026 when people go shopping usually one of two things happen:<\/p>\n What happens is that once people start buying, they enter what\u2019s called a \u201cbuying frenzy.\u201d That first purchase sets off a chain reaction where their mind has decided that it\u2019s \u201cokay\u201d to spend more money. The thought process being, \u201cWell, it\u2019s only <\/i>$50 more and it sounds interesting, so why not?\u201d<\/p>\n The downsell is a product you pitch to someone who doesn\u2019t buy the upsell. It\u2019s usually a lower-priced product or a discount\/installment payment plan on one of the upsells.<\/p>\n For example, people who sign up for GrubHub but haven’t made their purchase get the following email offer: It\u2019s likely the reason someone doesn\u2019t purchase the upsell isn\u2019t because they\u2019re not interested in it; it probably has to do with price.<\/p>\n Offering a lower-priced downsell is a great way to get extra profit from people who are more price sensitive.<\/p>\n The average conversion rate for a direct buy from cold traffic is usually somewhere between 1% and 5%.<\/p>\n Not very high.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that people don\u2019t want your product, it\u2019s just that they\u2019re not ready yet and need a bit more coaxing.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing more valuable than getting people who come from your cold traffic into your email funnel, both buyers and non-buyers.<\/p>\n Email is a great way to get buyers to consume the product. If you have a tailored email sequence<\/a> that tells them how to consume the product, they\u2019re much more likely to read the material, take action, and see results.<\/p>\n [Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n You don\u2019t want people to buy your products and never look at them again. When someone doesn\u2019t consume your material, they won\u2019t see the value in it or a chance to experience the \u201cAha!\u201d moment<\/a>. They\u2019re less likely to take action, they\u2019re less likely to buy another one of your products, and they\u2019re more likely to refund.<\/p>\n For the non-buyers \u2014 which is going to be most people coming from paid traffic \u2014 you need a way to show authority and build trust. Email is perfect. You can create a short ten email auto-responder sequence where you share tips, do \u201csoft-teaching,\u201d send FAQ emails, share customer results, case studies, whatever. Most people that come to your site through cold traffic will not buy. You will get a lot of sales if you do your email marketing right.<\/p>\n Old School New Body (OSNB) is a very successful weight loss info product targeted at men and women aged 35+.<\/p>\n Word on the street is that they\u2019ve been making good money off of affiliate partnerships and they\u2019ve recently taken to doing display advertising themselves. Their sales funnel is fairly simple, yet seems to be working very well for them.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s drill down and see what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n OSNB relies heavily on direct buys. They buy impressions from publishers in their niche to get their product in front of the \u201cright\u201d kinds of customers.<\/p>\n OSNB buys the majority of their traffic from Health Status. Since OSNB is a mass market offer for weight loss, their advertising is going to work well on websites that cater to a large, health-conscious audience, like Health Status’.<\/p>\n In the past OSNB had also done some advertising on weather.com<\/a>, which is another great site for mass-market offers and NFL.com<\/a> \u2014 a great mass-market site to hit a male demographic.<\/p>\n Their latest ads focus on specific pain points for men and women. For men it’s aging and for women, it’s weight gain. OSNB used simple images and basic text to speak to each audience.<\/p>\n The ad creative for men:<\/b><\/p>\n These ads are very good<\/b> and there are a couple of elements that make them very compelling.<\/p>\n OSNB uses what\u2019s called an \u201carticle lander.\u201d If you read our post on the nutraceutical market<\/a>, we pointed out that many health and fitness companies use the article lander.<\/p>\n The idea is to give their prospects good information that appears in an article. This makes it seem like they\u2019re not going to be pitched another product. These work especially well on content discovery networks and Adsonar when the ad text implies that when they click they\u2019ll receive information<\/i>, not a sales pitch.<\/p>\n In this case, OSNB actually uses a five-page sequence that gives the prospect a piece of valuable information on each page, and then frames them for the actual sale on page 5 where the last paragraph says\u2026 \u201cx, y, z.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the advantages to using a multi-page article lander is that it\u2019s really easy to find out where the leaks are in your funnel. For example, if you notice that a lot of people drop off on page 2, then you know that page 2 is where the problem lies. You can A\/B test different text, pictures, formatting, etc. on page 2 and see if you can fix it.<\/p>\n And while it\u2019s really easy to change text on a sales page, it\u2019s very hard to do it in a video sales letter. You\u2019ll have to write the text, change the slides, record new audio, splice it into the video and then re-upload the video. Lots of work without any clue if it\u2019s going to have an effect.<\/p>\n When leads click on the CTA in the article lander they’re taken to the actual sales page. This is where leads find more information about the product they’re interested in and are introduced to more details about the offer.<\/p>\n The sales page is very good<\/b> and contains all the important elements, like:<\/p>\n A compelling headline:<\/p>\n Intro stating why it\u2019s different:<\/p>\n You should really read, study and analyze the entire sales page<\/a> to get an idea of what\u2019s working in the health and fitness market.<\/p>\n Like a lot of other information product companies, OSNB can use email marketing with a clear CTA to increase sales. For example, a customer enters their email address first and then they’re taken to the page to buy something.<\/p>\n Now, it seems like this extra step might lead to fewer people converting due to extra friction and distrust since some people won\u2019t want to enter their email, but the benefits could be worth the possible downsides.<\/p>\n If someone enters their email, you now have them in your back-end.<\/p>\n So, if new customers get the buy page and decide NOT to buy, you can still target them through email marketing.<\/p>\n But if they\u2019re coming from cold traffic and you can\u2019t email them, then the only way for you to target that same person is through retargeting ads. Retargeting is awesome and very effective, but email tends to work very well with info products.<\/p>\n Everybody claims to hate these\u2026 yet they work so well.<\/p>\n If a lead tries to close the tab or window when they\u2019re on the sales pages, they\u2019ll see a pop-up with a message urging them to stay on the page to receive a special deal.<\/p>\n This is the page you\u2019re taken to if you select \u201cStay On This Page\u201d:<\/p>\n Try this approach this week to see how it works for you. This is a no-brainer offer for anyone who was interested in the product but was hesitant to spend $20.<\/p>\n Since OSNB only costs $20, they need a lot of sales and a lot of traffic to see a profit. Some of the CPMs and CPCs on news sites like Huffington Post are very expensive. Upsells and getting customers on their email are often the only way for these companies to reach profitability.<\/p>\n However, your upsells and downsells should be strategic.<\/p>\n There are a couple of different ways you need to design your upsells\/downsells.<\/p>\n Options on how to incorporate information products into OSNB’s product offering:<\/p>\n No fitness product is complete without something aimed at the people who want those washboard abs. This is one of those upsells that is related to the problems that they\u2019ll have once they go through the program. Okay, now you\u2019re in shape but how about those abs?<\/p>\n Since the product is targeted at people over 35, this is a great offer because they\u2019re going to be concerned about aging, wrinkles, and feeling more energetic. A \u201c101 Foods\u201d eBook is a great product because it addresses this concern in a format that people love. It\u2019s all tactics. There is no strategy, no thinking because people love lists for this reason. You don\u2019t have to make any great change in your life, but add a few of these foods in to help stop aging.<\/p>\nWhat’s an Information Product Anyway?<\/h2>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-34.png\")
<\/a>
\nWhat does<\/i> change, however, is the form information products take. Here are a few examples of some of the most commons ones out there today.<\/p>\neBooks<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-1-1.png\")
<\/a>
\n[Source<\/a>]<\/p>\nOnline Courses<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-2-1.png\")
<\/a>
\n[Source<\/a>]<\/p>\nNewsletters<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-3-1.png\")
<\/a>\nInformation Products are Cheap to Produce and Perfect for Display Ads<\/h2>\n
\n
Wealth<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-4-1.png\")
<\/a>
\nand the landing page with access to the video content:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-5-1.png\")
<\/a>
\nOr this video and blog post combo from Interview Success Formula<\/a>. Here’s the ad:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-6-1.png\")
<\/a>
\nAnd the landing page where users can watch video content:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-7-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHealth<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-8-1.png\")
<\/a>
\nOr this eReport from Truth About Abs<\/a> that promises to help users boost their metabolism.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-9-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRelationships<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-11-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-10-1.png\")
<\/a>\nSmaller Niches<\/h3>\n
\nWhen people click on the ad, they’re taken to a landing page where they can download a digital copy of the information they need:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-12-1.png\")
<\/a>\nOutline of a Basic Info Product Sales Funnel<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-13-1.png\")
<\/a>\nHere’s How it Works:<\/b><\/h3>\n
Upsells<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-14.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Downsells<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-15.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nEmail Marketing<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-16.png\")
<\/a>\nCase Study: Old School New Body<\/h2>\n
Part #1: Traffic<\/h3>\n
Ad Networks<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-17.png\")
<\/a>\nPublishers<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-18.png\")
<\/a>\nAd Creative<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-19.png\")
<\/a>
\nThe ad creative for women:<\/b>
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-20.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Part #2: Landing Page<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-21.png\")
<\/a>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-22.png\")
<\/a>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-23.png\")
<\/a>
\nAddressing common questions & concerns (\u201cWill it work for me if I\u2019m a woman? If I don\u2019t have gym equipment? If reason X, Y, Z?\u201d<\/i>)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-24.png\")
<\/a>
\nScarcity:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-25.png\")
<\/a>
\nA discount off the retail price:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-26.png\")
<\/a>
\nAnd a great guarantee:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-27.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPart 3: Email Capture + The Sale<\/h3>\n
Part 4: Last Ditch Effort \u2014 The Exit Pop-Up<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-28.png\")
<\/a>
\nThis is a last-ditch effort by OSNB to capture people who are curious about the product but aren\u2019t sure if it\u2019s worth the $20.<\/p>\nUpsells\/Downsells<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
Paleo Cookbooks<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-30.png\")
<\/a>
\nThe hardest part about losing weight is fixing your diet. No one wants to eat \u201chealthy.\u201d These cookbooks are an easy sell because they offer recipes that are healthy, play off the popularity of Paleo and claim to be delicious.<\/p>\nSix Pack Abs Program<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-31.png\")
<\/a>\n101 Foods<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-32.png\")
<\/a>\nMaking Money Off Their Customer Email List<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.adbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/image-33.png\")
<\/a>\n