Making Money From a Informational Product

Everybody wants information.

This is why we search on Google,watch the news, read blogs, ask for help, etc. Providing useful information online is the best and easiest way to make money on the Internet. Everyone is looking for information, so if you can provide it you have the ability to profit. Think about how much time you spend online each day. How much of that time are you looking for answers or information? My bet it is most of your time.

There are a ton of different methods that you can use to give information to people and generate an income for yourself at the same time. Each method has a unique way of organizing the information and the user experience is different as a result. A lot of profitable websites sometimes provide their visitors with a combination of more than one of these methods. Think about which of the following methods would best suit you :

A Blog

A blog is a great way to easily organize your information online because the blogging
platform does all of the work for you. This website, for instance, is a blog. Whenever I want, I can log into my WordPress account, write in the “new post” area, click Publish and the website updates automatically.

It’s quick and easy, and the best part is that you can set up a Blog for free. There are many different blogging platforms, but the most popular seem to be WordPress.com and Blogger.com, so check those out if you would like more information about blogging.

Pros:

• Easy to start, edit and manage your content
• Builds an online community with your readers
• Establishes you as an expert in your field
• Blog can be used to promote a product of yours ( Ebooks, Software…etc)
• Can be free

Cons:

• There will be many similar blogs in the same the area already
• It takes time to establish yourself as an expert and add great content to your blog
• Requires upkeep and constant attention to update content and respond to comments

How money is made:

• Advertising. (Google Adsense, Text-Link Ads, Private Advertising, etc.)
• Affiliate Links (Linking to a particular book and getting paid for leading a sale. Amazon.com for example)
• Donations. Yes, if you provide useful information and a donation button, some people may be kind enough to donate to your cause.

Helpful Links:

• 9 Little Known Traits of Successful Bloggers at Copyblogger.com
• How Bloggers Make Money from Blogs at Problogger.net
• How to Get Started with a Blog (and why all writers should) at WritingforyourWealth.com

EBooks

An Ebook, or electronic book, is also a fantastic way to store information and distribute it to people. Usually Ebooks come in a PDF format and can be easily viewed on most computers. Ebooks are becoming even more popular today, especially with Amazon.com’s Kindle or the Apple iPad out on the market.

Pros:

• If you write and sell it yourself, there is no printing press to pay no publishers and no retailers to take a chunk of the profit. 100% of each sale is all yours.
• There’s little or no upkeep once it’s finished.
• It can earn you money for a time.
• It’s easy to set up an affiliate program to have other websites sell your book for you too.

Cons:

• An Ebook can take a lot of time to write.
• It’s difficult to sell an Ebook from scratch. In other words, if you don’t have an established audience already (i.e. from a blog or membership website), finding people to purchase your book can be a challenge.
• Once the Ebook is published and is sold, the information inside cannot be updated if, for example, something you wrote has become outdated. This is why you’ll see different editions or versions of books come out sometimes.

How Money is Made:

• Visitors click on a “Buy Now” button on your website, which takes them to a form to fill out with their billing information. After processing, money is put into your account.
• Clickbank.com and E-Junkie.com are the top two methods of selling electronic files online. I prefer E-Junkie, because they will also deliver the product for you, and they don’t take any money from your sales. Clickbank, however, has a better affiliate program, which is also important.
• If you start an affiliate program, you can find affiliates who will sell your Ebook for you off of their website. You pay your affiliates a small “finder’s fee” for bringing in the sale.
• You can also sell on websites such as Amazon or Ebooks.com.

 

Helpful Links:

• How to Create Ebooks That Sell at Copyblogger.com
• 11 Tried and Tested Strategies To Market Your Ebook at BloggingBits.com
• How to Create and Publish Your Own Ebook with a $0 Budget at SkellieWag.org

Membership Sites 

A membership site is a website that can only accessed with a password. People usually pay a one time or monthly fee to become a member and gain access to the information inside. Membership sites are a powerful way to generate an income online, and I’m hoping to get involved with this soon.

Pros:

• Immediately creates a sense of membership and community within the site.
• Continuously updating and providing information can guarantee that people will stick around and keep feeding you money each month.
• As an owner and administrator of a membership site, you’re immediately seen as “the expert”. This is powerful because it can help you bring more members in, and also have the ability to easily sell things to the members you already have.
• The payment system in a membership website, and is kind of a snowball effect. For instance, month one, you have 10 paying members. The next month, you gain 10 more paying members, for a total of 20 paying members.

Cons:

• Creating a membership site takes a lot of hard work, time, and effort. You want to make sure that you are able to give your members what they are paying for. If you don’t, they’ll feel betrayed and leave.
• Again, it can be difficult to bring in members if you don’t have an established audience or reputation already. Some money may be needed to invest in marketing the membership website to be able to get it off the ground before it takes off.
• Although money is generated automatically, you can’t just disappear and leave the content alone and static. It’s reassuring to the members if there is new stuff available every once in a while, which is good because it decreases the potential number of people who stop paying for access.

How Money is Made:

• Members will be charged a one-time lifetime fee or a monthly fee for access to the information on the site.

Helpful Links:

• The Continuity Snowball at Continuityblueprint.com (warning: 30 minute video, but it’s worth it)

In addition to the methods above, you can also sell tools and templates, newsletters, audio or visual products, and learning methods.

As you can see, you have a lot of options to choose from. You can also combine two or more of the methods to create an even bigger resource for

If you are in no rush to make money, I would recommend starting with a blog, building readership and trust, and then sell an ebook or start a membership program to take your informational marketing to the next level.

Getting Your Ideas Organized With Mind Mapping

If you’re like me, you have created your blog and looking to create great content.  With that being said, I have so many ideas I want to write about and not sure where to start.  I needed a way to focus my efforts on an idea and write the best content that I can.  Having organized ideas usually leads to successful execution.  I needed to find a way to become organized with my ideas.  Then I stumbled upon Mind Maps

What is a Mind Map?

Well according to Wikipedia it is “A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision-making, and writing.”

 

There are several different programs/apps that will help you out. One of my favorites is iMindMap.  I will provide several others at the end of this post.

How Mind Maps Works For You

The best thing about mind maps is that you get all your ideas in place.  Having all your ideas in one location, help you not only see them on paper, but allow you to organize an approach to delivering get content to your blog.  Basically your documenting your brain and the way your brain works with allows for better organization in the long run.   If your interested in writing an E-Book here is a great article from Darren on Problogger about using Mind Mapping for creating a E-Book.

Here is an example of a Mind Map.  As you can see it is broken out by passions.  Each line for the center goes to a different main idea. From that main idea its going into other “descriptive areas”. These subsections can make great blog posts.  Of course you will have to do some investigations on the topics to see which one would make killer blog posts.  With mapping your mind your ideas just flow out and can give you unlimited organized ideas.

Average People May Apply

You don’t have to be an expert to make money from your blogs. All you really have to do is provide information that they want.  If you offer something people want even though you’re not an expert , they will buy it.   So start Mind Mapping today, who knows you may come across a killer idea, blog about it and start making the Passive Income of your dreams.

As I Mentioned Above: Links to Amazing Mind Mapping software.

iMindMap – iMindMap for your iPhone, iPad, Android device or web browser – total freedom to capture ideas wherever you go.

MindNode Pro  – Mac Desktop App

Mind Mapping for Dummies (Actually a book but contains great content)

Be sure to check back in the next few days, as my July 2012 Passive Income report will be posted.Feel free to comment on the post, as I read every single one and will try to get back to you.

Mike

Earning Extra Income While You Have a Full Time Job

People don’t have to quick their normal job to make money online.  If you plan on starting this off as a hobby, I wouldn’t even think of quitting my job.  Having job security in your normal career will allow you to try out different strategies for making passive income online. Finding a blog of someone who has already been successful at passive income is a great place to start.  Doing your research, along with being patient and making smart decisions, you will begin to start making money.

With Your Busy Day Where Do You Find Extra Time

Personally, I wake up early, get to work and come home after being stuck in rush hour traffic. Besides your workday, you have family commitments, friends wanting to hang out. Pretty much my day is full of things to do.  I know many of you reading this go through the same thing every day just like me.  But how are you supposed to find time to make money on the Internet after a day like that.

Here are 3 great tips to help you find time in your busy day:

1. Realize Your Free Time

During the day believe it or not you have some free time you can use to your advantage. If you add up your drive in the morning, your breaks throughout the day, your lunch, your drive home, workout time, and some of the free time you have at home you might find a few extra hours there.

2. Do Two Things at Once

We can all learn to have better time management.  While your driving do you listen to the radio?  Instead of the radio, why not listen to a podcast or an audiobook about Passive Income.  You can even find time while watching TV.  We all like watching TV, some of use too much. Why not read or write your blog during commercials?  You get to watch your show or sporting even and still find time to work.  The average one-hour show is only 42 minutes long, leaving you with 18 minutes to work on your Passive Income dreams.

3.  Use Your Day Job to Help Build Your Dreams of Passive Income

If your job has one of the “ internet for anything but work is prohibited” rule , I wouldn’t recommend surfing the internet to learn about making money online. That last thing you want to do is lose your job because Big Brother was tracking you.   However you can use your job as an idea machine. What I mean by that is you can find an issue with something and use your blog to sell a product to fix it. Or lets say you need a certification for work and you have been studying for it, use your notes to create an eBook. You could market that eBook and now you have a Passive Income Stream.

I hope you enjoyed ready about how to earn extra income while having a full-time job.  Feel free to comment on this post and join my emailing list so you will know when I have new blog post.

Cheers

Mike

Looking for Passive Income? Then CRUSH IT!

Do you have a hobby you wish you could do all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take those passions and make a living doing what you love. In CRUSH IT!

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk is short, 140 pages or so, but that short form is consistent with his direct approach. It starts by outlining the importance of passion and Gary’s three rules for success in business and life: Love your family, Work super hard, Live your passion.

“Passion is everything.”

From there he shares his “hard working immigrant makes good” story of coming to the U.S. as a child from Belarus and numerous examples of how “hustle” and business savvy have been a part of his DNA from neighborhood lemonade stands to building up his father’s liquor store business from 4 to 50 million to creating another new business of his own, Vayner Media.

“It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.”

The essence of this book is to find out what you’re really passionate about. Work your ass off, communicating that passion using whatever media format and channels are the work best for you and the audience you’re trying to reach. The passion will show through in the content you create, the connections and community you build and the legacy ,more important than short term financial gain, you leave from building the business.

“Story telling is by far the most underrated skill in business.”

Along with advice on creating content, choosing the right platform, being authentic, finding like-minded participants on the social web and social media marketing advice, he offers several ideas on monetization (some of which I’ll be implementing now), the value of patience and being adaptable.

“Be patient. In time, if you continue to hustle, you’ll grow your presence and improve your skills to the point where the fish – really, really big fish, will be jumping straight into your hands.”

Vaynerchuck admits his own contradictions, like do what your passion tells you no matter what, but also be adaptable in how you execute on your passion. He also makes a few comments that fly in the face of marketing (social or otherwise) key principles, like don’t pay much attention to analytics, but go with your gut.

“Anything is better than zero.”

Despite contradictions and rare advice that would make most marketers cringe, there’s no mistaking the success Vaynerchuck has achieved following “The Best Marketing Plan Ever” which he shares in the latter part of the book. He even goes so far as to offer a checklist and several business ideas he says he doesn’t have time to go after himself, so go for it.

“Legacy is greater than currency.”

For those looking for step by step instructions on how to develop a social media strategy and the specific tools to execute, this book has some of that, but it’s more about inspiration than “how to”.  To get anything out of a workshop or testing social tools yourself, you need to be inspired first anyway.

“Crush It” is an excellent book offering personal stories that illustrate the importance of passion, patience, hustle and the value of doing what you need to do to be happy. Success takes hard work and this book does a great job of showing anyone the framework for making what really makes them passionate and turn it into an online business.

In this book you will master the following

Learn: Why social media has evened the playing field, destroying the “gate-keepers” who had previously dictated the distribution of content.

Learn: How to beat unemployment and create wealth-building opportunities by building and maintaining a personal brand.

Learn: Why storytelling is the most important business concept in the current marketplace.

Learn: How you can build an online business around your passion without quitting your day job.

Learn: Why Twitter and Facebook are just tools and not a social media strategy.

Learn: How to take advantage of the half-billion dollars in advertising that are moving to the internet.

Learn: Why transparency and being true to yourself are now winning marketing formulas.

Learn: How to build and maintain an online community around your passion and brand.

Learn: Strategies for turning attention into money.

Learn: Why the legacy element of the internet era is so underrated.

To purchase this amazing book click here, and start CRUSHING it today

Please let me know what you think about this book, by leaving a comment.

Mike

Business Registered – Now getting your Mac Setup

Before You Start…

Do I have to own a Mac in order to develop for iOS?

• In one word: YES.
• I started off with a mac mini, the smaller and cheapest mac around.  All you need is an old monitor , keyboard, and a mouse and your pretty much all set to start coding.
• Next I would find some books to get yourself ready for coding in the iOS world. Below are some of the books I used to get started ( Some of these are newer since I started off on iOS 3  and we are on 5 almost 6 now)
  • Beginning iOS 5 Development by  Wei Meng Lee
  • Beginning iOS5 Development: Exploring the iOS SDK by Jack Nutting
  • iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry

Does it cost me money to develop iOS applications?

• The iOS Developer Program costs 99$/year. It lets you have the development environment , and the ability to install your apps on up to 100 personal device, and deploying them to the App Store.

Thanks again for taking the time out and reading my post.  I am still working on getting all the info up on my page so please bear with me. Once I get all my pages up. I will start talk about my apps and how I market them as well as what else I am currently working on and planning.

Like I said before if you don’t have your own business started yet, check out Resources For Success page and start a LLC.  It will save you a ton of money in the long run trust me.

Until Next Time

 

Cheers

Mike

 

 

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Just Starting Off

Hello everyone, My name is Mike Nowak and today I have decided to change my life.  Be check back often as I will be adding more content over the next few weeks.  As this blog grows I will show how I am changing my life by finding other ways to make money and hopefully I’ll be able to help you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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