I’m going to prove to you how simple it is to create a new information product. It doesn’t matter if this product is going to be a freebie report or a paid report. The creation process is the same.
Determine one small problem or pain point that your audience has, locate a few blog posts that help to answer and solve that problem. Organize them into a logical order; add an intro, transitions, and a conclusion.
You’ll want a cover image that you can use on the first page but also help you promote your opt-in report elsewhere. You can turn to Fiverr.com or find a graphic designer within your community (ask in the Facebook Group for recommendations) to help you if you don’t want to do it yourself. Otherwise, you can make a cover image using Canva.com.
It’s always nice to make the report more useful by taking the information in the report and making a checklist, worksheet, or resource page (or all three) that the user can use the handy creation to implement your recommendations.
You want your audience to know as they’re reading the short report and implementing the actions you recommend remembering where they got this information. Include branding information such as about the author information, a picture of yourself, and your company’s address, website, and contact information on the first page of the report after the cover image.
Once you feel as if the report is essentially done now it’s time to make it attractive.
Add in images to help your readers better understand the information. Create “call outs” for quotes and data that is important within the document (better yet, make it sharable). Remember to source images from legal places that allow you to use the images the way you want to use them. Read the terms of service for all images you buy or use for free.
To use the information product as a lead magnet you’ll need to also create an opt-in form. One of the best ways to do it is to use software such as leadpages.net, instapage.com, or Clickfunnels.com (there are many others). But you can simply create a form using your autoresponder service too such as Aweber.com, Drip.com, or Convertkit.com. You’ll follow the instructions to upload the cover image you created, plus points about the opt-in that explain the benefits of your audience for getting it.
Once you’ve uploaded your report to your server, and created the opt-in form, you can start promoting your opt-in report. The idea of an opt-in report is to get more people to sign up for your email list. Some people create full-on sales pages for their opt-in reports as well. You can create a short sales page, or a long one, include a video, or have it just text. Both work, but the best way is with a good form that gets to the point.
You probably have ideas swirling through your brain now about an opt-in you can create from your existing content right now. Don’t put it off. Go ahead and take the time to create it and get it up on your website. Since you’re using existing content it shouldn’t take very long.
Next time I’ll talk about pre-planning your content for future information product creation to make it even easier.
