As the buzz around ebooks and alternative formats for publishing grows, as information marketers – entrepreneurs who package information and training into info products – we can get sucked into thinking that producing a low-priced ebook can be the way to go to make our fortune online.
But is that really the right business model for turning information and training into high value for your customer and profit for your info product business?
As part of a broad business plan, the question I ask people who come to us looking for help grow their online information marketing business is “What is your complete monetization plan?”
In other words, is that ALL you are going to sell to your customer is a $10 ebook or is part of a more elaborate sales funnel that drives additional, higher profit, back-end sales?
The truth is that very few (if anyone) makes a living selling a $10 ebook, if there is no additional plan for monetizing your internet traffic and low-end customers, then you may build a $500/month info product business, but you certainly will not build a $5,000-$10,000/month information marketing business…if that is your goal.
Why A $10 Ebook Can Backfire On You
1. The value makes it look cheap which disuades people from buying (even if the material is good). Let’s say you have researched natural methods of lowering cholesteral and put that into a 50-page ebook…now if you REALLY had some interesting and valuable content to share with your market – will your prospect believe you have value at a price of $10? Especially in today’s market where 99% of low-priced informational ebooks are either unprofessional, spammy or useless, your prospect most likely already has dismissed your offer based on seeing such a low price.Â
2. The price is too low to attract partners, even if you give them 80% of the profits, the commission is not great so you won’t get many people promoting for you and thus you lose the leverage affiliates and market authority holders can give you…UNLESS it is tied to an upsell or back-end where they will get paid as well
3. When people look to sell stuff cheap it tells me they don’t know how to add real value to a marketplace…now this may be an exception, but in the hundreds of people we have coached, that’s my overall observation.
What I would recommend is that you come up with a higher-end package of information (in the $67-$97 range is good) which can be the material from your ebook bundled with an audio series or video series, day-by-day checklist, additional written content (Ex. for cholesteral, perhaps a recipe book and exercise guide), interview or two with experts, etc… will all let you get to a higher price point that will be more attractive to partners and overall, will have more margin and make you look more trustworthy and more important in your market.Â
In that sense, I would look at your ebook as being a “piece” of your ultimate product offering.Â
Then, you work on an up-front sales funnel that provides a focused campaign to draw traffic and convert them into warm leads and ultimately – customers.
