If you write on a regular basis or even have lists of FAQ’s (frequently asked questions), you have enough content to create an information product to give away or sell. Set aside an afternoon to gather and arrange your content and piece your product (free giveaway/pink spoon, e-report, e-book, e-course) together. Once you have done the groundwork and added your final details the rest of the process can simply be outsourced in order to automate the sale and delivery of your product.

Here’s how:

1. Create a spreadsheet with 3 columns using these headings:

*Title – the title of your content or topic of the article

*Summary – a short description of the content

*Category – specific to your content. For example, I categorize my content as Home Office Organization, Marketing, Time Management etc.

2. Gather all your content together and fill your spreadsheet with the above information for each piece of content you have. Use your blog posts, articles and FAQ’s. Read more about the types of content that can be reused and the ways in which it can be repurposed.

3. Sort your spreadsheet by the ‘Category’ heading. This will group together all the content within the same category giving you a good overall picture of the quantity of content you have for each category.

4. Determine how you will package this content. Your options are to:

*create a short e-report as a free giveaway to build your list

*create an e-book to sell (generally priced between $10 – $47)

*create an e-course complete with assignments and set up the information to be delivered over a 4 – 6 week period or even longer (generally priced higher than an e-book)

5. Create a new document in a program like Word. Build your product by laying out the content you have chosen to use by copying and pasting it into your document. To create an information product, play with the order and formatting of the content so that the information flows.

6. Proofread your document. Add content to connect pieces where needed or subtract content to ensure your material flows and is easy to follow.

7. Congratulations! You now have the foundation of your info product. Finishing touches include the addition of:

• headings
• subheadings
• images
• table of contents
• cover page
• conversion of file to PDF format

Note:

* You may also want to add a headshot and your bio written in third person on the last page. This can include a call to action consisting of an invitation to check out one of your related products, programs or services.

* After your product has been created it is time to launch. You will need to have a sales page and a plan for ongoing marketing and promotion of your product to encourage sales or sign ups in the case of a free giveaway.

* Decide how you want to accept payment. You can use a shopping cart system or PayPal.

Tools you will need:

a. A program like Word and/or Excel to organize your content and piece it together into a product.

b. A website to announce your product for sale or invite visitors to sign up for your free offering.

c. A shopping cart program to set up, deliver and sell your product and communicate using autoresponders.

Remember, once you have assembled your product you can outsource the technical aspects of the process. A Virtual Assistant can create your sales page and automate the process by adding “buy now” buttons or a sign up form doing all the back end work on your site and in the shopping cart. This will ensure that sign up, purchase and delivery of your product operate seamlessly.

Whether the goal is to grow your list or make more sales or both, product creation is a great way to boost business. It is a one-time creation and set up process that is fully automated. Once you have invested the initial time and effort to create an information product, it will work for you over and over again. It is a very real possibility that while you’re in dreamland at 2:00 am a visitor to your site will make a purchase proving that, yes, you really can make money while you sleep!