Writing and selling information products is one method freelance writers can use to generate passive income.
Currently I am interested in creating downloadable eBooks but the principles explained in this post apply also to information products delivered in the form of podcasts, videos and CDs.
Identify Profitable Niche Markets
Before creating an eBook you’ll first want to spend some time identifying a profitable niche. Zero in on a topic or a list of topics. To develop a list of topics, think about your interests and strengths and use that knowledge as a filter to process the raw data that you’ll gather from the marketplace.
Don’t discount anything yet. Include any skills, knowledge and experience you have gained through your Work Experience, Hobbies, Education (formal and informal) and Lifestyle. Use that information as a filter to sift through the popular topics that you’ll uncover using the research tools explained below.
At the end of this exercise you should end up with a short list of topics. Your next step is to test the popularity of one or more preferred topics.
Use Key Word Data to Test the Popularity of Your SelectedTopic
One of the best ways to test the popularity of your topic is to find out how popular that topic is in the Search Engines. In other words, how many people have searched your term? The higher the volume the better.
Knowing how many people are searching for a particular topic will give you a good estimate of your ‘potential’ to attract traffic in that niche.
Just be aware that sometimes, keyword data can be misleading because some keywords with high traffic may not accurately reflect the potential to make money from that traffic, (visitors might just be looking for information and not spending money). An example of this is the topic of humor and jokes. These topics may generate a lot of traffic but do not necessarily attract paying customers.
The first site you should visit is Google AdWords’s Keyword Tool which provides data based on the results of people searching on Google.
Google’s Keyword Tool will tell you exactly how many people typed specific keyword phrases and offer you suggestions for similar keyword phrases.
Track the Media
There is a cool, easy-to-use service called BlogPulse. Just enter one or more keywords and a list of sites covering related topics for a given period will display. BlogPulse provides a window into the blogosphere that lets you discover popular trends about ”people, issues, blogs, posts, commentaries, tidbits and news that bloggers are discussing”.
Learn from the Competition
Another way to gain intelligence on your proposed market niche is to monitor what the competition is doing. What keywords are they using to attract traffic and generate sales successfully? Studying the competition carefully may help you change the focus of your niche in order to exploit a lesser known area of the marketplace instead of picking a market segment that is overly saturated.
Conversation Tracker, a service from BlogPulse, will take your search terms (and links if you have one) to create a list of blog conversations across the web around a particular topic during a specific time frame.
So in addition to your own search of the competition through Google and media searches, try out Conversation Tracker to see what’s being said on blogs about your topic.
Consider Magazines
When conducting your research do not overlook this offline resource. The magazine rack at any major bookstore can provide a wealth of ideas for potentially profitable niches.
For a magazine to exist it has to be profitable, which means the market the magazine targets has buyers willing to spend money on items related to the subject of the magazine. So consider every single magazine as a potentially money-making idea for your online business.
I believe that’s enough for one post. We will continue exploring this fascinating subject further in the coming days.
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