Informational Products-- How much do they REALLY make?

[Casey101]

Hey all! It's been a while since I've posted, but I had a question the other day and I couldn't think of anyone better to ask than the folks over here.

We've all heard the rags to riches stories and the too-good-to-be-true income claims-- the title says it all; how much do informational products really make? Now, before anyone brings up the 'piece of string' quote on me, let me clarify that this is just a general question and I don't really have any particular niche in mind-- perhaps for the benefit of folks here we could go over a range of possibilities:

• With a mailing list vs. Without a mailing list
• 'General Niche' vs. one of the 'Big 3' (e.g. Health and Fitness, Biz and Investing, Dating and Romance)
• Different affiliate compensation percentages

This could be very useful to a great number of people and provide a bit of a reality check for people (like me) who don't really have a clue about how much to realistically expect an info product earn. Is it worth it? Is it not worth it? Is there a way to find out before investing the time and money in creating a useful product?

Perhaps we can get some feedback on folks who have created successful and unsuccessful products and, if they are feeling generous, they will give us some of the following info and any other pertinent info that I may be missing:

• Size of the niche (i.e. Broad Searches per month):
• What type of niche? (If you don't want to share this, feel free to skip it):
• Selling Price of the product you have experience with:
• Number of affiliates promoting your product:
• Conversion Rates (what's a realistic expectation):
• Loyal Readership vs. Cold Launch

I get so tired of trying to wade through the junk that I would really appreciate some reality check information from you all. What is a realistic number to expect from a well-written, 120-page-or-so, decently useful product on something as mind-blowingly original as, say, dog training? How about crocheting? What about Soup Recipes? These are just examples of course, but please humor me and throw out some numbers for these examples-- we might all be surprised at some of the responses.

[akirk]

Interesting questions! Perhaps you could also elaborate a little on what you mean by an informational product - are you talking eBook / content website / ???
There are people making lots of money in many niches - but there are also others trying the same and making nothing - losing money... a lot can depend on the authority of your content / how respected the author might be in the industry...

Alasdair

[Clinton]

We've all heard the rags to riches stories and the too-good-to-be-true income claims-- the title says it all; how much do informational products really make?

Hmmm. You probably didn't intend it this way, but the above looks like an invitation for ebook sellers to come and talk up their products. They love exaggerating about how well they are doing, how many thousands of people have bought their book etc. etc.

Personally, I wouldn't trust any unverifiable figures provided in a public forum. Those figures shouldn't form the basis of the projections on which your business plan rests

I do know that Richard Parker sells a few thousand of his books every year if that's of any help.

[Casey101]

Perhaps you could also elaborate a little on what you mean by an informational product

Well, I was referring to courses, ebooks, video content, and basically any type of non-subscription CB product. Even subscription services can be included i guess; I am mainly interested in getting a reality check from folks who actually know what they are talking about and not just from people who make money telling people they know what they are talking about. It might be helpful to do a fill in the blank type of answer:

"I would be surprised if a __[mediocre, quality, bad] _[type of product]_ on how to ___[subject]__ created by someone __[with, without]__ ___[amount of experience in the industry]___would make __[more, less]__ than __[amount]__ per month. I also __[would, wouldn't]__ be surprised if it made __[more,less]__ than __[amount]__ per month. ___[The reason you think this.]___."

Of course, feel free to make up your own response and negate the 10 minutes I spent checking all the possible iterations to the above sentence! Seriously though, any feedback is much appreciated, even if you don't use my Super-Duper Response Blueprint!

-CLM

[Casey101]

....but the above looks like an invitation for ebook sellers to come and talk up their products.

Oh my, I was trying to get away from that! Oh well, I guess they're everywhere these days! I certainly won't be doing any business plans based off public forum advice, but I thought it would be helpful to people new to MMO and folks who may not be new to MMO, but who are at least new to info-product marketing. I didn't post it in the VIP for that very reason.


As for people talking up their products, I have this to say:

Bring it on self-promoters and exaggerators! If you lie, I promise you that there are people here who will know and very likely call you out and embarrass you. Good luck.

[KenW3]

As you've surmised, a reply with specifics is not actually possible, as this varies greatly by the type of product and the niche itself. Needless to say, the internet itself is one, big information product. A news site is as much an information product as an eBook would be. Wikipedia, eBay, Amazon, IMDB.com, all information products. How much money do they make? FaceBook is exchange of information, and as a social construct, they don't make as much.

Your 'Big 3' niches are large, but in terms of money being spent, Business and Investing is far and away the most profitable. That is because the demographic addressed has the most money. How much are you willing to spend for dating advice? What products and services would you buy? How much are you willing to spend on your health and fitness? That has its own products and services. Would you spend more of your money for these products over dating and romance?

Business and Investment are huge, though. The size of the niche will vary. More people are interested in general business than would be interested in franchising. More people will be interested in safe stock portfolio growth than forex trading. Any niche can be profitable with the right product, proper market research, and new or better information. The reason make money and work-from-home niches are more profitable is because people are willing to spend money in the belief they can make their money back and more. They're looking for a return on investment. For your other examples, what is the monetary return?

For specific products, it is up to you to do the research into the demographic. Given this internet is one big information product, finding the number of dog owners interested in training is a matter of doing your research. InfoUSA.com and Caldwell-List.com have been around forever. How many potential buyers are on their lists? What other lists are available for purchase? How many dog forums exist; How many members are active? Are there any dog trainer associations? Clubs? Networks? What is the total size of the market? You can do the research online easily. Once you have those answers, you also know how to reach the market.

[Clinton]

Casey101, this is probably not the answer you're looking for, but feedback of the type you're asking is going to result in nothing but junk (which you've already said you're tired of). If someone's found a lucrative little niche which is a nice earner, why would he lay bare all his stats here to invite competition?

I thought it would be helpful to people new to MMO and folks who may not be new to MMO, but who are at least new to info-product marketing

On the contrary, unsubstantiated figures cause a lot of damage. If someone suggested a niche here and said that he had massive response to a particular mailing list, what he is trying to do, possibly, is attract PMs asking him for details of that mailing list. Someone in the business of building affiliate networks on behalf of merchants could find this thread and register to to post fictitious stats to show that building an affiliate network is the way to go. What'll you do then, hire him to build you an affiliate network?

If all you want is just any old rubbish figures and you post in somewhere like DP, BHW or WF, you'll get plenty of replies with all kinds of flim flam claims from people with all sorts of agendas. As those claims won't wash here, posters like those aren't likely to provide stats in this thread.

a bit of a reality check for people (like me) who don't really have a clue about how much to realistically expect an info product earn

You are looking to start a business and you're looking for a shortcut to your market research. I've got bad news for you, there ain't one! But here's a tip - go and research websites for sale, collect stats from the sellers, do the due diligence on those stats and build yourself a database of what niches convert in which ways. That, sir, is data. Anything else is junk.

[Casey101]

Thanks for the replies, and I appreciate the feedback. I have been looking over the resources suggested by you all, and want you two to know that I appreciate you replying to this thread. I definitely don't want to attract junk, or cause harm to folks new to MMO, so I suppose this topic is dead. It just seems that there must be folks here who have made money (or lost money) in Clickbank products and I figured I could get some advice from them.

You are looking to start a business and you're looking for a shortcut to your market research.

No, this is definitely not the case. Well, at least the last part. I have picked out a few niches that I would like to pursue, and have spent hours and hours researching everything I can about the topics. I am going to pursue a couple of them, regardless of the replies here, because from the research I have done I believe they are under-served markets. However, just because I believe I can make a good ROI (my investment will be minimal apart from my time) does not necessarily exempt me from heeding the advice of others who are much more qualified.

If someone's found a lucrative little niche which is a nice earner, why would he lay bare all his stats here to invite competition?

I definitely wouldn't expect someone to give away trade secrets or anything, and that's why I used the 'ol standy-niche of 'dog training' or 'crocheting'. Neither are in the Big 3, and there aren't any obvious industry leaders that come to mind instantly-- at least not for me. I was looking for more anecdotal replies like; "If someone told me they were making $30K a month by offering a 120-page how-to guide in the crocheting niche, my BS detector would go off. However, I think it's reasonable to assume, just off the top of my head, that one could make $500 a month or so without too much trouble."
Yes, I know the above isn't anything you would base your business plan off of, and I know it's not useful in concrete terms, but I am certainly curious and I figured it would be worth asking, and I figured it could start some good conversation. I would also, of course, pay more attention to what one of the 'regulars' replied than I would to someone I haven't heard from yet.

In closing, I want to say that I get your point, and I understand why no one wants to venture a guess here. Your point about how misinformation can cause damage is also well-taken. I hadn't considered that.

Perhaps I will do a post at some point about my (upcoming) experiences in the Clickbank ring. I feel confident I can make money, and I won't lose much (if any) monetary investment as I will be writing the guide myself. I know my time is worth money, of course, but I work for cheap

Thanks again for your replies. I'm now off to look at Richard Parker's stuff and those lists KenW3 mentioned.

-CLM

[TryBPO]

This is second-hand, but I'm hoping you'll at least find it interesting.

A buddy/co-worker of mine sold info-products in these types of niches. I know that he had several sites in several different niches several years ago and the sites/products he had up and running were making anything from $80-$1,000/month. I think he was bringing in around $1,500-$2,000 per month total.

His best site was around $800-$1,000 month I believe and was in the potty-training niche. He had a son he was working with on this and thought it would be useful to consolidate some of that information and sell it as it was fragmented and a bit of a PITA when he was looking up information. One of the other sites was pet related, but I can't remember the others.

This was a side income for him...he made most of his money from his salary at his job. (I BELIEVE he was in the 4-6K/month range...but I'm not sure about that)

He wasn't bragging about it and it wasn't something he was pushing and I tend to believe the claims. What I DON'T know is how many info sites he created that are horrible and not earning much of anything. Let's say (for example) he created 8-10 that were making money. That's great on the surface...but if it took him 100+ sites and products with a ton of work to get there it's less interesting.

[Nidec]

How much money you may or may not be able to make from your niche will naturally depend upon your competitors in that niche. How good are they, how well known are they, what tactics do they use to get to and maintain their position in that niche?
I have an acquaintance who make a VERY good living (6 figures p.a.) in a niche market. At the last count he had over 60 websites in this niche alone and employed 2 full-time people working on website design and seo. His websites dominate the SERPS for his niche. If you, or anyone else, started to make inroads into his niche he would, as he has done in the past, do everything he possibly could to put you out of business. He is that ruthless, and I am sure there are other like-minded people out there who would do the same.
His advice to me when I was starting up was not to try and build the best or the best ranking websites in any niche but to build multiple small sites that would float under the radar of guys like him, each bringing in a modest income but that would in total achieve what I want them to. Also, it would take a lot more time and effort on a competitors part to squeeze out multiple small websites than 1 big one.