Creating an outline is an important step when writing an information product. If you just start writing without direction it can be difficult to format everything you want to say into one clear structure.

Here are a few steps to creating your information product outline:

You may want to take a legal pad or notebook and on one page just start jotting down ideas you would like to include in your product as they come to you. Don’t worry too much about structure at this point, you just want to get all your ideas out on paper. Anything you can think off which may be a good fit for your product, write it down.

You can also write questions down such as “who needs this product?” “why this product is necessary”, etc.

Once you’ve written all your thoughts, take a second sheet of paper and create an outline. You want to write things down in the actual order they will appear in the book. Your outline may include some of the following things:

• Introduction
• Copyright page
• Disclaimer page
• Body of the book
• Closing
• Recommended Resources

Now you want to take the body of the book and break that into main sections. For example one section may be called “Getting Started” while another may be called “Marketing your Business”. Of course, it will depend on your subject but this should give you a general structure idea.

Now for each section such as “Getting Started” write down each sub section that corresponds to “Getting Started”. Lets say you’re product is about starting a website design business then under getting started you may include – “Who Needs Web Design Services?” – “How Much Can a Web designer Expect to Earn?” and so on.

By the time you finish going through each section you have a rough outline. Now read through it. Does it all flow nicely? Would some of the information fit better in another section of the book? Did you leave something out or should you add something else? Edit and tweak it a little then leave it for at least 24 hours.

After a nice rest go back to it and look it over again with a fresh and open mind and make any necessary changes. Once you’re happy with your structure it’s time to start writing!

Have you ever wondered what super affiliates do differently? How do they earn such high commissions? What tools and marketing tactics do they use that you can use as well? While there may be a number of things a super affiliate does successfully, chances are they’re also a super reviewer.

The Amazing Power of Reviews

A review is more than a valuable piece of content you can publish on your website, blog, or article directory. A review is perhaps one of the best ways to pre-sell a product or a service. If you sell products, you know that the best way to earn commissions is to pre-sell your information products.

Reviews get the job done because they offer unbiased information. They highlight the pros and cons of a product or service, summarize the benefits and then tell a reader where they can buy the product or service.

However, a super affiliate takes their reviews a bit further.

A Super Review is:

Benefit focused – It highlights what problem the product solves and stresses the benefits. It answers the question the reader really wants to know: “What’s in it for me?”

Personal – It shares examples or tells a story about how the reviewer benefited from the product or service. This turns the review almost into an endorsement. Personal experience is very persuasive.

Unbiased – It provides an honest look at both the pros and the cons of the product or service. If a review doesn’t list any flaws, then the reader is going to be suspicious and not trust the opinion of the reviewer. Nothing’s perfect.

Factual – It provides the raw data too. People make buying decisions based on their emotions. This is why it’s so important to stress the benefits and what problem the product or service solves. However, they reinforce their buying decision based on facts. These facts include price, features, and even where the product can be purchased.

Purposeful – It includes a call to action. While you may have a few links to the sales page throughout the review, a super review always ends with a call to action. For example, “Visit LINK to learn more now.”

To make more commissions and become a super affiliate, take steps to write reviews. Incorporate these ideas and steps to become a super reviewer and watch your profits soar.

Copywriting is the one skill which all online business owners should learn. As an online marketer you communicate through words – if those words aren’t effectively conveying your message, then you’re in for a long and bumpy ride.

Here are a few copywriting tips to help you get started:

Know your Target Market – Good copywriters know exactly who they’re writing for before starting. They speak directly to ONE person and keep that same person in mind at all times. If you try to reach too many people with your copy you’ll end up missing your target altogether and not reaching anyone at all. Before starting, know exactly who you’re writing your copy for and stick to it.

Headlines that Intrigue – Use clear headlines throughout your copy to guide the reader. Your main headline should be in bold and large letters to grab the reader’s attention. It is often the headline which can either make or break your copy. Use a benefit-focused headline, which explains in powerful detail how you can help solve the customer’s problem. Then use sub-headlines throughout the copy to keep the reader intrigued so they will keep reading.

Don’t use Big Words – Online writing is different to the writing you did in English class. Throw out the text book and forget all those rules your teacher taught you. Online writing is casual and needs to convey emotion and a clear purpose. You need to speak to the person as though you’re sitting down with them and chatting over a coffee… stay away from big words and long adjectives or risk boring (and losing) your prospects!

Be Persuasive – If you love your product that’s great but it’s also a bit biased. Your customers want to hear from other unbiased people who have used your product. Include customer testimonials but not just any testimonial will do, the more information you can include the better. Try to include the person’s full name, city, state, website URL and if possible a picture of that person. The more information your testimonial includes the more persuasive and believable.

It’s not all about you! – In fact, it’s not about you at all. Effective copywriting is concerned with the needs of the customer. The writer doesn’t really matter… Of course, you may need to add a little personal information about yourself in order to gain trust and to explain why your customer should trust you, but even in this case it’s all about what you can do for them. Go through your copy, does it contain a lot of “I’s” then it’s time for a serious re-write. Go back and change most of those “I’s” to “You’s”. Your writing should always be about the customer.

Don’t forget the call – The call to action that is. You must guide your visitors and tell them what you expect them to do. If you want them to click over and purchase your weight loss product, say so, and say so in a clear way which promotes all the benefits of your products “Click here to learn how you can lose those last 10 pounds and keep it off for good” . Be precise in your wording and always include a clear call to action.

Starting a blog is easy – keeping a blog interesting and fresh is a whole other matter. While many marketers have no trouble beginning a blog, the sheer number of abandoned blogs around the ‘net speaks to the fact that many marketers don’t know what to do to keep a blog going. According to blogging experts, the key to keeping a blog going is to post frequently. This means that you’re going to need a ever present stream of content coming into your blog.

You may be intimidated by the thought of having to come up with lots of topic ideas. Finding topics for your blog posts are easy if you use the following ideas.

1. Captions

Your blog should be timely and there’s no better way to attract attention on your blog than to tap into some ongoing news. No matter what your niche is you can find news stories and breaking information that will help fuel timely blog posts. Look for captions, or headlines, to stay on top of thing. Sign up for Google Alerts (it’s free) and set up alerts on important words in your niche. This way you’ll be able to see the news in your niche and blog about current topics.

2. Comments

The comments section in your blog can be a great source of writing inspiration. Let’s say you have a post on your marketing blog about keyword research. Within the comments section, a few people start asking about how to use keywords in articles for article marketing. Voila! You have your next blog post. Look through your comments section to identify topics that you can write about or questions you can answer in the form of a blog post.

3. Companions

Are there some websites or other resources that your niche needs to know about? Write a few resource list posts. Resource lists posts are very easy to write and they provide maximum value to your readers because they can get the information that they need easily. When you can’t think of anything else to write about you can pull together a helpful list for your readers.

4. Community

Keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. Watch other blogs in your niche and see what they are writing about. You can take a different angle on the same topic, or cover an area of the topic that the original author missed. If you disagree with the author, feel free to go ahead and express you opinion on your blog. Other bloggers can be a great source of information so be sure to get involved in the community.

5. Collection

Start collecting a list of quick tips you’d like to share with your niche. These can be inspired by your personal experience with the niche, from other blog posts you’ve read or from other products in your niche. When you find yourself stuck for blog post ideas, you can write a quick tips post.

These tips just scratch the surface of where you can find ideas for blog posts to populate your blog. Start keeping a notepad file with blog post ideas and you’ll never be at a loss for material.

I’m so excited – today is the day…book launch day for How the Fierce Handle Fear. One of my favorite clients ever is Janet Slack of Solopreneur.biz and she is one of the co-authors of this fabulous book!

In addition to Janet Slack, you will get the wisdom of:

Andrea J. Lee
Donald Trump
Sandie Glass
Sophfronia Scott
Howard Kay
and many others

You’ve probably heard from me already about How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times, I’ve written blog posts and tweets about how it’s helped my life. The best part is if you purchase the book within the next 24 hours, you’ll get a powerful free bonus. (And did I tell you that the proceeds from the book go to charity?)

These are challenging times and I really believe that your ability to handle fear is one of the most important skills you can master. This book of the best ideas of 22 amazing experts will help with exactly that whether the issue is little scary moments or the big, mind-numbing fearful events.

http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com

Now, here’s the offer good for today only:

If you buy your copy of How the Fierce Handle Fear from Amazon.com within the next 24 hours you’ll also get exclusive access to the complete audio collection of the groundbreaking “Fearless Fridays Telesummit”. This was the recent event featuring over 30 amazing speakers offering their best tips on handling fear.

Just go to http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com for details on how to get the recordings and other bonuses.

The proceeds from the book sales will go to Frank McKinney’s Caring House Project Fund which provides needed help to the desperately poor and homeless throughout the world.

I would love for you to share this link with your family and friends. Getting a grip on fear will help us all to move out of these challenging times and on to the better ones ahead.

http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com

Planning, writing and creating an e-book can be a labor of love. At the very least you want your efforts to result in good sales however with a few steps your labor of love can rise above good sales and achieve bestselling status. Your eBook can have great sales, here’s how:

1. Make sure your e-book provides a benefit. The very first step, and often the step that takes the longest is the research phase where you analyze your audience and potential book topics. In addition to your book needing to provide a benefit to your audience, a bestseller provides a benefit that is in high demand, even though sometimes people don’t know they want it until they see your book.

For example, “how to win friends and influence people,” was a bestseller because it provided a very clear benefit – the ability to be liked. Make sure your book topic provides a clear benefit to your target market.

2. Make sure it has an attention grabbing, benefit promising book title. Your book title needs to accomplish many things because it is the first thing people will look at when visiting your website or considering a purchase. Your headline needs to appeal to emotions, provide a benefit, and grab their attention. Chicken Soup for the Soul is an example of a book title that tapped into emotions and aroused enough curiosity to get people to look further into the book to see what it’s about.

3. Make sure you have credibility. Credibility can be on the back cover, on the inside flap, on the cover with your name. It’s demonstrated in many ways. For example, if you have a forward by someone highly respected in your industry, several positive reviews, or even a short bio explaining your knowledge and experience, they all lend to your credibility and help prospects make a decision to become customers.

4. Find the right promotion strategy for your audience. Simply publishing a book won’t make it sell. You have to promote it. Here are just a few ways to promote your eBook:

• Reviews
• Social networking
• Advertising – including banners, text, ezines and pay per click
• Affiliates
• Joint Venture
• Word of mouth
• Selling via retail sites like ClickBank, eBay and Amazon.com

All of these marketing strategies may or may not work for you. Create a plan, set goals, and test and track your tactics for success.

5.  Work hard to get some press! Press publicity are one of the best ways to grow a book’s sales into bestseller status. Submit press releases to local news outlets and online. Contact the media, get interviewed and connect with people online to help you promote your book.

When it comes to making your e-book a bestseller, putting together a great package is the first step. It has to be a book people will review well, one that looks professional and keeps its promise. Once that’s accomplished, it’s up to you to get the word out about your book. Create a marketing and promotion strategy and follow it through.

Direct mail and advertising are two extremely powerful marketing tools when they’re done correctly. And there are key steps you can take to ensure not only that you’re getting the best conversion rate, but that you’re maximizing your response. These keys rest in the design of your piece. Let’s take a look at ten design tips to improve your advertising and direct mail.

1 – Make sure any graphics you use assist the sale rather than detract from it. Graphics in your advertising piece or direct mail piece serve two main purposes, they are there to elicit an emotional response and they’re there to pull your reader into the copy. If the graphics distract, get rid of them!

2 – Make sure the fonts are easy to read. Body copy generally should be a serif font and the headlines and subheadings should be a bold serif or a sans serif. Make sure the font color you choose is easy to read on the background you’ve chosen as well. A white font on a light gray background is going to be clicked away from almost immediately. People don’t want to strain their eyes to read your ad.

Test for colors in your headlines too. For example, it’s often found that red headlines draw more conversions. That may or may not be the case for your audience; test it.

3 – Use special handwriting and formatting to draw the reader’s attention to certain aspects of your letter. Many copywriters have found that a personalized signature help the reader feel connected. Additionally, rather than using standard bullets in your direct mail piece, what about stars, checkmarks or other unique symbols.

4 – Photographs can really boost conversions. What photos do you use?  Photos of people who represent your audience are the best bet. It helps the message connect to your reader. For example, if you’re marketing to moms, then you could include a picture of a mom with her child.

5 – Who is your audience? If they’re an older generation then they’re probably not going to relate to or appreciate a piece that’s graphically heavy. However, if you’re marketing to a younger crowd then they do appreciate lots of graphics.

6 – Show the product. If you’re marketing a product, by all means show it. That includes digital information products. Have a cover designed and use it in your sales copy.

7 – Use real stamps instead of a postage meter. They’re less inclined to dismiss it as junk mail if you use a real stamp.

8 – Address your envelope personally, or at least make it look like it’s addressed personally so they don’t dismiss your direct mail piece as junk mail.

9 – Place a teaser on the outside of the envelope. A teaser is a bit of tantalizing copy that makes your direct mail piece irresistible.

10 – Consider the envelope itself. One of the most successful envelopes is a standard white #10 envelope. However, be sure to test the success rate. You may want to change the color of the envelope, use a window envelope or change the size of the envelope depending on your market.

Direct mail and advertising is as much a science as it is an art. There are tried and true methods for reaching an audience and converting them, however, your audience might be unique. Track and test what works until you have a proven recipe for success.

Yes, someone said ‘Blog Crazy’ but I actually said ‘Blog Crazy Special’ because that is what is going on… right now! What is this bloggy craziness, you ask? It is nothing. Do not worry about it. Forget I said a word. I am warning you, this could help your business strategies.

[Redirecting Your Attention]
Did you read the blog post that Yaro Starak wrote about creating change in your life. In order to change your life, you have to really examine yourself to… well you can read it.

Yaro is always interesting. However, I suppose that you want to know about this Blog Crazy Special.

Fine. But do not say that I did not warn you.

It is no secret that I am a fan of Open Source Programming. Well, this Blog Crazy Special was built on Open Source Programming and all the wondrous benefits of it. Some of the additional programs that you will get with this special are tools for Google. Soon you will be creating Google friendly site maps, using Google Analytics to track your stats, optimizing your blog for SEO, hiding pages (like thank you pages and client specials) and more.

Now, you will get much more than some applications made for Google. You will also get an events calendar, a social connection tool (for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many more), one-click upgrades and many more apps pre-installed for you.

If that were not enough, you will get a real self-hosted WordPress installation on your own hosting account. On top of that deal, we will custom design your chosen blog theme’s header graphic.

All of this is one crazy deal to get your business moving. The Blog Crazy Special is $349.97 and includes one full year of hosting. Yes it’s a blog (and so much more). Yes it’s crazy (because of all the extras). But, you are the one who makes it special [Awww. I called you special. Oh wait, the good kind of special, like when your significant other says that you are special to them. That kind of special. Whew.]

So, if you are interested and ONLY if you are interested, you can read about the Blog Crazy Special and order it for yourself.