Selling
information is one of the most established and most powerful
businesses in our information society.
With the continuing growth of the computer revolution, selling information
in electronic form offers you
out-standing profit opportunities.
You can provide people with valuable information and earn yourself 1000's of dollars
in the process.
The objective of this
material is to provide you a collection of carefully
selected money-making
information that can help you start and succeed in
your business, whatever it
may be.
If you are planning to start
your own information marketing business, this
software will show you how to
set up your business, show you which types of
information sell the best,
how to prepare or obtain the information you'll
be marketing, how to promote
your products, and how to fill your orders.
Most important of all, this
material will take you one step ahead of the
conventional info-by-mail
business. This material will show you how to sell
information in "ELECTRONIC FORM" - using
computer floppy disks - which are
the most efficient and most
profitable means by which information is now
being packaged, sold, and
delivered.
For example, you can order a DUPLICATOR DISK from:
KENNETH RAY
1448 E 52nd ST. Suite 106
CHICAGO, IL 60615 USA
(312) 320-0000
OR CLICK MAIL BOX BELOW TO EMAIL:
You can make copies of this Disk and
sell the copies for as much as you want.
Information in electronic
form has quickly become one of the hottest selling
products of the nineties. Recent figures indicate that over a billion
dollars worth of books
are sold by mail every year. The easiest way to profit from this expanding
market is to provide customers with valuable information they can put
to
immediate use. Many publishers are pulling in a fortune by
selling useful
publications right out of
their own homes. People
get involved in this
business
for many different reasons.
There are few businesses left
that have all the above benefits. Selling
information, either in
printed form or in electronic form, allows you to
start on a shoestring and
quickly reinvest your earnings. Some
information
marketers have been known to
start with less than $100 and have quickly
gone
on to build million dollar businesses.
If you buy information from
wholesalers and resell it, you can make a profit
from the same information
material over and over. If you write and
print
your own informative
publication, profit margins will even be better. While
a publication may only cost a
couple of dollars to professionally produce,
it can contain thousands of
dollars worth of information. It is usually NOT
the size or length of a
publication customers are interested in, it is the
valuable information
contained inside that they will gladly pay for.
Likewise, the manner by which
you package and deliver the information to
your customers will determine
your profit margins and how big you can
build your business.
You can start your business
all by yourself. Not having to hire any employees
will save you time, effort,
money, and bureaucratic government regulation.
As you will soon see, no
special education or skills are required. In
fact,
by using this software, you will probably know more about the industry than
most of the people out there!!
SETTING UP
YOUR BUSINESS
One of the best features of
owning your own information-by-mail business is
that it is fun and easy to
start and operate. You probably already own
much
of what you will need to
begin operations. Whether you live in an
apartment
or house, you will need to
set aside some space that you can designate as your
office. While there is no reason why you can't start from
your kitchen table,
you should try to dedicate
some space where you can set up a desk and chair
that you can operate your
business from.
1. Business
Name And Organization
Choosing a name for your new
business should be your first step. This is
an
important step because a
well-chosen name can help you generate more sales
for your business. It is important to choose a business name that
accurately
represents your business and
gives an impression of trust and confidence.
For example, would you feel
comfortable ordering a financial guide from
a business called "Wallace Book Company" or "Wallace
Financials" ?
Simply pick a name that you
would feel comfortable ordering a publication
from. If the business name is anything other than your
own name, you will
need to file for a Fictituous
Business Name (also known as DBA) registeration.
Choosing a form of legal
entity or structure for your business should be your
next step. You can organize your business three ways:
PROPRIETORSHIP.... A proprietorship is the least expensive to form
and
usually requires nothing more than a "D.B.A." (doing business as) name and
possibly a local business license.
This type of ownership allows
you to have the maximum control over the
operations of the business,
but also creates maximum liability. You will
be
personally liable for all
debts incurred by your business.
Since Proprietorship is the
least expensive and easiest to form, it is
recommended for anyone going
into the information marketing business for
the first time. You will make all final decisions and be
responsible for all
aspects of your business.
This is a popular choice for a one-person
operation.
PARTNERSHIPS.... If you need a business partner, either for financial
or expertise reasons, the best way to
outline your business relationship,
from a legal standpoint, is to form your
business as a Partnership.
CORPORATION..... A corporation is the most formal form of business
that one
may consider. You can have a
coporation whether you are the sole owner of
the business or you have
partners.
This form of ownership is
more expensive, but offers the least liability.
You must consider this form
of business after your business has successfully
begun and reached consistent
profitability. It is also advisable to
consider
forming a corporation before
applying for expansion capital through a bank or
other lending institution. The services of an attorney are recommended when
forming a corporation. The attorney can assist you in filling out the
proper
forms and submitting them to
the correct government agencies.
2. Mailing Address And Phone Number
Your mailing address can be either
a P.O. Box or a street address. It is
recommended that you use a
street address for your business. Studies
have
shown that customers are more
likely to order from an information-by-mail
business with a street
address than from one with a P.O. Box. Customers feel
more confident about sending
their hard earned money to someone they feel is
at a relatively permanent
address. This is probably because of the few
"fly
by night" con artists
that have historically used P.O. Boxes as their
storefronts. If you must use a
P.O. Box it is recommended that you at least
list a phone number in your
advertisements. If you work out of an
apartment,
using the word
"suite" before your apartment number will make it sound more
professional.
If you prefer not to use your
own street address, there are companies that
will rent you the use of
their street address for mailing purposes. Some
companies can provide more
than just mailbox rentals. These extra
services
may include, sending and
receiving faxes, voice mail, pagers, copying,
notary, packaging services
and supplies and authorized shipping outlets for
some national shippers. Check your local yellow pages under "Mail Receiving
&
Forwarding Services."
You should also consider
getting a separate phone number for your new
business. It will help you keep in touch with the people who
can make your
new business grow.
3. Bank
Account & Merchant Account
After you have chosen a name
for your business, properly formed and
registered your business, and
decided on a business address and phone number,
you will need to open a
business checking account at your local bank. You
will need to bring in a copy
of your fictitious business name application
that you received from the
county clerk.
Shop around to see which
local bank offers the most services with the least
service fees. An important service feature that you should
inquire about
from all the banks is how
soon you can set up a credit card merchant account
and what the requirements
will be. As your business grows, you will
want to
be able to offer your
customers flexible payment terms, including accepting
credit card orders. Most banks do not like to offer this service to
businesses that obtain the
majority of their sales by mail or phone.
If you can't get a credit
card merchant account, don't worry about it.
Once your business is more
established and profitable, the banks are more
likely to work with you. Most
banks should allow you to set up this kind
of service a year or two
after opening the account -- the sooner the better.
WHAT
INFORMATION TO SELL
Veteran informatiom marketers
know that information on just about every
conceivable subject can be
successfully marketed, specially if sold in
electronic form. Look at most direct-response magazines and you will probably
find companies offering
valuable information on numerous topics.
The most profitable by far
are How-To information, particularly those
financial in scope. These
types of information products provide information
based on people's natural
wants, desires and needs.
One type of information
product is specialized knowledge of a particular
subject. This knowledge may be obtained through personal
experience or
detailed research of a
certain subject. The most practical strategy is
to write about something that
you have personal experience with. It may be
a
hobby, job, sport, vacation,
recipe, or whatever you are knowledgeable about.
or no personal experience in,
you will need to do some research. When doing
research, look for
information in magazine and newspaper articles and books
on your chosen subject. Read as much information as you can until it
begins
to sound repetitive. This is a good indication that you have read all
that
there is to know about that
subject. Take excellent notes and organize them
accordingly.
The second type of
information that can be successfully sold through the mail
are self-improvement
products. These products help by providing timely and
valuable information on a
variety of subjects.
Marketers have found the
subject of financial wealth and physical health to
be the most sought after
topics in the mail order industry. Everyone
has an
interest in excellent health
and wants to learn how to increase his/her
financial status.
Practically any national
publication with classified advertisements will
have offers selling
information on these subjects. This type of
information
is best provided by those who have
professional experience in the respective
fields. However,
if you do enough research, you will be able to write your
own informative publication.
Many of the most successful financial topics sold by
mail relate to starting
one's own business. Global competition has caused many major
companies to
downsize their workforce. This has resulted in many unemployed individuals
in search of new ways to earn a living. By providing information on how to
start one's own business, you can help these people
get their lives back in
gear and make a profit in the process.
One particularly popular health related topic is how
to lose weight and stay
physically and mentally fit. With health costs going through the roof with
no end in sight, many health minded individuals are in
search of ways to
become healthier.
By becoming healthier, expensive visits to your doctors
can be avoided. By providing accurate and timely
information on how the
health minded individual can improve their lives, you
can earn a healthy
profit.
Promoting
Your Publication
Once you have obtained a software
product that you can sell, you are ready
to tell the world about it. No matter how valuable your information is, you
will not make a penny from it unless you tell the
people who want your
information how they can get it. This is the most critical and most often
misunderstood step in running your information
marketing business.
Information sellers
have tried to reach their target markets with many
different techniques.
No matter what technique is used, information sellers
all try to cost effectively reach those people most
likely to buy their
publications.
Some of the most popular ways are listed below:
> Selling through
magazine or newspaper advertisements
> Getting free
publicity from magazines and newspapers
> Selling through
book distributors, dealers and resellers
> Selling through
radio and television advertisements
> Selling over
the phone through telemarketing
> Selling through
book stores or libraries
> Selling through
direct mail packages
> Selling through
computer bulletin board systems (BBSs) and online services
The above
techniques have consistently shown cost effective results.
Dollar for dollar
the best methods for selling your publication are by
advertising in
magazines, sending direct mail packages, getting free
publicity, and
using On-line services.
Direct Mail
The subject of direct mail cannot be ignored when
discussing how to make a
profit
in mail order. A properly designed and
implemented direct mail
campaign can often outperform a classified advertising
approach. The main
advantage of direct mail is that it is less expensive
than classified
advertising to generate qualified leads. Whether you do a two-step,
combination, or telemarketing approach to generate
inquiries for your
publication, it is important to remember that your
only objective is to
obtain a name and address of a potential customer. The time, cost, and
effort in placing the advertisements and possibly
setting up an 800 number
are often questioned when the only objective is to get
a name and address to
put on your direct mail package. This is why many publishers rent mailing
lists of prospective customers to lower their costs
and spend less time and
effort in getting orders.
In its simplest form, direct mail involves mailing the
direct mail packages,
explained in the two-step advertising approach, to a
mailing list of names and
addresses of prospective customers. Many mailing list brokers are willing to
rent you names and addresses of prospective customers,
usually grouped by
their field of interest. These lists are usually rented for one time use.
Most brokers will put a few secret names and addresses
in their list that
actually end up at one of the broker's addresses. By doing this they can
check to see if you have used the list more than one
time.
Mailing list rates
usually run between $40 to $75 per 1000 names. The
names
and addresses usually are on peel and stick labels
that you attach to your
direct mail envelopes.
Some mailing list companies may offer their names on
computer disk for those who have a computer. If your mailing is small and
you have the time, you may want to hand address your
envelopes. Hand
addressing is more personal and has been proven to
increase the chance of
having your mail opened. Since the main cost in direct mail is the postage,
many direct mailers obtain a third class bulk rate
permit from their local
post office that will allow them to save significantly
on their postage costs.
This permit
currently costs $75. If
you get a bulk rate permit, make sure to
buy the lists that are sorted by consecutive zip code. This will help you
organize your mailing to comply with the bulk rate
mailing requirements.
Mailing lists are usually created in one of three ways.
They can be compiled,
built, or purchased.
Compiled lists contain names that have been obtained
from published sources such as telephone books,
directories, and newspapers.
These lists are good for reaching easy to categorize
professionals such as
attorneys, accountants, and doctors. Built lists contain names that have
been obtained from exclusive sources such as a
company's list of repeat
customers. These
lists are good for reaching buyers of products that are
similar to your own line. Purchased lists contain names that have been
obtained based on their buying habits such as mail
order buyers. These
lists are good for reaching people whose buying habits
are similar to those
of your customers.
Usually, the more specific the list, the better the
response rate will be.
Let's say you want to sell a directory of golf courses
in the United States.
A mailing list containing names and addresses of
golfers over the age of 55,
who make over $100,000 a
year, travel, or are retired, will be a better list
to send your direct mail piece to than a generic list
of sports enthusiasts.
The more specific the mailing list the more it will
cost. It is also
important to specify that the lists have names and
addresses less than 90 days
old. This
will insure fresh prospects who have not seen many other book
offers. It
is even better if you can get a list less than 30 days old.
The day on which your direct mail offer arrives is
important. You do not
want your mailing to arrive during the weekend or at
the end of the month.
People usually plan activities during the weekend and
may not have time to
read your entire direct mail package. At the end of the month, people
usually have to pay bills and thus may not have enough
money for your offer.
One other time of the year to avoid are the holidays. If
possible, try to
have your mailing arrive
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
Let's take a quick look at the advantages and
disadvantages of a direct mail
and classified advertising campaign. Particular attention should be paid to
the cost, time, and effort required to obtain the
inquiries. This is because
once the inquiries are obtained, the cost to mail your
direct mail packages
is the same. The
only exception to this is if you have obtained a third
class bulk rate permit to reduce your postage costs. Since mailers are
currently required to mail no less than 200 pieces at one time or 50 pounds
to qualify for bulk rates, those who use mailing lists
can easily qualify.
If you are using classified advertisements to generate
your names and
addresses, you will need to receive 200 inquiries every few days to
successfully utilize a
third class bulk rate permit. This
is only possible
in a major classified advertising campaign. An example of the costs of a
direct mail approach and a classified advertising
approach follows:
Using BBSs
And Online Services To Promote Your Products
Using a computer bulletin board system (BBS) and online service to promote
your publication is the newest and most exciting
method to get sales for your
business. The
best part about it is that you don't have to own a computer or
even know anything about computers to take advantage
of this explosive method.
Before the method is explained, you need to first
understand what BBSs and
online services are and how they operate. Let's first take a look at BBSs.
What Are
BBSes?
BBSs are
computer systems that are accessible through the phone lines by
those who have a computer and modem. There are over 50,000
BBSs in the
United States. Most
BBSs are owned and operated by individuals
and small
companies. While
many are free to access, other than the cost of the call,
others charge small yearly subscription fees in order
to have unlimited
access. These
subscription fees are usually $10 to $20 a year. Users who
have a computer and modem connected to a telephone
line can connect to these
BBSs to
perform a variety of actions.
The main reason people connect to a BBS is to download and upload computer
files between their
computer and the BBS. Downloading means copying a
computer file from the
BBS to your computer while uploading means copying
files from your computer
to the BBS. Some information on the BBS can
be
read while connected
online. Usually BBSs have computer files
that are
related to a certain
field of interest. Some of the larger and
more advanced
BBSs allow users to send
electronic messages to each other, known as
"e-mail." Other BBSs allow users to communicate in real time
with others who
are connected. This communication is done by typing messages on
the screen
that other users can see
and respond to. These additional features are
what
begins to separate BBSs
from online services. Check your local
library for
a directory of BBSs.
What are
Online Services?
Most online services contain all the features of
traditional BBSs. Some
online services actually began as small BBSs. For one reason or another they
developed into major operations, many with over 500,000 subscribers.
Currently there are fewer than 10 major online
services in the United States.
The appendix contains a list of some of them. Some of the most popular ones,
include American Online, Prodigy, CompuServe, GEnie,
and Delphi. Many
offer
free trial periods to
let you test their service, so call them for details.
Besides transferring
files, sending e-mail, and "chatting" in real time with
others, online services
offer users access to more information than
traditional BBSs. Many major newspapers and
magazines have recognized the
power of online services and thus have made their
articles electronically
accessible on some of the major online services. Some online services offer
users the ability to access stock quotes, make travel
arrangements, purchase
products, and read the day's news, sports, and
weather. Some companies offer
technical assistance through online services.
Most of the online services
offer users forums in which users with similar
interests can "chat" online
and transfer relevant computer files. These forums, also known as Special
Interest Groups (SIGs), are a proven way of targeting
your market. Most
online services charge
about $10 a month for a limited amount of connect
time. Online services are one of the first usable
services to evolve from
the much talked about
"Information Superhighway." Now
that you understand
what BBSs and online services are and how they work,
let's see how you can
use them to help sell your publications.
First of all, while BBSs can be used to help promote
your publication, it is
recommended that you concentrate your marketing
efforts on the online
services. The
reason is the quality of the customers. Many
of the users of
free BBSs don't have credit cards, are young, and are
only interested in free
information. There are three advantages to online service
subscribers:
1) Since credit
cards are usually required for service, most subscribers own
a credit card.
2) Most subscribers
are professional people with annual incomes above $30,000.
3) By being a
subscriber, they've proven their wiliness to pay for access to
information.
There are a couple of different ways to use online
services for your
publishing business.
The most popular involves the placement of electronic
classified advertisements on one or more of the online
services. While some
may charge, others include this feature in your
monthly fee. Let's take a
look at one of the ways you can use this technology to
your advantage. It is
assumed that you own or have access to a computer and
modem. If you don't
own or have access to a computer and modem, there are
individuals and
companies that can do everything for you.
You sign up as a subscriber to the online service,
paying about $10 per month.
This will allow you to use the online service for
about five hours of connect
time a month. Although
more time is available for an extra fee, five hours is
more than enough.
First, you take a few minutes and simply write a classified
advertisement online.
Although the online services call them classified
advertisements, there is often no rule as to how long
they can be. Thus you
can type your entire sales letter in as your
classified advertisement. When
you are done writing your advertisement, you post it
under an appropriate
category. The
categories are similar to those in newspaper's and magazine's
classified sections.
Within hours, possibly minutes, millions of people can
access your advertisement! It is that simple!
The majority of electronic marketers use the two-step
approach to getting
orders for their publications. Their classified advertisement generates
inquiries, and then these inquiries are sent
additional information to
generate an order.
Some publishers report getting 100's of
inquiries
a day using this approach. Other publishers have successfully used the
one-step and combination-approaches.
As mentioned earlier, most online services give users
the ability to send and
receive e-mail to other users of the online service. Thus if you want to get
inquiries, you can request readers of your classified
advertisement to send
an e-mail to you with their name and mailing address. You can then either
mail them more information or respond by sending an
e-mail back to them with
more information. You can send and receive your e-mail anytime you
log on to
the online service with your
computer. You can also list your mailing
address
and phone number in your
classified advertisement for customers who prefer not
to use e-mail. If they want to place an order, they can e-mail
you their
credit card information, if
you accept credit cards, or they can mail in
their payment. Once paid, you can mail them your publication.
Advertising on an online
service is advantageous for a number of reasons.
The most obvious is that you
can write and post your advertisement in minutes,
not weeks or months as with
conventional magazines. It is also often free
or
inexpensive to place
electronic classified advertisements. Finally,
it can be
instantly accessed by
millions of buyers, often 24 hours a day.
Although some online services
do not allow advertising, the majority are
beginning to offer
advertising. For those that don't allow
advertising, you
can usually upload files
containing informative free reports or articles.
These files should contain
newsworthy topics written like publicity releases.
When properly written they
can help generate names and addresses that you can
mail advertising information
to. Users of the online service can download
these files to their computer
and read them after logging off the online
service. If they are interested in more information or in
other related
reports, they can respond by
calling or writing the author of the report.
These files can usually be any length. The
longer it is, the longer it will
take a user to download to their computer. A
report of 5 pages or less is
usually sufficient for most free reports.
These reports can be posted
in what the online services call forums. Forums
are areas of the online
service where people with special interests meet to
discuss relevant topics. These forums usually also have message and file
areas where more information
can be read and downloaded. The file areas
are
where you can upload free
reports for others to download. These reports
can
include your name and address
where people can get more information. Posting
one free report may get you 100's of inquiries. Best of all, it will cost you
only a few minutes of your
time to create and post the report.
The real power of an online service is its ability to cut or eliminate your
business expenses. Selling
information by mail has three major expenses:
advertising, postage, and
printing. Placing classified advertisements
on
online services significantly
reduces or eliminates your advertising costs.
Online services may also help
you almost eliminate postage and printing costs.
Your publication, if created
on a computer, can usually be attached to an
e-mail that you send to your
customer. For example, no matter how your
customers pay for your
publication, if they have an e-mail address, you can
send them an e-mail with your
publication attached as a file. When the
customers receive your
e-mail, they simply download the attached file to
their computer and read it
after logging off the online service.
To show you how powerful this
method can be, let's look at one example. This
example assumes that you can
accept credit cards for your publication orders.
In less than 30 minutes, you
can post an advertisement on the online service,
receive an e-mail for more
information from an interested reader, e-mail them
back more information (maybe
a four page sales letter), receive their credit
card information back in an
e-mail from them, and then send them an e-mail
with the publication attached
as a downloadable file. Other
than your
monthly fee of about $10, you have spent no money on the advertisement,
postage, and printing. You eliminated all
these costs! What other business
can offer that!
Although it is recommended
you begin with online services, these same methods
can work for BBSs that offer
posting of advertisements or free reports,
e-mail, and the ability to
attach files to e-mail. Your publication, if
created on a computer, can
also be uploaded to a BBS as a downloadable file.
This assumes the BBS owner
allows you to store your file on his/her computer.
When BBS users place an
order, they can simply download your entire
publication through the BBS. Your only real cost is the original phone call
to upload the file to the
BBS. You are probably wondering what will
stop an
individual from downloading
your publication without paying for it. There
are
two safeguards you can use.
First, you can encrypt the
file with a password. Without the password,
the
user cannot open the file and
read it. When the customer pays you, you give
the customer the password. Software companies sell programs that will encrypt
your file so that it requires
a password to be read. Second, you can upload
half of your publication that
users can download
for free. If they
like it
and want the rest, they can
order it by mail. You simply send them a
computer
diskette that contains the
rest of your publication.
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