How to Research Your Information Product

After being an affiliate and selling other people's products for what seems like an eternity, you are finally ready to write your own information ebook. The first step is going to be research. No matter what your ebook is going to be teaching people, you want to know exactly what kind of information they are looking for and would be willing to pay for.

For instance, if you are writing an ebook that shows how to budget and save your money, you want to find out what problems and concerns people have and need information on. Things like how to save money on utilities, cutting your grocery bills, best ways to invest and so on.

You want to be very organized in your research because this is a very important process in developing your product. If you follow these simple steps, you can obtain all your information and turn it into a very successful information product.

Step 1 - Gathering Information

In this step, you want to gather information and data that will help you decide on the relevant content of your ebook. There are several ways you can do this:

Discussion Lists: Ask questions to the members of all the discussion groups that you are a member of. See what concerns them in regard to the subject matter of your ebook. With most of these groups the members are very happy to help a fellow group member.

You can find all kinds of discussion lists here: http://www.topica.com
http://www.yahoogroups.com

Ezine Subscribers: Write up a little survey and ask your subscribers to fill it out and see what you come up with. Of course, if you do not publish an ezine, this will not work for you. ;-)

Message Boards: Visit message boards and again ask the members what information they would like to have access to and would possibly pay for. You can find boards of all kinds here: http://www.ezboard.com/
http://www.delphi.com/dir-delphi/

Popular Ezines: Subscribe to and read some popular ezines and see what information they are publishing. Expand on it and provide a more in depth study in your ebook.

Surf the Internet: Find out everything possible that you don't already know about your subject matter so you can provide even more information for your readers. I find a lot of my info here:
http://www.excite.com
http://www.google.com

Step 2 - Recording Information

As you receive or find pertinent information, you want to be saving it on a floppy or CD and also in folders in your email or on your desktop or wherever you would prefer. This will help make your research easy to get at and having a backup disc will provide insurance against losing all your work.

Step 3 - Organizing Information

After you have gathered and recorded all of your information, it is time to start organizing. Go over all the data and group it together in separate files or categories. For instance, if several people commented on wanting to find information on how to make a weekly budget and tips and tricks for sticking to that budget you could categorize all this type of data as budget keeping.

Step 4 - Outlining Information

Once your data is all organized you can begin outlining and separating into chapters. This is the beginning of your ebook. Making an outline helps you organize and develop your ebook by providing an easier way to format all the information you have gathered. When you have finished your outline, you can fill in each chapter with all the details and content.

Example of an Outline:

What is a budget?
a) why do you need a budget
b) how can a budget help you How to make a budget?
a) how to figure your expenses
b) how to figure your income
c) comparing income with expenses Tips for sticking to your budget.
a) how not to impulse buy
b) allowing for fun & entertainment What to do when you run short.
a) rearrange your budget for extra cash
b) trim the excess Ways to save money.
a) saving on utility bills
b) cutting your grocery bill
c) having fun without spending a fortune Where and how to invest your money.
a) safe investing
b) mutual funds
c) stock market

Hey, I think I have an ebook here! ;-)

Add as many categories and subcategories as necessary. The more you organize the info, the easier it will be to fill in the blanks. So, use what you are interested in and know about, expand on it with some research and you have the makings of a money-making ebook!