From A Single Idea To A Salable Online Product - How To Build Your Bank Account By Writing And Selling Special Reports On The Net

by Monique Harris

Would you like to add a quick boost to your online income, in about 30 days or less? Create and sell special reports.

Special reports are typically 5-20 pages long, informationally rich on a specific subject, and can sell for up to $50 (or more), depending on the complexity of the topic. According to Evan Neufeld, practice director of research firm Jupiter Communications, the top reason why people are online is for the information - making a product like special reports a hot impulse item.

Be forewarned though, knowing that information sells online is no substitute for understanding the sales process. I'd even venture so far as to say that knowing how to get prospects to purchase your products is 99% of the battle. While only 1% comes from the actual writing.

So how does one go about selling a special report online? The easiest option is to have resellers do the bulk of the work for you. Taking this route allows you to have multiple sales outlets, without having to shell out hundreds, or even thousands of advertising dollars. Plus it allows the reseller to offer a value added service on his or her Web site. It's a win-win deal for both parties.

Here are the steps you can take for creating your report reseller program:

1) Produce at least three different special reports, in the same topic range, so resellers have a choice of what they can offer.

Let's say you decide to write and sell special reports for dog owners who wish to have their pets featured in canine contests. One of your special reports could focus on grooming the dog, another could have instructions for teaching a dog tricks, and the last one could give an overview of the contest industry.

With the variety, you're more likely to attract a mix of novices and semi-experts, instead of one or the other.

2) Obtain software to track your resellers progress.

Your resellers will want to know when a sale has taken place, as a result of their referral. And this is a very fair demand, considering they're giving up precious Web space to take a chance on your goods.

Affliate Link, http://www.affiliatezone.com/al_13/affiliates.cgi?67, is a relatively inexpensive software program that enables your resellers to check on their sales stats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With no intervention from you, this program automatically monitors the resellers Web site and 'follows' each visitor from the time they enter the site, until they make a purchase.

This is a very attractive, and necessary, part of running a reseller program.

3) Have advertising ideas for resellers.

Work closely with your resellers to determine how they can best advertise your special report. As a matter of fact, before you even bring in a single reseller, you should do a test run of several different advertising techniques to determine which ones work best.

Whatever you do though, refrain from relying strictly on banners, like everbody else does!

Depending on how long your report is, you might consider allowing resellers to post excerpts on their Web sites. Providing resellers with testimonials for your special report has always proven to be a good sales tools online. Write short articles that pertain to the same topic as your special report, and let them be used in the resellers e-zine. The more ideas you can provide, the more you increase their chances for sales.

Monique Harris is the author of, "How to Successfully Sell Information Products Online." You can get a free sneak peek at this e-book by going to, http://www.onlinesalespower.com/infoproduct.htm