Page 45 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Information Analysis and Repackaging

Notes Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Define information products
• Describe handbook products
• Explain trade bulletin and trade facilitation.
• Describe IT-boom, in India and In-house communication
• Explain synthesis reports and trend report.

Introduction

Frankly speaking, information products include all books, reports, etc. In the Internet context, the
term refers to electronically deliverable, knowledge-based products. Information products are also
referred to as “digital goods” and “knowledge-based goods”.
Information products are products that can usually be delivered over the internet and which
essentially provide information about a topic that is of sufficient interest to get people to pay
money for the information.
For some people, this whole concept is strange but if someone told you there was a guaranteed way
to make money online automatically that didn’t involve any investment and that anyone could
start in 2 hours wouldn’t you be a bit interested? And if someone provided you with proof that this
system worked and explained how it worked too, would you consider parting with $10 to get a
detailed blueprint that showed you in 8 steps exactly how to do it?
Clearly, the answer would depend on how much you believed in the product but there are ways of
building sufficient trust online that get people to spend money on information products.
For example, good testimonials, a well-written sales page that demonstrates that the author of the
product knows what he or she is talking about and a money back guarantee all help.
The market for information products is huge and even before the internet it was huge too. What,
after all, are newspapers? Sure, they entertain as much as inform but they are in essence information
products. In fact a good way of defining an information product is one where someone is prepared
to pay more for the content of a product than the way it is provided.
Music is a good example too: the cost of a CD or DVD is tiny, a few cents. But people will pay many
dollars for a CD or DVD because it contains information that can be exploited in some way to
deliver music or a video which has a value.

On the internet many information products are delivered as pdfs and e-Covers
are used to help make the product seem more substantial.

The internet is an ideal medium for selling Information products because it can be used both to
advertise the product and to deliver it, all 100% automatically. The delivery is effected typically by
transmitting a pdf of the information once someone has made a payment using a service like
Clickbank. From a commercial perspective information products are attractive too because once
developed, and this process does take time and knowledge, the cost of production is as near zero as
you can get: the cost of delivering a copy of a pdf is effectively zero and so profit margins are huge.
However, do not under-estimate the time it takes to put a good information product together. You
need a skill to write about that is of value and you need to be able to write in a style that is clear and
readily understandable.

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