How To Sell Information Products: The Beginner’s Guide

How To Sell Information Products

Welcome to my complete beginner’s guide on how to sell information products.

In this post, I’ll provide step-by-step instructions to show you how to build a profitable online business selling your knowledge.

First, I’ll explain why now is the perfect time to start selling information products and discuss the different formats you might want to focus on.

Then, I’ll show you how to create them and walk you through a few different ways to go about selling them online.

And if you stick around until the end, I’ll also share some unique ideas for marketing strategies you can use to get customers. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started… 

Why bother selling information products?

First, let’s address the elephant in the room.

Why should you bother selling info products, when there are so many other ways to make money online?

Well, here are some of the main reasons:

  • Huge demand. Consumer demand for information products is sky-high right now. The eLearning industry reached a market value of $399.3 billion in 2022, and it’s been growing ever since. Online shopping, in general, is booming too—ecommerce sales are expected to account for over 21.9% of all retail sales by 2025.
  • Market longevity. Trending products may come and go, but if there’s one thing that’s always in demand—and always will be—it’s information.
  • Low start-up costs. According to the US Small Business Administration, the average microbusiness costs $3k to start, and that’s a conservative estimate. In contrast, you can start selling information products for as little as $20 (the monthly subscription cost of an ecommerce platform). The only thing you’ll need to invest is your time.
  • Easy fulfillment. Unlike selling physical products, you don’t need to ship information products to your customers—they can just download them as a digital file. This simplifies fulfillment and means you don’t have to worry about things like postage, inventory, etc.
  • Best way to monetize. 41% of creators say selling their own products is the best way to monetize their audience. That puts it above ads, sponsored posts, and other monetization methods. So if you’re a blogger, influencer, or content creator with an existing audience, selling information products is the way to go.
  • Infinitely scalable. Like all digital products, you only have to make an info product once and you can sell it an unlimited number of times. This makes it very scalable. To increase revenues, you can just invest more in marketing without having to worry about running into manufacturing and supply chain issues as you make more sales.

Types of information products

Information products can be pretty much any type of digital product that contains information your customers want. 

Below, I’ve listed some common examples, but there are many more.

  • Online courses. A series of modules/lessons that learners work through in an online course player. Lessons might include video content, text content, assessments, etc. You can charge a one-off fee or monthly subscription to your course, and you can typically charge more for courses than other information products.
  • eBooks & audiobooks. Long-form informative written content typically between 10k-50k+ words long. You can sell eBooks and audiobooks on sites like Amazon or your own website.
  • Worksheets & workbooks. Downloadable files with practice questions, revision notes, and other types of information for customers to work through. These typically sell at a lower price point than other types of info products.
  • Coaching. 1-1 or group coaching sessions in which you teach your customers directly. Coaching sessions are typically delivered over livestream. 
  • Blueprints. Design plans, technical drawings, or written instructions that tell your customers how to create something. For example, you might sell blueprints for 3D character modeling, or custom van conversions.
  • How-to guides & tutorials. Downloadable PDF files that teach customers how to do something. For example ‘How to get 100k followers on Instagram’, or ‘An introduction to the basics of Photoshop’.

Creating your information products

Next, I’m going to show you how to create your information products, step-by-step. Here we go…

Step 1: Choose a niche

First things first, you’re going to need to choose a niche. Your niche is the specific segment of the information product market you want to target.

I’d recommend starting by choosing a ‘broad’ niche and then narrowing it down further to a more targeted sub-niche

For example, some popular broad niches in the information product market include:

  • Health and Fitness
  • Self-help and self-development
  • Business and finance
  • Relationships and dating
  • Programming
  • Arts and crafts

Now, let’s zoom in on one of those. 

Within the health and fitness niche, for example, sub-niches include weight loss, muscle building, nutrition, endurance training, senior fitness, etc. These are the kinds of niches you’ll want to target.

When choosing your niche, the number one most important question to ask yourself is: What am I already an expert in? 

Ideally, you should focus on a topic that you’re already highly skilled/experienced in and passionate about.

However, you’ll also need to validate your idea to make sure there’s demand for it (and that there isn’t already too much competition), which brings us to step 2.

Step 2: Research the market

The next step is to research the market to validate your information product idea/niche. And the best way to do that is to browse online course sites like Udemy.

Look for courses that target a similar niche to the one you had in mind and see how popular they are.

For example, let’s say I was thinking about creating an ebook or online course that teaches older men how to build muscle.

A quick Udemy search brings up this course: ‘Lose Weight, Build Muscle, Tone Up-For Over 30’s’. 

Research the market - Udemy

I can see that it has 348 students and is priced at $44.99, which tells me it’s earned over $15k in revenue. That’s not bad and proves there’s plenty of demand in this niche.

However, I don’t want to compete directly with this course if I can avoid it. So the next question is: How can I differentiate my product and make it stand out? 

Well, instead of targeting ‘over 30s’, I might target ‘over 20s’, ‘over 40s’, or ‘over 50s’. 

And if I type ‘how to build muscle over’ into Google, I can see from the search suggestions that ‘over 50’ is the most popular search string, suggesting this would be the best keyword to focus on. 

Google Search

See how that works? Research the market in whatever niche you’ve chosen until you’ve honed in on an area with lots of demand and little competition.

Step 3: Use online tools to create your information product.

Once you’ve chosen and validated your niche, the next step is to create the information product itself. 

The way you go about this will depend on the specific type of info product you intend to create, e.g. an online course, ebook, PDF, audiobook, etc.

Below, I’ll give you some tips to help you get started for a few different formats.

Online course creation

The best online courses are video courses. So, you’ll need some recording equipment, good lighting, and ideally, a green screen to shoot your video course content. You’ll also need some editing software, and an online course platform (LMS) to build, host, and sell online courses (we’ll get to this later when we discuss choosing an ecommerce platform).

Note: You can also sell videos on their own, as well as as part of your online course. See our guide on how to sell videos online to get started.

Online tools and resources:

  • FlexClip. If you want an easy way to edit your videos, FlexClip is the answer. This tool includes stock audio, stock video, stock images, templates, and everything you’ll need to create great looking videos with ease. There’s also a bunch of AI based tools to help you save time. There’s a free version and affordable paid plans.  
  • Da Vinci Resolve. If you need something more advanced than FlexClip, try this. The free version is incredibly powerful and there aren’t many limitations. It’s essentially the same software that movie studios are using. Sure, the premium version offers plenty of benefits over the free version but you likely won’t need them unless you’re a pro video editor. Be prepared for a learning curve with this one.
  • Thinkific. This is our favorite online course platform. You can use its drag-and-drop course builder and pre-made templates to create all your lessons and organize them into modules. Lessons can include content like quizzes, surveys, downloadable files, videos, etc. Once published, learners can work through your course in the built-in course player.

Ebook creation

Start by planning out the structure of your ebook, and what you’re going to cover in each chapter. Then, you’ll need to write it, format it correctly, design your book cover, and get it ready for distribution. Here are some tools that can help.

Note: We’ve written a complete guide on how to create and sell ebooks here. I’d recommend checking it out before you get started.

Online tools and resources:

  • Google Docs. You can write your ebook in any word processor that can export in PDF or DOCX, but I’d recommend Google Docs. It runs in your browser, is free to use, and has built-in formatting tools (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) that you can use to organize your chapter titles so that you can create a clickable table of contents when you generate the PDF.
  • Scrivener. If you want something more advanced than Google Docs, Scrivener is a word-processing tool built specifically for writers. It has some neat features that help with the writing process, but it isn’t free like Docs.
  • Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is Amazon’s self-publishing tool. It can convert your PDF to an ebook (epub file) compatible with major retailers and gives you the tools you need to self-publish it and distribute it globally.
Ebook creation - Kindle
  • Canva. You can use Canva’s online image editing app to design your ebook cover. There are plenty of fully customizable templates to choose from, as well as a huge library of millions of stock images and graphics to use in your designs. Really, any online graphic design tool like Visme or similar will work.
  • Upwork. If you’d rather not design your book cover yourself, you can find talented, professional book cover designers on freelance marketplaces like Upwork. This is also a good place to find editors to help you polish your first draft.

Audiobook & podcast creation

If you plan to sell audio files, like an educational audiobook or informative podcast, there are a couple of ways to go about it. You can record the audio yourself, but you’ll need a decent mic and ideally, a recording studio. Plus, you’ll also need some audio editing software to polish it up. Alternatively, you can hire a professional narrator to record the audio for you.

Online tools and resources:

  • ACX. If you want to get a narrator to record your audiobook for you (from your ebook/script), use ACX. You can pick between a royalty-share model where you pay nothing upfront and split revenues, or pay an upfront fee and keep all your royalties for yourself. See our guide on how to sell audiobooks for more information on this.
Audiobook & podcast creation - ACX
  • SoundCloud. If you’re creating a podcast, use SoundCloud—it’s the world’s largest podcast hosting service. You can make your shows subscription-only so that users have to pay to listen, but you’ll split revenues with SoundCloud.
  • Audacity. If you’re recording audio yourself, you can use Audacity to edit it and tidy it up. It’s a free audio editing application built for podcasters.

PDF, worksheet, and template creation

Creating downloadable information products like worksheets, templates, and other educational PDFs is similar to creating an ebook. You can use a word processor to write the text, then add any graphics/visuals as needed, format and export it as a PDF. 

Note: See our beginner’s guide on how to sell PDFs online for a more complete walkthrough of how to create, sell, and market your PDF files.

Online tools and resources:

  • Canva. Again, Canva is a solid tool to use to create any sort of visual content. There are a ton of templates for different types of PDFs like worksheets, planner inserts, etc. and you can customize them freely in the drag-and-drop editor.
Template creation - Canva
  • Google Workspace. Use Google Docs to create written content and export PDFs. Plus, Google Sheets for Excel templates, or Google Slides for presentation templates.

Choosing an ecommerce platform to sell your information products

Once you’ve created your info products, the next step is to choose which ecommerce platform you’ll use to sell them.

The right choice will largely depend on the type of info products you want to sell and how much control you want over things like your store, checkout, and prices.

For example, you could use a marketplace to sell your info products. Amazon is one of the best places to sell ebooks and Udemy is popular for courses.

Sure, these marketplaces already have an existing audience, which will help you make sales. However, the tradeoff is you have to pay the marketplace a large cut of your revenues, and you lose control over how your products are sold.

And when you do your own marketing, you also run the risk of losing sales to competitors on those marketplaces.

That’s why I recommend creating your own store instead. That way, everything is completely under your control and you get to keep all of the profits.

Better yet, when you market your products, you won’t be promoting your competitors at the same time like you would be with online marketplaces.

So, which platform should you use to build your own store? 

Well, Sellfy is a great option. It’s easy to use and you won’t get hit by huge transaction fees either, which is why it’s one of the best ecommerce platforms for beginners.

Sellfy Homepage

You can sell most types of information products with Sellfy: Digital products, subscriptions, and even on-demand video. 

Should you ever want to, you also have the option to sell physical products and print-on-demand merch, which is a nice bonus. 

Note: You can sell courses with Sellfy as well but it doesn’t have a LMS (learning management system). If you need an LMS, check out our roundup of online course platforms.

Getting started with Sellfy

You can build your information product store with Sellfy in under 10 minutes.

First, sign up for one of their monthly subscription plans. Sign up for a free trial here.

Then, log into your account and head to the Products tab.

Sellfy - Add new product

Select Digital product and upload your information product in the appropriate file format (e.g. PDF, MP4, etc.). Then, set your price, add your description, upload any cover images as needed, etc.

Sellfy - Digital product

Once you’ve created your product, publish it live to your store. You can change the look and layout of your Sellfy storefront from the Store Customizer. And when you’re ready, start promoting your store and products to drive sales.

Sellfy supports subscription products too. So if you’d prefer, you can create a members-only library of information products and charge customers to access it.

Note: If Sellfy isn’t the right fit for your business, see our guide to the best ecommerce platforms to sell digital products for more options.

Marketing your information products

Unfortunately, information products don’t sell themselves. You’ll need to market them to drive sales. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Launch an affiliate program

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to sell info products. The idea is that your affiliates promote your info products for you. And in exchange, they earn a commission on any sales they refer. It doesn’t cost you anything upfront so it’s a risk-free marketing strategy. 

Sellfy has a built-in affiliate marketing tool that you can use to launch your own affiliate program. It lets you customize commission rates/percentages, commission windows, payout thresholds, etc. Plus, onboard affiliates, track their performance, and more.

Sellfy - affiliate program

Create a sales funnel 

Your sales funnel is the journey your customers go down before they make a purchase. It’s important to have a strong sales funnel in place to maximize sales.

For example, you might start by driving traffic to a free webinar designed to appeal to your target audience to grab their email addresses. This is the top of your funnel.

Then, you can nurture those leads through email marketing. For example, send out automated email sequences that promote your info product and offer exclusive discounts. This is the middle of your funnel.

These emails can drive traffic to your sales page on Sellfy, where they can buy the product. This is the bottom of your funnel. You can also add upsells and downsells in your funnel to increase average order values.

Social media marketing

Building an organic audience on social media is a great way to promote your information products. Focus on the platforms where you’re most likely to find your target buyers. That might be LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or anywhere else. 

Consistently post engaging content and engage with other accounts to grow your audience, and make sure you’ve linked to your Sellfy store in your bio.

Paid advertising

Run paid ad campaigns through Meta Ads, Google Ads, etc. to drive traffic to your store and get leads into your sales funnel. The more targeted the ads are, the better your return on investment will be.

Offers & discounts

Use Sellfy’s built-in tools to set up exclusive offers and discounts on your info products. This is a great way to incentivize potential customers to make a purchase.

Sellfy - Discounts

Guest posting

Guest post on popular blogs in your niche to raise awareness and promote your products. You can also try appearing as a guest on popular, relevant podcasts, or partnering with popular influencers in your niche on social media for more exposure.

SEO (search engine optimization)

Optimizing your store and product listings for search will make it easier for potential customers to find your info products on search engines like Google, Amazon, etc. 

There’s a lot that goes into effective SEO but you can start by doing keyword research to find out what search queries your target buyers are using, and then optimize your listings around those keywords.

Final thoughts

That concludes our beginner’s guide on selling information products online.

To sum up, the best place to sell information products online is on your own website, which you can build with Sellfy. 

Alternatively, you might want to sell them on marketplaces like Amazon, Udemy, or Etsy depending on your priorities and product format.

There are lots of different types of info products you might want to focus on. Courses, ebooks, and PDFs are three of the most popular options. 

It’s also important to research the market and consider your niche carefully. And you can create your products using tools like Canva and Google Docs.  

Don’t want to sell information online? There are plenty of other options. You can start by checking out the best digital products to sell online, or learn how to come up with new product ideas here.


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