Creating The Right Framework For Your Information Product

I found this information to be helpful. I’ve been wondering lately how best to structure the content for my upcoming info products. Is there a particular framework that you like to use with your info products? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Michael Port writes:

“An information product or program often uses a combination of frameworks. Here are six of the most common (there certainly may be variations on the themes below):

Problem/Solution. State a problem and then present solutions to the problem. The Magic of Conflict: Turning Your Life of Work into a Work of Art by Thomas F. Crum is written in this framework. He presents a number of problems that people face in their life and at work and presents solutions to those problems using the philosophical principles of the martial art of aikido.

Numerical. Create your product as a series of keys or lessons. A well-known example of this would be Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Chronological. Some products need to be presented in a particular order because that is the only way it would make sense. As I mentioned above, Step A must come before Step B, as in Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler... ” [Read More]

“Curation” Is The New Buzzword Among Internet Marketers

So how exactly is the word “curation” applied online? Just like the museum curator, who picks out which paintings are shown, online curators pick out which bits of content are shown.

If you think about it, hasn’t this been going on since the dawn of communication?

Human’s have always shared what they felt was the most important, most relevant information to others around them. Even if they were the original source of that information.

Lately however, marketers have decided to call this “curation” in order to make it sound new. Regardless of whether it’s new or not, it is a very solid content strategy. Especially in this day and age! Let’s face it, there is an overwhelming amount of content out there now. We’ve become our own media outlet now that we have these smartphones in our pocket.

With an overabundance of content comes a growing demand for that content to be sifted and sorted. Curated to bring only the best bits to the forefront!

One old example of this online is The Drudge Report. This site produces no original content. Everyday they update the links on the one page they have. That’s it! This site gets butt loads of traffic, and it is worth millions. They employ a very small staff that “hand picks” the news they will feature on their homepage every day.

A better example would be The Huffingtonpost. As you can see, they add their own voice and opinion on the topic at hand in addition to syndicating content from other authoritative websites. It’s important to note that the owner of that site recently sold it for to AOL for $315 million dollars!

In regards to the word “curation”, Business Insider goes on to explain why it is becoming so popular with media companies large and small:

“..It’s a word that gained a lot of traction in the past 12 months as the overarching trends of ubiquitous distribution and mass content creation have emerged as the two headed dragon that may slay media as we know it.

The old model was “one to many”  (NBC -> viewers). The new model is “one to a few” (YOU -> your friends and followers). That means there is an overwhelming explosion of content being created (Twitter feeds, blog posts, Flickr photos, Facebook updates) and most of it is interesting to a very small number of people. But, mixed in with this cacophony of consumer content, there is contextually relevant material that needs to be discovered, sorted, and made “brand safe” for advertisers.

Curation is the new role of media professionals.

Separating the wheat from the chaff, assigning editorial weight, and — most importantly – giving folks who don’t want to spend their lives looking for an editorial needle in a haystack a high-quality collection of content that is contextual and coherent. It’s what we always expected from our media, and now they’ve got the tools to do it better.

Yes, that’s right, the future of media is better, not worse. It’s more detailed, multi-faceted and nuanced. And, just more.“

A lot of content creators aren’t so happy about the growing popularity of “editorial curation — human filtering and organizing”. Steve Rosenbaum, the CEO of Magnify.net, explains why:

Ebooks Are Alive And Well!

The future looks bright for those of us publishing ebooks! So long as congress doesn’t go and screw things up by passing ridiculous bills like SOPA.

USA Today reports:

“After graduating from college in 1980, Prescott had labored for almost three decades to become a best-selling novelist, writing more than 20 books under various names. He enjoyed critical praise and some successes.

But when 25 publishers passed on buying his thriller Riptide, Prescott thought the gig was up. Then, on a whim, he decided to self-publish it as an e-book.

Today, the soft-spoken Prescott, 51, is living his dream. He is one of 15 self-published authors whose e-books, often selling for just 99 cents, have cracked the top 150 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list this year, threatening to change the face of publishing.

For Prescott and a handful of others, the numbers add up. Prescott says he has earned more than $300,000 before taxes this year by selling more than 800,000 copies of his self-published e-books.

Five of Prescott’s thrillers have logged a total of 42 weeks on USA TODAY’s best-seller list.

‘If someone in this year had told me I was going make a lot of money with e-books, I wouldn’t have believed him,’ Prescott says. ‘I thought maybe a couple of hundred dollars.’

E-books are changing the way authors and readers connect.

Today, authors such as Prescott can bypass traditional publishers. They can digitally format their…” [Read More]

Are you as excited as I am? Leave a comment and let us know what is on your mind!

How To Set Up Google Authorship Markup The Easy Way

Ever wonder if there was an easy way to make Google recognize you as the author of articles and blog posts you’ve written? Well, wonder no more. It’s time to become familiar with Authorship Markups and learn how to markup your content the easy way.

DiTesco from iBlogZone.com explains:

“.. after doing a lot of research and countless trial and errors, I finally was able to verify my authorship markup with Google. Lucky for you, if you have not done it already, I will show you exactly what I did to make this work, the easy way. By easy, I mean, no coding or editing any of your CSS or anything like that. Obviously, there are other ways to do it, but trust me, I got very frustrated yesterday, and what I will share with you today, seems to be the easiest way to get it done. So, this is a two part process, the first being to establish your own authorship markup and the second to configure WordPress to allow inclusion of the rel=”me” and set links for your contributors or authors in their bio. Let’s get started..” [Read more]

Why Do You Want More Backlinks?

Most webmasters are obsessed with acquiring more backlinks. Visit any internet forum about SEO or internet marketing and you’ll see countless threads about how to get more backlinks. What most don’t understand is that a proper backlinking strategy begins and ends with your unique selling proposition (USP).

You must ask yourself… “Are you worth recommending?”

Forget about building up backlinks to improve search engine rankings! If you offer something that is worth recommending, you’ll be receiving so much word of mout traffic that you really won’t need to rely on search engines anymore.

Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey explains how to become worth recommending!

“One way is to be the very best at everything you do.

Another is to be obsessive about delivering value – all the time.

And have a story that spreads – often one that is tied to your purpose.

Watch this powerful video presentation at TEDtalk by Simon Sinek called “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”. It’s about the Golden Circle, and finding your WHY…a simple, effective way to get your prospects eager to do business with you.

Once you’ve reached this stage, one other thing matters. You’ve got to give your eager, interested prospects a COMPELLING REASON why they should buy from you, rather than anyone else.

And that means positioning and defining yourself in a unique way that sets you apart from the competition. In other words, you need a USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

Why Should Customers Buy From You?

The vast majority of businesses do not have a good, compelling or unique reason. Understand that this differentiation should confer an advantage from the perspective of the BUYER.

Saying you’ve been in business since 1932 isn’t really a benefit that’s immediately perceived – unless you can translate that into a benefit, as in:

‘Tailors for well dressed gentlemen since 1932. Our skilled designers have always been on top of current trends.’

The message to grab here is that conveying your uniqueness to your prospects involves a degree of EDUCATING them about yourself, your business and what you do to benefit them. Without the information, they will hesitate to make a buying decision. When they see all the facts, they’ll see the reason why what you’re offering is a wise buy.

Rolex Watches And Internet Marketing

Many years ago, I saw a magazine ad for a Rolex. In great detail, the ad explained what went on “beneath the dial” with beautiful pictures showing dozens of interlocking ratchets, with wheels within wheels. Each tiny, perfectly handcrafted element was responsible for a critical function. They all integrated perfectly, worked in synchronicity, coordinated wonderfully.

How did prospective buyers know all that? Because marketers TOLD THEM the story. Explained how their watches worked. Highlighted the benefit from such precision technology so that prospects were convinced that they wanted to own a Rolex, a masterpiece based on such technological excellence.

Schlitz beer ramped up from #5 in the U.S. market to capture the #1 slot after a skilled copywriter named Claude Hopkins decided to tell the story of how exactly they brewed beer. Strangely enough, the story was NOT unique. All beer manufacturers use nearly the identical process.