All-In-One: Creating & Publishing Short Reports

[admin]

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All-In-One Threads:

All-In-One threads is something I'm starting here where we as a group try to list damn near everything known about the subject of the thread. When you see an All-In-One thread feel free to speak up. It can be a 'secret', just a technique you happen to use or even something you haven't used, just heard about - whatever. Feel free to join in.

Please do not use the term All-In-One anywhere on this board. It will be saved for these threads specifically so at some point all one will have to do is search for the term "All-In-One" and all these threads will be easily found. At some point these will become some of the most sought after threads on the forum so it might be a good idea to participate if you have something to say people are going to really like.

If you have a great idea for an All-In-One thread please send me a PM and let me know about it.

To Find All All-In-One Threads Just Click Here: WarriorForum - Internet Marketing Forums - Threads Tagged with allinone

Thank you..
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Creating Hot little Reports have made a lot of people some great money. Please list any tips, ideas, sources or strategies you use to create short reports one after the other...

Thanks!

Allen

[vicone]

I spend a lot of time making small reports for bonuses and as free giveaways for optin pages. An invaluable aid is OpenOffice, especially Writer, as it is a joy to use and makes it quick and easy to produce PDF products.

As most are aware, it is a one-click operation to generate a PDF.

Ivan

[John Taylor]

1. Start by identifying a problem or situation in a niche
where people will spend money for a solution or answer.

3. Research niche forums, Yahoo answers, FAQ pages
and other authority sites within the niche to indentify
the real crux of the problem.

4. Write a very basic salesletter. Start by outlining the
problem. List the "symptoms" and any feelings or emotions
that are attached to the problem. Find a context or story
that explains how you found the answer. List all the ways
the customer will benefit from your content.

5. Write an outline of your short report using the sales
copy as your guide. Be sure to address all the issues in
your list and to deliver the benefits that ypur copy promises.

6. Be sure to create a table of contents with clickable
links to each chapter. Include a header, footer and an
author profile (include links to your other products)

7. Where appropriate add images to add impact and
to show examples.

8. Get a friend to proof read your document. When you
happy, convert to PDF.

9. Set up your sales copy and product deliver system. (Be
sure to check everything)

10. Launch your product.

11. Seek feedback & testimonials from customers and set
up a split testing script to find the optimum sales copy
format.


John

[Andy Fletcher]

Make sure you capture the email address of every buyer on to a list. Each individual report is often not very profitable. The real profit comes from being able to drive masses of buying traffic to each new report. Particularly traffic that knows you, knows the reports and are hungry for more.

To complicate it slightly further (but in a good way) offer 100% instant pay commission on every report and you'll find it a lot easier to get affiliates promoting you. Far too many people baulk at giving away all the money but you're only giving away "all the money" on the first sale. After that the buyer is yours and you can promote to them again and again.

Think long term. Build a brand around the reports and watch the sales grow.

[Jag82]

I'm in full agreement on the 100% commission strategy.

If you are pricing your report low, then it's even more critical to use this strategy. Because the aim in mind is to grow your list. Which you can then sell again and again on the backend.

Most marketers don't do this. Because they feel that they are giving away their profits.
To me, that's small thinking.

Think about this. The sales that come from affiliates are not a result of your efforts anyway. You don't actually lose anything. But what you gained is the affiliates' motivation to promote a 100% commission product.

With the customers in the bag, now that sets you up for bigger things to come.

Anyway I will assume you will drive you own traffic. So it's still possible to earn from the front end too. It doesn't mean you earn nothing if you give 100% commission!

A good script to do this, which I cannot recommend highly enough is Sid Hale's Rapid Action Profits:
=> Rapid Action Profits


Another tip for fast report creation:

Dictate to Dragon Naturally Speaking and let the computer all the typing for you. You would be able to get a 20-30 pages report in 2 hours.

I picked up another killer tip from Paul Myers on how to extend your productivity with DNS. That is if you are often out on the go, you may just want to record down your thoughts on an MP3 recorder whenever convenient.

Then use DNS to transcribe your recordings. You can have your dinner and come back to find all your ideas all typed out. Now how's that for leverage? Seriously killer tip from Paul.

Cheers,
Jag

[TiffanyDow]

I know I have a post in the War ROom detailing this, but I'll give the basics here:

1.)Use a forum in your niche to view threads for report ideas. Just the thread title, asking a question, will be enough for you to say, "I can write a short report about that!"

2.) Don't steal other people's ideas. Someone asking a question in a forum and you using that as a basis to create your product is different from you going into the thread and cutting and pasting everyone's helpful answers into your own report. Don't do it. Give your own unique, personal slant in the report.

3.) Don't worry about page count. A quick short report can be just as valuable at 3 pages as it is 300 - sometimes even more so. It all depends on the quality of the information inside.

4.) Make money reports sell quickly in this economic climate. It's just an fyi, but don't go making one to sell as a WSO and then go posting in the WF main section that you need $1,000 by Friday or you'll lose your home, too. Credibility matters.

5.) Flesh your short report out into a full product later. My Squidoo product started out as a short $10 report that was 14 pages long - I launched it as a WSO. Weeks later it was 90 pages, had everyone from John Reese to Yanik Silver promoting it for $47 (John even w/out an aff link). Don't leave your short reports to wither and die if they have more potential at a later date.

tiff

[gjabiz]

Here's a little report on the subject of HOTSHEETS, which are very short "reports"...download the report and if you have any questions, I'll answer them here, OK?

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/gjbiz/hotsheets1.pdf

HOT little "reports" are doing well BOTH online and off.

EXAMPLE of a HOTSHEET which could easily be converted to an article
http//:www.angelfire.com/biz/gjbiz/attention.pdf

gjabiz

PS. This was a gift to War Room members, now it's for everyone. The REASON I'm making it so available is I'm very OPEN to Joint Ventures with anyone with a good HOTSHEET or Special Report Idea...I've got a few lists to make offers to.

OH. Is there anyone in your neck of the woods publishing a PET FRIENDLY apt/housing guide? It is a wanted and needed service in all areas as more and more PETS need places they can move in with their Mommies and Daddies. Find all the Pet friendly housing in your area and create a HOT little report (maybe a blog?) that you could maximize profits on (ads, adsense, sponsors, etc.)

[Brian Cook]

I have put together (and sold) many short reports
over the years, and I typically get all the information
I need for each topic from the public domain (such
as .gov websites).

Brian

[John Taylor]

Remember that short reports can be...

• Used as a list builder in exchange for email address.
• Submitted to free ebook sites for links and traffic.
• Made brandable and given to subscribers, customers & affiliates.
• Sold as entry level products using $7 and RAP scripts.
• Submitted to give away events
• Used as bonuses for your own products.
• Offered as bonuses for customers who buy through your affiliate link.
• Sold with resale, or master, rights.
• Used as a downsell on a larger product
• Sold as a PLR product.
• Used to presell products as a "review Report".

John

[GuruGazette]

Originally Posted by Brian Cook

I have put together (and sold) many short reports
over the years, and I typically get all the information
I need for each topic from the public domain (such
as .gov websites).

Brian

Exactly! Make use of all that tax money Government material is excellent as a basis for expert level reports.

Also: For those in the US, go the extra mile after putting your PDF together and turn it into a Kindle book. Even if you only sell it for a few dollars, it all adds up over time

[JasonParker]

I haven't written one in a long time, but here's what I do...

*openoffice.org to create the PDF files.

*Techsmith's Snagit for taking screen shots... insert the images into your open office document

*7dollarsecrets.com script or rapidactionprofits.com script and offer 100% commissions

*get an ecover made from a one of a couple graphic artists on Warrior Forum

*write a kickass sales page. The one you get when you buy $7 Secrets is good to swipe from. It has a killer close already embedded in the template you get.

*sometimes put it on the WSO forum for a little less

[Paul Coleman]

To brainstorm a topic, and do your research, use this search Goldmine.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[Brad Spencer]

Some things are better said in a short report.

I've sold a short report that is 8 pages (including the title page) on Eliminating information Overload.

Make sure you're subject isn't contradicted by the size of your report. I wrote 8 pages on the subject so someone could read it in 30 minutes and be using it.

Lastly, don't overdo your report. The key is the concise nature of it.

Problem well stated + Solution Well Stated= Satisfied Customer.

Cheers,

Brad


PS- For your salesletter, pound home the solution that your report provides...not the size of it...

[Kevin AKA Hubcap]

Make use of color and graphics. A big part of our learning is visual. Take advantage if this by including graphics, diagrams, flow charts etc that reinforce your position.

Also, don't be afraid to embed short videos into your PDF. This can breathe new life into it and give it a higher perceived value.

Kevin

[Sagar Mehta]

In case it's getting hard to think of a topic to write the hot report on, use this idea:

1. Try to think of all the problems your target market or niche may be facing. Ezinearticles.com is a very handy tool hear and so are niche forums.
2. Pick ONE problem that's shared by a majority of your target market. This problem should be one on which you find a lot of articles or a lot of posts on a niche forum asking the same question over and over
3. Write your report talking about this ONE problem and provide a solution that they can use IMMEDIATELY
4. Upsell them on an advanced ebook which solves this problem even better and many other problems if possible.

Regards,
Sagar

[Will Edwards]

To create your report, you will need a PDF compiler. There are many available on the net both free and paid. My recommendation is to use eWriterPro because not only is it a great piece of software in its own right, but you can also sell it for profit too.

As my gift to fellow Warriors, you can get a free copy here ...

http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/ewri...iterPro-V2.zip

This is something that will serve you for years to come and, hopefully, you will make a little bit from it too.

Enjoy!

Will

[Jag82]

To extend the value of your report, consider adding
additional (bonus) components such as:

- Audio version
- Video version
- Cheat sheets
- Templates
- Swipe files
- Email consultation
- Entry to membership
- Resource file

You can either put them in together as the front
end, or compile to sell them at the backend.

Since these are all related, it is easy to up-sell.

Again, a script like Rapid Action Profits (RAP) can easily
allow you to do a one time offer after the initial front end sale
has been made.

To take it a step further, encourage your customers to
promote your products.

Since they have bought it, and alreadu know the
stuff you are capable of producing, they are more
likely to promote for you.

Jag

[FifthDimension5]

If you are going to sell a short report, make sure it contains more content-worth than just all of images in 8 pages. that is graphic to text ratio is well suited (like signal to noise ratio). If you are giving free report, then it is ok to put lot of images to fill up the pages if it falls short on content to write.

[Bev Clement]

If you're going to use PLR articles which are in text format use Rough Draft which allows you to see them, edit, grammar, spell check and save in a RFT format. You can then covert using Open Office or even better the Warrior Forum PDF which is a brilliant tool.

If you get writers block use ywriter which will help you to create the story.

What you don't want to do is write a bland, uninteresting report which nobody wants to read.

[marciayudkin]

One thing no one has mentioned so far is to create and distribute press releases about your reports, whether your reports are free or for sale.

Actually, you can write numerous press releases for the same report, as long as you use a somewhat different headline, a variation on your lead and different tips in the body of the release.

Here are two samples I wrote and distributed that show this technique:

http://www.emailwire.com/release/176...e-Report-.html

http://www.emailwire.com/release/177...le-Report.html

In fact, I did five releases for the same report! But those two should give you the idea.

Press releases give you high-quality links to your site, bring people to your site, inspire publishers to tell their readers about your content and more.

Marcia Yudkin

[James Pateman]

This one's worth a look:

Content Writing & Article Writing Guide - Find the Best Content Writers

(Disclosure: I have no commercial interest through this link)
Regards,
James Pateman

[Jill Carpenter]

This is how I create a report or e-book on a Mac.

I use Iwork, and specifically a program called "pages."

I use a blank document format.

It allows me to easily add page numbers, and has an area at the bottom where you can center things and put your web address or what ever that will appear on every page.

If I am looking for a picture to add to a free report on the cover, I go to stock.xchng - the leading free stock photography site and look for free images that I can use. Another thing you can use is public domain images.

Formatting with pages is pretty straight forward.

When the document is finished, you can export to a pdf.

Please note - this is not a locked document.

In order to lock it up, I open it into adobe acrobat and pop on the security feature with a password.

Then, save it and load the ebook/report up to my host.

I have also added reports as an attachment to the first AR that goes out within aweber.

[marciayudkin]

In order to lock it up, I open it into adobe acrobat and pop on the security feature with a password.

I do not recommend locking PDFs with passwords.

Why?

1)Anyone who badly wants unauthorized access to it knows how to bypass the password feature.

2)You will spend a lot of time calming down and helping customers who can't figure out how to open the document or who lost the password.

3)It sends your market a message that you are paranoid and fearful instead of confident and trusting.

In most markets, most customers are honest and appreciate being treated that way.

Marcia Yudkin

[FrankJohnson]

Following on Jill Carpenter (avenuegirl)'s post above, another good source of free images for short reports is Flickr.

Use advanced search, and choose these two options near the bottom of the advanced search page: 1) Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content; and, 2) Find content to use commercially.

Then on the photo page, check the link about rights under the Additional Information section near the bottom of the right-hand column to know what you need to do to be able to use the photo commercially. Often, attribution (in the form requested by the photographer) is the only thing that is necessary.

Of course, an email to the photographer telling them how you're using their picture would be nice, but not usually required.

Frank

[Jill Carpenter]

Originally Posted by marciayudkin

I do not recommend locking PDFs with passwords.

Why?

1)Anyone who badly wants unauthorized access to it knows how to bypass the password feature.

2)You will spend a lot of time calming down and helping customers who can't figure out how to open the document or who lost the password.

3)It sends your market a message that you are paranoid and fearful instead of confident and trusting.

In most markets, most customers are honest and appreciate being treated that way.

Marcia Yudkin

Hi Marcia,

Perhaps I should have been more clear about locking up. I meant "secure" the document. No password is needed to open the pdf, but adding the security feature prevents others from doing a copy and paste to quickly steal it and create their own report.

[andrew_writes]

Use openoffice to create and make as pdf

use lulu.com to make a physical product

use kunaki to upsell as a cd

[JamesPenn]

Hi Warriors

Fantastic thread. Creating and selling short reports is a fantastic business model that I've used for years.

A few years ago I created a product called Short Report Profits that details the exact system I use to come up with ideas, create short reports, sell thousands of copies and to build a cash cranking backend.

I've sold over 1,000 copies of Short Report Profits at $27, but Warriors can have it for free at the link below.

Short Report Profits

Hope you like it.

James Penn

[seanyd]

I use openoffice great tool for creating pfd`s

[Matt Maiden]

I just suggested this on another thread.

Find PLR products that have a sales page with plenty of bullet points and find the answers to those bullet points in the ebook.

Now each of those chapters that go along with the bullet point is a short report with a title.

If the topic of the PLR is "traffic" and one of the points is "4 Hidden Traffic Sources Revealed" then that is the title of your report.

Look for PLR sales pages with plenty of points and these can become Hot Reports.

Matt

[derrickvandyke]

I have a Word template that I use for every report. It includes pre-formatted headline, subhead, bonus box, legal, etc. and I use the H1, H2 tags for sections, which automatically creates a table of contents.

Word 07 converts to PDF. But I also use Acrobat to secure the document.

I use Viral PDF to make a brandable file and give it away to my subscribers. Sometimes, I give them a squeeze page with it. That gives them a complete system they can use to build a list and make money from the affiliate links. I benefit when people come back to my squeeze page to get the branding rights.

I also sell short reports (15 to 20 pages) for $7, I sell the resell rights for $17, and sell the branding rights (with MRR) for $27. Most people buy for either $7 or $27. I give all three options on the sales page instead of upselling on the order page. Nice graphics add value to the reseller package.

If you use this strategy, always put your resellers on a different list so you can follow up with other resell rights products. Some people will buy everything you sell for years if you know what they want.

[dndoseller]

Putting my SongMix Method report on Clickbank was the key success factor for me.

Affiliates come out of nowhere just through the CB system.

It was a summary of my songwriting teaching notes that I made into a pdf, put up a sales page on CB and it sits there are sells copies every week now.

I keep loving the Internet.

[SellDGuide]

Find a problem whose solution can't be found easily. Write a report that will resolve the problem. Talk about the problem on your sales page and let the reader know that your report will solve the problem for good.

[freudianslip27]

I have had a lot of luck with reselling short reports. Sure, you aren't looking to get rich from selling reports cheaply, but it can build you a great list of those all important buyers.

Building a list of people that spend $7 to get a report is a huge asset. It's a big deal to get someone to pull out their money. Plus, your report is in their face and a chance for you to show that you are credible, and give them good reason to explore more expensive products from you

Matt

[JAIDEEP2959]

These short reports are very easy to create as it takes less time and less research.

They are very useful for list building. You can insert affiliate links in those short reports to get commissions.

You can include link to these reports in Warriorforum signature file to get continuous leads free.

Good Luck.

[Testy Today]

Hi,

There is wonderful information in this thread. Very much appreciate it.

How long should short reports be?

Still a bit confused about what is the difference between these short reports and articles.

I am getting the idea that a short report would tend to be something you would sell (often as a first step to other sales). And that it would tend to be directed to address a specific need or issue.

Whereas an article would tend to be something you don't sell directly. Mainly, you would put it in an article directory and links from it would help support a product/web site. So it would be written more generally, like giving introductory or background information, and be less targeted than a short report.

Does that sound like what these reports are there to accomplish?

Thanks a lot

[Simon Ashari]

Reading this page makes me glad I revisited the all in one threads.

-Simon

[vicone]

How long should short reports be?

I've seen some short reports sold that are only 3 - 5 pages but more commonly they are 15-25 pages long.

A lot depends on the content you are providing and you only need to write as much as necessary to be sure you provide value and a useful product.

Ivan

[matsumoto2307]

Originally Posted by Jag82

I'm in full agreement on the 100% commission strategy.

If you are pricing your report low, then it's even more critical to use this strategy. Because the aim in mind is to grow your list. Which you can then sell again and again on the backend.

Most marketers don't do this. Because they feel that they are giving away their profits.
To me, that's small thinking.

Jag

Thanksk for the great tip. I didn't think of that! Will make sure to implement this strategy.

Thanks again!!!

[gjabiz]

Many of you, here and in the War Room have read my HOTSHEETS report.

Here are sites which have "withstood the test of time" and they have been selling both HOTSHEETS and special "Short Reports" for over a decade.

Take NOTE: Incredible businesses have been built around short and sweet and IN DEMAND information products.

Woodworking Plans, Projects, and Patterns | U-Bild.com This has over a 60 year history of successfully selling information products in the form of plans, products and patterns. GREAT niche opportunity. The woodworking crowd has been buying plans since the American Civil War. It boomed in the 1880's and hasn't stopped.

Jinny Beyer Studio One of my favorite "marketers". She has been an Internet Marketer for over a decade and operates one of the most "perfect" businesses you could choose to model.

Like Woodworking, Quilting and Soft Fabric Art has been a long running best seller. NOTE how Jinny Beyer has it "COVERED" from FREE samples, to Workshops, Reports, Books, just a sweet little business model some of you will find appealing.

Here is a site for IDEAS, there is STILL a market for new PVC plans. Create one, or put a twist on one of these and you have a neat little product to get you started, or another profit center in you IM portfolio.

Free plans and pictures of PVC pipe projects. Check out that sweet cherry red PVC bike. Wow.

Here is a neat web site with VIDEO as a sales tool for their PLANS: UH-10F Entry Level : Universal Hovercraft, The World Leader in Hovercraft Technology

See? Plans, designs, blueprints, project sheets, assembly sheets are types of "Short Report" products. They are often a single sheet of paper. AND, they have been selling for over 140 years without stop...and the Internet offers YOU a chance to create/acquire a specialty report you can begin to sell today.

ONE final example, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

This guy is HOT. Great example of a niche web site too.

INFORMATION, be it in a plan, a HOTSHEET or in a "short report" isn't going to go away any time soon, and it is, in my opinion, the easiest to start and easiest to keep going and to build from...it is still the BEST product you can offer to a niche of people who are passionate about a subject.

Hope you got some ideas. Although, my HOTSHEETS report is a little dated, (can get to it in link in above gjabiz post)...it still has some nifty ideas you can borrow and use.

gjabiz

[NicheSavvy]

Lot's of great information!

I've taken lots of notes to help mine improve.

I've started working on short reports to load with affiliate links & 'brand' via Viral PDF Generator. I then post them on document sharing sites, etc.

You can get some income when people choose to purchase branding rights, as well as increased circulation as they pass it along to others.

I like the idea of having a report template to speed the process. Any one know how to make one or where to get one?

Thanks for sharing all the knowledge!

[dh5114]

Awsome thread!

These were all stated before, let me just add few addons I use regularly:

- use big (128px) icons to get readers eyes flowing where I want them to. I use free icons found here: Icon Search Engine | Iconfinder (just change the button with "No licence filtering" to "Allowed for commercial use (No link needed)"

- use $7 script to sell reports for $5 - $12 and give 100% to affiliates to blow up your list.

- for topics I look at the covers at magazines.com - tested, tried and profitable. If the title is on the cover of any of those magazines, you can bet you bottom dollar someone researched that topic and come up with attention grabbing title. All work already done for you!

- Start small and keep all your reports on one main page where you sell them all. For each report just create sub-directory to host $7 script. One domain and multiple small & cheap reports is all you need to get started. Then branch out to multiple domains and fully loaded magazines you sell monthly subscription to.

- last but not least, I always make my reports rebrandable so buyer can easily rebrand links for affiliate products mentioned in the report. Offering buyer rebranding rights is of great addon-value but not all will take advantage of it - so my main report always carries my own affiliate links.

I use SimplyRebranded.com to offer my buyers easy & simple rebranding of my reports (find the link in the sig) but I'm biased as I created it. You can find plenty of other ebook rebranders online, some are even free!

Also, don't forget to mention at the end of each report how buyer can make hers money back...

[centerforkaziboralimited]

Do the following:
1) Analyze all the likely problems towards your target market.
2) Come up with practical solution.
3) Write your report in a manner that can be easily assessed and understood i.e. the use of table contents, topics and and subtopics. This provides a quick access to your ideas and solutions by your customers.
4) Remember to give recommendations for actions to avert future shortcomings