Why do people buy informational products when they can get stuff for free?

Because it's really hard to find all the information you're really looking for, well-organized, in the same place.

Recently I went to a friend's blog about a year-long sabbatical, and like most blogs, it was organized with the most recent posts first. It makes no sense to read these posts in reverse order, but I couldn't find a way to easily click on the posts in the order in which they were written. That's the kind of stupid little obstacle that causes people to prefer reading ebooks.

Marcia Yudkin

Bigfoot12,

Because it usually costs almost nothing for the target market, i.e. You may call a $10,000 or so educational product "expensive", but that may just be you and not the target buyers who are used to investing fiscal capital and tapping expert manpower resources to improve the bottom-line results of their company departments or to further their consulting careers, since they normally have better things to do than just spend their time in collecting, analyzing, verifying and testing the info that they need on their own (or than just waste their time in managing their staff in doing these things on their own);

If it were from an author who's branded as an expert in the subject matter, then that's added value for almost nothing;

If the entire back end / front end system were at least decent enough to make prospects think and feel that the author is credible enough to sell something with beneficial content for almost nothing and has gone great lengths to provide valuable content and efficient customer support, then that's added value for almost nothing;

Since the author usually provides a moneyback guarantee along with a no-questions-asked refund policy, then that's added value for almost nothing; and

=>> Did I already say that it usually costs almost nothing, in exchange for the customer's time, stress and frustration, which normally cost a lot more than nothing?

Exactly. A good program is laid out in step by step fashion. Plus you get the benefit (if the writer is good, and the content is legit) of asking questions.

because, sometimes one line says it all

al

Alex and George have it right.

People buy information that's freely available elsewhere for a number of reasons:

1. "I don't have time for that."

So true! IM and research is incredibly time-consuming. If I can get the info here and now instead of having to dig for it, and STILL have no idea how much longer it's going to take me, why wouldn't I buy it?

2. ALL of the necessary info, well-organized, in one place.

This is similar to #1, but not quite. This is the primary reason I bought my first expensive, comprehensive IM course.

So much IM info focuses on just one method, tactic or area of IM. Podcasting. Ezines. Video. Etc. But NO ONE was putting ALL of those pieces together.

The course I bought did that: showed me how ALL of the pieces fit together, from A-Z. That was priceless to me.

3. A particular/specific slant on a more general topic.

You can find lots of info on how to publish an ezine. Or how to do surveys.

But how much of that info tells you how to actually make money with surveys or ezines? So much of the other info is academic, not entrepreneurial.

Knowing how to actually make money with info that's traditionally more academic is incredibly valuable.

4. Industry/group-specific info.

Many people can't see how something would apply to THEM. They devoutly believe their situation is different/unique and genuinely want info tailored to them.

For example, let's say you own a car repair shop. There's plenty of info on social media. But not as much (or none) info on social media for car repair shops. So if you can give them that, they'll buy it.

5. Tested/Proven Info

In so many cases, information for sale has been tested/proven in a way that free info hasn't/isn't. Authors and information marketers know their info is held to a higher standard simply because people expect certain things for their money and expect their money's worth. Therefore, they vet and test their info like free info is never vetted/tested.

In IM, how-to-make-money info, this often translates into personal experience. The seller has done what he's teaching and gotten results.

7. Info unavailable anywhere else.

Some people write and sell info that's really not available anywhere else -- or is only very minimally available.

My own business coach does this. She sells a course on her area of expertise, which she had a long experience in (14 years now). There are almost no books or other courses about it. And she sells hers for $2700.

Smart woman.

Hope that helps!

Michelle

That could have something to do with it...

There's fish in the ocean, meat in the form of animals in the forest, berries and mushrooms etc etc...
Still, people go to the convenience store...

Free stuff is anything between "yes", "no" and "maybe" answered by anyone (with or without an opinion).
A GOOD premium info-product is about "yes", "no" and "maybe" answered by an expert who likes to be paid for his knowledge and expertise.
If the expert answers "yes", you probably could have found a similar "yes" elsewhere on the internet for free.
If the expert answers "no" or "maybe", then most likely you could have found a similar answer at some place else for free too.
Then why pay?
The fact that I am absolutely sure that an expert answered "yes", "no" or "maybe" is what differs for me.
It saves me TONS of time.
ALWAYS!