I saw an ad the other day that made me stop scrolling.
It said:
“1.8 million people search how to stop snoring every month. Create a £19 PDF guide, sell to just 0.1% of them, and you’ve got a £35,000 per year business.”
That’s a pretty simple idea. Make a simple PDF guide and sell it online. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
Because here’s the thing… I used to snore. Badly! My girlfriend couldn’t sleep. She tried earplugs, nudging me, nothing worked. After weeks of trial and error, we figured it out — a wedge pillow. That was the fix!
Now, if there had been a short £19 guide back then that just said “try this pillow”… I’d have bought it instantly. It would have saved me hours of searching forums and blogs, and my girlfriend weeks of frustration!
That’s why this model works. People don’t always want to waste time digging for answers. They just want the solution handed to them. And £19 feels like a fair trade for the time saved.
So here’s a roadmap you could follow:
Find a problem people are searching for
Use Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or just type into Google and look at the autocomplete suggestions. For example: “how to stop a puppy chewing,” “best way to grow tomatoes,” etc. These are real problems people want solved.
Write a short guide
If you can, write about something you already know.
Maybe you grow vegetables organically and have a few good ways to keep pests of your plants?
Maybe you’re a dog lover and know the best way train a puppy?
Or, you can use ChatGPT (free to use) to draft the guide. A few example prompts you can drop into ChatGPT:
“Write a beginner-friendly 10-page guide on how to train a puppy not to chew furniture. Make it step-by-step, practical, and easy to follow.”
“Give me a clear, concise guide on growing vegetables organically at home and preventing pests. Keep it under 15 pages.”
“Write a step-by-step guide to help beginners plan healthy meals for the week. Include shopping tips and sample menus.”
Once it’s drafted, just read through it to make sure that there aren’t any mistakes. You should also edit it so it sounds human, and not like AI wrote it…!
Make it look good
Use Canva and grab a free template. Copy your words in. Make it look nice. Export as PDF. Done.
Set up payments
PayPal and Stripe both let you create a simple checkout link. Both methods are safe and easy to set up.
Create a simple website
Think of this as your shop window. Just a one-page site that explains the problem, your solution, and a button to buy. You don’t need design skills. If you use a tool like Systeme, the are loads of ready-made templates that you can choose from.
Deliver the guide
You can either send the PDF manually after each purchase, or set it up so it’s sent automatically.
You can even create a dedicated email address (like [email protected]) just for sending the files.
Run a small ad test
Now you need to show people the guide.
Start with a low ad budget, say £50, on Facebook or Google. Use ChatGPT to draft your ads. Example prompts:
“Write 3 short Facebook ads for a £19 guide that shows people how to stop snoring in 7 days. Keep it clear, curiosity-driven, and friendly. Also generate an image I can use in the ads”
“Write 3 Google ad headlines and descriptions for a guide about training puppies not to chew. Make them attention-grabbing but simple.”
Start to end, you could probably set this up in a weekend.
If it works and people buy the guide, then scale up. If it doesn’t, then you’re down £50 and a few hours of your time, but you can move on to another problem.
That’s it.
You don’t need months of planning or big budgets. Just an idea, a guide, and a simple website. One of them could flop. Another could quietly make sales month after month.
Give it a try, and comment below.
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