The Profit Academy June 24th
On June 16, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
On March 23, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
Here’s an interview with GoFishN.com owner Ned Desmond.
His product is a social network for fisherman which is free.
Ned charges commercial businesses who join $25 a month (right now).
Notice, right now, he is not knocking it out. You won;t hear any crazy numbers (though it will grow).
But he’s on TV! Without having crazy numbers.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
On March 20, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
On March 10, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
So why do you need to create products fast? Well obviously the first thing that springs
to mind is that then you have more time to sell the product and make money!
Yet there are also other benefits, for instance you can quickly establish yourself in a
niche, and quickly test niches out. Instead of spending weeks creating a product in a
niche then trying to sell it and finding out the niche doesn’t react as you’d hoped, then
you can quickly churn out a superb quality product and test it out.
If it works then you can quickly expand your product line in that niche and make it super
profitable even quicker, if it doesn’t work then you haven’t lost too much time and you
can move onto another niche and repeat the process!
Plus of course the biggest advantage is that the more products you bring out then the
more money you can make, the more you can tempt affiliates and the higher your
lifetime customer value is going to be. Try to tempt in affiliates by giving them lifetime
commissions on anyone they get to join your list so they build your list for you!
It also forces you to focus more, Parkinsons law says that:
‘Work expands to fill the time available for its completion’
So by using processes that save time and giving yourself short deadlines then you force
yourself to cut out any wasted time, effort and content, and focus on the important
stuff. That means your products will be lean mean profit machines which your
customers love as they are not full of the filler which normal products have.
On March 9, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
Nicheology Mini-Case Study #2: PITR DIY Home Improvement with eBay and
Craigslist, Paydotcom, Blogging & Autoresponder Series
http://www.nicheology.com/members/95.cfm
One favorite PITR (Product in the Rough) from Paul Evans’
Nicheology.com that has been put to good use by my company is
entitled, “Do It Yourself Home Improvement.” Here are several ways
we’ve used this document for lead generation and money-making avenues.
Ebay and Craigslist Sales
We branded the ebook and added a nice three quarter-sized ad on the
last page inside a bright yellow box with hyperlinks, created a nice
ebook cover for it, revised the sales page a little and sold the ebook
on Ebay. We offered bonuses, up sells (like bundle purchase discounts
on multiple titles) and cross promotions with other reports, like
Landscaping Basics, another Nicheology PITR.
At first we sold these as digital downloads until eBay’s digital
format policy prohibited this. Then we turned to burning the files
onto CDs, selling them in physical format, packaging them with bonus
stickers, mini-calendars, wrapped candies and / or other seasonal
goodies from a local wholesale outlet store in Ohio, plus promotional
items stuffed inside the mailer like print website postcards and
business cards with a special promo on the back side.
Hint: find wholesale lots of goodies on eBay to stuff in your mailers,
too! People love freebies – tiny wrapped candies, stickers for their
kids, small calendar / organizers and other stationary items.
Craigslist was found to be a great place to advertise the auctions,
directing people right to eBay. When you sell this way, you also
recoup some of your fees because of our own eBay promotions with sales
coming in via your own eBay (store) link. So this is a win-win.
Leads and sales of our other services and products are generated when
people surf the eBay auctions, store pages and leads-capture areas,
Craigslist ads and promos in our postal mailers. Plus funds are
generated as people visit the Google Adsense listings on web pages
linked off our eBay About Me page, the affiliate products being
advertised on our various linked site pages and our own company
products and services associated with the online promos.
Paydotcom, Blogging and Autoresponder Series…Oh, My!
Other ways we put this PITR to use include making an affiliate program
out of the ebook, blogging with some of the revised contents and using
some of the contents in autoresponders.
- We chose Paydotcom for the affiliate program software and management
solution, where for a one-time fee (I believe it’s still $50) you can
make unlimited digital and physical product as well as service
affiliate programs in just a few clicks, once you get the hang of the
software.
- We revised some of the original PITR content, added photos with it
and published it on blogs, driving traffic to the eBay auctions, the
affiliate book site we set up, plus Google Adsense and affiliate
products advertised in the blog’s sidebars as well as a small ezine
leads-generation form, also in the blog’s sidebar.
- As people sign up for the ezine on the blog (and at other places via
squeeze pages), they receive short excerpts of the PITR in
autoresponder messages along with other related info, often from more
Nicheology PITR content of this same or a closely related niche. Leads
and sales are generated as readers click links to check out ads and
calls-to-action in the autoresponder messages, visiting eBay auctions
and our websites and blogs, as mentioned above.
Are there still more ways to use this PITR? Oh, yeah! Here are 10 more
ways. You could:
a) Set up a squeeze page with multimedia for this for leads
generation. Offer a chapter for free to sign ups, then follow up to
sell the entire ebook – up sell with the CD or print version.
b) Turn the content into a video series.
c) Make an audio series out of the material – -a short series of podcasts.
d) Insert or package together your own home improvement tips, photos
and blueprints.
e) Break up the PITR content, revise chunks and / or add blurbs here
and there (hint: add your own graphics or digital photos) for all
types of other promos: on Facebook, in Tweets, in press releases,
online radio interviews and more.
f) Use this in your own home improvement membership site.
g) Package this in any type of formats and use as freebies or up sells
with your other niche promotions, online or off, in classified ads,
flyers, sales letters, postcards and more.
h) Learn from the info; fix up your home office!
i) Make this into an affiliate program with Clickbank or other
alternative to Paydotcom.
j) Make a membership site out of this targeting the site around your
own niche. For example, what work from home business site doesn’t need
to help others with home improvements? Realtors, doctors, attorneys,
writers, Internet marketers, web designers…who couldn’t benefit from
good old-fashioned home improvements?
There are still many other ways to put this one PITR to use. And
that’s not all there is in Nicheology. So stay tuned for the next
Nicheology Mini-Case Study and get ideas you can use for your own
business and self!
Sincerely,
Diana Barnum, CEO
Moving Ahead with eSupport Club
Nicheology Service Packages from Moving Ahead
On March 6, 2010, In product creation, By Paul Evans
Waaaaaaay back in 1993 I created my first product to sell through direct mail. It was a Bible study “slide-rule” for teens. Most likely I will do a little video about that this month.
Here are some ideas to help you along the way:
1. Keep a notebook and pen around all the time. Inspiration can come from anything at any time.
2. Don’t edit your ideas for products. What seems crazy today may make a lot of sense tomorrow.
3. Begin your search for ideas with your hobbies. There is a good chance you could come up with at least ten good ideas for each hobby.
4. Consider your past employment. What did you do and what aspects of your experience could make good copy for an information product?
5. Look around your neighborhood. All sorts of ideas on landscaping, housing, fashion, and even mundane things like lawn ornaments may bubble to the top.
6. Consider your family’s hobbies and interests. There may be something there that could be used to develop a great product.
7. Read a newspaper. Current events could trigger an idea that is both timely and likely to attract attention.
8. Visit the library. Perusing through the shelves might yield something that would make a great product offering.
9. Find a niche. Look for something that is a little unique and will meet the needs of a consumer sector that is being overlooked.
10. Watch television (but not too much!). Those infomercials might give you some ideas.
11. Listen to the radio. Listener comments on the call-ins, as well as the audio advertising, might yield some great ideas for informational products.
12. Ask questions. If you have an idea of what type of product people would like to see, you may find a way to turn that want into a reality.
13. Do your research. Begin by looking at other information products currently online and what they are all about.
14. Browse the Internet. Find out what people are searching for most often and develop some product ideas that would meet their needs.
15. Do some keyword searches. This will help you when the time comes to develop your web copy to advertise your product, as well as help shape the product itself.
16. Find a product that sells well and figure out how to make a new one that does the same thing, only better.
17. Consider combining two good product ideas in order to create one great one.
18. Make sure each product on your list of potentials identifies a problem.
19. Also make sure each product idea on your list solves a problem.
20. Ask yourself if the problem and the solution are within your ability to manage successfully.
21. Take your now full notebook and extract five ideas that you are excited about.
22. Research those five ideas in more detail, especially in terms of salability.
23. Ask yourself the five basic questions related to all informational products: what, who, why, when, and how.
24. What is the product all about?
25. Who is likely to buy it?
26. Why would they buy it instead of another product?
27. When will the product be bought?
28. How can a customer buy the product with as little fuss as possible?
29. Consider the format for your product. Will it be in the form of an ebook, a video, or some combination of the two?
30. If an ebook, what type of file will you go with? Use a format, such as a pdf, that everyone can manage with equal ease.
31. If a video, also make sure the product is in a format that works with all major video software types.
32. If a combination of the two, make sure the video and the text of the ebook fit together seamlessly and do not contradict one another.
33. If you have trouble developing your own product from scratch, consider becoming an affiliate.
34. If possible, get the product private branded so you can sell it under your own company name.
35. Obtain master resell rights as part of your process for selling a previously developed product.
36. Combine two acquired products into one easy package, giving what is old a new look.
37. Find your markets. Use your social networking sites, browser searches, and simple word of mouth to figure out who would be interested in the product.
38. Use terms that people can understand with ease. Stay away from too many industry terms.
39. Explain the technical terms you do use in everyday English.
40. Look for informational products that have passed into the public domain. If you find something promising, rework it into your own product and design a new package.
41. For new products to add to your line, turn to your existing customers for suggestions.
42. Set up a page on your web site and ask for suggestions of what people would like to see in the way of a product.
43. Test-drive your informational product. Once it is complete, try it out for yourself, to make sure it does what it is supposed to do.
44. Have a friend test drive the product. Your friend might spot something that would refine the product and increase sales once it is released.
45. Set up a test group – possibly past customers, or just a few people who do not know you or your products. The feedback could prevent you from overlooking something important.
46. Make the product as user friendly as possible. This not only means a format that can opened with ease, but also a file that can be downloaded easily, even on a slow connection.
47. Create support products that will help point toward your main product.
48. Set the product aside for a few days, then take a second look. If everything is in order, then release it.
49. Keep it simple – the less complicated your product is, the more appealing it will be to more customers.
50. Get to market. Almost everyone sits on their product too long.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
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