Make More Money From Your Ideas

Both! Some people prefer the physical products, and there's a certain feeling of quality to have something you can touch and feel. Others prefer the convenience of having them on-line. If you're going to create the physical CDs, it's then an easy matter to make them available on-line.

If you'd rather not do both versions, survey your potential customers and find out their preference.

Find out more about creating products.

Labels: product creation

"Some people seem to be able to "dash out" a book in a couple of days. I tend to be a perfectionist. It would take me months to put it together, which is time I don't have. Is there a formula for doing it quickly and it still be quality?"

Yes, there are certainly ways to improve the writing process.

If you're really stuck and can't get it finished, at least publish parts of it as articles, newsletter issues, blog posts, etc. That way, you haven't lost the value of what you have written, even if you don't get the book completed.

Labels: product creation, writing

"Is it OK/advisable to market someone else's products on your web site (with their approval of course) particularly when one first starts. Or is it better to start with less products or even just one product, but one that is 100% mine?"

The more important question is to discover what problems you're solving for your customers and clients. If you have products that solve those problems, sell your own; otherwise, find other products and sell them.

Most Internet marketers will tell you that they eventually end up selling their own products. But the key word is "eventually" - they don't always start out that way!

Find out more about creating products.

Labels: internet marketing, product creation

"It is easy to create an ebook from 10 or so articles but does this mean that the ebook lacks the quality of one that is written from start to finish without using previous articles?"

In general, yes, a compiled e-book will have less perceived value, especially if it's a compilation of material that's already available free.

However, that doesn't mean that it has no value at all. This sort of compilation product is an ideal give-away, which you can use to promote your business.

Find out more about creating an e-book.

Labels: e-books, product creation

"I thought the video of you demonstrating how to add search engine tags was great. How did you do that?"

I use a program called Camtasia Studio, which takes videos of your computer screen in action. You speak into a microphone, which records your voice, while you're doing stuff on your PC screen.

Camtasia Studio is available here.

Labels: multimedia, product creation, video

"How do I turn seminar material that is primarily experiential (the participants have an 'Aha!' breakthrough as a result of the training) and turn that into an information product?"

Give them a different experience.

This is also true of many high-energy keynote speakers whose presentation is as much a performance experience as an educational experience. This usually doesn't translate directly into a product. It's hard to generate the same experience in an audio or video recording.

Instead, your products could be based on the core material you present rather than the training itself. For example, Matt Church has created a high-energy keynote presentation "Fix How You Feel". But his products (books and CD) are based on the content behind the keynote, not the content of the keynote.

Labels: product creation, providing value

"I'm worried about spending a lot of money creating a book and then having it not sell."

Don't start with a book. By all means, do a lot of writing, but publish it as articles, e-zines, on-line courses, special reports and e-books. Give it away free (but it builds your credibility at the same time). Ask for feedback regularly, so that you know what's hitting the right spot. After a while, you will have a good idea of what to write for your book.

Labels: market research, product creation, writing

"How do I get in the right mindset to do it? How do I organize a good recorder, video recorder, audio recordings, support, etc.?"

You're making your life too hard. Start with something simple, like audio recording of an existing presentation. Even if you do it on a plain old cassette recorder, that's fine! Get the presentation transcribed, and you'll have 80% of the work done for writing articles, newsletters, a special report or maybe even a book.

Labels: product creation