It's simple really.
Find a problem that needs to be solved in your niche and solve it for your readers in a simple and easy to understand format - then sell your product through a medium that adds the most value to the information (ex... ebook, DVD, Membership site)
The formula for making your own products isn't complicated - like I said, find a problem and solve it... BUT for some reason there's a whole herd of bloggers trying to sell products they
think their customers wantinstead of selling them what they actually want.
Let me give you an example...
I sell an ebook in the fitness/weight loss niche. Our workout manual, is based on exactly what our customers want...
- Short workouts so they don't have to spend 2 hours in the gym
- Quick results
- Nice abs (most people who buy the manual have belly fat they want to get rid of)
Most of our product's appeal is based around these main benefits. When we started brainstorming product ideas, our appeal looked more like this...
- 1 year worth of workouts
- 5 day per week workout program
- Workouts were designed to make you strong (close, but not exactly what they want)
- Different workouts that covered all aspects of fitness (fat loss, muscle building, strength)
Looking back now, I realize the original product benefits would have been a disaster if we tried to sell that. They didn't appeal to a specific crowd, and we would have had a very hard time selling those benefits.
No one wants 365 days worth of workouts - they want a 4 week or 8 week program. By selling a year long program, in essence all you're saying is "this is gonna take a long time". Nobody wants that.
People want a specific solution for their specific problem, and they want it now. In our niche, they're either skinny and want to put on muscle, or they're overweight and want to lose fat (usually stomach fat).
Appealing to your reader's specific problem is the key to selling a profitable product on your blog. You can find out their specific problems by using a survey, or by making a blog post and asking a few questions about their needs.
Shoe used this same method in a different way to come up with the idea of the
Shoemoney System. People that canceled from
Shoemoney Tools weren't canceling because they didn't like the program - They were canceling because they didn't know enough about internet marketing for the tools to be useful. So he took that info and developed the Shoemoney System, which fills that void for the readers of this blog.
Once you have a product your reader's want, there's a few other crucial tips you need to know. I'll explain those...
A Good Product Name Is Everything
Most bloggers when they name a product use a boring and "logical" product name that doesn't really hit any emotional buttons. Your product name needs to provoke some emotion, and promise a benefit to your readers. Just look at some of these book names that are at the bottom of the barrel on Amazon...
- Weight Loss Techniques And Tips For Smart People
- Transformational Weight Loss
Do either of those sound appealing to you? They don't to me! They're boring, vague and they don't provoke any curiosity for the reader. Now take a look at some of these ebook titles I've seen for the exact same market...
- Cheat Your Way Thin
- The Truth About Abs
Both of these titles
are money and make you curious to learn more about the product. Who wouldn't want to be able to cheat their way thin? The product name specifically capitalizes on the buyers tendency to cheat when they're on a diet.
Both of these product names also promise benefits, and hit you with POWER words... These power words are crucial to having a good product title.
Words like "Cheat", "Cure", "Miracle", "Danger" and "The Truth About" are very, very powerful words and grab the reader by the throat. They draw you in and make you want to learn more.
So when you're coming up with a product name, focus on the following...
- provoke curiosity
- grab the reader with power words
- be specific, not vague (lose 17 lbs in 90 days is specific)
- promise a benefit
Another trick is to use words that start with the same letter and sound similar. Such as Coca Cola or
ShoeMoney System. This has always worked well for product names.
Once you have your product name & concept you should focus on the format you want to use to deliver it.
Ebook, DVD or Membership Site?
Along with ebooks which most people are familiar with, there's a bunch of other formats you can deliver your products through.
Some of the main ones would be...
- Video/Audio - The benefit of using audio and video for your product is that you can charge a higher amount. Both of these mediums have a higher perceived value than an ebook. But in reality they don't cost you any more to make. You can do audios for free on your computer, and you can shoot your own videos with a $100 flip cam or by using Camtasia.
- Membership Site - On our fitness site we have a membership portion that we charge $27 a month for. Over the long haul it's much, much easier to sell to someone one time, and put them in a membership site than it is to sell new products each and everyday. Not only can you turn information products into a membership site, but you can do other things like sell services and tools (ex.. ShoeMoney Tools or Click Tale)
- Hard Copy Products - Hard copy products allow you to sell for a much higher price point than a digital product. I've seen instructional golf dvd's go for $197 for a 2 disc DVD! You'll never get that kind of money out of someone selling them an ebook. The only downside to hard copy products is you have to either ship them yourself or outsource the shipping to a company like Disk.com.
Once you find the right format to deliver your product, the next step is prepping your product for the sale.
The Secrets Of Selling
This is where most bloggers stumble.
A lot of bloggers think there is something "sleazy" or wrong with selling so they sort of half-ass their promotions and under charge for their services.
In boxing lingo, they pull their punches.
I can definitely relate to this as I used to have a very negative image of selling - but once I realized it was totally biased, my income started to go up pretty quickly.
I always had the thought in my head that I was ripping people off by selling them a product because they could find similar information somewhere online for free. If you're good at selling, and your story connects with your readers and the product fills a need in their life, then they'll be very willing to pay good money for the information you're selling whether it's available somewhere else for free or not.
One thing to keep in mind when you're selling a quality product, is that
both you and the buyer benefit from the transaction. Once you get the internal friction out of your head that selling is sleazy or you're ripping someone off, then it becomes much easier to make a sale because you truly believe in your product.
Shopping Carts
Once you're ready to sell your product, you'll need some type of shopping cart. We use 1shoppingcart for our ebook, but we'll soon be heading over to Clickbank.com. If you're planning on selling a physical product, then 1shoppingcart is the way to go.
These are both pretty easy to setup, and if you have minimal tech skills you can set them up yourself.
Why You Should Sell Your Own Product
If you have a blog, selling a product on your blog is a great way to diversify and add more money to your income. The main reason I started, was to spread out my risk and get involved in another aspect of Internet marketing . I already had my
MMA Odds site profiting off of advertising commissions, but the gambling niche is always shaky with the government rules, so I decided to get involved in a totally different niche which had a non gambling and non-advertising income stream.
Once you have your product selling pretty well and your sales page dialed in you can target bloggers and affiliates in your niche and see if they'll promote your product. This is probably the easiest way to increase your profits without risking any money.
Wrap Up
So if you want to get started right away, follow these steps...
- Find out what your readers want through a survey or blog post
- Check out other successful products in your niche via Clickbank and other affiliate networks
- Develop a product and come up with a good name using the guidelines above
- Set up your shopping cart and start selling to your readers! After you've had some success ask bloggers and affiliates in your niche if they'll promote your product.
If you have any questions on creating a product for your blog, leave me a comment below and I'll swing by to answer it.
