This is a topic some people are pretty scared of. Sitting down, and ACTUALLY creating your very own product.
I have a couple of tips for you if you are trying to create your own product, but have a bit of writers block.
I know how hard it is to get all the things you know down on paper, in a way that people will understand. I sometimes think that people won’t be interested in the things that I know. I suppose these feelings are natural, but they don’t help!
If you are having any problems getting things started then here are a couple of tips tips.
- Outsource it!
You can outsource your product creation. Just head over to one of these websites.
I have used all 3, and have had good and bad results. The beauty is that if you aren’t happy, you don’t pay!
The way it works is that you post a project, and in this you write a summary of what you want. I recommend being as detailed as possible with this, so that you get EXACTLY what you ask for!
People will then ‘bid’ on your project, it’s kind of like the reverse of eBay! You will get a range of ‘bids’, but remember, the lowest bid won’t always be the best option. Check the person’s feedback and ask for samples of previous work. Once you find someone you are happy with, you award them the project. Now, don’t just leave them to it. Make sure you get updates on their progress. Get them to send you the work that they have done so far so that you can review it, this will make sure things run smoothly, and also save any issues when the product is completed.
I wouldn’t suggest just using the book produced as your finished product. You need to put your stamp on it. This can be as easy as telling your story, and putting your picture in it, this will brand YOU, and also people love to hear stories that they can relate to.
You will also need to get yourself some graphics. I recommend Michael Ottman at www.simpleecovers.com. He did my header, just check out his site!
- Blog Your Product
You might be wondering what this means. I think it’s a really handy tip and it kills 2 birds with one stone (not that it’s cool to kill birds).
All that you need for this is a blog, and to be able to convert a word document into PDF!
If you have a blog, then I’ll take a guess and presume you post to it! What you can do, is copy your blog posts into one document and turn it into a book.
So, plan to write say 10 posts on ‘Listbuilding’, for example, and write these over the course of a month (about one every four days). Just to show you how easy it is, your 10 posts could be:
- Why should you build a list?
- Auto-responders and what they do.
- What is a Squeeze page and how to set one up.
- Email marketing and what not to do!
- Building your list with giveaway events
- Building your list with ad swaps.
- Building your list with social media.
- Building your list with article marketing.
- Split testing.
- Building sub lists.
This is less daunting than sitting down and writing a full eBook. Once you have written them, just put all the content into one document! It’s as easy as that! You can obviously add screenshots to it if you like. This breaks up the text, as well as illustrates your written instructions, which people seem to prefer. This is a relatively easy task – but again, the images can just be added into the blog post, making the finished product all that more easy to produce!
It may require some editing so that the chapters flow correctly, but you could outsource this if you wanted – as well as get it proofread.
The benefits creating a product by blogging are:
- The content is already there. All you need to do is copy and paste.
- You have been providing quality content to your reader base.
- Blog posts are easier to write, and take less time – plus, you have to post to your blog anyway!
You might be thinking it’s a problem posting this information for the world to see, and then packaging it up into a book, but not everyone who reads the book will read your blog, and everybody people will read ALL of your posts. Even if someone has done, I’m sure they won’t mind getting FREE quality content.
As with the first method, you will need to tell your story and get some graphics done!
So, don’t worry about creating a product, it sounds harder than it actually is!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Dave!
Great post mate! Loads of great information, and you’re relating your past experiences too.
Love your writing style – conversational, informative and it flows well.
Will keep checking back!
Iain.
Iain Buchanan´s last blog ..And the winner is…
Thanks for the kind words Iain!
I’m pretty critical about my own writing, I suppose I will get more confidence in it over time, as well as improve!
Thanks again!
Dave
Great tips, Dave, and thanks for the outsourcing links. I have a project listed on eLance that’s not getting a large response so it’s nice to have a couple more to go to.
Cheers,
Rod
Rod Macbeth´s last blog ..Which AutoResponder Does One Choose?
Hi Rod
Thanks for the comment!
There are few more places you can try..
http://www.guru.com/ and http://www.peopleperhour.com
Odesk is slightly different, more like employees you pay on an hourly rate, but it is still good to have a list of places to go!
Thanks again
Dave
Hey Dave… nice post!! Great information here. I haven’t used an outsourcing agency yet. Are there tips you could give me to improve my chances of getting quality work?
Definitely going over to get my graphics work by Michael as well… thanks!
Peace,
Alan
Alan D. Harris´s last blog ..So I need help with a “split test”… any coders out there?
Hey Alan
Thanks for the comment! When you outsource, make sure your as specific as possible. Also, if you need it by a certain date, let them know! The best advice is to just check the feedback of all the people who bid. Also, once you find someone good, keep their details!
Yeh Michaels work is quality, you can’t go wrong!
Thanks again Alan!
Dave
Hey Bro, Great post.
Something I know alot about from hard work and making tons of mistakes
One point I wanted to add buddy was how creating a community around you, such as your blog and Twitter followers creates free R&D as well as market research!
Remember this when thinking about product creation, you can easily ask people what their biggest challenges are or what they want and use that information to fuel your next product creation project.
Secondly, by keeping the two way conversation open with your users or customers then you can see what they think. Negative comments are NOT a bad thing, they can be a great way of getting some R&D done so you can improve a product.
By replying and addressing the issues the user group raises, you also prove you are listening and striving to give them a valuable product that they actually want!
These are two key points that should always be remembered when creating a product because its not just the outsourcing and building a team thats important (although that IS hard and vitally important to get RIGHT) but making sure that team, once you have it, work on the right stuff because you made the right decisions.
Again, awesome post my man, looking forward to hanging around your blog bro, make sure you pop over and say hi at mine regularly too my friend, I’m looking forward to keeping in touch
Josh Bartlett´s last blog ..Video Marketing, Where do I start?
Hi Dave,
Just thought I would pop by and say Hi. I am a new student on Alex’s course. Awesome Blog loads of good stuff, out sourcing is the one thing I am going to look into. I think in my case it will be to get my Blog up and runnig quicker.
Will drop by again soon.
All the best
Regards Steve
Steve Bailey´s last blog ..A Quick Messsage to Everyone
Great post Dave
You idea of breaking the whole big idea to smaller parts and write them as a blog post is great, it’s so simple but I never thought of that. You mention in your previous post, you already making online, can you tell us more about that, and what is the main thing you learn form Alex?
I’m a fellow student of Alex too. I’m so way back from the module, need to do a lot of work to keep up.
One thing I don’t like about your blog is the pop up. if I go from one page to another, the pop ups come out again. This is just my personal opinion
Hi Kin
It’s a good way to take make creating a product seem less daunting.
I will be writing some blog posts soon abotu how I am making money at the minute, there are a couple of things I am doing, and a couple of things I am planning!
With regards the popup…it should only come up once!
Thanks for letting me know, it is a bit annoying!
Thanks
Dave
Hey David, what a great post, that’s one to keep for the future for me, thanks.
Was wondering do you have any tips on traffic generation to a blog?
Thanks Sally
Sally Neill´s last blog ..In It To Win It And Need YOUR Help