Before You Begin

Do you want to create a product? Here's how I approach it.

Prior to selling anything, I first ask myself....what would my targeted audience buy?

This is quite important because different audience segments prefer different delivery formats. Recruiters, for example, preferred lots and lots of spelled-out examples for finding free resumes online.

Beginners to Internet marketing preferred a focus on 1-2-3 steps for making money (hence the format of Book 3 - it's a cookbook).

Other niches might prefer a short infoproduct that zips people to their destination quickly (ie, length doesn't matter). Still others might think that a 25 page report CAN'T be worth $57....so in that case, you'd devise 150 extra pages of filler information as well.

One thing I've discovered is you cannot tell your customers what they want. You can lead them there, of course....but you have to meet their perceived needs/wants before you can actually deliver the viable solution.

And that's okay, of course....they're the ones with the money and they're the ones who will purchase your product. Leave your ego by the door when you decide how to create a new digital product online....focus only upon delivering the quality and experience that's expected.

With that in mind, here are some tips from the Beginners Make Money Cookbook.

Tip 1 - Make delivery automatic whenever possible

If you're creating a digital infoproduct that is available via download, always to make sure it's sent directly to the buyers once they pay via Clickbank or Paypal. That helps with "instant gratification" (a big thing for products online.

I use DLGuard myself for all product deliveries, and I love it. By far, it has the most useful set of tools for customer maintenance that I've ever experienced. I highly recommend it.

But if you want to set up free deliveries via Paypal that aren't really secure but get the job done, you can enjoy the following excerpt from 24 Hour eBook Digital Product Creation:

(and I quote)

Okay. Here's where the toddler meets the ice cream. Here's where the winning lotto ticket meets your hand. Here's where the penny gets shoved into the VCR by a 22 month old who is thrilled by his own brilliance.

In other words, here's how you set up automatic payment/delivery via paypal. Note! It's not completely secure as people can learn the email address you will use for your autoresponder....but it's better than nothing.

Substep 1 - Get an account at Paypal.

Substep 2 - Verify you can get hold of an autoresponder email address. (This is an email address that will automatically send a pre-determined response to any email received). If you have your own website, you probably have free autoresponders as part of the package. If not, you can consider ARs like aWeber or ProAutoresponder .

Substep 3 - Determine the email address that will set off the autoresponder. For example, let's say that I want the email address send24@barbaraling.com to automatically send my 24 Hour eBook Digital Product Creation! . That will eventually be the actual email address of my autoresponder (but not yet).

Substep 4 - Configure your chosen AR email address to forward all messages to you. This is because you first have to verify it's valid for Paypal.

Substep 5 - Add this email address as one of your valid email IDs for your Paypal account. You will be sent a confirmation email to the new address. Confirm the account.

Substep 6 - Take a break and exercise. Stretch those muscles!

Substep 7 - Switch the new email address to an autoresponder account. Write a message like "This is a test."

Substep 8 - Send email to your new AR. Pray it reaches you.

Substep 9 - If it reaches you, cheer! You're almost there! If not, contact your service provider to see what went wrong.

Substep 10 - IMPORTANT! You don't just want to automatically email your product to a buyer.you also want to send yourself a copy of every time the AR is triggered! Thus, configure your AR to forward yourself a copy of each request as well.

Substep 11 - Create a download page and link on your site. It could be something like http://www.YourDomainSite.com/dw/24hour.shtml?100706 . Why do you add those weird numbers like 100703? Because when you change the download link in the future and track usage, you'll have a visual reminder of the day you put it up (in this case, 10/7/06 ).

It could look like:

Thank you for your purchase of Find Free Resumes....NOW!

Please click here to download your personal copy of fresumes.zip. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE Recruiters Entrepreneurial Twist below! Chockful of superb recruiting information, you'll find each issue to be of great value.

(notice my happy attempt at getting a signup on my ezine again).

Substep 12 - Password protect that directory with a user name and password. Use something like:

Username: 24buyer

Password: brightBulb

Substep 13 - Upload your final infoproduct zip file to that directory.

Substep 14 - NOW you can craft your AR message! Make certain to thank your buyer and include instructions on how to open and use your product.

Set your autoresponder to return that message whenever anything is sent to it.

Substep 15 - Send email to that AR address to verify you receive 2 responses - one should be the direct response from your AR, and the second should be a forwarded copy of your original email.

Substep 16 - The big test! Ask someone to send you a dollar via paypal, and to use your AR email address that you verified in Substep 5.

Substep 17 - Grovel before your computer and call your friend 37 seconds after she or he has done this to verify she or her has received the download instructions.

Substep 18 - Upon receiving positive confirmation of this joyous event, take a 30 second break and shriek to high heaven, I did it! Yay! If the mood really grabs hold of you, throw in a Xena yodel too. :-)

Substep 19 - Write your sales copy for your website and include a button from Paypal for people to buy. Make sure to include your AR email address.

And, my friend, THAT'S how you can automate delivery of a digital product via Paypal.

Fun, eh? :-) But what if you want to create a physical product? You can take advantage of:

Tip 2 - Be unique!

Physical products can include not only printed material and binders...but they can also include diagrams, computer disks, DVDs, videos, audio cassettes and even...

Laminations! Yes, back when I was teaching recruiting, I sold 40-odd page laminations sets for $135 each. The hook in that sale was that they're coffee-proof - if anything spilled on them, people could simply wipe it clean.

Creativity is a good thing....it makes you stand out.

Next, consider:

Tip 3 - Upsells

Remember, the first sale to a customer should never be the last! Once you have a happy customer base, you have a group of folks who like what you have to offer.

Thus, always keep in mind a product creation sequence when building something. I did that myself - back in May, when I decided to return, I came up with Book 1 - The Way of the Rich Hermit. I called it Book 1 because I knew a Book 2 would follow. And then when I polled my list and discovered that everyone wanted an-easy-to-follow recipe book for making money online, Book 3 was devised.

Above and beyond

Looking for resources on product creation?

Consider:

Cory Rudl's Course

Gimmie My Money Now

Quick and Easy Infoproduct Creation

I hope you've found the above useful! Please feel free to share it with your friends.

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