Keep it Shippable, Stupid!
This is something I was thinking about presenting at my next live seminar...
But I'll share it with you here anyway!
It's something that most people who teach "productivity" leave out, and I see marketers FORGETTING this over and over again, even though they should know better.
This is "supposed" to be a programming concept but when I worked with other programmers, almost none of them knew about this, let alone implemented it...
It's Keeping Your Stuff SHIPPABLE!
I'll explain. Think about the order you see items (as a buyer) in a "fully optimized" sales letter...
- Free article or video you post to recruit affiliates
- E-mail ad sent by an affiliate
- Affiliate link you click on
- Squeeze page
- Pre-sell e-mails
- Sales letter
- Checkout page
- Upsell page
- Download page
- Surprise bonus
- Second upsell
- Post-sale follow-ups
The thing is, if you actually complete these steps in order -- you'll almost NEVER finish! Every time I've tried completing these steps in "order" ... I've never finished.
Imagine That, Someone Like Me Not Finishing Something!
That's because you have to get all the way to step #6 to even write the sales letter... and to #9 to even create a product! You've run out of gas before you even created the product. What in that list could you do without, if you really really had to? I'll tell you right now:
- Free article
- Solo e-mail ad
- Affiliate program
- Squeeze page
- Pre-sell e-mails
- Sales letter
- Checkout page
- Upsell page
- Download page
- Surprise bonus
- Second upsell
- Post-sale follow-ups
All you need is the sales letter, payment button, and download page to deliver the product. If you wanted to quit at that point, you could. I have.
Finish your product and have the sales letter and download page COMPLETELY ready to go before you do any sort of pre-launch, webinar pitching, affiliate promos, or anything for that product. If you think that's too much to ask... then make it version 1.0 of your product.
You Can Always Go Back and Improve It Once You Have the Bare Essentials Out of the Way!
This is the exact order I setup this 12-step sales process:
- Download page
- Checkout page
- Sales letter
- Upsell page
- Affiliate link
- E-mail ad
- Free article
- Squeeze page
- Pre-sell e-mails
- Second upsell
- Post-sale follow-ups
- Surprise bonus
You can literally stop at any point along this path. If you only create the product, then it's a bonus to another of your products. If all you have is a payment button... guess what, I have sold products without a sales letter -- just from a webinar.
If you have steps 1 thru 3 finished, then you have a regular sales process.
Anything After That is Just Extra!
Is an affiliate program or an upsell something that will boost your sales? Definitely. But you need to create the bare minimum shippable product FIRST, I'm telling you!
This also applies to your whole product line, not just the funnel for one product. Maybe you have heard this nonsense about what "they" tell you your product line should look like...
- Report
- E-Book
- Video
- CD
- DVD
- Teleseminar
- Webinar
- Seminar
- Personal Coaching
- "Done For You" (aka Glorified Freelancing)
Do you need to have all of this stuff setup before you launch anything? Of course not. My business thrived for years only selling reports and videos. I've been presenting with webinars since 2008. I've co-hosted two seminars in the past year but there's too much overhead with those.
All You Really Need is Just ONE THING in That List!
Preferably a report, e-book, video, or webinar.
There is absolutely no shame in writing short reports. A year ago I wrote a report called "E-Mail Marketing on Crack" in one afternoon and made $2,000 on the front-end and $2,000 later selling resale rights licenses.
On another day, I ran 13 hours of webinars... and at the end of the day I was so excited, that I immediately outlined my "16 Copybombs" video, and recorded 2 hours of videos in one take... which brought me 225 sales at 7 dollars ($1,575).
Both of those products are sold with the worst sales letters I have even written. I can't even tell you how they convert since I never setup split testing. I don't have affiliates.
$4,000 and $1,575 from a couple of hours is better than $0 from a couple of hours, right?
One Last Thing...
I wrote AND SCHEDULED this blog post for several days in the future, before mailing for it or even announcing it. Because if I wrote the blog post and then didn't feel like sending the pre-launch e-mails, I could launch the blog post as is.
Question: Do you operate under an almost paranoid "I'm completing the steps in an order where I can quit whenever I want to?" Because that's how I roll. If you disagree with this, is it because you don't know, or do you just think I'm a total idiot?
Looking forward to your comments below...
Filed in: Product Creation • Productivity
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I totally agree, how many times can you miss the boat due to over analysing something? Especially if you put things off because its too daunting a task!
Hit what you can manage then improve on it.
You’re totally right Rob… many people will invent new obstacles out of thin air just because deep down they really don’t want to finish and are looking for something to distract them.
Nice. I was just thinking about something similar last week. I’m in the process of selling an ‘traditional’ offline business that takes up a huge amount of my time. As I’m starting this business I was thinking I need to start writing my sales letters now so when the other business is gone I just have to finish the info products, which is what I know very well and will be easy to finish.
The sales letter will be what takes the most time and testing to get right and would take me extra time editing. In other products I’ve sold online I finished the sales letter last. It always delayed the launch of the product. Now I’ll be ready to go withing a couple weeks (or days) once I’m free of the bricks and mortar.
I don’t view a specific process to product creation and distribution. However, I like what you’re saying above. I think if you “Start with the end in mind” and work your way backward it will get more accomplished. And the end is what the buyer will see and experience as they’re buying, not the actual end product. That the last piece to put into the puzzle.
Hey Robert,
I’ve learned a ton of stuff from you already so it’s no surprise that this blog post taught me something new again! I really like the way you lay things out in an easy format and keep it simple… It makes much more sense.
In fact, just the one thing you mentioned “All you need is the sales letter, payment button, and download page to deliver the product” hit home big time!
It’s not that it was something new to me, it was the simple fact that I can always add to the project after those three elements are in place… Which means my projects get off the ground much quicker.
It allows me to see the big picture in a simple thought process, while still retaining any complex elements I might want to factor in at a later date. Good Stuff.
As always, great work Robert!
Thank You,
Bob Molton
http://LionShareProfits.com/go.html
Hi Robert,
You are so right. Too much analysis on the “clever” options – I admit, I do it to my cost.
I should have produced many more “shippable” new products this year.
I shall print your 12 step sequence and put it on my wall.
Thanks
Kevin
That’s the nutz… Since you didn’t list the product I can only assume it’s number 1 on the list? I know there’s arguments for and against creating the product after the sales page. In my (limited) experience I think I think it’s better to do the sales page first so the product lives up to the sales page… instead of getting carried away with the sales page and having to alter the product.
Plus I think you once mentioned a friend who used to create the sales page first to kick ? their ass into gear.
Wicked post, amazing content.
Thanks
Robert,
Another great post with excellent content. I look forward you your post each time.
Thanks,
Rob
RobertChic.com
Allen,
Yes, sometimes I write half the sales letter or make a basic sales letter before making the product.
And Lance and I have sold a product with just the sales letter when the product wasn’t finished yet (like a live class) so if it’s easier for you personally to write the sales letter first.
BUT the steps will still be the same. You’d still need to send people somewhere after purchase, either to an empty membership site or a page saying when what time and date the content will be up.
Hey Robert,
So many people over complicate things and that’s why I like you because – you’re the best at keeping things simple and adding more later…
who knows if the product is going to suck?
why put in all the work? …of course you can always sell resell rights.
Plus you lose out making money by delaying launching your product…
Finish the product while your still excited about it right?
Hey Robert,
It’s nice to see a blog post from an online marketer that isn’t complete bull. Must be the coder in you coming out.
It is a very sad reflection on the “community” (if there is one) that this is so rare and note-worthy, but kudos to you!
Alastair.
Ha. I’m writing “To Do” list software that randomizes my tasks so I don’t have to do anything in order. Makes it much more fun. Completely agree.
Robert,
What you say is true, and pure gold…
Get it up and running.. THEN add the upsell, One time offer, Affiliate program…
It’s the final 20% of a project that is what starts dragging and many times makes the whole project standstill and never move forward… get it up, get it out on the first write, and once it’s up you can always tweak it and build upon it…
and a quick tip to increase profits: on every product you made add the two words “volume one”.
Izzy,
Which one of your products has a title that ends in “volume one?”
Hi,
Nice blog post…right to the point. I also am going to print out the refined 12 steps.
Thanks for a “common sense” approach.
Peace,
Dan
___
http://actionmanage.com/
great blog post Robert. I wish I had read this last weekend (before my launch). I’ll definitely be referring back to this post on my next launch. Looking forward to your next post.
Yeah, I’m going to have print this one too.
I should declare 1 week as “Robert Plank” week and go through all this stuff stepwise… that means executing on every piece of it that I can, for a whole week. Client stuff (bill paying stuff) trumps through year end, but I can work on product during this time as well.
Robert your post has many take aways for me.
It’s true, I haven’t really started anything because I got bogged down in everything that needed to be done, which order was I going to do it in and could I focus on it for that long.
You’ve broken it down into blocks that make sense. Get something up there and then tweek or add things to it. You can always retro a bonus to the people who bought.
Great post and THANK YOU!
Brenda
Brenda,
“Retro a bonus” … that is a way cooler way of saying it! But that’s what I do all the time and that’s how I got over the whole “being afraid to price too high” phobia fast… start the price low and keep jacking it up higher as you tack on bonuses. And guess what… if you do launch webinars and blend your teaching with selling… use the recordings as bonuses.
Robert, another great post.
This ties in well with the project we have been working on and the things we have been learning in Membership Cube.
This is worth printing out as a reference guide.
Thanks!
Robert
I’m starting to notice, thanks to you, that it’s a lot easier and more fun to write the followups, blog posts, tweets, etc about a product that is already finished.
Marketing a product that doesn’t hasn’t been fully finished leaves a doubt that comes out in the marketing. I find myself more reserved and cautious if the product doesn’t yet exist.
I’m also getting a huge kick out of your masterful showmanship and teasers on upcoming blog posts and products.
You may want to consider a (mini) course on your method of getting such a fantasic response to your posts and products.
Hey Roger,
For the e-mail based stuff there’s http://www.emailmarketingoncrack.com (easy way to get started)
After mastering that, there’s: http://www.listcopywriting.com
And then, blog launches specifically is one of the modules in http://www.nerdblogger.com
But you’re totally right, it’s a lot easier to tease and make a point about just one feature once you’re 100% confident it’s already written and in that product…
Hey Robert,
I love this post!
Especially because in our experience (both our own personal experience and also in helping our students get unstuck and get online), the most important part is completing something and getting it ‘out there’ to start to make sales.
While I do admit to a love of lists of items to do in the correct order, this is pure genius.
Not only do you still have something online and selling even if you only get to step 3, but you can also start marketing and selling early on in the creation process. Then refine as you go, with actual customer data to point out areas needing assistance.
Thanks, as always!
Deb
Great post as usual Robert.
The product is definitely the most important thing.
In fact, you could even refine the process further and say that the ‘meat’ of the product is the most important. Say, the ‘meat’ is the real content chapter of an ebook. Forget the introduction, forget the summing up, forget the contents page, forget the resources link/sales at the end. Just the ‘meat’ is enough to have something that’s saleable or usable.
I’m sure there’s a similar analogy for video and other types of media too.
Another great piece of advice to add to my base…so that I can launch out of the gate the right way…and hopefully avoid a lot of the discouragements many people have faced before me cuz they weren’t lucky enough to have Robert Plank as their coach!
Hey Robert,
Great line of thinking – Freeing!
Start with the basics and essentials and then build from there instead of waiting to have it all ready to go before launch.
There is good, better and then best!
Start with what is good, make it better by adding more items on the list and then make it best.
Blessings,
Jim
Well said my friend. It is sad how many people need the “big picture” before they actually do anything and use it as an excuse to procrastinate, get stuck, do nothing etc.
Tackle the important stuff and the rest comes easy…
Nice…
So that means the ‘new eproduct’ that I have been alluding to in emails to my list DOESN’T have to be finished?
Cool, I’ll wrap up another few pages and put it out there as ‘leaked chapters’ and since I have the ebook cover already done, I can then finish everything in the next week or so.
Brilliance again Robert!
Thanks!
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve gotten myself caught up in the old “okay, if I have this, then before that I need that, or this, and yeah, I’m wasting my time and opportunities if I don’t get this in place before I start…” line of thinking.
Missed my chance on your membership post, so, sorry, but want to add a bit about that here. I own several(BM, MMS, a couple of others), and use, membership scripts/sites, some up and running, some in various stages of abandonment.
Recently I set up as simple a process as I could think of using an aweber squeeze page for a free download,(starts here http://www.focusonsuccessnow.com/ThinkandGrowRichFreePDF/ , leads to the link in my profile) leading to an offer for the audio plus a continuity for more audios (also delivered via email). While handling some of the membership aspects manually takes a little bit of time, I think the process (start to getting signups) has been the easiest, and soon will be the most profitable.
Simple basics, as you said, download page, checkout page, salesletter… everything after that is gravy.
Love the post.
Be well,
Allen
@Ron – A sure fire way to make sure “finish” up that book is too leak those chapters! Rolling deadlines NEVER work. As Robert likes to say “I can’t find soon on my calendar”
Leak those chapters and tell people the rest will be done by X and watch magic happen.
Nice advice. Speed to market… ready, fire, aim! Adriel Yapana
Robert,
I totally agree. It’s important to do things in the order of what’s most necessary and not in the order that a customer will see each item.
So working on the download page, then checkout page, then sales letter. That’s the opposite of the flow of the customer’s experience.
However, if you do it that way you can be ready for the customer much sooner. And the point about if you quit… well you can quite and still have something to sell.
Good idea!
Robert, I love your high volume approach. Just get ‘er done, rather than getting bogged down in the steps.
This post was a great reminder to not set up a product creation as a formidable project..but instead to spit out what’s in my head so others can benefit immediately.
Mynders,
How soon until your next project comes out? Remember to post it on the Google Group if you want it critiqued… before my last big launch, I posted my URL and Armand of all people, rewrote my headline! I thought I was dreaming…
@lance and @Ron How do you sell the product if you are leaking the chapters? If they’ve got all the chapters free why would they buy the book?
The reason I ask is I’ve got a product I’m creating that I’m thinking might be created in the same way and want some ideas on how to use that idea.
Rodney
Hey Robert,
I’m supposed to be in bed now but I figured what the heck… I’ve finished my sales letter challenge (hope you and Lance like it 🙂 ) and so I thought I’d see what the post was all about.
You are right of course… and it’s great advice for all of us. I bought resale rights to a particular product about two years ago and up until I joined your Membership Cube course I’ve not done a thing with it. Two years!!!
Why so long… well it was complicated. I didn’t have certain skills or certain tools. So I delayed it and delayed it, but the right time never came along… until now. Thanks to you and Lance, I’m almost ready to launch a membership site (woo hoo!!). Can you believe it?
Still alot to learn and master, but the basics are there and the challenges are just that, challenging. I’m going to tell you now I am swiping your M.O. on the challenges front for my new membership site 🙂 Sorry guys lol……
See you on the next Q&A challenge winners call….!
Hey Robert,
First time at your blog so I’ll have to come back and check out your other posts. I’m not sure how I got on your mailing list, probably from Ron Barret’s list but no matter glad I’m here now.
Great post but I’m not printing it – I’m bookmarking it (stumbled) so others can learn from it to.
Got to go now and reorder my project – just get it done – good lesson
You have reminded us of the critical importance of not just taking right steps, but placing those steps in the correct order, to streamline the whole process and kill the procrastination that lurks within all of us.
You and Lance have shown us how to remove the obstacles to achievement, that stand in our way, during our current MembershipCube Training.
It is a problem many marketers have, and not only in the product creation process,
If you’re an affiliate marketer, what do you do first?
run a SEO campaign? PPC, buy media? create the LP, write your review? what do you split test first to get your ROI higher etc…
It’s the same principle IMO
Great post Robert.
You’ve made lots of good points here, I’ll just add one more:
If you’re creating an info or software product, MY order is to write the sales letter BEFORE you create the product, that way when you think of great bullet points to add, you can build them into the product as you go, as opposed to the reverse…
Struggling to write a great sales letter, and wishing you’d added certain features to the product in the first place.
Tim,
I have done it both ways, but my only gripe to writing the copy first, is I always end up going back and deleting chunks of it later — stuff that I either didn’t have time to make in the product or stuff that wasn’t possible. So it adds more time.
Thanks Lance!
Great post Robert. Your site looks great on my blackberry by the way. How do you make it so mobile friendly?
Shannon,
It looks great on my iphone too. WPTouch plugin.
Robert,
I am always excited when a to-do list gets crossed off.
I think it’s brilliant that you actually wrote me up the list and then even crossed most of the items off for me.
I have to admit that often thinking “too big” can be an achilles heel for me when simple, scalable and DONE really matter more
thanks and take care
and kudos for actually creating a comment rush with urgency
gotta admit ive never seen that before
( well, one time I noticed that (M)ann coulter, adams apple and all, actually got over 800 comments on her incredibly inflammatory and controversial blogpost in the span of about 4 hours but I dont think I’d respect you in the morning if you whored yourself out to controversy and ignorance in the pursuit of publicity like (M)ann Coulter does)
thanks and take care
Bryan
“faceman”
Hey, Robert…..this is really good information. I teach people to declutter their lives and this is a really good example. We can get so bogged down in the stuff that we forget the process is supposed to work for us and not against us. Thanks for the info!
Ah…more things to think about…well, at least the thoughts will make me more money! 🙂
Great job, Robert!
Ken
Robert,
I can’t tell you because then I’d have to….
Admit it, you like that idea!
😀
Izzy,
You can’t tell me because you’d have to… what? You’d have to actually make the product?
Interesting article robert. That’s where I finally ended after spending so much time to launch my last 2 products this week. I got so fed up with all the things to do, I finally wrote the sales page (with the buy now button), created the download page, and Yallah !
That’s only when it was done that I realized that I had plenty of time for other work, but with a much more relaxed state of mind. I even found the time to register my product to an affiliate sales service based in France.
It’s crazy how things are much easier when the most important and vital steps are done.
I’ll remember this process for my other products.
Thanks
Olivier
That’s a big part of it, Olivier… not only is it over with FOREVER, now you have a clear head.
The most valuable tip that I learned from you and Lance is to focus on the critical few tasks and hit it every day. I now have a short list of 4 tasks that I focus on everyday, and I am accomplishing much more than I ever did in the past. Cut out the noise, focus on the short list and cross each item off one by one. It’s amazing what you can accomplish.
I’m one of the people that will be printing this out and putting it up on the wall so I can see it every time I start a new project.
What a great new way of looking at a problem that most people face when trying to create/market products or services.
Robert, thanks for sharing this and showing everyone there is a better way.
Have a great day,
Ernie
Robert,
An excellent post from a guy who is tremendously productive.
I think that in IM, many people (including me!) get so worried about having the full process in place that it inhibits productivity.
You have laid this out perfectly – get the essentials done and add to it.
Great job.
Thanks,
Kenny
Exactly Kenny. There’s this MadTV skit about weight loss where the announcer says, all you have to do is “eat less, move more” and the person in the commercial doesn’t understand it… because it’s TOO SIMPLE. How do you become more productive? Start less and finish more…
I sold my mentor program from a link in an email for over a year before writing a sales letter to promote it. This goes to show you that people will buy something they consider valuable no matter what you have left out of the sales process.
I focus on the tasks that bring me income and create results for my students.
Great post, Robert!
As always Robert — BRILLIANT. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Love your blog and your amazing products.
Donna 🙂
I like posts like this. And its definitely an issue for me. I’ve got a base group of template php/html files I lay down on a new domain/subdomain just to get me started on a product – sales page, download page, privacy, htaccess, etc. Yet I never seem to get the process as smooth as I like.
I know I would be interested in such a group of template files if Robert were to make a product of them……
Dave,
I have those files inside PHP Copywriting (which you missed out on). And I use “global templates” … so I don’t have to even upload files into a new account — it includes the files across domains. I use the same popup script, the same robots.txt, same privacy policy, contact form, header and footer, etc. And if I update one, the update applies to 100 of my sites. Boo-yah!
Robert,
Wicked awesome post as usual and I always love how you “launch” your blog posts…it definitely is a case of “less is more.”
Tonight I shot my first live webinar with Kevin Riley…I can’t believe it took me this long to do webinar recordings and such.
Between my video creation experience and webinars I’m going completely AV product creation in the future.
It’s easy to bang out a quick 1 hour training rather than write a damn ebook.
Your launch order thing is revolutionary too b/c it makes creating products and such way easier sicne you aren’t worried about some sequence (who said it had to be that way).
Absolutely brilliant!
Cheers,
Brad
Robert,
I agree with the others that said you are good at cutting to the chase and also at creating a fervor with ticklers.
Thanks for the abbreviated list, it is relieving. I have been trying to get things up and moving for months and keep spinning my wheels.
My biggest issue is that I have hard time thinking people will actually pay me for my information and then putting a price on it.
Membership Cube has been good at forcing me to at least try to get something real going. PHP Copywriting just sort of overwhelmed me after a point so will need to go back a piece at a time on it.
I really like the practical down-to-earth teaching from you and Lance.
Wow I used a lot of idioms!
Keep up the good work.
Very thought provoking. Begin with the ends in mind… and have in mind many ends that are all point where you could be finished and done and still make money…
Never thought of thinking that way… it is also a great “recipe” for designing programs or courses: always leave the student with something that, if they had to quit, they would have real value, something that they can make money with.
And I can attest to this, Robert, you take this thought process in your business through and through.
Very impressive, at any age… but for a kid your age, especially.
Good stuff, thanks for sharing Robert. Pretty sure I get more valuable information from one blog post of yours, than I do with 50 or more eBooks I have read over the past few months, many of which I have paid for.
The only possible way to write a blog post like this is to have gone through this whole process multiple times, then to be analytical enough to make something of the experiences.
You nailed it Robert. One of those great blog posts that reveals the previously hidden to make it suddenly obvious.
Robert,
Super post! It’s a daunting task to do all the things we “should do” in order to create a new product. Most of us get scared, overwhelmed, tired, or bored before even creating the sales letter. Your simple method puts the most important things up front. You can’t make a single dime until the product is out there for the masses. Get the most important tasks out of the way and launch that product everyone! Thanks Robert!
As someone who is just starting out I have found your straight forward approach so helpful and this is just another example of the great info I have gleaned from your posts. I sometimes feel like shouting “Stop the insanity!” when I see endless emails in my inbox claiming “this is what you need or need to know” But then I see your info and I know that like this post it is insightful and to the point. Thanks for putting things in black and white. I have a long way to go but you are more than helping me along the way.
Great Info, thanks for keeping it simple
Oops! Somehow my comment for this post ended up on the previous one. So here it is again:
Wow! Great timing Robert. I’m launching my 1st info-product next week. I’ve been doing pretty much what you’re suggesting, but this post is helping prevent overload and it gave me more clarity. Now I know FOR SURE I’ll be ready to launch.
Thanks again!
I think when people do go ahead and list everything they sometimes have a “feeling” that they left something important out that will come back to hurt them later.
Unfortunately, until you actually start a project you can’t find out if there is or isn’t something waiting to go wrong.
So instead of taking a pretty good chance of getting it right, they opt for not trying at all.
If more people were motivated by desire than fear there would be more success stories out there.
Your post has helped many alleviate their fears enough to go after their desires.
Thanks
Matt
Hey Matt,
There’s this guy I met one time at a seminar who had a big list of about 22 products ideas… he didn’t “want to miss one idea just in case.” Guess what, the last time I talked to him, he still hasn’t made a product. If the only choices are to miss out on 21 products or on 22 products, I’d rather miss out on 21 products.
another slap across the chops with a wet fish.
stop trying to make everything perfect and just get it out there.
thanks Robert
Gavin
The K.I.S.S. is better information than a lot that I paid good money for. I’m 71yrs old, on the internet for 4yrs and this is only the second comment that I have made on a blog. Thanks for the good info.
should the blog title not be ‘keep it simple’ rather than ‘shippable’ ?
Rob,
Nope… because keeping it simple isn’t enough… you have to complete your projects so that if you woke up one morning, and you were bored or wanted to do something else… you could launch it as-is.
Hi Robert
I’m glad you made this post, as it makes me feel just a little bit better about the minimalist method which I adopted at the onset.
Considering I work for others first during the day, then for myself at night, there’s no way I can fit in the 12 step “proper” method of IM.
Dennis
Robert, I think my favorite thing that you seem to keep simple is how you allow people to sign up as an affiliate right from the bottom of the sales page.
I’ve seen many fancier systems for affiliates, but I like how darn simple that is. You even have some training for the affiliates on the same page where they sign up!
I’ll be using this method in the next couple weeks to start selling my own product. Thanks for the inspiration!
Derek,
That little bit came from years ago being an affiliate. I can’t stand affiliate programs where you have to fill out 25 different fields — including your mailing address and everything — only to get an affiliate link that’s a mile long. And then there’s no cut and paste ad, no banners, nothing!
“Eat your own dog food” … use what you have already gone through to make a better product, web site, whatever… I was so frustrated by other peoples’ affiliate programs I made the one I use as simple as possible — even though it doesn’t have all the fancy features but who cares.
Great post!
Thankfully, that’s exactly the process I have (Sales Page -> Checkout -> Download). Though being a newbie, that’s still all I have. Formulating new product(s) for an upsell page, but that seems to be a ways off yet.
…still trying to get my initial sales page to convert better, as it is! Dismal is the word that comes to mind. hah!
Anyway, thanks for the insight. Glad I’m (accidentally or not) doing it in the ‘more effective’ order.
Robert, this is just pure gold. Thank you for laying it out so clearly. Now here are my thoughts about creating new programs, after creating some that worked and some that didn’t.
It seems to me that there is kind of a fine line between putting together content that overdelivers for my prospects, and taking too long to put so much into it that it’s, well, too much, period.
So it has to be enough that they will take action, but not so much that it’s overwhelming.
My question about this would be, is there a good way to tell where that line is? Or is it really a matter of trying and testing?
Robert, how do YOU ascertain (with any degree of certainty) that your product has *enough* content to launch?
That is the #1 burning question on my mind about product creation and launches.
Thanks for being “spot on” with this! (I guess my question really is, “How do you DO that????”)
Nancy
Nancy,
The easy answer is just… what do other people charge?
Not necessarily what everyone charges… but what do either your competitors, or people you want to be like, charge? Sure there are idiots giving away 7,000 crappy products for $1… but there are some people I follow who sell 2-4 hour videos for $97, e-books for $27, etc.
Actually Lance and I are trying to get away from low-ticket stuff and sell most things at $97. So what me and him have been doing lately is saying, what would he or I pay $97 for? And figure out the details from there.
Robert,
I like and totally agree with your formula. It makes sense to order your tasks in a way that allows you to stop even at the first step and still have options with what you can do (like you said about even offering the product as a bonus if nothing else).
I believe it’s a good idea to create while you have the fire in your belly to make it happen – even so there are plenty of opportunities to quit before you finish writing and formating your ebook or report.
Also – I like how you promote your blog. At first it was annoying me that you’re doing an email ‘prelaunch’ for a blog post, but its a smart way to build up anticipation and get a boat load of comments at the same time. It’s clear that you maximize your exposure this way and add leverage to even the simple act of posting on a blog. Good stuff, I’m sticking around to learn more.
An excellent piece and exactly my own thinking – probably because I’m a techie trying to me a marketeer. Without a product you have nothing, so surely that is the place to start! Then the basic sales machine and then all the bells and whistles, upsells etc.
It is exactly the same process those people who follow the sales funnel approach should be adopting – surely there’s no point in creating your $5k product if you don’t have you $5 yet!
Totally true Chris… I’d rather make money along the way while I’m making the product line, just in case I want or need to quit…
Hi nGood reading although at b68 some goes over my head but I would really love to get into the project. All the best for the future. My motto is, If you dont buy a ticket you aint gonna win a prize. Jim Hardie
Robert, in addition to providing your unique angle on things, turning them pretty much upside down, you are providing another great service:
you test and let us participate in your test… invaluable.
I have been watching the dynamic around your use of scarcity, and urgency, and I can’t wait to see how jumping from scarce 100 to scarce 150 (doesn’t feel that scarce, does it?) is panning out.
Of course you are still sleeping, it’s only noonish here on the East Coast, but once you wake up, I expect an email or two from you, I expect to see your face on many comments, and maybe it will be a done deal, maybe not…
I am waiting with baited breath.
…and thank you for being willing to “live on the edge”… you are like the guy who broke the 1-min barrier for a running record… you all know who it was, (I could search his name on Google, but I won’t), the only thing that really important about that story is that once that record breaking event was done, it became both doable and easy for others… their thinking shifted, the mental barrier.
You bravely walk out to the skinny branches, and when we see they don’t break, we’ll follow you… I know I will.
PS: Another paradigm shifter who comes to mind was Columbus… in the paradigm of flat world he was sailing his certain demise…
You go Robert. I am rooting for your success.
asking the question: “what do i need to get started?”
has kept me moving with momentum in the right direction.
thanks for this post Robert. every piece of content you provide even if it’s to pre-sell a product i didn’t buy the first time I saw it has been absolutely valuable.
thanks dude, you’re remarkable.
be well
matthew
Great Post Robert..
Priorities, priorities!
Keeping the main thing as THE MAIN THING!
the rest is just fluff!
I love how simple you make this sound Robert… not just sound, but it really is just that simple! Why do we (I) have to make everything so complicated??? Like if we don’t overwork the process then we’re not earning the income!
Your post is awesome because it dumbs down a process that we take far more seriously then needs to be. I am working on what you are talking about here in this awesoem membershipcube class I am taking and I can use this information right now today to move forward with more vigor and confidence then I have been demonstrating!
Thank you Robert for yet another brilliant post… keep em coming!! I espicially like the topic of productivity! I have been stuck in learning mode and really need to do some nice damage with the knowledge I have before I forget where I started!!
Helen,
I’ll keep them coming if I can figure out how to fill up 150 comments on my blog without a whole week of pre-launch and without replying to a bunch of posts…
Maybe it can’t be done? Maybe I should just queue up a post every day and cut off comments at the end of each day?
Then again who cares right? Mailing directly to offers makes me way more money than the blog… 80/20 rule…
Looking forward to seeing your big launch… 12/18 is the big day…
Robert,
I could not agree more. This is exactly how we set out to do our new membership site. We did run into one problem though. We got so excited while building the membership site it was difficult to write the sales page. It seems we got a bit to intellectual in the copy due to everything we were offering with the membership. The nice thing was once the site and information was set up we could pick and choose what else we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it.
You always have great info so please keep it coming.
Thanks,
Clyde
Clyde,
I have also fallen into that trap… where the membership site has so much stuff, you could hit the sales copy from so many angles, trying to appeal everybody, and you end up appealing to nobody. You lose your hook. That’s why you gotta just focus on one part of the membership… or even just the first month of the membership… which is actually a good thing because you end up writing shorter, simpler, faster sales copy…
Man did that hurt!!!
As an engineer I am handicapped by the perfectionist mentality. 21 years launching the Space Shuttle and keeping astronauts alive in outer space taught me the devil is in the details and you MUST account for all of them otherwise you might have the dreaded… “…uhhh, Houston? I think we might have a problem…” call from an astronaut because of something you missed.
While good for launching spaceships, it’s horrible for running a business.
I have reminders everywhere around my office to help curb me of this business retardation. But it’s something I still fight every day.
For instance, I am just now finishing up my website that consisted of a low-cost front end, followed by (breathe now, this will take a while) 3 Upsells and 8 downsells, all tied into a 1-click upsell process that was a NIGHTMARE to get working properly. This only took me 2 months.
Did I simply launch the initial product by itself first? Without all these complexities? What do YOU think the answer is.. (said sheepishly as I walk away with my tail between my legs).
Thanks for the well-placed kick in the arse… what made you so damn wise for such a young whipper snapper? 😉
Harry,
Geez! That is a crazy upsell system! NASA would be proud.
Imagine if you had launched the product without any upsells. Tested the market to see if it made any money. Added an upsell or two and relaunched to justify the extra time you put in, and so on…
It’s way too risky to spend 2 months on anything without getting paid first. I never do it.
So all the 1-clicks are working now? Is it making you money?
Thank you for such clear, uncomplicated lists. It is too easy to procrastinate when the process looks overwhelming. Sizing it down into a handful of essentials is very powerful.
I totally agree with you, and I have done that before. Just do the product, write a salescopy and launch it.It gives a lot of real time results and feedback that you can use to improve your product. But, here is my problem. I never feel like going back and editing the product. Hope I start working on taking feedback and improving the product asap.
Kamran,
“But, here is my problem. I never feel like going back and editing the product.”
That’s a good problem…
Then you can just create your next product instead of editing the ones you already have. You make more money that way.
Hi Robert, Just started following you. Thanks to Connie Ragen Green and Jeanette Cates. Thank you for information that is written down. I can print this list, and keep up with where I am. Also, I like the fact that each segment can be finished in the order that is natural for me.
It makes sense to me, getting something started is preferable to perfection something that doesn’t start.
Do it then test it and compare the results, let the market refine your work, it will save you a lot of time and frustration. I know because I have wasted at least perfecting stuff, that would have worked anyway, that what happens when a designer works for himself. Perfection becomes a requirement no matter what you lose.
Ok it’s perfect but you still have no valid information from the market, welcome to square one.
Thanks Brian
Brian,
Another advantage of putting imperfect stuff out there is… you never have any unfinished projects!
They’re ALL finished. Even if you have a payment button and no sales… but even that is way better than having nothing.
Great post Robert, and I agree with that model. It’s all about keeping it short and simple, the more you over analyze the process the more you’ll complicate it. I have been using a simple sales funnel model too and it works great, without having to add all the extras in, the extras come in if needed, not before it’s needed 😉
Hey Terrance,
I kept it so simple I didn’t even need to add any silly diagrams… err, what are they called these days? Infographics!
I’m firmly convinced with the ready-shoot-aim philosophy. It seems like “products” can be popped out within a half hour with the access to audio, video and pdf generators these days.
Another great reminder post Robert.
Thank you,
John
John,
And in one take too! If it takes you more than one take to produce a video or audio, then you’re doing it wrong. Tons of people make little mistakes in webinars and on live seminars, and still recover… you should too.
Hey Robo…
Great insights you have!
My 3 are the Product, the Traffic, the Pay Button.
The BIG ONE for me was the PAY BUTTON!!!
I had products…
I had traffic…
Even had the salespages!
But no Pay Button!
Talk about scared to Pull The Trigger!
Of course, the Pay-Button encompasses a lot…
The whole clickable Button, Order Page,
Successful Purchase flow, Download Page,
and Final product uploaded to folder(s)
Online… with download thief protection!
Phew… that was really hard… the FIRST Time!
I only got a handle on it all after using
Mind-Mapping software.
Which you and Lance reminded me to use.
You can check it out in my hyperlink…
So then I got my BackSide in gear, after
your stellar training & pushing motivation.
So… you just need the 3…
Product, Traffic, Pay-Button-Funnel.
Thanks again, Robert, for all your
outstanding posts.
Dr. Michael Quadlander
Mind-Mapping-Training.com
_____________________________
Dr. Q,
Yep… the pay button is very important, how else are you going to get sales? 🙂
But that’s a very good point. As soon as I finish version 1.0 of the product, I’ll setup the download page and the payment button… EVEN if I intend to continue improving the product that day. I might even write the pre-launch e-mails before continuing, and schedule them… because guess what… you can ALWAYS release version 2.0 later, and you’ll probably make more money releasing version 1.0, then giving existing buyers version 2.0 and increasing the price to new buyers. Think of all the extra e-mails you end up sending to your list.
I total agree I have fell it to the overload trap b4
You remind me of one of the characters on heroes.
You’re like the guy that can stop time.
Matt and Tim,
If my advice is so great then where are your URLs?
Analysis — paralysis is what I call it. LOL! I tell my clients this, some get it – some don’t but that’s because some people are super analytical. I like this ‘KISS’ method, works great for me. Great post 😉
This is very, very valuable blog post here – I wish more people followed this advice especially when starting out.
1. Create The Product
2. Write The Sales Letter
3. Create The Download Page
That’s an excellent start and that’s all you need to be doing when you first get going. Some of my best selling products came first as version 1.0 with just a 7 page report and an 800 word sales letter. They sold good initially “as is”, so therefore I knew it would be prudent to go back and add video, enhance the copy, upsells, an affiliate program and affiliate tools, etc.
But there is no way of knowing this was a worthwhile activity if I didn’t put it out there in “infancy format” to get it started.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve discovered the “real fortune” by just tossing out simple front end products with very short sales letters to gauge demand. Once I found out people where ravenous for a certain type of product or offer, THEN I put the time in to “optimize it”. Most people do it the other way around.
Excellent Post Robert!
-Jason Fladlien
Jason,
And the best part is… now that you’ve made the book, you’re totally the authority on that narrow subject. If someone wants you to teach them your one secret, all you have to do is say… go get this book from me. I can’t believe other people try to do it the other way around! I guess we were like that once…
Hey Robert,
Interesting post, especially for the perfectionists out here like I have been, but need to change.
Waiting for something to be perfect does run ones enthusiasm down.
Thanks for the reminder.
Joe
Nice way to simplify the process Robert.
I read somewhere the other day, “stop tweaking your business to death”.
If you are constantly tweaking things like your web design, you may feel you are accomplish something, but in actuality you are just wasting time and putting off what you need to be doing to help your business, either creating or promoting.
Hey Ron,
Very good example… and I used to have a business partner who would tweak his WordPress theme instead of getting anything real done… just to get in his own way. I won’t reveal his name, but Steven Schwartzman, you know who you are!
Hey Robert,
I always learn something from you, jumpX and your blog.
You could have sold this information or included it in your time management on crack or make it a series.
Excellent stuff…
I agree whole heartedly about getting your product shipable. The less steps the faster the process. You can always go back and add the other elements later.
Sincerly,
William Cato
William,
The keeping your products shippable thing is in Time Management on Crack in greater detail… go read it again if you haven’t read version 2.0 yet 😉
This is the perfect philosophy to get going. Cut to the bare minimum number of steps and get your product out there.
The hardest part for me is deciding when the product’s ready. My perfectionist tendencies get in the way.
How do you tell the difference between putting out something that’s good enough vs. putting out something that’s not good enough?
Obviously, the market will tell you. But will you ever see disappointed customers again? Or shouldn’t we care about that?
Well said… “start less, finish more”.
Good advice indeed!
Hi Robert,
Another excellent post. I could not agree with you more that most of the time, we make things over complicated that evenly cause most of the people to quick.
The key here is the basic in place and the rest will follow.
1. Create The Product
2. Write The Sales Letter
3. Create The Download Page
Great post
John Tan
Thanks Robert. I love how you break it down into small steps and the correct priority. I think most of us do the order that the customer sees and not the order that is important.
Bill
Brilliant Robert!
I’d probably be two years ahead if I’d had this advice back then – rather than making it as complicated as I assumed it needed to be. I’ll be passing this one along!
Linda –
SL + PayButton + Download area = Test on a forum.
SL (sales letter) takes me about 2.5 hrs, PayButton = 10 min, and download area takes 1 hr give or take another hour to make sure everything blends together right. Use a subdomain if you don’t want to pay $10 on a fresh one.
If you discipline yourself (take a powernap if you’re running low on sleep) you can roll out a new product idea within 5 hours.
I can understand why you’d want to create a 1.0 version of a product if you’re working with affiliates or launch partners, but for forum testing I don’t bother.
Daniel,
How many products have you launched by testing it on a forum? How often do you do it?
Forums are a great source of traffic if you have no list, or a small list. For years that’s all I did to build my list… created low ticket products and launched them on forums, then grabbed the opt-in on the download page.
RP: You’re one of very few people I will retweet like that for.
Excellent post Robert. I’m such a perfectionist, I literally spend hours tweaking the stylesheets of my sites, because I’m not sure what fot face to use. I have to breakout of this behavior, but it’s so hard. Your post has once again given me the drive to get things on-line ASAP, and stop trying to get it perfect.
Hi every one
Excellent with be productive tour Robert
Love to whom your way!
Love says something to whom?
Learn here, how to become productive and share with others.
easier, more connective,very cool like moon, shine like sun, soft like love.
Thanks for post.
Robert,
Although a bit of a sceptic at first, I do find your posts and constant emails rather motivating! Your conscienciousness makes me feel that even when I am producing loads, (well loads in my estimation) and there aren’t enough hours in the day, I realise from reading your blog that I have enough but need the little details that convert the whole from the products I have bought from you.
For example, I cannot for the life of me figure out, once the squeeze/sales page has been created or whilst creating it, where I can see the page as others will on my website. So I spent an entire day looking, got fed up and a little dismayed and can’t bear to face it again today.
Can you tell me where I can see it and how to upload it to my cms (wordpress blog)? Many thanks for this and all the really helpful information.
Hey Robert,
Yep, this is another one of your top-notch posts. Advice to live by when it comes to product creation, AND getting anything done, really.
I’ve trained myself to work on projects based on what must get done to get it out the door now if I have to (assuming I’ll run out of time), even if it’s not perfect yet (despite my detailed, perfectionist nature), and it has made a HUGE difference when it comes to getting into action, learning by doing and rapid, tangible progress.
Heck, I never envisioned that by putting together a quick special report some time ago just so I could get my first little info product done, that it would lead me to building an entire kick-butt FTM surrounding the topic that just got critiqued by the “big guys” as a sure winner (to be officially launched in a couple weeks).
Getting into action and getting it done ASAP matters more than just about anything else!
Thanks for this excellent reminder! You ROCK! 🙂
Gabrielle,
It sounds like you’ve trained yourself well… you have to be almost paranoid about it… assuming you won’t do it later.
I have setup more than one product that I wouldn’t be launching for a month. I think at one point I had three decently-sized products scheduled, and no one knew about them.
But by scheduled, I mean SCHEDULED. The products were 100% uploaded, the sales letter was 100% written, the payment button was 100% live, the download page was 100% functional.
Then all I had to do was schedule the launch e-mails and I was totally done. Three products launched one after the other and yet those projects were totally “closed” for me. No balls in the air.
And the best part is I’ve never told my list which of those three products in a row I’ve launched on a timer, and they can’t tell either.
Robert,
I need to add one more comment (only since I can’t ‘edit’ my first one) and that your analysis of the set-up steps is spot on! I now know what has been keeping me from creating more products… it is the fact that the entire 12-step is just too daunting sometimes, and so we go into paralysis mode from over-analyzing what to do next.
Perfectionism is a disease when it comes to sales site building, just as it is with product creation… and I love the idea someone mentioned about ‘upgrading’ and re-vamping an existing product… when you said just create a new one, and leave the old one alone…
Anyway, I got TONS of help and ideas to streamline my businesses and end the procrastinating due to the enormity of the project.
Much like eating an elephant, you wouldn’t even attempt to swallow it whole, you simply take one bite at a time.
Again, thank you so much!
Donna
Great post Robert with the almost “opposing” perspectives of a buyer and seller in terms of what to get done first.
I would normally have a sales letter first, but I like your suggestion even better of the Download and Checkout pages before that for a “live sales letter” even eg via a webinar.
Whether offline or online products, it really is quite addictive to get done just what needs to be done to get the orders — and cash — rolling in, and then worry about the other stuff later (if you want to!).
Robert, you are obviously young, I get tired just reading about what you do in one day. Matter of fact I feel a nap coming on. Do enjoy your blog and your products, keep up the prolific work.
Thanks Dale
Dale,
You are hilarious! But why does age matter? I know plenty of 50+ people who are about as productive as I am, and tons more people in their 20s who are super lazy.
Well, the “global templates” thing sounds intriguing. But it almost sounds like a cross-domain fetch is being done *every* time someone visits a page. That seems cumbersome. I’m sure there is something I’m missing.
Unless you when you add a new domain to the network you add its URL to a list at the “base” domain and it pushes files out when there is a change to the master file repository.
I think I’ll have to be on the lookout if/when you run PHP Copywriting again.
Dave,
We will be launching PHP Copywriting as a membership site so make sure you get all those tiny shared hosting accounts consolidated onto one giant dedicated server… and I’ll see you there.
Robert,
Thanks for the list. Until I started working on our online business I didn’t know how easy it is to complicate things.
The idea of having a 1.0 option is brilliant. We are building our product line and having a 1.0 option will shorten the pipeline to getting the product out there.
Big Hugs
Kathryn Perry
Robert,
Great suggestion to do things “out of order,” so to speak. Not only does it help to get the bare minimum number of things completed… it can also help build momentum.
For instance, doing something (anything!) can build enough momentum to push you through some of the harder steps.
Good post — and a good reminder to do the things that count.
Ryan
Healymonster,
Totally right… do something, ANYTHING. I was just scheduling a few blog posts within a membership site and I didn’t have graphics to go along with the downloads.
Does that mean I put off scheduling those posts? Heck no, I scheduled them as is so I can add the graphics in later… and guess what, if I forget or don’t feel like graphics later, no harm done! It still goes live right on schedule.
Nice and clear recommendation, Robert.
This reminds me of T.O.C. (Theory of constraints). Not all the links in a chain have the same importance. Those that affect to the final output are really the bottlenecks we need to focus on.
I have not attempted to do “all” of those yet. But I have tried most. I think it’s insane for someone to try and do all that when they work other jobs or provide other services. I’s get to distracted to do all of that stuff anyway. Over the last month I’ve been learning a great deal about outsourcing and crowd sourcing. I will say I am very impressed that most of all the other comments here involve experience in doing “all” of those tasks. For internet marketers I believe they would do well to create some “services” instead of always producing products. Create some “done for you” services at good prices to help the guys like me who can’t even get one digital product sold form start to finish. I got process(es) down but haven’t connected the all the pieces yet.
Norm,
I was the most productive when I had internet marketing PLUS a day job. When you say things like done-for-you services, isn’t that a step backwards? You should use be freelancing to start and then make infoproducts to replace the time you put into that freelancing.
Can you document any of the stuff you do freelancing? I don’t know if it’s wordpress setup, graphics, programming, copy, etc. but those are all subjects people will pay money for… especially since as a freelancer, you probably have built-in proof AND testimonials.
As usual, you hit me up side the head with a big DUH! While I understand the concept of “shippable” I have blithely bought into the “do the full list” concept too often. And yes, it’s a GREAT excuse to put off getting your product out there.
I see this in my coaching a lot. People who are capable and have their product ready to sell get stalled on the salesletter, the autoresponders – all of the things we talk about as important. But you’re right – you can always use that product as a bonus. You can always add the optin page later. It comes down to essentials.
And when we pare it down, it becomes more immediately profitable. And that’s all good! Keep hitting us up side the head!
Jeanette
Jeanette,
You’re even seeing this live in their membership cube class! People will invent any obstacle to avoid doing something, even if it’s easy.
They’ll stop at the smallest obstacle, invent new stuff or even make up things to do INSTEAD of what they should be doing… people were putting things like “wrap xmas presents” and “put presents under the tree” as their business tasks… yeah right.
Hopefully having the shippable idea in their heads means they will have it shippable first, then come up against some roadblock and just launch anyway.
Thanks for the reduced list! I’ve received so much information about how you must have the entire list of items before you can put your product up for sale. This approach makes so much more sense.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Your post came at the perfect time for me. I’ve been working on an ebook and waiting until I had time to make it perfect to launch. I think it will work much better to launch it as a 1.0 version and keep adding to it. After all, it’s not making me any money or adding to anyone’s knowledge while its sitting on my hard drive!
Audre, that’s totally true… and if you just let the book sit there, you’re only giving yourself MORE chances to talk yourself out of it, or for the info to go out of date… put it out there as fast as you can… and let me know how the launch works out…
Agreed….except as a copywriter, I suggest that my clients write their sales letter *before* creating the product. If that’s too intense, draft the product and then write the sales letter. That way you build your hooks into the product and it practically sells itself.
Cathy,
I’ve written a basic sales letter first sometimes, but usually I get so bogged down with the sales letter that I run out of gas making the actual product. Maybe that’s just me, but it doesn’t work well for me.
Thank you so much Robert. The idea of having a 1.0 option is fantastic. Thanks sharing.
There’s validity to the adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy man.”
Robert,
I want to thank you for giving me a real kick up the backside. I finished my first downloadable product http://www.ebaybestmatchboost.com last month and my second downloadable product (the 0.1 version) http://www.privatelabelproductsmaster.com is due to be launched within days from now.
Your stuff is real motivational and has helped me to focus on what really matters when sometimes entrepreneurs begin to ‘drift’ from one project to another.
PS – I included the links to the product pages as I recall that you told your subscribers to prove that the products actually existed. So here are the first of many.
Cheers Robert