Seven Things
The Number One Product Creation Myth is…
... That you need to add "professional quality" audio and video into a product. The truth is you can get away with what I call the "lens cap strategy" ... you'll know exactly what this means when you get inside Product University 2.0... but more about that on Wednesday's training call.
Remember, products are not just e-books. Videos can be products on their own... streaming videos, downloadbale videos or even DVDs. You can use audio to create CDs, offer them for download or even stick them onto your sales letter to increase conversions.
Here's something you can do to enhance your sales letter in the next five minutes: whip out an audio recording program like Audacity or Camtasia, put that USB headset of yours on your head, and record you reading the most powerful part of your sales letter.
That's the beauty of audio: you can read what's already on the page word for word and people will still get extra value of it because it makes your message more impactful.
You might choose to read your guarantee word-for-word. Or maybe the description of your bonus items, or your headlines and the deck copy below the headlines. Then slap it on an audio button and guess what... you've added personality.
But what's great about those little USB headsets you can find on Amazon.com is that the audio quality is so good, you don't need a hiss filter. You don't need a preamp or an equalizer. You don't need anything because it plugs right into the USB port and does not use your sound card. Continue Reading »
Writing a Sales Letter is Hard?
Product creation myth number two is that: writing sales copy is hard.
You know what I'm going to say in response to that, right?
"FALSE!!!"
Just like you, I let sales copy be yet one more excuse not to launch a product. I didn't have 20 thousand dollars or even a thousand dollars lying around to pay someone to make my site sell, so what was I to do?
My mentor at the time just said... list some bullet points. And that really is all you have to do. Choose ten things about your prdouct that people would really like. What does it teach them that no one else does? What skill do people walk away with? How soon do they see results and how dramatic are those results?
Think of ten great things about your product that say great things about it, that don't actually give the chapter titles away. Then take the strongest bullet point in that list, move it to the top, make it larger, and now you have your headline. Continue Reading »
A Product Launch is Impossible Without Affiliates?
All the time I get replies from internet marketing newbies with resentment about being kept out of the "good ol boys" club. You know how it goes... you get the same exact copy and paste e-mail from 30 people on the day a product launches, and the process continues over and over... week after week...
Why can't your product be in that rotation? "It just isn't fair!"
You know what? I learned at a very young age that you don't want to be in that club. When you get stuck in one of these "syndicates" ... people will promote YOU but now you're obligated to promote other peoples' products, even if they're similar to yours or even not that great.
Even if you apply this on a smaller scale... like you mail for one person if he mails to you, you will probably still lose. A lot of marketers will use their sublists of freebie buyers to promote your stuff... meanwhile you mail for the other guy using your small list of BUYERS... and whatever hard work you've done to acquire those buyers is out the window.
That's because your buyers will end up on that other guy's list, and he'll have no reason to get you to promote anymore, plus those buyers of yours will be much less responsive since that other guy is marketing to them now.
So, myth #3 is you don't necessarily need "affiliates" ... you just need a source of traffic. Getting affiliates and joint ventures to promote is an easy way to get a lot of traffic fast but you can do it without being stuck in ad swap hell. Continue Reading »
Make a Product Faster than You Ever Thought Possible
Myth #4 is that making a product takes a long time. FALSE. I have written a 23-page e-book in one afternoon, launched it, then recorded the videos that night.
Fact: Jason Fladlien and I filled out a DAILY membership site with one year of content (all of 2009) in just a couple of months.
Fact: For our second webinar class, Product University, we filled up 25 hours and 3 gigabytes of content in only four weeks, and that was a "side project" ... in addition to our usual product launches.
Think for a second about what it would be like to have 25 hours of content. You could have articles written based on that content. Cut it up into a 52-week fixed term membership site. Spliinter some of those products as upsells or downsells.
Have you seen the movie Swingers with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn? There's a scene where Jon Favreau doesn't know how to introduce himself to a cute girl, and Vince Vaughn says:
"That girl over there is like a little bunny. And you're the big giant bear. And you say, I don't know how to kill the bunny with these big giant bear claws!"
That's the exact position you're in when you have a ton of content to repackage. You've already done the hard work, so all you have to do is throw some stuff together and attack "the bunny" -- your prospects.
The only way to do that is to focus on one project at a time, so if you're the kind of person who has 5 or 10 half finished or 95 percent finished e-books... yes I'm talking directly to you individually... choose just one of those almost-finished books, get it finished as soon as possible (TODAY), and get it published.
Even if you think that's tough, the solution from me and Lance Tamashiro is coming in just a few days. Maybe you won't be able to crank out content as fast as I can, but even just a couple of shortcuts can reduce your product creation time by 50% or 75%.
Leave 10 comments below to get access to myth number 3 about product creation...
Be the Product Creation Incredible Hulk in 2009
Robert Plank here to disspell myth number 5 about making products and that's... people think creating products is hard.
Infoproduct Myth #5: Creating Products is Hard!
(Hint: It's Not! It's Only in Your Head!)
False. If you can get into the correct mindset, you'll actually have fun making a product. That's why you need to learn how to "hulk out" into a writing frenzy, or record a webinar and get the audio transcribed by your assistant.
I use a combination of time-boxing and question formatting to write articles quickly, and if those articles run over length then guess what? Those become the chapters of my e-book.
The days of the 600-page, 200-page, or even 100-page e-book are long over. Shoot for a goal of 10 to 30 pages and sell it for 7 dollars. Add a bonus to that product and now you can sell it for 17. Record just an hour of video and now it's worth 27 dollars. Throw a webinar on top of that and now you have a 47 dollar product to sell... in a single day.
Video is pretty easy too, as long as you don't script it. Whip up a PowerPoint presentation then stand it front of a Flip camera, web camera or digital camera and advance the slides using a clicker remote or even your mouse if you want to keep it simple.
The two factors that make you "think" prdouct creation is hard are confidence and completeness. Fortunately, if you can get excited about your topic you can overpower that confidence problem pretty easily, and your need to get that thing launched as quickly as possible before anyone else does will override your need to make it "complete" -- because no product ever will be.
At this point you might be wondering what this is all leading up to. Lance Tamashiro (who was a top student in many of my classes) has now graduated to become a co-host.
Lance and I have teamed up to provide you something very soon that has to do with product creation, but it is very different than the offers you've seen from me and unlike anything you've seen from anyone else. Keep your eyeballs peeled and I'll pass more details onto you as I get them.
What can you do right now? Leave me a comment below so that I can share myth number 4 with you once I get my ten comments...
Competition in Your Niche Keeps You Product-Less?
The stumbling block I want to smash into a million pieces today is the belief that if you try to enter a niche, and there's competition, it's not worth marketing.
Infoproduct Myth #6: Competition!
False. Even years and years ago, in 2003, I knew people who said the market was saturated with internet marketing products. Saturated with affiliate marketing products.
But let me ask you something, how many affiliate marketing products and internet marketing products have launched in the past six years? Do you think one a day? Do you think even MORE than one a day?
Even if we went on the low end of one new product a day, that's over 2000 new products just in the internet marketing niche.
My definition of "competition" is simply that other people have blazed a trail for you. If you research a niche and no one's selling in it... guess what, it means you probably won't sell in that niche and you saved yourself a lot of time.
If you do have competition, you don't have to compete directly. If you're unique, you can occupy different areas of that niche. Or if you offer a complementary solution, that competitor is now your affiliate or your business partner.
Infoproduct myth number five is coming tomorrow, same time same channel... as long as 10 of you leave comments below this post today.
Seven Cruel Myths that Keep You Product-Less!
Bottom line. You need to have at least one product, preferably five, in any given niche. I would prefer ten but let's not get carried away.
Even if you're an affiliate promoter... guess what, you have a bribe to get people to opt-in or even a bonus if people buy from your link: info-product.
If you are strictly a freelancer... the best possible way to get lots of people banging down your door to pay you money for services is to publish a product to PROVE you know what you're talking about: info-product.
If you're a public speaker it's just about REQUIRED that you have some kind of book before presenting on stage.
And even if you already have a product, or a few... more can't hurt, can they?
So allow me to share with you the first myth that keeps you without a product, so you and I can overcome it.
Myth #7: You Need To Be Authoritative In That Niche To Have A Book
False. Dr. Phil (a 245 pound overweight man) sells weight loss products. Kim Cattrall (from Sex and the City) wrote a book on how to have endless orgasms and then divorced her husband because he wanted too much sex. Take your pick. You don't have to prove you can do something, or even that you follow that advice, only that you can get others to follow that advice.
I have a problem with personal and group coaching if you aren't the expert, but when that situation comes up, you can interview guest experts to host webinars for you or even write your book for you. Plenty of people use pen names or partner with real experts in a niche.
Want infoproduct creation myth number six? Great... all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me you want it... do that right now. I need 10 people to tell me they want it.
Seven Things #7: Day Job Quitting Plan
Finally, in 2008, I decided to quit my day job. I haven't quit yet because there are a few things I need to do, but I answered Eric Holmlund's day job quitting questionaire, and in the Daily Seminar I've already scheduled a video explaining the way I determined scientifically when I should quit my job.
Now on to the questions... you should answer these questions too, if you need to know if it's time to quit yet!
1) Is your job hurting you?
No, actually it includes a training budget which has beefed up my resume and is giving me the initial 3-5 years of experience I'll need if I fail and need to get another job.
2) Do you have a vision and a solid plan for your business?
Definitely. I won't go into detail but I have a few high ticket items and webinars mapped out.
3) Do you already have a written goal for quitting your job?
Yes. I'll be out after March 2009, but before the end of June 2009. I want to have $60K in savings by then but even $30K will work.
4) Are you committed to the business? (Required)
The past five years would say so! I have been working on my business during my lunch break at work, after work, and every day on weekends. My girlfriend helps motivate me, and my accountability partner motivates me.
5) What do you have to lose? (If you have little or nothing to lose, it’s a good time to quit)
Not much to lose. It might be tough to get re-hired somewhere else. I could lose my house but I have savings. Worst case scenario, I could sell off some resale rights. Worst-worst-case scenario, I could freelance to get some quick money.
6) How long will your savings last?
With my current lifestyle: 6 months. If I cut everything down to the bone, 8 months. So right now I could last till June 2009 or August 2009... just that fact alone makes it seem STUPID to keep working.
7) How much income is your business bringing in?
Last year, just over $100,000. My monthly expenses are under $4000, so I am making more than double what I need every month.
*Quit your job and go full time at the point where your business is bringing in the minimum that you need to make ends meet.
8) What are you willing to sacrifice?
I have no problem cutting back on the seminar travel or not going out as often. I
9) Do you trust your gut? (And is it usually right?)
I trust it, and it's almost always right.
10) Will you dare to do what others only dream of?
Yes. My day job makes me feel extremely isolated. I want to hang out with friends more often, I want to get a laptop and hang out with my nephew before he grows up.
Can you do me a favor and answer any of these questions for yourself? You don't need to answer every single question, just the one that's most important to you.
Seven Things #6: Product Funnel
In the Daily Seminar membership site Jason and I launched yesterday, we're going to be opening up parts of our business that we don't like to give away for free...
Here is my long term business plan... otherwise known as a map of all my current upsells:
It's a slightly out of date map but you get the idea.
That chart tells me exactly what I need to work on next.
I update it regularly (using Visio) but I used to do the same thing with my whiteboard.
Each of those boxes represents a sales letter. When they try to order, the arrows represent the different upsells that I present to them. So they can either: yes, I want to order this package... or say, no, I want this bigger package, and get moved to the next box.
As you can see, the PHP in a Box, Full Blast PHP, and Guerilla PHP stuff is on the bottom. Three packages around $100, upselling into a $200 bundle and then up to a $300 bundle.
I've blurred out the stuff that's not released yet (most of it is very close to being released). Obviously it all points to a giant package in the middle that I will price at $1000.
The ovals represent surprise bonuses I still need to integrate into my products. I'm applying the Ben Prater Refund Reducing Formula on those as loyalty bonuses... autoresponder follow-ups timed a week or two after a purchase. I offer that bonus in exchange for a testimonial about the orignal product.
The dotted lines represent upsells that I haven't connected yet. If I was working and was in a copywriting mood, I should probably spend 30 minutes writing the 1 page sales letter that upsells Full Blast PHP into the PHP in a Box plus Full Blast PHP bundle.
The white boxes mean they are products without video. The red boxes mean those products do have video. Common sense tells me that if I am in product creation mode, I should finish up the videos for Simple PHP 1, 2, and 3.
Because THAT means I can upsell visitors to a $100 product, upsell those to a $200 product and finally a $300 product just by writing a couple more pages of sales copy.
If a box has an "F" letter it means I am satisfied with the number of automatic followups that buyers of that product receive. When I am in followup creation mode I take one quick look at this chart and work on followups for a box missing an "F."
If a box has a "T" it means I'm satisfied with the number of testimonials for that product. If I feel a product is lacking in testimonials I can blast a quick mailing to my sublist for that product, check my old threads or blog comments to canniblalize into testimonials. Maybe even single out some of my active buyers and interview them over e-mail, and turn that into a testimonial.
I teach in Fast Food Copywriting that the only reason you are after testimonials is for proof. You don't need testimonials to sell a product, only to give proof.
Each box also has a bount of the number of scripts, price, video running time, and download size so that I can easily total them up in any bundle to give a "thud" factor -- when I say a product has 2 gigabytes of content, people say, "Wow!"
Seven Things #5: Continuity Not Memberships
Reminder: Daily Seminar still has seats available!
Although Dr. Mike Woo-Ming wasn't the nicest guy at the Warrior Event in Austin, he did have a lot of really good information.
He gave me a really cool AdWords idea: Instead of blindly bidding on a keyword, he chose the top ten sites in the Google search results for that keyword, then placed AdWords ads and limited them to appear on AdSense ads for those pages that appeared in the top 10.
Not just those domains... those exact pages.
At the end of his talk, Mike said, "I don't do memberships... I do continuity." He didn't explain himself and I had to ask him about it during the hotseat Q&A session on the final day.
Here's the explanation: Running a membership site is too much work. If you don't provide new content to a membership site every couple of days, people will complain and unsubscribe. If you want a recurring income you can still promote membership sites... as an affiliate. Don't be responsible for the membership content.
Before coming to the event, I was against starting a membership site. During the event I was ready to start my own membership... but that little bit talked me out of it.
Now, I'm back in! Why?
Jason and I have enough content. (I don't think I could start a membership site on my own.) We have a huge stockpile of content ready to go, we got a lot of practice pumping out products quickly from our Product University class.
Look at that, 16 live posts and 80 scheduled posts... for a total of nearly 100 posts! I am finishing up March 2009 this week. That's the only way to do it... knock out one month completely, knock out the next month completely...
Our original plan was to kill ourselves and spend 1 week out of every month recording 25-ish interviews. That would have been stupid and would have burned up our content too fast.
Instead, we scheduled the interviews once per week. To fill out the rest of the week, Jason and I each recorded some 20-minute videos on our own. (When making the bonus materials for Product University we got a lot of practice pumping out 20-minute video products quickly.)
So, our formula consists of: Monday, a video by me... Tuesday, a video by Jason, Wednesday, one of our interviews converted into video... Thursday, some product we had secured the rights to... Friday, a question and answer session... and if we still had stuff to give, we'd fill up Saturday and Sunday too.
Why not join to see for yourself how we structured it?
We've filled up every single day of the month so far. Since it's all scheduled several months ahead of time, all we REALLY have to do is answer blog comments. We've had a couple minutes every day to fill up a Saturday or Sunday slot too.
We also know the demand exists. Our own product creaton low ticket items sold well. Our high ticket items sold well. Now it's time for the next step (recurring).
One last thing. You don't have to kill yourself when you make a membership site. Just figure out a way to schedule content to get released most days of the week (like on a blog).
We almost killed ourselves trying to come up with content the first time around. When we did the Product University class, we hosted TWO webinars per week when one would have been fine.
Heck, how much PLR or MRR content is sitting on your hard drive? Could you assemble some of that into a membership site?
Or maybe you just freelance. If you are a successful freelancer you know that your best business comes from repeat clients... so why not get them in a membership site? If you're a writer, guarantee a certain number of articles per month. If you're a copywriter, guarantee a number of autoresponders, solo ads, or sales letters per month. And so on. Why go to all that trouble of begging for money every month?
Add ten comments to this blog post for the next big thing I changed this year!
