Welcome!
This Lesson will shock and surprise you and fire you up!... at least
that's my goal. We have covered a lot of ground already and we're far from done, but I think you're getting a good
idea what it takes to start making your living online.
The Lesson This Week:
If you can 'create' content (or have it created for you :) your income will soar and there are really no limits. If you desire a $1,000,000
a year income, you need content that you have exclusive rights to.
I'll show you more ways to create content than you ever knew existed
in this Lesson... every 'secret' I have used successfully! I bare all... tell all... and when you're done you'll
have an arsenal of weapons ready to deploy that'll rock the marketplace and make you rich, if that's your desire!
Here are the sections of this Lesson that talk specifically about creating
content:
- Do Not 'Type' Do This Instead - A Way to Create Content
- Public Domain - Another Way to Create Content
- Gold Posts - Another Way to Create Content
- Your Ezine - Another Way to Create Content
- Drop-Dead Simple Content Creation - Another Way to
Create Content
- Hiring Writers To Create Your Content
- The "Review" Method of Writing and Creating
Your Content
- The "Brain Dump" Method of Writing and
Creating Your Content
Each section will provide you with information and a specific strategy
for creating content you can have exclusive rights to.
With that said, are you ready? Ok! Let's get going - Lesson 3 begins
NOW!
Lesson 3
Introduction
In Lesson 2 we started to discover a few very important things about
marketing that greatly increase your chance of success.
One important discovery
was that it's much better to get highly motivated and qualified subscribers than to attract and have hard-core
'freebie' seekers sign-up for our list.
The way we do this is by eliminating, as much as possible, the natural
urge to 'give away the store' just to get one subscriber. We eliminate, or sparingly use the word 'free' on our
site and in our ads... we offer VALUE and BENEFITS instead.
That does not mean we never give away a 'free report' or anything like
that... especially in our offline advertising, but we want to eliminate the 'tire kickers' as much as possible.
We discovered where
our target prospects 'hang-out' and how to get their ATTENTION.
We discovered ways
to get subscribers using reports that influncers (with BIG lists) can distribute to their subscribers. They will do this if there is enough incentive. This essentially
has the goal of seeking the highest qualified subscribers from their list to come and subscribe to our list too.
We discovered that
we need a 'lead capture page' with compelling copy to get people to opt-in to our pipeline or "ezine"
and I gave you a script, some tutorials and examples on how to setup this page.
Now that we have a well oiled and working capture page with strong, tightly
written copy and a strategy to start filling up our pipeline, it's time we create some content (or discover how
to have content created for us) so we have something to sell our subscribers!
And yes, we can simply sell othere people's products using and affiliate
program to our subscribers too and we will talk about that... but (for me and probably for you) the majority of
your income will be from the creation and marketing of your own info-products.
Yes, once you have the engine (the engine that's going to pull our money train) primed and started,
it's time to create content. However, all content is NOT created equal.
Before we get into this next section I want to share with you an idea
that helped boost my income and my ability to make a really good living online:
Ideas Are Hiding Here
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a company called Forrester Research online that
creates market research reports. They create very expensive research reports. Of course "expensive" is relative, but when I say
'expensive' I mean 40 page reports that sell for $3,999.
One recent report they created, "Media
& Marketing December 2003 Data Overview: Marketing To America's Ethnic Minorities" is only 20 pages and they sell it for $3,495!
According to their site: "Forrester
Research is an independent technology research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about
technology's impact on business"
Before I forget, I highly recommend you register for a "guest"
account with Forrester. You get some 'free' reports, and access to their Report Summaries and Outlines of their
premium ($3,000+) reports free.
Anyway, a few years ago I downloaded a free outline and summary of a
$5,000 report on digital publishing they created. The summary ALONE was incredibly useful and EYE-OPENING! I remember
at the time I was writing my own special report on 'digital publishing' and I quoted from the Forrester report
summary. It was actually a piece of advice they were giving to publishers at the time that said something to the
effect that "publishers should not be trying to find ways
to 'lock up' their assets, rather they should be finding ways to open them up and distribute them more profitably".
This one idea started an avalanche of possibilities in my head! In fact it was the driving
force behind creating my unique "Editorial Rights" packages to my content and my "Membership Reseller"
program. I'll be discussing these unique resale programs in Lesson 4.
But that's not all of what I want to say about this.
Another very valuable source of 'ideas' is Harvard Business School Publishing. The Harvard Business School publishes the case studies that are taught at the school...
as well as articles by their professors of business.
You can read what the case studies are about and even download them in
PDF files. The articles can also be purchased and downloaded.
Why? What good are they to the average entrepreneur just trying to make
a buck?
They are an EXTREMELY RICH source of ideas and complex solutions to the
business community. The professors' articles on entrepreneurship and business, the case studies and other reports
and books published by Harvard are what I call 'sophisticated' information-- information not readily of interest
to the average person looking to start a simple business- so the 'average person' would never think of looking
there for solutions and answers to their business problems.
But it's the exposure you are getting - exposure to great and often 'cutting
edge' ideas... these ideas can be the basis of your own information products.
I call this 'trickle down' information... information created in ivory
towers that's not of much interest to the majority of action-orientated entrepreneurs, but a RICH SOURCE of ideas
for the information product developer!
Copyright Secrets
Ideas are free and can be used by anyone... that's what creates competition
in the marketplace. The only thing that can be copyrighted, in an information product, is the 'expression' of that
idea in it's various forms: written, audio, artistic, etc. You cannot copy the exact 'physical' expression of anyone's
ideas... BUT you can create 'new' products BASED ON ANY IDEA you find, as long as the (written, audio or artistic)
expression of this 'new product' is in your own words!
If it was possible to copyright or legally protect an "idea",
progress in this world would come to an immediate STOP. Students researching their thesis would all be in jail
and writers would have nothing to write about - if they couldn't use other people's 'ideas' in their own writings
and research.
There are TWO very powerful ideas - PRIME METHODS - I use to get new
ideas and create new information products:
1. Simplify complex information
Take complex information and simplify it to the point where almost anyone
can understand it. If you can make a 'complex' subject simple... you have the basis for a best-selling information
product.
2. Organize chaos
Are people CONFUSED and in chaos about a particular subject? Are people
asking questions about "how to_______" (whatever)... to get something done? This is an opportunity to
"organize chaos" by creating an information product that helps people become less confused by pulling
together a lot of information about a widespread problem and simply writing a potential solution, that's easy to
understand, about the problem they're facing.
"Simplifying complex information" and "organizing chaos"
are two of the best ways to create INSTANT best-selling information products.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do Not 'Type' Do This Instead - A Way to Create
Content
Another thing to consider is this: Content is not that hard to create...
don't be fooled that only 'special' people can write or that you're not a good writer. I hinted at this in the
last Lesson, but it's true: If you can talk you can write!
Anything you want to talk about can be put into "words" on
a page! You can 'dictate' your content into a microphone and have your words transcribed... or, as you're sitting
at your keyboard trying to think of what to write, you can simply 'type' the way you talk.
This is the way I create the majority of my content.
I simply sit at the keyboard and start typing whatever I'm thinking about related to the subject I'm writing about.
I don't worry about spelling, grammar, syntax or punctuation-- yet. I simply type what I think about.
Later, after I've typed several paragraphs or pages, I will go back and
review what I've typed and make any correction as necessary. The important thing is to get your thoughts written
out- typed on your computer. It's the IDEAS that you are forming your content around... simply "hold" the main idea of what you want to talk about firmly in your head
and the words will start to flow...
Public Domain - Another Way to Create Content
What does "public domain" mean?...
Public domain is any work that is NOT protected under US copyright law.
This includes ALL works published before 1923 AND, under certain conditions, works published up to 1978. A 'work'
can be anything: a book, a play, music, photographs, movies, instruction manuals, courses, reports, posters, etc...
I wrote extensively about "public domain" and how to profit
from the public domain at one of my web sites. I wrote 10 special reports on public domain that are included in
the BONUS learning material section of this Lesson.
Read them. Read them. Read them... because re-publishing public domain
information could easily create a small fortune for you - and you don't even have to write a word.
It is so easy to create content using public domain material it should
be illegal :-)... it is virtually un-tapped and available for the taking.
My Public Domain
Reports are an entire course on "How To Profit From
the Public Domain"... but they don't tell you one important point that you will soon find out if you decide
to go this route: As long as someone else has access to the same 'source' material you do, you will have competition
and 'copycats', not only creating similar products, but the SAME, EXACT products.
Now, in the PD Reports I show you a way to protect YOUR product, but as long as someone else has access
to the original copyright expired document you're never really totally secure.
So here's what I would recommend: Use the vast treasure of public domain
info as either LEAD Generation Special Reports or BONUS Material for your main products...but don't use it as the
MAIN product.
A few years ago I purchased a copy of Wayne Yaeger's Sidetracking
ebook. Good book with a simple premise: Get free content, add it to your website so search engines can find it
and watch the traffic roll in. Where was the content coming from? His example was a series of articles that had
fallen into the public domain (they were originally published in the 1920's). He loaded the content onto his website
and started receiving a good number of extra hits (approx. 10,000). Then he simply 'monitized' the traffic using
banner ads, or affiliate programs.
That's an entirely different way to profit from public domain info that
I never got around discussing in my Public Domain Reports.
I wrote about the value of ideas in one of my ezines once. You've heard
the saying "ideas are a dime a dozen"? Well sure, the majority of ideas are worth even less than that, but there is another
strata of ideas that are worth thousands, even millions.
Some ideas are worthless, some ideas are extremely valuable. You have to know how to tell the difference, especially in the information product
business. You don't want to give away your best ideas for pennies...
As you know by now, I was a rare book dealer before hitting the Internet.
Let's make this analogy between ideas and books: Books are a dime a dozen... and if you've ever been to a garage
sale you know that's true... but a first edition of Alice In Wonderland
... just that ONE book is worth $800,000.
Ideas are a dime a dozen and so are used books.. but there are some books and there are some ideas that are worth a
fortune.
Here's one: Take a work in the public domain and create an audio product!
Most public domain re-publishers concentrate on creating e-books, reports and manuals... very few are doing any
kind of audio products. You can also do both, of course.
------------------
Ok.. let's get back to the different types of content you'll probably
be creating or will have created for you and ways to create it.
Different Content, Different Skills
There are different kinds of content that have separate and distinct
purposes and require different levels of skill to create.
There are at least 10 levels of content that you will be involved in
creating. What? You thought 'content' was 'content' and it was all the same stuff? Wrong, wrong wrong... there
are lots of content 'types' as you'll see.
And, whenever I say 'you will' create content I am not actually and
solely implying YOU need to personally sit down at a keyboard and type each and every word of the content that
you'll need (that's ONE way to do it, but not the only way)... you could have it created for you or simply 'edit'
it as it's created.
There's an entire section below on how to have others create content
for you or take content you need for free from other sources.
So what are the major content
types?
Content for online
ads...
Content for lead
capture pages ...
Content for ezines,
emails and fulfillment pieces...
Content for articles...
Content for a subscription
site (membership, or private site)...
Content for public
web sites...
Content for sales
pages...
Content for books
and reports...
Content for offline
ads...
Content for order
pages...
Let's look at each type of content, it's purpose and, the skill level required to create the content on a scale
from 1 (very easy) to 10 (high level of skill required):
Content Type |
Purpose |
Skill Level Required
|
Content for online ads |
Lead generation |
8
|
Content for lead capture pages |
Email list building |
7
|
Content for ezines and emails |
Information and sales |
9
|
Content for articles / discussion posts |
Information and credibility |
6
|
Content for a subscription site |
Instruction |
4
|
Content for public web sites |
Information / credibility |
1
|
Content for sales pages |
Sales |
10
|
Content for low priced books, reports |
Information |
4
|
Content for offline ads |
Lead generation |
8
|
Content for order pages |
Close sale |
7
|
Premium content |
Instruction |
8
|
|
NOTE: As we go through
this lesson, it's more important to have an understanding of what content is, what types of content are needed
for each purpose and the skill level required for its creation than it is to know how to write. Not all the content
you will need must be created by you... some of it will, but not all. In general anything with a skill level of
"5" or better should be handled by you or a professional writer that's suited to the task. Any type of
content with a "4" or less skill level can easily be hired, delegated or written yourself.
Don't confuse the skill level required to create content with the "quality"
of content. All your content should be high quality but the skill
required to create that level of quality will vary.
---
Creating content for online marketing includes what you did in
Lesson 1: "Your online ad". This ad can be used in signature
lines in your email or posts to discussion boards, ezine ads
or anything else you do online whose purpose is "lead generation".
In fact, all your advertising, in my opinion, should
be lead generation advertising.
Remember we said that it is extremely unlikely that anyone will purchase
anything from you the first time they see your web site? So, all your advertising online should be focused on capturing
the name and email address of the people visiting your web site... not on direct sales.
Here's is another reason why the majority of people trying to market
anything on the Internet don't ever make a penny:
They buy re-sale rights, stick a 'sales page' on their site (usually
an exact duplicate of the one provided by the seller of the resale rights) and sit back and wait for people to
hit the page, read it and buy the ebook or software or whatever you're selling.
Now we know that it's going to take more than just
a 'sales page' to get people to buy something from you... it's going to take a 'relationship' and probably MULTIPLE
contacts over a period of time.
That's why it's critical to capture their contact
information.
One subscriber to my ezine recently asked me to 'take a look' at some
of his websites and give him an opinion as to why he isn't making any sales. He told me he had purchased a number
of 'master' resale rights packages and he wasn't making any sales.
The 3 sites I visited had no sign-up form on them... so if he ever did
get a visitor and they weren't interested at that moment in his offer, they simply left the site. The email form
to get visitors to subscribe to some kind of 'updates list' or ezine' just wasn't there - there was no mechanism
in place to follow-up with them later! And they wondered why they weren't making any sales?
This is a waste of traffic! You work hard to get traffic to your site,
but your expectations of people who visit are way too high - you expect them to be so impressed with the offer
being made or the information in the ebook or report or subscription site or whatever you're selling that they
should just buy it. That rarely happens.
You need a capture page as "STEP 1" with the SOLE
purpose of OBTAINING PERMISSION to send them additional messages. That's the ONLY PURPOSE of your signature line
in your email, posts to discussion boards or ezine ads, etc...
You can immediately double, triple or quadruple your sales IF you're
generating traffic and use a 'capture page' instead of sending them directly to a page that 'sells' something.
Ok... so this is obviously a very important task - creating the content
for your capture page. I would not delegate this task to anyone that does not know how to write lead generation
advertising. This is your job or the job of a copywriter you hire who is well grounded in direct marketing fundamentals.
Personally I write all my own capture page copy because I know my product
better than anyone else. I wouldn't delegate this task.
Gold Posts - Another Way to Create Content
We talked about posting to discussion boards in Lesson 2. The posts you
make to discussion boards work in your favor in a number of different ways.
Why is posting in discussion boards profitable?
- First you'll get
an immediate number of 'hits' to your site.
- Second, it will
probably be 'archived' by the discussion board owner and when someone searches the discussion board and hits a
topic you have posted on, you'll get even more hits.
- Third, the major
search engines do a pretty good job of indexing the highly active discussion boards and you'll have a good chance
of getting your posts into the major search engines (what Master Info-Product developer Bill Myer's calls "leaving
tracks").
Fourth,
you can SAVE EVERY POST YOU MAKE in response to a question on a discussion board! Eventually you will have enough
posts on the subject to create a book of "tips" or advice!
Your Ezine - Another Way to Create Content
Once you have your ezine up and running you can easily create an information
product using your past ezine articles.
I mail to my list almost every day of the week. We'll talk about that
extensively in Lesson 4 and 5, but once each week I provide a 'pure info' ezine message with no sales pitches it
in... just great, hard-hitting information my subscribers can use to make more money.
If you can do the same, in a very short time, you will have enough issues
with good content that you can use to create a special report or ebook.
The Power of Questions - A Way to Generate Product Ideas
One of the strategies I've seen used over and over by a very, very few
smart marketers (including yours truly :) is to participate in discussion boards by asking questions.
Let's say you want to find out what the hottest problems are facing your
target market? A very easy way is to simply post a questions to an active discussion board! People love to respond
to 'challenges' and 'surveys' on these boards.
You can start your post with something like, "What's your biggest gripe about ______?",
etc...
As soon as you post your question you'll start getting some really good
responses that you can use to identify your target market's problems... when you know the 'problem' you are a step
away from creating a 'solution'.
Sometimes I've seen posts like this generate heated arguments that go
on for days... all good stuff! The more 'heated' the discussion gets the more interest there is... you can learn:
- what problems people are having,
- what their biggest objections are to existing products / or services
and
- what kind of solution they might be looking for!
It's a GOLD MINE of information! Once you have an idea of what solutons
there are for this problem, you research should start. You can build an info-product that will be an immediate
hit.
Drop-Dead Simple Content Creation - Another Way to Create
Content
Let's say you don't like to write... and you want to create an information
product. What are your choices?
In the last Lesson I shared with you a transcript of an interview I did
with a newbie in Internet marketing, Scott Foster. Basically all he did was call me, ask me a few questions about
my business, record them on his PC and have them transcribed! The transcription costs were $129...
The first 48 hours after I announced it was for sale to my list I received
about 16 sales at $49 (wo /resale rights) to $79 (w/ resale rights) each. I'd say that's a pretty good return on
an investment of just $129. Over the period of a year I'll probably earn thousands from the sale of that one product
that took 1 hr and 30 mins to create.
That's it... that's the product! It took all of 1 hr and 30 min to complete
and we'll both have a product we can sell forever.
So, even if you don't know how to or can't write you can create an information
product... remember "whatever you like to talk about the most" is probably, in the end, the product your
customers would be most interested in buying from you.
Here's the key to this:
They want to KNOW what YOU know!
And, it doesn't matter if you know LESS THAN they do about a particular
subject... even if they can pick-up ONE TIP or ONE IDEA that they didn't know about before it's worth it to them
to buy your product. They will buy it because they are deeply interested in the SUBJECT of your product...
I've purchased a lot on information products... I spend $5,000 a year
or more (some years MUCH more) ... but even if I only get ONE idea I can incorporate into my own marketing system
that will make me more money, it's worth every penny, just for that ONE IDEA.
What Your Readers Need and Want
What your buyer and readers of your information products want and what
they need are two different things.
What they WANT, in most cases, is:
...an instant answer and an easy solution , basically anything
that will make thier life "easier"
But that's not really what they need, in most cases is it? They need to be told the truth, or at least 'the truth'
as you know it and in no uncertain terms. That's how you create value for your products. You create value by...
...giving them MORE than they expected, MORE than they
thought they would be getting and MORE honest information than they could get anywhere else.
That's the attitude you need to take when CREATING your product. Make
it rise above the crowd and PACK it FULL of VALUE.
Hiring Writers To Create Your Content
Another 'dead-simple' way to create your own information products is
to hire writers to create content for you. It's also true for 'software' products - hire a programmer to make it
for you through elance.com or another freelance software site.
It's easier than you think to hire someone to create your info-product...
If you go this route you need to keep in mind a few things I've learned
the hard way:
1. Always be very
clear on what you want as the 'deliverable'... i.e. a MSWord document, a PowerPoint file, a text file, etc...
2. Make it very
clear from the beginning that the project they are doing for you is a 'work for hire'. In other words, you will
own ALL copyrights to the final work.
When you file the copyright on the content they create for you there
is a little box on the US Copyright form that asks "Is this a work for hire?" - you answer "yes"...and
then register the copyright in your name. Make sure you keep all copies of the emails and agreement you have with the writer
as backup documentation.
3. Don't pay them
until you are completely satisfied with the quality of the work.Once you've paid them in full you can forget about
them fixing the 300 spelling or grammatical errors they've made though out the text.
4. Let the writer
know that whatever price they quote you must include at least 2 "revisions" as part of the price and
that they won't get paid in full until you're satisfied with the quality of their work.
So how do you approach a project in which you want to hire a writer to
create an information project for you?
Unfortunately you are going to be doing some work... to prepare the writer for the assignment. Don't expect the writer to
do your thinking for you... that's a high level of intellectual activity that ONLY YOU can do.
The average writer you hire is much like an assembly line worker... they
will take your 'parts' and add this item or that item until the product is finished. Don't expect Hemmingway.
What I suggest, and what I do is create an 'outline' with as many BULLET
POINTS as I need to include in the finished product.
For example, if I wanted the writer to write an article on "Blog
Software, Their Benefits and Uses" and I tell them I want the article to be approx. 1,000 words (or approx
4 printed pages - approx. 250 words per page on 8 1/2" X 11" paper with 1" margins).
If I want them to write a series of articles on one particular topic
I would list the POINTS and max word lengths like this:
- "Blog Software, Their Benefits and Uses" (1,000 words)
- "Why Blogs Are Better Than Traditional Web Publishing" (750
words)
- "How Blogs Got Started" (500 words)
- Etc...
Now you've given them a goal, a direction... they will have to do some
research and start writing it, but they have something to guide them.
What should you expect to pay when hiring a writer? I have seen jobs
of this kind on Elance.com (highly recommended) for about .01 per word or $10 per 1,000 word article.
Another place to look for writers is your own backyard- the community
you live in... but I've had better luck hiring writers online. I'm not sure why. My guess is the local writers
I've met are less flexible and are less knowledgeable of the Internet.
So if you're putting a book together with 15-20 chapters (or articles)
of 1,000 words each it may only cost you $150-$200 to have an entire book written!
What's your role in this process? You are the "editor"... you
make the final approval and, if necessary, send them back to do more research or re-visions.
Now, here's a tip that will save you a ton of money when hiring a writer:
Never, ever tell them you're writing a "BOOK"... if they think you're getting them to write you book,
they will more than likely raise the price to the point that the project becomes un-doable.
What you want to communicate, at the outset, is that you're preparing
a 'series' of articles for your web site (which is true! but not the 'whole truth'...:)
That's it... you really have to 'keep quiet' as to the REAL use of the
articles you'll receive: Putting them into an ebook for resale on
your website.
Hey, you are PAYING for the writer to complete the assignment on a 'work
for hire' basis and they can always refuse... and the truth is they DO NOT NEED nor have the RIGHT TO know what
your ultimate business objectives are.
I won't get into the issue of 'not telling the truth' or whatever because
this is business, and business, in order to be competitive needs to be secretive in some ways... secretive as far
as how your business operates.
It's not just the issue of 'price' .. it's the issue of "how much
do you really want to tell people what you're up to"?
Do you want the world to know you're hiring writers to create your information
products?
Hey, if the formula for "Coke" is a trade secret... then your
'method' for creating information products by hiring writers to write them for you is also a 'trade secret'...
and a VALUABLE trade secret.
You do not want ANYONE to know... unless you have an ulterior motive.
Otherwise, I like what Dan Kenendy says about making money, "If
you can try to make your money in the dark, so no one can see how you really do it"... it's true you should "make your money in the dark"... DO NOT GIVE AWAY your
'secrets' without extracting a good price for them -- if you give them away at all.
How To Legally Use Someone Else's Ideas, Sell Them and Keep 100% of the
Profits Without Their Permission
Ok... this is going to frighten a few of you I know... but what I'm going
to tell you happens everyday of every week of every year. There are ways to avoid this problem and I discuss the
only 'real' way I know that is effective below.
When I wrote my second book, "Ebay
Secrets: What
No One Else Will Ever Tell You About The World's Most Popular Trading Site"
I thought I would sell a million copies and soon retire! Fat chance!
Now I wrote this book in 1998... ebay was getting very popular, but it
wasn't HUGE yet but it was getting there. I figured that a book on ebay would just sell like hotcakes...
And it did for about 3 months... then sales dropped off to the point
of being almost non-existent. I couldn't figure out what the problem was! Didn't anyone like me anymore?
This happens to me constantly... I get a great idea for a product and
within a few weeks I see a dozen 'copycat' products on the market.
Within a few months the number of ebooks about ebay just jumped through
the roof and my market share collapsed.
I'm not saying that my ebook created that kind of competition, but I
am pretty sure that it contributed to it because it was one of the FIRST books to come out on "how to make
money" on ebaY. Unfortunately I did not 'strike' while the iron was hot and lost sales. I was still an inexperienced
marketer, and I suffered the consequences.
The problem, as I stated earlier is that you cannot copyright an "idea"...
and you will find that your ideas, if they are unique and valuable, will be STOLEN... that's business! It's cut
throat out there!
And guess what? There isn't a thing you can do about it.
So here's my advice, for what it's worth: Develop your product 'in the
dark'... don't let anyone know about it until you're ready to roll it out.
Then, when it's ready for selling and you have your web page just the
way you want it and you've tested your ordering link, etc... THEN send the announcement to your list. And if you've
lined up JV partners to sell the product to for a percentage of the sale... tell them to sell it start selling
it ON A DAY YOU CHOOSE.
If you can try to get them all to announce it to their list on the same
day... ideally 48 hours AFTER you've announced it to your own list.
You'll continue to make sales, of course, months after you've created
your product, but I'll tell you right now... try to get the lion's share of the profits in the first few months
or even weeks before the copycats start coming out of the woodwork and reduce your market share.
If you have a really unique product and it would be almost impossible
to duplicate then you're much better off.
And that's my suggestion: Develop UNIQUE, HIGH VALUE information products
because when you do, copycats will be much less inclined to create a product better than yours... it would be just
too much work
for them! If you create the best product for your target market you will never have any long-term, serious competition.
Someone asked me recently about creating a business in a niche market.
They were afraid to continue in this market because it appeared that there was already a strong presence - another
person who had created an information product similar to what they were contemplating.
Buy their product. Study it. Make one that's BETTER than theirs. If the
marketplace is big enough for both of you fine.. if not, you'll grow marketshare while they lose market share.
It's also possible that marketshare could increase for both of you in actual dollar amounts as the market grows.
The "Review" Method of Writing and Creating Your
Content
I really like this writing method and it's the one I use most of the
time when I'm writing reports and articles for my Private Site.
This is only for those of you who really want to write the content yourself
- but it's darn easy to do.
And it's pretty simple... all you do is 'report' on what you find while
you're looking to solve your own problems.
Let me give you an example:
I wanted to to be able to deliver my ebooks 'instantly' after someone
bought them and I searched the Internet days for a solution that didn't require too much work or programming or
technical skill.
I had gathered a lot of information, a number of websites that offered
potential solutions and some methods I saw other web marketers using... I had a lot of information on the subject
and it only took me a day or two to gather it all together.
I found a solution that worked pretty good for
me and I thought others might like to know about the simple solution I found. So I wrote a 'report' about
what the PROBLEM was, HOW I looked for a solution, WHAT I found as I was looking, WHERE I looked and all the potential
SOLUTIONS that I discovered. Then I shared with my readers the one I decided to use and WHY.
It was simple to write... because I had the problem first, was highly
motivated to find a solution and, after searching extensively, found one.
Here's one secret to writing HOT selling reports and ebooks:
Ask yourself: "What difficult problem have I had to deal
with recently that I found a reliable and easy solution to?" Now, be a "reporter"! Write about it
and share your results with other people! They will pay you for the information!
This method kicks the butt of any other method of creating information
product ever invented! Here it is in a nutshell:
- State the PROBLEM and tell WHY it's a problem
- Tell HOW you went about trying to find a potential solution
- Tell WHERE you looked for a solution
- Tell WHAT you found while you were looking (the good and the bad)
- Tell what SOLUTIONS you found (the good and the bad)
- Share WHY you picked the one you did to solve "the" problem!
All you're doing is "reporting" on your "adventure"
in search of a SOLUTION to a PROBLEM. And you can rest assured, if YOU have the problem, there are a LOT of others
that are probably experiencing the EXACT same problem too. And never think for a minute that the solution you find
is too simple or nobody would be interested... they will be!
Not everyone is at the same experience level you are... some are 'newbies',
some are at an intermediate level and there are probably some at a much higher level of knowledge in your target
market than you are... but that's fine.
Your market will
be the people who are STILL SEARCHING for the SOLUTION to the PROBLEM and haven't found one yet or have just become
AWARE of it and want an instant solution. It doesn't matter if they know less or more than you as long as they
need the answer and solution to the same problem you had.
The secret to increasing sales of your products is...
...the BIGGER the problem you can find a SOLUTION for, that's
simple and easy for people to use, the HOTTER your product will be.
We're not going to get into selling secrets until the next Lesson, however
the strategy I just handed you for creating an information product using the "reporter method" is the
SAME process that's used to create SIZZLING SALES COPY for your product, with some slight differences that are
pretty obvious (hint: You don't give them the 'details'.. you just talk about the 'details').
The best sales copy I have ever read and have written follows this path:
- State the PROBLEM and tell WHY it's a problem
- Tell HOW you went about trying to find a potential solution
- Tell WHERE you looked for a solution
- Tell WHAT you found while you were looking (the good and the bad)
- Tell them that you found potential SOLUTIONS (the good and the bad)
- Share WHY they should buy YOUR SOLUTION to "the" problem!
The only difference is..
in the sales letter you don't GIVE the readers the SOLUTION or the steps you took to solve it... you only TALK
ABOUT THEM.
You talk about them, you don't reveal them... you give them "hints",
and "teasers", but you keep the real content of the product tightly locked up until they have bought. More on selling in Lesson 4 :-)
There's No Such Thing As "Writer's Block"
You can see why this would be true if you're a "reporter" instead
of a "writer". Writers get writers block but have you ever heard of "reporter's block"?
Reporters may be stuck from time to time about how to get their articles
started, but once they've received their assignment and done their research it all just starts to come together
and they know how to write the article or story.
Even writer's though get stuck. That's why the "outline method"
I showed you how to use when you hire a writer also works if you're
the one doing the writing...
To get started just take a pad of paper or use your computer to type
and start writing the MAIN POINTS of what you want, or think should be covered, in your report or ebook.
Create one bullet point right after the other without stopping... without
correcting them, just write them as they come into your mind. After you've written as many POINTS as you can possibly
think of, re-write them so that they are in some sort of logical order... what comes first, what comes second,
etc...
Now you have an outline you can use... and all you have to do is 'fill
in the blanks' using the outline you created as your guide.
That's EXACTLY how I created the Lessons for this personal coaching and
training program. I put everything in the Lesson that I would want to see in a coaching and training program...
and as I started to write these Lessons I just referred to my 'BULLET POINTS' and started "filling in the
blanks".. TALKING about each POINT until I was finished... but instead of using the "reporter's method"
of writing, I used the last method of writing I'll be discussing: The "Brain Dump".
The "Brain Dump" Method of Writing and Creating
Your Content
This method of writing is painful... mentally, that is.
After creating your outline and you start your writing, you must delve
and dig and pry open the deepest recesses (hey, clear those cobwebs!) of your mind and EXTRACT, sometimes painfully
extract, every last nugget of data and information contained in your brain about that particular point - the bullet
point you created earlier.
The only time I use this method (I'm using it right now) is when you're creating an
extremely HIGH VALUE and "exclusive" course of materials in your field of expertise. Why? Because you'll
be giving you reader the "ultimate" information product - just about every conceivable piece of knowledge,
wisdom and secrets YOU POSSESS.
And if you don't think that's painful!
Like I said, this is the HARDEST way to write, because you are leaving
no stone un-turned... you are giving it ALL and THINKING REALLY HARD about the subject and not holding anything back... you are
going into the depths of your innermost mind and if necessary, with force, drag ALL the wisdom and knowledge you
posses, screaming and kicking, to the surface of your brain, and finally type it on the computer in front of you.
Try it sometime... Just make sure you're near your bed when you're done,
so you can collapse without breaking any furniture when your 'brainware' freezes up and you fall to the ground
writhing in pain :-)
Moving on...
Let's say you have an idea for a book or special report or other information
product. Once you have the idea... what do you do next (aside from create it or have it created for you)?... How
do you get that idea into a position where it can be marketed successfully?
Well, for starters you have to know where your product is going to fit
into the marketplace and the position you'll take when presenting it to potential buyers.
As far as I know the following is a totally original way to look at POSITIONING
information products in a crowded market or any market - even totally new markets.
Positioning Your Information Product
Every product you have ever purchased found a "POSITION" in
your mind... it created a "feeling" and "PLACE" in your mind...
In order for a product to gain acceptance in the market there must be
something about the product that is ALREADY familiar to the prospective buyer... it must have a familiar design
or color or set of features or 'feeling' or whatever.
You've probably run across a product that just 'spoke' to you. You understood
it... and because you 'understood it', you wanted it.
You've had this experience: You
meet someone for the first time, but you feel like you've known them your whole life!
Well certain products are like that too... there's something about them,
something so familiar you could swear you've seen it before but that would be impossible because it's BRAND NEW!
A product like that gets readily accepted into the marketplace without
struggling for a position.
You must have a sense of the market you are targeting and whether the
book or report you're considering is positioned correctly.
I use what I call positioning 'frames'. Positioning frames allows me to size up the market and see where there are 'gaps' in the current
marketplace so that MY product gets accepted easily.
For example when I look at a marketplace in which I want to pursue a publishing project I automatically 'frame'
other marketers offers and determine their positioning when reviewing their sales copy.
Phrases used in their sales copy indicates to me the 'positioning' taken by the publisher within the market. I
simply 'pull out' the positioning quotes from their sales copy and create a simple listing of the various books
in the marketplace.
My list may look something like this (each quote taken from the publishers sales copy and the 'frame' it fits into
in brackets following):
· "The best resource, all-in-one, comprehensive, etc" (all-in-one resource
frame)
· "What no one else will ever tell you..." (hidden secrets frame)
· "Insider details never before revealed…" (insider frame)
· "Recommended and used by" (expert endorsed frame)
· "How to, step by step" (blueprint
frame)
· "Beginners guide, easy to use" (beginners frame)
· "Advanced information" (advanced info frame)
· "How I did it, and you can too" (my story frame)
Some publishers will combine 2 or more of these positioning frames, but normally only one will dominate.
When selecting your position in the market ALL the elements of your project have to coincide - work harmoniously
- to support the position.
What do I mean by that?
You can easily tell products that are not positioned correctly because they use one type of frame, say the Blueprint Frame, but the graphics
that are used look like they belong to the Beginners Frame.
This creates CONFUSION in the minds of your prospects! And we learned
in Lesson 1 that a confused person does not buy anything, they just keep looking.
Once you select a main positioning Frame you have stick to that frame and use it to create your graphics, book
format and sales copy… they must work together to create the total selling environment for that product.
Why do this?
If you select a position… and don't create an environment in which the customer can feel comfortable in, you create
confusion in your customer.
This is bad.
You want your potential customer to be able to grasp in seconds where
your product fits into their selective personal universe so they can say to themselves, "oh, it's an 'insider'
report…" or "oh, it's about his story…" , etc…
Potential customers need to be able to grasp what you are all about (to size up the environment you've created
to sell your product) within seconds or you've lost them.
SHOUTING, YELLING and ANGER
What do you do if you've tried everything to get your words on paper
or typed into your computer and you just don't get anywhere... not exactly writer's block but you're are definitely
stuck on what to say.
Get out of your chair and start SHOUTING.
YELL.
Get ANGRY.
I'm not kidding... not at all. You need to get yourself up and out of
your chair and yell, shout and scream. It's doesn't have to be anything specific... just YELL, but keep in mind
(I mean actually in your thoughts) the subject you want to write about.
It works and I don't know why... but maybe just the ENERGY you're creating
by shouting will move you forward and ideas will start coming into your head.
What else can you do?
Another thing I do is move my arms and legs fast and violently... sometimes
I do it while I'm yelling.. the combination works better than JUST yelling or JUST moving about.
I used to practice martial arts so I do a routine while I'm yelling or
I just start 'punching' the air. Weird huh?
Of course, while you're doing this... make sure you're alone! For some reason that I am not aware of, people will
think you're slightly ODD if you do this in the presence of others ;-)
But.. it works. At least it works for me. The reason, maybe, is that
the energy that is inside of us needs to be released perhaps before it will flow into our minds, hands and fingers,
I'm not sure.
Here's another thing about writing:
Don't 'discuss' your ideas, the one's you're going to write about, until
AFTER you've written them down.
It seems like if you verbalize all the ideas you have in your mind BEFORE you've written them down that they will
never actually get written... because you've already used that energy by TALKING about them. SO when it's time
to write about them, all the energy is gone and dissipated.
So, my advice is to keep the ideas you want to write about in your head...
until it's time to get them on paper or typed into the computer. Because if you start talking about them before
you've written them down it's like popping a balloon - all the pressure and energy has been wasted and there's
nothing left.
What To Do Now!
Here's what you need to know:
Ask yourself the question:
"What difficult problem have I had to deal with recently
that I found a reliable and easy solution to?"
If you don't already have your own information product, this will the
basis of your very first one! it's the EASIEST way to get started!
Next Lesson:
In the next Lesson we
are going to start selling products and services... I'll teach
you how I sell thousands of dollars each month online in other
people's products... and another few thousand of my own. Why you
don't need 'sales' pages and how to start getting money flowing
into your bank account... non-stop. Online selling secrets will
be revealed...stuff you've never heard before, guaranteed.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR THIS LESSON
HIGHLY Recommend Reading Books:
What Interests People and Why
(Includes: The Sixteen Elements of Universal Interest) by Morrill Goddard. American Weekly, 1932.
Niche Marketing,
by Gordon Burgett. Communications Unlimited, 1993.
The Art of Readable Writing,
by Rudolf Flesch. Harper, 1949. (Highly recommended for writers)
How To Sharpen Your Competitive Edge,
by Don Reynolds, Jr. Small Business Sourcebooks, 1994. (out of
print)
Writing Successful Self-Help & How To Books by Jean Marie Stine, John Wiley,
1997.
The Art of Storytelling (How To Write A Story, Any Story) by Michael Druxman, The Center
Press, 1997. Note: Even though this book is about writing fiction, you can apply it to 'storytelling' in sales
copy - we'll be discussing sales copy and the use of 'stories' in your copy in Lesson 4.
The Public Domain, How To Find & Use Copyright-Free Writings,
Music, Art & More by
Stephen Fishman, John Wiley, 2001. The "bible" of public domain information and how to profit from it.
(Highly recommended)
The 7 Steps To Freedom II: How To Escape the American Rat Race by Benjamin D. Suarez. Hanford
Press, 1995. (Highly recommended)
Out of The Rat Race and Into The Chips by Hubert K. Simon. HK Simon Co, 1973. A first-hand account of an 'infoproduct developer'
who stumbles upon a formula for making a ton of money almost by 'accident'. Enjoyable reading and a great 'personal
success story'.
Recommend Internet Services/Websites:
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ :: A wealth of information...
99.9% in the public domain.
http://www.copyright.gov/ :: The US Copyright Office
home page.
http://www.archives.gov/index.html :: The US National Archives.
The 'mother load' of public domain documents.
http://wikipedia.org/ :: An encyclopedia and free
content for your web site. According to the site: "The license we use grants free access to our content in the same sense as free
software is licensed freely. That is to say, Wikipedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed so long
as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges Wikipedia as the source. Wikipedia articles
therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve
to ensure that freedom."
http://www.articlecity.com :: Free artciles for your website or ezine. Don' know what to write about? Use these articles
as inspiration for your own info-products.
http://www.loc.gov/ :: Another source of high quality
mostly, public domain info. Some of the material here may be copyrighted so check first before using it.
BONUS LEARNING MATERIALS FOR LESSON 2
"Lost" Masters Of Copywriting (Course)
As many of you know I was a rare book dealer before becoming an Internet
marketer. Several years ago I found a "lost" course written by the masters of copwriting from the 1920's
with parts of the course written by the greatest copywriter of all time, Claude C. Hopkins! Other contributors
were H. Harry Thompson, Joseph Appel, Bruce Barton, J.K. Fraser, Ben Nash, Kenneth Goode and many other notables
in the field of copywriting at the time.
This 'rare' course has not been available in digital form until now.
I am not done with the process of 'digitizing' the hard copy of the 25 lesson course, but students will receive
several Chapters each week for the next 6 weeks until you have in your possession the entire course.
Being able to create copy that persuades people to do what you want
them to do YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE COMPELLING WORDS THAT SELL.
That's a MUST. No "if's", "ands" or "buts".
By the way... this course is NOT available anywhere online... and very,
very, few Internet marketers have ever heard of it or even know that it exists. So please let's keep this quiet...
and our 'little secret' ok?
Click here to download lessons 1-15 (you got 1-10 last time) of this
"lost" copywriting course:
Surprise BONUS Materials!
Re-publishing public domain material can be very profitable. Just to
give you an idea of the kinds of products that can be published and how to do it, I've included a couple of my
own public domain projects below for you to review and, hopefully learn from. Re-publishing these old texts is
not really that hard to do and with a little effort you can do the same thing:
- Wyckoff's Day Trading Secrets. The orginal title was very different and I can't even rememebr what it is now,
but I changed it. I also edited the text to make it more up-to-date. Then, as I teach in the Public Domain Reports
I copyrighted the 'revisions' I made to the orginal text. Tis will prevent anyone from legally copying the work
and redistributing it as their own. If they had the orginal text, then they could do what ever they wanted... but
I'm not going to give them any clues where to find it ;-)
- Mind Reading Games For Fun and Profit. Another book whose orginal
title I've forgotten, but show the 'range' of subjects and information that is available in the vast treasure house
of public domain info.
Next Week:
More Lessons of the Masters of Copywriting course and more ... stay
tuned!
------------------------
©
2003-2006. All rights reserved.
|