Product development – overview
Before building (or revamping) your website and marketing techniques, the logical first step is to have a product. Sure you can design your site first, and maybe you have, but understanding both your product and your target market will significantly influence site design.
If you already have a product or products to sell, don’t skip this review; you may want to add some new products to your internet marketing plans. Selling more than one digital product can easily maximize your profits. If you are going to sell more than one product on your site, you will want to make sure you keep your product line within the same general market area. The narrower the market with any product, the better the sales conversion rates, so diversifying your products is better for sales conversion than diversifying topics.
For example, if you are selling an e-book on how to train your labrador retriever, additional products could be videos and even an e-class on how to train your labrador retriever. On the other hand, dog training products in general will have much, much more competition. Since the lab is America’s favorite dog, you’ll find plenty of books on this market, but that’s okay because this book will teach you how to make yours stand out.
Based on our canine example, if you have a Labrador Retriever, you probably understand why there is a market for training these eager to please but highly energetic dogs. You may have heard the joke …
Four dogs are asked to change a light bulb. Your responses?
Border collie: Yes, but only one, and while I’m at it, I’ll make sure the wiring is up to code.
Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, and you’re inside worrying about a stupid burned out light bulb?
Rottweiler: Go ahead! Make me!
Labrador: Oh, me, me !!! Please let me change the light bulb! I can? I can? Hey? Hey? I can?
This is a short version, but it is a good example of a few things:
Your readers want to be entertained while being informed. Just as each breed of dog has its own personality, so will your product niche.
In addition to being able to offer more than one product in your market, if you have a large site, you could even expand your target market. Again, using our Labrador retriever example: Someone searching online for information on how to train your Labrador will likely be interested in keeping their Labrador healthy as well. Now this could provide the related topic for a free bonus report (more on this later) and / or for a related target market product.
Why would you want to invest time (or money if you are outsourcing) on more than one product instead of investing those resources in additional marketing for the first? For one thing, if you don’t develop these “back-end” products in your market, your competition will. Also, having more products in the same market means that you already have potential customers. The number of leads will, of course, depend on the number of satisfied customers you already have and the size of your email subscription list (all of this will be covered in later chapters).
Big companies know this and trust their brand to sell new products. Unless you create competing products; (ie “How to Train Your Labrador Retriever the Right Way” and “How to Train Your Labrador Retriever the Quick, Fun, and Easy Way”), then you’ll get additional sales.
On the contrary, if you don’t create new products for your target market, your site visitors who are interested in related products, such as an online video or DVD on how to train Buster to use the e-book, will return to their Search engines faster than you can say “Stay.”
If you belong to the old offline school of thought, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, but developing new products is still going to cost me a lot.” That is true for many physical products; However, remember that one of the beautiful things about creating digital products (and / or services online) is that the production costs are very low. In some cases, you will have no production costs depending on your skills and tools.
For now, let’s say you start with a product and then create back-end products after your first product is off to a good start.
The first step in creating a product is defining your target market. The easiest route is to select a market that has enough consumer interest to help you build a profitable sales margin and a low enough level of competition that will allow you to corner a good section of that market through realistic efforts.
First, it’s important to remember that you might have the perfect target market and product ideas, but if the topic bores you to tears, you should leave it to someone who cares. Even if you are not producing the products yourself, you are managing your external suppliers. That means spending time reviewing what they produce and talking to them about what you want. To do this well, you will need to know your market. You should spend some time researching if it is not one you already know in order to create the products and marketing tools and / or target those who do.
For example, if your product market is how to profit from dandelions in your garden, then you better be interested in everything dandelion related: dandelion wine, dandelion salad, cultivation dandelion, etc. You may be excited about a topic at first because of the earning potential, but in the long run, if it’s not something you really care about, you won’t be able to stay up front and it will be noticed. Also, you will get bored with the whole process.
There is too much potential in this lucrative field to market products that we don’t care about. Because so many are doing this, there is a lot of junk out there, such as e-books written by ghostwriters who are not paid enough to do the subject justice and / or have no direction from marketers who care. a cumin. . Not only can this lead to problematic products, it can also lead to dissatisfied customers.
So if you choose a product in a niche that you have passion and experience for, or at least the passion for, you will love learning all about it. That alone could lead to a huge advantage over many competitors. What you offer will be unique due to your incomparable experience and passion. You will be happier and your customers too. Remember that your satisfied customers are potential customers for your back-end products.
So before you move on to the next step of researching the niche, make a list of the things that excite you the most. Imagine that an editor has asked you to write a book or that a club has asked you to talk to its members. If you are neither a writer nor a speaker, think about the topics you would most like to teach your friends and co-workers.
I say “teach” because most digital products are informational and the only limit to topics is your imagination: how to train your labrador retriever, how to whisper so your horse can hear you, travel to Hawaii on a budget, vacation in the beach in the world, how to build tree houses, how to make millions, teach others how to make millions, etc.
However, if you decide to sell a non-informational product, such as those you make at home, such as organic pet treats or candles; those that you sell to others through direct shipping to which the manufacturer (or distributor) sends; the ones you buy and then sell on eBay, like vintage clothing, etc. then, for the same reasons, use these exercises to get a list of possibilities. You don’t need to know the product types yet, just the niche. For example, you don’t need to know at this point if you plan to write an e-book or prepare gourmet dog treats. Once you’ve defined your niche, we’ll talk about the actual products.
If it’s a service you want to offer, make it one you’re good at and enjoy doing it. Whether it’s website design, programming, search engine optimization (SEO), copywriting, or dog training consulting, just make sure you can give your clients a good result. Along with your service, you can create and sell a digital tutorial, such as an e-book or video. Along the same lines, you may want to give away some of your service to attract buyers or create a membership site.
Your list may end up including favorite hobbies, recreation, topics you like to read about, from spiritual topics to financial topics, favorite places, pets, types of food, or cooking styles. Remember, everything goes online. If you are stuck, write down the answers to these questions:
What are my hobbies and hobbies?
How do I spend my free time? How would I like to spend my free time?
What things do I know more about?
What did I love to do before I got caught up in this rat race?
Do I have a professional background or a solid CV in any of the areas that really interest me?
And, the classic:
If money was not an option, how would you spend your time?
When you don’t limit yourself and focus on what really interests you rather than what you think should interest you or where you think you will make the most money, you have a great list of possibilities to explore for niche markets. . If you’re having trouble with this concept, consider the fact that many high-wealth people swear that they earned their money by following their interests or personal happiness, so to speak, despite being told by others to be practical. We will also get practical, as soon as you have your list of passions.
Once you’ve created your list of interests (don’t worry if some seem too broad … we can narrow them down to a good market in most cases), it’s time to do some research to find out what kind of markets they are. out there for your interests.
