Product + Traffic = Sales (and sales means money in the pocket, baby)! (<– Click To Tweet!)
That’s the very basic and practical equation for success online! Everything starts with a product. You have to have something to sell. So HOW do you create a product that sells?
This is a question I’ve asked myself many times before. It’s something I strive to learn more and more about all the time. As I create digital products and learn from others I want to examine some of the key points that I’ve found to be true regarding creating a digital product that sells. Some of these key points were revealed to me in the last post about product creation with Peggy.
Create Digital Products That Are Based On YOUR Audience’s Needs or Desires
This right here is probably the biggest tip to creating a digital product that doesn’t suck! If you are building a blog audience and an email list around a topic (you are aren’t you?) then most likely people in your audience will need help at one point or another. It’s up to you to figure out what they want or need. There are a few ways you can do this.
- First, observe. Look into your analytics to see what emails and blog posts are getting the most attention. Look at your Facebook insights (something I knew nothing about until yesterday lol) to see engagement levels of your posts. You can use Hootsuite to see what tweets are getting retweeted the most. By doing this you can observe what your market is looking for. Sometimes observation is the best way to get information.
- Second, ask. Ask your audience what they are looking for. Survey them with Survey Monkey or ask questions in an email, blog post, or on social media platforms.
Clearly, knowing what your audience is looking for is very important to creating a product that sells.
Create Products Based On Your Strengths
Got to give Sharyn credit for this one. Creating products based on your strengths is huge! For example, maybe you loathe writing but you are excellent at creating videos. Well, create a video series instead of an ebook! Creating video plays to your strengths and will make the product creation process much easier and more fun for you!
Test Your Product Idea Out On Your Audience (Guinea Pig Method)
I did this with PLR Business Training and it helped a lot! I got feedback and was able to tweek the product plus I also got a bunch of testimonials before I even released the product! As Peggy stated this was huge for her because it helped her see that she was on the right track. It also helped her build a relationship with those on her list. It is also extremely motivating to get good feedback. It makes you want to get the product done even faster.
Really (REALLY) Want To Help Others
When you genuinely want to help others with your product you will put the needs of your target market ahead of your own. Yes, you are in business but it’s not all about making money. If you want to create a product that sells and doesn’t suck then you’ll have to get YOU out of the picture. I’ve had to learn this the hard way a few times myself. It can be difficult to find the balance sometimes especially when you need money. BUT the rewards will always be MUCH greater if you focus on the well-being of your market.
Get The Price Right
The price of your product does play a big part in creating a product that sells (and sells well). Get the price wrong and you won’t be in business for long. Pricing is very tricky. You have to take into consideration your market, what costs you have accumulated, and what you feel it’s worth. It’s an art and it’s something that can take time to get just right. If you want to learn more, Ameena has a lot of great insight into pricing.
Create A Digital Product That People Want And Not What You Want (Or Think They Need)
It can be easy to slide into the mindset that what you think your audience needs is actually what they need or want (especially if you are your target market). While you might have a hunch it’s best to do some research (see first point) first. Trust me it’s not a good feeling to spend a lot of time, money, blood, sweat, and tears to get a product created only to realize that you didn’t create a product that your market wants.
And Finally…Sometimes Your Digital Product Will Suck
Unfortunately, sometimes this will happen. Maybe you didn’t get one of the above tips just right. But it’s what you do afterwards that matters. Learn from the experience, ask for feedback and then fix it. THAT is how you will get to the point of creating a digital product that sells!
I want to hear from you! What do you think? What tips do you have for creating a digital product that sells and doesn’t suck? Let me know below!
Hi Lisa. I just recently finished going through this process by first creating a freebie on Kindle Self-Publishing that people can get by singing up at http://www.newplr4you.com/newplr4you.com/Kindle_Squeeze_Page.html. In the freebie, I have an OTO and a follow-on related product offer.
This was my first full-blown info product creation and I was surprised at all the steps (and time) necessary to get things to flow right.
Great tips. I struggle because I always second guess myself. It takes a lot of work for me to push through and just finish creating something. I’m working on a product right now and I actually started passing around a survey to people on Twitter, FB, and G+ to find out what THEY want to know about the subject and it really had me feeling better about what I was creating!
I think we all struggle with second guessing ourselves! But good plan to get past those feelings and get productive!
This is why I love list building because you can ask your subscribers what they want, then turn around and give them exactly that.
Pricing is something I tend to get stuck on. If you price a product too low, not only do you lose out on profit, but people may suspect it’s lacking in quality. Whereas if you price it too high, you may deter custom.
I agree Mena Jo about pricing! It can be something that holds you back from getting on with your product too!
Excellent post, Lisa. Most of the times I ask my list what they are struggling with and what they want me to write about.
I’ve recently started working on my second project, which is an ebook. So I appreciate the content you’re sharing here.
Good advice on catering the audience need on the demand.
I beg to differ on the
Product + Traffic = Sales
I believe that conversion also plays a huge part here and should be part of the equation. Even if you have traffic and product, if the conversion doesn’t happen then there will be no sales!
This is a great list Lisa. As usual, you give us some sound advice on product creation.
But what about those without blogs, without websites or who are new to blogging and have no traffic. How are they making sales? Just thinking out loud. I’ve often wondered about this myself..
I completely agree with the part about REALLY wanting to help others. It’s much easier and more enjoyable to base your business around this rather than profits. Obviously there needs to be a balance so that both parties benefit, but hitting the right balance is a piece of cake if you’re in the right mindset.
Awesome write up Lisa! I especially needed the reminder to use guinea pigs, as i’m such a perfectionist at heart – i read a great quote from Willie Crawford the other day on facebook, he said “Ready, Fire, Aim, Adjust,Ready, Fire, Aim, Adjust,Ready, Fire, Aim, Adjust…” and so i will take this advice to heart and launch one of my many projects and then do a invite-only pre-launch to get about 50 members or so, and get them to give me feedback, and once i launch i’ll allow them to send out invite-only affiliate link invitations, nobody can join without an affiliate, and upgraded members would get my referrals so everyone had to go into someone’s downline as a rule.
some extra advice i just learned from my new mentor, Alex Jeffreys, with regard to relationship building is that you start with suspects, and get them onto your mailing list with free offers, then you *gradually* convert them to a customer with *automated* and semi-automated follow-ups (emails/blogs/videos/etc) and once they really get to know, like, and trust you they will finally become clients and buy almost anything you recommend within their budget that fits their current needs and also help to refer others.
He also shared this quote from one of his mentors, Rich Schefren, “It’s not your traits that hold you back from success, but your constraints”, very good advice as the weakest link or bottlenecks is what slow you down you know – you can drive fast for miles to get to work on time, but there is always a bottleneck that will take up a huge amount of your time – no matter how quickly you got there if you didn’t factor that 20 minute wait period into your calculations you’ll be late every time, and this applies to all areas of life and all systems.