Product Creation & Outsourcing

Posted on January 27th, 2008 in How-To, Internet Marketing, Niche Marketing, Outsourcing, Personal Preparation by Herb

A couple of posts back, I had touched on creating products for a niche, and quickly highlighted that I needed outside help to create the product.  In the process of writing an ebook, I realized that the material I was covering needed photos in order for the reader to really understand the content.  I had a few options to accomplish this, but they were all going to depend on cost, time necessary, and availability of my time and others.

Long story short, I found out that a very close friend of mine did 3D animation on the side (pretty good at it as well) and could provide me the images I needed for a reasonable cost!  I couldn’t believe it, and I initially thought ok….this product is going to be great and released real soon, and I’ll be making money!!!!  Well that all may be true, but the timing in which I expected all this to occur was completely thrown off by the learning experience known as Outsourcing.

As the blog sub-title says, “I’m taking a non-expert’s approach” to most of this Internet Marketing stuff, and while the process has been very educational, it has also left me with a few internal bruises & scars.  Ok, here’s what you need to know (based off of very recent experience) when you are going to outsource part or parts of your business/product creation.

1.  Make a DETAILED plan and description of EXACTLY what you need done.  This means if you want 10 photos taken that demonstrate the proper way to season & marinate a slab of ribs, you need to identify:

Photo #1 - Take an overhead shot of a thawed out slab of ribs from a distance of 1-2 feet.  Make sure plenty of light is on the ribs.  Be sure the meaty side is face up so the camera gets this view.

Photo #2 - Arrange the seasoning containers like so from left to right on a table with a blank wall in the background: Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Tenderizer, Salt.  From a squatting or kneeling position take a photo from 1-2 feet away of the ingredients with each of the labels facing the camera.

Photo #3 - Using a left to right motion with the wrist only, shake a dusty coating of the garlic powder over the top of the ribs, starting with the left side first.  Only apply one coating.  Take an overhead picture looking straight down at the ribs from 1-2 feet away.

Get the idea?  you need to be as clear as possible for the person doing the work for you.  Assume the person doing the work knows nothing about making ribs or whatever your project is, and you will have a much better chance at getting this right the first time.

2.  Try your best to hire someone that is moderately familiar with the subject matter of your product.  Since I was on a tight budget, I had to take a bit of a hit here, but in the process I again quickly & painfully learned that this can be key especially if you’re looking for the work to be done right the first time for a schedule you’re trying to keep.  Since I didn’t do this, I had to explain several basics that I overlook since I’m knowledgeable about the subject, which played a major part in the project completion date being delayed.

3.  Don’t be afraid to use audio and or video.  Each of these can help a ton in the beginning if the person doing the work for you knows nothing of the subject matter!!  Unfortunately, I didn’t learn this until too late.  Using audio or video to aid the “outsourcees” can be a tremendous timesaver, and can provide the outsourcee with invaluable subtleties you may be trying to get across, but not specifically stating.  In other words some things are easier to describe visually.  In another example, I needed demonstrate how baseball and football players posture on the field of play is different by position and game situation.  Using video, I could show from different angles in how I needed the 3D image created, and other subtleties such as head/hand position.

4. Review the finished work you get back in detail, and be sure to put yourself in the shoes of your target customer when reviewing it.  Make sure that 99% of exactly what you wanted is in the finished work, and if it is not accurate, it is vital to get it right the next time.  I didn’t get exactly what I wanted because I was not detailed enough on the front end with steps 1 and 2 that I just covered.  Needless to say I realized mid-way through the process that I needed to do what I stated in steps 1 and 2, but by then I lost a good chunk of time and missed a really good product launch timeframe.  Anyhow, when you provide feedback make sure to provide any missing details the second time around that may not have been communicated the first time.

I don’t want to project that outsourcing is a bad thing.  In fact, now that I’ve gotten some of the major mistakes out of the way, I’m looking forward to outsourcing more in the future.  I noticed that the successful, rich Internet Marketing gurus all have two major components in place that piggyback each other.  One, they are very consistent in all their marketing efforts - namely the fundamentals (lead generation, email listbuilding, traffic generation, etc.).  They each have a number of things they do each day, week, month that keeps the leads, sales, and marketing flowing.  Secondly, they do not do the actual “grunt work” on their own.  The gurus have either hired someone in house, outsourced to a service like workaholics4hire, or find someone on a service like elance.

I’m sure that this list of Outsourcing keys is not yet complete, however I am positive that this list will prevent the mistakes and resulting fallout and will definitely make me far more efficient in the long run.  I’m also positive that this list will be useful regardless of what work I’m outsourcing.  Feel free to take advantage of these tips, and if anyone has some additional suggestions I’m more than open to them.

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Niche Marketing - A Discovery

Posted on December 9th, 2007 in Education & Training, How-To, Internet Marketing, Niche Marketing, Personal Preparation by Herb

Throughout my internet marketing education this year, I have read and received advice and suggestions on the “best” way to succeed and generate income streams. While my first choice was affiliate marketing due to it’s perceived ease of setup and maintenance, I soon discovered that creating my own products for specific, well-targeted markets was not only as profitable, but also offers substantially more control and options.

With that said, around September I began to obtain information that explains the hows, dos, and dont’s regarding what’s called Niche Marketing and Niche Product Creation. This is also around the time in which I posted the article regarding Performing Keyword Research. Since that process was new, I found it to be exciting, time consuming, and eventually unhelpful.

I read up some more, listened to a fa listew podcasts, and decided to give the keyword research another try. Based off of the material I studied from, I compiled a list of the key steps each resource provided, then adjusted a few minor things as I saw fit. This was primarily an experimental measure to see if I was maybe missing some minor details I had either ignored or overlooked.

Long story short…..I nailed down both the keywords and the niche I wanted to target!! Here were the keys I learned from this process.

  • Make a list on paper, word doc or excel spreadsheet of any and all passionate interests, hobbies, or topics you are involved with, know about, or even want to know about. I suggest doing this task more than once and really taking it seriously!! I didn’t focus properly the first couple of times. When making this list, put down EVERYTHING you think of. Also, when you put down a broad topic like cars, try to drill down to the most specific areas of cars you like such as classic corvettes, 50’s era Chevy’s, fine tuning Mitsubishi Eclipses, etc. Repeating this for each topic you put down will help you define this list and maybe even discover a niche for you early in the process! If if helps out, I’ve provided a sample spreadsheet based exactly on the one I personally used.
  • Next you need to define the following at a minimum for each prospective niche idea you put down: Passion level about the topic, how much you either know, or are willing to learn about the topic.
  • In addition you will want to define the possible products you could create around the topic (ebook, newsletter, software, membership site, audio, video, training, etc.)
  • At this point, I suggest you go back over your completed list including the information you inserted for bullet #2 and select 6-10 of the best items you prefer based off of all the criteria defined in the list.

With the information provided in your list, I would then take the 6-10 items selected in the last bullet, and use them as keywords when following the instruction provided in Brian Edmundson’s Keyword Research article HERE.

As mentioned earlier, when defining a niche market to create your own products in, you may have to repeat this process a few times. I personally had to repeat the process several times over a week period. The key is to take the entire process very seriously, and stick with it in the event it doesn’t seem to work the first time or two.

If you feel that your list does not seem to be very interesting, feel free to ask others (friends, family co-workers, etc.) what they’re interested in for additional inspiration. I personally found some other niches that I want to look into when I’m ready for a new niche challenge.

Once I found the niche, the next issue was to define what product I could create the quickest for the niche. Due to cost concerns and a need for speed, I decided ebook creation was the route to go. First lesson learned about ebook creation? Do not sit down and just start writing!! I know a lot about sports, but writing about it proved to be a big challenge when I realized I want people to buy this. So I utilized another tool suggested during my studies…the use of a mind map. Using the Mind Map application Freemind, I defined each chapter of the book, including title, topics, and book structure. For each of the topics, I made minor notes to address what I wanted to cover in each chapter.

During creation of the ebook, it became apparent that I would need some sample photos, and illustrations to bring the content to life and provide the reader with additional clarity on my information. This resulted in my seeking some outside help, which delayed the release of the product, but will definitely enhance both sales, and product value.

Niche Marketing definitely has additional learning steps I’m adjusting to, but they easily require their own post for proper coverage. I’ll let you know about them really soon!

Here are some samples for you to use if you like. To view the mind map you will need to download the free application Freemind:

Potential Niche Spreadsheet Sample

Mind Map Sample

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