If you've been involved in affiliate marketing for a while, you've heard the advice of other marketing experts:
Get your product, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
They tell you this because having your product does a lot of nice things for your business.For example, you'll get all the profits from what you sell, instead of just a fraction, and you'll have total control over testing and monitoring.
This allows you to monetize your site for YOUR product, instead of other people's products, which helps how Google displays your site.Once you've established an audience of actual buyers, you can start upselling, which is where the real money is.
If you want to learn more about the power of upsells and other expert-level marketing tactics, check out Web Domination.
The bottom line is this… It's nice to have a product.But you probably already knew that.The problem is that you don't have time.
Or you?
If you can clear even three days from your calendar – basically a long weekend – I'll show you how to have a first rockin product ready for sale by the end of the third day.
Sounds good? So let's go:
Step-by-step guide to launching your first product in 72 hours or less
Here's the high-level vision of what we're going to do:
- Define your audience and find out what is needed/desired in a product.Estimated time: 3 hours .
- Create a product content schematic and discover the easiest way to create and deliver that product. 2 hours, 5 hours total.
- Write the sales letter. 3 hours, 8 hours total.
- Create the landing page and images of the products or rent them. 3 hours, 11 hours total.
- Break through that content. 6 hours, 17 hours total.
- Make the first round of content better and arrange it in the form in which it will be delivered. 4 hours, 21 hours total.
- Link the checkout and landing page. 3 hours, 24 hours total.
- Create your first ads and promotions. 4 hours, 28 hours total.
- Start finding people to promote it for you. 2 hours, 30 hours total.
Here are the terms of commitment:
- You have 3 days.
- You will work 10 hours a day.It's 30 hours all in. If you want to go crazy and work 15 hours for two days straight, do it.
- You can do this with a zero budget, but having $100 will also help.
- You probably won't be able to create a high-end product in this time frame (although you can).But you'll get a fantastic $7 starter product and can probably get something worth around $30.
Start.
Define your audience and find out what they need/want in a product.
(3 hours, 3 hours total)
Have you ever heard the saying "Start thinking about the end"?That is what we are doing.When everything is done and you're spending your hard-earned money promoting it (much less the 30 hours of non-refundable time you're about to invest), we want to make sure you'll have a winner.That's why this research is important.Don't just run with the first idea that comes to mind.DO NOT create the 17th version of the same product that everyone else pushes.
You must have pen and paper or a spreadsheet open while you are doing this research, because you are currently drafting your product.
Make a list of the most common questions and problems/problems of people in your niche.You want at least 15 of these questions/issues, with room for notes after each issue.
Now go to these places:
Spend at least 30 minutes on each of these sources, otherwise your search will be skewed.Everyone knows how to scour niche forum sites to see what people are asking for, but Amazon reviews for products (and Kindle books) are also a treasure trove of insights.The same goes for comments on blogs and social media, especially Facebook pages and groups.
If you're new to BuzzSumo, it's a free tool that lets you see what's the most shared content for a search term or website URL.It will give you some insights into what goes viral, but not necessarily what people will pay.
BuzzSumo can show you the most shared content for a URL or search phrase.It will also show you who the most influential sharers were.
This is the real secret to having a great product – a product that people are not only interested in, but that they will buy.Just answering the same old practical questions available elsewhere won't get you anywhere.You have to solve problems that people haven't been able to answer elsewhere, and solve problems that people are willing to pay for solving.That Excel table mentioned above will give you some very interesting insights after spending a few hours compiling it.Do not cut corners here.
Create a product content schema
(2 hours, 5 hours total).
Take that Excel document, choose the one issue or group of issues that emerged as best, and start crashing your product.You can do this by creating a structure or writing cards or as you like.By the end of these two hours you should have a bad draft of your product's content.Remember, you were collecting "content" for your product while researching what people wanted to know.
So, ask yourself: should your product be video?Text?Audios, as interviews?Consider two things for this question:
1) Which format is most likely to be your audience wanting?
2) Which format is easiest to create?
Write your sales letter
(3 hours, 8 hours total).
What?Will we write the sales letter before creating the product?You can bet we are.
Writing the sales letter will have you sit down and essentially write what is a love letter to your buyers.It will force you to decide which parts of the product will be most important to them, and will give you a clear idea of what you promise them, so it is ingrained in your head when you make the product.This will keep you focused on creating the product described by your sales letter.
If you just have to bounce back to your bad product design to give some more details, because you had an awesome idea while you were writing the sales letter, you can do it.
Tip: Use the same words your audience uses to describe their problems, especially if you've found people repeating the same problem or question.It's okay to lift entire sentences from your research.I don't recommend raising entire paragraphs, but sentences and sentences are fine.
Create landing page
(3 hours, 11 hours total).
If you have the budget, install OptimizePress and create a high-quality landing page.If you want to go to AwesomeWeb and get a cover made for you, that's okay too.If you don't have a budget, use your favorite free landing page plugin.There's a decent 3-D e-book cover maker here.
Spend at least half an hour of this time reading a few posts on how to create a good landing page. OptimizePress is a great resource, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.Don't spend too much time, okay?We are in execution mode right now, not in learning mode.
There are some great paid landing page builders, like LeadPages, but there are also some pretty good free plugins.
Breaking through that content
(6 hours, 17 hours total).
"Holy% ^ & $!", you say."I can't create the product in six hours!"
Oh yes, you can.Because you already have 5 hours of work to create your draft.And because – surprise – you will not get this perfect.
No, you will not publish a perfect product.You're about to release a product that may require an update.Because you'll tell your buyers that you want to hear from them.You will actively ask for their feedback.
If they don't like something about your product, or if they want something more from your product, fabulous.You will do it for them.That way you'll know you're creating content for paying customers, instead of what you think (hopefully) they'll pay for.So put all that perfectionism aside, make some coffee, do whatever you need to do to get it out and start improving that bad draft.
Tip: If you're having trouble diving, consider using the Pomodoro technique.It's where you work non-stop for 25 minutes, so take a break for 5-10 minutes, then head back to another super-focused work session.There are Pomodoro apps for computers and smartphones.Some are free It is an effective way to eliminate anxiety and the second hypothesis and the way to get to work.
Make the first round of content better and arrange it in the form in which it will be delivered.
(4 hours, 21 hours total).
You'll need a break after that six-hour marathon session.Perhaps, perhaps, a night's sleep?So go back and make only what you have a little better.Maybe re-read your sales letter and make sure you keep your promises there.Hey, you might find yourself editing your sales letter as well.But remember: you are at the time.You have four more hours to make this baby worth buying.Then do it.
Link the checkout and landing page.(3 hours, 24 hours total).
Three hours might be longer than necessary, but sometimes this phase of things gets complicated, so I wanted to give you a little extra time to figure out a new cart.Frankly, I love the buy buttons PayPal.You can set up the entire checkout process in less than 20 minutes with a PayPal button if you know what to do.
If you have extra time, worry a little more about your landing page.For example, have you checked how it looks on a smartphone?On your friend's smartphone?Could you convince them to try placing an order and see what their impressions are on your product?You don't necessarily have to do what they say, but a second pair of eyes can be helpful.
You don't need to set up a checkout cart for your new product.The PayPal buttons are free (minus sales fees, of course), can be customized with any desired button image, and can be set up in about 15 minutes.
Create your first ads and promotions
(4 hours, 28 hours total).
Again, this may take longer than necessary, but at least you'd like:
- 3-5 versions of PPC copy
- A solo email promo
- Maybe a sequence of autoresponder 3-5 emails
- 3-4 banner ads or display displays
You probably won't have time to finish everything in 4 hours, but choose two or three and give them your best shot.If you have a little budget, this is the right time for a designer to pull some key phrases and phrases from your sales letter, add your own images, and get you lots of nice advertisements.
Start finding people to promote it for you
(2 hours, 30 hours total).
The extra credit would be to set up an affiliate program, let's say through SamCart.Or you can put 3-5 blog owners in your niche and offer them all the email addresses of the people they buy through their promotion, keeping sales.Or you can start thinking about where you can best advertise this new product.Maybe you just want to add a finishing touch or two to your product's content.
Whatever you do, give yourself a round of applause.Not only did you create a product in 30 hours, but now you know how to do it again.