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By Eric V. Van Der Hope
Copyright (c) 2008 NicheSourcing.com

First, whether you are a newbie at developing your first niche business or you are an ‘old’ pro, I’d recommend you start with creating something that’ll:

1. Produce the most profit and
2. be the simplest method to package.

Before you start thinking about how to package your product, you really need to think about what you’re packaging. The success of your business will depend largely on one specific phase in this creation process. You need to focus on developing the CONTENT! How you develop the content will ultimately determine the outcome of what you are offering or contributing to your specific niche, so in this chapter, we’ll take a look at some of the specifics.

Your goal is to start making money, the sooner the better – right? So if you have a simple method of creating cash it is to your advantage.

Thus packaging your product as a pdf will result in profits sooner rather than later.

Nowadays, it’s very easy to select a topic for an ebook. All you need to do is a tiny bit of research to confirm the topic and away you go.

People are so hungry for information these days – why else do you think Google is such a success? – All you need to do is feed them. Most people look to the Internet to quench their appetite, so you’re already targeting the right spot to make your money.

Pdf files are smaller, buyers can download them faster and they are easy to read due to the free software that’s available for both PC and Mac computers.

Also, pdf conversion software is not expensive and there are even free versions you can use.

Most of the free versions work really well if all your ebook contains is text.

There are obviously other ways to package a product that I won’t go into detail here – but I’ll simply list so you get an idea:

– Software format.
– Blog format.
– Video format.
– Audio format.
– Podcast format.
– Workbooks.
– Home study courses.
– Membership sites.
– Teleseminars.
– Syndicated columns.
– Multi-media packs.
– Coaching programs.
– Speaking engagements.
– Radio shows.
– TV shows.

Profit Potential/Cost Effective

When it comes to packaging your product, undoubtedly, you want to cut your expenses to a minimum and do all you can to increase your profit. While the precise methods for increasing profit and enhancing cost effectiveness will need to be determined on a case by case basis, there are a few basic principles to bear in mind.

When it comes to enhancing your profit potential, pricing is extremely important. Price and value are very significant concepts. One thing you must be aware of: it’s better to price a product at $9.97. Why, you may wonder. Well, the human mind generally recognizes numbers, prices in particular, along the following lines: “nine dollars something . . .” The vast majority of your customers will recognize a price of $9.97 not as $5.50 but as $9-and-something. In this case, you might as well charge $9.97, $5.97 instead of $9.50, etc.

Once you’ve decided the format, you need to choose who will author or develop your product.

Here are some viable options:

– Ask experts in your niche
– D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself)
– Outsourcing

Content is best left to the experts. However, perhaps you count yourself among this hallowed group. That said, there is no single reason why you should not, at least for your first product, outsource the work.

At the end of the day, you’re likely to have a lot of other elements to manage. The bottom line is this – you have a lot of work to do without worrying about spending probably about thirty or forty hours researching, producing, and refining the product you intend to sell!

The best advice from the experts is along these lines. Outsource the development of your first product, regardless of whether or not you want to do the work yourself. On your second project or perhaps your third, then you can do all of this work yourself.

Despite the advice just shared above, let’s think for a moment about what’s involved in developing your own product without the help of a professional.

If you’re planning on developing written content – an ebook, an ecourse, a blog, a syndicated column, or even a series of newsletters or ezines – you will need to conduct extensive research.

Depending on your market and your product, your local library and the regular search engines may prove adequate.

On the other hand, you may need to sign up to one or other of the specialist research sites, such as Questia.com or Britanica.com.

One great way to develop the content for your product is to ask an expert to help you. This has a number of advantages you probably may not have thought of.

First off, asking an expert to help you is a great way to flatter them. A second advantage to working with an expert: they are likely to have the content you need!

The best way to develop your content with the help of an expert is through an interview.

There are three reasons that most experts will be happy to help you for free:

1. It’s flattering to be invited on the basis of expertise.
2. It’s a chance for the expert to be published in a relatively easy form.
3. Some people just like to help.

Of course, not everyone will agree to your offer to be interviewed. The majority may but you could start with at least three or four experts on your list.

However, a thorough interview process should include 10 or more individuals. This results in a broader range of experience that can be shared and furthermore adds additional value to your interview.

If you decide to conduct an email interview, you need to develop an organized and logical series of interview questions that are designed to encourage detailed answers.

Your goal is to not ask questions that will result in a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer but detailed answers that have substance and worth their weight in gold!

By e-mail you do risk receiving short, stilted answers to your otherwise probing questions.

As an alternative, you could conduct an interview either by phone or in person, as both such methods require one-to-one interaction. You may want to have the interview transcribed and then typed up.

If the interview is particularly well organized and goes particularly well, you may be able to use the actual interview recording as the product. All that’s required: you must ensure the interview is well organized and that the sound quality of the recording is good.

Even if you’re developing a product on a subject on which you’re a certified expert, you might want to outsource your work.

Most likely, if you’re considering outsourcing, you should think of hiring a writer.

Fortunately, outsourcing is pretty easy online and the process is pretty much the same, whether you need a writer or a tech professional to develop your video.

When you hire for a writer, technically, you’re hiring a ghostwriter. A ghostwriter is a writer who publishes under someone else’s name. They write your book and hand over the rights to you as part of the service contract.

Ghostwriters are often hired by celebrities to write autobiographies when the celebrity doesn’t have the talent (or time) to write a book themselves. Ghostwriters sometimes create works for well-known authors as well, such as Tom Clancy.

The author’s name alone will sell the books, no matter who actually wrote it. In a sense, you’re going with the same notion. You’re credentials – your expertise, your hobbies, or your passions – will sell your e-book even though someone else will write it for you.

Here are some choices for posting your outsourcing project:

– Elance.
– Guru.
– Rentacoder.
– Scriptlance.

These are four of a handful of sites that allow you to post your project description and invite professional service providers to bid on your projects.

You will have to sign up to one or other of these sites to post your details but this step generally takes only a few minutes to complete.

In Lesson 5, I’ll present to you a proven process that’ll explain how you can develop your in-demand niche idea into an online business in 5 days or less!

Read Lesson #5 by clicking here

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If you missed Lesson #3, you can click here to read it! 🙂
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