Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

So, you’ve created your first product. You get a nice fancy sales page made, start promoting it but don’t get many sales. And the ones you do get, most of them get refunded. You start to blame it on the sales page or the people buying the product. You accuse them of being serial refunders and people just looking for a freebie. But maybe the problem is a lot more simple than that. Maybe the product is just plain crap. Before you start throwing stones at me, you might want to read this article.

I learned something a long time ago as an up and coming songwriter (how I got started in the writing business) and that’s this. When you create something, that something is like your child. And when you have a child, it’s hard to admit that it has a horrible disease like cancer. One of the great promoters of our time (the man who discovered Bon Jovi) said to me, “Your songs have cancer. And when your children have cancer it’s hard to admit.”

I took offense to that comment at the time. But it was the best lesson I ever got in my whole life. It made me take an objective look at my music. I was finally able to evaluate it objectively. It made all the difference in my life not only for the music I wrote but also for the products I created as a marketer. I was able to look at those products objectively and evaluate them that way. Did they do what I claimed they did? Could they be better? If so, how could I make them better?

If you’re selling a product and it’s either not selling or you’re getting a lot of refunds, you have to be able to objectively look at that product. If it’s not selling, is it something that people want…not because YOU think they should want it but because they have expressed an interest in it? If you’re getting a lot of refunds, ask yourself why. Is the product delivering on its promises? Is it well written? Is it easy to understand? It’s one thing if one or two people refund a product. But if you’re getting a lot of refund requests, something is wrong.

Once you are able to objectively evaluate your products, you will find that you will make more sales and get fewer refund requests. That translates into more money in YOUR pocket.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Well, you’ve just made your first product and you’re so proud. You put together a great sales page, maybe even one written by a professional copywriter and put it up for sale. And then, the worst happens. Your product doesn’t sell. I don’t mean it doesn’t sell a lot. I mean it doesn’t sell…PERIOD. Not one lousy copy sold. And there you are scratching your head wondering why. Well, this article is going to give you some possible answers.

Let me start by saying this. Many product creators think that the product creation process starts with the first words or piece of code that you write. It doesn’t. That’s where way too many product creators make their mistake. The process actually starts with research…determining if ANYBODY even has ANY interest in such a product. You can’t sell something, no matter how good it is, if people don’t want it. Notice I didn’t say need. I said want. There is a big difference. But that’s a subject for another article.

So that’s the root of the problem. You haven’t done your research and you ended up making a product that nobody wants. But that’s only one possible reason. It is quite possible that you DID do your research and concluded that people DO want this product. Okay, great. What are some other possible reasons that your product isn’t selling?

Well, there is price as an issue. You may have created something that people want, but did so at a price that isn’t competitive with other similar products in the marketplace. If somebody is selling widgets at $20 a piece and they’re the same quality widgets as your $50 a piece ones, who is going to buy YOUR widgets? I know I wouldn’t. Conversely, if you price a product TOO low, people might see it as cheap and inferior and not purchase it for that reason.

Another reason people may not be buying your product, like it or not, IS your sales page. It’s simply not compelling enough. It doesn’t show people WHY they should buy YOUR product over somebody else’s. Maybe the page itself looks like crap. There are many variables to a sales page and any of those variables could cause your product not to sell.

So as you can see, no matter how good your product is, there are a number of reasons why it may not be selling as well as you like or at all for that matter. But the problem starts at the root. Do people want what you’re selling? If not, everything that comes after is a total waste of time.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Product creators are always faced with a dilemma when creating a product. Should you create a product that is going to have a broad appeal for your niche or one that is more narrowly targeted? Believe it or not, there are pros and cons to each. So, what we’re going to do, in this article, is take a look at this issue and then you can decide what approach you want to take. This can apply to any product in any niche. I’ll give you a few examples.

Let’s start with a popular niche with many guys, golf. Who doesn’t dream of being a better golfer? However, if you are one yourself, there are many aspects to being a better golfer including driving, putting, your short game, chipping and even the equipment you buy. Now, a broadly targeted product would probably include every aspect of the game of golf. However, imagine how overwhelming that could be for some people, especially somebody who is just trying to improve one part of their game. But a video course on putting just might be the thing they’re looking for.

What about something that you can probably relate to a lot better…making money online. A book, or group of books sold as a comprehensive home study course, covering everything from list building to copywriting might include everything that a person could possibly want. But the size of the product would be so huge that many people might get frustrated going through it all. On the other hand, somebody who JUST wants to learn copywriting would probably find a book on copywriting to be the ticket.

Even the health niche can go either way. There are books out there on general good health, covering a wide variety of topics. But what if somebody is just interested in finding out how to sleep better? Do you think they want to wade through a book on every malady in existence? Even with a table of contents, a lot of that “extra” info would probably go unused. A book on treating insomnia would be much better.

However, on the flip side, a person trying to make money online who knows absolutely nothing will probably get very little use out of a specialized book. Without a lot of other pieces filled in, that specialized book will only leave them with more questions.

So as you can see, there are pros and cons to each approach. The key is knowing WHO your target market is and what you want to get across to them, keeping in mind that a comprehensive book on a number of related topics is going to be a lot more time consuming to produce…which brings us to the last point I want to make.

Is it worth it for the product creator to put in all that extra work? Will it lead to more income or will they make just as much selling a narrower book?

Come up with the answer to that question and you’ll have a pretty idea which direction you want to go in.

To YOUR Success

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

A question I get asked a lot is this one. “Do people still buy ebooks?” This question comes from people who are thinking of getting into product creation and aren’t sure if they want to create an ebook because somewhere they heard that ebooks were falling out of favor with consumers. Well, my opinion doesn’t matter at all here. So why don’t I start this article off with a cold hard fact that I am sure is going to blow your mind wide open.

Did you know that ebooks at Amazon outsell hard cover books by 43%? It’s true. The news article just came out in regard to Kindle sales. Now, if that doesn’t tell you that ebooks still sell, nothing will. So if your REAL question is “Should I create an ebook” the answer is yes. But that’s not the whole story here. See, if it was, this wouldn’t be much of an article. And yes, there is a catch to that answer.

See, the truth is, what consumers are sick of are crappy ebooks. They’re tired of buying things with rehashed info. They’re sick of poorly written books. They fed up with books so thin in content that if you tried to sell them hard cover, you’d be laughed out of a book store for trying to peddle it. The days of the seven page ebook that made people go “wow” are over. You need to come up with something of real substance or your refunds are going to go through the roof.

In other words, the consumer is mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. But make no mistake about it. Ebooks are still viable. The Amazon Kindle is a big part of it. Imagine you want to read 10 books when you go on your trip to wherever. Who wants to carry around 10 hardcover books with them? I sure as hell don’t. But with something like the Kindle, you can take 10 books or 110 books and it’s no big deal. The portability makes them very desirable.

So if you’re thinking that nobody reads ebooks anymore, think again. What people are sick of reading has nothing to do with the delivery system of the material (hardcover or digital). It has to do with the content inside. Product creators who understand that will be successful while the ones who don’t will wonder if maybe they should have purchased a printing press.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

One of the biggest complaints I get from Internet marketers is that a lot of the products that they purchase, especially the ones from the big name gurus, are crap. Well, instead of just complaining about it, there are a couple of things you can actively do about this increasingly annoying problem. This article is going to cover your options. Hopefully, you will find something here that appeals to you that you can carry out in your attempt to do away with all the garbage. Keep reading to find out more.

At the top of the list is something obvious and simple and yet, so many people don’t do it. Stop buying stuff. I mean for crying out loud…you buy one product from Joe Guru, find out it stinks and then you go out and buy yet another one? How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you finally figure out that it’s going to hurt. Just stop buying the stuff.

In addition to that, you don’t want to let the bad purchase just go at that. You want to ask for a refund to start with. If enough people refund all the crappy products out there, maybe these people will get a clue and start creating good products…especially if they don’t want to see their income sink into the ground. But don’t stop there.

Write reviews of these crappy products. Let others know what you think. You can post these reviews on your own blog, or better yet, if any of these product creators have their own blogs, post a review there as a comment to their latest offering. Sure, they might not approve it, but you never know. Point is, let yourself be heard.

Aside from not buying and letting others know about these crappy products, you could create your own product that actually DOES have some value. If you find a product that is lacking, sit down and think about what you would do to make it better and DO IT!

What’s that you say? You bought the product because it’s something you don’t know a lot about and wanted to learn…thus not knowing enough ABOUT the product TO make a better one? Then find an expert in the field. Interview the expert. Create the product based on what the expert tells you. You can even make that the selling point of the product itself…”Expert Reveals…” Take a look at all the products that have been created using this approach.

Point is, if you buy a crappy product, you don’t have to just take it. There ARE things you can do about it. I’ve just given you a couple.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Yes, this is another rant against all you product creators who feel the need to make your customers jump through hoops to read your ebook. I’m talking about these miserable EXE ebooks that should, quite honestly, be made illegal. Why do I feel this way? Well, as a product creator myself, I am going to tell you EXACTLY why I feel this way. Keep reading to feel my full wrath.

Let’s start off with this. Many operating systems simply can’t open these darn things, either because they don’t have the right service pack or are just flat out not compatible. So you end up having a customer have to return the darn thing because he can’t do anything with it. When you mess with EXE books, you run the risk of losing a portion of your market because of these compatibility issues.

In addition to that, you have the inconvenience factor. EXE books usually require the buyer to remember some stupid password. They then forget it and can’t open the book anymore. They then have to contact the creator for the password and, in many cases, don’t get any response. They now have a worthless ebook that they can no longer use.

But the biggest reason of all to stop putting together these stupid EXE books is because there is ALWAYS a way around them. All somebody has to do is take screen prints of each page and paste them into a PDF. The technology is there to do this. You are NOT going to prevent theft if people REALLY want to steal your book. There are better ways to protect your ebooks such as using download management systems like DLGuard.

Point is, you don’t want to tick off your target market. People don’t like these EXE books. I don’t like them. And to be quite honest, if the sales page says it’s an EXE book, I won’t buy it. And, if I’m not told in advance and find out after the purchase that it is, I will immediately refund it and delete the darn thing from my hard drive.

Add to this the fact that many people are afraid that these things have viruses in them and you are really hurting your potential sales by doing this.

Okay, get it? Don’t make your customers jump through hoops to use your product.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Okay, I know we all love these sneaky little tricks that we can use on our customers to get the most out of them. Well here is one that is so devilish and so clever that you are just going to love it. This works great on membership sites. Want to know what it is? Keep reading and you’ll find out.

Let me ask you a question. What is the ONE thing that most membership site members complain about? Not sure? Well I’ll tell you. It’s that there isn’t enough content to justify paying for the site month after month after month. That’s why the attrition rate for membership sites is so high. It’s also why there are so many refunds for membership sites in the first month. So, you want to put a stop to this? Here’s a neat little trick you can do.

Give your members so much content, so much value, so much information and so much support that they can’t possibly go through it all in the first month and thus go passed the refund period. Then, when you’ve got them hooked with all this content, give them even more the next month and the next month and the month after that. And do it at a price that’s so low that it’s almost criminal. They’ll never be able to cancel their membership. You’ll have them for life… or longer.

Okay, obviously the above is tongue in cheek and meant to be humorous. However, there is a lot of truth in it. See, the problem with many membership sites is that there just isn’t enough value in them after the first month, if at all. Certainly not enough to justify paying a high fee month after month. And that IS why so many members drop out quickly or even ask for a refund.

By providing the kind of value I mentioned above (no, it’s not easy) you give your members a feeling that you actually care about them. I have one membership site where I provide the members with content every single day and it’s just $10 a month. Insane? Maybe, but I don’t get a lot of people leaving after that first month. Now, I’m not saying you have to give away the farm, but the member needs to feel that they are getting more value than what they’re paying for it. Sorry, but that’s the reality of this business.

So, if you want to increase your membership retention and lower your refunds, you might want to think about what you’re actually putting into your site and if your members feel it’s valuable enough to pay for month after month after month.

Answer that question and you’ve got a real winner on your hands.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

A question just came up at the Warrior Forum the other day. What is the ideal length of an ebook? Good question. And while there isn’t any one answer to it, there are some things that you will want to keep in mind when deciding on how long your ebook is going to be. This article will give you some suggestions that should help you with your decision.

Ideally, an ebook should be as long as it takes to get the point across to the reader. Certainly, you don’t want to leave out any info that is going to leave the reader with questions at the end that are serious enough to make using the book difficult. For example, if you write a book on how to use blogs for affiliate promotions but don’t show the person how to set up one, you’ve left out a big chunk of the process. So you want to make sure that you don’t leave out anything that would be considered critical info.

Having said that, let’s be honest here. People have a very short attention span. Once you get passed a certain number of pages, readers are going to get bored and probably put the darn thing down. So you have to be careful not to overload your book. What’s overloading? It’s different for everybody, unfortunately. I can handle reading an ebook that’s about 125 pages. Beyond that, I start to get a little antsy. If you put an ebook of 300 pages in front of me and asked me to read it, I’d tell you that you were stark raving out of your mind. But that’s me. Some people have no problem with 300 pages and others can’t get beyond 50. Everybody is different.

What I would do, however, is this. If I knew I was going to write more than 100 pages, I’d put the ebook into two volumes. I’d find a good breaking point and split it there. I’ve done quite a few multi volume sets in my day so I have some experience in this area. People seem to appreciate it when you split up long works like this. It makes it easier to digest the material.

But as far as a definitive number of pages for an ebook…forget it. It doesn’t exist. Just cover the material that needs to be covered and don’t worry about length. Like I said, if it’s going to be very long (over 100 pages) break it up into multiple volumes. It gives the illusion of a shorter work.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim.

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Okay, so you want to create a product and you have all these great ideas for whatever niche you happen to be in. Problem is, you don’t know where to start. Well, you might want to start by making an outline. That way, you can narrow down the things that you want to include in your product. This article, by way of example, is going to show you exactly what I mean.

I’m going to use as my example the “make money online” niche for two reasons. One, it’s my specialty and can actually write about it with some authority. Two, there are so many ways to make money online that it’s one of those niches where product creators really DO have trouble narrowing their product down to just one thing. So I feel it’s a perfect niche to use as an example.

For this example, let’s focus on pay per click advertising because it is one of the more common ways to promote and one of the best ways to see results quickly. Great…where do we begin with our outline? Well, for starters, you might want to begin with a brief forward, maybe explaining why pay per click advertising is so popular and how it can benefit a person. You might want to list all the pluses to using it.

After that, your first chapter will probably be on how to set up a pay per click account. You’ll probably want to take some screen shots of the process so you can actually show people what it’s like. Sometimes pictures do a much better job than just plain text explanations.

Once you’ve completed the set up process, you will probably want to go into the main parts of a pay per click campaign, such as choosing keywords and creating three line ads. In relation to the ads, you’ll probably want to go over landing pages and how to optimize them so that when a person clicks on an ad, they end up at a page they actually expect to find.

You’ll probably want to then go into some tactics such as how to spy on the competition to see what they’re spending on ads. You’ll probably also want to include other little tricks that you won’t find in a typical book on this form of advertising. At the end, you’ll want to have a list of resources that people can use, such as keyword tools. Anything that is useful to using a pay per click service. You might also want to include a list of all the pay per click services currently available.

There you have it…a nice simple outline for a product. Now all you have to do is fill in the details. Point is, if you start with an outline, the product practically writes itself and you don’t have to sit there scratching your head wondering what the heck you’re going to write about. Try it sometime. You might be surprised at how easy it is to create your next product.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.

Without revealing too much in this article, I’m going to show you how, by just putting a unique spin on a product idea, you can turn it into a monster hit. All it needs is a little imagination and a solid idea to start with.

A little while ago, I got a request from a friend of mine to look over a new product of his. I said sure. So he sent me his PDF. I saw the name, “Zombie Blogging” or something like that, and I just had to read this thing to see what it was all about. I was absolutely intrigued by the title.

Well, when I read the PDF, it was really just a very clever way to monetize blogs. I’ll leave it at that. The info was solid and the system was simple enough that anybody could do it with very little work. But that’s not what this article is about. It’s not the system. It’s the way it was presented.

Each step of the way was compared to something to do with zombies. That was the theme of the whole manual…and it was brilliant. The system itself could have easily been explained in a more straight forward and boring way and still got the same info across. But the unusual spin (the zombie theme) made this a very delightful read.

And if you go through the history of Internet marketing, and even non IM products, you’ll find many products with themes that probably sold more than they would have had the author gone about it in a more mundane way. Take Mike Filsaime’s “Butterfly Marketing.” That was just a very clever way to say “go viral” which, at that time, was a very overused term. Mike made it more appealing with his script and book.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying it’s easy to come up with unique slants like this. I for one am not the most creative person in the world and freely admit it. Most of my products are pretty straight forward with very little glitz. But if you can come up with a unique spin to an old idea, you’ll see sales like you’ve never seen before…provided you know how to market. But that’s another subject.

So, the next time you come up with your next product idea, think about how you can incorporate zombies, or vampires or whatever into it.

You just might find that sales are better than ever.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of creating products that nobody wants and don’t sell? Check out my Complete Guide To Product Creation at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/productcreation.html and create products that actually sell.