Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

Well, you’ve finally done it. After all those months of hard work, you’ve launched your product and it was a smashing success. You made lots of sales…or maybe you didn’t. What next? What do you do AFTER the launch is over? Well, that kind of depends on what you launched and how it went. But what follows is some general advice that I think everybody who does a product launch should take to heart. Keep reading to find out what it is.

Believe it or not, the very FIRST thing you should do AFTER the launch is over is check your stats. How well did you REALLY do? This is so critical because if you don’t know how well you did, you’ll have no idea if something or everything needs to be improved the next time around. If the sales page converted at a lousy half a percent, maybe it’s time to hire a new copywriter. Or maybe you didn’t get as much traffic as you would have liked. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate your traffic generation methods. Point is, you can’t do anything unless you know how well you did in all areas.

After you check your stats, you want to follow up with your customers. Send them any info that they might need to remind them what to do with their product now that they actually have it. Some people buy things and then just let them sit on their hard drives. By following up with them, you kind of light a fire under them to get them to actually use the product. Also, you want to remind them that you’re there to answer any questions that they might have. You want to make them feel like you really care. It’s one of the reasons my customers like me. I keep in constant contact with them.

Finally, you want to touch base with all your affiliates. You want to find out what they thought about the product launch itself. Were there things that they felt should have been changed or could have been handled better? You don’t necessarily have to take their suggestions but you should listen to them. You never know when somebody is going to come up with something that just might make your next launch a lot more successful. If nothing else, it shows that you care about your affiliates and want them to be successful.

These are just a few of the things you should be doing after you’ve finished launching a product. It may not seem like much, but it’s the little things like these that end up making a big difference the next time you have a product to get out the door.

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 lot of people just getting into Internet marketing think that scarcity for a digital product is unethical. There reasoning is thus. Since it’s digital, there is no limit to the number of copies that can be sold. In fact, you could sell a digital product forever. So what’s the point of saying, “Only 100 will be sold” when you could easily sell many more? The answer is simple. Actually, there are quite a few answers. Let’s start with this one.

Sometimes a product is created that has certain tactics in it that, if too many people were to get a hold of those tactics, if would make them less effective. So, what a product creator does in order to prevent this from happening is he tells people that he is only releasing a certain number of the product itself. This way, the prospects can feel secure in knowing that not too many people are going to be getting their hands on this, thus making the product virtually worthless. That’s one reason for scarcity on digital products.

Another reason is because of economics. A product creator probably realizes that he’s only going to sell so many of the product anyway, especially if it’s a specialized product. So by limiting the number of copies, he can charge a higher price for it than if he had just let an unlimited number go. Usually, however, this WILL go hand in hand with the value of the information at a limited release. Few product creators will limit something just to make more money from it, though it does happen. And to that end, there is nothing unethical about it. The product creator by limiting the number sold is limiting his income in the process anyway. So a higher price is certainly a fair exchange.

Finally, there is something that many people don’t really understand. Sometimes a product creator will limit the number released simply to see who is REALLY serious about purchasing it. Most people, if they know they can get a product at any time, will just take their sweet time about it and some may never purchase. By limiting the number OR by attaching a cutoff date to the sale, the product creator forces people to make a decision. There is nothing unethical about this. Look at all the auto dealers and other retail establishments that have one day sales. Black Friday is a perfect example.

In my opinion, there is nothing at all unethical about scarcity for digital products, whether it be to protect information from getting saturated, seeing who is serious about the product or just wanting to charge a higher price.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to see more of this series? Watch my REAL Truth Videos at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/downloads.html and get the REAL truth about making money on the Internet.

I don’t care how great your product is or how much buzz you create. There is only so much you can do on your own unless you have a list the size of Texas. For most of us, this isn’t quite yet a reality, especially not with your first product launch. So you rely on your JV partners to give you more than just a hand. They’ll probably be responsible for a majority of your sales. However, if you’re going to get these people to promote for you, you’re going to have to give them promotional materials to do this with. This article goes into some detail in this area.

First of all, why do we need to provide promotional materials? The answer is simple. These partners, most of whom are probably very successful in their own right, are also very busy. They don’t have the time to make up their own materials. So, in many cases, if you don’t have things ready for them that they can just plug their affiliate links into, they’re probably not going to take the time to promote your product. This is the reason why promotional materials are so critical.

Okay, so what kind of materials are we talking about? Well, for starters, these JV partners probably have their own lists. That means that they’re going to do the majority of their promotion by email. Therefore, writing up some email ads that they can use is probably the very first thing you want to do. Most likely, this is where most of your sales are going to come from.

Another thing you might want to do, especially for those JV partners who are heavily into pay per click, is get together a list of keywords related to your product and/or niche along with a few three line ads that they can use. The easier you make the pay per click process (plug and play as closely as possible) the more likely you’re going to get your partners to use it to promote your product.

You might also want to have a graphic designer whip up some banners for you. Banner advertising is not nearly as big as it used to be, but marketers still like and use them. A well placed banner that is eye catching may just get a few extra clicks and sales.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to get your JV partners to promote YOUR product when launch time comes.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to learn everything you’ll need to know about product launches as well as how to start and run your business from A to Z? Check out Niche Toolkit at http://www.nichetoolkit.com/ and start your 6 figure business TODAY!

A product launch is quite an involved process. Because of this, probably the most important part of your launch is organization. If you’re not used to being organized, this can be quite a challenge. So where do you begin? This article is going to go over some of the basic items that you’re going to need to get organized if you’re product launch is going to go over well.

You can break up your product launch into three basic areas; the pre launch, launch and post launch. The pre launch is the most complex part of the whole process simply because there is so much planning. There is the creating of the buzz, which I touched on in an earlier article, the product creation process itself, notification of your JV partners, creation of your promotional material, and a bucketful of other items, not the least of which is making sure your product creation company, assuming it’s a physical product, and you are on the same page so that everything goes right in the creation process itself.

The launch itself is critical. You need to make sure that your hosting company is ready for the avalanche of prospects that are about to hit your sales page. If the pre buzz went as hoped, you’re going to get traffic the likes of which you’ve never seen before. If the hosting company isn’t prepared to handle this, you could end up with a real mess on your hands. And of course you have to make sure that all the launch emails go out on time from you and your JV partners. Timing is critical in this part of the launch.

And then of course there is the post launch. You’re going to have prospects and customers emailing you with questions. You’re going to have to make sure that there were no problems with the payment and delivery processes. If anything goes wrong, this has to be handled during the post launch phase. You hope for the best but expect the worst as the last thing you want is to be taken by surprise. A serious problem during the post launch phase can cause massive refunds or worse…loss of credibility and reputation.

A product launch is an involved process, but if it’s carried out in a methodical manner, there is no reason why it can’t be smooth and profitable.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to make sure your product launch goes off without a hitch? Check out Niche Toolkit at http://www.nichetoolkit.com/ and learn everything you need to know to not only launch your product but market it and run a successful Internet business without having to fumble your way in the dark.