There is nothing better for your customers than to enhance your product with useful photographs.  However, sometimes it is necessary to use our own photographs because stock photos just can’t get the right message across. You may find it very necessary to shoot all of your own photos if you are creating a tutorial or how-to product.

But we’re not all professional photogs! Here are some things that often plague some of us when taking photos (and will possibly turn off your customers):

• blurry photos
• photos that are too dark
• photos with the important stuff cut off
• photos that are too bright
• photos with a lot of unnecessary stuff in the background (i.e., people, household items, etc.)
• photos with the important object too far away

I want to recommend a site, Digital Photography School (a project of our favorite blogger, Darren Rowse from ProBlogger).  But specifically, here are some posts that you should read at minimum to improve the photos in your products:

1. Eliminating blurry images
2. Determining your focal point
3. Making sure your object large enough
4. Making sure your photos don’t turn out too dark
5. Making sure your photos don’t turn out too bright

While I understand that some of the articles above are mostly useful to people with DSLR cameras, there are still some tidbits of information for those of you who use point-and-shoot cameras as well.  So take time to explore Darren’s site and read a post or two there. You will begin to learn the difference between good photos…and better photos.

Are you looking for a way to stay motivated about your niche or area of expertise?  You should answer with a resounding YES if you’re a product creator!  If you fail in the motivation department, then I’m sure you know you’ll fail in the product creation department as well.

One way you can stay motivated about your niche is to regularly attend workshops, training and conferences that discuss your topic. Use this time to learn what new and upcoming ideas are and use the time to network with experts in your area.  And here’s a hint:  if you take time to meet a few experts, you can interview them and use those interviews in your next product!  In addition to that, by attending conferences, trainings and workshops, you will also learn what new challenges people in your niche are facing.

When you’re creating a topic in a very popular niche, you want to try to have your own special spin on it.  You want your product to showcase your unique perspective that is different from other experts in your niche.  Attending training or conferences outside of your specific field can be helpful for doing that.

Let’s say your niche is dog grooming. You know all there is to know about dog grooming. You can dog groom with the  best of them and teach other’s how to groom their dogs. They call you Dog Grooming Maven at all the dog shows, grooming boutiques and mobile pooch parlors!  While holding a your weekly “Beautify Your Beagle” backyard party, some of your more talented dog grooming students ask you about starting their own business.  Would you know how to teach them that?  You could learn a lot of great business info by attending business training in person or online. Even if you have no interest in the business end of things, you might luck out and find a joint venture partner who is a business expert and you create the biggest and baddest Groom Your Dog Grooming Business Training Course!

The possibilities are endless when you stay motivated about your niche area and what your followers want to learn from YOU.

Ideas are great. But they aren’t valuable if you don’t implement them.

I’m sure that within 10 minutes, you can think of 5-8 interesting information products that you can create that will help solve problems for people in your niche.  And that is wonderful.  But if they are just ideas in your head, how will others benefit and how will you profit from them?

Here is a technique for you to push yourself into taking the first step for moving from idea to a valuable product:

1. Get old school and get a pack of index cards (and a pencil, you’ll need to write stuff).
2. Even if you can’t decide what type of product you want to create, just start jotting down topics, one per card.  Remember, you’re jotting down topics that are important to your niche and should be able to fit into any type of product. Write them in the order they come to mind.
3. Keep writing more topics on more cards.
4. Divide your cards into 4 groups: “Must-have topics”, “Good-to-have topics”, “Applicable-but-not-really-needed topics” and “Fluff topics” (hopefully you will have no fluff topics).
5. Store your “Applicable-but-not-really-needed topics” and “Fluff topics” in a secret location so they won’t distract you. You can always come back to them later after you finish the first draft of your product.
6. Starting with your “Must-have topics”, record yourself doing a brain dump of what you have to say about the topic.  Just record whatever comes to mind.  (This will prevent you from worrying about spelling and grammar errors – and from being impeded because of slow typing skills).
7. Repeat for the “Good-to-have topics.”
8. Optional. Have your recorded brain dumps transcribed.

This technique will get you from being in front of a computer, overwhelmed, staring at a blank page.  You’ll be moving from linear thinking to non-linear thinking because you’re using index cards. As topic ideas are spurred you can just jot them down as the come to you.  You’ll also get to exercise your different senses as you touch the cards and write on them, speak your ideas (without stopping to correct or perfect them).

You spend time writing an article or a blog post. Sometimes you spend hours (and hours) researching and perfecting it. Then you post it on your blog.  It has it’s heyday.  Then it’s stuck back in it’s category archive, just waiting for someone to find it in the search engines.

For those articles and posts that you spend a significant amount of time on, you should develop a strategy for their reuse.  Here is an example of a strategy you can use:

Start off with an blog post…

Say you write a how-to blog post on building a birdhouse using supplies you have laying around your yard. We’ll say there are about five steps you discuss to build the birdhouse. You conclude your blog post with a plug and link to the sales page for your “Build a Better Birdhouse by Bedtime” ebook.

Then create an audio giveaway…

One of the things you want to do when promoting your “Build a Better Birdhouse by Bedtime” ebook is to start building your opt-in list of eager birdhouse builders. So you create an opt-in page and decide to give away a useful freebie. You re-purpose your blog post by recording yourself reading it.

You open up Audacity, and maybe add a catchy intro that introduces you and why you are providing this audio freebie. Then you record yourself reading your blog post, being sure to mention your ebook at the end. Now, this same post is working to build your list.

Then create a YouTube video…

To take advantage of all of the traffic that YouTube receives, you decide to create a little video. So you create a PowerPoint presentation by re-purposing the content of your blog post once again. You create a title slide and read your introduction, and perhaps show some photos of the needed supplies. You then add in five more slides for each of the five steps in your article and add in photos you took to illustrate the steps. Finally, you create a closing slide with your summary and information about your ebook. You record all of this using Camtasia and publish on YouTube. Once again, the same blog post content is now driving traffic to your site from YouTube, as well as building your YouTube friends list and subscribers.

Do you think you can implement that strategy for your own product or perhaps for an affiliate product you’re promoting?

Today I’m going to steal a term from Agile.  Agile is a software development methodology where software developers focus on…get this…what the USER needs to do in the software!  What?  Wait, you mean the USER’s needs are important?

Typically, software was created based on what a product manager wanted. He included features that he figures the user would like or were just plain cool.  Here’s an example.  I’m using Google Chrome.  There is a feature in Chrome called “Sign into Chrome…”  I have no clue what that is for.  I don’t use it.  But I guess the product manager thought it was a nifty feature.

So, back to your customers, your USERs.  Agile says that we develop products according to the user’s story.  Simply put, that means you put yourself in the place of the user.  Example:

• “As a web enthusiast, I want to bookmark my favorite pages so that I can visit them again in the future.”
• “As a web enthusiast, I want to organize my bookmarks so that I can store many and find them easily.”
• “As a web enthusiast, I want to block unwanted pop-up windows so that I won’t be distracted with unwanted ads.”

As a web enthusiast, these are some of the things I want to be able to do with my browser.  Google has attended to these basic needs of mine by implementing these features. Of course Google lucked out because much older web browsers (i.e., Internet Explorer, Netscape, FireFox) had already figured out what users needed way back in the day.  But looking at what to include in a product from what the user will actually need to do gives you much more insight to what needs to be included.

With all that said, you can determine what your customer’s stories are.  If I’m creating a product on blogging, I might consider these user stories:

• “As a new blogger, I want choose the easiest blogging platform so that I can get my site set up quickly to show my friends.”
• “As a new blogger, I want to have my blog linked to Facebook so that I can look cool like other bloggers.”
• “As a new blogger, I want to make sure that people visit my site so that I can get a lot of comments like ProBlogger.”

You really have to get into the mind of what your customer wants (not what you think they want) so that you can give them the best information.

How can you find out how your customer wants? Well, you could just ask them. Visit forums and look at the types of questions they have. Look at reviews on Amazon.com to see what kind of questions they STILL have after reading books.

Do you think you can create some user stories for your target market?

I created a model for you to follow as you develop ideas for your product.  I’m calling it the “MAST Model.”   It’s just an acronym to help you remember your strategy for choosing your product. Start from the top down:

1. Market - Who are the people that you want to use your product. Who are the people you are trying to reach? Who is your target audience?  Answer these questions as your first step.  Don’t write your content first, then search for an audience for the content!
2. Angst – What’s the angst of your target audience? What problem does your market have?  What questions do they have?  What keeps them up at night? What are their pain points?  You need to figure out what your market really, really wants to know or learn – not what you want to tell them.
3. Solution – How can you help them?  What information can you provide to solve their problems? What topics can you share insight on that will help relieve them of their issues?  What can you do for them so they can rest easy at night? What information do you have that can you help them achieve their goals? What can you show or tell them to remove their pain?  Focus on their needs and what you know that can solve their needs.
4. Type – What is the best format to offer your solution?  Consider your market and the types of issues they have. What is the best method to deliver your your solution to them?  Is it practical for them to be at their computer when using your product?  Do they need to be outside to practice what you’re teaching them? Don’t assume that the easiest product for you to create is the most appropriate for your market to consume.

A mast is a type of support or pillar. So keep that in mind as you come up with ideas for solid products that you will be able to sell.

Tell me what are the “reasons” you’re giving for not finishing or even starting your info product?

Here, I’ll give you 10 “reasons” for free:

1. Not enough time.

2. Don’t know how.

3. Someone has beat me to it already.

4. No one will buy it anyway.

5. I have to do XYZ first.

6. I’m too slow and will never finish.

7. I don’t know much that’s useful to others.

8. I’m not a good writer.

9. I can’t afford the software or tools needed.

10. I can’t type.

BONUS: 11. What’s an info product?

So, what is my response to all those “reasons”?

1. Make time. You have the potential to gain income from your knowledge, so make time to do it. Try 1 hour one day, 10 mins the next, 20 mins three days from now.  You have time to read this post….right?

2. Have you even tried? If you haven’t even started how do you know you can’t do it? There are 1000s of people who have done it. And there are 1000s more who will take your money to teach you how. Learn how to do it.

3. Well, this could be a good reason – IF there was always one, single product of any kind.  One type of car, one style of shoe, one magazine, one TV show.  As humans, we’re lucky to have such variety in just about anything we want and need. So contribute to humanism and add variety, please.

4. People will buy anything.  Speak to the people who continue to buy info products from their favorite gurus, even though they never read the first one. In addition to that, you would of course do your due diligence by researching your market to see if there is a need as a first step, anyway.

5. Of course you do. Then you will have to do ABC, then LMNO.  Squeeze your product creation in between all those letters. Break it up as discussed in #1 above.

6. You can’t finish if you don’t even get started!  Creating your product isn’t a race. More than likely you don’t have a deadline, so pace your self and get it done.

7. Sure you do.  Take some time to brainstorm what you like to do, what you’re good at, what people ask for your help with. If you still don’t come up with anything, then it might be time to learn something new.  You will always mess up when you learn something new – and guess what? Others learning that same thing will mess up too. So you have something useful to teach them because of your experience.

8. Then DON’T WRITE.  Make a video product, make an audio product…don’t write anything.

9. No excuse. Everything you need is free on the Internet.

10. Then DON’T TYPE.  Talk.  Record yourself and have someone transcribe what you say for you. Solved.

BONUS: 11. Read this post, please. (shaking head)

Writer’s block.

At a loss for words.

Just don’t know what to write about.

Whatever you want to call it, you might find yourself just staring at a blank page (or blog post).  And that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that because it happens to everyone.  But what if you have made a goal to complete your ebook by the end of the month? Or even worse, what if your JV partner is waiting for you to send in your chapter!  You gotta do something to get those words flowing.

Now, I’m not going to guarantee this will work every time, but try this tip:

1. Open a blank page (make sure it’s blank, empty, nothing on it).

2. Go to Google or your favorite stock photo site and search for an some type of image related to how you think your reader might be “feeling” about your topic.

3. Insert the image into your blank document.

4. Describe the “feeling” of the image to your reader.

Here are some examples:

Sometimes it may feel like you’re just hitting a brick wall when you try to ________.  If that happens, then _________. Here are the steps to get back on track.

You’re not alone if you think that ______ is made up of twists and turns of winding roads.  It probably seems that there is no straight path in site!  I’m going to give you some advice on ______ that will help you to clearly see the end.

I know you may be feeling pretty pumped about _______. But hold on a second!  There are a few things you need to do first before you can _______.  In this chapter we’ll discuss how to get started with _______ on the right track so that you don’t get _______.

Do you think this would be helpful if you have writer’s block?

It’s obvious that Dee from Moonpreneur and I are twins.  It was just YESTERDAY that I read her post about her spammer, and I left a comment.  Guess what happens over here on my blog today? 50+ spam messages from spammer “air jordan” this morning. Around 4:58AM EST he started leaving short little messages in French about some expensive sneakers… and he finished up around 5:55AM, averaging around one comment per/minute.  Ok.  Fine.

However, later this morning I go to my blog and guess what?  I get this message that I have NO POSTS!  All of my posts and pages were gone – POOF!  Nothing.  So of course, I freak out thinking that “air jordan” was a hacker and that my site was hacked.  But I managed to remain calm as I researched “all wordpress posts are gone.”

What I found was a little less dramatic and somewhat anti-climatic.

My database was damaged.  Meh.

Therefore, I just wanted to share with you a little information that may help you if “air jordan” happens upon your blog and corrupts your database.

First, remain calm.  If you discover your posts are missing and your pages are missing, but you still have comments (even spam), your theme is intact, your plugins still plugged in – then you probably have a corrupted wp_posts table.  Here’s how to fix it:

1. Login to your cPanel.
2. Go to your phpMyAdmin.
3. Go to your WordPress database and look for the wp_posts table.  You will see the “Browse” link is grayed out, indicating there is an issue with the table.
4. Check the box next to the wp_posts table.
5. Select “Repair table” from the drop down list as shown below.

That should do it!  Of course, always back up your blog at least once per week, or more often if you post daily

Today I wanted to quickly discuss the 3 types of videos you can create to include in your products:  screen recordings, talking head and demonstration.

Screen Recordings

These are the ones that you see all the time now. They’re quick.  They’re easy to create.  They’re cheap.

Simply put, you record whatever you are doing on your computer screen and save it as a video file – et voila!  You’ve got a product.

The software to use is Camtasia, however there are plenty of alternatives, some cost more – some cost less.  But Camtasia will get you going and will fulfill most of your needs when it comes to creating screen recordings and even editing your talking head and demonstration videos.

Talking Heads

These are my least favorite.  Imagine a video that goes on for 20, 30, 60 minutes long… and all you see is someone talking, talking, talking.  There isn’t much need to watch someone talk, but it seems many people are opting to create these. (I usually minimize the video and just listen to the audio, so why not just create an audio only?)

These are done with a video camera, such as the very popular Flip Camera.  Flip Cameras are popular because they are cheap and they are portable – and they get the job done with decent quality.

No special software is needed, unless you’re doing some fancy editing (transitions, overlays, captions, etc) and if you want to edit, you can always use Camtasia or another software like MovieMaker or iMovie.  Now, you really won’t need to edit much because it is just a talking head, and there isn’t much you can mess up.

Demonstrations

Now, these types of videos are priceless.  Go to YouTube and find some demonstrations on something you want to do: sewing, cooking, folding t-shirts, salsa dancing, and you will understand the value. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video demonstration is worth 10 million.

These are also done with a video camera. But when you create these, you will need very good lighting and very good audio.  Clarity is very important in demonstrations. Depending on what you’re demonstrating, you will need a friend to help zoom in and out to show detail, follow you around and direct you.

If you create a demonstration video, you can get away with simply using your camera, but I highly suggest you edit it using a software such as Camtasia to add in captions that describe what your are doing, or that designate the various steps.

Whatever type of video you create, remember that you create it at the optimum length (not too long, not too short). Make sure you keep it interesting (especially if you’re creating a talking head) and make sure you speak loud enough so that people can hear you!

Have you thought about creating videos as your product?