[Credit: DeclanTM]
Since the last post I’ve had quite a few people comment and email me saying they were sold on creating digital products, but they had no idea how to create them. I’d like to address them all in this post.
These are some of the resources I used at the beginning of my digital product development journey and throughout the process. If these help you out in anyway, let me know in the comments or feel free to send me an email. If you actually get a product developed, I ask that you contact me! I’d love to see (and possibly promote) anything WSR readers create.
So, start creating!
1. How to Test Your Online Product Before It’s Even Made: Parts 1 – 4
Pat Flynn is a 27-year-old online entrepreneur. After getting laid off from his 9-to-5, nothing was left to hold him back from devoting himself entirely to earning a passive income online. One year after getting laid off, Pat had made over $200,000. Because of his background, I consider this series (as well as the other content on his blog) to be essential reading for digital product beginners. One of the most confusing things when I was starting with business in general was how to gauge the market. It seemed like a dark art. Pat demystifies it and offers practical tips and tricks for making sure your idea has a market before you invest any time or money into developing it.
2. eBooks The Smart Way
While Pat’s product testing series first planted the digital product creation seed in me, his ebook helped to grow it into a full-fledged, actionable project. It’s packed with all the necessary information for writing, publishing, marketing, selling and automating an ebook. This is the book that convinced me to go with an ebook first, as opposed to a video or audio course or an online class.
3. How I Wrote a $30,000 eBook (and You Can Too)
Glen over at Viperchill.com wrote a book called Cloud Living that was incredibly popular. In this guide he describes his process from beginning to end so that you too might be able to create a digital product worth $30,000. This talks about why you should write an ebook and how to choose topics. Things like that. But the single most helpful thing about his article (especially at this stage in my product development) is the section on marketing. He lists out several methods of marketing an ebook that I hadn’t thought of and that you might not have either.
4. Moonlighting on the Internet
This is the only resource I paid for because it was the only that seemed to offer quality information specifically related to selling digital products (although it also discusses in detail how to make money with eBay, dropshipping and blogs). In the planning and creation stages and now in the web site/sales page development stage, this book has proven to be priceless. It gives practical suggestions on how to develop content from public domain sources as well as licensing, writing or outsourcing for your book. It includes a sample sales letter and a guide to finding the right market. Overall, this is the only resource I have read and reread at every stage and I very highly recommend it!
Related posts
- Selling Your Time is Overrated: Experiments in Digital Product Creation
- How to Launch a Digital Product (and a Chance for You To Make Money Online)
- The Top 3 Most Successful Online Business Models
- Want to Start a Blog, Gain a Following, Help People and Make Some Money Doing It?
- Five Things Lifestyle Designers Should Be Thankful For Today
Hey, I'm JD. Last year, I started Wage Slave Rebel as a resource for those who are dying to escape from conformity and design the lifestyles they dream of! I write about online entrepreneurship, productivity, and lifestyle design.
Great list, JD. I really enjoyed Glen’s recent post about Cloud Living–seems like even he was surprised how well it did.
Yeah, I think “seems” is the keyword there. Reading about all that he did to create and launch it, his success obviously wasn’t an accident. This is something I’ve noticed about successful entrepreneur types lately. They put in tons of work and to the average person it seems like a sure thing, but when it is successful the entrepreneur seems genuinely surprised.
I genuinely expected to make no more than $1,500 from the launch.
Remember, this was my first product in a niche I had never been involved in previously, and wasn’t directly related to personal development.
Still, either way, thanks again for the mention
Glen Allsopp´s last blog ..ViperChill Monthly Report 4 (My 1st National Press)
I’m really glad it worked out better than you expected! Your story has really given me the inspiration I needed to go through with the creation of my first product. Thanks, man.
When I launched my first eBook, I was the same way. I had only expected to sell maybe 1 or 2 books a week, then it turned out to be that much every few hours. Woot! GL on your launch!
I’ve just started down this path as well and can second Moonlighting on the Internet as a very worthwhile purchase.
I’ve also recently joined Project Mojave. While it’s too soon to tell if it’s worth the entire price, the information has been very useful from the perspective of product selection and internet marketing.
Bennett´s last blog ..On the Slaying of Dragons
I’d never heard of Project Mojave, but I’m subscribed now. Thanks, man!
Thanks so much for the mention of my posts and the eBook as well. If you or anyone here has any further questions about them, please let me know.
As far as Glen’s site and Yaniks book – I HIGHLY recommend them. I actually used his sample sales letter for my own eBook, and it totally worked. It’s still in place today actually. The ebay part you can skip, but the rest is really inspiring and useful.
Thanks again – can’t wait to read more from you JD. Cheers!
Pat´s last blog ..The Most Powerful Marketing Tool
I was very surprised and very happy to see that you took time to comment here! I really appreciate that.
Congratulations on all your success, Pat, and I wish you much luck with all your future endeavors. I’m glad that you recommended Yanik’s book. Now I’m sure I’m on the right path with my upcoming product launch.
Hope to see you here again some time. Thanks so much for Smart Passive Income. Everything on there has been invaluable to me.
Thanks JD,
Actually love the design here by the way.
Take care.
- Glen
Glen Allsopp´s last blog ..ViperChill Monthly Report 4 (My 1st National Press)
Thanks, Glen. I’ve gone through 3 designs, all of which I made myself, and this is the one that is sticking. It looks betters, it’s cleaner, more functional. I’m not tired of it yet and I won’t be any time soon.
I’m really glad you were able to stop by. I had no idea I’d be getting the attention of the folks who inspired me. That’s awesome.
JD,
I agree with you on the value of the first three resources, and second the notion that they are very helpful. I have not purchased the fourth one, so I’ll hold my comments till after I buy, read and use it.
Thanks for the great job that you do.
Rasheed
Rasheed Hooda´s last blog ..Learning to Living Up To My Own Expectations
If you have an iPhone or a Kindle you can pick it up instantly for $9.99 from Amazon. I read it on my iPhone, actually. I thought it was a good book and then Pat recommended it above so now I know it’s a great book. Have you seen what that guy’s done? I recommend it now more than I did when I wrote this post.
I’ve always been intrigued by the Moonlighting bok. Do you think Moonlighting on the Internet is still relevant since it was published in 2007?
Ethan´s last blog ..Broken Arches EP: What I’ve Been Up To
That’s a good question. I can say for a fact that the information about creating and marketing a digital product is completely relevant. The only thing I’ve been disappointed in is that it makes no mention of E-Junkie, which is what I knew beforehand I’d use. Instead he pitches the idea of a self-hosted cart.
It helps if you read other sources so that you can fill in the gaps and find better solutions. Otherwise, the information seems to be pretty timeless.
Excellent collection. Thanks!