Here’s an idea I’ve discussed before and I still think is pretty good product idea!

Do you have a step-by-step solution or roadmap for getting results or solving problems in your niche?  Then try creating a blueprint for your niche, or topic.

A blueprint is a plan, a layout, a design.  As far as product creation, I think of it as showing your customers how the information you’re given is going to be laid out for them to achieve a specific result.  For example, if I create a “Blueprint for Success in Social Media,” I envision a product that identifies all (or most) of what I need to know about social media, and how all these bits and pieces work together to make me successful.

Here are some “blueprints” I found quickly on Amazon:

• Lucid Immersion Guidebook: A Holistic Blueprint For Lucid Dreaming
• The Beauty Blueprint: 8 Steps to Building the Life and Look of Your Dreams
• Attitude Reconstruction: A Blueprint for Building a Better Life
• A Blueprint for Financial Success: Learn How to Play the Game
• The Responsibility Trap: A Blueprint for Treating the Alcoholic Family
• Search Engine Optimization: Your Visual Blueprint for Effective Internet Marketing

As you can see, you can create a blueprint for almost any niche. Don’t these make you at least “feel” like you will be successful?

What blueprint can you make for your niche?

No I’m not nuts.  Do you remember Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”?  The children in the schoolhouse were singing a repetitive and eerie song called Risseldy Rosseldy before the birds started forming to attack. It’s a non-sensical song derived from a Scottish folk song called the “Wee Cooper o’ Fife” and was actually produced as another version on good ol’ vinyl by Chubby Parker in 1927.  And I believe a few years later, Burl Ives did a version as well.

So I guess you’re wondering what does this ridiculous song have to do with product creation?

The topic is ‘derivations’. Derivations are a a simple way to create content based on a modification of existing content.  I’m sure you’ve heard that you should repurpose your content – meaning use them again for another purpose, like plopping 10 articles together to create a free report. A derivative is along the same lines.

Think about updating and modifying existing content to create something totally new, but similar. This is very popular to do using works in the public domain.  So you could say, take your favorite book of poems from the public domain, add some annotations and interpretative images, et voila!  You have a derivative work of your own to sell as your own product.

Special Note:  Derivation is NOT plagiarism.  Create derivative works from your own content, public domain or content you have the permission to use.

PS.  I’m sorry if watching the video below will give you an “ear worm” for the following week

The “Dummy books” are hot. I’ve written in the past about how to use the Dummy books to get ideas for your product.  In fact, the “for Idiots” books fall along the same line as the Dummy books.  I assume the Dummy books came first, but this post is not about publishing priorities, it’s about a great tip for creating a line of products for yourself.

Create your own line of Dummy books.  Of course you won’t create a product “for Dummies” without permission from John Wiley & Sons (a former employer of mine, oddly enough), but you can think of other adjectives to describe your target market:

• for Dorks
• for Intellectuals
• for Newbies
• for Twitter Fanatics
• for Health Nuts
• for Wise Guys
• for Single Mommas
• for Animal Lovers
• for Hippies

Do you think you could create a line of products like the Dummy books?

Your product funnel is a series or progression of products that you offer, usually from free or low cost to more expensive items.

The gist of a product funnel is that you’ll get customers for your no cost or low cost products (like a free 10 page report), and those who grow to trust your advice, knowledge and wisdom will make their way through your funnel, purchasing your more expensive items (like a $1000 personal coaching program).

The challenge in creating a product funnel, and having more products available for people who want to spend more money with you, is that you need ideas for those products.  What about solving your “what product do I create next for my funnel” dilemma using themes?  Here are some examples:

• By volumes:  Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3
• By age range:  Infants, Toddlers, Teens, Adults, Seniors
• By levels:  Level 1, Level 2, Level 3
• By expertise:  Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert
• By skill: Artists, Musicians, Chefs, Techies
• By part:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• By size:  Complete, Supreme, Ultimate
• By passion:  Lover, Connoisseur, Aficionado
• By the numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4
• By progress: Phase I, Phase II, Phase III
• By time: 5 days, 30 days, 90 days
• By value:  Silver, Gold, Platinum

I hope you see the value in creating a “theme” around your product. It will allow your customers to naturally want to progress to the next level, but also help spur some ideas for the products you create.

Can you think of any other ideas to add to this list?

I can’t believe that I let a year pass by without updating my blog! This has happened before, but even then I think it was only a few months that had gone by.  What I really need is another 30 Day Blog challenge to get me writing daily about product creation techniques and tips!

I love challenges.  The current ones I’m working on now:  finishing my screenplay in 12 weeks and losing 37 pounds by May 20, 2  week-long vacations during this year (which is probably the biggest challenge of them all) – and apparently writing a 10,000 word novel during the month of November.

But I will do them all, because I found out what my motivation is. I appear to be motivated by “numbers.”  I’m no good with numbers (I’m a math dunce), but having a numeric goal (walking 5 miles per day, writing 15 pages per week) seems to work for me.

If you have one or more techniques for overcoming a challenge, why not create a self-help product?  People have a number of challenges in their lives and not all know how to overcome them.  Here’s a challenge for you – brainstorm 10 ways that you have overcome challenges in your life.   When you have that list of 10 things, you will have the foundation of your very first ebook!

I’ve recently started taking piano lessons.  I took them when I was very young and I really don’t remember much at all.  I’m also learning more about music theory along the way.  Perhaps my piano teacher (or any of my other music teachers for that matter) from the past never touched much on anything but teaching me how to play the music in front of me, but what I’m realizing is that there is a whole world of chords that I never knew existed.  This could stem from my playing single note instruments like the flute and clarinet, or my just forgetting everything I’ve ever learned in all the music classes I’ve taken – whatever the case, there seem to be endless number of chords that I need to know about.

So, in my quest for a book of chords with photos of fingerings on the piano keyboard, I found the Picture Chord Encyclopedia: Photos, Diagrams and Music Notation for over 1600 Chords.   The word that stood out to me was “encyclopedia”.  When I see or hear that word, I think of a resource that covers all that I need to know in the form of a reference book. Something that I will always keep by my piano, not something I read to learn something, then toss it aside. I think of something that is a complete reference. Remember those huge sets of encyclopedias we used to own that contained 26-30 or so books?  In their hay day they were thought to contain everything you needed to know about anything!

Why not create an encyclopedia for your niche, or your topic?  It could be a daunting task depending on what your niche is, but you can probably pull it off if you focus on a specific area like the Encyclopedia of piano chords. This book only contains chords not the whole realm of music theory (no scales, no music notation, no theory, just chords).

Here are some examples for you to see the range of possibilities:

• Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts
• The Encyclopedia of Jewelry-Making Techniques
• National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living
• Yoga Journal’s Complete Beginners Guide with Pose Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Doo Wop
• Encyclopedia of Dove Magic

What do you think you can create an encyclopedia of within your niche?

I’m sure you know that product creation is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get started making money online. But if you’re like so many creative, talented and information-filled people I konw, you probably still haven’t gotten started yet creating your OWN info product.  Is there something stopping you? Let’s look at some reasons that may be holding you back.

1. I’m not in the best financial situation, I don’t have enough money to get started.

That’s not a good enough reason! You can create almost any type of information product using free tools found online. OpenOffice provides an entire productivity suite including a word processor and presentation software, and it’s free. Audacity is the most popular tool for creating audios, and it’s free. CamStudio.org is a screen recording software very similar to the Camtasia paid product, and it’s free. You can convert your ebook into a PDF using FreePDF.org, and guess what it’s free. All these tools can help you create the most popular formats of information products…for free.

2. Well, I just can’t do it. I’m not technical enough to create these types of products.

Nope, still not a good enough reason.  All you have to know how to do is type and talk. If you can type, then you can write and ebook or a short report. If you type slowly you can still crank out a PowerPoint presentation that can be converted to a video. If you are convinced that you can’t type at all, then get someone to type it for you! As long as you can talk, you can create a product. Record yourself speaking about all of the important points of your topic then. Once you are finished, have someone transcribe it for you into a written document.

3.  But I don’t have a unique idea. Too many people already have products like mine.

That’s a valid point, but still not good enough.  You just need to set yourself apart from everyone else. If a lot of people have a similar product, then that’s a good market to be in (they feel there’s money to be made there). Read all of those products, see what’s missing. Tailor it to your specific market. Tell your story. You simply have to make your product different than what’s already out there and fill the gap that the others are missing.

If you are nervous about creating a product to sell online, I can truly understand.  There are many reasons to be nervous. But if you have knowledge to share then share it – even if it’s just a simple free document for starters.  I believe that everyone has a product inside of them just dying to come out and be shared with the world