There are many men and women of all ages who choose to pursue the entrepreneurial lifestyle by starting an online business they can call their own. This is not an easy task, but it is very rewarding in terms of both personal satisfaction as well as the unlimited income you stand to bring in.
One of the various business models that you can implement is that of a digital info product creator. As a vendor who sells information, you have to take the necessary steps to not only ensure the quality of your product, but the integrity of your launch.
While it may seem daunting at first, the product launch process is actually very easy as long as you understand what steps need to be taken along the way. There are six primary areas that you will need to address from beginning to end.
Step 1: Be Smart with Your Product Creation Process
There are many people who will advise you to take as many shortcuts as possible so that you can have a product launch as quickly as you can. What you have to remember is that this is your one and only time to make a first impression as a quality vendor of digital information
Customers have seen and spent money with those who don’t take time and care in creating their products, and to be honest, they are sick of them. Unless you want to be labeled a scammer, and unable to earn a good living with your talent for teaching people solutions to their problems, you need to take your time and create a product that you will be proud of and that customers will enjoy.
Start by brainstorming something that isn’t already being done well in the marketplace. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done before, but that you bring something new to the table or different that your target audience will appreciate.
It may be a different media format, a different slant, or new and updated information. Check to see what is already being sold. If everyone has done eBooks, then you may try your hand at a video course.
For example, you may see lots of different eBooks that teach traffic generation. But you could come along and create a video course that shows them over the shoulder what to do in a step-by-step manner and have a hit on your hands.
You never want to concern yourself about the size of the product or necessarily what you will charge for it in the very beginning. During the planning stages, you want to think about how to thoroughly and precisely solve the problems that your target audience is experiencing so that they walk away feeling relief and satisfaction.
Once you come up with ideas, which you can base on forum chatter, blog post comments, social media engagement, keyword research, and more, you can outline your product so that you make sure nothing has been missed along the way.
You don’t want to have to go back later and fill in the gaps if you accidentally forget something. When you create your product, you want to deliver a high quality item to your audience.
That means that it is well written. It needs to be in English and written by someone who is fluent if you are outsourcing it to someone else. You want to take time to review the finished product and make sure that it is grammatically correct and that there are no spelling errors or typos.
You also want to make sure that the information itself is correct so that you don’t misguide anyone who buys from you. If you outsource a product about paid advertising on Facebook to a freelance service provider who knows nothing about it, they may put information in there that is not correct.
If you are creating a video product or some other media format, you want to take the same care as you would with text and go over the information, check for the quality of the visuals and sound and make sure that there are no glitches when the buyer downloads and engages in the product.
Step 2: Create Two Kinds of Copy
You can have the best product on the marketplace, but if your sales copy lacks the ability to convert visitors into buyers, or looks very amateurish in nature, you will fail to have the kind of successful launch you were hoping for.
You have to learn how to improve your copywriting skills over time. But in the meantime, if you are new to this aspect of online business operations, there are some things that can help you get by.
You will be creating two different kinds of copy. The first is your front end product copy. This is the most important one because it determines whether or not your visitor becomes a buyer or clicks out and leaves.
You want them to at least purchase the front end product so that you have the opportunity to present a one-time offer upgrade (or several). The first thing you may want to do is go to your fellow competitors and create a swipe file of the kinds of slants, tone and topics that are discussed by others.
You will never want to copy what they have done, but it’s important that you learn from other people’s success. Almost every good online entrepreneur has a swipe file of things like headlines, storylines, bullet points, etc.
You want to create a template of the layout you intend to use for your front end sales copy. For example, you might lead with one or two headlines and sub headlines followed by a video presentation if you want to create a hybrid media format sales letter.
After that, you will launch into your storyline, which can either be about your journey or that of your customers. Ideally, it will be both so that you can showcase your passion for the niche topic and expertise as well as show empathy for your visitor and what they’re going through.
You will need to have the details of the product spelled out for them so that they know exactly what they are buying and aren’t left in the dark about it. You can do this through the use of bulletpoints as well as storyline copy.
Another thing you want to have sprinkled on the sales page are testimonials from people that you have given a review copy to and who can vouch for the quality of the product.
It’s always best if you can include their picture, name, and brand or website so that everyone knows it’s legitimate. Towards the end of your sales copy template, you will need to have a strong call to action that tells the visitor exactly what they need to do next and why.
This will be followed by the buy button, which you get the code for from the platform that you are selling it through. After that, you will include your signature as well as your post scripts, which sum up the offer and the urgency they need to know about.
The second kind of copy, which will be for the one time offer upgrade(s), is positioned a bit differently because you are talking to someone who has already proven that they have a buyer’s mindset.
They will not be taken to this page unless they have already purchased the front end. Therefore, they are in a buying mood. You just have to convince them that the upgrade offer is both relevant and necessary to their original purchase.
You don’t want to make it sound as if the front end product will not work without them purchasing the upgrade, but you do want to highlight its many benefits and make it irresistible.
Make sure that you are using a professional page builder for your sales letters and that you have either created or outsourced the creation of professional graphics that will represent your digital info product.
If you are not good at this skill, give it to someone else who can do it for under $20, because many visitors will see an amateur digital graphic and relate it to the quality of your info product.
Step 3: Implement These Technical Launch Set Up Steps
When it comes to the technical aspect of creating your own product launch, there are a few simple tasks you need to complete. In addition to the sales pages that you will be creating to convert visitors into buyers, you will also need to create two additional pages.
The download page is where you will house the link to the product that the customer just purchased. You can use this space as a way to promote other products that you have for sale and as a promo spot for top affiliates that you wish to recruit, allowing them to have an image linked to one of their offers.
You can also remind people about the rest of the products that are in your funnel in case they declined to purchase them the first time around. Your JV (joint venture) page is the other page that you will need to have set up for your launch.
This is where your prospective affiliates will gather all of the information they need in order to promote your product. They will go here to find out where to grab their links, to see what all is in the funnel and how it is priced, any contest details, and of course the date and time that the launch takes place.
When you are ready with all of your pages, you will go to a site such as Warrior Plus and create a product listing for each of the items in your funnel. Next, you will create an offer that will connect each of those items in the funnel.
When your product is complete, you can upload the files to the site and connect it all to your email autoresponder list. You can also share the link to the JV page and recruit affiliates from the platform.
When everything is set up properly, you want to perform a test purchase to ensure that the customer will have a positive experience from the time they click the buy button to the moment when they download the product from you.
Step 4: Go to the Effort of Recruiting Affiliates
When your JV page is in place, and your product is complete, you will want to begin recruiting affiliates for your launch. This is an important step because affiliates have the power to provide more than half if not almost all of your revenue, depending on who you recruit and what your own list is in comparison.
You can’t just create a JV page and expect all applicable affiliates to show up & up to promote you. If you have a little money to spend, then you may want to hire an affiliate project manager to help you with this task.
But it’s also something that you can do on your own if you prefer to do that. First, you want to create a listing on MunchEye, which is where many marketers list their upcoming product launches for affiliates to consider.
In addition to other similar sites, forums that allow launch listings, and groups on social media that do the same, you will want to announce your upcoming launch to your affiliate list if you have one.
If not, begin contacting prospective affiliates directly. You can do this via private message on social media or in email. In addition to the link to your JV page, make sure you send them a review copy for consideration and mention any additional perks you’re willing to give them, such as a bump in commission.
Step 5: Use These Traffic Generation Ideas to Ramp Up Sales
When your launch goes live, you will want to give it every chance at success possible. Start by notifying your list of subscribers about the fact that the product has gone live. The sooner you can get an influx of traffic and sales, the higher the possibility that you will land on the overall bestseller list within the platform.
Not only do some consumers shop from this list, but it will bring your product to the attention of many top affiliates who see that your sales page is converting, and they will take a look at your listing for a possible promotion.
Another thing you want to do is announce your product launch on social media sites. Facebook is the most common for digital info products, but it’s not the only one. While you might make a text and image post for Facebook, you can also create a YouTube video and use strategic hashtags that help your video get found.
Many people want to know about organic traffic solutions for a launch, but there are also paid options. For example, you can purchase a solo ad that will be emailed out to a fellow marketers list with a promotion to your product launch inside.
Step 6: Make the Most of Your Launch Momentum
When your launch is nearing its end, you don’t want to lose the momentum you have built up. Now is the time to immediately let your current affiliates and customers know what you have planned in the near future.
If you have just sold them a course about generating traffic on social media sites, and your upcoming product is about building a list, make sure you have your JV page ready for that sale early so that you can immediately send it to affiliates and let them begin preparing their bonus or promo.
At this time, you can also promote something related to what you have just sold. Make sure that it is a product that complements your own and doesn’t compete with it, because that would confuse your audience.
As soon as you have new buyers on your list, begin the nurturing process so that they are shown immediate value for being a subscriber. Surprise them with unannounced freebies that they were not expecting.
