Profitable Products & Big Blog Posts
Just one link for today’s update:
watch/listen the podcast episode about my most profitable product here!
Please leave a comment below.
Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all. If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.
Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.
Terrible thumbnail dude..
It is not easy for us to trust new products when older are not supported, like WPsharely which has bugs.
The only products I no longer support are those I’m no longer selling. We are still offering full support for WPSharely and will continue doing so. If you have issues, just get in touch with our help team and we’ll get it sorted out for you. :)
Thanks Shane, for me the best way to get info about product based businesses and take some action, would be a coaching program. You could offer a 6 or 12 month “inner circle” group coaching program with limited membership. Weekly online meetings and some access to your knowhow via Email. This would work best for me.
Thanks, Andreas
This would be a good way to deliver a full-blown premium product, I agree. I’m not going quite for that level of detail yet, though.
I know there’s demand for this and I do eventually want to create a complete product or coaching program about creating products. But I’m not quite ready for that yet.
My inclination would be to do a summary post with just the list of steps, and then break down the steps into separate posts scheduled for one per day.
But then, my principal concern is building traffic and getting reader engagement. I’m nowhere need your level in those departments, and certainly not to the level where I can just pitch to one or two people (although I think that’s what I’m doing sometimes).
I do have a plan that’s somewhat in line with that. Although I don’t know how this is going to happen, I have this vision of something like a visual map of the whole process and different parts of the map linking to posts with more details.
Shane, my thoughts about your dilemma are these. First of all, since the post is about product creation for business, my supposition is that it will not appeal to many people who may be beginners in the industry, therefore they won’t read it anyway. If you are speaking therefore mostly to more experienced marketers, you may not have to be quite as detailed as you would be when talking to a broader audience. This would give you a little more freedom to talk in a broader context and still be able to get your point across in such a fashion to teach people what you wanted them to know. Thus the post could be shortened to a certain degree.
I for one, would read the entire post because this is certainly a topic I am interested in and feel you are very good at product development. I know I could learn some valuable information from you and would be willing to put the effort in to benefit from your experience. Looking forward to it. Thanks.
Thank you for your thoughts, Bill. You’re absolutely right that this kind of post is for a limited audience to begin with.
I think you might just be surprised how many hyper-active readers/buyers like me you have, Shane. Your writing is so full of top-notch, actionable advice, and delivered in such an engaging way, I can’t get enough – and I’m sure I’m not alone. Frankly, I think the detailed, comprehensive approach you take to content delivery is part of your blog’s USP. So my suggestion is to dump all the “Impact System” content into one post and let us have at it! From there I’m sure you’ll figure out ways to repurpose/expand/drill down or whatever’s necessary to get more eyeballs on it.
Looking forward to reading it.
Now go get some sleep!
Couldn’t agree more with everything you say!!
Shane – how have your previous long posts performed? I know I thought they were incredible and have made me a big fan of what you have to say!!
Thank you very much, Eric!
This confirms the idea that there will be a few enthusiastic readers and really, it’s worth writing just for the few fans, sometimes. :)
Shane,
This is going against the tide, but I think you are excellent on video. Maybe it’s your accent that charms my american ears, but it is never boring to listen to you and watch your videos. I think you could do a series of videos to explain what you are doing. Maybe even with some visuals to illustrate your point. When I watch you I see your passion and excitement and I have to say you are one of the few that I will actually sit through and watch. Good Luck whatever you decide.
Thank you very much, Laurie.
I didn’t mention this, but when I think about creating a mini-course, I’m assuming that would be mostly video based.
I quite like delivering content via video, as well.
Big long blog post – the only way to go. I find that I bypass most of your emails because they link to information in a video or podcast format. On so many days I could spend hours watching or listening to this type of information. That just doesn’t work. With a written work it is very easy to skim the information and see if it is something that I am really interested in. If I am interested I will either read it or set it aside till there is time to slowly read and think about it.
Because words come so easy when we are talking and so hard when we have to write, most videos are loaded with filler while articles tend to be much more concise.
Thanks for your thoughts on this, John! +1 for the big post. :)
I agree with Eric Ruth & Dean… your detailed content is awesome. I’d love to read a post with such info. Your stuff is always worthwhile.
Thank you very much, Tish!
Thank you very much for your newest Sunday update Shane. Regarding your question I found the answer in your Podcast Episode 22. I think you have a vast experience in order to present different subjects in the best possible way. Personally I love your videos as I find them very clear and very easy to follow. (I apologize my English since it is not my mother tongue)
Thank you for your reply, Sergio!
A longer video like for a podcast would also be an option, yes. My concern with that would be that it could be difficult to structure a large amount of content nicely, in just one video. So maybe several videos, one for each chapter? I’m not sure yet.
I know I am more of an auditory learner, however I quite like the Story Board presentation which involve visual and auditory flowing.
Don’t have any idea of the cost or difficulty but it feels like quite a nice medium the you could put the sketches into maybe a pdf or create a master mind map with sub mind maps…
But aside from that I missed out on buying the editor so when will it be for sale again as I don’t even want to attempt to build some sites till its out again…
Cheers
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the suggestion!
The editor might stay off market until February, I’m afraid. Although I might re-open it for a brief time before that, since we’ve been getting many requests.
I would actually like a podcast!
Thanks for the reply, Tom!
It would be a loooong podcast episode. Maybe split up into a few would make it more feasible.
I think you should deliver it in a series of short posts that all lead up to the next one. I think if you write the entire post, then deliver it in mini sessions or mini lessons, more people would read it and take something from each delivery… vs. reading a long post and having people forget the majority of it.
Just a thought.
Thanks Shane!
Hi Michael,
I agree that reader retention would probably be better in a series of posts. On the other hand, it can be nice to have one single overview of everything… still debating with myself, as you can see. :)
Hi Shane,
I think the best way to present it is a mini course, hands down. And it is the best way for several reasons:
1. In a course format, readers can keep track of their progress and come back instead of skimming through a long a*s post and try to gather a few points just because they don’t have time to read the whole thing at once (ability to mark sections as “read” would be a killer)
2. In a course format, the value of the information automatically increases, even it is exactly the same as a super long post. The word “course” by itself can motivate readers
3. By making it a mini course, you have made yourself a “goodie” that you can give away to subscribers in your blog. Then later on, you can expand it and create a pro version with paid content. Being subscribed to a mini course and upgrade to the paid version takes less effort than reading a blog post and subscribe to a paid course from there.
4. By making a course you require the user to sign up. You can then use their email to make sure they take action on the content by sending a few reminders. In addition, asking for feedback would be more effective than asking readers to send their feedback through a form or through comments.
You make a very strong case. :)
Especially point #2 is pretty crucial, I think.
I can never see your videos in firefox. I don’t have this problem with other sites. So I have no idea what i was supposed to see here.
What are you using to serve up your video? My firefox is current.
Kirk
I’m using Wistia for my videos. I can’t replicate this issue. Works perfectly for me in Firefox. Not sure if there’s anything I can do to fix that, I’m afraid.
Wistia seems to be problematic on some platforms. I can’t get your videos to play reliably on any of my Android devices (sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t; no immediately identifiable rhyme or reason) using any of my installed browsers, but I don’t have any problem with Firefox (25.0.1) on Windoze 7, although occasionally I will run into a site that will only work with the MS virus magnet (IE).
The Android YouTube player works pretty reliably as long as I have a good Internet connection.
I don’t really have any definite workarounds or fixes. This is just to add to the available datapoints, in the hope that it might help somebody come up with one…
I guess I need to try it with Linux and OSX, but right now, I just do most of my web browsing with Firefox/Windoze.
Thanks for the details, Howard! I’ll get in touch with the Wistia people and let them know about this.
One of the reasons I don’t use YouTube is because I’v been burnt and had one of my accounts there banned. Don’t want to go through that again…
Hey guys! Jordan here from Wistia. Quite curious to get to the bottom of these issues. Would you mind sending along an e-mail with this info so we can figure out where the snags are? You can get us at support@wistia.com — I’d really appreciate it!
The info that would be super helpful to know are the versions of Android you’re running into trouble with, the specific ways that the videos seem to fail, etc. We’ll get this smoothed right out!
Nothing wrong with a big, long, blog post. ;)
Good to know. Thanks for your reply, Andre!
Hi Shane,
I personally would be happy if it was a “paid” product or a long (Free) Blog Post. The only thing that concerns me is the “quality” and I’m sure that is the case for most people.
Because all of your Free and Paid Products are such a high standard, I know that whatever form the information is in, it will be worth time and money.
Another point: I’m sure there are many products “out there” on the Internet that deal with the topic, but I’d also bet that 90% of them are garbage/low quality.
I’d rather wait and see what you have to offer. Even if you publish a long (free) Blog post, it will most likely be better than the paid products out there.
Thank you very much, Nick!
I agree that the most important point is the quality of the content, no matter what format it ends up being in. I have been working on this particular piece of content for a long time and I will take my time with it. I want to get it right.
Dear Shane,
Your video hit a nerve, and I’ve given it a good deal of thought about what I would want to have in terms of internet marketing help.
Like most people, I’ve spend thousands on various software, etc., most of which either sits or doesn’t work or is too difficult for me to figure out. However, being over 60, I would sure want to have a stream of income once my life insurance business is too much for me.
However, I have learned something, and my first thought for you is to segment your sales pitch. Since we all know that logic sells nothing and emotion sells everything; I propose you take me and a few others like minded old folks and start basically from scratch.
I can certainly copy but need some individual attention. Once there is a track record you can take a small group and have videos of each of us with a story to tell that would encourage others in a similar position to seek your help.
I look forward to your comments.
Lenny
Shane,
Thanks for the Sunday update. I lean towards a long blog post. Too often we want things these days “instantly” and do not want to spend the time or make the effort to get to the “pot of gold” There is still a lot of power in the written word and I for one welcome something I can sink my mind into and come out the other side knowing it was time well spent.
Bring it on!
I love mindmaps for depicting complicated, interrelated data… and everything else. If you were to translate what you’re discussing into a mindmap, you would have me at the very least as the one person who benefits, as you described. But I suspect a lot more would reap the benefits.