If you are currently running your own blog or doing some freelance work online you might want to consider the prospects of creating a product to supercharge and complement what you are already doing.
The types of products you can create can range from information or training material in the form of pdf files or videos to software or bundled services packaged up as products.
The types of products you can create can range from information or training material in the form of pdf files or videos to software or bundled services packaged up as products.
When you have an online business, the main advantages of creating your own products are obvious. For instance selling products online enables you to market to a potentially huge audience for a fraction of the cost of doing it the traditional “retail” way where you own a physical store.
The scalability of selling products online is simply unbeatable. You literally have a world-wide audience to sell to.
There are other perks to creating products online which may not be as obvious, particularly if you are the person who currently runs an online service-based business where you get paid hourly or in lump sums.
Productizing certain portions of your business can reap you many rewards and give you even greater leverage with your audience.
Below are 5 not so obvious side-benefits of creating your own products for your online business:
1. Having your own product increases your perceived expertise
If you are a service-based online provider such as a personal coach, copywriter, consultant, freelancer, developer etc, having your own product creates an instant air of authority in your chosen niche.
The fact that you have a product automatically demonstrates that you can do what you claim to be an expert on. This type of proof goes a long way in making you stand out from the competition and it will raise your perceived authority and expertise.
As a result the rates you charge for your service can quite often be raised to reflect the greater value you are providing due to your products.
2. A product can reduce “unprofitable” time spent with clients
There will be times when you have particular clients who demand extra attention and need some hand-holding over and above what you would normally do for the majority of your customers.
If you’re offering some kind of service for example, most of this extra time that you spend with such clients can really eat into your schedule and quite often will translate into lost profits because of the potential opportunities you might be missing.
Therefore having a product such as a video training series or pdf documents which can serve to answer the majority of the questions will free up a significant amount of effort and time for you to concentrate on serving more clients or building your client base.
In effect by creating a product to do the hand-holding of some of the higher maintenance clients, you have turned the unprofitable time into profit.
3. Having products increases the scalability of your business
When you introduce a product into the mix, you have created the opportunity for converting the time you spend not earning money into profit. The more products you create the more money you can conceivably make without having to increase the time you are physically working.
Your products can serve as an extra pair of hands which are earning you money while you are creating other opportunities.
4. A product can allow you to be selective about who you choose as clients
The added income that a product can generate will take the pressure off having to accept any client which asks for your services. For instance if you’re a copywriter who prefers to work in the field of music or art, then you can concentrate your efforts on gaining these types of clients instead of having to accept any offer because you need to the money to pay the bills.
5. A product can increase your client base
Having a product essentially creates a new pathway for building your client base – namely via the accumulation of an email list. One way to use your products to increase clients is to partner with an already well established online business owner who has a large list. You could negotiate an arrangement between yourselves where you might do all of the work regarding the product creation and give most of the profit to your partner in exchange for the opportunity to market yourself to their considerable client list.
Another way to increase your list is through an affiliate program from which other people can do the selling for you. You can then get your affiliates to send their customers to you to sign up for a free “bonus” pdf or email course.
As you can see, building your own products creates enormous benefits and potential for growing your online business. The initial effort expended in creating a good quality product can eventually pay much larger dividends than the same amount of effort spent doing only billable work.
