Introduction

I think that I'm finally over the hump. I've been sleeping 12 hours a night for the last week, and then taking an afternoon nap, so I still haven't done much. I fell much better today. Slept only 10 hours last night and am heading out for a walk as soon as I finish writing this. I had hoped to provide some good links to freebies this week, but it'll have to wait till next week. I think that you'll enjoy today's article.

Erica Douglass at Unseminar 7

This is the third in my series of newsletter articles on Unseminar 7. Today I am going to take a look at the presentation made by Erica Douglass on Creating a Product Quickly. Erica is quite the personable young lady, full of energy and willing to help. She spent two hours one night helping a neophyte get his blog up and running because she wanted him to have a taste of success.

Erica started off with a couple of pieces of wisdom. First she that to be successful, you should not be the lowball person, but rather the better person. Then she presented the drawing below.

Quick Overview

Interviews are the easiest way to create a product. You can also use interviews for social proof.

Six Steps to Creating a Product from an Interview

1. Narrow down the niche


2. Find someone to interview


3. Ask for the interview


4. Do the interview


5. Outsource the tasks after the interview


6. Promote the interview.

Detailed View of Erica's Presentation

1. Narrow Your Niche

Google your concept to find appropriate keywords. Choose a keyword with one to two thousands searches. Write a short ebook on your topic.

2. Find people to interview

Good sources for the type of people you want are haro.com, rtir.com, forums on your topic - find the big dogs on the forum, the ones with the most posts usually, hire a virtual assistant, and of course, there is always Google.

3. Email your potential interviewee

and ask them for the interview because they are the expert. If you are asked to pay for the interview, move on to another candidate.

The following is a good template to start from.

Hi (first name of candidate), I found out about you from (name of someone who has quote, praised or otherwise brought the candidate to your attention) and read your story with great interest. (This creates the impression that the “someone” actually called you :>)

I am the owner of a successful blog that teaches people about (your topic) I am interviewing XX (some number) entrepreneurs this (month, year, etc) and would love to do an interview with you as I believe you would be an inspiration to my readers. I will of course provide a backlink to the site of your choice.

I need only 60 minutes of your time. By the way, one of the people I have already interviewed did several product sales right off the interview.

Here are the times that I am available :

(List three times you are available.)

Please reply as soon as possible with which time works for you. If none of these times work for you, please let me know when you could be available.

Basically your are going to suck up to the guru, try to introduce a little scarcity and then present them with a call to action.

4. Do the Interview

Before your do the interview, find out what people want to know. Check the forums, Google, etc so that you can structure questions to get exactly what you and your readers want.

The interview should be no longer than 60 minutes - that way it will fit on a CD. Why a CD? It increases the perceived value of your product.

Record the interview using SkypeOut. Beware of calling a cell in the UK as it costs you $1.25 per minute! Use a headset for the best sound quality. Erica suggested that CallBurner is an excellent tool for recording your Skype call.

You can use either an interview or a teleseminar, but a seminar can be more of a risk. If you use a teleseminar, get the questions in advance from your callers. That way you don't risk a caller wasting a lot of valuable time talking about unrelated topics, or taking your guru off on a tangent.

5. Outsource

Your audio will likely need some editing. You can outsource that through Elance or Odesk, or you could do it yourself using a program like Audacity. Your audio will need an intro and an outview. Usually this will include music and voice over. Don't forget to pick up a domain name for your new website.

You should also give very strong consideration to outsourcing the construction of your website, the copywriting for your sales page, the set up of your shopping cart and payment process and the integration with your email list.

6. Promote

Based on the perceived value and format of your product - CD and DVD are more valuable - set a price between $7 and $97. What problem is your product solving?

Now is the time to set up a list and entice people to get on it.

Make sure that you Joint Venture with your interviewee and as many of the other gurus as possible in your niche.

Make many quality posts on related forums. Be sure to put a link to your site in your forum signature.

Don't neglect the other marketing paths such as Search Engine Optimization and blogging.

Offer a few of the people on your list a freebie for reading your product and providing a testimonial.

Erica mentioned that she likes ejunkie.com for their sales cart system.

Next week I'll talk about Dr. Joe Vitale's presentation on attracting money.

I'm continuing these excerpts from Unseminar 7 because you my faithful reader seem to be enjoying them.