Issue # 118, 17-Aug-2005
ISSN 1447-4956
Copyright 2005 Jason Anderson. All rights
reserved worldwide
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/
Hello again, and welcome to this weeks
letter. I hope you are well.
There was a buzz of excitement in the air
last week. Not due to any huge event being put
on, but due simply to the weather.
It snowed here in Hobart, and for the first
time in over 20 years it was heavy enough (and
cold enough) to settle on the ground at sea
level.
Unfortunately, Hobart isn't used to snow. So
despite the snow depth being very minor (one or
two centimeters), quite a few roads, including a
section of the main highway, were closed for the
morning. Thousands of people weren't able to
make it in to work until the afternoon (if at
all).
Which was extremely funny to a friend of ours
who used to live in Alaska, and didn't
understand why so much chaos was occurring from
such a small amount of snow :-)
Unfortunately we didn't have the snow settle
at our place, but it was falling quite heavily
for a few minutes (and fell on and off for
around half an hour). Maybe next year ;-)
* * *
If you're creating your own web sites,
selling on eBay, creating ebooks, or even just
sharing private photos online with your family,
chances are you're working with graphics. But if
you haven't played with graphics much before, it
can be rather daunting to get exactly what you
want.
Help is now available! Louis Allport has put
together a set of videos that will show you ten
very quick and easy steps that are guaranteed to
make you confident working with web graphics of
all shapes and sizes.
You'll be able to create your web sites
quicker, make them look even better, help to
sell more of whatever you're selling online,
create even better looking eBay auctions ...
even perhaps rent out your graphics services for
a fee!
He even shows you where to get a free
graphics program that will allow you to do all
this, so you don't even have to go out and buy
any special software.
You can find out about "How To Master Web
Graphics In 10 Easy Steps" (as well as buy it at
the special subscribers-only price) at
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/special/
However, if you would like to grab an
additional 33 hours of audio and video training
on a huge range of topics related to running an
online business (including help for getting your
site ranked in the search engines, building your
own lists, or even creating your own
info-products), you may want to take a look at
the "Louis Allport Collection".
It includes the above product, and you even
get three free updates as new products are added
to the collection. (Previous people who bought
the package have already received the download
for this new product).
You can find out more about the collection
at
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/louiscollection/
* * *
This weeks condensed interview is from Bryan
Kumar. Bryan has been a very successful author
online, with a string of popular ebooks to his
name. I wanted to know how Bryan came up with
his ideas, and how he went about writing them.
He passes on some great advice below...
ANP: Is writing an ebook
difficult?
Bryan: The trick really is to just
get started. Just start writing and let you
thoughts flow. Don't worry about spelling or
grammar or sentence structure or formatting
or any of that. Just get the information out
of you. You can edit it later. If you edit
while you write, you interrupt the flow of
ideas.
You can also use a tape recorder and just
talk freely into it. Imagine you're talking
to a friend and you're giving her advice
about X (where "X" is the subject you want to
write about.) When you're done, you can type
it all out into your computer, or get someone
to transcribe it.
If it still seems like a daunting task to
write the book, just break the ebook up into
sections or chapters, and knock them out one
at a time... kinda like writing short
reports. (Break the task up into smaller
pieces and tackle it that way.)
Anyone can write an ebook.
ANP: How do you come up with ideas for
your products, and what sort of research do
you do to determine if the idea will be
profitable?
Bryan: I'll be honest... I'm pretty
lazy these days. I just look at what's
already selling well out there and I give
that idea a unique twist.
Just follow the experts and top sellers,
watch what's hot on Clickbank (i.e. what
sells the most,) check out Amazon.com and see
what's moving there. Go to forums and look
for common problems or complaints people are
having.
In short, get out there and hang out among
your customers and competitors (either
online, offline, or both.) Do that and you'll
never run out of ideas to write about.
One thing I'd strongly suggest you do
is... give your product idea a little
"twist." Make it unique in some way so that
it's not the same ol' product that everyone
else is selling.
That little twist can make your product
stand out and sell very well.
ANP: How do you first start the task
of going from the initial idea in your mind
to a more solid concept that you can start to
work on?
Bryan: Here's how I do it...
As soon as I get an idea that gets me
excited, I write it down. (Keep a pen and
pad, or tape recorder, with you at all
times.)
Then, I transfer it into a 14" by 17"
sketch pad. It's a drawing pad i.e. it
contains blank sheets of paper, without ruled
lines.
I designate at least one sheet to my new
idea. And, then I just go crazy on it. The
secret I've discovered is to forget about
logic, linear thinking or organization. Just
let go and pour out whatever is inside you at
that moment.
In other words, my mind is usually going
in 10 different directions when I scribble on
the pad. One minute I'm writing a brief table
of contents on one section of the page. The
next minute, I'm writing a killer headline
that just came to me, for that product.
Pretty soon this large 14" x 17" page is
filled up with scribbles, notes, gems that I
brainstormed.
Everything that I can think of (relating
to this product) gets recorded on this pad
(table of contents, ads and salesletter
titbits, cover design, formatting, etc.)
ANP: If your best friend was about to
get started creating their own product, what
advice would you have for them?
Bryan: I would tell her to just
follow what the experts in her field are
doing.
If you can't think of a great title for
your ebook, go to amazon.com and do a search
for books on that subject. Read the
titles/headlines and you'll get some great
ideas from there. Don't know how to create an
outline for your product? Look at how the
existing books are formatted. Having a hard
time creating a killer sales letter for your
product? Just look at the top sellers and see
how they're doing it.
Most of the work has already been done for
you. You don't have to steal other's work,
but you can look at their stuff to get
ideas... you can model after the successful
ones.
And of course, make yours better!
Another good point to keep in mind is...
your book doesn't have to be hundreds of
pages long. I tend to create short powerful
reports because they are quick and easy to
produce. They're great to do especially if
you're a new marketer and want to get your
feet wet.
Best of all, short reports allow you to
spread your risk. Listen, all of your
projects will not become home runs. That's
just the reality most of us have to deal
with.
So, if you invest a lot of time and energy
into creating a monster ebook that turns out
to be a dud, you would have lost all the time
and energy you put into that project... with
nothing to show for it.
On the other hand, if you had only spent a
few weeks on creating a much shorter ebook
which also turned out to be a dud, you could
quickly pull that one out and replace it with
another short one. Your risks are
dramatically reduced and your chances of
putting out a winner is increased!
See, it's better to create 10 little
ebooks per year and have 2 of them flop
(which means 8 of them are bringing in the
cash!) than to only create one or two big
ebooks in that same year and risk having them
both flop. There is also a much better chance
that 1 of your products will be a hot seller
if you have 10 of them out there, instead of
just one or two.
That has been my strategy for the past 7+
years. And it has worked very well for me. It
can work well for you too.
Finally, make your package unique, either
through the offer, the packaging, or the
product itself. Make yours stand out from the
rest of the pack.. If you don't do that,
you'll be lost among the other mediocre
offers, and your customers will probably
never find you.
Do the above and you'll continue to get
great results.
Speaking of being unique, if you're
thinking of writing an ebook on marketing,
DON'T!
Pick any other subject but marketing.
You'll have a much easier time selling a
product outside of the 'marketing' arena.
You'll also often have much less competition
in the non-marketing niches, and a much
greater profit potential.
-- Bryan Kumar, http://www.about-secrets.com
Well, that's it for me this week. Be sure to
check out the compilation of training audio and
videos I've put together - it has over 33 hours
of material on just about every subject related
to running an online business.
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/louiscollection/
I hope you have a great week, and look
forward to the next time we meet.
Cheers,
Jason
"You have within you right now, everything
you need to deal with whatever the world can
throw at you." -- Brian Tracy
Legal Stuff
Copyright 2005 Jason Anderson. All rights
reserved.
We accept no responsibility whatsoever for
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within Achieve Net Profits.
And, although all of the articles have been
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