If you have a good relationship with your customer or potential customers, every time you promote either your product or an affiliates product, they’re more than likely be happy to whip out their wallets and buy from you. Right?

So how do you get to the point where the customer trusts and respects you?

Well firstly, if you have a list, you can do it that way, by giving away free information and promoting good quality products that help them.
However, in my opinion one of the fastest ways to build long lasting relationships where the customer not only respects and trusts you, but instantly sees you as an expert in your niche, is by being an author of your own book.

Let me explain…

Having your own book gives you instant credibility with customers and potential customers alike. You are instantly seen as an expert in your niche – whether you are one or not. Basically, the publisher or media has indirectly given your name and your business name as a referral to countless people reading it, who may need your help.

In the society we live in, anyone who is a celebrity in a certain field is looked up to. If they’re in a position of power, they must know a great deal of what you’re interested in.

Just look at all the celebrity chefs, how many people have the chefs’ cookbooks on their shelves? Or fitness TV personalities, many people have their own workout videos lining the bookshelves? That’s just the way the world works.

Take Daniel Wagner as an example. Some of you may know him, some of you may not. A little over a year ago I met him at a seminar in London. What immediately attracted me to him was he was holding a book in his hands, in fact it was his book “My Journey and the Machine.” So I approached him and we got chatting. He went on to explain that as soon as he had the book in his hands, it became an instant and incredibly powerful marketing book for him.
It was the reason people in the Internet Marketing community trusted him, and the reason he had instant credibility with customers and potential customers alike.

Another example is Financial guru Robert Kiyosaki, the author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”  He has an army of followers eager to hear what he has to say.
They’re pretty much convinced that he’s going to provide them with the most value when it comes to real-estate investing, and it all stems from the success of his book. He’s done what every other professional wants to do, separated himself from all the other competitors in his field and put himself on the forefront of his prospective customers mind, and that’s what makes writing a book one of the most powerful marketing tools any Internet Marketer can have.

Think of it this way, think of your book as a huge magnet, a magnet that instantly sucks in leads and puts them right in your lap. What’s more, clients will not only buy the book to learn from you, they will trust you enough to be repeat buyers, and that’s where the truly massive profits come into play.

Your book is an ultimate testimonial, of you and your business and as we know testimonials are one of the best marketing strategies on the planet. Just think back to when you brought your latest product, I bet deep down you were swayed to purchase from the testimonials left by others. It creates massive awareness of your skills and gives you a reach no other marketer has. That awareness and credibility can be easily translated into your business to create massive profits.

Now I can imagine what you’re probably thinking right now. “Writing a book seems too much hard work, I don’t know where to start, I need a degree to write a book!”

I’m here to tell you it’s a lot simpler than you think. What if I told you, you could write a “how to” non fiction book in a matter of weeks, even if you didn’t know anything about your chosen niche, or a novel in under a month. Would you believe me? Maybe  – maybe not, but I’m here to tell you it’s entirely possible. When I wrote my first book, I didn’t have any fancy creative writing degree and it took me just under a month to write it.

If you’re a marketer and want to distinguish yourself from the crowd, then writing your book is an absolute must. If you want to learn how to write it in the quickest time possible so you can concentrate on your other marketing efforts, then the Start Your Book Home Study Course is for you. It’s one of the most comprehensive and easy to understand writing courses on the web. It’ll teach you things like: How to pick a topic that customers can’t resist, how to write a chapter in a day, how to know exactly what’s in the book before it’s even written and how to research in the fastest time possible, and believe me when I say that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

So I invite you to join a growing number of marketers who have taken the decision to write their book and put themselves ahead of the pack.

Here’s to your new adventure,

Glen Palmer

This is a guest post written by Glen Palmer, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.

My answer is always the same and that is as long as your product delivers what the sales page says it does it makes no difference if you’re just starting out or if you are a 10 year marketing veteran. In fact in a lot of circumstances it actually helps if you are just starting out, especially if you’re teaching something from a newbies point of view.

Imagine this scenario.

You have a squeeze page online and you’ve been studying traffic generation for about 6 weeks. You’re at a stage where you are constantly getting 100+ visitors per day to your squeeze page and as a result you are adding 50+ new subscribers per day to your list, you’ve learned this yourself in just 6 weeks. So you release a product that reveals exactly how you do it.

BTW, I believe anyone could learn how to drive 100 visitors per day in 6 weeks so there’s a product idea right there. In fact I can see the title now, “Newbie Cracks The List Building Code”, a title like that would sell like crazy.

Most beginners would be all over this as they would rather learn from someone who is just ahead of them instead of a guru with a comprehensive course as the info you reveal will appear, and will be more achievable. If you have cracked something in 6 weeks and are sharing the info people who are where you were 6 weeks ago will chomping at the bit to consume your product.

My product isn’t good enough.

Another common misconception is that you may think there are better products out there and that you can’t compete. This may be true, there may be better products out there but why should that stop you releasing your product? As long as you give 100% and make sure your product delivers what the sales page says it does there is absolutely no reason why you can’t release it. So just because a guru has released something similar to what you have planned don’t let that stop you.

It’s already been done.

This is probably the biggest reason people don’t create a product of their own. So what if your traffic generation product covers methods that you have seen in other products. As I have already said, as long as your product delivers you have nothing to worry about. So many people try to re-invent the wheel when there’s no need to.

It won’t be original.

Yes it will, it will be 100% original as it will be your work. As long as you don’t plagiarize there will be no product like yours in the world. Remember that whatever you teach will be from your perspective and you will have your own teaching style, because of this no one else will have a product like yours.

Who would promote my product?

Just because you are a relative unknown doesn’t mean you can’t have a successful launch, most affiliates are actually looking for quality products to promote and as long as your product delivers there is every chance it could be picked up by tons of affiliates. Again, because you are an unknown and are revealing something that works from a newbies perspective affiliates will be all over it.

If I can leave you with any advice it is this. If you have doubts, make excuses and generally think you can’t do it then you wont do it, but if you actually go and create something then there’s every chance that people will buy it.

What’s the worst that can happen?

Back in the day I just used to  use a good old pen and paper to record my ideas but the day I discovered MindMapping was a revelation to me, when you create mind maps you always seem to be able to come up with more ideas and it helps you to create a better product.

By MindMapping your ideas you can quickly add structure to your product, come up with new ideas and document your whole product from start to finish, as you record your MindMap you will find your mind flows with new ideas.
To help you with this I am including my complete mind map for one of my product launches WSO Domination, it would probably help if you opened the MindMap as you read this blog post. You can download the MindMap here.

When I came up with the idea for WSO Domination I first of all decided to lay out the modules for my product, as I created the modules the ideas started to flow, in this image you can see some of the ideas I had for the module ‘What Makes a Great WSO?’

The image above just shows a tiny section of that module but if you check the full MindMap you will see the ideas really flowed, as I was MindMapping I started to have lots and lots of ideas, so obviously every time I was having an idea I was putting it into the MindMap. Every time I was having an idea I was putting it into the MindMap and sometimes I was having a new idea and it ended up branching off into new topics which ended up becoming new modules for my product.

Let’s look at this example, you will see above that I list ‘services’ as ideas for WSO’s, then I have what I call a light bulb moment, as you can see when I come up with ideas for services that I branch off many times with other methods such as Copywriting and Ghost Writing, which in turn branches off into eBook writing and Article Writing.

Once I had my product mapped out I then had to work on the sales page.

I decided I needed to add the 5 P’s to my sales page.

• Identify the problem
• Make a promise
• Show proof
• Reveal the price
• Add a P.S

Here are the 5 P’s laid out on the MindMap.

If I asked you to add the 5 P’s to a sales page you may struggle, but if I asked you to map it out the ideas would flow, just like they did for me.

Creating your MindMap.

When you begin creating your MindMap start in the middle by writing down what your product will cover in the middle of the page, this could also include possible product names. Then add modules/chapters and see where this takes you, as you have new ideas you can start branching out. Here’s another example from my sales page where I cover the ‘proof’ elements of my sales page.

I’d also advise you keep things simple with simple words and phrases, put down every idea you have as you can always remove anything you don’t want later. Feel free to add graphics, images and colors to help make things more visual.

MindMap Software.

There is tons of free software out there and a quick Google search will reveal most of them. I actually use an app called iThoughts HD for the iPad. I find by using my iPad if I have an idea I can just pick it up and add to my MindMap. FreeMind is also a good tool for Mac and Windows.

To help you further I have included some more of my MindMaps, I have included my Affiliate Promo Formula MindMap that also maps out the whole product and also my Simple Traffic Solutions MindMap that outlines all of the modules I covered. You can download all the MindMaps below.

WSO Domination MindMap
Affiliate Promo Formula MindMap
Simple Traffic Solutions MindMap

There you go, my guide to making the ideas flow with MindMaps, give it a go and you’ll start to see the ideas flow!

As always your comments, questions and ideas are welcome.

Have you ever interviewed anyone and recorded the call? Maybe it was for your own benefit, maybe it was part of a product you created. However, did you ever consider selling the interview as a stand alone product? Now I know some people may be thinking “who would buy a simple audio recording?” The simple answer is anyone who can get value from it. I have actually sold interviews I have created many many times, sometimes as stand along products, sometimes as part of a bonus and sometimes I have compiled a number of audio recordings to sell as a collection. Here’s one example of an audio I created as part of my WSO Domination program. After interviewing Alex I knew I had some good solid content, so I took the recording and created a stand alone product and launched it as a WSO. That WSO has gone on earn me about $10,000 in sales.

It doesn’t stop at audio recordings either, what about monthly content you may create as part of a membership site? Have you ever stopped to consider selling the material you create as a stand alone product? In fact this is something I have also done on numerous occasions, if you charge $10 per month for access to content you provide on a monthly basis wouldn’t it make sense to sell it as a stand alone product for $10? Heck, you could come up with a brand new product every month.

What about webinars? If you create any form of training via webinar this is something that can be sold as a stand alone product. I have actually bought a lot of WSO’s that are simply webinar recordings from other products. In fact let me show you an example.

Randy Smith recorded a webinar as part of my high ticket Partnership to Success program. I was on vacation and Randy was simply filling in and provided a webinar that taught my students The 7 Steps to Selling. When I checked out the webinar I immediately saw the value in what Randy had taught that I told him this could be sold as a stand alone product.

So Randy went away, took the recording and re-produced it in multiple formats including a transcription and wrote a simple sales page. He then added some upsells from existing products, created an affiliate program and launched the product via JV Zoo.

This is the result.

All of this took Randy about a day or two to put together once he had the graphics created. Just a couple of days to create something that can be sold over and over again.

He has already informed me this product has generated over $2000 in sales and this is just the beginning.

So have a good look at any content you have already created and see if you can create something new as I’m guessing you can. If not, remember when you record your next interview or create some more content as part of one product that it could be sold again as something else.

If I can add one last tip here it is this, when creating content try not to mention what the content is for as you never know when you need to re-purpose the material you are creating. So avoid saying thinge like “welcome to issue 2 of xxx” as you would have to edit the content at a later date.

I’d also advise checking out Simple Selling Skills as it will give you an idea of how this is done.

As always your comments are welcome.