The fact that you are reading this article proves that you are an internet user.

So, assuming that you spend some time looking at websites, you may already have a few initial thoughts about an infoproduct that you believe will sell well.

That’s great, but, please, do not jump straight in at the deep end without doing a little more research, because, as I’ve already suggested, this first phase of the infoproduct creation process is the most fundamentally important.

Get it wrong now, and every subsequent step must inevitably go wrong too.

So, keep your idea firmly in mind, but work through this step by step process before moving ahead.

If nothing else, doing so will prove whether your idea will stand up or not!

Let me also remind you once again that your initial objective is to establish what information hungry buyers might be looking for.

Here are the first few steps that you are going to take in order to start addressing that question:

Brainstorm, List & Order

Remember that one of my ‘4 Deadly Mistakes’ was producing a product that you have fallen in love with and really want to create, rather than making something that hungry buyers are looking for?

Well, that is definitely something that you should not do, but that does not mean you should not try to make a product that you are at least interested in.

Of course, there is nothing to stop you from making a product that you know nothing about and have little or no interest in at all but, especially is this is your first infoproduct, then that is probably not a good idea, for two reasons,

Firstly, it is a lot harder to create a product that you have no real interest in. It requires a lot more work researching the content materials and putting the product together, so there is a good chance that you will just lose interest somewhere along the way, and not actually finish the job.

It’s much too ambitious for your first project, and far more likely to cause you to lose interest and then heart.

Secondly, the most effective sales people, online or off, always believe in their products and have an enthusiasm about them that shines through everything that they do. After all, if you do not believe in your product, then how can you expect others to?

The fact is that if you are disinterested, then you just will not sell many, and how will that make you feel!

So, first time out, it is probably quite critical for your chances of long term success that you create a product that you can get enthused about.

The first thing to do is to sit down and do some serious brainstorming, but, before you do, allow me to inject a slight note of caution.

Effective brainstorming is something of an art form, and is not as easy as you might imagine it to be. It is, in fact, something that you must learn and then improve on through practice; something, in other words, that you may not get exactly right the first time you try it.

So, I am asking you to brainstorm, but be prepared for the possibility that your first attempt may not be all that successful, in terms of the amount and quality of the results that you generate.

For example, you may find that at the end of the brainstorming and ‘filtering’ process that you end up with a short list with absolutely nothing on it!

Please, do not be discouraged, or believe that you have somehow failed. That is simply not the case.

Just go back and do it again, and, if my experience is anything to go by, I can almost guarantee that you will be far more successful the second time around!

So, having dispensed with that cautionary note, grab a nice clean piece of paper and a pencil, sit down and brainstorm as many possible subjects for your brand new infoproduct as you possibly can.

This is not a logical, analytical process we are talking about.

It is totally ‘open season’ – whatever it is that comes into your head, write it down.

I want you to literally empty your head of every idea that it may contain, no matter how strange or unlikely they may appear to be.

Do not try to rationalize or think about the things that you are coming out with.

Do not worry whether they are ideas that you know anything about, or whether they are topics that you really do not have the first inkling about!

The idea is to have a piece of paper in front of you, and to fill it as fast as you can with as near as you can possibly achieve to a stream of pure ideas.

Come up with as many ideas as possible, and do not give up until you are exhausted!

Okay, take a break (you’re exhausted, remember!) and then we’ll set about doing some filtering.

Rested?

Good, let’s move on to the next stage, that is, bringing some degree of order to your list of (let’s assume for arguments sake) 40 ideas.

This is important, because after doing this, you will need to do some research, and doing that for 40 different subjects is going to be an awful lot of hard work.

It will be far better if you can narrow your starting point down to just two or three potential topics, before you move on.

Here is how I would suggest that you should start filtering your ideas and thoughts:

• Assuming that you are not yet in a position to pay someone else to create your product for you, then you have to do the work yourself. Move the ideas that you know most about to the top of the list.
• Are there any ideas that, on reflection, appear to be uninspiring, unattractive, or even downright boring? If you feel that way mere moments after these ideas came to you, then the chances are that you are very probably right! Move them to the bottom of the list.
• Is the subject matter in question something that you feel that you can really do full justice to? Are you going to be able to produce a product that is packed with great information, or something that has only one central idea, that you then have to pad out with filler? If it’s the latter, move it down to somewhere near the bottom.
• Remember the fictitious target customer who we created earlier. Try to imagine what they might think of the product ideas on your list? That might seem like a slightly silly notion, but it is not, for one reason. When most folks try to imagine their one ‘target’ person, the majority will (perhaps unwittingly) think of a real person! So, take the image of the real person and decide, and, if they wouldn’t like it, then drop it down.

Having done all of this, you should hopefully have sorted most of the good ideas out from the non-starters.

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