As we noted, planning the right business is very important aspect of business development. An ideal business is the one that you have an interest in, have the skills to manage, is financially feasible, and is unique.

Most individuals initially choose a business that they have a direct interest in or is related to a hobby of theirs.But it is very important to study the financial viability and the market for your business. We did this exercise before. But I would like to highlight few points again.

It is very tempting to rush with a product that is related to your area of interest, without proper study of the market. But it is the research and analysis that either confirms or discards the feasibility of the chosen business.

Your interest and skills may fit the business, but the demand, competition or financial requirements may make that choice unfeasible.

Do not be discouraged. There are many business opportunities and you should find an idea that would result in feasible business though it is loosely related to your original concept.

If your business is to be successful, economic viability takes priority over a personal hobby or interest.

If you can find economic viability in your business idea, it is wonderful. But if you cannot find viability in your own business idea(s), you should drop that idea and find out something that is feasible and profitable.

If you need to study a profitable topic/skill then do it but pursue an idea only when it is profitable.

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There is lot of information being searched on the internet. Now a days people want everything cooked, packaged and ready to use. Internet is no more a new fancy thing now. It has become well known and house hold medium to look for information. People are getting used to it and as a result expectations are also rising. They want everything in few clicks and at one place. No body has time to go first to one site , gather few pieces of information and then visit other sites to find whether they have other pieces of information on the topic they are looking for.

[tag-tec]Info products[/tag-tec] provide a quick ready made solution. That is why info products are so hot and happening. There are a lot of topics you can write on and then sell.

Recently I got few mails where people said they can hardly think of any topic to write on.

Well! It is not so. Just search deeper.

Each of us is doing something everyday. Has a lot of experience and possess many different skills. You just have to become conscious of yourself. That requires some thinking.

Do it.

To help you with ideas I have listed few topics ( Thanks Eric for the inspiration). This list is just to let your imagination work. Ponder over and list your own ideas as you read this. Soon you would create a huge list of your own for info product creation.

• How to make money without a job
• How to travel ( any place you have traveled)
• How to avoid traffic challans
• How to grow the perfect lush lawn
• How to advertise without spending a dime
• How to write the perfect yellow page advertisement
• How to start a music store/ any store
• How to buy books at a discount price
• How to avoid fleas from entering your home
• How To get rid of rats
• How to plug in your leaking roof effectively
• How to start a Chinese restaurant when you are not Chinese
• How to stop your cat from urinating on your carpet
• How to build your own house for less than you think
• How to buy a car for a penny
• How to dream big
• How to catch a thief
• How to add on an extra room to your house
• How to build your own fence
• How to win at everything
• How to stay relaxed while you drive
• How to lose weight while you work at the computer
• How to get your wife to cook more
• How to train your bird to talk
• 101 home business ideas
• How to loose weight without dieting
• how to manage your finances on your own
• Electronic gadgets you can make at home
• How to travel and rent condos for 60% less than normal rates
• How to be a perfect dad/ mom/ grandmother/ grandfather
• How to be a perfect son/ daughter
• How to increase your productivity while working less
• How to get your boss raving about you
• How to plan your 25 year anniversary gathering
• How to use Photoshop to create websites
• How to speed read/write
• How to win a child custody battle
• How not to get a divorce
• How to manage your time better
• How to get the most out of your new car
• How to get out of your lease
• How to maintain your aquarium
• How to increase your batting average 50 points overnight
• How to hire a lawyer without spending a fortune
• How to write a book in 100 days
• How to get your teenage daughter to stop talking back
• How to lose weight eating cereal
• How to get rid of caffeine addiction
• How to stop my teeth from grinding when I sleep
• How to be more romantic
• How to pop the question
• How to be a better listener
• How to start a conversation

I hope your imagination is enough triggered now.

Ride your wild imagination.

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In last few posts of product creation I have talked about intangible products and services. Because these posts are aimed at helping you to start your own online home business, from now on I will restrict myself to creation of [tag-tec]information products[/tag-tec]. Information products are also known as [tag-tec]info products[/tag-tec] or [tag-tec]infoproducts[/tag-tec]. Info Products are loved by all online marketer for economy and ease of creating them.

They are also easy to sell without using much of the sophisticated tools.

For example you can write an ebook in word format, convert it to .pdf file, upload it to your server. In another step you open an account with paypal, get an encrypted paypal button and paste that to your own site.

That is it. You are ready to market and sell.

For creating info products all you need to do is write. If you cannot write yourself, you need to hire somebody who can write. These people are called ghostwriter. They would write for you against the payment and submit their work to you without making any claims on the product rights. Everything now belongs to you as if you have written it. These people are not difficult to find though the quality writers would be expensive.

In my opinion it is best to write yoursel. Gains are too many to ignore. Your writing ( I am not saying Handwriting ) improves, your confidence improves because you have a good knowledge about something. But if constraints are many, choosing a ghostwriter is next best option.

For writing you need to have information on the topic you write. Search and you will find. Online search engines, libraries, book stores, field experts are few of the many sources available.

You can create an ebook, audio files, videofiles in info products. Each one differs in complexity and the technology needed to make it. The cost factor also differs in each. But they all have one thing in common. All are created with a purpose of dispensing information in downloadable format. They all are info products.

Info products are darling of online sellers and have made millions to them. You too can demand your share.

Popularity: 5% [?]

You have done the market research and have reached at a conclusion. Before you create a product, you must ponder upon the requirements of successful sales process for the particular product a while.

This is important part of your business plan.

We have already discussed that it is far easier to do a business in intangible products than tangible products. There are far more complexities involved in business of tangible products and there is disproportionately high investment and maintenance costs. As an individual, [tag-tec]online home business[/tag-tec] in intangible products is the ultimate solution. With lesser input and efforts you can yield high profits in a short time span.

Whatever we have discussed in the past or will discuss in the future would pertain to online home business of intangible products only. If you are looking for an advice on business of tangible products you are requested to consult some other source.

What constitutes the intangible products which can be sold over the internet.

All digital products are intangible products. All can be sold automatically once the system is in place. Then the customer will read your sales copy, click on the order button which takes him to the payment processor site where he will make the payment. You will be notified of the sale made and customer will be sent a protected download link. The customer downloads the product and that is it. There is no active intervention on your part. But this happens only when you have a system in place.

In intangible products, you can create ebook, audio files, video files, mp3 files, softwares and web based services. The list of services is endless but just to let your mind run here are few-

-Pay for subscriber/lead services
- Pay for website traffic/visitor services
- Website submission or promotion services
- Website monitoring services
- Website translation services
- Website hosting services
- Remote script hosting services
- Content provider services
- Article writing or distribution services
- List management services
- Providing custom plans
- Personal financial management services
- Membership Sites
- Consultation Services
- Ghostwriting
- Email/Autoresponder Services

And so on.

Each of them would need different sets of tools and resources. Investment also would vary for different types of products because of different tools and resources needed.

As for as products are concerned, you can make a choice. The same information can be put on CD and ebook. But technical knowhow are different. Start with one you are very comfortable and then move on to next.

In case you want to provide services, go ahead. Before you do so just make a plan.

We would discuss that in detail in next post.

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Then The Perfect Conclusion is Reached.

You have matched your list of potential businesses doable by you against the market popularity and you are able to narrow down on one or two niches. That is the perfect conclusion your product creation can bring. All you need then is creation of the product and sales process. But it may always be not so.

Rarely ( I write rarely because this is very uncommon still) your potential list may not fetch you enough market. What do you do then?

Do not worry! This is not the end of the world. It only demands bit of more work. In such a case, you can choose any niche that you have found profitable and you think you can work upon that.

After you narrow down on that niche, you would have to conduct an extensive search on that topic, read and gain knowledge. With time you can become quite knowledgeable in that niche. Do not worry about this time spent in learning because it is an investment. Take out few hours for this purpose after your job/work is over, study and make notes. You would be ready in few weeks. And that diary which you made notes in would be a ready to print book.

Another factor that I would like to discuss is the competition. It is a common occurrence to find a profitable niche full of competition. It is ideal to find a niche which is profitable as well as without competition. You may happen to find such a niche. Great! Go ahead.

If a niche is competitive, it is a good news confirmed. A lot of people competing means there is enough money in that niche. That does not mean you cannot succeed. Even if there is a lot of competition, there is always place for the next player.

You should not worry about competition. Every person has a unique advantage over others because none of us are same. When you enter a competition, use your outlook as an advantage. Put a twist! Change the angle! Do something different and you are bound to succeed.

Lastly it may happen that you have more than one potential business which has found hungry market. What to do?

It is a very good news. But do not start both your businesses at the same time. First concentrate on one, get succeeded in that and then move on to next product.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Online research methods have many advantages over the offline methods.

• Larger reach
• Consume less time and involve lesser work
• It provides a large data spread over large period of time at click of button

Have you ever participated in an internet survey? That is one of the methods undertaken by big companies to study the market. But at individual level it is a very expensive method.

There are many places on the internet where you can study the market and its trends. We would discuss them one by one. The key to our search is always ” To find a hot market” for your potential lists of business idea you have created

Amazon.com is a great place to start. When you go to this site, it has a link “Top Sellers” which will take you to the bestsellers’ list displayed in all categories. Find out what people are buying most. If people are already spending money on something, there exists a potential market for you too.

From your list you already that you have written after brainstorming, perform a search using Amazon’s research option. For example suppose you have “weight loss” as a broad category already in your list because you possess knowledge about diet related issues. Write diet in Amazon’s research box and see the list of publications related to the word diet sorted by relevance. By default Amazon’s search lists the products by relevance.

Now on right hand side find another box where “relevance” is written and change that to bestselling. A new list will appear which will display best selling books in weight loss category. This is what I got when I performed the search on “weight loss” these were few of the ideas that rushed into my mind after looking at the list.

• 15 Ways To Loose Weight
• The Successful Diet Plan
• How To Avoid Overeating
• Weight Loss Tips For Children
• Loosing weight after pregnancy

You can create an endless list of possible products. All of them belong to “weight loss” category but within that they also form a subcategory. This is creating a niche within a niche. Same can be one with every possible niche you have created.

Another good place to research is http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends . You can search various hot trends that people have looked in the past. You can also study the geographical differences among the searches and the trend over the time. Look for targeted niches.

There are many other sources that you can utilize to enhance and sharpen your search

Lycos Top 50 : http://50.lycos.com

Ebay Pulse: http://pulse.ebay.com/ gives a daily snapshot of current trends and hot picks

Yahoo Buzz- http://buzz.yahoo.com

Get Going!

Popularity: 4% [?]

After you have created a list of possible business opportunities, you need to verify that against market demands. Because if there is no market for your possible product, then your efforts would be entirely wasted. Market research can be done both online and offline. Though online method are fully sufficient to find you a profitable niche, offline methods too can provide you with new ideas and possible niches.

For offline research you can use newspaper, magazines, tv and radio. We want to use every possible method to know problems and desires people have. Whenever your business caters to already existing problem, you already have the hungry market.

Newspapers: Newspaper is a great resource for you research. It tells you about new trends and demands, it you wanted or situation vacant advertisement. It tells about the available courses and their outcome. It brings you the changes in government policies. It outlines the hot products.
Newspapers often conduct surveys on various topics. Study them and note down the trends. Also look for the list of bestsellers that they regularly publish. This will tell you what people are buying. Almost all newspapers run a question and answer column where people can ask the questions. Note down about the problems people have. Whatever your read, think whether you can fill any gap. See if you can compliment an existing business or create a new one to answer their problems.

Magazines : Magazines are more specific, more focused on a specific niche. They cater to lesser number of people but they are quite interested in the subject and contents of the magazine. They are quite targeted audience and if you could fill in a gap or provide an alternative, you are bound to succeed. For example if you look to start a business in health niche, you would need to have a look at health magazines. Note down the features of regularly published articles and the problem they address. Is it on weight loss, osteoarthritis or backpain or—– and so on.

Similar exercise can be done with the magazines in other niche sections.

Radio & TV: Both radio and tv are powerful media for studying the market. Listen and watch the commercials, announcement of new features. There are several interactive interviews and discussions. Focus on what people are asking.

In nutshell we want to know what people are asking!

We have used offline methods for this. Next we would use online methods.

Till Then.

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