I was clicking on my keyboard ever so quietly, checking my email one last time before I joined them in the Land of Nod. A link in an email lead me to a website. The instant that site loaded in my browser LOUD MUSIC BLASTED FROM MY SPEAKERS!!

Startled from sleep, my husband jumped up, tumbling the shocked cat from the bed. They both hissed at me as I struggled to turn down my speakers and close my browser. None of us were happy campers.

Has this ever happened in your home? It’s happened so often in mine that I now turn the computer speakers off after dark.

It’s not unusual to enter a web page and find music blasting when you’re in Facebook or when you stumble upon sales pages put up by immature male marketers. But I’ve even been shocked out of my socks by blaring eBay pages.

People who set their web pages to start playing music or sound effects as soon as a visitor enters haven’t stopped to think that people accessing their site might be quietly surfing as they wait in a hospital hallway, or sit with a sleeping baby.

These morons assume they know your situation. And they make a decision to take control of your experience.

That decision flies in the face of every study I’ve read on how people like to use the internt. In those studies, one thing stands out. What the average web surfer wants most when they visit a website is CONTROL.

They want to choose whether or not they listen to music.

They want to choose whether or not they watch a video.

Take away their ability to choose, and they’ll choose to leave. But be assured, the very people that drive you away with loud, flashing, annoying sites will also be the ones who try to block you from leaving with an endless sequence of pop-ups.

Web site design is not about entertaining yourself. It’s not about showing off the new plugin or widget you just found.  Web site design is about creating an inviting atmosphere for visitors, even visitors whose taste in music doesn’t match yours.

The morons blasting music from their pages will never learn, but you will.  You’ll learn to treat your site’s visitors like honored guests, not like hostages. You’ll learn to think about what your visitors want, not what you want them to have. And you’ll learn that ultimately, giving people what they want is the best way to get what you want!

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Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine and this companion The Internet Wizards Blog to teach self-employed people and small businesses owners how to leverage the internet for advertising, marketing and promoting their business. To stay in touch with her, type your name and email into the subscriber box in the upper right corner of this page. You’ll be glad you did!

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Just thinking about creating a new product raises so many questions. What kind of product could you create? How would you make it? How would you sell it?

These are questions that made me stumble when I was starting out.

I’ve spent more than 30 years creating new products for all sorts of companies. I’ve written and designed everything from print books to craft kits. But way back when I was starting out, I was completely overwhelmed by the process of product creation. It seemed so complex and confusing!

But with luck and persistence, and a whole lot of help from more experienced writers and designers, I learned that there were basic steps to the process of creating a product.

I also learned that if I took the first steps, one by one, and actually worked on them, instead of just reading  about them, I was soon fully involved in creating a product!

These are the baby steps my mentors taught me to follow in planning the creation of a product:

1.Define your target. Know exactly whom it is you want to sell to.

2.Research your target. What age are they? Where do they live? What sort of products are they already buying? What is their average expendable income?

3.Make a list of items they are already known to purchase and enjoy.

4.Make a list of ways you could improve some of these products, perhaps by adding features, making it easier to use, simplifying it or explaining it better.

5.Make a list of resources you have available to you, ranging from your own personal experience and knowledge, to personal contacts you can call on, suppliers you know of, and anyone and anything else that may be valuable to you when you’re working on a product for this target market.

6.Considering the resources you have available, choose ONE item from the list of ways you could improve an already-existing product. Commit yourself to focusing all your attention on working out that one, single product idea.

Look around the room you’re in right now. Everything you see before you, every book and paper and pen, the computer you’re using, the chair you’re sitting on, the clothes you’re wearing, everything  is a product that began with these first steps.

By gathering pertinent information, brainstorming a number of product ideas and then committing to the ONE idea you have the time, the resources and the personal interest to develop, you’ve already completed the most important steps on the path to creating your own product.

Remember, using material and resources you’ve already created for your business is a great way to make your first product. If you’ve written a white paper or report, given a speech or taught a class, you already have the content you need for an ebook, a workbook, even a class presented as an audio or video!

If you want to spread your creative wings and make products to market on the web, my book, "Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High-Profit Products"will inspire you to be your most creative, successful  self by showing you just some of the many ways I use the internet to make creative cash.

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  Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine, http://www.theinternetwizards.com and The Internet Wizards Blog at to teach self-employed people and small businesses owners how to leverage the internet for advertising, marketing and promoting their business. To stay in touch with her, type your name and email into the subscriber box in the upper right corner of this page.

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Can you imagine jumping out of bed in the morning because you can’t wait to get to work?

 If you want the kind of exciting work I do, you need my book, Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High-Profit Products. In it, I explain the exact techniques and strategies I’ve used for many years to tap into current trends and create products that sell to eager buyers.

My name is Bonnie Boots.As a professional writer and designer I spent years creating products for big publishers and corporations, and now, as a digital publisher, I create them for my own business.

There’s a system I use to crank out an endless stream of profitable products, products I know will sell the minute I put the finishing touches on them.

My system has always been my secret "ace in the hole." It’s the system I rely on to get work whenever I need it, to make money whenever I want it. And up until now I’ve never told it to anyone.

Are YOU Ready To LEARN MY SECRET?

If you are, then you need to  CLICK HERE RIGHT NOW  to read about the system I developed for anticipating trends and quickly create products that capitalize on those trends…before the competition.

This is a system you can learn and duplicate to build your own success as a product creator and marketer.

It took me years to develop the system I’ve used for years to earn my living as a writer, a designer and now a digital publisher.

• I taught myself to spot trends, because that way I could predict what people would want to buy.
• I taught myself to always set a target  to sell to. That way, right from the start, I’d know who my customer was going to be and I’d create the product to suit them. And when my product was finished, I knew exactly where to go to sell it.
• I taught myself to work fast by knowing my own skills and resources and making the best use of them.

 In short, I turned myself into a product-producing machine that turns out new products to sell to eager buyers not just once in a while, but any time I want!

  "TAPPING INTO TRENDS TO CREATE AN ENDLESS STREAM OF HIGH-PROFIT PRODUCTS"

CLICK HERE NOW TO LEARN HOW THIS BOOK

• Teaches you my system for making and marketing your own products.
• Teaches you exactly where to go to spot trends and how to pick the trend you will capitalize on.
• Gives you a complete list of all the kinds of products you can make working on your home computer.
• Teaches you exactly where you can go to find a huge audience of eager buyers for certain types of digital products.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

• Teaches you exactly where to go to get started making hard goods like T-shirts, calendars and mugs–for free!

I’ve pulled together everything I know and everything you need to know and do–to make it easy! CLICK HERE NOW to learn the full story!

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I do believe one of the stumbling blocks people run up against is this—that most of the information on the topic of product creation is written by and for “internet marketers.” That is, it’s written by people that only make products that teach internet marketing. And it’s sold to people that can’t think of anything to make except more products teaching internet marketing.

The proliferation of this type of material can make it seem that all you can make and sell are ebooks, audios and software on internet marketing.

But the truth is that the internet makes it possible to make and sell an almost unlimited number of products. There are literally no limits! And great ideas for products you can make and sell are always at hand.

This week, on my local news channel, I saw a couple from a neighboring county showing off a product they developed that was inspired by swine flu. Steve and Cristie Aaron, the parents of triplets, were worried that the attention their triplets attract –along with the inevitable cheek pinching and handholding—could pass on swine flu germs to their babies. But they found themselves reluctant to ask people, out loud, not to touch the tots.

Their idea—a sign that said it for them. They developed and produced a waterproof tag that says, “Wash Hands Before Touching Baby.”

The business, Hands Off Baby, sells through their own web site (http://www.handsoffbaby.com/index.html ) as well as through the gift shops of two dozen hospitals.

The development of this product didn’t require any complex keyword research with expensive software. All it required was the realization that the solution to the Aaron’s problem could be the solution to many people’s problems. In other words, they followed the dictum of good business—identify a problem and sell a solution.

Their great ideas was right at hand—and that hand was potentially harmful to their babies. Rather than just worry, they took action.

There are many businesses that make it possible to produce and market your own physical products entirely on the internet. And there are many target markets, from anxious parents to pet owners to hobbiests, that share your problems and would buy your solution. I introduce many of these businesses in my book,  "Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High-Profit Products"" It will inspire you to be your most creative, successful self  by showing you just some of the many ways I use the internet to make creative cash.

Visit http://www.tapintotrends.com to learn how you can get started Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High Profit Products!

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Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine for people, especially small business owners,  that want to create their own products and market on the internet. To join in her adventures, add your email address to the subscriber box in the upper right corner.

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Blogs that collect and correlate information can be a great resource for product makers. Such a blog can often point you toward a topic or market you wouldn’t otherwise think of. By watching these posts, you can end up with ideas for new products and all sorts of resources to get you started.

Here’s an example of what I mean. The blog Boing Boing, which calls itself “a directory of wonderful things,” sends out a constant stream of weird, wild and wonderful news items. And then it bundles those posts with related posts from around the web, like this:

“BBG dedicated a series of posts to explore various aspects, gear, and ideas specific "climbing." Here’s what went down:• We examined three types of artificial rock climbing walls. • Want to climb a tree, like, for real? Here’s the pro gear you need. • Want to climb a mountain instead? Go for this gear. • HOWTO: overcome common climbing phobias. • We tested an ultra-light pack stove from Primus. • We revisited the DIY ice mountain constructed in Alaska. • What’s the best food to take on a climbing/camping expedition? We tried to find out. • We reviewed three pairs of climbing shoes. Which ones ruled? Also at BBG:(The original post is here: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/29/recently-at-bbg-6.html )

A quick trip to Google shows that there’s quite a large audience for advice and information on rock climbing, and Boing Boing’s post points out all sorts of relevant topics and chapters for a guidebook.

I’m not a rock climber, more of a fence sitter, so I’d never have thought of this market on my own. But seeing this blog post at Boing Boing inspired some creative thinking. It made me stop, at least for a moment, and think about how easy it would be to pull together a guidebook complete with product reviews and interviews with experts.

When you’re really focused on creating your own products, creative product ideas are everywhere!

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Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine for people that want to be more creative, make their own products and market on the internet. Type your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right of this page to join for FREE! If you’re a writer, self-employed professional, small business owner or otherwise have specialized knowledge, you already have the basis of a great internet business. Join me and begin the adventure!

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To me, the phrase "digital publisher" encompasses much of what I do within my business. I create and publish articles and books and blogs and web sites. I make and publish videos and animations.

These things exist in digital format. That is, they’re not printed on paper or transferred to video tape. They exist only as electric signals travelling from computer to computer across the internet.  They are digital. I am, therefore, a digital publisher.

But a title is only useful if it conveys information, and the phrase "digital publisher" clearly does not communicate to most people. I have therefore crowned myself with the new title, "Maker of Stuff," and when people ask me what I do, I say, "I make stuff and market on the internet."

My new title lets me add in some of the things I do that are non-digital. Now I say, "I make digital products like ebooks and I also make hard goods like T-shirts, and I sell them all on the internet."

That’s turned into my "elevator speech,"  the 30-second introduction I pull out when I only have  seconds to explain who I am and what I do. And that 30-second introduction turned into an ebook that explains how I use digital publishing and manufacture-in-demand services to make and sell all sorts of stuff–and how you can do it, too.

The need to market that book inspired me to make the video shown below that introduces me as a maker of stuff. And because I’m using all the sorts of simple ( but powerful and secret) ways to make simple videos and use them to drive traffic, I thought, "Hey, I bet other people would like to know how I do this!"

And that thought has turned into a new product, one I’m

I’m working on now. I think that’s a perfect example of how applying creative thinking to a problem —in my case, the problem of how to introduce myself —can lead to all sorts of unexpected ideas and products.

Visit http://www.tapintotrends.com to learn how you can get started Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High Profit Products!

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Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine for people , especially small business owners,that want to make stuff and market on the internet. To join in her adventures, add your email address to the subscriber box in the upper right corner.

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I’m always saddened by how many of them are trying to sell the dream that you can make millions by making crap. They often advise people to create digital products by "slapping together" anything you can get rights to. The word "quality" does not seem to be in their vocabulary.

I won’t dispute that many of these newsletter writers are making money by making crap. I just think trying to get rich by avoiding real work and making crap is the primary reason the world economy is in the toilet.

I just finished reading an interview in Salon magazine with travel guru Rick Steves that puts it pointedly when it quotes him saying, "A headline today, "Americans lose 18 percent of their wealth." Well, no, it wasn’t real wealth, it was a bubble. You’re down 18 percent? You’re not. It shouldn’t have been up there in the first place. So get over it. Shut up. Go to work, produce stuff that has value. I really think the days are gone, I hope, when people can rearrange the furniture and get rich on it. You got to produce something."

Rick Steves has been making things of value for years. His travel guides and shows give real value to his viewers and readers. As a byproduct, Steves has gotten rich doing work. Work he loves, but still work.

Some people say work is a four-letter word. "Work" is not a four-letter word in my studio. It’s a holy mantra. Work is what I live for. It’s where I find meaning and fulfillment and happiness. When I wake up in the morning, my fingers are itching to go to work. And when I go to sleep at night, my dreams are about working.

I’m a maker of stuff. That’s been my primary means of making a living for three decades. Making good stuff is work. It’s often hard. Frequently frustrating. It is never, ever boring. And it is always in demand.

Spending the precious hours of your life making crap is an insult to your own creative spirit and your Creator.

And in this economy, it’s downright self-destructive. People can make crap and get away with it when the economy is fat. But when it gets thin, buyers  start taking a second and third look at where they spend their dollars. And you’d better be offering something of real value.

Bottom line–the world doesn’t need more crap. It needs more people waking up their gray matter, stretching their creative muscles and getting to work making things of real value.

My book, shown her, shows step-by-step how I create and sell a wide variety of products, both hard goods and digital goods. The book has real value, especially for creative, intelligent people that don’t think work is a four-letter word.

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If you want to spread your creative wings and make stuff to market on the web, my book, "Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High-Profit Products" will inspire you to be your most creative, successful  self by showing you just some of the many ways I use the internet to make creative cash.

Update: Here’s another article I wrote about my struggle to understand why so much of the stuff sold by internet marketers has little or no real value. It’s titled "What Is A Product?"

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Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine and this companion The Internet Wizards Blog to teach self-employed people and small businesses owners how to leverage the internet for advertising, marketing and promoting their business. To stay in touch with her, type your name and email into the subscriber box in the upper right corner of this page. You’ll be glad you did!

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"I know you can’t believe that….I always hear "Squidooo your product…do a campaign" but on what??? What is a product??? something I sell? And how would I find that out? I have a brain, a desire, I am a total people person….but I am stumped!! Product, product…what product?? Help!!"

Kati, the reason I’m slapping my head and making Homer Simpson sounds is because I should have addressed this question long ago.  It’s the same question I asked when I first started reading internet marketing material. "What is a product?" And keep in mind, at the time I was working as a freelance product designer and developer!

I was creating all sorts of things, from books for print publishers to craft kits for manufacturers. I was designing boxes, doing photography for magazine ads, writing books and magazine articles. I was a product-creation-machine! But when it came to the world of internet marketing and all those emails and sales pages telling me, "The real money is in owning your own product!" I got totally confused.

What did they mean when they used the word "product"? It was clear they didn’t use that word the way I did. In my line of work, a product was a piece of hard goods that could be manufactured, boxed and shipped. It was sold wholesale and then retail. And it took a team of talented professional people to get it made and marketed. It was a PRODUCT.

But everything I read from internet marketing gurus referred to people "slapping a product together in two hours" and making millions overnight. They talked about people with no experience in book publishing  "knocking out an ebook in four hours" and then "throwing up a web site" to instantly make $100,000.Meanwhile, I was freelancing for small print publishers who’d be very happy to make $10,000 off a single title.

If there was one thing I knew, it was product design and development and no part of that process involved slapping things together, throwing them up and knocking them out. So surely, surely there was some definition of "product" that was used in the world of internet marketing that I simply did not grasp. And that left me struggling with the question, "What is a product?"

I answered my question by buying an ebook. And that first purchase left me speechless. After making payment, I was sent to a web page where I downloaded a simple pdf file which, when printed, was a "report" all of 8 pages long. Four of those pages were filler, like a disclaimer and ads for other "products."

I was flabbergasted. Was this what all those internt marketing experts meant when they said "product"? I couldn’t believe it.

eSo I bought more books. They were all crap. Then I bought some audios. The sound quality was so bad I couldn’t understand half of what was being said. At the time, I was in production on a television commercial, struggling with thousands of dollars worth of gear to produce broadcast-worthy audio, and here were people "slapping together and kicking out" what they called an "audio product" with no concern whatsoever for quality controls.

And they dared to call what they were making "products."

I found it insulting ….and also mystifying. It took me a long time to bridge the gap between those two very different worlds and put them into perspective. Here’s what I came to understand:

Most everything that is sold can be assigned to one of two categories: goods or services.

Services are things that people do for one another, like cleaning houses, trimming trees, making cabinets and providing medical care.

Goods are things like apples, tools, birdcages and books. Goods are "products." An apple is a product produced by an apple farmer. A rotary saw is a product produced by a manufacturer. A book is a product produced by a publishing house.

An ebook is a product. There are profound differences between ebooks, their quality and value, depending on who produced them. An ebook may be produced by someone who comes to it with vast experience in writing and publishing, or it may be produced by someone with no related experience.

These differences do not mitigate the fact that an ebook, any ebook, is a product.

Other examples of products often sold by internet marketers include audio products, such as recording a conversation between experts on a topic, and video products, such as recording a seminar. But internet marketers are not the end all and be all of the world of ecommerce. Step outside their corner of the web and you’ll find a vast universe of people selling all sorts of goods, all sorts of products.

In my own business, I create products ranging from hard goods like t-shirts, mugs and clocks to digital products like ebooks and videos.

I still create box designs for products like DVDs. I create these designs in an image editor and deliver them to a printer by email. In my hands, they are an entirely digital product.  But once the printer receives the files, he prints my designs on paper or cardboard. In his hands, they are a physical product.

I have a product– an ebook in pdf format titled Tapping Into Trends– that contains examples of more than 50 products I make and sell across the internet, both as hard goods and digital goods. It explains where I get the idea for a product and where I sell it. If you’re creative and have artistic skills or writing skills you can do the same. Then you’ll be a product developer just like me. Because a product, after all, is just something people make and sell.

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Bonnie Boots is the publisher of The Internet Wizards Magazine where she brings together decades of experience in writing, product design and marketing. Register for a subscription in the upper right-hand corner to explore the magic of making stuff and marketing it on the internet.

If you want to spread your creative wings and make stuff to market on the web, her book, "Tapping Into Trends To Create An Endless Stream Of High-Profit Products"will inspire you to be your most creative, successful  self by showing you just some of the many ways I use the internet to make creative cash.

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