Last week I wrote on the importance of “The Content Hopper”. This week I’m writing on “The Product Hopper”. I’ll repeat …… posts on one side of the brain; products on the other side.

Only after your first year and once you have your writing in order, you will need to focus on producing your own product-line. Much like you have been posting by placing a reserve of posts in a “content hopper”, you will now have to place your products there as well. This serves several purposes.

‘Tis The Season

Most important, you will have something ready to go for Christmas, as this is your most important season for anyones sales be they Retail or Online. Next you will never be searching for the next big thing as this is mainly a waste of time. However, once you are seasoned and you are able to accurately see trends in your niche, you will be in a much better position to spot those trends and exploit them. Once you see these trends and you attempt to market a product, your exposure to failure is limited by having other products that you are actively processing at any given time.

One Size Does Not Fit All

How many products you have in your hopper is really hard to determine as Online products come in all shapes and sizes. However, I don’t think I’m off base here by suggesting that you have three ready to go at any one time. I’d like to think that you can produce a product a quarter and have at least a years inventory in advance of your market.

The Next Big Thing

Caution should be given not to get in too deep with “the next big thing” product, should you decide to jump in and exploit a market need. If you are seeing where the development is going to run longer than a couple of weeks, then you should make a conscious decision to place that product in your content hopper line-up …… come-what-may. In other words don’t let it upset the apple cart and throw your timing off with your other products that you are presently working on. If the product were to fail then you would have a mess on your hand as far as your timing goes with your other products, and as you should know by now the name of the game is “CASH FLOW”.

One Product Does Not Fit All

As you begin to develop your product-line remember this, keep a good selection of products in the mix. If you are successful at marketing E-Books through Amazon and other such affiliates, by all means go for it, however don’t solely rely on that as your only source of product income. You know from your life’s experience that you will have to venture into the unknown sooner or later. So don’t avoid it, rather embrace it.

In my next post I will be writing on those products that you will provide your readers for your mailing list.