Online Business – Part 2 – Product Creation

Creating a digital product for your Online Business for the first time can be daunting – my first course took me over six months to create but then no body was helping me!

There are two parts to the product creation process.  The first is getting the technology – software and hardware – right. Then you actually have to make the thing!

Kit and Caboodle!

Lets take a look at the equipment you will need and the good news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune, particularly if you already have a half reasonable computer.

At a minimum you will need:

• A computer – desktop or laptop – with a reasonable amount of memory and computing power.  I would suggest a minimum of:
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 1 Terrabyte Hard Drive
  • A modern processor – mine is 1600 MHZ
  • I have an iMac Desktop which has a 3 TB hard drive and 32 GB of RAM
• A good microphone – I use a Blue Yeti which is around $100
• An HD camera
  • I do not advise getting a DSLR – I have a Logitech HD Webcam with a USB connection which is around $50
  • Your smart phone also has an excellent video camera – in all likelihood – so don’t ignore this wonderful piece of equipment
• Screen recording software; these are my two recommendations.  There are other solutions to this but these products are tailor made for this and they work.  Think time is money
  • Screenflow – Mac Only – this is what I use
  • Camtasia – PC and MAC
  • Screencastomatic –
• Presentation Software
  • Keynote – Mac
  • Powerpoint – PC

I would also recommend you have a system for backing up your files which can be a separate hard drive or a cloud solution.  Don’t ever get caught out by not having a back up.

As far as kit goes, that is about it. You can get very fancy but it won’t necessarily make your course better

Lets take a look now at the product production process

Product Production

Designing your digital product can be difficult or you can make it really easy for yourself.  Here are some of my top tips:

• Establish ONE single clear objective for your product or course
• Brainstorm the key topics and content in a bullet point list or a mind map
• Arrange these in a logical order – ensure they flow from start to finish – from problem identification to problem solution
• Establish three levels
  • Sections
  • Lectures
  • Lecture Content
• Find similar courses to your own on Udemy, Skillshare or other teaching platforms,  take a look at how the instructors have covered the material
  • What have you missed out?
  • How can you create your course to make it better, unique and make it really stand out
• Go to Amazon Kindle
  • Identify best selling books covering your topic
  •  Review the table of contents to see what you can add/improve to your course/product
• Consider what additional materials you can add to your product to make it even better
  • Quizzes, checklists, cheatsheets?

Here is my outline process guide to creating a digital product

• Lecture Creation Sequence
  1. The Correct order of creating your course lectures/content is
     1. All your main lectures
     2. Wrap up and Summary lectures
     3. Introduction Lecture
     4. Promotional video

• Lecture Titles and Descriptions
  1. Try to use your keywords in your lecture titles, descriptions and in the Sections too!
  2. Lecture titles should intrigue as well as inform? Make your student want to take the lecture:
  3. Provide at least one paragraph course description, including key words
  4. If you want to be more helpful you can provide a more detailed summary of the course
• Advanced Lecture Descriptions: Dragon Dictate (requires purchase)
  1. Export the audio track to Dragon Dictate
  2. Import and create transcription
  3. Correct and repost in CC

• Course Content
  1. Consider including an “Introduce yourself” lecture for your second lecture. This should encourage new students to leave a discussion comment saying who they are, where they come from, what they do and what they hope to get from the course. You should also try to get them to explain their biggest challenge – great for getting new content ideas for your course.
• Three Other Lectures to Include:
  1. Introduce Yourself – ask the student to introduce themselves in the discussion area
  2. Time Out – Feedback Lecture – ask the student to provide you with feedback on the lecture either directly messaging or through the discussions
  3. Section Introductions and Section Summaries
  4. Activities and Quizzes to increase student engagement.

Bonus Tip – Productivity

When you create your first digital product, do not assume that it is going to be your last.

It will really help you in the future if you can record the steps you take when you create your product – in a bulleted list or in a mind map.

What you want to do is to create systems which are going to make your production process faster and more efficient in the future.  Keep detailed notes and links to your folders and published material so that you can cross link and access material quickly.

This will also become important if you ever expand to a team or employ a Virtual Assistant to help you with your business.  Systems make everything simpler.

Use tools like Evernote to keep detailed notes of your process and your material.

Use tools like Zapier and ITTT (If This Then That) to automate your processes, funnels and sales in your business.

Online Business -Part 3  Publication

In Part 3, I am going share with you how to master the publication phase. – Just Click Here to go to Part 3