7 Things You Should Know Before Manufacturing And Monetizing Your Own Products

This is a guest post by Kevin Lenton.

Kevin works with companies to build and maintain their online relationships with clients, as well as prepare content geared at high conversion rates. In his spare time he enjoys playing the harmonica – an activity he’s been involved in since the age of 12.

If you want to guest post on this blog, check out my guest post guidelines.

Making money from your blog may seem like a dream, but many people achieve this goal every day. Developing and manufacturing a product to sell takes considerable time and effort and there are many things a blogger should keep in mind before putting their product up for sale. Here are seven things that you should know before manufacturing and monetizing your product.

1. Secure Hosting Service

Bloggers should carefully choose their web hosting service to ensure that their blog files are secure and the company is reliable. Free web hosting services are available, but bloggers who are looking to manufacture and sell a product often need more resources than free blog hosting sites offer.

Regular hosting services will probably charge bloggers a fee for processing each transaction for the products being sold on the blog. The fees add up quickly and can be quite expensive. Bloggers who use Advanced Hosting are able to process their own transactions over a secure connection. This saves money and ensures that the financial information being shared during each transaction is secure.

2. Identify Skills and Background

Everyone has marketable skills, but it may take some time for them to be discovered. Looking at your resume is a great way to figure out your skills. The same skills that are used to get a job can be used to decide what kind of product you would excel at creating. Some people are great at matchmaking, while others are good with finances or pets. Everyone has something they are good at and they can sell this information to others.

Using the experiences you have gone through in your life is a good way to figure out a product to sell. People going through situations such as divorce, bankruptcy, raising special needs children, and more are always looking for advice. Sharing your life experience can be very profitable if you can find the right audience.

3. Know Your Audience

According to a survey conducted by Perseus UK, about 92% of blogs are created by young people, under age 30. These blogs are mainly used for updating friends and family about their lives and generally don’t produce much money.

Bloggers must target the product they are offering to the people who read their blog. If a blog is about finances, any product that is intended to save the buyer money would be a good fit. An e-book about pet food would probably not sell very well on a financial blog.

4. Research

Anyone who is planning to manufacture and sell a product should research the market conditions and check out their competition. With over four million blogs on the web, the product you are planning to sell is likely already available. A unique product is much more likely to sell than one that has already flooded the market. Many people are selling everything they can to stay afloat in the current economy and doing your research will help ensure that the product you are selling is superior to the competition.

5. Types of Products

There are many types of products that bloggers sell to their readers. They include e-books, training courses, tutorials, and videos. E-books are a popular option for bloggers to sell because they can be written about almost anything and don’t cost a lot of money to produce. Videos and tutorials are also popular, but cost more to produce because more equipment and editing is usually required.

Podcasting can be an effective way to generate income. Interested customers can subscribe to your podcasts through PayPal. Some bloggers use affiliate programs to earn money, but they generally earn much less money than bloggers who sell products that they created.

6. Advertising

Even the greatest products will not sell if nobody knows they exist. It’s very important to know your audience and the best way to reach them. Bloggers often create social networking profiles to interact with customers and create an ongoing relationship with the people who read their blog.

Facebook has released statistics that state consumers spend at least 700 billion minutes logged in to their Facebook accounts each month. Much of this time is spent reading posts from companies and their products. Encouraging customers to talk about your company with their friends will likely increase your customer base and the amount of money that is generated.

Email is another way that bloggers advertise their products. Offering customers an incentive to sign up using their email address gives you an easy way to reach them. Contests and discounts are an effective way to introduce customers to new products being offered on your blog and catch their interest.

7. Budget

One of the most important things to consider when manufacturing and monetizing a product you have created is your budget. Each blogger should determine the amount of time and money they are willing to spend to manufacture and sell a product. The type of products a blogger decides to offer for sale on their blog may partially depend on their budget. If the blogger is a great writer it will probably be more cost effective for them to offer an e-book for sale than someone who would have to pay someone else to write their book.

Making Money Using A Blog

Capitalizing on the skills they already have and knowing their target audience are important things for bloggers to consider before creating and manufacturing a product to sell. Bloggers should make sure that their web hosting service is adequate before attempting to sell any products through their blog to ensure their customer’s financial information is secure.