An internet business is no different in this respect than a brick-and-mortar business. If you don’t own the product, somebody else controls your business, plain and simple.  If something happens to that company, it can have a dramatic effect on your income.

I know from experience. I live in North Carolina, and Amazon announced earlier this year that they were severing their relationship with all affiliates in North Carolina to Avoid Taxation by North Carolina. I had absolutely no control over Amazon’s pull out of North Carolina.

In today’s market, we see the ripple effect when companies go out of business because of tight credit markets and the recession. It has a negative impact on anyone who is associated with a company that goes out of business. When you sell somebody else’s product or services, your success will always be at the mercy of somebody else’s business.

An example of this was when Chrysler and GM scaled back on the number of dealers in their networks. Although these dealers thought they owned their own business, they were only a sales arm of the manufacturer. They had no control over the total devastation of their business brought about by a decision made by their supplier.

If you’re marketing on the Internet and you don’t have your own product to sell, you’re sabotaging your business.

If for no other reason, you should develop your own product so that you maintain control over your own business. This fact alone should motivate you to create your own product, but if it doesn’t, there are seven other powerful reasons why you should create your own product. We are going to share the first three with you …

First, you can’t expand your marketing efforts through other people…

A very wise man businessman once shared with me that there are only two ways to make money in this world: you either have money which in turn allows you to make more money, or you must duplicate yourself through other people. Affiliate marketing is the way you duplicate yourself on the Internet. If you don’t have your own product, you can’t get affiliates to sell for you.

By having your own product, your old competitors become your new sales force…

Second, if you’re not selling your own product, you face fierce competition from other affiliates.

You’re always forced to ask yourself the following question: how do I differentiate myself from other affiliates who are selling the same product?

In the brick-and-mortar world, competition is a less significant problem. This is because geographic boundaries limit the effect the competition can have on your business. For example, if you have a store in one community, and your next competitor is 60 miles away, he’ll have little effect on your business. But on the Internet, your competitor is only one click away and that can have a huge effect on your business.

Third, it’s harder for you to be recognized as an authority in your niche market…

When you sell someone else’s product, you are just another player in a very large field. From a consumer’s standpoint, it doesn’t matter if they purchase the product from you or from a competitor. Once you create your own product, you take on a new status in your niche market. You will be considered an authority in your niche and that translates into increased sales.

The final four reasons for manufacturing your own product…

You will experience greater profits and put more money into your pocket. Wow, creating your own product could double, triple or even increase your income tenfold. For example:

Assume that you are selling someone else’s product and make a 50% commission, which is equal to $25 per sale. When you sell 1,000 units, your gross profit is $25,000. Now, let us assume that you sell your own product for $50 and keep 100% of the money. If you sell the same 1,000 units, your gross profit is $50,000. You doubled your profit and put an additional $25,000 into your pocket.

But, it gets even better…

You can also expand your sales by setting up an affiliate program. Let’s assume in addition to your own personal sales, you have 10 affiliates selling your program. What happens when each one makes 1,000 sales just like you.

First, you have expenses that weren’t there when you just sold the program yourself. Let’s say that 60% of sales goes to expenses such as commissions and other affiliate costs. You have 10,000 additional sales at $50 = $500,000 in sales. But, 60% or $300,000 goes out in affiliate costs and you net $200,000. The income you derive from affiliate sales is $200,000 and the income you get from your own sales is $50,000 for a total of $250,000. That is a tenfold increase in your net income.

But, it gets even better…

Now you control the price, so let’s say that you decide to raise the price by 10% or $5.00.  However, because you raised your price, you actually experience a 5% decrease in business. Your sales are now 950 units at $55.00 which generates a profit of $52,250. Your affiliate sales are also reduced to 9,500 units, which at $55.00 grosses $522,500. After you subtract 60% for affiliate expenses ($313,500) you are left with a profit of $209,000. When you add the $209,000 profit from affiliates to your $52,250, you have a total profit of $261, 250, which is an increase of $11,250 just because you control the price.

But, it gets even better…

When you sell someone else’s product, you are just another player in that niche market. It doesn’t  matter if someone purchased the product from you or purchases it from a competitor. But, once you create your own product, you take on an new status in your niche. You become an authority in your niche.

When you become an authority in any niche market, people tend to listen to what you have to say. That translates into increased sales. Isn’t this what you want? You got into business on the Internet to make money. More sales equates to more money!

But, it gets even better…

By having your own product, you add unique content to your website. Google loves websites with unique content. And, because you’re an authority, other websites will naturally link to you. Google also loves websites that have lots of one way links to them. They recognize these sites as authority sites and rank them higher in the organic search results.

If your ranking lands you on the first page of Google, you get more organic leads and this in turn leads to more sales and additional profits. All of this happens just because you have developed your own product.

Authors Bio

For the past 11 years, Randy’s principle business enterprise has been in the top 5 listings on Google for his industry. His list of clients includes the Department of Defense, Department of State, Municipalities, Fortune 500 Companies, College and Universities, and several hundred small businesses.

Today, Randy is using his acquired knowledge to help businesses learn how to grow through the savvy use of internet marketing techniques. His central focus is to take complex online marketing strategies and tactics and break them down into easy to follow step-by-step processes.

Randy has written and published articles on internet marketing strategies to show businesses how to make money online. You can access these resources and learn how you can make more money online at www.InternetMonetizationUniversity.com .

Typically, only ½% to 2% of visitors to your website will purchase your product if your website is text only. If you ad sales-orientated videos to your site, of the people viewing them over half will take some sort of action, and 12% will actually purchase the product offered.

Simply put, if you’re not using video in your online marketing efforts, you’re leaving money on the table.

When you use video, you need to determine how you are going to use the video you produce….

• Will the video be used to pre-sell your product
• Will it be used to actually sell your product
• Will your video be used to demonstrate a feature of your product
• Will it be the information product itself.

Once you define how you want to use the video, the next step is to crystallize the message that you want to convey to your audience. We like to teach “The Seven Slide Solution” by Paul Kelly. A study from Princeton University on cognitive science reported that the average person can hold and process only seven pieces of information in short memory at one time.

Paul Kelly writes that: “people think in ideas, not in facts and that the structure by which people communicate ideas with one another is with stories.” When you build your video around a story, your audience will understand your ideas and can be persuaded to consider changing their status quo.

Stories are the most powerful communication device anyone can use to sell a product or idea.

To tell a great story, you need to storyboard the sequence of how you want to lay out your video. A storyboard conveys a visual line of reasoning and shows how each idea relates to the other ideas. It allows you to determine what should be included or excluded from the presentation.

What makes this process easy is that every good story has the same structure. As long as you follow that structure, you are guaranteed to make a great video.

1. You start with a premise – the premise is the message. It is the theme or central idea that the story is built around. A good story can only have one premise otherwise the story becomes unwieldy and meaningless.
2. Next you have the core conflict – this is the “hook” that holds your audience’s attention. People love conflict, especially when it can be observed from afar. Conflict holds our attention because people are naturally curious and want to see what happens when two forces or ideas are in opposition to one another.
3. Next, you examine the conflict from multiple viewpoints and build tension – when you look at the consequences of the conflict you build tension. Tension takes your audience on a journey and builds a desire to see what happens next.
4. When the tension is at its peak, you offer a choice – a fork in the road. This is the moment of truth when a decision must be made and the audience waits to see it it’s the right one.
5. This leads to the resolution of the core conflict and does a number of things… it shows the result of the choices that were made and leaves the audience feeling satisfied that they know the outcome.

Building the scenes of your presentation…

One of the advantages to creating videos using the storyboard method is that you can create chunks of material that can be inserted into the video using editing software. When you build your video you will focus on 7 scenes (mini-videos within the storyline). There is a specific role for each scene.

• Scene 1 – engagement
• Scene 2 – backstory
• Scene 3 – build tension
• Scene 4 – bring it to a boil
• Scene 5 – offer choices
• Scene 6 – provide resolution
• Scene 7 – set up the “sequel”

The role of scene 1 is to capture the audience’s attention. It is similar to reading the jacket cover summary of a book in the bookstore. It’s when you decide to buy it or put it back on the shelf. With your video, it’s when you decide to continue watching the video.

The role of scene 2 is to provide the backstory. It describes how you came to this point or how the main character came to this point. It is the part of the video where you want your audience to say: I can relate to that.

Scene 3 is where you create tension by exploring the consequences and repercussions of taking or not taking action to address the conflict.

Scene 4 is used to bring the tension to a boiling point. It is the point in the video where you want to bring your audience to where they want relief.  They want the main character of the story to make a decision so that they can see how the story turns out.

Scene 5 is used to relieve the tension which can only be done when someone makes a decision. It’s the turning point of the story and the point where a choice is made.

Scene 6 is when the core conflict is resolved and you learn what how the main characters life has changed to date.

Finally, scene 7 sets up the sequel. It sets the stage for the audience to go deeper and learn more.

One more structure needs to be discussed before you begin creating your scene layout. It is how to structure each scene for use in your storyline.

You should design the scene according to the following structure:

1. Plant a question
2. Evoke an emotion
3. Answer the question
4. Move the story forward

Authors Bio

For the past 11 years, Randy’s principle business enterprise has been in the top 5 listings on Google for his industry. His list of clients includes the Department of Defense, Department of State, Municipalities, Fortune 500 Companies, College and Universities, and several hundred small businesses.

Today, Randy is using his acquired knowledge to help businesses learn how to grow through the savvy use of internet marketing techniques. His central focus is to take complex online marketing strategies and tactics and break them down into easy to follow step-by-step processes.

Randy has written and published articles on internet marketing strategies to show businesses how to make money online. You can access these resources and learn how you can make more money online at www.InternetMonetizationUniversity.com .