Nathan Hangen

15 August Project Update

In today’s project update I want to share my experience with a recently delayed launch and explain a bit more about what happened and how I decided to remedy it. A few months back, I mentioned that I was working on an eBook called “How I Lost 10 LBS and STILL Drank Beer.” This book was designed to be a short but sweet guide to losing weight without having to diet or spend hours in the gym every day. The goal was to simply share my love of running and teach people how to get off the couch and start losing weight.

I actually finished this book months ago and had already paid for a nice website design. I had even written the copy for the sales page and was all ready to launch…but something just didn’t feel right. The book was shorter than I wanted it to be, so I created a few extra bonuses to be included with the product and fleshed out the main eBook by adding some more pictures and content. Still, I didn’t feel ready to launch this product…so I let it sit for a while so I could ponder a few things.

The first area of concern, was how this product fit in to my brand. I run a pair of websites for runners and triathletes and I couldn’t figure out if I wanted this product to be sold in tandem with those websites or on a site all to its own. I was also concerned about price point, because I wanted people to feel that they could grab a copy of this without having to worry about dropping a lot of cash in doing so.

Many diet eBooks run in the 40-50 dollar range and on up, which is a nice price point from a profit standpoint, but also tends to exclude those customers, like me, that buy based on a whim rather than a need. Don’t get me wrong, I think this book will help people, but at the same time I didn’t feel comfortable charging $49 for it either.

I guess the point of this story is that just because an Internet Marketing Guru tells you to crank out products by the dozens and charge as much as you can get for them, doesn’t mean you should. I put my name on all my products because I believe that putting out a quality product is more important than making a bunch of quick and easy money. I want my name to stand for something, and I think that by putting my name on all of my products, it reassures the customer that I’m not hiding from anything. I’m always right here if you have a question or concern.

Another benefit to taking your time with a launch is that it allows you to take a broader perspective. One thing I’ve learned from my Twitter Rockstar launch is that although Clickbank is great for bringing in affiliates, there are a lot of people that abuse the refund and affiliate policies. As a result, I decided to host this product on E-Junkie and manage my own affiliates. I also took this time to dig a bit deeper into my product’s image, which led me to creating a whole series of products like these. Although each product will have their own website, they’ll also be included in my training websites in a very special way.

Long term, I’m looking at doing some cool things with Triathlon camps, but in the short-term these eBooks will be launching pads into the more advanced seminars, coaching sessions, and membership plans.

The price point I’m looking at is only $17, which I believe is a fair place to start. I’ll be offering an upgrade with videos and physical products, but for now I’m happy with just an eBook and I’m very happy that I took the time to halt this launch so that I could think all of this through.

The IM Gurus teach you that creating and launching products is easy, but I disagree. Sure, it is easy for me to write about a subject that I like, but most of these guys will tell you to outsource everything and find as many ways to charge your customer as you can. Well, I disagree. I don’t outsource products and I don’t necessarily believe that you have to turn everything into a continuity, micro-continuity, or monthly membership program.

When you decide to create or co-create a product, make sure that you take your time and get both the product and the product identity figured out the best that you can. I promise that it will help you in the long-run.

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