One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

If you are thinking about entering the world of home based businesses then its best that as early on as possible you have an idea of what currently are the hottest ones out there in order to provide you with a clearer perspective on which one(s) you’ll be going for. Remember that the options to choose from can be quite overwhelming and having a list of home based business top candidates in the market will make your research easier and much more targeted.Of course you will still need to do the research required in order to make sure the home based business model you are interested in not only maximizes your chances for profit generation but also matches the skill sets that you have. To give you a glimpse of which home based businesses are turning people’s heads right now, here are the top five hottest home based businesses as of the moment:Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular home based businesses right now for so many reasons. First and foremost, it’s very easy to set up. All companies which offer affiliate programs for their products also provide the marketing materials needed for promotion, like banners, ads, product information pages, and sometimes even fully operational websites. That way you can familiarize yourself with the products and get started with the marketing of the product almost immediately. Second is the fact that it does not require huge investment to get started as most will only require you to have a good computer and a reliable internet connection. Having your own website for promotion is recommended but not really necessary.Personal Training Services: If you are fitness minded, you can start your very own career as a personal trainer. With the help of internet, you actually don’t even have to train in person but rather you will be able to provide learning materials and additional instructions through videos, E-books and online conferencing (webinars), allowing you to reach many clients at any single time.Tutoring: Same as with personal training services, you will be able to conduct your tutoring lessons without having to go anywhere with the help of the internet. Teaching students how to properly speak, read or write English or another language is one of the hottest home based businesses today. But it’s not limited to only that as there are also many students in search for online tutors that specialize in math, physics, history and so on- it all depends on which particular subject you’re good at – rest assured the market is already there and waiting for you.Transcription: if you have transcription skills and the equipment required, you can tap into this very lucrative home based business market. Medical and legal transcriptions have always been in demand due to the higher rate in demand versus those who are able to supply the required services. There are many online transcription certification companies where you can learn the required skills, if you need them.Web design and development:: – if you have the skills and talent to build great web pages then web designing is the home based business for you. You will need professional software for making such high quality web pages and you will need to learn how to use them, but the financial compensation that you will get for each project will be very well worth your efforts.The five opportunities mentioned above are just the top five recommendations on the list of possible home based businesses that you can choose from, as there are far too many to mention in this article. If you are unable to find the home based business that fits your skills in the list above, do not be discouraged as there are plenty of other possibilities available to you. Just search for “home based business opportunities” on the internet and research the ones that fit your skills properly before you decide which one you go for.