Idea Lifecycle Pt. 5 - Test

Ahhh testing! Having spent years as a developer, I can tell you this was about the least exciting part of the process next to maintenance. It’s brutal on your ego and some of the feedback you’ll get can be downright brutal, so be prepared. But like many things that are “less fun” to deal with (e.g. insurance), it’s a necessary evil. We need to know how well our product will fulfill it’s mission, hold up to abuse and generally provide a positive experience for it’s users and give them more than their money’s worth (if we ever want them to buy from us again). I usually look to four kinds of testing to get enough feedback to insure I’m not overlooking things:

1. Inspection : The perfect place to start to ensure you didn’t over look something obvious, or something you “intended to do” and to be sure the thing just plain works before you put it in someone else’s hands. Figure out if it makes sense to you.
EX: If we’re talking IP type products, review, listen, watch, spell check.. that sort of thing. If t-shirts does the color look good? Is the print look like you envisioned?

2. Functional : This is like “mechanical testing.” Try to break it, poke holes, drop it. Let’ others do the same.
EX: IP products: spell check, edit, review, copy, how does it look in digital and maybe hardcopy. T-shirts: wash it a bunch of times and see if the color stays, does the printing last, is the material comfortable, does it breathe, fit well?

3. Usability Testing: How easily can users utilize your product as intended? If it has an interface can someone who has never seen it start using it quickly and easily. Apple are masters of this and making things “easy to understand” is critical! How do people use it in ways you didn’t anticipate. How does it feel to them.
EX: IP products: Clean, intuitive interface that doesn’t require a lot of “figuring out.” If it’s a book or e-book, can they easily understand the content, or execute the steps if it’s a “how to?” T-Shirts: Are they comfortable to the users? Do they look good on people?

Along the way you’ll want to log and compile what is happening so you can go back and make correction. Some might be critical fixes, others less essential for initial launch. Keep in mind potential maintenance issues down the road for things you defer. As you go through several iterations of testing you’ll want to grab the good things people say to use as testimonials for the product when you launch.

(Idea Lifecycle Frameowrk, Phase 5. click to enlarge)

If you would like the original framework form with added detail request it here:

Idea Lifecycle Pt. 4 - Build It

Other than coming up with the idea this is probably my favorite part of the process. Getting hands on and creating/building the product is fun and really what it’s all about. What about “Monetization” you ask? Making money is of course essential and fun in it’s own right but this is really about getting to do what we enjoy, whether that’s building websites, writing a book, taking pictures … the money part just enables us to keep doing it.

In this phase, we’ll typically be constructing a working prototype or our first iteration of the product. We’ll also get some idea of how we are going to handle manufacturing if needed (e.g. writing an e-book doesn’t but if your selling t-shirts you’ll need to understand your printing and distribution options).

The end result should be something we’re comfortable with showing to other people and getting feedback on. It won’t be perfect and may be laced with our own bias on how it will be used and work so striving for perfect is an exercise in futility. Sticking with the examples above, for an e-book you might start getting feedback from someone else knowledgeable in that books area of focus or help from an editor polishing the content and writing. In the t-shirt business we’ll want feedback on our ideas, designs, choice of materials, colors, …

Once you get to a final product, ask yourself if the product will be easy to replicate and can the process be automated? The more you automate the better off you’ll be in the long run but don’t expect to automate everything right up front, just try to get their quickly. You’ll want to be able to produce the product rapidly, easily and as inexpensively as possible. IP products, like e-books are the pinnacle of this.

The biggest risk of this phase is scope creep. ie. lot’s of new ideas about things to do to the product, improve it… will start creeping in and you’ll be tempted to do them all, don’t. If it’s essential and makes a big difference do it but keep a tight leash on that and have a plan for future versions with improvement and changes. Otherwise you’ll be permanently stuck in “build” mode and never get out of it.

Finally, be sure to to protect your idea. At this point, you have something to copyright, trademark or do a patent search on. It’s worth taking the time and money to protect your idea, otherwise you are asking for trouble.

(Idea Lifecycle Frameowrk, Phase 4. click to enlarge)

If you would like the original framework form with added detail request it here:
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37 Google AdWords Secrets

Building a business is tough business, even in the on-line world. Unfortunately, as we are looking for resources to help us learn how to grow our businesses on-line, we are faced with an overwhelming number of options and it can be difficult to tell the good from the bad. As a part of the “Net Generation,” actively online since about 1994 (but partially on-line since 1990), I have seen a lot of “Net” things come and go. The internet has lowered some barriers to entry for entrepreneurs but also created new learning challenges requiring new skills to remain competitive. I am still learning everyday and have yet to feel even the slightest degree of complacency with it.

One of the common learning challenges to internet-entrepreneurs is that of on-line advertising. In particular, the now ubiquitous pay-per-click (PPC) advertising such as that which Google has popularized is flooded with competition and pitfalls. There are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of publications, e-books, websites and other sources which promise to teach you how PPC works. My experience so far has been that some of those resources are useful and some are total junk often set up only to sell you something. So be careful! I read all of these publications with a healthy degree of skepticism but occasionally find some that are useful and worthwhile.

You can easily spend a lot of money on useless information but you can spend even more on your PPC advertising without getting much if anything in return if you don’t know what you are doing. The point is that PPC works, and we need to learn how to make it work for us, but it isn’t as simple as putting up and ad and “they will buy” any more than you can just put up a site and expect a million visitors to find it. Advertise without direction and watch your wallet shrink, do it right and watch it grow. It’s like anything else, constant learning and applying yourself will pay off.

So how do we learn from good resources while avoiding the pitfalls of the bad? The simple answer is do your research. In my continued pursuit to bring to you tools and information that are worthwhile I’ll mention the first of the PPC e-books I’ve found that have been well worth the cost. I’ll preface the rest of this by telling you that I have actually been using the suggestions in this book and it has kept it’s promises. “37 AdWords Secrets” by Roger Hall is a collection of (surprise) 37 techniques for improving your Google AdWords performance. Roger is a Google Certified AdWords Professional and his e-book sells for $37 or about $1 per “secret.” I have been using the techniques in Roger’s book for over a month and have seen the performance of my own AdWords campaigns improve making the book a bargain at that price. Whether you are selling your own stuff or an affiliate marketer selling someone else’s product, this book will easily pay for itself. When you buy there are also several follow on bonuses that will come after your purchase which are also quite useful (and free). If you want to try before you buy there is a “5 Secrets” primer which is free and can be found here. If you would like to purchase the full 37 Secrets you can click on the link inside the free “5 Secrets” e-book or download it here.

You don’t have to go alone. There are more tools to come but if you do ANY on-line advertising, 37 AdWords Secrets is a great place to start.

Researching Products On-Line

It’s easy to find information on-line, but finding worthwhile information on-line is quite a different matter. I am currently undergoing a research study of different on-line marketing tools, websites and books to determine which resources are worthwhile and what makes a resource worthwhile. I expect this to take several months, and when finished (ok, so you’re never really done) I’ll publish a free report on what I have found. In the mean time I thought I would share with you a few suggestions for digging through the haystack to find the needle you are looking for. These are mostly common sense (which is not so common sometimes) but have been effective for me so far.

1) When you are reading about a product, search for that product name in Google and see what comes back. Click a lot of links and read what is said about it. If the product name contains more than one word, be sure to put the name in quotes so your search is specific to that product (example “Scott’s Book” as opposed to Scott’s Book).
2) In another Google search for that product (again name in quotes) add the word “scam” outside the quotes (and other helpful terms like “rip off”, “review”, …) See if anyone is reporting it as a scam or great product.
3) Click a lot of the search links, go several pages deep on the search. Searches like this will often have informative links buried deeper in the search results.
4) Look at the advertising that accompanies your search. What does it say about the product? Is it being resold by a lot of people or just one company?
5) Pay close attention to the URL of the website selling the product. Does it look legit or a bit too cryptic?
6) If the site selling the product has a lot of other advertising on it, be cautious.
7) Single landing page sites are ok (example) but read them to completion and again, look for references. Does the site appear to at least be designed by someone competent? If not, it might be a red flag.
Search for forums on the product or industry that might mention the product. People tend to spill their guts on forums. However, they sometimes rant unfairly too.
9) E-mail the owner of the site selling the product and ask them a question (it doesn’t really matter what), the idea is to determine whether you get something back from a human (not just an auto responder) in a reasonable period of time.
10) Search Google for the names of the people selling the product (again, full name in quotes). What can you find on that person?
11) Every good product should offer a money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied.
12) Consider the location of the business. Be extra cautious overseas though some countries such as Japan, Germany, Australia and Great Britain are safer than say, Nigeria who is notorious for scams.
13) Visit sites you trust that have information on the product or service and see what they say (hopefully this will become one of those over time).

I could go on for a long time (future e-book? with this list…

The hardest part isn’t knowing “what to do” as most anyone could have written the list above. It’s having the patience and persistence to perform thorough due diligence on whatever it is you are researching. Spend the time, it’s a good investment that will pay you back.

Side note: One negative review you find about a product shouldn’t necessarily turn you off, nor should one positive review make you a believer. Some websites are just poorly designed and some individuals (not just companies) are providing very good products so don’t make a snap judgment either way unless it’s clearly a scam. BTW, some big companies produce total crap too so don’t just trust them either. Even if it is an individual selling something, don’t be afraid to pay for information you have deemed worthwhile. People have a right to make a living, even off of “soft products” such as e-books with information for how to “do something.” This is after all the “information age” and intellectual property has value.

The idea is to get a thorough, objective picture of whatever it is you are researching and make an educated judgment call based on that information before you throw down your credit card number.

I’d be interested to hear your suggestions for researching things as well so please share them with us.