TalkBiz News
Issue for July 28, 2012
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Hi, folks...
After the last issue, I got a couple of requests for similar
ways to come up with ideas for software. I'll include some of
those here. Just don't think you need to be a programmer to get
something from this piece. The same ideas will work for
creating other types of products. All kinds, actually.
But first...
"A Roadmap to Online Marketing"
=============================
Yeah, that's a pretty ambitious title. I usually just call it
"The Map."
If you want a combination study guide, beginner's intro, and
advanced planning aid for an online business, check it out. I
surprised myself with it. Apparently, based on the feedback
I've gotten, that wasn't misplaced.
http://talkbiz.com/themap/?e=1
It's also an excellent example of a type of product you can
create without any expensive software or long learning curve.
The map's content is the result of years worth of experience,
but the product itself was created with nothing but free, open
source software and a little time.
This puppy is full of cool lessons...
"More Idea Generators"
====================
Not everyone wants to write. Speaking for writers everywhere, I
think that's a good thing. Mostly because some of you are a lot
better than you know, and we don't really need the extra
competition. ;)
As I mentioned in the intro, this was prompted by questions
from a couple of programmers. The ideas here fit with any sort
of product, if you tweak them just a little bit. The tweaks
will be obvious, and they'll be different for each type of
product.
We'll stick mostly with programming as the example. If you
create other types of products, translate as you go.
....
One of the easiest ways to get ideas for new software is to
look for useful features in one program that aren't available
in all the others. This is especially productive if the one
containing the features is less popular or commonly used.
A great example of software that fits this type is MailWasher.
It's designed to clean the spam from your email before you
download it. It's a very popular program, but it's pretty
limited in its functions. You can do the same things, albeit in
different ways, with a fully-featured email client called
Pegasus Mail.
Here's the difference: MailWasher is $30. PMail is free, and
does a lot more.
I've used PMail for over a decade now, and I love it. It's not
for everyone, though. In its current incarnation, it's much
more complex than most mail clients, and has a different style
of interface that could be confusing to folks who are used to
more "standard" Windows email software. The learning curve
would be pretty steep just for the spam removal benefits.
MailWasher makes a lot more sense for many people. It's
simpler, more intuitive, and doesn't take long to learn or use.
And you wouldn't have to switch emailers.
Never forget the value of time and simplicity when figuring the
cost of a product. In this case, as in many others, people will
cheerfully pay for an easy and fast solution even if there's a
more fully-featured free one available.
Make it easy, make it fast, and make it work.
....
Another easy way to come up with ideas is to look for missing
features that cost people time, money, or opportunity. These
are called "Problems."
How do you find them? That's also easy: Listen to your market.
What pain do they have that's the result of having to jump
through a lot of steps to get something done, or that keeps
them from doing what they want? Can you offer a product that
reduces the steps, or makes it possible for them to accomplish
what they need to do?
Create the aspirin and sell it. It's an easy sale.
....
Most Wordpress plugins fall into this category. I can think of
one I haven't seen, but would find very handy. It would be even
better if it were a standalone PHP product that didn't mess
with Wordpress code.
I would love to see something that could go into a MySQL
database or an SQL dump and pull user-defined fields into a
plain text database. For example, pulling just the usernames
and email addresses into a comma- or tab-delimited text
database. Or that could pull the posts out as individual text
files.
The first would be handy for membership sites, and the second
as a redundant backup system for content. I've often been
surprised at the people who write posts directly in Wordpress,
and don't keep local text copies for backup and re-purposing.
....
There's an approach I've used in the past that can take some
time, and doesn't always yield useful results right away. It
has, however, given me some very unusual and powerful product
ideas. It apparently works for others, too.
Look at the features (or totalities) of seemingly unconnected
types of software, and think about how they could be grouped
together to do new things, or to do old things better.
If you don't think that can be explosive, consider what you get
when you cross blogging and text messaging.
Answer: Twitter.
....
Another simple idea is to consider creating a desktop version
of server-side software, or vice versa. Hotmail was the biggest
early example of this.
Gmail now has a web-based office suite. There are graphic
design programs that work through the browser. And "search
engines" that index a desktop computer or local network.
Interestingly, that last one is more a move back to the source.
Or port ideas to another OS or platform.
Here's a classic example. Years ago, someone came up with the
idea of an online version of the local Yellow Pages. It started
as a simple collection of web pages, and was developed into
full-blown scripts you can buy and set up in an afternoon. Then
the Wordpress plugin developers got into the game and made it
even easier.
I saw a new iteration today. An app that lets you create a
local business directory in Facebook.
That has real potential.
....
Or think about the potential for a niche switch.
The earliest example I'm familiar with is niche database
systems, for cataloguing collectibles or tracking scores in
leagues. The programming requirements are pretty much the same
for all of them. The big change is in the fields included by
default.
Like the MailWasher/PMail example earlier, this is a great
demonstration of an instance in which people will cheerfully
pay for something simple when a more powerful - but harder to
learn - option is available. Anyone could download the Open
Office suite for free and create their own databases, but
something intuitive and obvious is likely to sell. Especially
if you create a clear and simple manual for it.
I've seen this done with Javascript weight loss calculators,
business card or menu design software, legal forms, and more.
A lot of info-products can be re-purposed this way as well.
Sometimes all you need to change is the title and a few
examples.
....
Can you make something more secure?
For example, I paid for a password-protected text editor for my
phone, and another for the iPad. Neither of them has anything
like the feature set I'm used to in an editor. But, they'll
make it harder for strangers to get to my notes if either of
those devices were to be lost or stolen.
Can you make something shareable?
Apps that allow you to upload pictures and video from your
phone to Facebook or YouTube are great examples of this.
I've never seen a shared addressbook app. If one doesn't
exist, it should. I can see a lot of circumstances in which
groups of friends or associates would like to be able to update
contact info and have it automatically changed for everyone in
their circle. Same with clubs, business settings, project
teams...
Maybe sync'd through a private Dropbox link. Or maybe it gets
data from (and writes to) a file on the host's private domain.
Or maybe it already exists and I just don't know about it yet.
Which brings up another thing to consider. If you see
something really cool that just hasn't taken off, maybe you can
duplicate the functionality (without stealing code, obviously)
and market it better, or to a different group.
Lots of possibilities there.
....
Another approach is to consider how two things are similar in
usage, but employ different technologies, and see if they can
be connected.
I would love to be able to send and receive text messages (SMS)
from within my emailer, for example. In theory, all it should
take is changing the ports, and something on the local machine
to intercept calls to those ports and properly route the data.
Of course, I'm not a programmer and don't know the systems, so
that could be entirely wrong. But that's the great thing about
ideas. You can run them past people who know, and they can tell
you quickly if they're feasible.
Sometimes the stuff you'd think should be easy is impossible,
or at least impractical. But other times the things you'd think
are impossible turn out to be easy.
....
As I said earlier, these ideas don't just apply to software. I
know a woman who made her living for years developing protocols
to enable humans to share relevant business data face to face.
Protocols complete with error checking, failure recovery modes,
the whole thing.
A networking engineer, so to speak.
I know several people who've made fortunes by porting
operating systems and applications (strategies and tactics)
from one industrial OS (line of business) to another.
Yeah. I know. Who uses technical terms like that to describe
human interactions?
It's not something you want to do all the time, obviously. But
if you want to understand how something might be converted to
software, or how software might be converted to human actions
or interactions, it's a good ability to cultivate.
I just think of it as translation.
....
There you go. A few more things you can use to generate
profitable ideas. And even if you want to do software and don't
know how to program, don't fret. You could pay someone to
create it for you. Or you could trade services.
Or better yet, partner with someone. A copywriter, for
example, could create the marketing materials and drive
traffic, while the programmer could do the initial work and
provide support.
All sorts of options.
Speaking of which, don't forget to grab a copy of "The Map."
http://talkbiz.com/themap/?e=1
Just one more product idea you can add to your arsenal...
Enjoy!
Paul
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Find this useful? Buy me a beer...
http://www.buy-paul-a-beer.com
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Copyright 2012 TalkBiz Digital, LLC
"100% of the shots you don't take don't go in."
- Wayne Gretzky
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