Many information product authors look at booklets, audio CDs, workbooks, ebooks, and the like as a way out. It’s a way out of earning money in exchange for time. It’s a way out of certain aspects of customer service. It’s a way out of having to be articulate and brilliant every waking moment. It’s a way out of keeping someone else’s schedule.

In lots of definitions, yes, it is a way out. And, like everything else, it needs to feed a part of you in order to sustain you and it. For you, it may need to be interesting, lucrative, motivating, comforting, easy, varied, unlimited, and a few other things. Only you know (or discover) what those requirements are.

It reminds me of the whole conversation about whether a move to a new location or a change in a relationship is going from or going toward something. I’ve done both and you probably have, too.

Developing, marketing, and selling products might look like a way out for you if you’re feeling limited and burdened by either a solely/primarily-service business or by being employed by someone other than yourself. No question that there are many rewards in product development. Don’t be surprised, however, when you notice that it could be just different challenges, easier challenges, more satisfying challenges, and challenges nonetheless. These challenges are probably a whole lot more manageable.

Re-purpose your knowledge into hard copy and digital products. Start today with one product and let your imagination and your market guide your way out of limitations and toward endless possibilities.

First step – Plan Ahead.

The biggest investment you make into networking is your time. And most people don’t budget it adequately to maximize their results. They show up late and leave early. Reverse this – show up early and leave late – and give yourself enough time to connect with people before and after meetings officially start.

Here is a little secret I’m going to share with you that very few people do. Plan and block time to evaluate your results after the meeting.

Was that group a good match for you?
Look through the business cards you collected – did you have an opportunity to really connect with those people?

How will you follow up?
These are just a few questions you should be asking yourself after each meeting. This is just as important as showing up in the first place. Most people skip this step and end up frustrated and overwhelmed because they don’t take the time to “get organized.”

Step number two. Choose wisely where and who you network with.

Again and again people ask me, “There are so many different groups, what are the basic groups and where can I get the biggest bang for a buck?”

First, you have to know that there are no right and wrong groups in general -they are just right or wrong for you.

There are basically four main categories of groups out there:

• Professional associations. Most every larger city will have local chapters of organizations that bring together professionals involved in the same trade. Attorneys, Consultants, Contractors, Manufacturers, and so on – all like to hang out together. With a bit of research you can easily find such groups near you.
• Non-profit organizations. Personally, I think everyone should be involved in some organization that allows them to give back to community. And there are a lot of good causes to get involved in. This gives you good visibility, and access to other local leaders you might find hard to meet otherwise. Plus – it’s just a good habit to contribute time and money to help others.

While you shouldn’t count on getting business from these groups right away, when you do – it will be worth your while many times over – trust me.

Professional networking meetings. Like those organized by your local Chamber of Commerce or other, privately owned groups. While probably the most popular, these can often be a “total mixed bag”, and unless you have a solid plan to “penetrate” the group fast and position yourself as a highly visible COI (more on that later) you’ll be terribly disappointed with results you get from such groups.

Lead Exchange Groups. These typically allow only one person in each profession and meet regularly only for the sole purpose of exchanging leads with each other. While groups composed of well established professionals can be really effective in cross promoting each other’s businesses, in most lead-exchange groups there just two or three people that end up giving and getting most referrals – and everyone else just isn’t getting it.

Frankly, I think that unless you find a group with really savvy, well-established professionals in it – these groups are totally ineffective for the amount of time and money that you are asked to invest in them. (OK, I can just see the flood of emails on this one from people determined to prove otherwise!)

Finally, remember that depending on your business and who your clients are, your best place to network could be a golf-club membership and weekly round of golf. Or a monthly first class flight from one major city to another. And don’t overlook people who already have you as a client. Hey, I stumbled upon an entirely new niche, simply because my daughters needed braces!

Step number three is to prepare your ABC – and that stands for Audio Business Card™.

People judge you by their first impressions of you. And if what you say to them in the first few seconds isn’t clear, compelling and memorable – well, you’ll just slip into oblivion like dozens of others we run into every day and then quickly forget them.

I bet you took at least a few hours, if not a few days, to design your printed business card. But did you take at least 15 minutes to develop and practice your ABC?! I bet not!

Teaching you how to develop a good ABC is a subject for whole new lesson, but here is just the gist of what works and what doesn’t.

Don’t say:

• Your title, like “I’m the president of Blah, Blah, and Blah, Inc” – boring!
• Your label, like “I’m a consultant” – OK, good for you, now tell me “what do you do”?
• Where you live and work – I’ve never met anyone who’s hired me because of my street address!
• How long you’ve been in business – people really don’t care if I stepped off the boat yesterday, or if I’ve lived here my entire life. All they want to know is – if and how I can help them.

Do say:

• Who your ideal clients are.
• What are their biggest problems you solve for your clients.
• How your clients are better off as a result of working with you.
• How to best start benefiting from your services right away (more on that in a moment)

This is really a critical skill. If you don’t know how to create magnetic first impressions and don’t have an effective Audio Business Card – don’t bother leaving your office. Your getting any business from networking will be purely accidental, and your chances for landing a new client or referral are as good as those of being struck by a lightning – if you catch my drift.

Step number four is positioning.

Simply put, most people in the networking environment are prospecting – looking for potential clients. Positioning is about reversing this process – allowing potential clients to FIND YOU. It’s a big difference when you have people coming to you versus you chasing them.

There is an entire process I teach my clients around this concept. And it starts long before you even show up for any meeting. It’s not hard to do. With a bit of cleverness, and some advanced planning, anyone can do it.

Step number five is about preparing bait.

You must have Attraction Tools™ in place. Finding clients is a bit like going fishing. You may love strawberries, but you would never put a strawberry on a fishing hook and throw it in the water because fish don’t like strawberries. So you have to think about what kind of bait your audience likes and prepare that bait.

When I first got started I quickly build a database of over two thousand subscribers to my newsletter, simply by offering an attractive bait, and promoting it effectively by turning my printed business card into an advertising billboard.

Step number six is about meeting COI and becoming a COI – or a Center of Influence!

Every group has a number of core members – a higher echelon reserved for top movers and shakers. These few savvy entrepreneurs likely exchange more business amongst each other than the rest of the group combined.

Your job is to become part of this group as quickly as possible. Effective networking is not only about who you know, but even more importantly about who knows you. So becoming one of the big fish in a small pond is like hitting a lottery jackpot – new business will just keep coming in!

Step number seven is about delivering immediate value.

One of the easiest ways to build relationships and deliver value is by being interested in other people. We all love to talk about ourselves. But when you network, if you are able to temporarily suspend your own need to blabber on about yourself – you’ll instantly be better off than 99% of other people in the room.

Next, keep in mind that people are naturally lazy communicators and lazy thinkers. They tend to say the same thing to everyone they meet. So even a slight variation from their typical pattern makes the moment of meeting you more memorable.

Actually it’s not that hard to say memorable things in an environment where most everyone else is trying to sell something. Dimply DON’T ASK FOR THE BUSINESS! Be curious, ask engaging, challenging questions. Or you can develop a Polish accent (OK, so this one may not work for you as well as it works for me – but it’s worth a try, right?)

Step number eight is about getting maximum visibility.

Once you’ve invested your money and time into actually getting together with other people, you might as well get the biggest bang for your buck out of it, right?

Most people are simply invisible! Even if you meet them, they seem to work so hard on making any impression on you, that you likely forget them right as you turn around to “Hi” to the next person.

Getting visibility is easy – if you know how. Here are just a few simple tips:

• Volunteer to run the registration table.
• Appoint yourself an official greeter and meet everyone as they walk into the room.
• Stand up and share a great resource with everyone in the room
• Ask the speaker a question that will allow everyone else to see your expertise in certain subjects.

Step number nine is simple – Follow up. Follow up. Follow up…

In the last five years I can probably think of less than a dozen people who have actually followed up with me as they promised! Even fewer followed up with me more than once or twice. This is terrible. Some of those people I really wanted to do business with – but they frankly let me down by disappearing.

Aren’t you concerned about how much business you lose by “disappearing” on people after you’ve invested so much of your efforts into connecting with them in the first place?

I learned my ultimate lesson about following up when I was courting my wife. I might have thought I was prince charming, but it took me two years, and multiple “irresistible offers” before she thought that too and bought into the deal. I’ve been now married for fourteen years and have two gorgeous daughters. It would’ve never happened if I didn’t follow-up, and follow-up, and follow-up – for two long years!

Bottom line, you must have a system in place that will allow you to effortlessly and automatically keep in touch with potential clients – “till they buy or die!”

It’s never a good thing when you rely on one stream of income. That stream dries up and you’re, ahem, up that creek without a paddle.

That’s why having multiple streams of income is so valuable. One stream dries up, you’ve got a few other ones to depend on.

(On another note, have you noticed how money is often referred to in water terms? Cash FLOW, multiple STREAMS of income or just income STREAMS. Just something to think about.)

But talking about getting multiple income streams and actually implementing them in your business are two entirely different things. That’s why today I’m going to share 3 quick and easy ways you can start adding more streams right now.

1. Information products. Creating a product based on your expertise is a fabulous way to start diversifying your income. This is especially good if you’re a service provider — now you’re providing other ways for your customers to work with you rather than them paying you to work with them one on one.

But information products doesn’t mean you have to sit down and write a book. You can do a teleclass or a series of teleclasses. Or maybe you do a video. Just make it easy for you to create. (The idea here is NOT to spend months or, worse, years crafting your product — the faster you get it done the faster you’ll make money on it.)

Still feeling stuck? Try this. What’s the biggest problem your customers come to you to solve for them? Can you do a teleclass or write a special report walking them through how to solve it themselves? Granted working with you would probably get the faster, better results, but remember not everyone has the money nor even the inclination (there are a lot of do-it-yourselfers out there, and you don’t want to exclude them.)

2. Licensing or certification programs. Do you have a special process you take your clients through? Why not package it up and sell it to other consultants like you? Lots of people are looking for proven methods and systems they can add to their business income streams. So in essence helping other people add income streams to their business while you’re also adding income streams to your business.

Now this one may not be all that quick to do, but I wanted to include it so you weren’t just thinking “info products” as your only option. Open yourself up to other options to making more income.

3. Offer advertising or sell other people’s products. With this one, you’re capitalizing on an asset you’ve built — your list. You have people who follow you, right? They’re on your list, they’re following you on social networking sites, they listen to your podcasts and/or teleclasses. Well, with this one you make money either by promoting someone else’s products and getting a commission, or you charge for advertising.

For advertising, think bigger then just selling spaces in your newsletter or web site or blog. What about offering sponsorships? Sponsorships aren’t just for corporate — they can also be your colleagues who want to reach your target market.

Of all the options, this one is definitely the fastest to pull together and takes the least amount of time for you to manage. However, if you don’t think it through, it does have the potential of diluting the impact you have with your list. If you’re interested in this option, do your homework. Find one or two people who have successfully offered this and ask them about it.

“My expertise is worth literally billions of dollars. Why would I put a $5 (or less) price tag on it?”

Yes, I completely agree that your expertise is absolutely worth plenty, and certainly a whole lot more than $5 for a single copy of your booklet, and charging even less when filling a large-quantity order. There is no denying it, even for a split second, by anyone’s definition.

And this is something I hear at least several times a week from you as a booklet author or someone consider creating one or more booklets.

Follow me for a moment into a slightly different perspective and then tell me what you think.

When was the last time someone paid you $5 for your business card? Yes, your actual business card, the one you pull out of your wallet or snazzy business card holder. Or even $1 or less for your business card or glossy company brochure? I’m guessing that has yet to happen.

And then, at their own expense and effort they sent that ‘business card’ to thousands (maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands) of people you have yet to meet.
And these people who got your ‘business card’ turns out are wanting to do business with you in a big way, people who can well spend thousands and thousands with you, who came to you through that ‘business card’ that you were paid $5 or less for.

And you turned several hundred percent in creating and distributing that ‘business card’ in the process.
How do you feel when you look at it from that perspective? Quite a bit different, isn’t it? Instead of paying out of your own pocket to reach beyond your current client base to generate additional business, someone else not only did it for you, they paid you to allow them the chance to do so. How does sit with you?

It turns out that booklets are more of an emotional experience than you may realize when first getting started. You feel that your image is on the line. Understandably so. It is not uncommon to hear you say the content needs to represent everything you know or ever expect to know on your topic. You are not realizing a booklet is the entry point for the reader into your expertise, that you will develop other products to take the reader further.

You think the design of your booklet has to be a 4-color cover with photography, a glitzy interior design, include reference to every product and service you offer, and have not a single typo anywhere in it or it is nothing at all. Yes, image is important and excellence is the goal. There is no disputing any of that.

It is, however, more important to realize that overproduction of your booklet can make it too expensive for large-quantity buyers to bring into their budget, even with the current technology lowering the costs. Remember that those large-quantity buyers are your representatives. They want to pay you for them to reach a much larger fish bowl than the one in which you currently swim. If the large-quantity buyer wants a more involved or elaborate design, on a big enough quantity they can probably do a good job of that within their own company’s production activities by licensing specific print rights from you. When print is a large part of your buyer’s everyday business function, they can do production less expensively than you can.

Find those large-quantity buyers. They are at the head of the sales or marketing departments of corporations. They might even be at the head of investor relations for the company. Several years ago a booklet author licensed a booklet to that department for $30,000. It was a wonderful transaction and that ‘business card’ reached some very important prospects for the booklet author’s business.

Look also at associations. Have the association make the purchase from you so they can engage one of their sponsors in subsidizing it. The members of the association get your ‘business card’ and, once again, are potential clients for your business.

Do you still feel you are undervaluing your expertise by charging $5 or less on a booklet? I didn’t think so.

The fifth deadly mistake of home page design is poor use of copy and copy optimization techniques.

You see, one of the ways you can attract ideal clients to your website is through search engine optimization. But if you aren’t maximizing the use of SEO opportunities on your website, your pages won’t rank high enough in the search engines to get noticed.

Here are some tips to help you leverage the power of “on-page” SEO to attract your ideal clients.

Step 1: What key words are your idea clients using to find products and services like yours?
You’ll need to do some keyword research … don’t just guess. Find out the actual words and phrases that are being use by your target market to find businesses like yours.

Step 2: Use those key words and phrases strategically throughout your website.
Your keywords should be used appropriately, strategically and with restraint (you don’t want to be dinged for key word stuffing), in several places:

• Meta tags: These are tags used by search engines to understand what your page is about and how (or whether) to index it. One of the meta tags should include an appropriate list of key words.
• H tags: These are the tags that specify your headers and sub-heads. H tagged phrase are given more weight that bolded text, which is given more weight than standard text, in search engine algorithms.
• Image tags: One of the attributes of an image tag is “alt.” This is used by readers for the blind to describe the image. It is also used by search engines in image searches. Having your key word descriptions in the alt tags can increase the number of places your website shows up.
• Your copy: Of course your website copy should also have an effective key word density of about 2% to 3%.

Want to know what all five deadly mistakes are? Grab a copy of my new book, Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with Their Website’s Home Page and How To Fix Them! at www.homesweethomepagebook.com. Stop by the website between March 15 and 19, 2010, to join the launch and housewarming party, and download a plethora of free gifts!