'Gap in the Market'
New Product Idea Profile (part 2)

- Adding Audio to Auction Lisitings

ell, the first part of this profile which I sent out last Friday seemed to go down very well. I had plenty of feedback, with all sorts of questions flying in.

Strong competition…

One of the issues a few of you had was that there was already a strong competitor in the market. This being www.talkinauction.com (this site no longer appears to be in operation 22.5.06).

If I'm brutally honest, when I originally researched this idea a few months ago, I didn't come across that site. I'm pretty sure they didn't have it online then.

After having a look at what they are offering, I found it to be pretty expensive. They charge for every message you record, and then every time you link to it from each seperate auction. They were also showing two different conflicting price schedules, which was very confusing. I couldn't tell whether they were charging 10 cents or 50 cents per link. The price changed on different pages.

In any case, this might be a good option for someone that just wants to test out audio on his or her auction listings, but once you start adding it to multiple auction listings the price really mounts up.

A lot of eBayers will be put off by the on-going costs

• Idea #1 - You could create an info product that tells people exactly how to set up auction audio for a one off cost using website audio software. This would appeal to people that wouldn't want the burden of an on-going expense as with www.talkinauction.com (this site no longer appears to be in operation 22.5.06) . Some people just don't like to have on-going fees even if the one-off cost option is initially high.
  
  
• Idea #2 - You could create an info product that details all the different auction audio options, pros/cons etc open to eBayers, including both stand alone software and services like www.talkinauction.com (this site no longer appears to be in operation 22.5.06) and www.audiogenerator.com, which require on-going fees.
  
  This info could contain your own 'easy to understand' instructions for using each one. People like to know that they are making the right buying decision. Your analysis of the auction audio options will help them achieve that.
  
  Idea #3 - You could provide a guide on how to actually record the message itself. By this I mean how to talk, style, speed, length, background music yes/no etc. You could look at what sort of thing they should record I.E. details about themselves and or product details, after sales service etc. You could recommend a different style for different types of roducts/niches/auctions.
  
  
• Idea #4 - You could contact eBay sellers that are already using audio, and see if they will agree to be interviewed by you. You could use the interviews to form an information product along the line of 'Ebay powersellers reveal their auction audio secrets' etc. You'd have to just keep asking different powersellers for interviews, until you eventually get enough interviews to create an info product with.

A good idea would be to visit the eBay forum and other auction related forums. Just make a few posts, asking if anyone uses audio in the auction listings. If so, what are their experiences, good and bad? If they haven't done this yet, would they consider doing it if they knew how to do it?

Message forums are one of the best places to carry out market research online. Always perform a search in the forum archives, as there may have already been a good discussion on the topic in past, that you can use to glean information from.

If you can't beat them, work alongside them…

Chances are, you probably haven't got the money to hire a programmer to create your own auction audio software. That's not a problem. What I'm talking about is creating an information product that's based around the current options available in the marketplace.

Another obstacle that came to mind, was that a lot of eBay sellers aren't really that technical and probably don't have their own website.

The problem is, with most stand-alone website audio software, the actual recorded audio message has to be uploaded to a website. Now, loads of people won't have a website yet, and wouldn't have a clue how to get round this problem.

People that currently sell website audio software don't cater for these people. They are just marketing to website owners.

This is where you can take advantage

All they need is to use some free web space. There are loads of free web hosting companies on the web.

You could write an informative report that shows non-technical eBay sellers how to:

1. Record audio messages - what software to record with, etc.
   
   
2. What website audio player software you recommend that they use to play the recorded messages on their auction listings. Opportunity for back end profits with your affiliate link.
   
   
3. Specific instructions on how to add the audio message to their auctions. Including how to upload the recorded message to a free web host and then link to it using the audio player software, so that it is available for playback on their auctions.

Another great option would be to record everything on an on-screen video using Camtasia Studio from TechSmith.

With Camtasia, you can record your computer screen as you carry out tasks on your PC. If you have a microphone, you can explain exactly what you are doing as you carry out each step.

This sort of learning experience would go down very well with eBayers.

How would you promote this type of product? You would have loads of options including:

• Sell the info product on eBay itself.
  
  
• Advertise in ezines that target Auction sellers.
  
  
• Try to set up joint ventures with people that are already selling other eBay info products.
  
  
• If you sell your info product using ClickBank, you could benefit from having your own affiliates marketing it for you.

Just remember, the general principles and techniques that I have discussed so far in this idea profile, can be followed to create info products in almost any area.

That's all for today.

Bye for now,

Jason Lewis
Editor - 'Business Brainwaves' Newsletter