Part 3 - Where to get free information, where people will actually tell you what they want to know, and you can use to develop a sellable product. 

"If you are going to think, think BIG"

Donald Trump

Earlier we talked about how to generate product ideas from your own knowledge and experiences, but there are places you can go to where people actually tell you, without them even knowing it, what information they and other people are seeking.

What I'm talking about are online forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms and the like.

You can tell how popular a topic is by checking how many participants or postings there are.

The content you review is the actual postings themselves.

In forums and bulletin boards, people have questions that other people answer. Online forums and bulletin boards provide a wealth of research information for the creation of new products.

Here's one forum from Digital Photography Review, where you can find out what people are discussing around the topic of digital photography. You can go to this site at

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/. (Assuming it’s still operating - some things change quickly on the net).

Don't be unprofessional and unethical by just copying & pasting their text directly into your word processor to use as your final product. Unless there is a copyright notice on the site saying that you may not copy the information contained or posted on it, you may certainly copy it so that you can remember it for research and topic inclusion or when you're looking for product ideas. There’s also nothing wrong with completely re-writing in your own words what was written.

If you are ever in doubt, contact the site owner.

To find more forums and forums in your niche or area of interest, search the Internet under "forums" adding your interest area in the search. (For example: “horse forums”).

Like I said, check first for copyright notices on the forums and bulletin boards you visit. You don't want to be breaking the law. But you can't be penalized for using the idea that came from a question and answer.

The idea is to check out all the answers first for accuracy and then check every link they promote and that you may be considering including in your product. Click on the link and actually go to the site that’s being recommended.

Is the site legitimate and appropriate? Do they look professional?

Remember, your professional reputation is on the line if you're going to recommend them.

Does it look like they plan on being around for a while?

Here’s a tip: Before you include any link in your product that leads your viewer through to a product for sale, you should first find out if they have an affiliate program.

What’s an affiliate program?

An affiliate program basically works like this: The other site owner, who is selling something, will give you a special link to include in your product - You will need to sign up into their affiliate program in order to get this free link. This link will be unique to you and you alone. This link identifies that it is you who is referring someone to the other site owner’s product.

Now, if someone clicks on that link from your product and ends up buying a product from the other site owner then you get sent a commission (usually up to 50% or more of the sale price!).

Remember, you are in business and you want each of your actions to work for you. So, if the site you’re linking to is not selling products, you may consider offering the site you're linking to a link swap. They add a link on their site that leads back to your site or product in exchange for you adding a link to theirs.

You may or may not be able to get this, depending on the popularity of the site and the stature of the site owner.

If you are going to link to another site, make sure that what they do augments what you do and doesn't compete with it.

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