The key to profiting from your product development efforts is to sell your potential clients what they already want to buy and deliver it to them in a way that helps them solve their problem.

So how do you find that out?

Just follow this simple 3-step formula to develop products that your market already wants. While there’s never a guarantee that your product will sell, this method gives you the greatest chance for success.

Product Development Step 1: Find out what they’re already spending money on

Use your keyword research tool to find the 5 most searched-for phrases in your marketplace. You want keyword phrases that have at least 1,000 searches per month. Obviously, the more the better since that figure tells you how much demand there is for your expertise.

Once you know what the top keyword phrases are, check Google to see how many advertisers are paying to display Sponsored Links. If you have multiple pages of Sponsored Links (at the bottom of the list there is a link for “More Sponsored Links”), it’s likely the advertisers are making money from that keyword phrase.

Product Development Step 2: Find out what they want answers for

The easiest way to find out the biggest questions, challenges, or problems for your market is to spend time in forums where your prospects participate. You can do a search for “How do you,” “Need help,” and “Where do you go for.” To find those forums, just enter in the name of your market and the word forum.

Additionally, you can search for your keyword phrases to see the biggest questions people need answered. With this information, you can create an e-Book, a teleseminar series, even a training program geared specifically for what your prospects most want to know.

Product Development Step 3: Package your product in the easiest to consume format

It’s true that there are many different learning styles – some people like to read, some like to listen to audio, and still others like to watch videos to get new information. Some solutions, however, are geared to specific formats. For example:

• Showing a client how to load pictures on the web is easiest done in video format because they can see exactly what they need to do.

• Explaining a principle is often best in text format because it allows the reader to underline, highlight and add their own notes to really consume the information.

• Demonstrating things like proper pronunciation or rate of speed for speech training is well-suited to audio.

Be sure the information products you’re delivering to your clients are in a format that aids in the learning process.

Taking the time to find out what your prospective clients already want is more than half the battle in developing and marketing your own products. Don’t waste your valuable time creating products that nobody wants to buy.