The following five tips will help you choose the BEST price for your product or service, and avoid the common pitfalls that could be robbing you of hundreds of dollars in profit per month.

1. DON'T ask colleagues or friends!

At least not the ones who are already firmly grounded in a successful business.

The problem here is two-fold.

First, colleagues normally just tell you what other people in your market are charging for what you offer. WRONG! If you offer X, Y, or Z better than, or over, your competition ... WHY would you price your product the same?

I recently asked colleagues for their pricing suggestions on a new project I'm working on, and let me tell ya ... I was pretty darn disgusted with the answers. ~LOL~  One person even said, "Well, the going price for other 'secret-project-types' is '$much-too-low-of-a-price'".

I was left thinking, "Don't these people see the value I'm offering here? Don't they see how much better it'll be than almost ANY similar product out there? Don't they see that this is NOT even being OFFERED on the market yet? Don't they SEE??!"

NO! They don't.

No one ever sees your vision as clearly as you, because, well ... it's not their vision. And even if they did, probably 95% of the e-biz population is stuck on pricing their products *in the same range as everyone else*.

If you're not trying to DO that, don't ask 'em.

2. DON'T ask subscribers. (We lie!)

Well, we do. Whether it be intentionally or otherwise, we do. We just can't help it.

I mean, some will be honest, but the vast majority will tell you the price they're "comfortable" paying -- the price they WANT you to charge -- which often varies widely from the price they're "WILLING" to pay once you release the product.

Although I know your list is always the most eager to help you, and are the best people to ask really ANYTHING when you need help ... in the case of pricing issues, consider this:

Your readers look up to you because THEY generally feel -- whether true or not -- that you know MORE than them in the area you're writing about. So why ask someone *less* experienced on such an important issue as pricing?

Also, subscribers know you're asking them for a price you'll soon expect them to PAY for your product. Why, then, would they give you a high one? Or even one representative of what your product is *truly* worth?

3. DO ask beta testers, experts who ARE where you want to be, or possibly, even past customers.

If you want to be making $20,000 a month, ask someone about pricing who's making $20,000 a month. If you want to make your living online, ask someone who's doing it. And give everyone a review copy of your product, so their suggested price is most accurate.

Though others may know what they're talking about, it's always best to go right to the head of the class, when possible. That expert advice, combined with the opinion of beta testers, is probably THE best counsel you could ever get on how to price your product.

4. When testing a price increase, remember -- compare profit ONLY (*NOT* the number of sales).

It's easy to become disillusioned if you're only focusing on the number of sales you get each day, or each week. You need to look at the big picture to avoid losing out on a lot of cash flow by being shortsighted.

For example, say you got 15 sales per week of your product at your OLD price of $27 per copy, and 9 sales per week at your NEW price of $67/copy.

At your old price, you would've gotten $405/wk. But at your new price, you'd get $603/wk. While the initial drop in sales volume might be alarming, the second option leaves you with nearly $200 more in weekly cash flow than your earlier price point.

Admittedly, $27 to $67 is a pretty sizable jump in price from one day to the next, but what have you got to lose? If it doesn't work out, you can always add more to the VALUE of your product to support the price increase.

5. If you're scared, start small.

Well, not small -- "medium".

I know that if you're used to pricing your products low, it can be pretty darn scary to just all of a sudden up and decide to price higher. Especially if it's WAY higher.

Instead, just start the increase by adjusting your products to "medium-priced", then progressing to high.

NOTE: If you're trying this out on a new product (as opposed to one that's already priced low), DON'T start out low. You'll still have to battle the same stigma if you do.

Put the above five tips to work immediately, and keep more of your profit in YOUR pocket.