If you are fortunate enough to have a product or service or access to products, you have a head start on marketing them on the Internet. If you don't have a product and you want to start an Internet marketing business, then you are going to have to do some work. The type of product(s) you sell can have a big impact on whether or not you are going to be successful. Companies like Amazon have huge selections of products. So if some don't sell very well, they just make up for them with the ones that do. As and independent marketer you don't have that luxury. Therefore, you have to find products that are going to stand a good chance of appealing to the general public or a niche market. In that regard, if you can find one good product that sells, you are far ahead of the game. Good products for Internet marketing have certain characteristics.
They are products that -
Are small enough to be easily picked up - Unless you are going to have a product drop shipped it is advisable to go with smaller products. Big and heavy products cost more to ship both in (if imported) and out
(not to mention any returns and storage).
Are specific, niche products - It is much better to find one niche product that sells rather than to sell a lot of products in a niche market. Once you become successful, you can offer others.
Sell for between $10-200 - These price points allow you to have a workable profit margin while keeping start-up and overhead costs low. Furthermore, any markets that do have volumes under $10 are
typically going to be run by big companies that can work on low margins.
Have a constant stream of buyers - Although you can make a lot of money selling fad products, you are going to be better off in the long run by selling products all year long and for the foreseeable future. Stay away from products that change often. You also don’t want to sell seasonal items, like
Halloween Costumes or Christmas Ornaments.
Sell for twice as much as your buy price - Don't even look at a product with less than a 100% markup, which is a
50% margin.
Products to stay away from items that -
Are mechanical in nature and that demand high quality standards and warranties -This one should be self-explanatory. You definitely don’t want to
be dealing with things like power tools and
manufacturing machinery, as this is just a headache waiting to happen.
Are sold at big box stores - Selling products that are sold by the giant retailers is
missing the point. You want to find a single deep-niche products with
consistent buyers. The idea is to undercut current selling prices and to reduce risk.
Are fragile and require perfect shipping practices - Selling products like this is a nightmare waiting to happen.
Have multiple “Power Sellers” already selling in large volume - Selling products that already have many power sellers who sell thousands
of units a month is not going to get you very far You just won't be able to compete with them. Don’t let a little competition discourage you, but also
don’t try to to compete with
companies say on eBay that are selling 20,000 factory items direct every month.
Are trademarked – If you are importing products, don’t buy
anything with a trademark on it. They are probably counterfeit and selling them won’t get you very far. In fact, you will be inviting a law suit.
Please note that there are always exceptions to everything. For instance, if you are interested in affiliate marketing then you want to be playing with the big boys or selling products that sell well (more on this in a future post).
Finally. the right informational, subscription, and service type products can and do sell well on the Internet. Obviously, your online business(s) can go in many directions. The bottom line here is to keep looking, keep learning and keep trying different ideas. It all takes time, but if you keep the above three things in mind you will eventually succeed.
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