People ask us all the time "what should I sell online?"
We always respond by saying, "tell us what your interests are".
If you are interested in selling a product or service online but don't
know where to start then you should look to your own interests to
get an idea of what to sell.
The chances are if you are interested in something so are a great
number of other people.
The point is it is easier to achieve success if you focus your business
on something you like to do or are passionate about. For instance,
if you love martial arts then you could focus your business on marketing
products and/or services to others who also love martial arts.
Being an insider gives you a keen insight into existing problems in
your field. This is important because you always want to sell solutions
to existing problems. However, not just any problem. You have to know
which problems people are willing to pay to solve.
So how do you know what problems people will pay to solve?
Ask them using surveys. Surveys help you research your target market
to find out exactly what solutions they are willing to pay for. Why
spend the time and money to produce a product if no one wants to buy
it? If you spend your time and effort in creating and running surveys
to determine what someone wants to buy you can confidently produce
it knowing that it will be profitable.
Use The Ultimate Marketers Resource Survey Creator to assist you in
tailoring your products and services into solutions your target market
will pay for. Click here to learn exactly how to use surveys to research
your market and find out what they want to buy.
Find out what products are already being sold to your target market
and create a similar product. For instance, we have a client who sells
motivational and personal development books, tapes and seminars and
he does over a million dollars a year in sales.
He has proven that people interested in personal growth and development
will not stop at one product in this industry. His customers are all
repeat buyers. They just can't seem to get enough of what he has to
offer. They keep right on buying and buying and he is just becoming
richer and richer.
Here's another example. A relative of ours is addicted to the new
age industry. This individual purchases hundreds of new age books,
tapes and courses and also attends seminars and motivational retreats.
Every time we see this person, she has yet another new age product
in her collection. And the buying frenzy is far from over. What a
goldmine!
So you see, there is still room for you even when competition exists.
Hang around forums and join discussion lists related to your area
of interest. You will find participants asking for help in solving
a problem, recommendations for products etc. If you see that the same
requests are being made over and over again by various people you
can identify this as either a problem that needs to be solved or a
void in the marketplace
that needs to be filled.
Contact those individuals via e-mail and let them know that you saw
their posts and ask if they would pay for a solution to their problems.
If they all say absolutely not then you know to move on (you do not
ever want freebie seekers as your target market). However, if some
or all of them say yes they would pay for a solution then you have
a winner.
Another great way to find out what people in your target market want
to buy is to go to Google Groups (a search engine for newsgroups)
and search for newsgroups in your target market. Once you find them
you then do a search for the keyword "WTB", this acronym
stands for "want to buy". This is people telling you exactly
what they are looking for and that they will pay for it. How much
easier than this can it get?
Now that you've found a problem that people are willing to pay to
solve, you must either develop a product or service or acquire an
already existing one. There are two extremely important points to
keep in mind when either developing or acquiring the right product
to sell:
1. When you solve a problem try to do it fast. Everybody wants results
NOW! They don't want to wait for results. For example, if you were
selling diet products, you would want to offer a solution to losing
weight that provides results in a few weeks time, not 6-12 months.
2. Make it easy for people to put your solution to use. People want
the most for the least amount of effort. Sticking with our diet product
example, people don't necessarily want exercise, most people looking
to lose weight would rather take a pill or drink a shake. You get
the idea. When you have these two ingredients, you have the formula
for a successful product and ultimately a successful business.
Sometimes in your search for a product to sell, you will discover
a segment of a market otherwise known as a "niche". This
niche has specific needs that may not have been met. If you can tailor
your product or service to this niche, you will be on the road to
big profits. Let's go back to the
martial arts example.
We know of someone who studies a particular style of martial arts
(there are hundreds). This person purchases videos that are aimed
at helping him progress through his training at a faster pace. He
would never purchase a video on martial arts in general. But he would
pay any amount of money for videos that pertain specifically to his
area of interest. And he is not alone. This is an extremely lucrative
niche market.
By discovering a smaller niche in a larger, more general target market
your chances for success greatly improve.
Instead of focusing on being everything to everyone, target a niche
and sell to them, the smaller and tighter the better. Selling to a
small niche market instead of to everyone under the sun is actually
easier and more profitable than trying to be everything to everyone.
So, now you need to decide whether the solution you will sell will
be a product or service. Well, what is the difference between the
two?
Products are tangible things that you can see and feel, the "stuff"
that you buy at department stores. A computer is a product. So is
a radio.
A Service is something that is performed by someone in exchange for
money. Maids, doctors, web hosts and ISP's provide services.
How do you decide which to sell? Unfortunately, we don't have a direct
answer. The answer lies in the problem you are trying to solve and/or
the void in the marketplace you are trying to fill and the information
you obtain from your research.
In your research don't just ask your target market if they are willing
to pay for a solution; offer them a few choices of what form they
would like the solution to come in: books, videos, audio tapes, seminars,
consulting, etc. This feedback will tell you whether they want a product
or service. You always want to sell people what they WANT.
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Article by Marc Goldman, Goldbar Enterprises. Since 1999, The Ultimate
Marketers Resource has been the only system enabling you to manage
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