The first question everyone asks when they about starting an online business is a the most natural one, "What do I sell?" Then, in almost all cases, the question immediately following is, "Where do I find it?" The third question is usually, "OK I know what and where, now how do I go about doing it?"
Most of these questions are answered in my article on What to sell online, however answering the topic of selling online products online turned out to be an article unto itself.
~Software, Ebooks, Domain Names, Hosting Custom or Biz in a Box Websites
Most of these can almost always be purchased from wholesalers, and with a good product selection that suits your individual business vision and needs you can easily and cost effectively build the proverbial multiple streams of online income.
More about the wholesalers later, but first lets go over the caveats.
Wholesaler Caveats:
A: You will invariably find yourself competing with the very same wholesaler you purchased your product from, and they will have a running headstart, a greater online presence, higher search engine ranking and more advertising capital.
B: You will invariably find yourself competing with everyone else who has purchased the same product from that same wholesaler
So you will need to do one or more, or all of the following....
A: Become your wholesaler's affiliate and benefit from their greater exposure. True, you will be adding to your own competition, but later we will talk about why you are going to rise to the top like the cream of the crop.
B: Reach out to a niche (smaller subset) market and heavily promote your product there instead of trying to complete globally with Internet Marketing's equivalent of a 900 pound gorilla. Promoting your online business to your local market is an excellent way to accomplish this. See my article on
“Your Own Community Service Websites - The Golden Key To Success!” for ways to inexpensively accomplish this particular strategy.
C: Provide fabulously personal, friendly and quickly responsive customer service. The online world is notorious for lousy customer service that run the gamut of inadvertently poor due to lack of manners or ignorance, to automated communication failure issues, to techno-brat arrogance, to the con-artist's quintessential “I've got your money now and I don't give a flying flip!”
Provide old-fashioned courtesy, combined with honest dealing and great customer service and you will be so far ahead of the game that you will leave the majority of your competition lying in the dirt! Positive word of mouth advertising--even online--is still the best advertising you can have. (However, beware of testimonials when buying, because there is testimonial software that will easily let people fake this.)
D: Spend time promoting yourself and the unique qualities of your business online...and once again this is either going to take time or money or both.
* You can purchase links on topically relevant websites and blogs using a service like Google's Adwords, or an Affiliate Marketing distribution service or even a free banner rotation network.
Google is pretty much the industry standard but I do not recommend that you start out this way. You can waste a lot of money if you do not know what you are doing, so get your feet wet and try the “free” methods first.
You can go the “free” viral route and give away branded samples in the form of free trials and mini products, informative, branded PDF files, or branded software. This works best if you are giving away something unique which you have developed, or that is reasonably exclusive to your website.
You can write unique content with links leading back to your website and post that content on your own blog, the blogs of others, and article sites and forums that would appeal to the target audience you are trying to reach.
The three basic rules here are'
1. Pick your target well, do not waste your time posting to blogs or forums where there is no interest in your topic.
2. Make your comment or article relevant, leaving a comment just to get
a link back to your site is nothing short of rude.
3. Make your comments or article uniquely your own. Plagiarism is illegal, and on the Internet it's also a waste of time because it is duplicated content that is easily tracked back to the source.
So Now Back To Wholesalers. There are two types.
Small Ancillary Product Wholesaler:
If you want to sell anything online one of the best investments you can make is in a good Wholesale Small Products Membership with an affiliate program. For one low monthly fee they can provide you with a constantly updated selection of numerous products to brand and sell, or sell as is, or customize and make uniquely your own. Plus if they are good and they have an affiliate program and you make a few sales through your affiliate link, you will literally get all of your products for free. I know that sounds like a pyramid scheme, but it actually does work that way online if you pick a good wholesaler and market them along with the products you sell.
Another advantage of having a products wholesaler, especially for software and Private Label Rights(PLR) products is that you can then delete 90% of the nickel-and-dime-you-to-death Internet Marketing emails you receive without ever reading them, because 90% of the products they are trying to sell you are already available as part of that one low monthly price you pay your wholesaler. Why? Because that is the exact same place they got the products they are trying to sell.
The same is true for the ever popular Internet giveaways. If you have picked a good wholesaler 90% of the products given away are available through your wholesaler, and you do not have to give anyone your email address to get them. The only exception to this rule is, of course, the unique products that someone has specifically created as a giveaway product that is exclusively available through them. It's the law of supply and demand, control the supply and you up the demand, and reap the benefits of exclusivity.
Primary Product Wholesalers:
The Primary Product Wholesaler is almost always a much larger investment for the online business owner. They usually license products rather than sell the, and their primary value rests in the fact that with their greater expense comes greater exclusivity, and--except for the 900 pound Gorilla that you purchased your resale license from--you have less competition.
Products of this type include many scripted Biz in Box Websites, Domain Names, Software, Virtual Storefronts for physical products of all types, and Hosting Space for resale. These can all be wonderful products for the beginning online business owner, but once again the refrain is... do your research and make sure you pick the right product for you, and plan on spending money or time or both promoting your business.
****
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to
be generous, frank and independent.
– W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915
How To Build an Online Business Out of Thin Air - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.
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Teresa Bohannon
(Visit Teresa's Website)
Teresa Thomas Bohannon is a web designer,
hosting & domain provider & internet
marketing consultant. Teresa founded Spun Silk Web Design
in December of 1995 as one of the first
free standing female owned web design
firms in the country. Teresa is also the
founder the LadyWeb Family of
Informational & Educational Websites,
created to help women and men who dreamed
of starting their own businesses to find
their way inexpensively through the
available maze of website options, domain
and hosting providers, and software
solutions. Teresa's latest venture is
the MyLadyWeb
Self-Installing AdSense & Affiliate
Websites, a simplified turnkey option for
beginning online entrepreneurs.
Teresa is a published author of short
stories and holds an MA in history. She
also works full time as the Human Resource
Administrator for a non-profit political
subdivision of the State of Tennessee.
Teresa's personal cause, is revitalizing
literacy by renewing the dying tradition
of spending quality time reading "with"
children.
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