Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees. This old saying may be trite, but it is completely true. If your online business is not making money, you may have tried any number of SEO techniques and marketing initiatives to help it along.
But have you considered that you just may not be offering the right products? All the marketing and SEO in the world is not going to bring in a profit if you are Selling Online Products that no one wants to buy.
How To Tell If You Need To Change Products
One clue that you may be offering the wrong items is your conversion rate. Are you reaching potential customers only to find that they leave your website as quickly as they enter it? You may be reaching the wrong customers, or you may be offering them the wrong products. Further examination of your keyword statistics should help you decide which it is.
How about your return rate? If your initial sales are great but you are experiencing a high rate of returns, it could be that consumers are expecting something different than what they received. Again, there could be other reasons for this, but chances are that if you offer a higher-quality product or one that is less expensive, you might see increased sales and a better profit.
Finding Online Products That Sell Well
There are a few things to consider when determining what products are best for you to sell on your e-commerce site: where you are located, the people you come into contact with, your knowledge of the product.
Before you start Selling Products Online you might want to first assess what products are currently in the most demand. There are a number of ways to do this. One way is to hit the streets in your town or the nearest major metropolitan area. Examine the amount of shelf space dedicated to certain items. Take a look at printed sales circulars. Pay attention to television commercials. Talk to your family and friends, especially the younger, hipper ones who are part of that all important 18 – 30 year-old demographic.
Scroll through a list of most searched keywords. You can find these listings at Yahoo, MSN, and other sites. This will give you a good idea of current market trends and hot topics.
Online Competition
The next step is determining how much competition there is for the products you’ve identified. If there are lots of online sellers already, the market could be saturated.
Then again, there might be a perfect opportunity available. Can you offer the same type of item at a lower price? Perhaps you can find a specific niche market relating to the product. The idea is to find a way to capture a portion of the market that is not currently being catered to.
There is no magic formula when Selling Products Online. You need to identify a need, provide a product that fills that need, and then convert qualified and interested prospects into sales. The product you offer is an important part of that equation – and could make the difference between profitability and so-so sales.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.AussieSEO.com 2010
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Sean,
I find choosing the right products to sell online one of the hardest things to do. It’s a fine line between choosing a product that’s in demand to trying to sell to a saturated market.
I need to consider more carefully what my conversion rate is telling me. Also, the product itself. I think if I choose a quality product that I personally love in the beginning, I will be able to avoid some of the more basic issues.
Thanks for breaking down the selling cycle so that I can assess more easily where my problem is occurring.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn Competition – This is It
Hi Sean
This is an exciting part of the journey, researching for products that are in demand and yet have to be products that I use and know are beneficial, well made etc.
This article is great as it gives me lots of clues of how to become the ‘Shirley’ Holmes detective to get all the right pieces of the puzzle to have a highly saleable product on offer to a hungry market (yes I am thinking very, very, positive here).
Now it will just take time, determination, dedication and focus to find great products, the same qualities I am learning to use in this competition!.
Elly Wilson´s last blog ..
What products to promote is one of my biggest bugbears too. Clickbank gives some guidance for its stable of products with ratings of gravity etc, but are they what my visitors are seeking – I think not or perhaps my promo is lousy – probably a bit of both.
One thing, I hope by the time our 7 weeks here are up, that I will have learnt what do better and bigger. The info is here if I drill down enough.
You could be trying to sell the wrong product or even attracting the wrong customers.
This article highlights how to find the right product to sell on your site and also if you need to change products.. A useful resource..
When it comes to “selling the right product online” which comes first, the chicken of the egg? Do I find a niche and look for the appropriate product that fits into it or do I take a product I really like and try to find the niche for it? Or does it really matter in which direction I approach the problem.
Don White´s last blog ..Psycho-
They always say find a niche that has good demand and low supply, so I figure that comes first.
Finding products then becomes easier as you can explore the niche and see what needs (information & services) are not being met and then provide them as your products – either by getting them through CB or CJ – or even better creating your own – as an e-book, MP3 recording or even a coaching course.
Selling the right products online is important for me in two ways:
- to make sure I don’t destroy my hard earned good reputation with a crap product
- to really add value for my clients with great products
Your tips on how to check out you are having the right products on your site are really great. Thanks
Renee´s last blog ..Self Improvement Books – What Are Your Favourites
Hi Sean,
Some very good points to consider in this article. It takes time to find the right product to sell.
Visiting department stores and taking note on which products have large shelf space allocations is something that makes a lot of sense. It gives an idea what is popular and sells well.
Online keyword research is another way to find products that are popular. Knowing keywords people use in online searches gives an indication on what product and niches they are interested in.
Jill Brown´s last blog ..Couples Marry at Common Law
This is something I have been thinking about for a while, especially since listening to your webinars. I feel I need to choose some different products to market as mine are not converting to sales. Selling the right online products is definately a huge part of your online success.
Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children
Sometimes it is a matter of getting the right traffic, and sometimes it is a matter of testing different products for comparison. I suspect there is always an element of hit and miss unless we have an in-demand product and then using great SEO are able to target the buying audience
Buy It and Try It.
There may be some products that may be out of your reach, however for the most part you should actually purchase the product yourself. You can actually learn a lot about the product this way. If you end up promoting it online you will be much better equipped to answer any question, provide your own tips and tricks and generally fell good about what you are telling people to buy.
Cemil´s last blog ..Scribe SEO Plugin – Making SEO Easy