discover a niche and sell it online docx

written by Jeannie Pitt author, designer, entrepreneur Copyright © 2011 Published by Jeannie Pitt at Smashwords All rights reserved. No part of this material may be sold, duplicated, distributed, used on other websites, incorporated in commercial documents or products, photocopied or used for promotional purposes without written permission from the copyright holder. Discover a Niche Product and Sell It Online! You know there are ways to earn a living online, working from your living room. You’ve heard the success stories and your gut says ‘I can do this!’ But after some research, you’ve found that there’s a huge learning curve and you might be left wondering if you have what it takes to make it. The answer is YES! There are so many ways to earn a living online. You may never go from broke to millions overnight, but there are hundreds of thousands of people who are earning a comfortable monthly income by selling products and information online. You can easily be one of them. It’s not difficult, and these days there are plenty of tools to help you along. The best part… most of what you need is free! Many of the tasks necessary for online selling can be automated so that you can spend more time doing what you love. Depending on the direction you decide to take, you could set up your online store and sit back as the orders begin to come in. Others will ship your products or your online storefront will automatically deliver your digital goods. Your job can be virtually hands free. All you’d need to do is collect money and make sure your customers are satisfied. Imagine hanging out at the beach for a weekend and getting paid! All this is entirely possible and this ebook, Discover a Niche Product and Sell It Online! will show you the way. Inside, I’ll outline how to discover a niche product, how to get it online and how to promote while gaining visitors from all over the world. I wish you the best of luck with your entrepreneurial endeavors. I’ve been doing this kind of work for almost 15 years and I’ve learned a lot in that time. It is my sincere hope that you will find information contained in this ebook that positively changes your current situation with finances and time. Working from home can provide you with freedom and peace of mind, while adding ample financial support for you and your family. This is my wish for you. Best Regards, Jeannie Pitt Introduction There are two types of entrepreneurs in the world. There are people who dream up the creative ideas and there are people who know how to implement those ideas. Maybe you’re lucky and you have the skills to do both! If you’re like the rest of us, you don’t have enough time in a day to dream, learn, implement and profit from everything you’d like to do. Ideas come and go and years down the road you discover that someone else has cashed in on something you thought of 5 years ago. The internet has changed so many things about the way we do business. We buy differently and we have the opportunity to sell differently. An average person with little education, few skills and minimal computer knowledge can easily earn a comfortable living online. I aim to show you several ways to accomplish this by providing the steps you’ll need to get from A to Z, plus pointing out some very helpful free and low-cost tools and resources to get you going. In this ebook we’ll cover many points. I hope to provide you the information you’ll need, from start to finish, to get you online and selling products. We’ll discuss the following: • What is a niche product? • How to discover a profitable niche • How to find suppliers for your product • How and where to sell your product • Best ways to accept payments • How to promote your products and website • How to hire people, for minimal cost, to help you make all this happen This really is an exciting subject. Never before could anyone just decide to start a business and get it going in under a week. Now, this is precisely what I’d like to show you how to do. Before We Begin Before we begin, I’d like to point you to a few things that will be vital no matter what niche you choose to sell and how you plan to sell your products. • Sign up for Paypal If you don’t already have a Paypal account, go and sign up now. Paypal is the most popular way to accept money online and it’s safe and reliable. Paypal is free to join and integrates with most of the top shopping carts. They also provide simple pay and donate buttons for you to integrate into blog sites. Many of the websites that allow you to sell from a personal storefront also require a Paypal account for accepting royalties and paying listing or monthly subscription fees. Paypal is a popular solution and you’ll find that having an account with them is very important for your business. • Sign up for Google Adsense Google Adsense is also vital to your online business ventures. If you’ll be choosing to sell products using your own website or blog, you’ll have the opportunity to further monetize your pages by posting Google Adsense code. This program is fairly straightforward and a crucial way to earn additional monthly revenue. If you don’t already have a Google Adsense account, go and sign up now. It’s free as well. • Decide on Time vs. Money Once you have a successful website up and running, hopefully you’ll have an abundance of both time and money. At this point, however, you’ve likely got more of one than the other (though probably not much more!) If you’ve got more time than money, you might benefit from taking that time to perfect certain areas of your business. You’ll need to spend time researching, learning and tinkering to get the best results. There’s a bit of a learning curve with topics like keyword research, SEO and shopping cart implementation. Taking the time up front to learn about these topics will serve you well in the near future. If you’ve got a bit more money than time, I suggest you look into hiring freelance personnel to do some of your work for you. There are millions of people online who are building their reputations and will complete any work you need done for a very reasonable price. Check the resources at the end of this book for the best websites to hire a freelancer. Niche Products: What Are They and How to Find the Profitable Ones What is a Niche? A niche market is an area of business that’s virtually untapped or very small, specialized and profitable. For example, a very small market of people might be looking for an item that’s hard to find. If you can get access to that item or create it yourself, you’re in business! It may seem counter-intuitive to market to a very small group of people, but in reality, this is exactly what you want to try to do. There may be too much competition in larger markets and that means it will be harder for you to get attention to your business and products. Example: Selling iPhones vs. selling Pinup Girls iPhone cases We all know that iPhones are extremely popular. You might think that getting into the business of selling iPhones would be perfect. Since so many people are buying them, where could you go wrong? The Problem The problem comes with competition. There are so many high-profile businesses out there already selling iPhones that you’d have a very difficult time getting noticed. Unless you have some tactics up your sleeve, your brand new iPhone business would likely never be discovered by the random internet browser. On the other hand, if you decided to specialize in iPhone cases with pictures of Pinup Girls from the 30s, 40s and 50s, you’d be in a much better position to make sales. There may not be nearly as many people looking for such a thing, but if you’ve specialized in this type of product, your chances of being found are much greater. This results in more traffic and more sales. Specialize Your Market Another reason offering Pinup Girls iPhone cases would be much more effective is because it’s specialized. You might have some success selling iPhone cases in general, but customers will be more likely to find you amongst the billions of other websites if your site specializes around one theme. It could be Pinup Girls, military or insects, etc. Maybe only 30 people per month search for an iPhone case with a bumblebee image, but if you’re the one selling it, you’re more likely to bring in that sale. The example of Pinup Girl iPhone cases is purely for the purpose of demonstrating how to succeed with a niche. There are many untapped markets out there and if you haven’t yet discovered one, now is the time to start brainstorming. Finding Niche Products Finding niche products is not always an easy thing. Much of the process takes serious thought, research and discovery. If you’re new-agey, you could even meditate for answers! This may seem as far from business practice as you can get, but the truth is, if niche products and niche markets were easy to uncover, they would no longer be niches. Put a lot of thought into what types of products may be sought after by a very small, niche market. Think outside the box. Do a mind map, try some free association writing, research keywords and pay attention to what people are looking for online. Also keep in mind that you’ll enjoy selling products that interest you personally. Start brainstorming with products that you need or enjoy using in your own life, or centralize your products around an idea that interests you. The Benefits of Finding Niche Products Finding niche products to sell to a very small market gives you the opportunity to be the ‘go to’ person or website for that particular product. Especially if the product is spendy, you have a very good chance of cornering this market and earning a great deal of money. If a buyer has limited choices for making a purchase, and your business is one of them, you’ll earn much more money than if you’re selling the same products that can be found in any Wal-mart. Selling blenders won’t get you much attention or profit, but selling products that can help a left-handed golfer better his game might be the ticket! Ideas for Niche Products Finding ideas for niche products can be done with keyword research, market research or good old-fashioned gut feelings. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the most profitable niche products and market right off the bat, but generally this won’t be the case. It will take time and persistence to discover products that will earn you substantial profit. You may even need to discover a few niche markets to bring in the big bucks. The successful Internet marketers always say, ‘Find something that works and duplicate it.’ And speaking of the big boys, Mark Ling of Affilorama offers some amazing tools to help you with keyword and market research. In fact, you’ll gain tons of knowledge and information by checking out his free tools and browsing the free forum. This is an invaluable resource if you’re looking for ideas for a profitable niche. Some Examples of Niche Products The left-handed golfer scenario is used by many Internet marketers as the example for niche products and niche market. There are thousands of niche products waiting to be discovered and offered by you to your customers. Here are some examples: • Plus Size Shoes – maybe even girl shoes for boys?? • Plus Size Maternity Clothes – maternity clothes that are fashionable are hard to find! • Military Items – all kinds of possibilities here for selling to collectors and veterans • Antique items – you can find many niche products in the antique market • Organic and Holistic items – this market is growing fast, but many areas are still virtually untapped (this is where meditation comes in!!) Finding Suppliers for Your Niche Products Finding niche products that are readily available might prove to be challenging, but it may not be the hardest part when trying to set up a successful online business. Once you’ve dreamed up, located and discovered a product that you think will make a great niche, you need to be sure that product is readily available. Here are 5 ways to find niche products that are always readily available for your customers. Make, Craft or Manufacture Niche Products Yourself If you’re handy, crafty, artistic or creative, you can create your own products for your niche market, and there are a number of ways to sell your own products, too. We’ll discuss those in the next chapter. Use your natural born talents to draw, paint, sculpt or arrange something that could catch the eye of your visitors. Are you good at graphic design? You could supply your customers with logos or custom Wordpress themes. Are you amazing at wood carving, knitting or mosaic art? Think of everything you’re good at and see if your skills may have value to others. Craigslist, Thrift Stores and Antique Malls for Niche Products If your niche products are vintage or collectible, you could make it a habit to begin searching your local thrift stores, antique malls and garage sales. Craigslist also has lots of collectible items at reasonable prices. You might even follow suit from the television show Storage Wars and score big from buying abandoned storage units. Vintage items are often highly collectible, since production of these items has usually been discontinued. Old dolls, metal cars, sports cards and antique glassware are a few areas that come to mind. Research online to discover the value and popularity of items that you regularly see. A nice profit can be made by reselling older, gently used items. Many people will also buy brand name clothing that is in good condition or rare record albums by once popular artists. The possibilities really are endless. Join a Dropshipping Service With Access to Niche Products Dropshipping services provide you with access to suppliers around the world who offer a huge selection of niche products. No matter if you’re looking for certain types of electronics, clothing for babies or pets, fancy shoelaces or custom iPhone cases, there are a number of dropshipping services that can get you instant access to sell these products online. Compare dropshipping services like Salehoo, Doba and Worldwide Brands to start you off. A review of these three dropshipping services will be discussed in the next section. Contact Manufacturers of Niche Products You have the option of doing a little more of the dirty work and making direct contact with manufacturers of the niche products you’re interested in selling. In this case, you’d locate the type of product you’d like to sell and contact the company that makes it. Discuss options with them for you to purchase bulk quantities and store in your own space, like a warehouse or storage unit, or ask about dropshipping options. Often companies will entertain the idea of you becoming a reseller for their products, but success with this will depend on a number of things. Open an Online Consignment Shop for Niche Products If you’re neither creative, nor business savvy, all is not lost. Design your website to allow other people who already sell certain niche products to list their items on your site. People who design their own craft items or artistic projects are always on the lookout for new avenues to get their names and brands in front of the public. You could specify the types of niche products you’re looking for and get the word out for others to supply your store. Offer them a commission or royalties on sales and you’ll be good to go. What is Dropshipping? You’ve heard the success stories and you’ve heard about the scams. You understand that in order to make serious money online, you need a product; something to sell. It’s not always easy to find wholesale products to offer to your customers and that’s where dropshipping comes in. When you decide to use a dropshipping service, you’ll act as the middleman between the company offering wholesale goods and the customer looking to buy those goods. For this service, you’ll get to keep the profit or markup on each item. Not only do dropshippers offer millions of products at wholesale prices, but they also agree to ship the products directly to your customers. Your customers will place orders through your website or mailing list or on your eBay store or auctions and you’ll collect the payment. This payment will include any markup that you and your customers deem worthy. You’ll then place the order through your dropshipper for the wholesale cost. The drop shipper sends the order directly to the customer. The benefits to you when using dropshipping wholesale suppliers are endless: 1. No inventory – you won’t need to store products in a large warehouse, storage facility or your own living room! 2. Savings – you’ll likely get better shipping rates than if you toted packages to your local post office, plus you won’t need to hire employees to fill all those orders! 3. Millions of products – many drop shippers have access to millions of products in hundreds of categories. This means you get to choose which products to sell and you can probably find a dropshipping service that offers just about anything your customers are looking for. 4. No minimum quantity orders – generally, dropship suppliers understand your need for ordering products in small quantities, since this is the whole purpose of the industry. You can place orders for 1 product at a time, shipped directly to your customers. No minimum quantity orders of hundreds or thousands of the same product. 5. Online access – you’ll be able to access your accounts 24/7 via the internet. Keep up with order tracking, fulfillment, inventory control and payments right online. 6. Wholesale pricing – find competitive wholesale rates on millions of products. Keep the profit when you offer products to your customers at retail price. Using a dropshipping wholesale supplier can bring you positive cash-flow while saving you money in other areas of your business. With the ease today of setting up a website (no technical skills required) you can have an online business in minutes, without the hassle of inventory on hand. Earn significant monthly income with dropshipping. Now that you understand a little more about what dropshipping is, you can begin to research which dropshipping suppliers are right for you. The next three sections describe three of the top dropshipping services available now. Salehoo Salehoo is an online directory of suppliers and wholesalers that dropship products in every category imaginable. Salehoo provides a community of over 75,000 members who participate in forum discussions and offer advice to you as an online supplier of dropshipped goods. Benefits of Dropshipping with Salehoo You can benefit from using the Salehoo dropship directory if you are: • an eBay seller • an online storefront owner • a website owner [...]... sleek and professional design Payment processing is handled directly through Amazon and many online tools are available to assist you in driving traffic and making sales Etsy Etsy is an online marketplace for all things handmade If you plan to make your own products or sell supplies to others who enjoy handicrafts, this is the place for you Low listing fees and high traffic make Etsy an excellent place... schedule Tweets, track keywords, shorten your URLs and automatically follow people who follow you Hootsuite Hootsuite is another tool that’s invaluable for organizing and keeping track of Twitter, Facebook and other social media posts Set up all your Twitter accounts and Facebook pages and track analytics, view streams, schedule messages and more Twitter Directories There are also a number of Twitter directories... will be vital to any decision you make No matter how you design your website or which shopping cart you prefer, you’ll want to take advantage of the possibilities that Paypal offers Your buyers can easily pay you via their existing Paypal accounts, or they can pay using a credit card, even if they don’t have a Paypal account What does this mean? It means that it s not exactly necessary, at least from... Popular choices for an online storefront include eBay stores, Etsy and the Amazon Webstore Both eBay and Amazon charge monthly fees for access to their creation tools and both have a good reputation with flooding traffic to their sellers Etsy is also very popular, but caters to a specialized niche eBay Stores An eBay storefront would be best suited for someone who’s already familiar with how eBay operates,... website has a much bigger learning curve than following easy online tools, but the benefits are much greater Additionally, there are many tools available to help you easily create a website In the past, you might have needed coding and design experience, plus special software Nowadays, special tools are available for simple website creation Here are some benefits to having your own website with your... for a royalty These websites generally provide you with a personal profile page to promote and all the tools necessary to make money with your creative and artistic abilities If you’re planning to make your own products, one or all of these websites may provide you with a perfect outlet for earning money online Zazzle Zazzle is a platform for the creation and sale of quality custom products Individuals,... placement and tracking within a single system Watch lists available to keep track of products you are interested in selling Automated sales tools with popular sales and social sites like Facebook, eBay and ProStores • • • • • • • Inventory alerts for notification when certain dropshippers are running low on products you are selling Access to Doba Deals Access to research tools and monthly educational reports... design and sell products • Open a storefront on an existing website • Start your own website There are advantages and disadvantages to each one of these options First let’s discuss how to create a profile on an existing website and use online tools to create your own products Create Your Own Products Online There are several online sites that offer tools to design and create your own products and sell. ..• • • • an online trader a traditional retailer a flea market vendor a work at home mom or dad What You’ll Get From Salehoo One major benefit of selecting Salehoo as your direct link to dropshipping wholesalers and services is that the website not only provides access to thousands of dropshipping suppliers, but it also gives you access to many, many tools for education and training Here is what you’ll... Paypal and other payment options, plus Wordpress is very easy to customize This setup would be ideal if you plan to sell your own creations or products from a very specialized niche Having this type of product on a blog would allow you to write articles about each product and add promotional materials to really personalize your sales Paypal Speaking of Paypal, this online payment solution will be vital . to sell and how you plan to sell your products. • Sign up for Paypal If you don’t already have a Paypal account, go and sign up now. Paypal is the most popular way to accept money online and it s. that are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Take a look at the Zazzle. placement and tracking within a single system • Watch lists available to keep track of products you are interested in selling • Automated sales tools with popular sales and social sites like Facebook,