Finding Profitable Products For Your Online Business

By Greg Montenegro
Posted Friday, December 10, 2004

Emerging entrepreneurs from around the globe would like to try their hand on online marketing. Where to start and what to sell are the first stumbling blocks for these aspiring entrepreneurs.

Fortunately, entrepreneurs can overcome this state of inertia given the right guidance. This article aims to guide and stimulate your creativity on how to generate one’s online product.

To cash in from the marketing advantages of the Internet you must first provide a product. There is an existing theory in marketing on existing pattern people buy products.

Significantly, product must be something that people want not what they need. If you offer only what people need you may not get a strong demand for your product. It is a fact that people buy based on emotions. People have to justify their decisions to buy after making a purchase from an emotional standpoint.

To put it another way, people will always make a decision based on emotion and justify it logically. The product must be able to grab the interest, desire and inspiration of your potential customers. Interest, desire and inspiration will trigger the emotions, which will create a ”want” of a product. This is a key concept if you want to have a successful product online.

Some people will be at a loss in finding a product. A good program for a beginner is to join an affiliate partnership. An affiliate program allows anyone who has a website to sell and promote a product in exchange for a commission. Affiliate merchant pays between five percent (5%) to seventy five percent (75%) commission. The job of an affiliate is pretty easy. There are no products to develop, carry or ship and no orders to process and refund. All the hard work is handled directly by the affiliate company. The popular affiliate companies are, Amazon, Ebay, Commission Junction, Be Free, Click Trade Link Share, among others.

Another method for searching products is during the Christmas season. Whatever the economic class they fall into, as a rule, people prepare for gift giving. A pervasive sense of generosity fills the air, and seemingly, people have more money to spend. The last 2 “ber” months are the best time to look for opportunities.

To cite an example stall in most malls are a good venue to look for new products. These stalls also are a good place to see if the potential product will actually sell and can be sustained by the market. The workplace is also a good place to find opportunities. There are a lot of corporations looking for Christmas giveaways. Because of budget constraints, corporations always look value for money. Since people may be too busy to go and shop, one can avail of the informal market place tucked under the desk of the enterprising employees. This mode can be a promising outlet for the potential product. Staff also organize exchange gift programs and create the need for daily or weekly gift-giving that leads up to the annual office Christmas party.

On the other hand, executives are looking for presents for their staff, their peers, and boss. On the other, rank and file look for gifts for their bosses. Indeed more opportunities in November and December, that one will ever get in the other ten months of the year given the general propensity to spend at this time. If your product cannot sell in the next 45 days. It will certainly be more difficult to do so later.

I hope this article was able to stimulate your creativity. Pull out your new product ideas from your thinking cap. Incubate them now and find out if they have an economically sustainable market. Be sensitive and monitor how the market reacts to them.

Most importantly, It is not enough to have just a product. If it does not sell, you must find reasons why it did not sell.

About the Author
Mr. Montenegro is has been in international marketing since 1992. His firm exports computer parts to Asia. He supplements his income with Google and Ebay. For practical tips and online opportunities please visit (www.geocities.com/pexcor/millionaire.html)