The Big Secret revealed by John Reese: What should I sell online?

What should I sell online? What to sell online?

Ideas what to sell online? What to market on the internet?

John Reese did an excellent article about this:

#1 Problem Internet Marketers Have:

"What The Heck Do I Sell?"

I hear this time and time again...

People tell me they want to start making
money online but they have no idea
what to sell or how they will generate
an income.

The answer to this question, for about
95% of those making money online,
comes down to TWO product types:

1. CONTENT
2. MERCHANDISE

That's pretty much it.

If someone is making money online
they are probably making money from
one of those areas or both.

And there are TWO ways to market
and make money in those areas...

1. AFFILIATE
2. MERCHANT

Many people just want to be an
AFFILIATE so they don't have to deal
with shipping products and what many
feel is "actually running a business."

Hey, what could be better than just
driving traffic and getting paid?

There certainly is good money to be
made as an affiliate, but if you're only
focused on generating income as an
affiliate then you're really missing the
boat...

There's a lot more opportunity in being
a MERCHANT and having your own
affiliate force working hard to send you
traffic.

You've probably heard the analogy
before, would you rather have 100%
of your own efforts or 1% of the efforts
of 100 others?

(Or however that saying goes.) ;-)

In other words, it's a major advantage
online to have a group of marketers
working hard to send traffic to your
site! You don't even have to do any
work... they do all the SEO, PPC campaigns,
etc. You just pay that person a commission
after they send you a paying customer.

It really is the "ultimate" business deal.

But to be a merchant you need to be
selling your own products, right?

NOT EXACTLY.

This is a "myth" that most people
completely misunderstand.

Many marketers think to sell products
themselves they need to invent some
unique "widget" or go and put in months
of work to create some information product.

But let's back up for a moment...

I mentioned there are TWO main product
types being sold online:

1. CONTENT
2. MERCHANDISE

Content would be information products.
From ebooks to DVDs, CDs, manuals,
binders, etc.

But content can also be information freely
publishing on blogs, web sites, or in other
ways that is monetized by advertising.
(i.e. AdSense or ads sold to advertisers.)

So don't just think of 'content' as some
infoproduct that's sold. An active blog with
regular posts that's generating a good amount
of traffic and can be monetized by ads is
generating revenue from CONTENT.

To be in the content business as a
MERCHANT you pretty much DO
need to have your own UNIQUE CONTENT.

There are some minor exceptions to this
such as "resale rights" products but in the
over 15 years I've been marketing online I've
yet to come across anyone making a lot of
money from just selling a resale rights
product.

Hey, just being honest.

Resale rights products CAN make some
decent money for some, but the ones that
usually do well with them are marketers
that are already selling their own unique
infoproducts to a group of customers and
then make additional revenue by offering
the resale rights product "in addition" to
their main products.

I think many newbie marketers fall into the
trap that they are going to get rich if they
just buy the resale rights to some product
they will have the license to sell.

Why doesn't this usually work?

For the same reason almost anything won't
work... IT'S TOO EASY FOR OTHERS TO
REPLICATE.

In other words, when 1,000s of people can
buy the same resale rights, and all they have
to do is put the pre-written, pre-designed
web site online, the market is instantly
SATURATED with way too much competition.

There is MASSIVE opportunity online to
make money in a number of different
ways, but the best opportunities are almost
always those that take more WORK than
others.

Yep, that's the secret.

Okay so we discussed the CONTENT side
a bit. Unless you're going to do what it takes
to create your own in-demend, UNIQUE
content, it's going to be very hard to make
a lot of money.

So what's the other option?

MERCHANDISE.

This is the 'part' of making money online
that I think is the most misunderstood...

There are some companies online selling
their own unique products that they actually
manufacture, but you know what?

This is probably less than 0.1% of the
BILLIONS upon BILLIONS being spent
online for merchandise.

Do you think Amazon.com is actually
'making' the products they sell?

Nope.

How about Buy.com? Or Walmart.com?
Or ToysRUs.com? Or JCPenney.com?
Or BlueNile.com? Or Sears.com?

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Or what about the thousands of smaller
ecommerce stores that are making
their owners a small fortune?

Nope, not them either.

HUH!?!?!?

Yes, it sounds a bit confusing but on the
MERCHANDISE side of ecommerce
the majority of what's being sold is being
sold by MARKETERS and *not* the
actual manufacturer.

And YOU have every right to be one
of these marketers of merchandise
online... Yes, YOU can be the
MERCHANT.

AND...

You don't have to 'make' or 'invent'
a thing. Heck, you don't even have
to stock any inventory if you don't
want to either. It's called "Dropshipping."

You can make a lot of money with
your own ecommerce store selling
merchandise. (Or multiple stores
if you want -- they are easy and
cheap to setup.)

BUT THERE'S *ONE* MAJOR PROBLEM...

Remember how I said the better opportunities
are usually the ones that involve more WORK
than others?

Well, when it comes to making money
from your own ecommerce store, there *IS*
a barrier to entry.

This is the single biggest factor that keeps
so many other people from going into
business with their own successful
ecommerce store.

WHERE THE HECK DO I FIND A REAL
WHOLESALER? (And how do I get
setup to sell their stuff?)

And there it is. The Big Barrier.

THAT is why everyone and their brother
isn't setting up a successful ecommerce
store.

It's the same reason why a small percentage
of eBay sellers make a lot of money week
in and week out while the majority of sellers
STRUGGLE to make any money at all.

If you've ever been surfing eBay and doing
some research into these sellers you've
probably already thought the same thing...

"If I only knew where they got their stuff
I can make money by selling it too!"

And you'd be 100% right.

Too bad it's nearly impossible to find out
where they are getting their merchandise.

And don't even think they are going to tell
you so you can compete with them.

So How Do You Find Real Wholesalers?

You have two options...

1. Spend A Lot Of Your Time And Energy
To Do Heavy-Duty 'Trial and Error' Yourself

2. Just Pay Someone Who Has Done It
For You

Option #2 seems like a no-brainer for sure.

This is the option that companies like Amazon,
Wal Mart, Buy.com, etc. use. They certainly
don't jump from 'wholesaler' to wholesaler
and lose a ton of money only when they
discover the wholesaler they were working
with was a middle man marketing up the
cost of the products -- OR worse, they
end up working with a company that
doesn't actually supply the products
they promised to.

So these companies have research services
they use to find the best deals and
manufacturers and then they just focus
on doing what they do best -- MARKETING.

And this is what YOU need to do if you
want to make a nice living from running
your own successful ecommerce store.

But here's the problem...

Online there's no shortage of people
'claiming' to have "Secret Wholesale" lists.
Look around, you'll see them being sold
everywhere.

And if you're like me, you probably already
bought some and got burned. It happened
to me more than once and I'm not afraid
to admit it.

I GOT SUCKERED.

And if you did too don't feel bad. Thousands
of other people get suckered every week by
buying these FAKE wholesale lists.

So Let Me Just Cut To The Chase...

I know of the BEST wholesaler research
service on the planet. And there's a reason
this company has been profiled by
"eBay University" and Entrepreneur Magazine.

They are the REAL DEAL.

Their name is Worldwide Brands. If you've
been on my list for awhile then you probably
remember me briefly mentioning them in
the past.

If you have any interest at all in this stuff
then you need to just go and grab a
LIFETIME membership to their awesome
online directory/product research service.

It's worth GOLD. And that's no understatement.

And if you HURRY they are currently offering
a $50.00 DISCOUNT for the next few days --
which is what inspired me to write you this
email to tell you all about it.

REMINDER: THIS IS NOT AN AFFILIATE PITCH.

As I previously mentioned, Income.com (my new
company) is no longer emailing affiliate promotions.
So I don't make one single penny if you go and buy a
membership from this company.

I just believe strongly in the INCREDIBLE VALUE
that they are offering and that is why I am
recommending them to you. *I* personally
have my own account with them.

Income.com is going to be working with the
"best of breed" products and services, and
I have future plans to work with Worldwide Brands
because I really believe in what they are providing
their customers -- and I am sick and tired of
seeing people get SUCKERED like I did with
those garbage supplier lists.

So in case you haven't connected the dots yet...

Wonder where most of the successful eBay
sellers found their products? Or many of
the other ecommerce stores?

Through Worldwide Brands.

* You'd be surprised if you knew who some
of Worldwide Brands' customers were. Even
some "big shot" gurus you probably know of
are making millions by dropshipping products
they found through the Worldwide Brands'
OneSource online directory.

Even if you're slightly "on the fence" about
this stuff just go to this web site and watch
the VIDEO DEMONSTRATION of what this
is all about. You'll learn a lot about setting
up your own online store...

* The discount ends soon so you do need
to hurry if you want to save some money:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com/discount

AND IN OTHER 'NEWS'...

I'm starting a new "series" on the Income.com Blog...

It's called "What Are You Struggling With?"

I'll be making posts that address many of my
students' main problems and questions with
making money online.

You won't want to miss out on this valuable
information!

You can post a comment in the following
entry to submit your own struggles for consideration.
I can't promise that I will address everyone's
submission but I will do my best:
http://www.income.com/blog/2007/07/12/what-are-you-struggling-with/


Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese