Notice I say optional. You do not need to create a product or service at all. You can just sell other people’s stuff and earn a commission. I show you how to do this in Chapter 8 - Sell Other People’s Stuff, but there is plenty to learn in this chapter about general internet marketing so do not skip this chapter.This chapter is effectively split into two parts and the clues are in the chapter title:

1. Development

Product Development

Let me tell you about the products I sell on the internet.

• eBook on how to evict non-paying tenants for £127.95.
• eBook on how to sue someone for £9.97.
• eBook on how to invest in property for £205.62.
• Monthly subscription to property hotspot information for £79.99 per month.
• Weekly subscription to the 40 cheapest properties found for sale on the internet for £5 per week.
• eBook on property licensing for £47.
• Special investors report about investing in the USA for £149.

 

Now all of these are electronic products. They are informational products that have all been written by me and are available for immediate download. If you can write then you can develop electronic informational products to download! I sell the following:

• eBooks- eBooks are just the electronic version of a physical book. So if you wrote ‘Once upon a time blah blah blah….’ in Microsoft Word or any other word processor then this would be an eBook. If you can send a data file via email that has words in it then this data file is an eBook.
• Weekly and monthly subscriptions- if you can provide information on a daily, weekly or monthly basis that is deemed useful then you can charge for it. There are many subscription sites. I sell property investment information, others sell credit data, pictures, self help videos, dating contacts, classified adverts, auction data, price information, etc. Information that can assist people in making money usually works quite well.
• Special reports-this is like an eBook but it doesn’t have the normal contents and chapters. I define special reports as anything other than an eBook. It’s information you want to sell as a one-off hit that you deem to be of value to someone else. So my report about the USA is my research about a certain area and why you should invest in it.

 

I love selling these types of products because:

There is no need for any warehouses, overdraft facilities, employees or packaging. It all happens automatically.

So I ask you:

• What do you know that someone else would find useful? Useful enough to pay for?
• Do you have a particular skill, tip, trick, nack or know-how about a certain subject?
• Have you learnt something that you are quite sure no one else knows and could help people in whatever they do?
• Can you write software programs that can save a user’s time?

 

There are so many things you can write about and this book is not about telling you what to write. As explained in Chapter 1 you need to get an idea and then the product you decide to develop will be obvious.

To make professional looking informational products visit:

Non-electronic products are basically physical products. I do not actually sell any physical products because my business does not tend to it, but the sort of physical products that are commonly sold by start-up internet companies are:

• books, DVDs, games and CDs
• electronic products with selling prices from £5 to £299
• hobbies, interest and accessories products
• clothing, jewellery and other personal items
• computing equipment
• antiques
• toys.

 

Most internet start-ups usually buy in from a wholesaler and sell on at a profit. My friend Adam, who taught me a lot about the internet, buys his products from Canada and sells them in the UK, Germany and New Zealand. It’s a great way to start a business as your product is already there - you’ve just got to sell it! If the product is a good one then it should sell itself. However just because it’s an easy way to start doesn’t mean it will work. The product could be so good that everyone is selling it and you’ll just be joining the queue!

Another friend of mine actually makes the jewellery items and sells them direct to the public via her website. So the number of items sold will be restricted by how many pieces she makes unless she hires in staff to do what she does. But on the flipside her pieces of jewellery are unique so she has no worry of direct competition as long as her pieces remain sufficiently unique.

So you can do it either way - you can buy in the product or create the product from scratch. It all depends on your idea for your website. You could even do both. You could make your own products and buy in and sell on other products.