What’s the best thing to sell online? By The IMC Team | Posted November 16th, 2007
Every week, I get dozens of emails asking me the exact same question: "Derek, help! What should I sell online?"
Now, I’m not going to tell you exactly what product you should sell to make great money on the Internet.
(After all, if I told the thousands of you who read this blog to start selling "Product X," then you’d be facing quite a lot of competition, wouldn’t you???)
But what I will do is tell you exactly what TYPE of product you should be selling, if you want to reap the greatest profits from all your online efforts.
And that type of product is…?
INFORMATION.
Yes, you read that right. Information is by far the most profitable kind of product you can sell online.
Why? Think about it for a moment… What do the vast majority of Internet users go online to search for?
That’s right. Information. Which means that by selling highly sought-after information on your website, you’re giving people exactly what they’re looking for!
And that’s a recipe for online success.
Here are some more reasons why information is the best type of product to sell on the Internet…
When you sell "hard" products that require physical delivery, you have to deal with the cost and hassle of manufacturing, stocking, and packaging — not to mention shipping your product. And all those things take a serious bite out of your profit margin.
However, when you sell information — in the form of an electronic "eBook," for example — once you’ve created your master copy, you can make countless duplications of it, at NO additional cost. Your manufacturing, stocking, and packaging expenses are non-existent!
And because you can deliver your electronic eBook instantly to your customers, your shipping costs are zero, as well.
That means your profit margin is 100%!
Your customers will be especially attracted by the promise of instant gratification. They won’t have to wait days (or even weeks!) for their product to arrive — it’ll get downloaded to their desktop in just a minute or two, which means they can start accessing that information right away.
And once your website is up and running, you can automate your entire business so it takes just an hour or two a week to run! You can set up your order form and "shopping cart" system to automatically process the order, put the money in your bank account, and electronically deliver your product to the customer. It’s the perfect "hands-free" business!
… And you don’t even have to be a writer!
To create a best-selling eBook, you don’t even have to be a professional writer! You can hire someone else to do the writing for you. Simply tell them what topics you want your eBook to cover, and then let them go to it.
(A great place to hire writers who won’t charge you an arm and a leg is www.elance.com.)
Or, if you’re just starting out and don’t have any extra money to invest in product development, you could create an "interview compilation" book. All you have to do is interview various leaders in your industry then type up the interviews and put them all together in your eBook.
For example, if you want to sell a book on how to house-train a puppy, interview three or four well-known dog trainers in your area. Then type up the transcripts of the interviews and put them together in an eBook.
You could even consider compiling articles written by other people that focus on a particular topic of interest to your customers. Maybe there are already a bunch of articles online that talk in detail about the different ways to house-train a puppy.
All you have to do is get permission from the original authors to reuse their content, put all the articles together into an eBook, and ta-da! You’ve got a product on your hands.
How do you get permission from the authors?
Simply explain to them that your eBook will provide great publicity for them and let them know you are planning to widely distribute the final product. Make sure they understand they’ll receive full credit for their work and that their contact information will be made available to readers (along with mention of other products and services they might offer).
Once you have compiled all of the contributors’ work, you should have a highly valuable publication on your hands. And you didn’t have to write any of it yourself!
The FASTEST way to be making good money online.
You can write a profit-generating eBook — and build the site to sell it — in as little as 2-3 weeks. There’s no faster way to make a solid income selling your very own product online.
And once your site is up and running, you can get feedback from your visitors and customers and start testing new ways to sell to them, so you can perfect your product and your sales process so it’s making maximum profits in the minimum amount of time.
But that’s not all… Once your eBook business is truly booming, you can start adding more products on to the back end, which you can then sell to your customers and boost your profits still higher!
So that’s my best possible answer to the never-ending question of, "What do I sell online?"
If you have ever experienced any challenges — or successes! — setting up a site that sells an eBook, please leave me a comment and tell me about them.
I’m eager to hear your stories…
Comments (25 Comment)
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I’ve been very successful with ebooks, but would love to figure out how to deliver the download and ebook codes automatically. How can this be done?
Chris Bryant
CCIE #12933
http://www.thebryantadvantage.com
Chris – try producing your book with LuLu.com, they have a facility that allows for on-demand printing as well as e-book delivery. I guess the wholesale cost may cut into your profits slightly, but it’s quick and easy… just a thought. Cheers.
Werry good nische you have there Chris
RESPECT!
Hey do you have affiliate program?
Just another bit of great info. This was just one of the things spoke about in Vegas at the boot camp that was so filled with information that I set up this sales page http://www.getemailaddresses.com/ oh its not done yet, but John had me so hyped after going I have been waiting to post it somewhere. And I was only able to attend one day!
Thanks for the tips today on how to build a website. You are a wealth of information.
Derek, INFORMATION is the right product. But it’s only half the story.
The information needs to offer the SOLUTION TO A SPECIFIC PROBLEM.
For instance, trout anglers always want to catch THE BIG TROUT. Ten pounds. But how do they do that? Some people spend years trying to find out.
So I asked my angler friend (who has been catching trout for over 50 years) for his best tips. What he told me now fills the pages of an ebook!
“How To Catch Big Trout” >>Google for that phrase and see what he reckons.
Learning from experts sure beats making all the mistakes yourself.
Brian Morris
Hi Derek,
I receive a lot of emails from people trying to sell something and I usually read part of it and delete them all. But your emails are fascinating and motivating.
I am a born entrepreneur and powerful networker with many ideas and talents. I would like to start a successeful e-commerce business online. You just gave me an idea which is great “selling information” I never thought about that. I need your help. I don’t know how to start. I would like to be member of your club and get started.
I am an unemployed Residential Lender Account Executive, formerly Stock Broker-Registered Financial Advisor, Bachelor of Science degree in Food & Nutrition and 2 years of MBA graduate work in business, great writer, and my true passion is gourmet cooking, spices, herbs, rice and tea from across the world.
I’ve made 6 figures income for last 4 years and in self-assessing my career goals, I’ve come to realization that I need to do more than just shuffling financial papers. So I am looking for an opportunity to have a successful e-commerce business targeting Mom’s at home and give the information and knowledge in investments, college fund planning, loans, real estate, gourmet cooking, spices, tea, rice, herbs and vegetarian gourmet recipes.
I’ve registered “Saffron and More” for my e-commerce business 2 years ago and have a company working on my website design for last 6 months. So far the design is nothing to write home about. I would like to sell spice, Saffron-which is a culinary gold and the most expensive spice in the world and all kinds of Tea. I’ve the distributor here in Unites States and I can start selling and shipping as soon as soon my website is ready.
In reading your email this morning I just came up with an idea, which is to sell information on different tea, herbs, spices, different gourmet vegetarian recopies, saffron in its use in different recipes and many home remedies. Also perhaps I could add later to Mom’s at home how to do college fund investment for their kids and make Mom’s more than just a home maker.
Please let me know how I can start and what I need to do. Thank you so much for inspiration.
Best Regards,
Remy
I agree…I know a friend that sells e-books for a sports related site and he has made a ton of money. I think rather than looking for the “end all product” they should focus on principles like you stated. Give the consumer information and a reason to buy (quality/price) and then build up traffic…should all fall into place
Hello Derek,
I have no doubt that information products are the best to sell online. I have been trying for sometime with my site http://www.dogtraining.learnhowto-ebooks.com and http://www.success.learnhowto-ebooks.com.
I created the site and have sent close to $300 in adwords. I get a good number of click throughs even as high as 10% and at the lower end generally .70.
I also write reasobaly well and am a platinum category author with ezinearticles. I also write a couple of blogs http://www.motivational-notes.blogspot.com and http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com
I had put some intensive effort in the last couple of months and I have made only 1 sale worth $24.
I have also spent close to another $200 on various products which of course have taught me few things but I am still to make any money. I am now afraid to invest any more money on internet marketing products.
What do you think is going wrong?
R.G. Srinivasan
I am a retired podiatrist who practised for 40 years. I am thinking of publishing an e book with a difference about podiatry, telling the public which treatments work, which treatments do not work, which treatments are costly and not worthwhile, who to consult and who not to consult and so on.
Good idea or not?
Your opinion would be invaluable to me.
Kind Regards.
Claude
Hi Claud,
That is an excellent idea. I injured myself in Yoga and had torn ligament on my right foot from for last 6 months. I’ve spent so much money and time in different doctors offices and I am not any better than I started. My pain is getting worse.
I’ve been to Webmed and Google trying to find good information and could not find any. Good Luck.
Remy
What’s Up (D)? I enjoyed reading the first and second section, of your ebook, I’ve never seen, heard, anything like that before in my computer Internet Life. That blew me away, Just reading those sections I thought wow! That’s some good heavy stuff and some-what easy to understand for a novice like me, Iam going to take this information you shared with me and other’s, and eat it and di-jest it for a while, then get back to the dinner table to eat some more of it tomorrow.
THANK YOU, ISAAC
Very informative post! I’ve never tried to sell ebooks online, but it is definitely something I am considering to do in the future.
hi
i like to start my own online selling business
can you pls help me
thanx
regards
george
Thanks for useful marketing techniques. I would like to start a successeful e-commerce business online so thanks again.
We ask for more and more people will make an email sites such as this that are in reality taking study. With all the thistledown floating almost on the net, it’s rare to look over a find like your own instead.
Terrific post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Appreciate it!
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Yummy! I bet the applesauce makes these moist. Love pumpkin muffins. Thanks so much for sharing and linkin up with tasty tuesdays!
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks
This design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Yesterday, while I was at work, my sister stole my iPad and tested to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now destroyed and she has 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
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