If you haven't taken
Lesson 1 yet, go there now.
We'll wait for you.
Lesson 6: You
can't sell from an empty wagon.
Make your own products or
outsource?
Depends. How do you add more value?
Our last session was very productive. We decided on our
niche, selling information products for people planning their
retirement.
We can further tailor our appeal to the "boomer" generation, a
large demographic group
that is nearing retirement age.
We decided that we would sell only online, and also selected and registered a "brand name," that is, ryie,com.
ryie might not be the term that our
target market thinks to search
the Internet under, so our challenge is to build that association.
One component of our approach will be to use the "semi-" prefix to calm
typical boomer fears
about losing their usefulness. So the idea is beginning to take some
shape. We'll use this as our running case study, and you can develop your
business in parallel.
Roy
Primm. It is aimed at those of you who want to
offer your own product,
but it is a good idea-generation exercise for all of us.
Another approach is to
evaluate products already on the market, with the idea of
representing them on your own web site. You deliver the customer
(online, that is) to the vendor of those products, using a link that
identifies you as the referrer, and you receive a commission on any
purchases the customer makes.
Vendors offer this relationship as an "affiliate program," or
occasionally an "associate program." There are a lot of vendors offering
such programs, a lot of "how-to" books for sale, and more than a
few web sites offering directories of available programs, advice and
recommendations.
There's a clear Muddie
Seal-of-Approval winner here.
There is one source of information
and advice that stands out from the rest, and that is James
Martell's "Affiliate
Marketing Handbook."
Don't just take my word for it. Read the reviews and
testimonials. I have evaluated a lot of the resources out there,
and this is the best. And with his guarantee, you can't lose.
Of course, now that you know how such
programs work, you realize that I am an affiliate, and will
receive a commission if you buy any of James' products.
A slight variation on the affiliate
model is to represent a wide range of goods that
we select ourselves from
online or offline wholesalers. Wholesale pricing is necessary so
that there is room for markup
between the price you pay and the customer's retail price
expectations.
We will
assume that you do not care to run a warehouse and delivery
operation, meaning that you want suppliers who take your orders
and then ship the goods directly to your customer. This is called
"drop shipping."
To have some variety in our offerings, we may need
to work with several wholesalers or we might find one that has it
all. The most complete such service we have found is
Worldwide Brands. Take a look at their offerings and let me know what you think.
Let's take stock of where we are now.
We now have a domain name registered and a web hosting service set up.
We have a clear, crisp, and promising niche, and we are ready to pick
some products to sell from the many affiliate programs that are
available.
We will start with a recap of the products I represent, in
Lesson
7. >>>
