Personally delivered to you by Steve Lindhorst, author of
"Selling on 'the River' and "The Niche Book"
A short issue this week. I hope you're all busy with sales. I know I have had a pretty good week on Bonanzle, Google Shopping, Amazon, and yes...even eBay. The best sale was a set of Time/Life "The Old West" that sold on Amazon for $150 (I paid $26 at a Friends of the Library sale. - WhooHoo!) And now...
Here are the topics for this issue of the newsletter:
In This Issue
- EIGHT Ways to Choose Products to Promote as an Affiliate
- Create a Promotion for Your Amazon Listings
- Upcoming Gift for Multichannel Surfer readers
- Reader Poll: Take a second to vote!
_______________________________________________________________________________
In case you haven't heard of Avril Harper, she is a writer in the UK and may be best known for her ebook, "Make Good Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines and Selling Them on eBay." (Long title, great book.)
We correspond regularly, and I have to say, she is one straight shooter. Very honest, and incredibly smart at making money with the internet. She has written the following article and allowed me to post it here. If you have a website or blog, or use Build a Niche Store, you can use this info to make a lot of money. Enjoy. - Steve
1. EIGHT Ways to Choose Products to Promote as an Affiliate
As all successful affiliates know, the most important part of the marketing process is sourcing products with high selling potential. Without products people actually want to buy, no amount of marketing will compensate the affiliate for time, money and effort expended in their business. These tips will help you choose quality products with high selling potential generating good commissions for you:
#1 Go for goods and services that interest you as a buyer or enthusiast. It’s a well-known fact that selling products and services for which you are an actual or potential customer yourself, benefits you as a seller, both increasing your own enthusiasm in the product as well as helping you pass that enthusiasm to others.
#2 Go for high commission items over items of similar quality with lower rewards. They say it is just as easy to sell a high priced item as something costing just a few pounds.
#3 Go for unusual or highly specialised items where you effectively become one of a handful of sellers worldwide.
#4 Choose niche markets over general markets. Niche markets are those where buyers and sellers share closely defined interests, such as entering consumer competitions, collecting antique teddy bears, buying business opportunity books, and so on. General markets, on the other hand, are those where potential buyers share numerous interests, say good food and drink, holidays abroad, selecting Christmas gifts for family and friends.
Niche markets, by their very nature, comprise people known to be one hundred per cent interested in most products and services related to their shared interest.
They can be reached easily and at little expense, via specialist magazines and newsgroups, emailing lists, and such, unlike a general interest audience with members dotted here, there, everywhere.
#5 Choose products with repeat commissions and back-end sales potential. So, acquiring a customer can mean selling to that person many times over the years.
#6 Check that products and services are legal and acceptable in all your target areas. For example, gambling and alcohol illegal in some countries, and advertising is subject to more stringent rules and regulations in some parts of the world, and so on. So advertising material which is entirely suited to say, the American market, might well be banned in another country, or vice versa.
#7 Choose generous commissions over token rewards, especially where products are also in high-demand.
#8 Look for products that can be combined and marketed on one site. Here you can attract a massive audience of potential buyers for several, usually related products.
Avril Harper is a successful ClickBank vendor and affiliate and the author of A COMPLETE NEWBIES’ GUIDE TO MAKING MONEY WITH CLICKBANK. - Click here to learn more.
(I totally recommend this guide to ClickBank. I thought I knew all I needed to know, but I found several new things here for making money from my various websites and blogs. - Steve)
-
2. Create a Promotion for Your Amazon Listings
One of the differences between eBay and Amazon is the way your items are presented. It can seem challenging to stand out on Amazon.com. If you are a non-media seller, in Amazon's Seller Central, you can create promotions for your items.
When creating a promotion, the type of offer is established by the first choice you make in the process. There are four basic types of promotion, based on the type of benefit being offered:
| Type | Qualifying Action | Benefit Options | Example |
| Fixed Amount Off | Customer reaches a minimum threshold, either by spending a dollar amount that you've specified, or by buying a certain quantity of a product or products. | ? $n off a benefit product ? $n off the qualifying product(s) ? $n off entire order |
Any order of $25 or more receives $5 off |
| Percent Off | Customer reaches a minimum threshold, either by spending a dollar amount that you've specified, or by buying a certain quantity of a product or products. | ? n% off a benefit product ? n% off qualifying product(s) ? n% off order |
Any order of $25 or more receives 10% off |
| Free Shipping | Customer reaches a minimum threshold; this must be a fixed dollar amount. | Customer receives free shipping on their entire order. (Note: Order can be for any product or products that meet minimum qualifying amount.) | Customer spends $25 in your store and gets free shipping |
| Free Product (May not be available for the program in which you're enrolled.) |
Customer reaches a minimum threshold, either by spending a dollar amount that you've specified, or by buying a certain quantity of a product or products. | Customer receives the benefit product for free. You can offer more than one eligible benefit product (ASIN) when creating the promotion. The customer can choose only one unique benefit product, but the quantity of benefit products for an order can be one or more. | Customer can claim free mixing bowl |
This is a feature that is often overlooked by Amazon sellers. Using it on your inventory is a great way to stand out in this competitive holiday season. Remember though, this feature is available to non-media sellers in Amazon's Seller Central. You can get more information at: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/9451
-
3. Upcoming Gift: 10 Ways for Small Sellers to Get Their Mojo Back
I'm working on an ebook for my subscribers that deals with the many challenges we have as small sellers. I'll be sending you a link via email in the next week or so, so keep your eyes peeled, I think you'll like it. No selling - just tips and advice.
I thought of calling it the "Small Seller Survival Guide," since it deals with things such as choosing a platform for selling, finding products, visibility, and delivery. So many people are leaving eBay, or at least trying to find alternate channels, that I think this will be helpful in settling on the best places for you to sell.
I'm going to spend some time dealing with the challenges of managing several marketplaces at once. And once you are up and running, how to build an email list so you can stay in touch with your hard-earned customers.
Watch for it, there is no charge for it for now, just grab it when you see the email.
-
4. Poll: Would you like a forum here?
I have been thinking about adding a discussion forum on this site to answer questions, exchange ideas, etc. I think the exchange of ideas would be helpful. Before I set it up, I just wanted to know what you all thought.
Poll results were: 91% Yes 9% No
-
That's it for this issue. Click here to read Past Issues. Leave a comment or ask a question if you have one. Thanks!
