There are so many affiliate opportunities to sell online for affiliates nowadays, it’s understandably very difficult to know what are the best things to sell online and make a decent income. Often, the only real solution to this conundrum is to find something you think might fly and dive right in with all guns blazing.
Still, there are a few tried and true methods that might alleviate some of your risk in making a good selection.
Before you make a decision, one of the most valuable suggestions is to make some determination as to the popularity of the product. Do you see other affiliates promoting a particular product or service? Contrary to what many believe, a lot of competition should not be a hindrance to signing on to promote a product with a lot appeal among your fellow affiliates. Indeed, it’s an indication that there’s a lot of interest out there that the astute marketer should be taking advantage of.
Can you attract some of these buyers? What are you skills and resources? Do you have a list that would be interested in this particular product? Can you create promotional materials that would appeal to this group? Do you have an advertising budget for the major search engines and/or social media platforms that could be a way to gain entry into this market? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself. Better to know the depth of the pool before chancing a dive into shallow waters.
Be sure that the product or service would be one that you would avail yourself of if your circumstances would warrant such a decision. If you don’t have confidence in the product you will probably fail in fairly short order. Additionally, the best opportunities to sell online do not include obvious scams. Try to avoid those ‘opportunities’ with questionable marketing techniques. The belief that people are gullible and greedy and get what they deserve is not the best way to begin in the affiliate marketing business. If you are trying to build a positive reputation online, it would behoove you to stay clear of the shady side of the street.
Similarly, another way to of determining some of the best opportunities to sell online is take a good, long look at the product’s landing page. Does it have any appeal for you? How do you think the average visitor might respond to its contents, if at all? If you are sending folks here via your affiliate link you could be wasting your time if the experience is an unappealing one. You don’t have to have years of marketing experience to make a judgment call here. Trust your own instincts. And, if you are in love with the product and have the skills, develop your own sales page and send prospective buyers there.
Last but not least, what is your profit margin if and when you can successfully sell your chosen product? The range of online commissions can vary from miserly to generous and you want to be part of the generous category if at all possible. It’s usually the sale of digital products that bring in the most money. One reason is that once they have been created they can be distributed endlessly without the need of ongoing manufacturing and resupply costs.
It’s very tempting to want to be an affiliate for your favorite, well-known teddy bear company, say, but to make 5% to 10% is not a great bargain for you if you want to run a profitable business. Certainly ecommerce has its place in many instances and, if the product is expensive enough, you can make a decent profit. But the most generous payouts for affiliates is in the world of online courses, ebooks, videos and software, with commissions often in the 50% range and more.
In sum, the best opportunities to sell online with little risk are digital goods like software and online courses that have a proven track record and are legitimate contributors to the internet economy. That said, its not unreasonable to take a chance once in a while on a new product that you believe has a lot of potential. Balancing several opportunities at once is not the ideal way to start a business, but at least you’ll be able to separate the wheat from the chaff as time goes on.
Interested in opportunities to sell online but feel uncomfortable about selling? You may find a solution when you check out this free webinar…
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