If you have dreams of selling something online then you need to read every word in this post carefully. Why? because I reveal every detail you need to know to successfully market your physical product.
The other day I was checking out The Warrior Forum looking for topics to write about and this one caught my eye.
I have experience selling both downloadable prints and physical products online.
Not only did I want to add to the conversation, but I wanted to learn what other marketers were saying. Suffice To say, I left that forum thread with even more great ideas and tips!
Do cats want your cat toy?
It’s really important to find out if people want to buy what you have. This is crucial! In the forum thread, we learn that the product creator ‘DOES’ sell his cat toy on a regular basis.
This is a great sign, because it validates his product idea. The problem is, he wants to sell more, his goal is to sell 100 units a week. He currently only sells about two or three a week for $9 a pop.
You might not know what to sell, so here are some tips to get you the information you need.
Tip #1: Go to the Google keyword planner and find what people are searching for. Type in any word or phrase related to your niche and see the monthly search volume for each term. You can find a detailed keyword search method here.
Tip #2: Search on niche specific forums to see what people are complaining about. Get on the forum and participate in the conversation. It’s crucial to learn the language of your target audience, this will help you with product creation and sales copy in the future.
Tip #3: See what is already selling! That’s right, go to amazon and do a quick search on the niche you’re interested and see what is already hot.
Go to any product and scroll down to the ‘Product Details’ section, then look for the ‘Amazon Best Seller Rank’. You want the BSR to be below 5,000.
Extra Tip: You don’t want shipping to be an issue later down the road, if you’re selling a physical product. Try to keep the product light, under 3 lbs if possible. Here is a complete check list to follow:
Courtesy of Josh from passionintopaychecks.com.
Side Note: Whatever you decide on selling, it’s important that you view your product as a ‘solution’. Once you identify a problem, see if you can solve it.
Where to sell the cat toy?
You found a problem people have and you created a product to scratch that itch. The next piece of the puzzle is where to sell it! There are many solutions, and at the end of the day you have to decide what’s best for you and your product.
Tip #4: Set up a free WordPress Woocommerce store. This requires more work on your part, but at the end of the day you have more control and you keep more of the profits.
It’s as simple as installing a plugin. Once your store is live you’re responsible for everything, from product shipment to customer service.
Tip #5: Let Fulfillment by Amazon take care of your orders. That’s right, perfect if you’re selling on Amazon. They make it a no-brainer with shipping, product listings and customer service.
Important Notice: Learn to profit daily online creating and selling PDFs from your site –
As you can imagine, you have to pay fees for this distribution solution. You can learn more about it here.
Tip #6: Sign up with Shopify. Unlike Woocommerce, Shopify does more of the heavy lifting with out of the box set-ups and functionality. That being said, the cheapest starting price is $29, plus a 2% transaction fee on all purchases.
Side Note: I don’t sell physical products anymore, I sell only downloadable ebooks and games. I use the free woocommerce plugin as my store front.
Who wants to buy the cat toy?
The puzzle is almost complete, you have a product based on market research and a place to sell it.
Now you need to open the traffic flood gates and see if they buy.
The good news is, you know where your traffic lives. Remember your product research, I’m sure it lead you to new niche related websites and blogs. This is where you can test try your target audience.
Tip #7: Give away some samples of your product to animal shelters then create a press release about your good deed. You can light up the flames of traffic even further by feeding reporters and niche related bloggers your story. I go over tips like these in this guide.
Source: Kurt from The WF.
Tip #8: Turn veterinarians into affiliates. Contact them via email and propose a fair offer for every cat toy they can sell on your behalf. Make it worthwhile for them and you’ll gain an influential selling ally. Think about it, who questions a doctor?
Source: Robscom from The WF.
Tip #9: Turn cat niche sites and forums into affiliates. Sell in the hundreds when you ally your product with a powerful niche site. Make sure you make an offer the webmaster can’t refuse.
Extra Tip: If your product proves successful then you’ll want to create content around it on a regular basis so that you can get free SERPs traffic. I’ve written on this very topic, check it out here.
What can you start selling?
The original poster of the thread had some things already going for him. These are his successes so far:
- Proven product with little competition
- Cheap product to create
- Niche focused website
- Instagram account with 9k followers
- Network of other Instagram influencers
You might be thinking that he has a head start on you, and you’re right to think so. That’s why you got to start today, not tomorrow, but today!
You have everything you need right here! Use the tips in this post to find a product, a selling platform and a traffic source. Once you got everything working together than the sky is the limit. Everything begins with the action you take next.
Did I leave anything out? If so, let me know in the comments section.