The Twelve Weeks of Christmas-Week 7

We are going to continue on with finding and supplying products for a niche market today. We have one more installment in this section, so be sure to come back next week.

Supply & Demand

Nothing happens until something moves. Marketing is a zero sum game of give and take between a buyer and a seller. Both sides must be present in a niche to successfully prosper there. You may have the finest, automatic blue fuzzy widget in the world, but it’s useless if no one wants blue fuzzy widgets.

On the other end of the same stick, if the demand for blue fuzzy widgets is high, but none are available, there’s not much opportunity to prosper there either. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s a lost cause. Many marketers who find a demand for a product will often create a supply of them to fill the void.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, but I typically look for the demand before considering an actual supply. If there is no one searching for a product, there is no opportunity to sell it to anyone. It’s as simple as that: you must have a demand for it. How many tales have you heard of great bargains made on warehouses of stuff, only to discover why too late.

Supply, on the other hand, is easier to accommodate. If the demanded product does not exist, the opportunity is there to create it yourself. Supply can come from you if needed. You see this often in ebooks and software packages.

Using keyword tools is great way to find out whether demand exists or not. Here are some good tools:

1. Google keyword tool
2. WordTracker.com
3. Alexa.com

Let’s say you find a niche market that receives good traffic but no product is offered out there to promote. You have two options: create a product or miss an opportunity. There are two types of products that may be built to satisfy a demand: digital products and tangible goods.

A digital product, usually e-books, software or a membership site, allows you to charge for information or services. Tangible goods, things like baseballs, candles, or iPods, are sold through storefronts or private ecommerce sites.

Creating A Digital Product

Many informational niches are extremely difficult to find good for, unless you know where to get it. People will gladly pay information when they can’t easily find the information for free, or maybe not at all. Software that would benefit a large segment of a special group is also an option.

You don’t have to necessarily saw the boards and drive the nails to build a product. There are many services to outsource work. They are usually available at great savings over high-dollar copywriters or software developers. Here are several you can check out:

* Elance.com
* Rentacoder.com
* Scriptlance.com

To market your product, offer it through network services. They will handle all the backend responsibilities and you get to set the price. You will still be responsible for the marketing aspect of it though. Here are some services to use for digital products.

* ClickBank.com
* Paydotcom.com
* RegNow.com

Creating a Tangible Product Business

There is always a high demand for certain niche tangible items. Find the demand first and then a supplier or producer for the product you need. Many of them make and ship them for you. Once all of that is set up, you’re in the retail business. The first and probably best place to go with a tangible product is eBay. It’s the largest online marketplace in the world and perfect to sell tangible products through.

That’s enough for one day, I suppose. Be sure to come back next week when we will discuss niche research and research tools a little more in depth.

To your success,

Brad

Brad McGovern is the Marketing Manager at Article Marketer, and offers advice and news of note to article marketers. Watch for more from Brad in the coming days!