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What is sold on the internet?
What is sold on the Internet?
First Place! Digital information products.
This site deals with Internet marketing in general, but I cannot help but promote a product that, in my opinion, is the ultimate product for Internet selling: digital information.
Digital information is a product that provides the customer with knowledge that helps solve a problem. It reaches the customer immediately over the Internet and is therefore an excellent product for impulse buying. The digital product can be "packaged" as an electronic book, a private site (a site requiring an entrance fee), as a newsletter, as an independent study course and as a video or audio file. For the distributor, product distribution costs very little and the customer, at his end, receives the product immediately - an ideal world.
The Internet is used mainly to find information. People access the net to learn more about a specific illness that a relative contracted, about a certain region in England that they wish to visit, about the results of soccer games, the telephone number of a certain company, a signer that they like and whatnot. The information products transform the information seekers into buyers. Just imagine someone looking for information on an area in England he wishes to visit, who suddenly encounters an electronic guide that offers travel routes, recommends restaurants and provides additional information that cannot be obtained through other internet sites, or which demands a great deal of time. Such an individual would be happy to pay $20 or $30 to download a 150-page electronic book filled with information on the area.
I know what you're thinking. "Neither I, nor a friend of mine nor any friends of his have ever purchased an electronic book over the Internet or registered to a site for a fee. It is impossible to sell content over the net". This is a common mistake that, to some extent, is self fulfilling: since many do not believe that content can be sold over the Internet, quality content is not offered over the net.
But make no mistake! Throughout the world and especially in the U.S., there are quite a few millionaires who made their money from the sale of electronic books that they wrote on any subject that comes to mind - ranging from gardening to tips on buying a used car as well as Internet marketing.
If you have any special knowledge and particular writing skills, I warmly recommend that you enter the riveting and promising world of digital information product production and marketing.
Software Products
Software is an excellent product to be marketed via the Internet. Similarly to digital information products, the Internet serves to deliver the product to the customer's home or office. A great advantage can be gained in software marketing by offering a trial version or limited capability demo version.
Niche Products and Special Products
The Internet is heaven for special and niche products. In the past, only residents of the big city could find special products for lefties, special sizes or electrical trains. Today, everyone everywhere has access to these products over the Internet. My wife, for example, uses the net to promote sales of a product called epi-no, a childbirth trainer that helps increase vaginal elasticity for women facing their first delivery in order to prevent a common procedure known as an episiotomy - the cutting of tissue for expanding the opening and accelerating childbirth.
Local Services
The Internet looks like a bulletin board or the library of the global village, but its use is very suitable for promoting local and small businesses such as a hairdresser, film development shop or a local coffee shop. For these businesses, the net will serve mainly to maintain connections with existing customers and to encourage them to recommend the business.
Here is a possible scenario: after the hairdresser finishes to cut your hair, he will ask you for your e-mail address and send you a reminder to come get a haircut. He can also advertise quick specials in real time. Instead of sitting back and waiting for customers, he can offer discounts for the upcoming hour, special offers that he can distribute via e-mail and SMS.
Services or especially expensive products, such as a house in Caesarea, diamonds, a Ferrari or a million dollar software package. Can a $10M deal be concluded over the Internet? Probably not. But the partner to the deal can indeed be found over the Internet.
Free Professions
Ken Evoy, Internet marketing guru (and you'll be hearing a lot of him on this site), believes that service providers and professionals have not yet discovered the goldmine of net marketing. Lawyers, accountants, tax consultants and fitness coaches - if they operate correctly - all of them can generate a great benefit from the Internet. It is reasonable to assume that the transaction itself will not be performed over the Internet, but similarly to the large transactions, the web can indeed by a significant tool for promoting business.
What do you say of an air conditioner installer who has a site with various tips for proper air conditioning handling and operation? The main value is that if you were satisfied with his service, you will give your friends the address of his site instead of his phone number. This way, they can get an impression of his knowledge and professionalism.
As a rule of thumb, the Internet is an ideal tool to demonstrate expertise.
Customer Service
Customer service is an important element in many products and the Internet enables the excellent "sale" of this product. Using the net, for example, one can describe the problem and request a technician. In many cases, the problem can be identified and the customer can be guided in fixing it himself without experiencing the inconvenience of waiting for a technician.
Advertising Space
Only a small minority of large sites and portals currently profit from advertising and they too cannot rely on advertising to be their sole source of income, thus they too are trying to develop "added value services". The figure currently mentioned is about $3 per 1,000 exposures to an ad. To reach a monthly charge of $1,000, the ad appearing on your site must be exposed about 330,000 times. It would be difficult for a site operated by a small business to reach such levels of exposure.
Nevertheless, there is an advertising model that is gaining ground and taking over, starting to transform the image of failure related to advertising over the net. The model is the Google advertising plan as well as other plans offered by other companies. The plan is called AdSense, enabling site owners to place advertisements on their site based on the "pay per click" model that Google sold, and to share the profits with Google.
Very specific sites may be quoted relatively high prices for advertising for the efficient referral of interested customers.
One can roughly say that the entrance threshold for Internet advertising is approximately 500 visitors per day.
Information on Visitors
Sometimes, business owners do not wish to sell over the Internet, but rather to compile information on people expressing an interest in order to initiate contact with them. Sites intended for this purpose are called lead generation sites.
Anything
I added this category so that those, whose products do not fit in any of the other categories, will not feel left out. At the risk of sounding like a pest, I will repeat once again: anything can be sold over the Internet.
Now that you know what can be sold over the Internet, you are ready to the main stage of learning how to sell over the Internet.
Interested in e-commerce? Want to sell over the Internet? Click here for details on the kenyon On-Line System.
Articel by Dr.R.Horovitz
(www.internet-marketing.co.il)
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