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Right now there are probably millions of people around the world trying to make a living online; their numbers are increasing by the day, and with good reason. When you consider all its advantages there's no doubt that selling online is just about the perfect start-up business opportunity. You can get going with little or no start-up capital and if you specialise in electronically delivered information products you need not tie up any money in physical stocks of product. Remember too, that e-mail and website marketing is practically free when compared with traditional print and broadcast media. Most importantly of all, perhaps, your online store can be open 24/7, the year round, taking automated orders from millions of potential customers worldwide.

Sp doesn't it sound as though it should be a cinch to set up a little online business and wait for the money to roll in while you head for the beach or the golf course? Truth be told, that's not a lazy man's fantasy, but a way of life that's real and attainable. And there are many living it right now. Sadly though, there are also many hopeful newbies who not only are not making any money, or making very little, but are actually losing it. There can be many reasons for this, ranging from purely technical problems to weak sales copy and the good news is that these are usually easily soluble either with a little work and research on your own part, or with the help of the many professionals who offer these services.

But there's one mistake that's always and invariably fatal to your business - no exceptions. That's when you bring to the market a product which the market doesn't want. Now let's be very clear here. It doesn't matter how good you think your product is; or how much your partner or best friends like it. The market rules. And if the market says it sucks, it sucks. And neither the sum of advertising expertise on Madison Avenue nor the hottest direct marketing copywriter in the world will save it for you.

In case you still doubt this key point, let me give you an example from British industry. Back in the 1980s one of our best known inventor entrepreneurs was Sir Clive Sinclair. In the days before PCs he had made his name and a great deal of money as the developer of one of the first pocket calculators and other devices. Then for reasons perhaps known only to himself, Sir Clive decided to move into the field of personal transport and came up with the supposedly revolutionary electric car, the C5.

With Sinclair's reputation he was able to secure massive publicity for the launch and indeed he could point to plausible advantages for the vehicle. It was economical, non-polluting, manoeuvrable in city traffic and easy to park. On the downside, though, the car was slow, of restricted range and looked downright dangerous alongside thundering conventional traffic. Worst of all perhaps, it exposed the user not just to the elements and apparent danger, but to widespread and immediate ridicule. The public took one look; said thanks but no thanks, and the project was dead.

For all his undoubted inventive genius, you see, Sinclair had neglected one of the fundamental rules of all business success: - research your market!

Problem is, though, that this inviolable rule can be tough in the observance for the eager new starter who's just bursting with enthusiasm to get a product online and earning some money. Do you want to start in business by carefully researching a number of different niche markets before going to all the trouble and expense of producing a precisely tailored e-book or piece of software to meet its needs? Thought not; although you'll make a lot of money if you do! But best leave that until later in the day when you have your business established and making you a comfortable living.

And that day need not be very far away, because fortunately there is an alternative and much quicker way of getting started, through what are known as resell rights. Put simply this involves purchasing a license to sell a product already created by another.

Online these are currently offered on a huge variety of products, typically e-books and software programs. Creators will usually offer resell rights when they do not have the time, money, or expertise needed to sell their finished product. Some people are just much more interested in researching and creating new products than in marketing them (Sir Clive Sinclair being an excellent example!).

So this can be a really great symbiotic, or win/win relationship. The product creator is earning an income from the sale of the rights in addition to anything he may make from selling the product itself. Moreover, he will benefit from the 'brand recognition' he will achieve by having his product sold in far greater quantities through his resellers than he would be able to obtain on his own.

You as reseller will benefit from having a ready made quality product you can sell in unlimited quantities to visitors to your site. And once you have recouped the cost of your reseller's license, which will seldom take more than a handful of sales, you are into the zone of pure profit, retaining all further income for your own.

If this sounds attractive, it is! The profit potential of this kind of business is truly astronomical, and increasing all the time as more and more customers come online around the world.

But there is a catch, however. None of the above significant advantages of using resell rights remove the need to research your market. Before buying your licence you still need to pick a product that sells, and you can't do this by guesswork, by selecting a product that you happen to like, or a niche in which you have an existing interest (although it does help to have a passion for the one you eventually choose). To make money you must research the market and learn what customers want and need to buy. Doing so will allow you to obtain the resell rights to a product that will be in high demand, and which will bring you correspondingly high sales and profits.

Luckily this is not at all difficult do, although you will need to set aside a little time. If you balk at this, just remember that once you have your hot-selling product online you're well on the way to a lifestyle that the vast majority of people will only ever dream of.

Now unsurprisingly perhaps, the best way to learn about the products, topics, or issues that are currently popular on the internet is to use the internet. For example there is a great 2 hour audio program on the subject of resale rights at http://www.plrtips.com/. And the really good news is that it's absolutely free!

You can use the search engines to tell you what niches are attracting heavy traffic and should have a look at www.alexa.com for another great free tool. You can also check out what's selling on eBay and the non-fiction best sellers on Amazon to give you ideas.

You may also want to participate in online discussions. You can easily do this by joining a number of different message boards in the possible areas of interest you've identified. With online message boards, many internet users post questions and product requests. If you are able to find a product, such as a specific software program or e-book, that is being requested on a large scale, that product may well be able to turn you a profit.

This research may seem like it would be very time consuming, but it needn't be. The joy of the internet is that it's just so vast that there's bound to be an area of human interest ' probably as yet largely untapped ' that you can find and develop into a successful product very quickly. It helps of course, if you have an existing interest in that subject, but it's by no means essential. What is vital, however, is that it's a subject in which a significant number of other people are interested, because they're your potential customers and your potential profits.

The resources above, coupled with your own imagination, will give you all you need to go find them.

Steve Smith
October 2006

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