“Ok, just tell me, what is the most profitable thing I can sell online? I don’t care what it is, I just want to sell something and make some money…now!”
Sound familiar? How many times have you said that to yourself? Believe me everyone in the internet marketing business has screamed those words in frustration hundreds of times. Some still are!
Of all the emails I receive this has to be the most common request; “what do I sell so I can make some money.”
And it’s a very good question.
Should you invent something? Write a book. Sell a ‘hard’ product. Become an affiliate marketer. Sell digital products, or maybe a service. Maybe an App or some software. What should you do?
Let’s talk internet Business 101:
Building a business online is really no different than building a brick and mortar business. First you have to have a product or service that people are willing to purchase, and you must have a process of getting that product or service to them.
In a brick and mortar business customers come to your place of business to make a purchase. In an internet business the customers come to your webpage to make a purchase. The difference is in the delivery. Your internet product/service is delivered to your customers electronically.
The MOST PROFITABLE thing you can sell online is a digital product. Period.
If you have a product that you intend to sell online you first must develop and retain a specific amount of inventory on hand to insure you can fulfill the requests from your customers when your webpage goes live. This will require storage (living room, garage, etc.), packaging materials, and a process for shipping your products to your customers, (postal service, FedEx, UPS, etc).
Now keep in mind that your market is the WWW. So you will be shipping nationally as well as internationally. Will the price of your product include the shipping; and if so will that price be the same for the person in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Sydney?
Or will you have to create a shipping calculator on your website to compute and charge the proper selling price? Who will do the packaging and shipping of your products, and the receiving/accounting of incoming funds? You must have credit card, PayPal, etc. access for your worldwide customers.
If you are not creating the product yourself is your supplier trustworthy, financially sound and an active participant in your business? Will you be contracting with a ‘fulfillment house’ located somewhere midway between your business and your customers, to store, package and ship your products.
How and whom will confirm the purchase requests and payments? Or determine if the funds are legitimate and have been received, and then authorize shipment of your product?
If this sounds like a lot of work and costly support-services just to sell your product…you’re exactly right.
Keep in mind that there are thousands of entrepreneurs selling ‘hard’ products to online customers every day, and making a LOT of money. And you can too! If this wasn’t a profitable business there would be no need for UPS and FedEx. Target, Sears, Home Depot, EBay and Amazon wouldn’t be selling online either!
The profit margin for most ‘hard’ products is much smaller and there must be a large continuous customer base to support the expenses of inventory, packaging, shipping and the administration and accounting all this requires. They have to sell many more ‘hard’ products to return the same percentage of profit as someone selling a digital product.
The profit margin for a $200 dress, made in Asia, packaged in Mexico, shipped for storage in America, and sold online by a major distributor may only be 6%. Conversely, if you are an affiliate internet marketer and sell a digital product online your profit margin can be as high as 75%!
Now realize, your 75% may be the same amount of money as the department store’s $200 dress..but you didn’t’ have to do any of the packaging, shipping, and accounting.
See the difference? Much more possibility for costly problems in the process of getting the product to the customer.
That’s why the single most profitable thing to sell online is a product that can be delivered electronically!
Think about these:
-> E- Products are easy to produce. Within days you can have a finished product…ready to market online. If you are an affiliate marketer you have an endless assortment of products that you can sell immediately.
-> ‘Evergreen Products’. Many digital products, i.e. ebooks, are forever current information. Little or no updating of the product.
-> No Duplication Costs. Once you have the original copy of a product additional copies can be made at no additional cost. That increases your profit margin to 100%.
-> No Shipping. No inventory, packaging, stocking, shipping or accounting.
-> Instant Delivery. Your customers are thrilled that they received your product within minutes, literally. AND, if there’s a problem with the internet delivery….send them another one…it’s free!
-> Automate your Business. The best part…income while you sleep. You can set up your internet business system to automatically take orders, ship products, accept payment, and do the banking electronically. (http://www.e-junkie.com will file, store, receive/validate payments, put the money in your bank and send a thank you email..automatically for any of your digital products).
• Affiliate marketing
• Ebooks
• Tele Apps
• Writer for Hire
• Paid Subscription Newsletters
• Paid Resources (research documents)
• Paid How-To advice in a specific field/trade
• Software
• Membership website for advertising professional services
The list of online digital businesses is only limited by your imagination and those things that can be delivered electronically.
An internet business selling electronic products online is the perfect hands-off business!
Talk soon! 
-Jonathan
P.S. – If you have any questions or comments about this post, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the box below.
November 9, 2011 at 5:09 pm
[Awesome|Great|Wonderful] idea! Genious!
November 10, 2011 at 11:34 pm
(thankyou)(I appreciate it)
Thx Leonel,
Jonathan
January 12, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Super Blog! Weiter so, ich komme bestimmt öfter bei Dir vorbei.
January 13, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Danke, gerne behilflich sein. Schätzen Sie Ihre Bewertung.
Good luck.
Jonathan
February 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Nice article! I’m a newbie, and right now, I’m just trying to get as much information as I can, before I figure out exactly what I’m going to do, which direction to take. This helped.
February 6, 2012 at 11:00 pm
It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
February 11, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Thank you Stephan, I appreciate your comments. Glad to be of help.
J.
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March 5, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Glad to be of help Dillon.
Jonathan
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March 10, 2012 at 12:50 pm
You could definitely see your skills in the work you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. At all times go after your heart.
March 13, 2012 at 5:33 am
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March 13, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Hello Garret,
Thank you for your kind remarks. I make a point to have some great ‘business building’ information once each week.
Jonathan
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