Selecting Products

Now we have our premises, we can start to choose the stock.

Remember the Theme

Every time you look at a potential product - whether it is a book or CD at Amazon, an item at Vstore, or an affiliate program at Commission Junction - ask yourself a hard question - "does this really fit into the subject and purpose of the site?"

If not - leave it out. Remember, don't be afraid to specialize. Better to work hard at promoting 10 relevant items, than lay out a selection of 1000 that are of no interest to your visitors - that will reduce your conversion rate.

Be Your Customer

This might lead to a contradiction of the above section, but as well as thinking about subject relevance, think about the people themselves. If your subject will attract visitors in identifiable groups - a high percentage of retired people for example, or your visitors will tend to have higher or lower incomes than average - you can look for products to offer that may fit that profile even though they are unrelated to the subject.

For example, it may well be profitable to include links to an on-line dating agency (one of the current "hot" affiliate programs on the 'net) if your site is going to attract lots of young, single people. Less so if your site is related to parenting!

What Everybody Wants ...

Here's a 4-step plan for merchandising your Practical DotCom Business, although how much (if any) emphasis you give to each part willl vary according to you and your site subject:

1. For your first business site, I strongly suggest you base your product offers around books and other products from Amazon.
   Why?
   The on-line market for books is massive, yet heavily segmented by subject. You can take advantage of the scale and reputation of amazon, yet operate in a niche that avoids massive competition.
2. Compliment this with "branded" products from Vstore (if there are suitable items).
3. Add supplementary offers from merchants at Commission Junction.
4. Decorate with posters and art for sale.

So there are 4 places you need to sign up with (if you haven't done so already at the research stage).

Again, they're all free to join and carry no obligations, so you might as well do it now so they are processing your application while you read on ...

• Amazon.com (and/or Amazon.co.uk)
• Vstore
• Commission Junction
• AllPosters