In the online business world, less is definitely more and that couldn’t be truer than when it comes to online retail businesses. The number one mistake internet business owners make is that they try to sell everything under the sun, on one single website. They may have a site that sells pet carriers, lawn furniture, and fishing equipment. This is not good. A lot of times the online retailer will try to run their business like the big box retailers. After all it seems to be working well for the big box retailer to sell hundreds of different products, shouldn’t it work for me? The answer is a resounding, no! This method simply does not work on the web.
For a successful online business, you want to narrow your offerings down to reach a targeted niche market. Such as....gifts for golfers, gifts for fisherman, gifts for left-handed people, well you get the idea. Unfortunately, there are many out there that will have you believe you need hundreds if not thousands of products to sell on your website or in online auctions, if you want to make any money. This is simply false. Actually, a site with a tight niche selling a handful of products can do quite well, in a lot of cases exceptionally well.
Why do you want narrow to your offerings down to a particular market? Because it is easier to market to one specific group than it is to try and market to several groups at once.
I am going to share a secret with you…contrary to popular belief it is not the product that is most critical, it is the market you are trying to reach that is most important. Many online business owners make the blunder of saying, “I need to find a hot product to sell online to make a lot of money.” What they don’t understand is that it is not the product they need to find, but the market of people they need to find first and then find a product to sell to that group of people.
Let me ask you a few questions, do you know who you are trying to market to? Do you know the best ways to reach this particular market? If you don’t know the answers to these two questions then you may need to go back to the drawing board. Finding a product to sell online is not what makes an internet business successful, it is the individual person’s ability to find a market to promote the product to, that is the secret to a successful business. Narrow your niche, focus on a particular market. By narrowing your niche and focuses on one particular market you will be able to reach your audience easier which translates into customers and making more money online. At the end of the day running an online business is not so much about selling a particular product but reaching a particular market to sell your product to. Remember that.