Affiliate marketing works at times but I suggest that you have at least one site that sells products. I would keep it narrow in the sense that it appeals to a special group of buyers. I would try to obtain the rights to sell a product that is special in some way.

I have a friend that has fields of lavender. She boils it down and uses the essence to make lotions, soaps, oils, candles, you name it. She sells them locally but does about one hundred grand a year from her web site. Her husband died a couple of years ago which has made this business of hers more important.

This lady has competition but she has a clientele. Local people use her web site as well as surfers on the web.,

It is important to choose your product carefully. Can you make the product yourself or have someone make the product for you exclusively? I’m sure you can. I have a couple of friends who are inventors. They make products to sell and they sell others rights to manufacturer.

I have been selling products from one company for years. The business was slowed down when the recession hit but this has been my best year. I have only had one order cancelled. (I did not get notification from my credit card company that I had received the order. Then my supplier misplaced the fax order for a couple of days. It would have been OK but that delayed shipment because the company went into inventory audit. I told the customer that I would have cancelled too. It was not my fault but I lost the order.) But in ten years, that is not too bad.

Go to the Thomas Registry and find a supplier for your product. If the company will drop ship to your customers, fine. If not you will have to handle the product and probably maintain an inventory. Don’t for get local manufacturers and suppliers. We have a honey producer near my home. I have thought about marketing their honey. But I’ll be 80 years old in a couple of weeks and I probably will never do it. But you can find such opportunities.

You can get good ideas for products by using the WA keyword tools, by going to DMOZ, Amazon, or Ebay, and by knowing some field of interest to you. I suggest that you offer your products locally. Direct mail is so expensive that small classifieds can bring in inquiries that you can pitch to. You can drive people to your web sires by using the techniques given here at WA. You may want to sell WA memberships as an affiliate to pay for your membership but you will have plenty of benefits if you use WA training and tools and free hosting to give you the business edge you need.

One success story on the internet is the fellow who liked to juggle. He opened up a store on the net and sells juggling products. We have friends that sell doll parts, little shoes, dresses, etc. They had storefront business but it expanded greatly on the Internet which is now their main source of income.

You can do it!

John