The 4 Rules of Product Marketing

checklistIt’s always a given that the best way to make profits from a blog or website is to have a product of your own. But that doesn’t leave you to explore other opportunities does it? And besides, it’s not as if it’s easy to whip up a product in a flash.

So while you’re at it, or if you just want to focus on money-making regardless of who’s product it is, the answer is very simple – earn money online by promoting profitable products (such as our own Issho Genki Squalene) on your site.

Of course, you already know that. Which brings us to the purpose of this recent article- what products should you really promote on your site? Do note that for advance internet markers, they’d usually build a mini-website for the sake of just one product. But since I’m assuming most of the people reading these are bloggers, or have websites worth monetizing, then we’ll focus on how to find products that are tailor-fitted for you (and will bring in the *ka-ching* sound).

These are basic guidelines that will let you filter products that you should, or shouldn’t promote:

Rule # 1: Relevance

One of the biggest sins of being a product affiliate is promoting the product to a place that doesn’t necessarily have the right audience to consume the product. If your blog is about technology, it’s out of the question to promote a product about health (e.g. diets, going vegetarian) or lifestyle. I’d say you’re smart enough to realize that.

But more than about picking products that are actually within your niche, you have to narrow it down to those that really reflects your site and the things you teach or say or just rant about. Going back to the technology example, you can’t just promote products that are tech-y, be more selective.

If your site is about gadget reviews, then you know what to do – select products that you actually review and promote in selling them. For more tips oriented niches (like health, lifestyle, social media, etc.), there’s always a simple rule in filtering out potential products- look for those that you actually believe and support.

Take Sean’s technique as an example, notice how he’s promoting SocialOomph and Scribe? That’s because those tools are directly related with SEO and internet marketing. SocialOomph Drives in consistent Traffic from Twitter like crazy and Scribe is a powerful tool that covers up your whole on-page optimization process.

Rule # 2: Quality

Whenever you promote a product, remember that your integrity is always on the line. Promote something that turns out to be a scam? You know what’ll happen. To prevent these bad PR things from happening, you must do a rigid review of a product beforehand.

A good marketing practice is to always invest in a copy or membership of a product before you promote it. There are some product owners that are willing to give discounts or free samples if you tell them that your intention is to get a review out of it. It’s always better to get a first hand account. It might even be an opportunity if you review the product and put affiliate links within it.

However for more lucrative products, you’d usually end up just looking for previous client feedbacks. At least ensure that these things are really honest comments (never rely too much on testimonials!).

Rule # 3: Marketability

When it comes to marketing, be careful about deception. Again guys, don’t be deceived. A product might already seem perfect and ready-to-promote, but be wary. One of the final questions that you should ask is this- will this product really sell? Because honestly, everything will be pointless if your efforts don’t convert into sales (and money).

For this rule, check out how well the product promotes itself. For starters, evaluate the salespage. It’s both an art and a science to say if a salespage is working or not (I’ll talk about this in the future), but like everything else, there’s an easy way to check. Answer this: are you enticed to buy that product based on the salespage? If the answer is no, then you might wanna take a second review at it.

Rule # 4: Profitability

Once you’ve filtered out all potential products, the last rule will talk about something that will be of benefit to you. Remember that promoting a product requires a lot of effort and investment in terms of time (that’s why Sean’s Free Basic SEO Course starts at December – because he’s still furnishing it) and sometimes money. Therefore, it’s always important that you get the most out of your hard work. After all, who wouldn’t want a fatter wallet?

First, look at the commission that it’s offering. If it’s anything below 30%, you’d probably want to forget about it. The standard for affiliates right now has become so lucrative. Usually, the bare minimum commission starts at around 45% and can go as high as 75%. It’s wise that you focus on products around this commission range.

Somehow, this also goes back to the aspect of marketability. It has to have a good marketing system that will make promotion a lot easier for you. Is the product good? Is there good client support? Does it pay well? Does it convert well? And last but not the least, does it make people happy?

If the answer to all of those are yes, chances are, you’ve found a perfect product to promote.

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.