With so many people trying to make money on the web and so many products being sold with resell and master resell rights, it's a wonder anyone can make any money at all at it!
Indeed, most people don't.
Why?
Sometimes it's because people get in on the tail end of the product being sold and start trying to resell it just as the original creator decides to start giving it away for free. Generally this is 3-4 months after the product debuts.
But lots of times people actually learn quickly about a new resale product, but don't have a mailing list or website with lots of traffic to advertise the product to.
So what are you to do if you're one of these folks? You use Google Adwords as your new best friend.
Notice that I said AdWORDS, not AdSENSE. What's the difference? Adsense is the big thing those marketing gurus have recently been talking up. You know...make a web page specifically designed for a search term, put Google Adsense on that page, and make tons of money when people click on those ads. (Yeah, right, sure. They don't happen to mention that you need *traffic* before you can get clicks.)
AdWords, on the other hand, are those ads themselves. Where YOU are the person paying every time someone clicks on one of them. And I have found them to be the #1 way to make money with short-term resell products if you don't have a decent mailing list.
Steps and Rules of Thumb
Here are the steps and rules of thumb I use to achieve good to great profits on short-term sales items - those products that will be sold quickly then given away free within 3-4 months - practically every time.
#1 ~~ I do a Google search on the product name to see if the market is already saturated (not all 'new' products are actually new), to see if the product is already being given away free (most end up this way), and to see what the Google Adwords competition looks like.
If everybody and his brother are already selling or giving it away, I look for a new product.
#2 ~~ Assuming there's an opportunity here, I use the Overture Keyword Bid Amounts Lookup Tool < http://www.pixelfast.com/overture/ > and FindWhat.com, as well as Google Adwords itself, to see what advertisers are paying for various search words and phrases, and compare the cost per click to the sale price of the item.
Rule of Thumb: I don't spend more than 1/100th of the price of an item on a click.
That means a $10 item couldn't cost more than $.10 a click or a $37 item couldn't cost more than $.37 a click.
#3 ~~ I determine who my audience is and write my ads and choose my keywords accordingly. For example, a lot of products include resell or master resell rights. If you look at the sales web page included, you'll see that is seen as a selling point. But I never mention that in my Google ads. Instead, I choose to sell to people for whom the product would be useful by itself. I've even rewritten the sales page copy to remove most resell rights information and instead emphasize the usefulness of the product itself. Plus, when I include bonuses, I only include those bonuses that enhance the product.
#4 ~~ I set an initial budget and time period that I will give the ad in which to make money. I know that I probably won't get my ad worded perfectly right off and will need to tweak it before I start attracting the right type of buyer and start making sales. But I can't tweak the ad until I start advertising and see the statistics that Google provides. Depending on the product price, I will give myself 2-3 weeks to maximize the ad.
Rule of Thumb: ALWAYS put the price of your product in your Google ad.
You don't want just anyone clicking on your ad because each click costs you money. You want to let people know up front that you are selling something and for how much. They won't click if they aren't willing to spend that or if they don't think they can get something for free.
#5 ~~ I always quit when I determine by results that the product is no longer selling sufficiently to justify my continuing to pay Google. I never assume that things will pick up after my cutoff point.
Rule of Thumb: Once I stop selling 2 items per week, I quit selling the item.
The first sale is to cover the price of the ads. The second sale is to cover other costs as well as give me a profit. If there's no profit, there's no point in advertising.
[By the way, you have the option of your ads showing up just on Google search results or also on people's websites. I've found I generally do better just advertising on Google, but it depends on what you're selling.]
Conclusion: It can be hard for people to quickly break into the reselling world, even with a great product, without a large mailing list or a website with lots of traffic. Using Google AdWords can seriously level the resell playing field and help *you* make a profit!
(This article include full reprint rights as long as you do not change the article and include the byline box.)
About the Author: Kendall Simmons of http://Reselling4Profit.com, the largest resellers membership site on the web, has been making money online since 1996. Her Reselling4Profit Newsletter contains practical how-tos and step-by-steps designed to help you make a *PROFIT* online. Each issue also includes at least one free quality download that you can sell, use or give away. Subscribe at http://Reselling4Profit.com/newsletter.html