Deciding what products to promote on your website may seem like a daunting task. There are hundreds of products that you could advertise, promote and sell from your website. With such an enormous selection, you will, necessarily, need to narrow the field so the choices of possibilities is more manageable, much in the same way you would narrow the field of possible topics for blog posts. You will need to choose products that will appeal to your potential customers while satisfying your requirements for a product that is both popular and profitable.

Suppose you are starting a blog or perhaps, you already have a blog (or full featured-website) but have not yet selected any products to advertise. You want to monetize your site: How do you decide what kinds of products to advertise and promote? Whether you have a specialized blog or a more general non-specific blog, there is an easy way to narrow the field of choices of products that are most popular with online shoppers.

Surf the web and visit 10 or 20 or more websites and blogs and notice what kinds of products are being advertised on these sites. You should soon begin to notice that many if not most of these products can be assigned to definite categories. The categories I list here are from my analysis. You may discern more but I believe these are valid and most useful for the purpose of our discussion. I can identify six product categories:

1) HEALTH AND BEAUTY

2) MONEY-MAKING SYSTEMS

3) TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS

4) SELF-IMPROVEMENT/SELF-HELP

5) ENTERTAINMENT/HOBBIES

6) DOMESTIC COMFORTS

The Health and Beauty market is “huge” today. These products are “hot” items and in great demand by people all over the world who are conscientious about their health and attractiveness. Health and beauty products include such things as nutritional supplements that deliver benefits like weight loss, virility, energy etc.; vitamins; even chewing gums that contain health promoting ingredients; Beauty Aids, of course, including cosmetics of various types (topical oils, creams, lotions and oral supplements) that will promote smoother, younger looking skin, breast enhancement and what I call “optimization of male reproductive accoutrements.”

Money-Making Systems are very popular and are usually delivered as digital downloads and E-books. Many of these courses teach you how to set up and manage a money-generating website. A few of these systems confidently assert that if the entrepreneur is conscientious and follows the provided instructions, their website will have the potential to bring a six-figure income.

Technology Products can include any kind of software that protects your computer from virus, spyware and other threats or enhances its operating efficiency. Technology can also include hardwoods like Ipods, cell-phones, MP3 players, mini-speakers and other popular electronic devices.

Self-Improvement/Self-Help products are such things as self-hypnosis CD’s to help lose weight, stop-smoking, get more sleep, foreign language courses, vocabulary builders, manifestation/visualization programs, IQ boosters and informational/educational downloads.

Entertainment/Hobbies: music, or instructional CD’s,, “Books on tape,” and DVD’s (movies and “how to” subjects. Also in this category are physical merchandise such as woodworking and garden tools, fishing and camping gear, model-making supplies, books and much more.

Domestic Comforts are any products that make you feel good, secure, and comfortable. These are usually self-indulgent treats that you enjoy while relaxing at home, perhaps hibernating during bad weather. These products include special “comfort foods” like chocolates ( one of the most wonderful comfort foods invented by man–or was it woman?); pastries, jams and jellies; gourmet teas and coffee, cheeses, fine cigars, exotic pipe tobacco blends, “comfy” sleepwear; candles, fragrant oils, incense and whatever you can think of that makes a person smile–Use your imagination: There are many, many possibilities.

There are other ways to find sought-after products to sell: You can do a Google search using search terms like “online products to sell” or “online product directory. You can search for “product review” sites. You can go directly to an Affiliate network website ( such as Clickbank, commission Junction, Linkshare and others) and see what products they are offering Affiliates. Finally, you can go to a large bookstore or other store that sells magazines and peruse through a number of them looking for interesting products that you might like to sell on your site. Some of these Ads may have an Internet address that you can go to and you can contact the supplier to see if you can offer the product on your website.

By assigning products to different categories you are organizing and narrowing your choices of potentially useful products. If yours is a specialized blog, you may want to select products that reflect the particular theme of your blog, or, you could do as someone would do who had a more general, non-specific blog and choose products of many different kinds, advertising them on a separate page from your blog posts.

Once you have found and selected the products that you want to sell, there is one more important step you should take. You do not have to do this, but it is a good idea. You must evaluate the products you have selected. In the next post, I will discuss ways in which you can determine if a product is a quality product that will appeal to your potential customers and generate a reasonable profit for you.

Until then, Take Care and be well,

–Wil