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Looking for products ideas?

Before you even think about creating or developing a new product to sell, you MUST know if there is a demand for that product?

Just as important: ‘can you gain easy access to that market?’

The first one is obvious to most people, but the second point is often overlooked. It’s one thing having a product that people want, but if you can’t get it in front of them very easily, you are going to struggle to sell it.

During the gold rush, it was the guys selling the shovels who made all the real money. Today; there are lots of similar opportunities to sell shovels (metaphorically speaking).

All over the web you will find huge thriving communities, if you know where to look for them. At sites like the ones below, you can browse through the topics and find forums related to most decent size niche markets. This is a great way to find where large communities gather and prosper.

http://www.big-boards.com
http://groups.google.com
http://groups.yahoo.com

When you check out the various forums, look for popular threads, where there are lots of views and comments. Jot down notes of what people are talking about, what problems they are having, and what they ‘want’.

This will help give you a picture of what people may be willing to buy.

Jump On Existing Bandwagons

Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, look at what’s already being successfully sold to those communities. Those guys are showing you a road map to making money, all you have to do is follow in their footsteps.

I’m not saying you should copy everything they are doing, but there’s nothing stopping you from selling something similar to the same market.

There are a few ways you can do this. One way is to look at what they are doing, and provide something better, maybe in a different format, or to a specific sub niche of the community.

• They might be selling ‘how to’ ebooks to that market - You could maybe provide similar information using video or audio as an alternative.
• They might be selling templates and graphics - You could provide a tutorial resource on how to customize and install those templates etc.

Lets have a look at some different communities to give you a feel for what the possibilities are…

• Open source software -

  Some of the biggest and thriving online communities are around the many different open source software programs. For example:

  Mambo - http://forum.mamboserver.com
  Joomla - http://forum.joomla.org

  Both those sites are for two of the most popular content management systems. Both Joomla and Mambo are free to download, but there’s a whole host of plugins and templates being sold to this market. The demand is huge and just seems to keep on growing.

• Online games - World of Warcraft - http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

  This is a huge role playing game, with people playing online in every part of the globe. Type in ‘world of warcraft’ in Google, and you will find people selling, strategy guides, cheat sheets and gold to help you advance in the game.

• Social networking - Myspace http://www.myspace.com
  Social networking is one of the fastest growing areas on the web right night, with Myspace currently sitting top of the pile.

  Templates, guides, software and all sorts of things are being sold to Myspace users, to make their profile look better, help them get more ‘myspace friends’ etc. Not to mention the latest flood of reports on how to make money with myspace.

The communities I’ve just mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. People are flooding to communities in hundreds of niches all over the Internet. They are just waiting there for you to tap into them, and provide them with additional tools, products and services.

Remember, competition is a good thing, because it means that people are already buying those products. Look at ways to improve on what they are selling, if you want to compete directly with them. OR, see if you can provide a complimentary product or service to what’s already being sold in the market.

This will open up potential joint venture opportunities with the existing product sellers, who already have access to the niche.

Find a hungry market - discover where they gather - study their habits to learn what they want - help them get what they want!

If you identify a demand for a particular product or service, don’t worry if you don’t have the skills or knowledge to create it yourself. Sites like http://www.guru.com, http://www.elance.com and http://www.scriptlance.com are another type of thriving comminity, where you will find plenty of people willing to create your products for you ;-)

Jason Lewis