Finding Products to Sell Using Watchcount.com
September 18, 2015
We are going to go over eight steps you can use to identify products with a High Probability of
Success to sell.
Here are the eight steps we will look at.
STEP 1 – Start with a Keyword, Category or Something to get a list of products
STEP 2 – Evaluate the Top Items on the List You Found
STEP 3 – Evaluate the Product on eBay
STEP 4 – Check the Top Seller’s Other Items for Ideas
STEP 5 – If Necessary Go Back to Watchcount and Look For Similar
STEP 6 – If Necessary Check eBay for Similar Listings
STEP 7 – Identify a Product with a High Potential for Selling Success
STEP 8 – Research Amazon.com and other to See If the Product Will Sell At A Higher Price.
This document also covers very briefly creating Sales Pages and Using Facebook’s
Audience Insights to research Interest groups in Facebook.
THE CRITERIA A PRODUCT MUST MEET
One of the key elements that you will start to memorize is the criteria a product
must meet to be considered.
Check list for finding a Product to Sell
#1 – Hot product – Some sold in the last hour, the more sold recently the
better. You can look at sales in eBay and get a list. Boris found a Dog Leash
product that had sold over a hundred in the last day. Not a Real Killer if other
criteria are met.
#1a - Variations is also usually a good sign. The more variations the more we can
scale if it starts to sell well. A Good Sign but NOT critical
#2 - > 10 - More than 10 available
#3 – Lots sold – over 9,000 - 1,000 minimum
#4 - Low Price -Price is low including Shipping (Free) $5-$13 (You need to
be able to add $10 and still stay in the “Impulse Buy” range < $25)
#5 – Buy Now - Is not “Auction only”
#6 – Good Reviews - also lots of reviews
#7 – USA - Shipped from USA
#8 – Related Products - Product is not standalone (no related products) example was a Selfie Stick.
#9 = IMPORTANT – Can you identify INTEREST groups that would be prone to
buy this product? Example Cycling Sunglasses – YES, Selfie Stick – Probably
Not. Pass on the product if you can’t ID groups by there interests since that is
how we have to target in FB.
#10 – Splinter Audiences? - Ideal products are products that lend
themselves to target audiences that can be splintered. His example was
Dogs. You can sell to the owners of one Breed. If that works, rinse and repeat
for other breeds. Massive winner.
#11 - IMPORTANT – make sure you can verify that the product is selling
elsewhere at a higher cost (around the cost you want to charge)
#12 – EDGE Available? - Find the EDGE for the product - the WANT OR NEED
Once you have the product identified you must determine the "edge" for the
product. Why do people want or need this product. What emotional thing
would trigger them to say "Yes! I've got to get one of those!"
In his example he had a leash for aggressive pulling dogs that were over 30
pounds. He figured that Pit Bulls would likely meet that criteria so he started
by targeting Pit Bull Owners.
#13 –Search the Store - When you find a hot seller – click on the link to the
other items he or she is selling. This can give you great ideas for additional
products to track on.
Using Watchcount.com
This site shows you the products that have the most people watching them in eBay. The number
of watchers correlates very well with the number of buyers.
Watchcount Screen
#1 – You can enter Keywords
#2 – You can search by Categories
#3 – Show Me What’s Hot
STEP 1 – Start with a Keyword, Category or Something
to get a list of products
In this example we will enter Sunglasses in the text box #1 above.
NOTE: Random Keywords: From training is Dropship Domination. Often it is best
to start with random keywords and see what comes up. Sunglasses and Dog
Products and Top Baby Items are things that LOTS of people probably search.
Silver, press, splip, scrape, connect, etc. are much more likely to send you off into
places where nobody goes but there may be wonderful products there. Look for
the 10,000 plus sellers.
More on Ideas for Keywords Selection.
1. Open Facebook and put the word Interests in the search bar. Click on See
More. Look at the categories and the number of Likes. You will get ideas.
For example I saw “Sleeping” as a category and that brought up ideas for
keywords related to slieeping (i.e. White Noise, Pillow, Snore, Sleep Mask)
2. http://Cafepress.com Look at trending on the right sidebar. For example I
see Funny Shower Curtains as trending. That might work.
3. http://Zazzle.com – Under the Shop Menu they have a list of Hottest
Products. Another list is Top Searches – use for ideas
4. https://www.pinterest.com/source/ebay.com/ - look for lots of re-pins
5. https://www.pinterest.com/source/amazon.com/ - look for lots of re-pints
6. https://www.pinterest.com/source/walmart.com/ - look for lots of re-pins
7. https://www.pinterest.com/source/costco.com/ - look for lots of re-pins
8. Google trends - https://www.google.com/trends/home/all/US - look for
ideas
9. Riding the trend
http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays
This will give you "October, 2015 Bizarre and Unique
Holidays" which might give you some ideas
10. List of Hobbies
http://notsoboringlife.com/ All of the
hobbies listed will have things their
enthusiasts need to buy.
11. https://www.facebook.com/search/str/e
bay.com+NICHE/storieskeyword/intersect - Search Facebook
for posts about eBay.com AND your
niche. I did ebay.com + dog and got a
listing about a dog umbrella leash. The
umbrella is on the leash above the dog
and the owner holds it up. Can I find it?
Dunno haven’t tried yet.
12.
STEP 2 – Evaluate the Top Items on the List You Found
CHECKLIST FOR WATCHCOUNT
After you start the search (keywords, category, what’s host?, etc) Look at the
following:
#1 – Number watching
#2 – Number Sold
#3 – Price and Shipping together are right
#4 – Can you think of a target group who have interests that would make them
just right of the product.
#5 – Is this a standalone product?
Entered Keyword “Sunglasses”
#1 – This shows what we searched for.
#2 – How Many Watchers (more is better)
#3 – Past Sales (More is Better) – Look for outliers. If most are 10, 200, 30,
and one is 20,000, that is the one you want to look at more closely.
#4 – Price
#5 – Shipping (Price + Shipping between $5 and $13)
#6 - Is the product targeted to a niche? (Judgement call – you need a niche
and for #6 that answer is NO – Move On)
#6a – Is this a standalone product (like Selfie stick) If there are no related
product you can sell after you sell the first one, MOVE ON
#7 – This is an example of a product that IS targeted to an Interest Group.
NOTE: IMPULSE BUY PRICE LEVEL - Price plus shipping is our cost. This
should be between $5 and $13 so we can double or at least add $10 and
still have an impulse buy level product.
#6 & #7 IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION – RIGHT NOW – Facebook Ad Targeting
We are going to be driving traffic to our Sales Pages using Facebook Ads. When you set
up an ad in Facebook you target by “INTERESTS.” Facebook will present you a list of
interests (you start with a keyword) and you choose interests that you think will contain a
high percentage of people who would be interesting in this product.
WHAT TO AVOID
This first pair of Sunglasses above are “Women’s Black Cat Eye Sunglasses Retro
Classic Designer Vintage Shades”
Can you think of an interest group that would be hot to buy this product? - No? Neither
can I!
MOVE ON WHEN THE ANSWER IS NO!
WHAT TO TARGET
The second set of sunglasses above is “Professional Polarized Cycling Glasses….”
Can you think of an interest group that would be hot to buy this product? - Cycling!
Your advertising can target right in on people interested in Cycling, where it is much
more difficult to zero in on women interested in “Black Cat Eye” glasses or “Retro”
glasses.
NOTE: THERE IS A SECTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DOCUMENT THAT
GIVES A QUICK OVERVIEW OF USING AUDIENCE INSIGHTS IN THE
FACEBOOK AD MANAGER TO RESEARCH INTERESTS.
6a – STANDALONE PRODUCTS
If you find something that sells well in a well-defined niche (e.g. Cycling, Dog Owners,
Campers, Parents with Babies) than you can sell many other products to them. YOU
WANT THAT.
STEP 3 – Evaluate the Product on eBay
Click on the Product Link and go to EBAY
This is where you apply the 13 criteria listed at the top of this document.
#1 – eBay may designate this a “Hot Seller” because it sold several recently. A
Good Sign but NOT critical
#1a – Variations is also usually a good sign. The more variations the more we
can scale if it starts to sell well. A Good Sign but NOT critical
#2 – Move than 10 Available – must have stock so we can sell.
#3 – Total sold – lots is good. (We will click on this below and see how many
sold recently)
#4 – Price plus Shipping is low ($5 - $13)
#5 – Is not Auction Only
#6 – Percentage positive feedback and Number of Feedbacks– higher is better
#7 – Where does it ship from – FAIL – this one ships from China and takes a
month to get here. That is BAD
#8 – Product is not a “standalone” – there should be related product – a niche
#9 – Can you identify INTERESTS where the people with that Interest would be
likely to buy this product? (Cycling = YES, Retro Glasses = NO)
#10 – Can the niche be splintered into subgroups so you can target different
groups and scale
#11 – Go To Amazon and make sure the item will sell for our price + $10
#12 – Can you identify an EDGE – something that would make this product stand
out – that will help sales a LOT
#13 – Even if it Fails, if there are a lot of sales Click on the STORE OR Other
Products and see what else this person is selling. Great source of ideas for other
hot products.
Click on the total number sold – that shows a screen like this.
Look at How Many Were Sold on Each Date.
#1 – The more sold every day the happier we are.
STEP 4 – (#13) Check the Top Seller’s Other Items for
Ideas
Look for ideas!
Seller’s Store
#10 – Alternate - There is also a link “Other Items” near the #10 in the image
above (A couple of images back – the one with lots of arrows)
STEP 5 – If Necessary Go Back to Watchcount and Look
For Similar Products
Click on that to see a different listing. Sellers who don’t have a store will usually
have this link.
Other Items List
CONTINUE ON – This particular listing was a FAIL
Go back to Watchcount and click on See Similar Listings
See Similar Listing
Click on See Similar Listings
One Set of Similar Listings
#1 – You can see there are 30 listings here. You can browse these.
STEP 6 – If Necessary Check eBay for Similar Listings
Here is another way to find Similar Listings. At the top of the list I just showed
you, the main listing is the exact same listing we saw before.
Above it is the Category it belongs to. That is a link – Click on it.
Click on the Item Category
#1 – Click on Sunglasses & Goggles
Now we see that Cycling Sunglasses is a sub-category. Click on that
Click on Cycling Sunglasses
#1 - Click on Cycling Sunglasses
Narrow it down to only items that are Buy It Now
Buy It Now Filter
#1 – Click on the Buy It Now filter
Now scroll down (quite a ways) looking for US ONLY on the left side.
US Only
#1 – Click on US ONLY
Watch the Categories – In this case he saw “Cycling Sunglasses Polarized” which
was even closer to what the original product was.
Better Category
STEP 7 – Identify a Product with a High Potential for
Selling Success
RESEARCH THE LIST.
You will have a list of products now and you can go through that list looking for
similar products that meet all the criteria.
DECIDE YES OR NO ON YOUR PRODUCT
STEP 8 – (#11) Research Amazon.com and other to See If
the Product Will Sell At A Higher Price.
NOTE YOU ARE NOT DONE. You need to determine if the item can be sold at a
higher price! This was NOT covered in the early training. It is critical since you
will waste time with products that you are asking more than the market will bear.
NOTE: If you find a listing with a higher price on Amazon, be sure that it has a low
BSR and lots of reviews. If it is out there and not selling it doesn’t count!
TIP: Search by Image: The Chrome browser has a feature that lets you right click
on an image and have Google search for the same or very similar items. This is a
GREAT WAY to find other places where the item is selling. There is an ADD-ON for
the FireFox browser that lets you do the same thing. This is often easier than
cutting and pasting parts of the item title into Amazon and trying to find the item.
WHEN YOU SELECT A SELLER ON eBAY
Three questions you ask your seller
1. Do you sell in bulk?
2. Do you drop ship?
3. Would you be willing to just put “Shipping Department” on your product
and not include an invoice when I purchase something for you.
#1 – Do You Sell in Bulk? – At some point you might want buy a bunch. You will
have a lot more control if you have the inventory.
#2 – Do You Drop Ship? Not a question you need to ask very early on. (There are
a few that don’t want to do this.)
#3 – Would you be willing to put “Shipping Address” on your label instead of your
Store and Seller Name and not include an invoice. (A few customers will check
out eBay and wonder why they paid more.)
There are two methods of Selling
1. Selling from Sales Pages
2. Doing Giveaways to obtain an email address and then selling to the mailing
list.
TARGETING A SPLINTER GROUP WITHIN THE NICHE
The ideal situation is when you have a product that you can target one splinter of
the niche it belongs in. The best example was a dog leash for dogs that pull. He
originally targeted the Pit Bull Owner Splinter of the Dog Owners Niche. When
that worked, he created a new ad targeting another splinter. In the perfect
scenario you can have one product selling to 8 or 10 splinter groups. You have
one listing in your website targeted directly at each splinter group and an ad
campaign targeted to the splinter group and sending people to the Listing that is
specific to their splinter (i.e. a Pit Bull Owners campaign that sends people to a Pit
Bull Listing Page on the website.)
SELLING Method 1 SALES PAGE
Originally Boris and his brother just put a title and the images into their ads.
The only text they put was
1. the title
2. Higher Price – strike through, Your Price
3. “Guaranteed Secure Checkout via PayPal (VISA, MASTERCARD)
Click “BUY IT NOW” below to get yours now!
4. This deal expires on
the countdown clock
5. The price button
6. The Buy IT Now Button
In later videos he showed grabbing the bullet points from the original ad and
modifying them to be specific to the splinter niche you are targeting. It was still a
minimalistic display page.
SELLING Method 2 MICRO FUNNEL AND GIVEAWAY
This method is “Win free….”
You collect email addresses
You sell to the email list
Takes longer, but you end up with a list.
RESEARCHING INTERESTS IN FACEBOOK AD MANAGER
Open up Ad Manager  Audience Insights
Audience Insights
#1 – Click on Tools
#2 – Click on Audience Insights
You have to pick who to start with
Choose All of Facebook
#1 – Everyone on Facebook
If you don’t know anything about the audience you are researching do the
following:




Set the Countries to just those you can sell product and ship to
Leave Age alone
Leave Gender alone
Enter a Keyword in the INTEREST Panel
Start with Everyone and a keyword
#1 – Left Country as United States
#2 – Left Age alone
#3 – Left Gender alone
#4 – Entered Cycling in the Interest Fields
Here is an important point to understand about the keywords that show up in the
list.
Types of Keywords
#1 – Cycling – bold face an starts with a Capital Letter
#2 – cycling – regular font and starts with a lower case letter
The Bold Version is a Category and it is VERY BROAD. It is what I call a CATEGORY
LEVEL INTEREST. If you ever visited a page on cycling, liked a post where a friend
from High School shows that one of her children took part in a cycling event or
anything else remotely associated with cycling then you are in this group. This is a
BAD Final Target Group.
The CATEGORY LEVEL Interest is a good group to start with. Adding it to your
interests will bring up a lot of related interests that may be much more targeted.
Once you have added several of these to your list of interests REMOVE THE
CATEGORY LEVEL INTEREST.
The lower case cycling is people who have actually expressed an interest in
cycling.
EXAMPLE –
Here I added the CATEGORY LEVEL Cycling to my Interest list.
CATEGORY LEVEL
#1 – Category Level added to Interest list
#2 – Audience is 40 to 45 MILLION People. That is perhaps one third
of all adults in the US. WAY TOO BROAD.
Now I clicked on the small X to the right of the CATEGORY LEVEL Cycling and
removed it from the list of Interest.
Then I created the list again and clicked on the lower case version
Specific Interest Group
#1 – Lower case cycling
#2 – The audience is 450 thousand to 500 thousand. Much more
realistic.
Cycle Sport gets us 2 to 3 million
Let’s Look at the Cycle Sport Group
Cycle Sport
#1 – this is 14% women
#2 – and 86% men (probably should only target men)
#3, #4, #5 these three age groups are heavy – after that it drops off. One
rule of thumb is to ignore any segment that is less than 10%.
#6 – AN IMPORTANT POINT – this 21% looks large, but it is 26% of the 14%
If there were 1000 people in the group, the 14% would be 140 people. 21%
of 140 people is about 29 people. The other 860 people would be men. 29
people is about 3% of the 860. So the 29% men is just about 10 times the
size of the 21% women. Let’s not try to find 3 out of 1000.
The broad category may also contain several sub-categories. He looked at
page likes and found pages about automatic weapons (Cylcing rate of fire)
I found Broadcasting pages as well.
Narrow you search until you are getting bicycling pages.
NOTE: You can and should add multiple interests to your list, looking for
the groups that are really into Cycling and would probably really like our
Sunglasses.
SAVE THE INTERESTS. (Highlight and Copy – paste them into a document
or text file)
You will use them when you create an Ad.