It isn't just DVDs that fall into this category. Take mobile (cell) phones. Here in UK you can walk down just about any high street and get latest phones either free or for a minimal token payment. The stores are relying on making their money from line rental contract that you will have to sign in order to get phone. Of course, actual cost of phone is not free - most new mobiles are actually worth £200 or £300 which means that if you want to buy a batch of phones at wholesale, you are going to be looking at a pretty high unit cost. As with most electrical products, market is competitive and prices have been forced down which means that difference between your wholesale buying price and your retail selling price is minimal.

There are numerous products that suffer from same market conditions as DVDs and phones and new/small traders really should avoid trying to sell such items at all costs because it will usually be frustrating and ultimately not financially rewarding. When trying to decide what products to sell, you need to be thinking about type of market that a particular product is sold in. If there are already numerous sellers and many large companies selling at considerable discounts this is far from ideal. The exception to rule is if you are able to add value in some way to make your 'offering' more unique. I wrote about adding value last year in one of my newsletters - you can read it here: http://www.thetraderonline.com/jul2204.html

At end of day, it is all about research, being realistic and having an understanding of market that you want to operate in. Whilst it would be great to be able to buy and sell new release DVDs (or whatever) all day long, doubling your money every time, I am afraid that this is just not going to happen.

Ezine ads can be purchased at reasonable rates and cost will vary from one ezine to another depending on newsletter's circulation, track record of producing sales and exposure that you'll get.

By exposure, what I'm referring to is type of ad that you buy. Your options typically include solo ads, top sponsor ads, middle sponsor ads, bottom sponsor ads and classified ads. A solo ad is sent in an email with no other distractions. You get all of attention, and for this reason it's also most expensive form of ezine advertising. Top sponsor ads allow you between 5 and 8 lines of copy and are included in regular ezine issues near very beginning of newsletter. Middle sponsor and bottom sponsor ads will be similar to top sponsor ads with exception of position within newsletter. And lastly, classified ads are usually shown in groups near end of a newsletter and are lowest cost.

My personal opinion is not to advertise in ezines that you haven't subscribed to. If you're considering advertising in any particular ezine, subscribe to it and read it for a few weeks before spending any money there. That way you'll be able to get a feel for value of content, kind of reader that will be interested in publication and whether or not advertising opportunity is a good one.

Here are a few sites where you can begin researching ezines that accept advertising:

http://www.gothrive.com/directory-of-ezines-lifetime http://emailuniverse.com/ http://www.ezineadvertising.com http://www.ezinehub.com http://www.ezine-marketing.com http://www.ezinewizard.com

There are only 2 ways to get traffic to your website: 1) Buy it. 2) Borrow it.

In part 3 of this series, we'll continue our thoughts on "(2) Borrow it" - traffic that is.