Every Sunday millions of online business owners read their Sunday newspaper, throw it in recycling and don’t think much about it until the next Sunday

Wait! Before you recycle that paper, read on to find 7 ways you can make money in your online business  from that $2.00 investment!

Your Sunday newspaper is what I call an Idea Hotspot™. Idea Hotspots are fertile ground for money making ideas, topics to blog about, products to sell and marketing springboards!

1. Spot the trends! Your Sunday paper is filled with product ads showcasing the latest products, styles, colors and trends! All you need to do is observe! What colors, styles and products are the stores advertising? What is the messaging that you see? If an says “Save 20% on our brand new line of bicycles.” and you sell bicycles, pay attention to what they’re advertising!  What are the features, the benefits, the brands?  What are the new “it” buzzwords.  These are clues that will help you expand what you sell online.

2. Improve your sales copy. One of the hardest things for online sellers can be writing snazzy sales copy for their products. Your Sunday paper is filled with great sales copy! Look for headlines, phrases, clever sound bytes, attention grabbing headlines and jot them down.  Copywriters call this a “swipe file”  – a common practice used by copywriters and advertisers to create a reference of ideas for projects.

Note: This is not about plagiarizing other people’s work!   Swipe files are a great jumping-off point for you to use your own creativity in your copy.

You don’t need to have a degree in marketing to do some great marketing for your own business.  There are marketing ideas all around you – you can learn by observation.

3. Put your finger on the pulse of  timely blog, Facebook, eBook or teleseminar topics. What’s the world talking about? You’ll find it in the Sunday paper! Whether you’re an online retailer, an information marketer, or an author, speaker or consultant, you’ll find pages after pages of timely topics to blog about, use for Facebook marketing, create content for your product pages in your online store.

Take a look at the Lifestyle section of the paper and see what the latest fashion trends or home improvement trends are. Papers are built around these types of articles. Are you an eBay education specialist? Check out the Business sections for articles on the rise in popularity of home based businesses. Want to create and market an eBook on a topic that people are interested in? There was a great article in my local paper recently on the huge popularity of in-city vegtable gardening.

This article could spawn ideas for blog posts, a value-add eBook for your physical product sales, an eBook to sell on Clickbank, a blog post, even a brand new business that you might start as a speaker on the topic of in-city vegetable gardening!

When you look at your Sunday paper as an Idea Hotspot, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find there!

4. Retail Resale. If you sell products online, you’re always looking for great deals on inventory. Sunday papers are chock full of coupons and limited time deals. By One, Get One Free Offers, door buster specials and clearance sales are all advertised in your Sunday paper. Grab a paper when they come out on Saturday and hit the sourcing trail early Sunday morning for some great inventory at below wholesale prices.

5. Classifieds. While Craigslist has taken a huge chunk of ads that used to be posted in the Classified section of your paper, there are still people who prefer to post a classified newspaper ad over using Craigslists. Yard sales, estate sales and merchandise for sale or for free can all be found listed in the Sunday Classified Ads.

6. Learn about upcoming consumer shows. Do you sell wedding products, home remodeling products, products geared to women, vintage jewelry, boat accessories, motorcycle products, RV accessories, sewing products, craft products? Then there’s likely a consumer products show in your niche coming to your city or a city near you soon.

If so, you’ll see it advertised in the newspaper. Consumer product shows are a great way to scout new merchandise, talk to vendors, even find out about exhibiting your products at next year’s show! Use these shows to get out there and see what’s happening in your niche or potential niche.

7. Find Centers of Influence. Every Sunday paper contains articles about experts or people who are centers of influence in a certain niche. You can learn about people to connect with on Facebook and Twitter. Maybe you’ll see the perfect expert to contact for your next teleseminar. Some of these people may even be appearing at events in your local area! The perfect way to get connected!

As you can see there are many creative ways to use the Sunday paper to make more money in your online business.  Opportunities come to those who learn to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. If you’re reading the paper anyway, why not make the most of it and read for profit!

-Lisa