The Infinite Market: An Introduction to Online Business

September 14, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

As the Internet develops and grows in it’s capabilities, it also transforms and redefines the marketplace and business world. Twenty years ago an individual could start a physical company with far less concern for financial ruin or competition than she could today; but by the same token, that same individual can start an online business today and be successful in a way that a physical business never could.

People born with an entrepreneurial spirit in this generation have an advantage over the older generation in that they can start a business faster and with more creative flexibility than ever before with the internet.

No one, however, is born with all the knowledge and skills required to start a business, and starting a business online can be especially challenging in some unexpected ways.

If you are dying to start your own business online, but don’t know where to start, here are a few tips to get you on the right track:

First, you have to identify your niche. It is unlikely in our market that you will be able to offer a universally demanded product, so try to start off thinking small. Small doesn’t have any bearing on your profit margin in this sense—just try to target a specific need, like a software that controls your dishwasher. See how specific that is? And yet, the market is so super-saturated with consumers that there will be a buyer for almost anything. Don’t try to sell to everyone, just a small group that will faithfully buy your product.

Next, after identifying a niche, you’ll have to produce, buy, sell, or market the product that fills your niche. It is probably at this stage that you will have to decide what kind of online business you will run, based on the nature of your product.

There are three basic kinds of internet businesses:

Buying or selling digital products
Shipping tangibles to consumers
Providing online content to users

No matter what kind of business you sell, you’ll also have to become familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) methods and online marketing.

SEO is what determines how searchable your site is on engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and so forth. The easier it is to find your website, the more traffic you will get to your site, and the more potential buyers you will get. Some companies specialize in SEO tactics to make other sites more searchable. Basically, SEO is finding the right balance of keywords, tags, titles, and links to your site, without being spammy.

Online marketing comes in many shapes and sizes, but the most important kinds that you should worry about in the beginning are affiliate marketing and ads. Affiliate marketing is a partnership between two online companies, where one site advertises for the other, and is entitled to a percentage of every sale the second company makes from referrals. Sounds complicated, but really it’s just having a review of or a link to another product or service on your site.

Similarly, you can put ads for just about anything on your site, and receive a few cents every time someone follows the link.

This is meant to be just a basic introduction to online business. One of the greatest things about the Internet is that you can research how to build an online business just surfing the web. There are hundreds of great sites and resources at your fingertips. It only takes a little motivation to get going. So get to it.

Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.

The Ten Important Steps To Online Success

August 26, 2010 1 Comment

This is a guest post by Josephine Bøttger. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

I’ve been noticing lately that the biggest problem in online success for most entrepreneurs is not having the right strategy with a guaranteed system for generating income online.

So how do you take the first step in creating that system?

If you’re worried about taking this first crucial step — which is perfectly natural, by the way — I’ve got some great news…

You’ve just started!

You see, it takes three things to become a successful Internet entrepreneur…

1) desire
2) motivation
3) an action plan.

You’ve already shown you’ve got the motivation by being attracted to this post. You proved that the minute you clicked on the headline.

… Now here’s your action plan:

This is a guaranteed 10 important steps anyone can use to make money online. (In fact, I used it myself to turn a $199 investment into over $5000+ per month in online profit)

Here it is:

Step 1: FIND A NICHE MARKET

Use research tools like Wordtracker to find a niche market of HUNGRY buyers eager for your product or service.

Step 2: WRITE YOUR SALESCOPY

Write compelling copy that leads your visitors smoothly through your sales process.

Step 3: SET UP YOUR OPTIN FORM & AUTORESPONDER SYSTEM

Turn your website into a marketing funnel using a simple design, optin form, and automation.

Step 4: DRIVE BUYERS TO YOUR SITE

Create “paid search” ads that attract instant traffic (without draining your bank account!) and use free search engines to get your site “front and center.”

Step 5: DRIVE MORE CHEAP AND *FREE* TRAFFIC

Use strategies like article-sharing, blog commenting, social media videos and press releases to drive even more people to your site.

Step 6: USE EMAIL TO GET *MORE* SALES

Build a subscriber list of people who want to hear from you, so you can convince them to buy over time.

Step 7: FIND *MORE* PRODUCTS FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS

Offer your customers even more products you know they want to buy.

Step 8: GET OTHER PEOPLE TO SELL FOR YOU

Do JV (joint venture) deals with people to sell your products to their list of resources (and you can share the profits with them when their referrals buy your product or service)

Step 9: GROW YOUR BUSINESS *BIGGER*

Create multiple channels of new streams of income to multiply your revenues.

Step 10: USE HOT NEW TOOLS TO CREATE A BUZZ

Bring visitors back to your site again and again using the hottest new tools and techniques.

Of course, this is just a brief overview… My complete system includes so many tested and proven strategies you can use to create a highly profitable business, but these are enough to get you started.

I’ll be sharing more proven strategies with you in my next post.

You’ve already taken your first giant step toward online success
– don’t lose your momentum!

Josephine is the Author of her new Ebook Report “Insider Secrets To 7 Figures In Network Marketing”, she is a contributor on several blogs, and has set a goal to help 10 brand new people this year to get out of debt and take control of their lives by working part time from home

Empty Promises lead to Wishes

August 3, 2010 0 Comments

Every successful business whether it is online or off is based off of three main principles: good product, customer service, and trust. If you have these main items in place, then all of the other items will come in line sooner or later. I realize that there are many other factors in running a good business, but you cannot run one with having a good product. If what you sell is something that no one needs, then your business will fail. If you have a great product, but you provide horrible customer service, your business will fail. It will take some time with bad customer service, but it tends to lean toward failure. If you do not have trust with your customers, your business will fail. If customers cannot trust what you say, then they will be dissatisfied and leave. They will tend to spread the word about your failing trust, which can cause a mass exodus from your company.

Today, I am going to focus on building trust. This is one thing that I have done in all of my companies and continue to do day in and day out. Building trust is actually fairly easy to do, but it can be hard to keep. The best way to build trust with your customers is to make promises and keep them. If you keep the promises that you make with your customers, then they will be happy and will continue to be happy as you are providing the service that you said you would. Unfortunately, there are not many companies that keep the promises that they make anymore.

If you have ever run a business, then you know this first hand. There are many companies out there that will promise you the world, but only deliver Hawaii. This happens more times than I can count when dealing with online service companies. When you are trying to start up your online business, there are many vendors that can assist with every aspect of your business. Sometimes it is easier to hire a third party than to work your fingers to the bone on a subject that you might not know much about. The main thing that I stress here is that you research what each company tells you before you sign or start anything. It can take you an extra hour or two to really drive deep into the company that is offering you something and find out if they have any skeletons in the closet. With the world of online reviews growing at a huge pace, I am sure you can find something about every company you come across. Take the time to really read the reviews and comments about the company, as it could save you a lot of money and headache in the future.

Never let any company provide you with outlandish promises. If it is too good to be true, then it is probably not going to happen. Most of these companies thrive off of people that have not fully researched what they want. This enables them to tell you what you want and then promise you great things. Most often empty promises lead to you wishing you would have taken the time to research their claims. I have been burned by this multiple times in the first ecommerce company that I created. After the third time, I finally learned and have never let a company promise me anything. I take the time in the beginning to research and dig in the dirt before even contacting the company that I am looking to hire. This enables me to really push facts at them when they are promising me things. I absolutely hate empty promises, and you should to.

One of the biggest mistakes an new business owner or entrepreneur can make is allow companies to take advantage of them. I know many people that have lost their businesses because they put too much trust into a third party vendor. It is nice to trust people, but you always have to make sure to be on your guard. Every company wants to make money in any way possible. If this means promising things that they cannot deliver in order to sign a client, then so be it. If you don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of, then you are going to be ahead of the game. Empty promises can take many different forms, so you have to remember to take your time with decisions. If someone is trying to rush you to make a decision, then chances are you don’t want to work with them. It is relatively easy to take a step back and ask yourself, can they really deliver this? Always remember my motto that empty promises will lead to wishes, and not the good genie in a bottle type.

What If vs. What Is – Succeeding Online

July 28, 2010 2 Comments

We all dream of creating a site that everyone enjoys to visit and continue to visit day in and day out. Every thought is involved in what if the site becomes the next Facebook, or what if I can make tons of money from my site? Sometimes we get consumed with the what if’s of running a website or online business that we forget to think about the realities of running such websites. Starting an online business can be a daunting task, but if you take the time to create some realistic goals, you have a better possibility of succeeding. I am going to go over a few what if’s versus what is for online business and website goals.

What If: What if your website can make you a ton of money, so you can quit your day job and live off the fruits of your hardwork? Making a lot of money online is a goal of many, but achieved by few.

What Is: What is a realistic goal that you can hit with your website? The best way to succeed online is to create a goal that you can hit within 6 months, like get your visitors to 500 a day or get 1000 newsletter subscribers. Most people fail due to them thinking unrealistically and then just quitting. There are a small amount of people that actually live off the money they make online, and it didn’t happen overnight.

What If: What if my website becomes huge with a lot of traffic?

What Is: What is a traffic goal that you can reach within 6 months. Building up traffic is an on-going battle that every website owner works on. Without traffic, your site will never succeed. It takes about 6 months of constant work to get traffic levels up to a respectable level, but it could take longer. If you want to keep your dream alive, create monthly traffic goals so you can see some results. If you have outlandish traffic goals, then you will be more likely to quit as you won’t be able to hit those goals.

What If: What if you can sell ebooks/products on your website to make money? Ebooks are very popular and sell pretty easy on a lot of websites.

What Is: What is your expertise in the field that you plan on selling ebooks in? Selling other people’s ebooks doesn’t really bring much money and it doesn’t show that you know much in the industry that you are marketing to. I have spoken to many that think ebooks are the answer to a lot of money. The main thing that I tell them is that they have to have expertise in their field before creating an ebook. You can’t sell an ebook about making money online if you haven’t made money online. Sell items that you are confident in and that you know, not something that you think will make money.

What If: What if I enter an industry/niche online that is known for making a lot of money?

What Is: What is the reason for entering this industry or niche? If you main goal to enter this niche is to make money, think twice. Most of these industries are already pretty jam packed with competition and it will be very hard to succeed within them. Now you can enter the industry, but specialize in a small segment of that industry. It would be wise to enter a niche that you are passionate about, not one where you think you can make a lot of money. Making money takes a lot of time and dedication. If you are passionate about your craft, then you will continue to enjoy working at your website/business in order to make it the best. Entering an industry for the sole purpose of making money is the wrong way to start your online venture.

I am not trying to be negative in this post or crush anyone’s dreams. What I am saying is that if you want to start a website or online business, you need to have goals in place before you get started. You need to know where you want to go and how you plan on getting there. If you have goals and milestones, then you have a path to follow and hopefully a vehicle to get there. Going blind into an online venture will cause you to wander the online realm looking for answers to why you are not succeeding. The one thing that everyone is going to tell you is to create quantifiable goals that you know you can hit. Creating a goal and reaching it is very satisfying. The satisfied you are when running a business or website, the more you want it to succeed. Keep your dreams alive while understanding realistically what you can achieve. The main thing I would say is never give up. You might not succeed at first, but you will learn a lot to help you succeed later on.

When Rejection Rears its Ugly Head

January 22, 2010 5 Comments

We face rejection in some form everyday of our lives. Rejection comes in many forms and it can affect the strongest willed people. What is it about rejection that makes us think about what we are doing and how we are doing it? How can we face rejection with a positive manner and overcome it? Everyone needs to remember that rejection is always going to happen, no matter who you are and what you do. Some people will face rejection more than others, but everyone should know how to handle it in the most appropriate manner. Rejection will still rear it’s ugly head when we are in the online world, so prepare to deal with that as well. Rejection might hurt for a bit, but you need to make sure that you work on getting past it and keep pushing forward. If you let rejection stop you from your goals every time, then we would have a very depressing atmosphere.

As more and more people start their own online businesses and websites, everyone should be prepared for some sort of rejection. It can come in many forms such as affiliate program rejection, directory submission rejection, new inventory supplier rejection, partnership rejections, deal rejections, and many more. It will always be around you online, so you need to be prepared for it. While rejection can sting temporarily, everyone needs to learn how to move on from it and hopefully get stronger and wiser because of it. I have spoken to many that have been rejected so many times with blogging and affiliate marketing that they are scared of trying it again. I always tell them to just go out and do it. Guest blogging is one area where you will receive a good amount rejection due to the fact that not everyone will agree with you. This does not mean that you should never try to guest blog again, but use the criticism from previous times to enhance your offerings.

Most rejections that you might receive usually come with some sort of criticism. While some of you may take this as an insult, you need to take it as words of wisdom. Most people that reject you online do it because they have been around for a while. They know what they are looking for, so if you are not providing it, then why would they need you. You need to continue to work hard at what you know and love and everything will work out in the long run. You can always try to reapply to the affiliate program that rejected you, or submit another article as a guest post on a blog. As time goes on, your skills grow and so does your knowledge. You might realize what others are looking for out of your work and your online ventures, so you can adapt and succeed.

I know rejection can hurt, but I ask that you do not give up on yourself or your dreams. If you want to run an online business, then go out and try doing it. If you want to guest post on someones blog, then write up a great article and submit it to the webmaster. If you do not try, then you will not succeed. If you cannot face rejection head on, then you will have a hard time succeeding online. While rejection can be an ugly beast, sometimes there is a good side to the beast. You just have to find it!

iMark Interactive