Starting an online business is an altogether complicated thing to do. Many have failed because of the inability to cope with the ups and downs, attributed to a lack of foresight and planning.
To have a better shot at success, here are 7 things you should not do:
1. Do your homework.
When starting an online business, preparation is crucial. Think of it like cooking: you start by preparing your ingredients. How do you decide on what ingredients to prepare? It's through research.
Without doing any research, the consequences that await you are dire. Research who your customers will be, your product, and what people are willing to pay for your services. Give yourself a good start by preparing before the real business begins.
2. Plan with data
Do not plan unless you've done your research thoroughly and gathered data. You need to have sufficient data before you can even start to make out a plan. With data, you'll be able to come up with a recipe for success that will likely work - and sell.
3. Worry about the money
Money is what sustains a business, and without it you'll never be able to make your business stand up and. In business, there is always a chance that you'll run out of money before you can even make a profit.
Plan out your financial goals in advance, don't wait until it's too late. Have a safety net or contingency plan already prepared in case something happens.
4. Setting the price right
Sometimes when you're desperate in selling, you'll set the price at a very low cost. This is something you must avoid, for this means the business is not working. Do not undervalue yourself. Set the necessary price to be able to make a decent, worthy profit.
5. Have a friendly, catchy domain name
Your domain or web address is an important tools for online businesses. Your customers' first impression will rely heavily on how your website looks and works.
You must have a simple and clear navigation so that your customers can browse leisurely. Also, another important thing is to ensure the web hosting of your website. Choose a trustworthy host to avoid downtime.
6. Consider SEO and branding, and being active on social media.
Make your online business work by generating massive amounts of web traffic. Even if your product is great, without search engine optimization (SEO), it will be buried by thousands of websites. You must be active in major social media sites as well. This means advertising and cultivating brand awareness. Facebook and Pinterest are good places to start.
7. Value Customer service and experience.
Remember customers are looking a good buying experience as well a good product. Interact with them, and answer their questions promptly. That can be through chat, e-mail, telephone, or surveys. Make them feel welcome to share their concerns. In all likelihood, they will return to your website.
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An autopilot cash system which generates money over and over sounds like a pipe dream. But for many online marketers this has been a reality for a long time. Online marketers and affiliate marketers use the internet to build huge amounts of website traffic to their websites. From their websites they 'convert' visitors to subscribers.
They can do this by offering 'legitimate bribes' - freebies which offer some kind of inherent value to the visitor. Often it's an e-book or some kind of instant download or video series.
Once subscribed, they are sent a series of automated emails which promote various products and services. By clicking the links within the emails and purchasing 'digital' products and services, the owner makes a commission. By increasing the number of subscribers over time by creating multiple marketing methods, the list of subscribers grows and so does the number of sales.
The best part is that the products don't have to be your own. Sales, deliveries and customer problems are all dealt with by someone else. You simply refer the sale and collect a commission.
This is the 'crux' of an automated income system.
Automated Income
Building a 'system' like this takes time however, unless you 'piggyback' someone else's sales funnel, which makes it faster. It takes time to learn and time to build. But it's well worth the effort. Once you have a working 'sales funnel' you can simply build marketing channels to it and send more and more people through your landing page.
The main job therefore of an affiliate marketer, is to market their landing pages and send people through their sales funnel.
By creating multiple marketing methods, and 'tweeking' each one to cost less and deliver more, you can effectively 'scale' up to reach a global audience with other people's products and services.
Content
Getting people to your website is the first hurdle. Let's assume you already have a sales funnel set up with a range of products and services laying in 'wait' for your customers. Getting people to your website can be done instantly with paid for advertising or, over time with content marketing. Content marketing takes time, paid for advertising cost money. Depending on which one you have more of will determine your initial marketing strategy.
Article Marketing
Article marketing is one way to promote your website. By writing content which is appropriate for your target audience, you can get found on Google and through social media. As people share your content on social media and around the internet, your presence grows. More people land on your website, subscribe to your emails, and you make more sales. This is the ideal scenario. By sharing your articles and linking back to your website you can generate an automated flow of website traffic which turns into paying customers.
Paid For Advertising
Paid for advertising is the fastest way to get people to your website or landing pages. It is like turning on a 'tap' for traffic. By starting small and slowly raising your budget once you see that your campaign is profitable, you can eventually turn up the 'tap' and turn up your profit.
It obviously costs money to use paid for advertising. In the first instance you should be very careful and make sure you know what you are doing. Expect to lose money at first. Test everything in your advertising campaign. When you have found a campaign which works and regularly produces more in sales than it costs in advertising fees, you are in a position to start increasing your budget. Paid for advertising is a great form of online advertising. It allows anyone with a laptop and internet connection to advertise globally and set a suitable payment for almost any budget.
Choosing The Right Products
Affiliate marketing lets you choose almost any product online and promote it. Providing there is a suitable affiliate program for you to use, you can sell almost anything online. This is a double-edged sword. Not all products are created equal and you can waste a lot of time choosing and promoting the wrong products. If you are going to take your internet business seriously, you need to make a serious income from it. Don't dabble!
Some products will only make you a few pence on a sale. Don't use these products! Choose instead, products which give you income for the lifetime of a customer. This means using products which reward you for monthly and 'back-end' sales. Using this model is far more effective than selling online 'one hit' wonder products where you only make a single commission. Monthly commissions let you make an income from each sale, rather than just a single commission. Back-end products are 'add on' products which are offered to existing customers. You should also take advantage of high end products and built in sales teams for maximum benefit.
Get The Right Training
Everything comes from your understanding. Your actions will be based on what you know. Unless you get the right training with an online business, there is plenty that can go wrong. It's well worth, therefore, investing in your online business education from the start. If you think about this as a long term business which can eventually set you free from a job and allow you to work independently from anywhere in the world, you will see the value in this. If you want to 'dabble' and try to learn from your own mistakes with an online business, it will take you much longer and you may never achieve it.
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It sounds very trite to say there's only one thing you need to succeed. Of course there are many things you will need to succeed at an online business. You need the know-how/ability, training and a good strategy for the long-term. But there is one overriding thing which sets the achievers apart from the drop-outs. The key is your attitude. Your mindset will determine whether your business is a success or not and in this article I am going to outline why mindset is such an important part of your business.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford's famous quote 'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right." still holds true to this day. Belief is the controlling factor which determines whether or not you will even start out with a business venture. Without belief you will simply not even try. When things get tough remind yourself of this quote. Things will get tough. Those who stick it out for the long-term, no matter what this takes are the ones who reap the rewards. Everything starts with self belief, otherwise you will not even try. Not trying guarantees you to not succeed and you never fail until you quit, you simply learn (with the right attitude).
Mindset and Learning
Another popular quote is "If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you've always gotten". If you don't think you need to change to bring about change, you will always be controlled by your attitudes and mindsets. Without changing yourself, it is very difficult to change your circumstances. Wise people don't think they know it all. Having an attitude which questions your own beliefs is being open-minded. Having a mind closed to everything but what you already think you know, is being 'set' in your attitude. It's very difficult to change if you think you know everything already. Empty your cup and see the world as a child again.
Your self-image controls you
A paradigm is a strongly held belief which controls your actions and thoughts. Many of our inner most beliefs control us without our awareness. Self-image is a controlling paradigm which holds us where we are in life. Unless we change our self-image, our circumstances are always bound to how we see ourselves. Whether it is a 'poverty mindset', a 'poor me control drama' or any other controlling paradigm, a poor self-image will always create more of what it believes itself worthy of. Self-image is often the stumbling block which stops us breaking through into the life we truly want. By becoming aware of our self-image, and changing it, we can shift this paradigm for greater success. Read Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz to learn more about self-image, and how to change it.
Attitude and Comfort Zones
Your business will also be controlled by your comfort zones. If your comfort zones are controlling your actions, you will find it hard to push through and attain more significant goals. Change happens outside comfort zones. Successful people know this and continually push themselves to new levels. Unless you are pushing yourself forwards, who is? One of the main goals of having your own business is to be autonomous and working for yourself. But unless you can also push yourself, you will always be constrained by what you prefer to do, rather than what you need to do. Again this comes down to your attitude and mindset. Are you motivated by success or stress? Whether you have a positive motivation 'towards' goal focused opportunities, or a negative motivation 'away from' stress, pain and fear, uncovering it can help you change and grow.
Positive Attitude
Having a positive attitude to what you are doing is obviously beneficial. You see obstacles as something to overcome which makes you stronger. It's not that everyone is positive all the time. Quite the opposite. Everyone can become discouraged when things become difficult. It is how we deal with these difficulties which determines whether we will become successful or not at what we are doing.
Again this comes down to mindset. If you are discouraged, take a break and re-examine what is going wrong. Don't just quit. Many people see roadblocks as insurmountable and just quit. Having the right mindset isn't about always feeling positive. It is more about how you deal with your emotions and discouragements when they arise. The people who succeed with a online business don't bury their head in the sand but instead see problems as opportunities for growth and to learn how to better understand their business and themselves.
Self Improvement
Self improvement can cover a wide range of things. But if you are in business for yourself, and are not improving yourself on a consistent basis, you can bet your business is taking the brunt of your lack of awareness. When you work for yourself, you are unaware of what you don't know. How do you know the best practices for everything you are doing? Where do you get your inspiration and knowledge about how to effectively grow your business? Unless you are plugged into a community of other entrepreneurs and forward thinkers, it can be easy to rest on your laurels and fall behind. If your business isn't going well, you can guarantee that improving your knowledge of your best business practices, is the best way to improve things. Everything comes from you when you work for yourself. You are the limiting factor in all the results of your life. People with successful businesses take self growth seriously and constantly invest in themselves, and not just in their business.
So although a successful online business also requires a lot of learning, tools, systems and technology, the main thing you can do to improve your business is to improve yourself. Having a positive mindset is not just about thinking positive and hoping for the best. There are a bunch of practical applications which can dramatically improve yourself and therefore your business too. This starts with mindset and attitude. Keep learning and never stop.
"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer" - Bruce Lee
Motivation and Optimism
Keeping your motivation and optimism high is difficult to do alone. We are social creatures. Doing it all by yourself can become difficult over long periods. We need others to motivate us and to help us. Having a long-term focus for your online business is important for this too. Unless we can become part of something bigger than ourselves it is easy to fall into disillusionment and apathy. By regularly plugging yourself into a community or focus group of some kind you can keep up the momentum for your business.
Without keeping your motivation up, your mindset can dwell on the negative. You can doubt yourself and your business. Before long doubting friends can pull you down. Keeping your mindset positive is an important part of growing your online business. To do this you need to be around other positive people who have similar goals. If you are surrounded by naysayers who doubt you and don't really want to see you succeed, they can easily get the better of you over time. Stay positive by being around other positive people.
Set goals and hold yourself accountable to them. Make the small steps you take each day lead you to your long-term goals and visions.
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The content on your website should inform, educate and engage your prospects while developing your authority with your audience. Also, when you post new online content it attracts the search engine crawlers. The more pages of a website those crawlers index the more traffic they can bring to your website.
Here are 10 ways you can create good website content.
1. Identify Your 'Why'
Each piece of content you post on your website must have a reason for being there. If you don't know what the point is, it'll be hard to get anyone to take action.
2. Understand Your Audience
When you produce any content it's crucial that you know who you're creating it for. Try developing an audience avatar and write the content for that one person rather than creating it for a unidentified person that you don't know. This can help you develop very personalized content that gets results.
3. Stay Updated
You may think that you know your niche but things change over time as technology improves and styles change. Keep up to date in your industry so that you're ready for changes that may occur.
4. Keep An Eye On Your Competition
Join your competitor's mailing lists, and look at the content they're sending out. Can you identify if it's working well for them or not? How can you do it better?
5. Know the Buying Process
There's a set buying process that your audience will go through, even if they don't realize it. It's important to recognize where people are in the buying process. Generally it's a five stage process:
Awareness
Information Search
Evaluation
Decision
PurchasePlus, after purchase your customer will decide if they will buy from you again.
6.Improve Your Strategy
Take the time to work on improving your strategy to make it work better. Base this on the information and facts you have about your customers, your niche, your products and your customer's buying process.
7. Be Consistent
To ensure that the content on your website will get results, it's important to post content on a consistent basis.
8. Promote Your Content
If you don't let people know that your content is out there, you'll get a lot less positive results from it. Post it to your social media sites and email it out to your subscriber list. You can even promote it via pay-per-click ads.
9. Create Engaging Content
No one wants to consume boring content. Ensure that the content matches the needs of your audience, speaks to them on their terms and provides value in and of itself to your audience.
10. Mix It Up
The more variety that you provide to your audience, the more engagement you will get. Don't limit your website content to just text. Content can be read, watched and listened to. It can be an article, a blog post, a report, an eBook, an online course, an audio file or a video.
Writing for an online audience is very different from writing for an offline audience. Throw out your traditional old-school writing rules and discover the easier and faster way to connect with your audience.
This might sound obvious but did you know that if you are marketing to everyone you market to no one? It's possible it will work but chances are your margins will be affected by inefficient marketing. A bigger question to ask, how well do you know your customer? How much information can you provide about them at the drop of a hat?
I will use an example of a mobile DJ company I used to own although the gist of this model applies to most businesses if not all. If you are struggling to get people through to your offers consistently online or offline... read on.
Who Are They?
The answer to this question allows us to gain a general understanding of how our customer looks like, where they live etc. In my mobile DJ context where I did weddings, this would be couples between ages 25-35 who have been in a relationship for 3 years plus. They also live in Perth, Australia within a 50-kilometre radius of where my business was located. People in this age group who have been dating for that amount of time would generally be considering longterm commitment right? This also means I am willing to drive 100 kilometres and I have resources to do any gig within this radius.
What Do They Do?
This question allows us to answer some basic information about the day in the life of our ideal customer. Where they work, their income levels, and what they do for fun. This also provides information about what sort of people they are likely to be. Feels a little weird acting 'big brother' but I had to get past that mindset if I wanted to nail this modelling in my businesses. This thinking allows me to present my offers directly to somebody who actually needs what I have. Isn't that powerful?
Where Do They Hang Out?
Now that we know what our customer does for a living, how much they make and what they like to do, we can probably start to make some very targeted assumptions about where they hang out. This could be either online or offline. So on the weekends if they like to eat out, what sort of restaurants do they go to? If they enjoy the occasional frothy drink, what sorts of pubs, nightclubs fit their class? As you can start to see here, I am basically visualising my customers' life through my mind. When online which platforms do they hang out in? What information are they looking at?
Tom (a groom to be) could be spending time on LinkedIn looking at information regarding his profession as an IT consultant engineer. Why? He knows they might need to buy a house one they are married. In his mind, this means he needs a bigger income coming in. His worry though is, are there opportunities coming up in his line of work? Mary (bride to be) could be looking up event companies on Facebook and stores that sell wedding dresses.
Can you see why I need to answer this question? This is important because the idea is for me to get in front of them very close to where they spend a lot of time.
What Do They Want?
Each and every one of us including our customers is looking to move away from pain or towards pleasure situation of some sort. We also have a difficult time knowing what we need and what we want. Our customers are exactly the same. In our case we are dealing with a 'want'. We need air. I am guessing if you ran out of air right now, it doesn't matter what someone says to you, you are buying yes? 'Wants' we can do without BUT if we are in pain or looking for pleasure we might buy.
So what does Mary want?
Mary wants to look good on the big day. She also wants to have a ceremony that is the envy of her friends who will be at the wedding.What are the deciding factors in Mary's mind for this to happen? A beautiful wedding dress, incredible makeup and, a great party. She wants her friends to talk and comment about it for months to come as they view photos on her Facebook page.
For the certainty of a great after party, a great DJ is required. Mary will need some proof that the DJ she gets is the right one. So my mission is to be in front of her eyes holding a great review in hand somewhere on a wedding DJs in Perth Facebook page. How do I know I need to be on Facebook? I know because Mary likes to hang out there. Chances are she tends to look for her new information here as well.The new information here is a good wedding DJ.
What Is Stopping Them From Getting It?
Tom and Mary might want a good DJ at their wedding but they might not know enough about selecting one, they might also be on a tight budget meaning they are planning the event themselves. Armed with this information, I can provide value towards eliminating those barriers. This could be providing valuable information about how to create a music playlist, how to pick a wedding venue on a budget, the process of hiring outside caterers etc. I can have the information sitting in a blog on my website or links to such content on my Facebook page. The latter would be ideal because I know if Mary finds me on the Perth DJs page, she will click through to my page. Is she going to find valuable content on my page to help her ease her 'pain'? Of course, she will!
Final Thoughts
With these 5 questions answered, I think it's a good assumption that I can get Tom and Mary very close to a buying decision. I also know exactly where to focus my marketing efforts every day so I can get the most value from my time and money invested.
Wishing you success.
There is no shortage of tactics to market your business online and finding the right customers. However, the Internet is very fluid. Things change every day. You need to have a solid marketing education and a marketing blueprint strategy for your business. If you are a new business owner who has never sold anything online, I can offer you the same exact training that got me out of the trenches and helped me save my business. This training is a step-by-step guide which I found very powerful.
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