Great Internet Business

For many people, the concept of starting an internet business sounds enticing, yet understandably vague. Starting your own business is an intimidating concept on its own; adding the online factor only makes the whole idea sound all the more complicated. The good news, however, is that just about anyone has the potential to start a great and successful online business. In fact, some of the most successful online business ideas have come from people who were relative amateurs to the world of making an income on the internet.

That's not to say that all online business ideas are going to be winners, however. Successful online business ideas are generally born from a marriage of creating something that the market lacks coupled with a concept that had been proven time and time again to not only work, but to work well. To help you begin down the path of starting your own business and becoming an online entrepreneur, here are some qualities of truly great and successful internet businesses.

Business Savvy Coupled With Technological Savvy

It's true that just about anyone can start an internet business. However, you do need someone who has a certain degree of web savvy. Many online entrepreneurs are actually teams of business people and tech people. If you have a golden idea but little intricate computer knowledge, the truth is that you are going to have to find someone to work with.

However, many web businesses do not require someone with a computer science degree and can be learned by even the most inexperienced web users. A blog, for example, can be a source of income and requires relatively little education to master.

Strong Marketing and SEO

Great web businesses are only great because we know about them. The web is an incredibly crowded and saturated landscape, but that doesn't mean that there isn't still plenty of money to be made online. However, the money is being made by those who know how to take advantage of social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). The biggest reason that an online business fails is because, frankly, no one ever heard of it.

This means that no matter what you are selling, be it a blog or on outline retail store, you cannot neglect marketing and SEO. If the world of making online were a home, SEO and marketing would be the foundation. For some people, this means mastering SEO and doing their own promotion in-house. For others, it means allocating funds to hire a professional SEO firm. While everyone is different, the latter generally generates the best and fasted results for web entrepreneurs.

Perseverance

The first six months of any online business is rarely, if ever, profitable. Aside from things like apps that are breakout hits, most online businesses are lucky to even break even during this time. Unfortunately, many people treat online businesses not like actual businesses, but rather as "get rick quick" schemes.

People can debate the best online business to start as much as they want. However, no matter your type of business, the cold hard truth is that the best online business to start is the one that you stick with and don't give up on. The only people who succeed at making money online are the ones who ride the low waves all the way through to the high tide. Ultimately, the biggest factor of a great internet business is its owner's ability to see it through for the long haul.

Internet Mean to You

You can do so much on the internet now, I already have an online business but as we are buying a property in Spain for warmer winters I have a house to sell here first. Local estate agents quoted a price considerably higher than the online estate agent, so I chose the cheaper option.

Yes I decided to try them out. I was a little concerned as after the first week nothing had happened - no viewings! Usually the early days are busy with a local agent as they usually send your details to everyone on their books whom might be interested.

However last night I had a viewing. Checking my emails when I came in I found a lady wanted to view that evening, she arrived as arranged the service offered was easy and efficient!

Now all I need is either a few more viewings or to hear she liked what she saw and that we agree a price.

There are so many other things you can do online - at the weekend we wanted to know what was happening locally, Google gave us the answer.

Booking flights online means no more queuing at the airport, you just go to departures and your holiday begins. If you want to learn something just Google your keywords. If you are about to travel the online maps are brilliant and easy to find and if you want to see the area where you are going on holiday before you book, go to Google and enter the town or area.you would like to view. It is also quick to find the weather forecast for the next week or ten days. The more you use Google searches the more you realise how useful the internet is.

Now there is something else very beneficial you can do online; that is to start a hobby business in your spare time. It can give you security for the future and offer early retirement. Begin whilst you have an income from your current work, you never know how safe your job is anyway; 800 people locally were recently made redundant when a long-established business collapsed. I'm sure some of those people wished they had a hobby business to fall back on, especially as many families had more than one member working there. Although we think we are out of recession, redundancies happen all the time. Companies that have been struggling to survive for years just can't make it and people are out of work. Safeguard yourself and your family.

Affiliate marketing is a simple way to start online. You are like a middle man, introducing potential buyers to other company's products and letting them do most of the work for you! This all happens online with no face to face selling. You just choose a topic you are interested in, and there are hundreds or companies looking for affiliates in all niches.

If you follow a simple plan and don't reinvent the wheel, with a bit of determination to learn some new skills you can build a business in your spare time. Take your time and enjoy your progress! Support it with your current income, don't expect too much too soon whilst you are still learning. A business online can be started much more cheaply than a conventional business. It is fun to learn new things and exciting to watch your hobby business grow; why not develop an existing interest or consider something new.

3 Success Keywords

Too often we over simplify complex processes. Equally often we make some things more complex than they are.

We avoid that clash of concepts by knowing what's complex naturally and what's not. Think of how easy our life is when we take a moment to read a manual before using the gizmo we bought to make life easier.

Yep. I'm a 'real man' and I read manuals!

We venture into the unknown when starting something new to us. Our chance of success is greater when we learn how to take first steps before we run.

Doesn't that make sense?

Fear of failure often keeps us from taking a first step to success.

I remember a track and field coach replying to the question, "How do you teach young athletes to high jump over a bar higher than their head?"

His reply was, "I tell them to throw their heart over the bar and the body will follow."

Sure, there's more to it than that. You have to know the proper approach to the take off point.

The high jumper has many exercises to strengthen his body. There are also mental exercises to block out everything but the task.

There's more to it than 'throwing the heart over the bar'. There is much more to know.

But without the belief - tossing hearts over bars - we're mechanical, not fully mentally and emotionally invested.

My checkered past includes managing customer support for a small technology company. I won't bore you with tales of inept customers, but I will say we solved many of the "it doesn't work" issues by asking if the unit in question was plugged into an electrical outlet.

A favorite saying of mine is, "What you know gets you started. What you do not know puts you out of business."

With that in mind here is the first of my 3 words determining online business success. As you read you'll quickly understand they are easily applied to most things in life.

Word #1

Learn

No matter what your business experience, or Internet acumen - you are starting something new. And it helps to learn which side of the horse is best for climbing into the saddle.

What is it exactly you intend doing online? Are you going to be a blogger, affiliate marketer, trainer and coach, a seller on Amazon or eBay?

Just because you are familiar with doing some stuff online, you most likely don't know enough to avoid the traps many Internet business newbies encounter.

Learn

When advising people over the years who want to start their first business I suggest buying an hour of time with a good business attorney. Spending a few hundred dollars to learn what a brick and mortar business needs to do to be legal often save thousands of dollars and hours of grief along the way.

My next brick and mortar business startup advice is buying an hour or two of a good CPA's time. Go in with your business plan and pro forma financials. Let the pro tell you if what you intend is actually viable financially.

My advice to people wanting to start an online business is to take time to learn the various methods allowing that. Pick one and find the most successful people doing it.

Reach out to them. If they have a training program, buy it. If they offer information by email or RSS - sign up. If they host webinars - attend.

Simply, learn what you do not know before walking into the minefield where 97% of people failing online blow up.

Word #2

Patience

A human failure is expecting too much too soon.

Those who've read Malcolm Gladwell understand the 10,000 hour theory. Gladwell believes, as do I, that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to make someone more than competent at their craft.

He cites The Beatles and the time they spent in small Hamburg, Germany clubs honing their craft. John, Paul, George, and Ringo performed hour after hour in the worst conditions before redefining popular music in the 1960's.

You've read of Edison's 10,000 failures before success inventing the light bulb. He had 10,000 reasons to quit. But he is quoted as saying, "I learned 10,000 ways how not to invent a light bulb."

Don't be like the new farmer who pulls up the carrots to see how they are growing.

A word of advice for a 'Newbie' is

Patience

Only the earth turns from dark to light in 12 hours or less. Building an online business is a delicate process. Your ledger will not go from red to black in a day.

It may take months to get your first sale or client. Some opportunities deliver results faster than others. The goal is to build a sustainable business creating customers and income for the long haul.

But all beginnings are fraught with pitfalls and you have to trust your guide.

The point is: do not give up. Be patient.

Choose a good niche. Get solid training. Implement the recommended steps on the recommended schedule.

Rinse & repeat - success will come.

Word #3

Focus

Do not lose sight of your goals. I sign off emails with: 'Goals are dreams with deadlines.'

That's a quote from Jim Rohn, an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. Sadly Rohn died a few years ago. Recordings of his speeches and motivational programs are available on Amazon.

Too many people cheer for your failure. Some are jealous, others are just mean.

Ignore them. Write your plan on a pad. Do not use the computer.

I believe nothing is real unless it is in writing. For me writing something by hand is more affirmative than keying it into a computer program.

Make your goals part of your DNA. Never lose focus of your plan, what you desire most, and how you intend achieving success.

Don't be distracted by glitter. A lesson I offer people using video to promote their business is to register their primary URL as dot TV, like this: MyUniqueAndWonderfulBusiness.TV

Then they post their business boosting videos on that site. Viewers see them on a clean site with no right column distractions like you find on YouTube.

We're easily distracted. Like other animals humans look around. With eyes positioned to see forward we turn our heads toward sounds we hear or a flash in our peripheral vision.

But we're hunters by nature and our forward field of sight allows us to focus on the prey. Train yourself to mentally stay focused on the next step toward your goal.

Your business prey is the goal - the sale - the next step in your funnel. Be like a stalking beast in nature films... do not take your eyes off the prize.

Bonus Word

Associate

It's proven that successful people associate with successful people. It's a fact that you become what you think of most.

Hang out with people who've attained the success you seek. Learn from them. Learn to think like them.

Successful athletes develop muscle memory. Your job is to develop cognitive associative memory. Develop the mental means to automatically stay on course.

Ever hear the saying, "You are what you think?" Yes, and you are what you eat. Only you are responsible for the person you are.

And do not confuse success with merely how much you have compared to the other guy.

Success is how far you progress from where you started.

Some believe you embed in your subconscious your last thoughts before going to sleep. Over time those thoughts dominate your subconscious.

Teach yourself to focus on your goal as you fall asleep. Associate that goal with what you enjoy most.

Find a suitable Meetup or other method of associating with successful people. Talk to them. Get to know them. Listen to them. Learn what they do when they're not working.

Model your life after lives of successful people.

Read books about successful people.

Study them.

Build your desire to be successful - in your chosen niche and manner.

People wanting success in Donald Trump's business area need to learn from him and follow his success factor.

Who's the Donald Trump in your niche? Find that person. Reach out to that person. Associate with that person and their ideas.

Conclusion

Learn, patience, focus and associate are my success words.

I learned to sail a boat before first setting out.

I became patient after rushing things and failed.

My nature is to focus on tasks at hand.

My Dad taught me to hang out with people already where I wanted to be.

If you want online business success remember my success words.

Work For Business

If you're like many businesses these days, you've just about given up on Facebook as a means of promoting your business. Things may have been working out great for you in the past, but over the last few years, you've noticed the engagement of your posts getting lower, and your fans dropping off one by one until the point where Facebook basically stopped sharing your updates altogether.

So it's over for businesses on Facebook, right?

Not so fast. It's a myth, and if you understand how to leverage Facebook properly, you'll be in better shape than ever.

So what's behind the common sentiment about Facebook's demise?

First, the internet moves at the speed of light, and there are constantly proclamations of new, better, online channels. But the fact is that Facebook (unlike the new kids on the block) has proven it's place in our world, and has the numbers to prove it. The next time someone tells you that you need to jump ship from the old guard social media in favor of the latest trending platform, think twice before taking action.

It's true that Facebook has changed it's algorithms to make it more difficult for businesses and marketers to dominate the newsfeed of the end­user... but that's actually a very smart move.

Why? Because the happier the end user (who isn't bombarded with promotional messages all the time), the more likely they are to stay on Facebook... and that leads directly to the other smart thing Facebook has done. They've created the world's most powerful consumer ­focussed advertising platform. A platform that is driven by data about actual people, and designed to afford even the smallest of small businesses the ability to reach the ideal prospect on the tiniest of budgets.

Is Facebook making us "pay to play?"

In short, yes. But the playground they've built is the most cutting edge one available. And, unlike traditional ads on the radio, TV, in newspapers, or even on other websites, Facebook ads can easily and rapidly be tested to bring you positive ROI.

It it easy for the average business to manage on their own?

All it takes is a simple understanding of a winning Facebook ads strategy, and any small business can easily create and prosper from Facebook ads. And if plans and goals are loftier, there are plenty of seasoned ad specialists available to help construct winning campaigns to reach your business's goals.

Don't play into the myth that Facebook isn't worth your time or attention. Get started on a plan, and be consistent. Before you know it, you'll be building your email list, driving more customers through your doors, and making new sales faster than you ever thought possible.

Email List From Facebook

 If you're like a lot of small business owners, you need to find a simple and efficient solution growing your email list. Most people rely on collecting names and contact info from customers at the register or adding email addresses to their list from business cards they receive at networking meetings. Neither is efficient nor scalable. And if you have tried to use social media to grow your list, then you already know that it's not something you want to do through trial and error.

But when armed with this handy­ dandy little guide for growing your list using Facebook, you can skip the long learning curve, trial and error, and inevitable frustration.

So let's get started...

Step 1: Start by knowing who you want on your list

As much as you'd like to have everyone as your customer, practicality suggests that only certain

people are going to be interested in what you have to offer. So take a little time to identify who those people are, and focus on reach out to them... and only them

Step 2: Find out what they want...

Figuring out what your prospects want can be simpler than you might think. There are a few ways to go about it: asking current customers

visiting groups or forums online to see what people are asking researching your topic at Amazon.com to see what titles people are buying surveying your staff to discover what common questions they are getting

The point here is that you really need to listen carefully, and the most obvious pains will rise to the surface.

Once you've figured out what your prospects want, then move on to Step 3...

Step 3: Deliver the goods

This step is commonly known as developing a "lead magnet." It might take the form of a PDF download, a training video, a webinar, or even a discount or voucher offer.

The trick here is just how to deliver the goods using Facebook. And the answer lies in making it easy for your prospects to access what you have to offer. Make the instructions clear, and the path to success as simple as possible.

And this, of course, is where the exchange happens. Your prospect supplies their email address in order to get the goods you are offering.

As you can see, it's not particularly difficult to collect targeted email addresses using Facebook - you just need to complete the process step­ by ­step, and avoid making it complicated. The simpler and more appealing the offer, the more success you'll have in generating leads and building your list.

Turn Your Traffic

With all the talks about SEO, PPC, and new social media platforms that seem to be popping up everyday, it is easy to suffer from the "shiny object syndrome".

One important function these tactics and platforms serve is to drive traffic to your website. If you want to see ROI on your effort in the form of sales from social media, here is a formula you need to know:

Traffic + Offer (sales page on your website) = Revenue

If you get all the social media things going, and have SEO and PPC driving traffic to your website, yet your website is not engaging your prospects, not speaking to your target market, and not featuring your offerings in a way that is attractive to your potential clients, all your efforts are for naught. People will click away and you are not going to sell.

Here are just a few reasons why you want to make your website your home base, get it up to snuff, before you go about chasing the next new thing on the internet:

You DON'T own those social media platforms. What happens if your "home base" is your Facebook fan page and one day Facebook decides to change the rules and shut it down? If one day everyone leaves Facebook for the next new "Facebook" - your 5,000 fans doesn't mean a thing if they can't see your post! (Remember MySpace?) On the other hand, you own your website and your list - make them work hard for you.

Your website gives you the "real estate" to provide your prospects with the most comprehensive information on your business, your services and your offerings. Moreover, if done right, the process of creating content for your website is a great exercise to help you get a ton of clarity on your business.

When coaching with me, my clients get a lot of insight and clarity on their message, their target market, their mission, their business model, their offerings etc. just by working through their website structure and content. It's not uncommon that they walk away from a 60-minute discovery session with a brand new business and marketing plan!

It doesn't matter if you are driving a ton of traffic from social media to your website if people don't find anything valuable on your website - they will click away and you will never see them again. Let alone getting them to spend money with you. Your website is where you can showcase all your programs, products and offerings. Without such offerings, traffic won't make you money.

Online Business Ideas

The truth of the matter is that the best online business ideas are really the most simple. If you are new to online business, or even if you do know your way around a little bit, you don't want to try and start competing with the likes of Amazon or eBay. These are established online businesses that have massive infrastructure and experience in creating new business models.

The secret for the best online business ideas are not to try and invent a new product or service but to find the ones that are most popular and sell them to the people who are looking for them. This business model is known as online affiliate marketing and is a very simple concept. You find a target market of people who are looking for something to help them solve a problem or enhance their life and get them to buy it from you. So, for example, it could be somebody looking to lose weight or somebody trying to find a partner for a new relationship. If you have the right product solution for them at their time of need, they will be more than happy to buy it from you, as you have solved a problem for them.

Your task as an affiliate marketer is to find a product that will fulfil the needs of people and let them know that the products is available. When a person buys the product, you get paid a commission by the product owner.

Why is affiliate marketing one of the best online business ideas?

Primarily, the main reason that affiliate marketing is one of the best online business ideas is that you you do not have any of the overheads that are normally associated with a new business. You do not have to spend time and resource creating a product, that somebody may (or may not( buy. You do not have to buy stock, you do not have to pay rent for any premises, you do not have to fulfil the supply of the product as the product owner will do this for you. All you need is a computer and access to the internet.

But, if affiliate marketing is one of the best online business ideas, why isn't everyone doing it? Good question. The answer is that you do need to learn how affiliate marketing works and have a certain set of skills to enable you to achieve the financial rewards you want.

You have to know the right places to find the best products to sell (hint: try Clickbank, Commision Junction or Market Health).

You have to be able to find the best place to find for customers via paid advertising and free methods.

You have to know how to build a list of potential customers and how to establish a relationship with them so that they trust you. If they trust you, they will buy from you.

You have to understand that the best online business ideas work on the principle that to give is to receive. In other words, you have to provide your potential customers will relevant and valuable information so that they will see you as an authority in your market. If you just constantly try to sell, sell, sell, it will put people off.
The online entrepreneurs who have had the best online business ideas know that they have to invest in their online education. It is possible to have a successful online business, but you do need to take time to learn as you earn.