Is it me or is the Internet making potential entrepreneurs lazy?

Is it me or is the Internet making potential entrepreneurs lazy?
by: Richard Grady

We all know that it is possible for an online business to generate significant income that, ultimately, can be earned with minimal input from the business owner. This is due to the fact that so many processes can be automated on the Internet thus saving the need for an individual to carry out these tasks.

BUT no online business is going to generate a worthwhile income without at least some hard work - usually several months worth at the bare minimum.

I often refer to myself as a lazy Internet marketer because I know that there are many things I could be doing to further improve my businesses but often prefer not to. My problem is that I can always find something better to be doing than working! But it wasn't always this way and in the early years of my online career I worked some serious hours to get things up and running - certainly a lot more than I had ever worked in any job.

As many of you know, my offline career had been spent in the banking industry which meant that I was no computer expert and I had no particular Internet skills or abilities. I therefore spent days reading and learning how to do the tasks that I wanted to do - how to build a web page, how to integrate payment facilities, how to send customers emails after they had purchased etc. Whilst now there seems to be an online video or eBook about pretty much all Internet marketing topics, going back a few years, this wasn't the case and I often only discovered how to do something by trial and error.

So why am I telling you this?

Well quite simply because of an email exchange that I had with someone this week which made me realize how lazy some people can be and how they genuinely expect to have an online business handed to them on a plate.

In a nutshell, this person purchased a product from me that came with resale rights - nothing unusual there. I then got an email from them asking how to get the sales page for the product online. Again, nothing unusual in that, it happens quite a lot. I answered the question and there then followed what can only be described as a barrage of further questions asking how to set up a payment processor, how to deliver the product, how to integrate an autoresponder system into the processor (the buyer even asked what messages he should put in the autoresponder!), how to market the sales page and how to get the page into Google!

I have had similar requests in the past and obviously it is simply impossible to answer all of these questions in a single email (quite apart from the fact that it would take me an age). I therefore answered some of the questions and referred the buyer to my forum and some other resources which I knew had the answers to the remaining questions (as well as a lot more free information).

So imagine my surprise when the response that I got back was basically along the lines of 'You aren't helping me here - I step by step instructions as to how to do everything that I have asked you.'

The fact that I had proved links to resources that answered his questions was not enough. Apparently he didn't have the time to read through those resources and wanted me to summarize everything for him!!

Now, bear in mind that this guy spent less than $50 with me and you might begin to see where I am coming from. Does anyone really think that $50 buys several hours of one to one consulting with ANYONE? Why do people think that they shouldn't have to put any effort into building a business?

How can someone expect to generate a living online when they can't even be bothered to spend a few hours learning how to do some of the most basic tasks?

You might think that you don't need to know how to do some of the things involved with running an online business if you can get someone else to do them (even if you have to pay them) but there is no substitute for knowing exactly how your business works from the ground up. If you follow step by step instructions from someone else, the chances are that you won't really be taking note of what is happening, you won't make mistakes and therefore you won't LEARN.

I have recently hired a web designer to build a new site for me. This is the first time that I have ever done this and it did feel very weird at first. The site in question is quite technically complicated - not so much the actual pages but the scripting behind the scenes that make it work. Now, whilst my new web designer is very knowledgeable and capable of doing exactly what I want, the fact that I have a good understanding of how scripts/databases etc work and how it is possible to get things to happen on a website means that both of our jobs have been a lot easier than they might have been. I was able to go to him and say, 'I want it to do this and I think the best way of doing it is .......'. Now, I can't write the scripts or software required but I do have a pretty good idea of the best way for someone else to write them. How did I build up this knowledge?

Simple. By sitting in front of my computer for hours working things out for myself and LEARNING. Remember, your online business is more important to you than anyone else. Regardless of how much someone tries to help you, if you want it to succeed, YOU are the one that needs to put the effort in.


Copyright 2006 Richard Grady
About The Author
Richard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. eBay sellers find wholesalers for free at: http://www.wholesale118.co.uk (UK) & http://www.thewholesaletrader.com (US).

Will You Be an Internet Success Story

Will You Be an Internet Success Story
by: Raymond Johnston Jr

The internet has completely changed the business world. It has changed the whole concept of how to be successful in a home business. It has also provided the opportunity for many to give up the 9 to 5 world and seek their dream on the internet. Some have made this transition seem easy and others continue to struggle.

Have you been thinking about making this change? Do you have what it takes to make this a successful move? Let's take a look at a few of the things that ultimately decide who makes the grade and who goes down with the ship.

1. Work at something you enjoy. There is nothing quite like enjoying your job. It puts a whole new perspective on the world. If you like what you do, working becomes a pleasure instead of a chore. Some of you are probably thinking, yeah right, work is not something to enjoy but rather just a pain that we have to endure.

If you decide to work from home, pick out something that you will enjoy. If you don't enjoy what you are doing, it will become the same pain as the job you have now. You may enjoy it at first, just because you are home or just because it is new. That will wear off and when it does, you had better be doing something that you enjoy or you will be one of the passengers on the sinking ship.

2. You must be disciplined. It is very easy to start wandering when you are working on the net. The internet is full of fun and interesting things and it is very easy to find yourself surfing or looking at something totally unrelated to your work.

An email arrives that looks interesting and you decide to go check it out. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, you all at once realize that you were working.

When I first started working on the internet, I found that it was taking hours to do a forty-five minute job. Use your work time wisely. I have interests that I like to explore but I have learned to do that at other times. When I go to work, I concentrate on working. I have cut my work time down tremendously since I impimented this technique.

3. Don't expect to be successful overnight. So many people have heard the internet success stories and think wealth will come fast and easy. You are starting a business and building a successful business takes time and effort.

I would not discourage anyone from seeking their dream on the internet. I never enjoyed going to work for someone else every morning. Be realistic when you start out, don't expect success to just fall in your lap. If you go in with the expectations of making a big income your first few months, you are most likely going to be disappointed.

4. Be prepared for change. The internet is ever changing and to be a successful business person on the net, you have to be willing to change as well.

You will find techniques that worked last week are antique this week. If you want to be successful working on the internet, you must keep up with the times. There is a lot of great information out there and I suggest that you devote some time each week to looking to find these new ideas.

Check out other businesses in your field and see what they are doing. Initiate contact with other business owners in your field. You may not only learn something new but joint ventures are one of the most succesful means of doing business on the net.

The internet is a great place to work. If you make that decision to venture out into cyberspace as a means of earning an income, take some time and find something you like. Create good work habits, don't have unreasonable expectations and be willing to change.

These things alone are no guarentee you will be a success but it is at least a good road to start down.



About The Author
Article was written by Raymond Johnston Jr
You will find more of his articles along with web marketing tools on his website at
http://www.RaymondJohnston.com
rclarkfork@aol.com

13 Tips To Make Your Website More Successful

13 Tips To Make Your Website More Successful
by: Raymond Johnston Jr
I was looking around at some websites to see what things I liked and disliked about them. There is no doubt that there are things that attract people and there are things that totally turn people off.

I have made a list of 13 tips that can help make your website more successful. Most of them are simple but quite effective at making your site more user friendly.

1. Make your site simple - With all of the bells and whistles available, too many people are trying to see how impressive they can make their websites. They may be attractive but unless your goal is to win a contest for best site, impressing people with glitter will not make sales.

2. Make sure your site loads quickly - You do not have long to grab your customer's attention. Make sure that you at least get a fair shot at grabbing his attention. If your site takes too long to load, you will lose a lot of potential customers without even giving your site a chance.

3. Don't have too many items on one page - You do not want to confuse your visitors. You want to make sure that they understand th purpose of your site. Too many items on one page can make this difficult for some. Don't take the chance. Make all of your pages simple.

4. Make sure every page lings to home page - It is much easier for your visitors to navigate if all of your pages link back to the home page. You will not lose as many potential customers if you make your site easier to navigate.

5. Get your own domain name - Free servers are great for some things but trying to gain credibility in a business is not one of them. It is well worth the price to get your own domain.

6. Make sure your hosting service offers full support - You want your service to have CGI access and offer secure ordering. This is a place that you don't want to go for cheap. Make sure your service offers the things you need before you choose and save a lot of headaches down the road.

7. Offer as many options for ordering as possible - The more options you provide for ordering, the fewer cutomers you will lose. You should have a secure order form on your site. Offering the options to order by phone, fax and by regular mail can also increase the number who will order.

8. Make sure you accept credit cards - If you don't accept credit cards, you are making a huge mistake. The biggest percent of your customers will pay this way if the option is available. Don't take the chance that they will choose another method if credit cards are not a possibility.

9. Offer free information on your site - You will want to offer some type of free material on your site. Free material such as courses are a very good way to build yourself as an expert in the eyes of your visitor. Free ebooks are another good thing to offer. Make sure these freebies are good solid information that can help your visitors.

10. Get your visitor's email address - You can accompish this in quite a few different ways. Giving away the courses or ebooks is one great way. You can publish a newsletter or ezine that your visitors can sign up for on your site.

11. Make sure to build your site with purpose in mind - If you are trying to sell a product on your site, then sell that product. If you are just trying to get addresses and make the sale later, then make that your purpose when building your site.

12. Encourage feedback - Make your visitor feel like his opinion is important. Offer him the chance to provide you with feedback. Don't be too proud to make changes if you start hearing some of the same things from your visitors.

13. Remember that you are building this site for your customers - This is not a site to fulfill some fantasy of yours. Remember the purpose of your site. Keep your customers wants and needs in your mind as you design it.

Your website is one of those things that will determine if you are a marketing success. Make sure that you make your website user friendly. Also make sure that you don't lose sight of the purpose of your site. If your sit e does not come across direct to your visitor, you are going to lose many visitors before you can even make a pitch.


About The Author
Article was written by Raymond Johnston Jr
You will find more of his articles along with web marketing tools on his website at
http://www.RaymondJohnston.com and rclarkfork@aol.com

Autoresponders Create Internet Business

Autoresponders Create Internet Business
by: Robbie Fanucchi

Studies have shown that an average person needs to see an ad seven times before they are motivated to act. This could create quite a problem if you are relying on a website to promote your product. A potential customer visits your site, clicks on a few pages and leaves. The chances of that same customer returning to your website is quite slim. Your chance to make a sale is lost forever.

So how do savvy internet marketers avoid this problem? With the use of autoresponders. Autoresponders are used by practically everybody involved in ecommerce. Autoresponders allow you to follow up with a potential customer. Autoresponders do this automatically after you have set up your account.

How do autoresponders work? They allow you to send follow up messages to a potential customer after you gain their email address. You can continue to regularly contact that person for a year or even more if you feel like it. The benefit? Higher sales rates. Remember, a customer must be exposed to an ad over and over again before a sale is made.

The first step once you have your autoresponder set up is to grow your email list. But how do you obtain someone’s email address? There are many ways to do this.

You can give them a freebie. Have them enter their email address and you agree to send them a little gift related to your website. I’ll give you an example for a website I’m creating to promote my cookbook. A visitor to my website can provide me with their email and I’ll send them a free recipe. I can then follow up with more messages, asking for their feedback on the recipe and subtly pitch a sale at the same time. All this is done automatically through the autoresponder. You can periodically offer freebies to string their interest along until they come to the point of purchase.

Another way is to provide a free newsletter or training course. After providing their email address, they begin to automatically get lessons and tips that you have set up through your autoresponder program. An example of this is my ‘Home Business Opportunities’ website. I offer a free newsletter that sends out home business tips for over a year. You can see how this gradually allows the potential customer to put his trust in you. Before you know it, a sale is made. Again, my autoresponder program allows me to do this with little effort.

One word of caution. Don’t overload your recipient with message after message. We all have email inboxes crammed with SPAM, ads and sales letters. If you’re like me, my cursor is always hovering over the delete button, my trigger finger itching to send any annoying emails straight to recycle purgatory. Don’t let your autoresponder emails suffer the same fate. To avoid this, try spacing your messages so that your recipient only receives a message every three or four days. This allows your business to stay fresh in their minds without becoming a nuisance.

Yes, autoresponders are the greatest way to grow your customer list. Some internet experts claim the bigger the list, the bigger the success. Start growing your internet business today by checking out some great autoresponder programs.


Copyright © Robbie Fanucchi
http://www.RJFanucchi.com
About The Author
Robbie Fanucchi's website is dedicated to finding the best home business ideas and opportunities: http://www.RJFanucchi.com
3 easy steps can get you a money making website that is ready to take orders and make massive residual income: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-11327
Learn the science of making money online: Free DOTCOMOLOGY e-book: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-11327/dotcomology.html
robbiejayfan@lycos.com

Sell your items at cost and make a fortune on ebay!

You dont always have to sell at a profit to make a fortune on ebay. I sat down and thought outside of the ebay box and now every item makes a profit for me, even the ones I sell at cost!Like all ebay sellers I wanted to sell all of my items at a profit and what I found was that when I was getting to the end of line items that I was ending up selling them at cost, even though the items were finally selling at a profit price, because I was having to factor in the ebay relisting fees etc.So I took a moment and sat down and thought how I could deal with these items and still make money. What I ended up doing was thinking outside the ebay sellers box and coming up with selling them at cost to make a fortune!

What I mean by this was that I was going to sell the items at no loss to me on ebay but then use the opportunity to build a relationship with the buyer that could be used to build long term profit for me. Think of it as :A loss leader without the Loss!Let me use a couple of examples:

Scenario One
Item sells on ebay for £20 profit, buyer buys the item and pays and thats the end of it. Your total profit is £20.

Scenario Two
Items sells at cost, zero profit but you use the sale as an opportunity to build a relationship with the buyer and lock them into your business. The buyer then buys one item a month (maybe more!) for a year giving you a profit of £240 (minimum).

If these are from your website not ebay your profit will be greater as you will have no fees. Over the lifetime value of a customer this could mean thousands of pounds profit…It is common knowledge that when a customer is locked into your business or product then they are more likely to repeat purchase, which is where the fortune part of the equation comes in. The principle can also be used when you sell at full price but as you are selling at a bargain price the customer is more likely to be interested in your offer as they will put your product and value into the same sentance. What I am asking you to do is to take a critical look at what the true worth of ebay actually is, is is not just in instant terms but the long term possibilities far outway the short term profits.

The question is now, ‘How do you build this relationship?’There are a number of ways but by far the most successful that I use is by using a simple email!!! No harder than that this building a relationship idea…Once the customer has bought my ebay item I send a simple receipt via email thanking them for thier purchase and making them aware of my website and offering them the opportunity to join my mailing list so that I can contact them with furthur offers they may be interested in.

I make it very clear that I have no intention of flooding them with spam and give them the choice of the number of times they will be contacted in a month. This has two effects, they gain trust in your professionalism as you are seen not to be just harvesting emails and it also makes them feel in control as they set the frequency of contact.

It does mean that I have to operate a number of mailing lists but this is a small price to pay to lock customers into my products. The majority of my customers (approx. 90%) join the ‘1-4 times a month’ list which is great as this means that I can contact them once a week with offers if I needed. This is a frequency that I feel is adequate to maintain the relationship between me and my customers as I am not seen to be spamming them but still seen to be offering products of interest to them.It is also important to note that I do not always send out one mailing a week as it is dependent on the product you sell as to whether the customer would want to purchase once a week. I believe greatly in the relationship that I have with my customers and can see the long term benefits of maintaining this and therefore I refuse to jepordise it for a quick profit.

A point to remember, if they choose not to take the opportunity to join your list then do not keep emailing them. this is SPAM and will do no more than tarnish your company, website and products image in the eye of the buyer.

What I am saying is Think outside of the ebay box, ebay offers a massive opportunity in terms of potential customers and long term profits as opposed to short term profits.How much would it cost to get the number of page views, that ebay listings get, on your website using your own traffic generating methods, use ebay and use it good.



Author Info:
Mike - Webmaster and ebay Power Seller http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com Online Auction Trader - an ebay sellers bible.

Best Internet Marketing Strategies- Part I

by: Christian Del Monte

Researching the best Internet marketing strategies is a bit of a task. Why? Because most Internet marketing companies don’t want to share their strategies with you! Instead they want to sell them. So scouring the Web usually leads to lose ends and service puffery. So what are the best Internet marketing strategies?

Well honestly, the question itself is flawed. Lets think about it. What works best for one, doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for another. So lets start with the basics, shall we?
What exactly is your business model? Are you selling a product? A Service? Or trying to promote an affiliate? If you’re trying to promote a product or service, generally speaking your strategy will be very similar. If you’re an affiliate, that is one that is promoting a product or service that you don’t own, the basic strategy is related in that you are still trying to promote “widgets”, however your web strategy will be fundamentally different. Lets discuss products and services (part I). We’ll discuss affiliate-marketing strategies more in detail in part II of this writing.

Products and Services
If you’re trying to promote a product or service, we must first look at its stage in the product life circle. (I know, you didn’t want to get the marketing book out, but we are!). If you’re offering is in the midst of the introduction stage, the need has not been fully identified yet, even though one may exist.

This is important because most Internet marketing experts will tell you to start with “xyz” no matter what your offering is. Generally (PPC) or search engine optimization (SEO) being the culprit. The reason is usually their general effectiveness. Yes, search engine marketing is effective. No two ways about it. However may not be best if no one knows that your product is in existence. If this is the case, you might be better suited for some push strategies such as:

1. Press releases
2. Display ads (banner)
3. Articles
4. Podcasting
5. Traditional push vehicles such as radio or TV

If your product offering is in the growth or maturity stage, search engine marketing can be highly effective. When considering search engine marketing, here are some basic items you may want to evaluate when creating your strategy:

1. Budget
2. Regionality of market
3. Target audience
4. Core competencies
5. Website (functionality, ease of use, and conversion friendliness)

Budgeting
Without getting into great detail into each item, budget comes to mind for most. On limited by budget, determining what to spend your money on can be a daunting task. I recommend that even the most budget minded start with pay per click advertising. My reasoning is that you can easily test the business model before you devote massive financial resources to it. In addition, if your paid advertising strategies soar, this can be a great guideline to base your search engine optimization efforts on.

Regionality, Target Audience, and Competencies
Regardless of budget, your website should include a regional focus (if applicable) and speak in a language that resembles your target audience. In addition, content is best utilized if it describes your core competencies that give your visitors a reason to buy from you.

The Website
Website functionality and ease of use are a good foundation to any successful strategy. As a general rule of thumb, your website should be in keeping of your competitors and direct the target audience to the action you would like them to take. The KISS principle (i.e. keep it simple stupid) cannot be overstated enough in the above items. Concentrate your efforts on benefits to the end user and you will reap rewards of victory.

Search engine marketing nevertheless, does have limitations such as:
· Low regional search traffic resulting in slowed results
· Local targeting issues (which at the time of this writing is being best served by Google)
· Keyword targeting issues
· Budget constraints
· Competitive saturation

Shortcomings Of Regional Traffic
Regionally based strategies may fall short due to low search volume followed by targeting issues. Currently, Google paid advertising does offer some great local targeting tools due to their unique ability to target end users via their IP address. Yahoo! on the other hand, relies on local keyword filters that are based on cities that you include in your service area.
Whether you decide Google or Yahoo! as your regional search partner, you will likely find that some industries suffer from low traffic volume.

Keyword Targeting Issues
Keyword targeting issues arise when a keyword either has multiple meanings or the market is sticky to a particular offering within the keyword scope. For example, the keyword “marketing professionals” could imply a business looking for one or an industry professional looking for a job.

In the case of keyword stickiness, the website owner can find the market stubborn to buy its offering if its not tailored to the masses. For example the keyword “pottery” could imply any price range. However, if 99% of the market is looking for pottery priced from $1-2 and your selling exotic pottery for $500 a pop, you may find yourself paying too much for what the market doest want.

Budget Constraints and Competitive Saturation
Budget constraints are pretty self-explanatory and are usually tied to competitive market saturation. An interesting fact about search engine marketing is that keyword prices are typically tied to market ROI. In addition, industries that are tough to compete in generally have a high ROI arbitrage model to blame.

You probably have run across a few of the Websites in question yourself, such as the “Fill out xyz for 4 free quotes” or travel websites. Those companies can afford the high keyword costs due to the fact that they are reselling the same “xyz” to multiple vendors. This in effect makes it very difficult for companies marketing exclusively to compete against the giants.

In Summary
The above only describes some basic guidelines for effective Web marketing strategizing and is in no way intended to be the “law of the land.” However, what does come to light is that basic marketing strategies are the foundation for triumph in almost any business model and cannot simply be “cookie cut” from one grand Pooh-Bah of all online mediums. The best strategeer’s will continually employ new, measure results, and refine their strategies according to what provides the greatest overall benefit. If your looking for the best internet marketing strategy, scour the web no longer, because the best Internet marketing strategy lies within your grasp.

Now its up to you to sell them!


About The Author
Christian Del Monte: creator of http://www.iblogmarketing.com Internet Marketing Blog and Director of Operations for http://www.tmaemarketing.com is a well-respected authority on Internet marketing.
cdelmonte@tmaemarketing.com

Starting a Profitable Home Based Internet Business

by: Alan Ocab

People choose to work from home for several reasons including the desire to stay home with their children, the need for extra income, or simply being dissatisfied with their current job. A home-based business will provide you with an exciting way to earn money and be your own boss. Numerous opportunities are available to internet marketers.

When starting your home-based business you should develop a business plan and research your options thoroughly. Don’t get dragged into unrealistic claims by various people that let you start
without a plan and expect thousands of dollars every month. Making wise decisions and following your business plan each step of the way can help you in creating a steady stream of income. Starting a home-based business will require hard work—real hard work. You will not become wealthy over night. It will take determination to succeed as an internet marketer. The amount of money you make will be directly related to the amount of work you are willing to
do.

Joining affiliate programs is an excellent start. There are affiliate programs that will automate everything for you. The learning curve is shortened. There are also other internet marketing offers that will create a steady income if you are willing to make the effort. Many of these
opportunities require an initial investment from you and others are advertised as free. Do a careful and systematic research of these internet marketing opportunities. As an internet marketer, you will have to distinguish yourself from the competition if you want to succeed. You should know your target audience and what they want, know your competition even better.

Know the latest technology that will help you in your business. Many internet entrepreneurs overwork because they do not use the right tools or technology in running their businesses. Planning, hard work and smart execution will make your home-based business a success and provide you with a steady stream of income.

Starting a home-based business is one of the most exciting and challenging endeavors you will ever undertake. A sound business plan and the will to succeed will set you apart from the
competition. Choose the products or services you provide carefully. Make certain your services will be needed over the long term and make customer service your top priority. A loyal customer base is the key to the success or failure of your home-based business. A home-based business is an excellent way to gain independence and financial freedom.


About The Author
Alan Ocab is the CEO of Grandstart.com, a company helping people start profitable internet businesses. Visit his site at http://www.grandstart.com.
alan@fortboni.com