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