How To Start an Internet Business - The First Step

The vast majority of web sites are destined to fail before they are even built. Why? Because people building sites almost always put the cart before the horse. Actually, most don't even include the horse.


Evolution of Your Site

New sites follow a typical evolutionary process.

1. The first stage involves slaving over the design of the site to get just the right look;

2. The second stage is the publication of the site;

3. Third comes the first thought about how to get traffic to the site;

4. Fourth, the discovery of pay-per-click options;

5. Fifth, the pursuit of PPC campaigns and realization of sales!;

6. Sixth, the misery stage, occurs with the realization that sales are being made at a loss!;

7. Frustration, frustration, frustration;

8. The extinction stage - With profitability seeming impossible, the PPC campaigns are closed and the site just sits there.

Does any of this sound familiar? You need not suffer this evolutionary extinction! Taking one step before you build a site can save you a lot of wasted time and money.


If You Build It, Will They Come?

The first step to developing a successful web site is keyword analysis. Keywords are the anchors of each page of your site, a collective summary of your products and services.

The first step to developing an online business is to identify whether there is sufficient traffic for your business product or service. Let's look at a very simple example.

If your are selling boating products, each page of your site should incorporate boating-related keyword phrases. You must analyze whether there is a sufficient number of searches each month to make your boating site a viable entity. A free method for doing this is to use the Overture inventory tool:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

In our example, we would do a search for boating to see how many searches there are for the keyword as well as other boating-related keyword phrases. A quick search shows there were over 38,500,000 searches for boating and over 241,000 searches for boating supply in April 2008. These numbers suggest that there clearly is enough traffic to build a site selling boating products.


Unfortunately, I often email with site owners that have spent significant amounts of money building a site only to find that there is little interest in their product or service. By performing keyword analysis, you can determine whether a site should be built before you spend the time, energy and money on it. There is little reason to build a site that has no chance of success.

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

115 Ways To Earn Money With Your Computer

Here is a list of ideas for your reference if you want to use your own PC to earn income.



1. Provide computer-based office management services for attorneys

2. Do word processing

3. Do medical billing for doctors

4. Do automated telemarketing

5. Manage a church

6. Start a computer user's group

7. Learn to win at blackjack

8. Bet on horse races

9. Bet on pro football

10. Sell computers from your home

11. Provide medical information management

12. Broker information

13. Trade stock by computer

14. Provide astrological services

15. Offer an interactive electronic newsletter

16. Produce book indexes

17. Provide a computer-assisted booking service

18. Make stock market investment decisions

19. Do genealogical research

20. Manage a band

21. Manage a house or pet sitting service

22. Track precious gems

23. Sell information to collectors

24. Analyze real estate investments

25. Support a small law practice

26. Write a book

27. Market collectables

28. Do psychological counseling

29. Prepare income tax returns

30. Provide economic consulting

31. Solve real estate financing problems

32. Do data base research

33. Publish your own book

34. Design your own small business system

35. Crop management

36. Analyze farm expenses

37. Provide weekly printout of bowling league statistics

38. Make computer-generated portraits

39. Manage investment shelters

40. Manage construction costs

41. Produce computer utility products

42. Provide computer-aided financial planning

43. Sell life insurance

44. Support a small publishing business

45. Provide weekly printout of little league Baseball statistics

46. Run a small pharmacy

47. Become a computer dealer

48. Interpret physical therapy test results

49. Manage a restaurant

50. Start your own yellow pages

51. Conduct computer-assisted telephone interviewing

52. Stream-line executive search activities

53. Provide agricultural commodities planning

54. Turn financial statements into financial pictures

55. Manage a museum collection

56. Support consumer education programs

57. Do freelance technical writing

58. Do multi-level direct mail marketing

59. Review specialty software

60. Be an engineering consultant

61. Provide sports information services

62. Produce products for hobbyists

63. Provide specialty-focused software services

64. Run a multi-level, direct sales operation

65. Do litigation management

66. Manage a dairy farm

67. Provided automated debt collection

68. Provide date-base installation and instruction

69. Run a beauty school/beauty salon

70. Improve small business services

71. Broker used computers!

72. Telecommute

73. Enhance medical diagnosis and treatments

74. Create electronic marketing tools

75. Do independent software documentation

76. Teach people how to use microcomputers

77. Become your own computer book publisher

78. Create computer-generated puzzles and word games

79. Become a software consultant

80. Produce low-cost computer graphics products

81. Develop software for children

82. Perform real estate inspections

83. Do software translations

84. Produced a computer-controlled home security system

85. Automate conference registration

86. Create computer gifts

87. Enhance scientific products

88. Write software for use in the home

89. Manage a winery

90. Design and produce personal computer hardware or peripherals

91. Design, publish and distribute software

92. Provide information vending machines

93. Start a software writing cooperative

94. Develop small scale real estate partnerships

95. Do property management

96. Do mortgage loan brokerage

97. Perform non-judicial foreclosures

98. Develop mini-warehouse storage facilities

99. Sell instant signs

100. Start an advertising agency

101. Start a resume service.

102. Manage a talent agency

103. Operate a referral service

104. Operating a mailing list service

105. Operate a typesetting service

106. Offer a legal forms service for the general public

107. Publish your own newsletter or help others for a fee

108. Operate a voice mail service

109. Start your own local classified newspaper

110. Provide a collection letter service

111. Offer a custom diet plan service

112. Start your own local real estate newspaper

113. Start an apartment rental newspaper

114. Provide a payroll service

115. Start a singles dating service

You can get more ideas with a number brainstorming tools located at http://www.best-internet-businesses.com
Truly, your PC and Internet give you more opportunities to earn incomes during spare time.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

3 Ways To Make This Year Very Profitable With Your Home Business

These are hands-down the best plan for making 2008 your most profitable year yet.

Key strategy #1:
Improve your sales process and convert more traffic into sales

Do you get regular traffic to your site? Once your visitors get to your site, how long do they stay? How many of them buy?

The best way to improve your sales process is to start by looking at your web site stats. These are a goldmine containing priceless nuggets of information, like how much traffic your site is getting, how people travel through your site, which pages are the most popular, and where your visitors are coming from.

By analyzing these stats, and looking at them alongside your sales figures and online promotions, you can work out things like what proportion of your traffic is being converted into sales, and which promotions or online campaigns are working better than others.

You'll then find yourself with a much clearer picture of your business overall, and a good idea of what you need to change, improve, or build on.

If your web stats show good traffic levels but low sales figures, then you need to tighten up your sales process. Review both your salesletter and your order form -- even just a few tweaks can make a HUGE difference.

Your salesletter: If people are leaving your web site from the sales page without clicking through to the order-form, then the salesletter is simply not doing its job in convincing visitors to buy your product or service.

In this case, it's time for a salesletter tune-up. First stop -- your headline. Make sure that it's compelling, will resonate with your target market, and contains the main benefit of your product or service.

Then, ensure that your body copy builds your credibility, focuses on the BENEFITS (not the features) of your product or service, and includes testimonials and a strong guarantee.

Another quick fix is to make sure that your P.S. reinforces the main sales messages. (Remember, many people ONLY read the headline and P.S.)

And, of course, the call to action is very important in the sales process. It should state EXACTLY what you want the person to do next, how they can do it, and that you want them to do it NOW! It's the bridge between the salesletter and the order form.

Your order form: If your web site stats show that people are abandoning your site at the order form stage without placing an order, then there may be something wrong with it. Is it too complicated? Does it have a different "look" from the rest of your web site? Are there links on the order page to other web sites or other pages on your site?

First, you must make sure that your order process and the form itself are easy to understand. To help people follow the process, provide a step-by-step guide that leads buyers through the ordering process, spelling out things like how to fill the form out, how the product will be shipped, when their credit card will be charged, and so on.

This could be on the order form itself -- allowing a buyer to read it as they complete the relevant steps. The form itself should have a simple layout with all the information fields arranged in a logical, easy-to-follow sequence. Use the "KISS" principle -- "Keep It Simple, Stupid!"

As far as possible, the order form page should have the same "look" as the rest of your web site. Keep it clear and uncluttered -- there should never be other distractions on the page like images, irrelevant copy, advertising, or links to other sites that take the buyer away from your site. You want them to focus on filling out the relevant information.

It's a good idea to reassure people that they are making a safe, secure purchase when they access your order form, by saying something like, "Welcome to our secure online order form."

Key strategy #2:
Offer a "backend" product that's an easy sell to your existing customers

Statistics show that 30% of your existing customers are guaranteed to buy from you again. It makes sense... you've already done a lot of the hard work establishing your credibility and proving that you run a reputable business that gives your customers what they want.

So, offering another "backend" product to your existing customers can be a great way to boost your profits without eating into your marketing budget.

A backend product can be any one of a number of things. For example, if your site sells cameras, new products could include:

An add-on to your existing product, such as a new lens for a camera A relevant information product, like an eBook containing photography tips A complementary product, like a bag for the camera ... And so on. Sit down and come up with a list of products related to yours that you think your market might be interested in.

Remember that the key to finding any new product is to identify a problem that your customers have and then come up with a product or service that solves it for them. Always read and keep any feedback or comments you receive from your customers -- positive and negative. You can also solicit feedback through a customer survey or questionnaire.

In addition, you should also be constantly assessing the needs of your target market by reading the publications that they read, and visiting the web sites, online forums, and blogs that they visit. And don't forget to check out your competitors' sites!

When you've found a suitable product, launching it to existing customers is easy. You already have their contact information, so you can simply e-mail them a promotion highlighting the problem they have, and explaining how your new product or service will solve it.

You can even use your customer feedback as a selling point, saying something like, "I've listened to feedback and comments from my customers, and can now offer you a product I just KNOW you're going to love..."

Key strategy #3:
Set up an affiliate program to drive tons more traffic to your site and boost your sales

How would you like to have a network of other people to do your selling for you? Well, in a nutshell, that's what an affiliate program is. An affiliate is someone who promotes your product on their web site in return for a commission on every sale that they send your way.

There are a number of reasons why you should consider this top-notch strategy for your business:

It can drive TONS more traffic to your site There are ZERO advertising costs -- affiliates do all of their own marketing There is no risk to you, since you only pay your affiliates after they've made the sale You gain exposure to new target markets through the e-mail lists and web sites of your affiliates

The fact is that affiliate programs are one of the most powerful ways to market online, and almost every product or service will be MUCH more successful if you offer an affiliate program for it.

You can find affiliates by putting a page on your web site inviting people to apply, and by approaching sites that you think have a similar target audience.

Starting and managing an affiliate program can be done one of two ways -- you can go through a provider or do it yourself. Using a provider like Commission Junction or Linkshare can be very expensive, so it's well worth looking into managing the program yourself.

If you do it yourself, affiliate software like AssocTRAC is available to manage the whole process, from tracking affiliate sales right through to paying commissions. An affiliate program is a highly effective strategy for generating swarms of new traffic and multiplying your sales -- with minimal effort and cost on your part.

Final thoughts

It doesn't matter whether you're making $100,000 or $10,000 a year from your Internet business, or whether you sell kettles or sports cars -- all three of these strategies will work for your business. I know, because I've used them all and continue to use them, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that they work.

But they will always be even more effective if you spend some time every so often reviewing your business plan, setting new business goals, and taking a close look at your web stats and other areas of your business where you could make improvements.

Carrying out a regular business review in this way is just like giving your car a regular check-up -- you just need to stick your head under the hood of your business now and then to make sure everything's running smoothly.

And whether it's adding some new parts or just making a few tweaks here and there, you can always find ways to make it run even better!
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Blogging – A Critical Part of Your Web Business Strategy

The methods by which we use to contact each other, especially in internet marketing activities continue to undergo dramatic transformation. In the not to distant past (only a couple of years ago!) we kept in touch with customers – existing or potential new ones, using the telephone, fax machines, direct mail marketing and even in-person meetings.

Today, people expect more frequent updates, new information, and the latest of everything. So much so that it is literally impossible to keep up with this dizzying pace and certainly not on a continuing or ongoing basis with any consistency. Thankfully, blogging has come to the rescue. Setting up a blog on your web site - and having an associated RSS feed - means you can keep in constant touch with your clients and potential customers. Plus you don't have to email them and they can get your latest news without having to visit your web site.

So how does this all work? A blog is really a fancy name for a web page that gets updated regularly. It's nothing special. There are several methods of writing 'blogs', but they are nothing more than computer programs which allow you to easily update a web page. Far and away the easiest way to start a blog is with a popular blog website. One example is called blogger.com.

However, for keeping in touch with your customers, RSS is the key. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. What this means is that your blog can be automatically delivered to people who want to read it - you don't have to send it to them and neither do they have to come and collect it. All they need is the address of your RSS Feed and their RSS Newsreader can do the job for them. There are several RSS readers available and new web browsers incorporate the ability to read RSS feeds and keep them updated.

Whenever you add new content to your blog, the RSS Feed automatically gets updated in everyone's Reader program or web browser. That means you are guaranteed to be able to keep in touch with clients and prospects. You don't have to do anything other than produce the content. Equally, you don't face the problems of email filters and anti-spam programs blocking your email. Furthermore, people tend to read RSS Feeds because they have subscribed to them whereas they tend to ignore non urgent emails.

After a small amount of basic research and reading, you will quickly see, there are numerous advantages to Blogs and RSS Feeds. One of the biggest reasons is that search engines love them. This is because blogs provide fresh and new content - precisely the thing that searchers are looking for. Hence the search engines are actively pushing blogs higher up the search engine ranking. What this means to internet marketers is that if you don't have a blog for your business, you are potentially reducing your chances of a high search engine ranking. You need a blog nowadays to get noticed by the search engines.

For all the reasons mentioned above (and many, many more), blogging is essential. Not only does it improve your web presence, it also means you can keep in touch with clients and prospects more easily. All the marketing research you can find will tell you that regular contact with your customers is a vital component in retaining existing clients, as well as gaining new business. Don’t put it off any longer; it is time to get your blog going---today!

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Really, Work at Home?

Why would anyone really want to work at home? I am sure they wouldn't unless they are planning only for a short while. If you have a real job and you do it at home; the interruptions, self discipline grind, the irrelevant phone calls tied in with those soap opera's normally wipe out most people that try. Shouldn't we be thinking about a plan that would get us out of the rat race forever and do that kind of work at home?

Residual income is the real solution if you don't have enough money at work generating a full income for you. Doing work and selling it off to make money at home is only a temporary solution. Home networking is the key issue.

We get tired and old. There's an ole saying "yesterday I was like you and tomorrow you'll be like me" time is short so let's get free of the working from repetitive long term work. To make money at home isn't difficult; the key is to find a home based business opportunity that establishes an income that goes on even when you're not working and without any employee's. Now you've got something.

Multiplying yourself through others is the path to major income and a residual income. Yes you still work but not under constant pressure and rigidity. We want to have time to explore our full potential's in life, spent real meaningful time with our family and friends.

Whether you're a wholesale distributor, network marketer, or doing affiliate marketing your choice should have on the top of the list a compensation plan that rewards you for building a retailing and wholesaling network.

Surely you understand that you as person can only do so much, you need to multiply and leverage yourself and time through others and you don't need a bunch of employee's with all the headaches and associated expenses to do that. So, if you're going to work at home build an on going income not just more work.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

Strategies You Can Apply to Your Business

If you have a service business, sell information, or want to boost your subscription rates, here are some fantastic strategies you can start using right away.

"Help people, don't sell people":

Realize that visitors are looking for information and are not necessarily ready to buy right away, focus on creating credibility and offering tons of value, through free courses, e-mail newsletters, and other "sticky" features, like discussion boards and regular chat sessions. By offering this wealth of free information, you earn the trust of subscribers and makes them feel comfortable buying from you.

Keep in touch with your visitors:

Sending out free courses as daily e-mails over the space of a week or more is a great way of keeping in touch with your visitors and building a relationship. If you have any information that lends itself to a daily or weekly "lesson," experiment with offering it to your existing subscribers and new visitors. By using this technique, you can turn your subscribers into paying customers!

Capture more information by offering more value:

Collect names and e-mails for your general newsletter, and then much more detailed demographic information from those subscribers who request a specific product. This is a smart approach, since a one-step form asking tons of questions would likely scare away most visitors, leaving you empty-handed. By offering extra value, you can also ask for extra information.

Armed with these details, you can create new products that fit their needs.

Track everything that moves:

If a specific key word or web site is underperforming, pull it right away (or tweak it to boost value). By not relying on instinct alone, you'll make the most of every penny.

Automate everything!

Automate nearly every aspect of your business using various third-party services. It is a very inexpensive way to incorporate some extremely powerful tools. You could double your sales with very little change in overhead.

The author has more valuable information to help your business at his website in the resource box.

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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info

The Dangers Of Get Rich Quick Schemes - And Other Money Pits

It is an understandable that millions of people have ambitions, desires or passing wishes to have their own business. Let's face it, countless millions of people are in jobs they do not really like, nor get any satisfaction from. Financially, they get by from month to month, but cannot build up real wealth. It seems a constant strain to make ends meet; frustrations are commonplace because people have little control over their own lives, they have to live day by day in their employers' cage; frustrated like grounded eagles with their wings clipped.

Maybe they are helping to make their employer rich, but what of themselves? Don't we all deserve the freedom, the riches, that the owners of successful businesses enjoy?

What is easy to forget is that, usually, those business have been built with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Running a business is very hard work; running a successful business is even harder.

Those who have succeeded have usually had a vision, taken calculated risks, researched, worked long hours, and have learned from inevitable setbacks and mistakes. They have learned about their market sector, how to run a business, marketing, finance, and the law as it affects them in their business. Although what you may now see is a big business in glossy corporate offices, you can be sure it was originally built from hard graft.

Ahh, you may be thinking, that was before the internet. Anyone can do it now! Sorry to disappoint you, but having a successful internet business requires hard work too; it involves an awful lot of learning, maybe years of frustration, many a false dawn that will lift you to the sky and dump you back down on the nearest rock.

Does all that put you off having your own business? Does that all seem too much like hard work? Do you want the benefits without the hassle? Do you resent the rewards of your bosses but turn your nose up at the thought of hard work? If you answer eyes to any of those questions, then you are prime fodder for the Get Rich Quick Schemes:

Welcome To The Internet Danger Zone

Once you start turning your attention to earning money online, you will soon be bombarded with hundreds, thousands, of "opportunities". You will see promises of millions of dollars, doubling your money every few days, turning $1000 into a $1000000 in just a couple of years; promises of thousands of people paying you $20 into your Paypal account for the rest of your life; instant businesses with no work, as someone else will be doing the work for you.

Now, stop and think about it. Be honest with yourself. How realistic are all of those claims? While each of them is possible, how sustainable are they really?

Many newcomers to the world of internet business are wary of scams, and that is good. There are scams around; many of them. But the biggest danger is not deliberate scams, but bad management. The fact is it is easy to set up a business online, which encourages people to do so who have no idea how to run a business, plan for business success, manage finances etc.
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Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing protégé. He is the webmaster of Secrets of Online Success. Learn about all the money making techniques to achieve success on the Internet. Click on our webpage at http://www.secretsofonlinesuccess.info