5 Things You Might Want To Consider When Starting Your Online Business
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Doesn’t make it true, doesn’t make it false…Makes it my experience. (quote: T. Harv Eker)
1- Is there a ton and a half of other websites that offers the exact same thing as yours? Some basic research on google might help you decide if you really want to start that particular business, or try something else.
2- Educate yourself and learn from others! You know someone who tried it and failed? You know someone who tried it and it worked? Learn from those people! Blogging is one way!
3- Have your website designed by a profesional, unless you can do it yourself! But even though, have someone take a look at it, and if necessary have this person make some changes and tweaks here and there or give you pointers.
4- Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket! I know entrepreneurs say that a lot, but it’s so true, especially in the online world! What if your only website was down for a couple of days or you had to switch hosting company? That would mean no money, no sales… Make sure you have more than one source of income!
5- Reply to each and every e-mail, comments, inquiries, questions, concerns you recieve from your customers/visitors/readers! I know this might be a little time-consuming, and it’s normal to forget one or two… but if you cannot keep up, or don’t want to build a relationship with your visitors/reader/customers, don’t quit your day job! (sorry about that, but it is the most important part!)
Dave wrote an interesting and worth-reading post on how easy it can be to build relationships in the blogosphere compared to the offfline world.
Any more tips are really welcome! We can all use tips and tricks when starting an online business (even an offline business)!
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Jonathan, Point 5 is sooo true. It does take time, but any worthwhile relationship does. Thanks for noticing my post too.
Number 4 and 5 are really critical in online or offline business. I can speak from experience as far as offline situations.
Online business can be a great success mainly because the overhead cost is minimal. All you basically need is a computer, internet connection, and a positive attitude. With those you can take what you said in number 5 and create a market on name recognishion. Take a look at John Chow, his name is what is making him money. The name of his blog is Make Money Online, but his income is coming from his name and the amount of readers that he has.
Creating a good name for yourself is the biggest asset you can have.
Those are all good points Jon,
I’d add: do something you’re really into rather than something that seems like a popular trend.
There has to be a large enough audience for whatever you want to do, online, and in the real world, but it’s a hundred times easier than following a trend or a great idea that you don’t have much passion for.
Dave: you’re welcome sir! I enjoy reading your blog! :)
Agloco: Thanx for bookmarking, i hope you found interesting posts on here! Uou can also subscribe to the RSS feed if you like!
Dwayne: You’re right, the costs for starting an online business are small, but it can get expensive really quick (profesional design, adwords, paid inclusions in directories, paid reviews) of course never as expensive as a traditional brick and mortar business. Yeah John Chow is a really good example, he understands what branding is, and he made sure his name would be associated with “make money online”!
Shane: You have a really good point there! You have to be driven and passionate about what you do!
Believe me I know first hand about the BRICK and MORTAR business. I hope I never have to touch another brick LOL. Unless it is for my own purpose. I would never be able to pay someone to do something that I can do just fine myself.
All good tips mate.
And of course you have to be very very patient. I have been told that a huge chunk of bloggers quit in the first few months,which is probably true.
Thanks for the post, a good reminder if you have been missing out on something.
Take care and cheers.
Dwayne: i know what you mean! hehe I don’t want any bricks either! I’m really a “do-it-yourself” kinda guy, if i know or think i can do it, i’ll at least try, and if i need help i’ll just ask. :)
Robin: Patience is a virtue, you’re absolutely right about that! Yeah i’ve heard about that statistic, that a lot of bloggers would quit after just a couple months. I can see why, there’s so many blogs out there (last count was around 71 millions) so sure folks can feel as their blog is not “part of the blogosphere” but sometimes it’s good to look back and see what has been accomplished, and most often the evolution is amazing!
I’m not planning to stop! hehe
I am not planning to stop either mate, despite the odds…lol. As I had said in one of my earlier comments, “how long you will survive in this business depends entirely on how well you handle your bad days”.
Cheers mate.
Don’t stop Robin! You have a really really good blog and you know how to write great posts man, you know your stuff!! Keep it up! I read it every single day! :)
I’m probably gonna be online tomorrow a good part of the day (damn timezones), i’ll try to catch you on skype!
Take care! (off to bed now hehe)
Hi Jon,
Good tips there.
I like to add a few more of my own.
1. When we venture into Internet Marketing, we are frequently confronted by problem of information overload. I think it is very important to learn to say no to most information and just concentrate on the essentials before moving on to other things.
2. Start small and slowly scale up. Sometimes, I think there is a natural tendency to want to do too many things at one time, and end up being spread out thinly.
3. Understand the importance of testing. To me, testing is one of the most important aspect of any online business. Know what’s work and what doesn’t
4. By all means, read and enrich oneself, but do remember to take action. All the knowledge will count for nothing if it is not applied.
Jon, seeing how you post and update your blog so frequently really inspire me to do the same for my own blog. Keep it up dude!
Cheers,
Jag
Jag, Thanx a bunch for the great comment! You added some really great tips there! “Start Small”, i could not agree more, it’s so true, sometimes we tend to start something, get it working and running, and then get involved on something else, and end up being overwhelmed. When you focus really hard on one thing it will most probably take off eventually, but when you spend the same energy on 12 different things, well no surprise none will work out.
I’m happy that you find what i do inspiring! Feels good! :)
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