Which Internet Business Model is the Right One?

There is a story of a man who was walking down a side alley and fell into a deep uncovered man-hole. As he struggled to get out, he yelled out, "Hey out there, help me get out of here!" A man passing by heard his plea, looked down, and threw him a long stick and left. As the man continued to struggle, a woman passed by and threw him a rope, but still didn't manage to get him out.
A few moments later, his friend walked past and was surprised that he landed up in the man-hole. His friend, Mark, immediately jumped into the dark hole and asked, "What are you doing here? It's dark and difficult to get out. I've been here before, and I can show you the way to get out."
In many ways, starting your online business is like being in the dark hole if you first did not know the facts, do the research, and choose the proper business model to start with. A lot of people, most out of mere sincerity, will be giving you lots of ideas for your business. As there are many profitable business models to choose from, let us explore some of the most popular, tried and tested formulas in the internet marketing industry.
The first business model is the catalog or retailer model. Here, your website functions as an internet or online store where you market items on a particular theme. It will feature product photos, anything ranging from either books, CDs, automotive tools, household items etc. with their descriptions and prices. Your role here is primarily that of a retailer.
The next business model and a highly popular one is the affiliate model. In this model, you become an associate or affiliate selling other people's products, and getting a commission out of every sale. A lot of new internet marketers use this path to gain momentum in their online quest. An example of an affiliate site is Amazon.com where you will be able to source for tons of products to market and profit from. Representing good quality products with a rewarding program and an amazing sales letter on the principal's website is the key and will provide you with good reach for success in this area. This is a highly competitive model and hundreds, if not thousands of marketers are marketing the exact same product as you are.
Becoming an e-Bay seller is the next popular option for a lot of online marketers. As e-Bay is the most trafficked auction site on the Internet today, there are opportunities to do very well here, if your product is highly sought after and very unique. it can be anything from personally written poems to torn and worn jeans to lego sets. The list is endless and is only limited by your imagination.
Perhaps the most used model of all is the Killer Sales Letter model. This requires you to set up a single landing page where you feature your single product with a long,persuasive and compelling sales letter enticing the reader to click on your 'Buy Now' button while they are at your site. As you can imagine, the most important task here is to have an exceptionally well-written sales copy, because this will literally make or break your sale. Killer copywriting skills is indeed very crucial for you to taste any success in this Internet Business Model.
This next Internet Business Model focuses on YOU, as I call it the Expert Model. Basically you will be selling your services as a professional in your particular field, be it in the training, medical, legal, chiropractic, dental, photography or other professional area. Well-written articles on your field of expertise with continuous updates on your newsletters and discussion forums on your website will entice your visitors to seek your consultation and services. As you cannot be at two places at one time, you will then be able to source out other professionals in the same field to become your Associates whereby they can partner you in servicing your clients, thus creating more profits for you.
There are more than ten other effective Internet Business Models which are available and very profitable; however, the models listed above are the ones which has proven very effective for me in my internet business venture. I highly recommend all new and current internet marketers to get a copy of Low-Cost High Profit Internet Business Models as it contains all the top business models available today, as well as providing the pros and cons of each, how to market each particular model and a step-by-step guide to creating your own unique internet marketing campaign.

Online Customer Service

The radio industry took 38 years to gain an audience of 50 million listeners, the television industry reached that figure in half the time, and guess what, the Internet took just a mere four years to surpass that mark! Absolutely incredible. So what has this got to do with Customer Service? Everything, especially so if you are in the online business or your company has a huge web presence. As internet use is almost doubling every 100 days, the opportunity for you to utilize the web to boost and enhance sales and service to your customers is both astounding and unprecedented. So how can you ensure that your online sales and service are web-wise and customer-friendly?
1. Make it easy for customers to find you online. Visibility online takes the form of directory listings, search engine listings, backlinks or links that point people to your site, and several other forms of online marketing. Do you have your company website address on your name card? It's a form of offline advertising and incredible effective in getting traffic to your site.
2. Keep your site navigation simple and clear. A page which takes 2 minutes to load the flash and graphics will turn away lots of potential customers. The web is about speed and convenience, so you want to take full advantage of them having clicked your link and making it easy for them to get the information they want in the shortest time possible.
3. Give reasons for customers to visit your site. Offer tips through newsletters or email, create some resource sites where your customers can connect with companies which compliment their business, publish articles providing the type of information which your customers would be interested in, have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section where they can access to, a 'Contact Us' form for complaints or suggestions, create a chat or forum for your customers to interact with each other, or set up a teleconference call on a subject of interst to your customers.
4. Answer all your emails promptly and professionally. Nothing is more annoying than posting a support question online to the help center and never receiving a confirmation receipt email from them; worst still when the entire query goes unreplied after two to three weeks. Take note that answering customer emails promptly and professionally is as important as picking up your company phone within three rings.
The time-tested principles that apply to traditional methods of serving customers face-to-face and by phone are just as relevant to the electronic media of email and e-commerce. Being user-friendly, offering quality products and services, standing behind what you sell, and being responsive to customer inquiries and problems are very critical in providing excellent service online.

Starting An Online Business

Ever since some fifteen years back when the internet revolution was just about to go into full swing, many people then still doubted its power. Today, when you mention any of these words - online, internet, website, html, Yahoo, Google, blogging etc, you are more often than not going to receive a reply like - oh yes, it sure is an in-thing nowadays isn't it? Even more and more businesses are resorting to going online to boost their market presence. In fact, it's extremely difficult to discount the hard reality that the internet is indeed a powerful and versatile tool for any business.

If you are one who is a complete stranger to internet marketing, a good idea would be to first source for information on the web about starting a business online. Key in the Google search bar for the keyword you are looking for, e.g. starting a photography business. Your search results will reveal all the sites currently doing photography business. Click on some of the links and view how they promote their products and services. Write down what your goals are if you were to start a business online. What are the key areas which interests you, your hobbies, current work etc. The most successful business is one which you are absolutely passionate and confident about. Then set-up a draft of how your site is going to look like, what are the items you would like to include, for eg. current articles or promotions, newsletters etc. If all these sound too much work for you, there are many other options available. Some of them are joining affiliate programs, blogging for profit, be an eBay or Amazon affiliate, be a reseller of niche products, etc.

There are dozens of internet marketing professionals (be wary of some so-called gurus who haven't even made a decent sale online) each specializing in their own fields, and many of them offers seminars and workshops for newbies who are keen to venture into the lucrative bandwagon. Though you might learn a lot during these sessions, my advice is to tread slowly but surely, and conduct your own thorough research on your desired product or service which you are contemplating on building online. Seek advice from those who have gone the online path, and hear out their techniques on how to prevent mistakes as well as getting the most out of your online marketing campaigns.

Before I started my online business, I was just as stumped with the amount of information available out there. With so many ideas popping in and out of my mind, thanks to the barage of articles, sources, seminars, books, more teleseminars and even more advice from friends, I became totally lost and confused. After months of rubbing my Aladdin's lamp for my genie, I stumbled upon an encyclopedia which I found not only an incredible source of information, but also inspiration, tips and tricks of the trade! Besides presenting you with detailed information about the most popular and tested business models available, it also points out the pros and cons of each option, the ways in which you can market your product or service, the techniques involved, and many others!

Within a week of acquiring all the information in the encyclopedia, I started out my profitable venture in 3 days flat! Yes, you read me right - 3 days. How? My option came with an automated website, fully customizable, loaded with autoresponders, an incredible 24-hour support system with online training and marketing tools. That's not all. I was also able to keep track of my visitors and correspond with each of them personally. There's plenty more bonuses for me in fact, but this is just to give you an idea of how I started my internet business, successfully.

Two things you can do right now:

1. Decide what's right for you. Write down all the possibilities and ideas that come to your mind. Start with your own interests and hobbies and work from there on.

2. Browse through my Internet Business Encyclopedia for more solid ideas and have a look at what excites you.

So, get to work and brainstorm for ideas, NOW.

Expect success and it will come to you!

More Sins!

You will be going halfway downhill at a very fast pace if the business you are doing is not automated as far as routines are concerned. If you don't have proper business systems to conduct your regular daily work, then all your efforts will be for nought. What's a good business system? It is one which will effectively assist you in handling all your chores in a systematic way round the clock even if you are on a one-week holiday in the Bahamas, having a reflexology session in the evening or even while you are having a quiet family dinner in a posh downtown restaurant. There are many opportunities which present themselves as automated but when in actual fact most of the necessary procedures and transactions needed to be tended to manually. As a business owner, you have to continuously think for the customer. What would be an effective system to develop to ensure that the business runs smoothly on autopilot? Ask yourself this question when you are in doubt - Are you working the systems or are you letting the business work on you?
Another very unforgivable sin of internet marketing is that of unfounded assumptions of the business and the internet. This is a huge topic in itself, so I will generalise here. A lot of people fall into the trap of thinking that Internet Marketing is and will be an overnight success train for them. So what do they do? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Get to know the basics of the trade. Research all the available resources, the different business models, the pros and cons of each, online and offline before attempting to dive in. My point here is this - Do not attempt to drive blindfolded! The other group are the skeptics. All in all the internet to them is a completely strange and absolutely technical world filled with rocket science jargon and is probably a place suitable only for computer geeks. How can I smirk and laugh at these people now as I was once like them? The truth of the matter is that as long as one has very basic (notice I use the word 'very') PC knowledge with Word applications and sending and opening emails, you are one step closer to the internet business world.
I couldn't help not to end this post without mentioning the very reason why most new internet marketers fail - ineffective marketing approaches. Untargetted market research, poorly planned marketing techniques, lousy advertising strategies and lack-lustre sales copy are some of the sins which make the amateurs struggle daily in their internet marketing quest. Effective Marketing is the core of any business and it's no different here in the online world. Learn how to strategically plan ahead of the game..... every single day!

Sin No.#2

The second common mistake of the majority of new internet marketers is not having a proper business model to work on. Most of them would go online to research the markets which seem interesting enough to them, and with the numerous claims which has worked for many, they jumped on the train and eventually crashed before long. Some go the seminar approach and learn some tricks of the trade from popular internet gurus, some of whom no doubt are pretty much an expert in their field, but of course there's almost none who would go the length of researching the entire spectrum of the internet business models available other than this guy - SenZe.

In his ebook masterpiece, SenZe reveals all the online biz models known to man, most of which he has the opportunity to venture into. It not only acts as a guide to most current and some past business models, but it also provides general principles as well as specific steps which you can take to make each one a success. As you browse through the massive 246-page encyclopedia, you will soon realize that it much much more than a normal e-book, as the references which are quoted therein will definitely spark a new model in your head either through a twist that you can put on it, or in a combination with any of the other established models.

So, why is having a business model so vital? It is a known fact that what might work for some might not work for everyone else. It is thus best to have an overall perspective of all the available business models and pick and choose the most suitable one for your specific kind of niche market which you are planning to venture into. That way, you will save yourself a lot of time, money and headache in trying out each and every piece available. This Mini-Encyclopedia is the best there is to helping you achieve this purpose. Don't make the mistake which most other internet marketers do when starting out. Plan your journey, study the competition well, focus on a specific niche, then take action! To your success!

Sin No.#1

One of the most common mistake that most amateur or novice internet marketers make in their internet business is having a lackadaisical attitude. Just like any other business, internet marketing involves consistent pursuit of your set goals, and every effort in promoting the advertising campaigns, making current updates, checking and re-tuning the ad copies, etc all create a momentum and positive effect on the entire business. While it is true that the business as a whole doesn't require as much time which is common to most traditional businesses, it doesn't mean that one can be lazy. For example, a lot of research has to be done before a new campaign is created, and once published live, even more work lies in the days and weeks ahead. So if the novice marketer buys to the myth that an online business will offer him the millions by being an arm-chair business owner, I believe he is doomed for failure. Some of the most successful internet marketers I know of are so obsessed with their businesses that most even work weekends and public holidays. Let the reality be known to the newbie that the internet business offers a common and average Joe a very decent lifestyle with a very handsome income online, one that you can even say goodbye to your boss at your day job, but this doesn't mean that one can sit back, relax and watch money grow on trees. And this is why most newbies in the internet arena fail and disappoint themselves without knowing what hit them. It is therefore extremely crucial that one have a set of clearly defined goals even before starting the venture, and have a strong desire and motivation to achieve them. Is there a secret to this? Well, my answer is yes and no. More Sins in my later posts.

The Best Business?

I remember reading an article somewhere many years back talking about how the world is moving into the Information Age. I really don't know how they term the Ages, like Stone Age, Modern Age, Nuclear Age etc. but what I realized soon after was that the so-called Information Age must have something to do with computers or the internet. But even though the Historians believe the Information Age started in 1986 Humans have been hunting for information for centuries. It has been this search for information that has brought us the wheel, the written word, books and pretty much everything that you look at around you. So it would only be natural that if it is in our Human make-up to search out information, then it is only natural that the Information Business is the best business on Earth. Yes - The Best Business On Earth. See, most of us are wanting to know stuff like - how to do something, how to get this or that, why should we do this, what are the best methods of doing this etc. And the list goes on and on. So as you can see, these are the most important sales words - What, Where, How, When, Why. The Information Business, thus, has more economic punch than what you or I think has in store. Just imagine how easy it is to manufacture a product digitally, be it a training manual or infomation guide etc, and sell it for far more than it costs to produce. I know of some who has sold $0.50 CDs for $97. There are others who sold $25 training courses for a handsome $997. There seriously is no other business where you will see the profit margins that you will with Information products. With all this great light-bulb blinking on top of our heads now, the question is where do we get started (if ever), and how? Do a Google search and you'll be amazed at the avalanche of information which you get. Go a little deeper and you'll be even more confused. Attend a bootcamp or seminar and I believe more light-bulbs will present themselves in a fascinating way. The Internet business, unlike other businesses, is slightly different in start-ups or operations, as a whole. Why do I say that? Cos you really don't need a PhD in computer engineering, nor do you need to have a fat off-shore bank account to start! Here though, you will need a little bit (just a grain) of basic computer know-how and with just as little as less than a dinner for two at TGIF to start your operations. Now isn't that a beauty? You might ask me now - Is there a short-cut or a faster way which I can get everything set-up for me and have the business running in no time? Of course, there is. But I can guarantee you one thing though - there ain't no short-cuts to success. Keep on working on yourself, learn as much as you can about your online business, how you do you see yourself handling the operations, but most of all - First, Set A Goal which you'd like to achieve. More on that in my later posts - haha. For now, if you really intend to make the internet your choice of business, have a peek at MySecretRecipe to learn the formula which has worked for me and which can work for you too.