work at home
E-commerce - a look back and a look ahead.
By Jim Daniels - Helping you work at
home.
Well, another year has come and gone. And with a new year upon us,
I'd like to close out the old one by sharing a few e-commerce facts
with my fellow online business enthusiasts.
Here's a quick assortment of tidbits you may find
interesting. Included are statistics about the web, as well
as my own observations...
- World Wide Web still growing...
While hard numbers are difficult to pin down, estimates
indicate that there are now approximately 520 million with
online access across the world. Of that number, just
one-third are from US and Canada.
- I've seen the global expansion first-hand...
During 2001, a full 23% of sales from my own websites were
from customers outside the US. This was nearly double the
non-US buyers last year. I expect this trend to continue
through the next few years. Online business owners...
remember, your customer base online is truly international.
While you may not be ready to offer more languages on your
site, your site CAN at least be "international friendly" by
offering worldwide shipping and payment options.
- Web use still growing in the US too...
According to the UCLA Internet Report 2001, a full 72.3
percent of Americans now use the Internet, up from 66.9
percent last year. What's more, users spend an average of
9.8 hours online per week, up from 9.4 hours per week in
2000.
The three biggest reasons people go online are to find
information quickly, for work reasons, and to access email.
The five most popular online activities are email and
instant messaging, browsing, buying online, finding
entertainment information, and reading news. Of
non-Internet users, 44.4 percent say they will be online
within the next year. The main reason non-users do not go
online is that they do not have a computer or access to an
adequate computer. (This data also from UCLA Internet
Report.)
- And they're buying too...
About half of Internet users bought something on the
Internet during 2001. That's a staggering 250 million
people making purchases through their computer. Who was it
that said online marketing was a fad? ;-)
- So how do YOU get website traffic and buyers...?
That's the question most web business owners ask
constantly. And this past year brought many new methods for
getting website traffic. However, many of them were a
disappointment. I tried quite a few new strategies myself,
including "guaranteed click deals", a variety of "pay per
click" engines, and even some innovative, new banner
advertising strategies. Yet not one of the new techniques
came close to the results I still get advertising with good
old fashioned email. My best new email marketing strategy
is paying email newsletter management sites to run top
sponsorship ads across their network of newsletters. The
traffic can be targeted to just about any niche and the
clicks result in sales.
- So what do today's observations reveal?
That it is FAR from too late for you to start your own
business online.
Perhaps you've been considering it but have not made the
commitment just yet. Or maybe you've started but have not
given it everything you can. Why not make a New Year's
resolution right now. Here are a few suggestions...
"I will tackle my financial situation with a long term
solution."
"I will take the steps necessary to enjoy life more."
"I will find a way to spend more time with my loved ones."
If any of these sound like something you could get attached
to and work toward, perhaps an online business is the answer
for you. And no, I'm not leading into some big sales pitch here.
I just want to motivate a few more of you to take the bull
by the horns and tackle it. I know the rewards of being my
own boss and I get a kick out of helping others do the same.
So start by downloading and reading my free ebook called
"A Beginner's Guide to Starting a High Income Internet
Business." It's filled with information to get you started
on the right path. A direct download URL for my subscribers
is: http://www.bizweb2000.com/fbd.htm
And if you have more questions about how to start and grow a
business online, spend some time at the URL below. You'll
find more answers than you can imagine...
Work at home site.com
That URLs reveal many of the low cost strategies I use to earn my living
online. I'm quite sure they'll help you.
To you success,
Jim Daniels, JDD Publishing
Yes, I want
to work from home. Tell me more...
Internet Marketing info
from bizweb2000.com
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