work at home
Online money making strategy 1, 2 or 3?
How will YOU profit online?
By Jim Daniels
- Work at
home site.com
You want to make money
online and you want to do it fast. After all, there's nothing better than
rolling out of bed when you want and firing up the ol' computer to see how much
money you made overnight.
Whooaaa.... not so fast...
Before you can get to that stage, you need to decide exactly what to sell.
That's right, in order to make money online you'll need to sell something,
usually a product or service.
Today I'd like to help you decide what that something should be. After all,
there are lots of choices, but unfortunately many of them lead to a dead end,
wasting your time and money in the process. I plan help you avoid that today.
When deciding what to sell online, you need to consider the three basic
online business strategies entrepreneurs have to choose from...
- Buying and Selling
- Creating and Selling
- Selling Existing Products and Services
Each of these three options have successful models and unsuccessful models.
Of the three choices, I feel that choice number two gives most small businesses
the best chance at success. But let's run down each of the options above,
starting with choice number one...
- Buying and Selling
The obvious model for buying and selling is called retail. Basically, you
purchase large quantities of items at wholesale and then retail them at a higher
price.
My opinion of this model is that it should be left to the big players. Only
huge companies have the buying power necessary to be able to sell cheaply. And
that's a big key to success in online retailing -- selling cheaply. Sure, there
are companies who have carved out a niche in certain areas or created brands
that sell at higher margin, but for most small businesses online, retail is a
tough nut to crack.
Unless you have deep pockets and a great niche, you may want to steer clear
of the retail model.
However, there ARE some buying and selling opportunities out there on the
web, if you are clever. Here's an example...
A couple years ago I met a local fellow who makes his living buying things
locally and selling them online. He spends a few hours a day visiting flea
markets, yard sales and local auctions. With a knack for spotting deals, he
snatches up anything he considers grossly underpriced then markets it
internationally, via the web.
OK, "market it internationally" may be a bit too fancy of a description for
what he does. Basically, he takes a couple of snapshots of each item using his
digital camera then sells the items at auction on ebay.com - the number one
meeting place for buyers and sellers across the world. And believe it or not, he
makes quite a comfortable living doing this.
So who says buying and selling is not a good choice for small business
owners? As the person above proves, all you really need is a unique selling
position. His unique position happens to be his location. The east coast of
America is a great place to find many undervalued antiques and other authentic
items. Why not find a new home for the items and fill a need at the same time?
After all, where else would someone from say Hawaii, find an authentic New
England antique table?
OK, let's hop into choice number two...
- Creating and Selling
This is the path I chose to make my own living online. (I also mix in choice
three below, buy I'll get to that in a minute.) I prefer the creating and
selling strategy above all others, since I have complete control over exactly
what I sell and how much profit it yields.
As most of you already realize, I sell information. I simply create it using
my computer and then mold it into many different marketable formats including
print books, ebooks, and private websites.
Information is a top seller online. If you have, or can research and gather
information on a hot topic, you can make money using this model. For centuries,
people have been making money selling information, and it will continue forever.
It all boils down to helping people save time and money avoiding learning
something the hard way -- through research. Basically, you do the research and
sell the results. The better the information, the higher prices you can demand.
And creating and selling is NOT limited to information marketing. With a
global audience online, you can create and sell just about anything! If there is
a market for it, you can build a business around it. And therein lies the
equation...
Before starting ANY business you must consider carefully, WHO you will be
promoting to. Think hard about the people who might be interested in what you
plan to sell. And beware... if the answer is "everyone", that's usually a BAD
thing.
As an example, let's say you plan to sell books. You'll have 1000 items and
your target market could be just about everyone shopping for a book. Sounds
fine, right? Wrong.
A major problem rears its ugly head when you start your promotion and
advertising. How do you reach ONLY the people who are most likely to buy from
you, if you cannot identify them? Unless your books are focused on one niche
audience, say, children's books, or something along those lines, you'd have no
niche to identify. And identifying a niche market is an important aspect of
selling that many entrepreneurs overlook. It's the best way to keep cost per
sale to a minimum. When you have the ability to target ONLY your prospects you
spend FAR less making sales. If you cannot do that, you will be invariably
dragged into a price war, in this case with other book sites. (You wouldn't want
to go up against Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, would you?)
So do some market research BEFORE you start creating your product. Here's a
little trick I use...
Start your niche research using this keyword suggestion tool from
overture.com - the most popular pay per click search engine on the web...
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
At that page, enter a keyword relating to the ideas you have in mind, and the
tool will present you with the number of times that keyword was searched on via
their network. It will also show the number of times related keywords were
search on. This will give you an indication of what your niche market(s) bear
for interest.
If you find a decent amount of interest, say a few thousand or more combined
monthly searches on keywords directly related to what you want to promote, then
you may be in a solid niche. Keep a file of the results of your keyword
research. (You may want to eventually bid on those keywords at Pay Per Click
search engines once your business is set up, which can generate some targeted
traffic.)
Next, go to your favorite search engine and search on some of those same
keywords. Visit the sites that appear to be selling related items or offering
related help and advice. Ask the webmasters brief questions, like how's
business? What's your revenue model? Etc. Keep a file of these results of your
research too. The information you uncover will be invaluable to you as you go
along.
As you can see, creating and selling can require a bit of legwork. Heck, even
after you do all of this research, you still have to create your product or
service. But as with all good things, you get out of it only what you put in.
And this online business model can yield excellent results when done properly.
Finally, let's consider an angle for those of you who do not have the time or
inclination to "create and sell"...
- Selling Existing Products and Services
Can you grow a new business online selling existing products and services?
The answer is yes. I've seen it done. Many of my own affiliates are brand new to
business online and have generated income from month one. While it is usually
not a huge amount, it is income and that's what it's all about. "Growing" an
online income has to start somewhere.
Affiliate programs are actually a good match for many just starting out.
There are affiliate programs on just about any niche product or service you can
imagine. Whatever niche you plan to develop your business around, you'll more
than likely be able to find affiliates program you can join.
So if you've been waiting for the right idea to come along so you can start a
business of your own, you may want to simply jump on someone else's idea
instead. Many sites have already done all the research and development for you.
My newest site, http://www.Affiliate-Showcase.com contains literally
thousands of affiliate programs you can browse or search through. You're sure to
find a profitable affiliate product or service there. And you'll also find a
unique new way to earn residual income helping other affiliates succeed!
Also consider that selling existing products and services is not just for new
businesses. It is also a great strategy for established businesses who want to
grow their bottom lines. When done properly, it can yield income growth of more
than 30% literally overnight. How can I make such a bold statement? Simple, I've
experienced just that, by simply selecting existing products and services
carefully and then introducing them to my current prospects and customers.
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