Getting Started With Your Own Online Business

by Sean Babb

Published on this site: April 12th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Every year, personal computer and notebook computer sales continue to skyrocket. Many people are upgrading their computer systems, and many more are buying their first computer for the home.

A strong number of the people buying their very first computer are doing so because they hope to tap into the wealth that is being created everyday online.

If you are starting an online business or you already have one, the large numbers of people coming online could potentially be your future clients. New customers are everywhere; we only need to take the steps to bring them to us and to help them decide to use our products or services.

The Essential Elements Of a Successful Online Business

1. You must have a storefront selling products or services.
   
   
2. You must take steps to bring potential customers to your storefront.

Storefronts Come in All Shapes and Sizes

People have generated incredible successes in nearly every online business format. So, I am not going to argue that you need to be selling a service or selling a product.

Creating your own programs (selling your own products and services) can be very profitable. But, for every person that succeeds in creating their own products and services, there are probably another hundred people who are making a comfortable living selling other people's products and services.

There are various methods available to people, which help them to sell other people's products and services:

Affiliate Marketing

Network Marketing

Paid Advertising Programs

Wholesale Programs

Reseller Programs

1. Affiliate Marketing
   
   Generally, with an affiliate program, someone will sign up to be able to sell someone else's product or service. The seller's website will provide the affiliate with a selling webpage that looks like the rest of the seller's sales pages.
   
   The seller website will set up a cookie in their visitor's browser when the customer visits their site. If the customer used the affiliate's version of the sales page, then the seller's website will record the affiliate's ID in the cookie. When the customer completes the transaction, the seller's website will pull the cookie information to see which affiliate should get the credit for the transaction. Then the seller credits the affiliate's account with the promised sales commission.
   
   
2. Network Marketing
   
   Network marketing is an expansion upon the affiliate marketing idea. With network marketing, when you sign up, you become a part of a larger network of sales persons. Generally, the seller will pay commissions to their people through several levels of individuals.
   
   The person who brought you into the program will earn a commission on your sales, and the person immediately above that person will also receive a commission. And of course, you will receive a commission.
   
   Network marketing programs pay commissions over several levels, so that the people who brought you into the program will have the incentive to help you to be successful also.
   
   
3. Paid Advertising Programs
   
   All the rage these days, the Google Adsense program (adsense.google.com) is one of many programs that are available where the advertiser pays the provider for traffic, and the provider shares click revenue with the webmaster who generated the click.
   
   People everywhere are throwing up informational content websites that are intended to carry one of these paid advertising programs with them.
   
   
4. Wholesale Programs
   
   With the wholesale programs, you as the business owner are just like the Main Street USA businessperson. You will buy a product at a reduced wholesale cost and hold that product in inventory until you have sold it and delivered it to your customer. Many times, in order to get the reduced wholesale price, you must buy those products in quantity.
   
   
5. Reseller Programs
   
   As with the wholesale programs, you are reselling a product or service that you have acquired from a third-party. And like a wholesale program, you are in charge of everything from copywriting, pre-sales communications, transaction processing, and customer service.
   

Storefronts Overview

Each of these types of storefronts has certain advantages and disadvantages.

With the first three types, you will not have to get involved with the sometimes complex technical tasks associated with the website design and payment processing systems on your website. With the latter two, you are responsible for your own payment processing systems, although you can usually utilize a third-party provider to deliver the actual money transfer.

Building a Strong Foundation

Every person who seeks to build a successful online business will have to engage themselves in the process of bringing visitors to their storefront.

Although the affiliate and network marketing programs provide a sales page for you to use to pass on to your customers, it is actually recommended that you set up your own domain with at least one page of content and your own introduction to the programs you want to promote.

These days, you can register a domain for under $5, and you can host that site for less than $10 per month.

The primary reason why you want to set up your own domain is because if you are setting up any long-term advertising systems, then it is better to promote a website that you own and control. Who knows, the day may come when you want to shift your primary focus away from what you are promoting today to something that you feel could be more profitable down the road. If you have built most of your long-term advertising around someone else's website, then you are stuck supporting their program, no matter how unprofitable it might be to you.

Attracting Customers

There are many advertising methods available online including search engine marketing, direct email, publishing an ezine, ezine advertising, article marketing, press releases, classified advertising, paid inclusion advertising models, participating in online forums and using your signature to advertise for you, and many more methods that I will not mention here.

Some of these methods are free, some are cheap, and some are pricey. In most cases, the cost associated with these advertising mediums often represent the ability of those mediums to work towards helping you generate an traffic and sales.

Whatever methods you decide to use, you must absolutely track the results that you generate from each method. You want to be able to earn as much back from your advertising, as you put into your advertising. Under ideal circumstances, all of your advertising will be profitable, but testing will show that some methods and venues work better than others. It is up to you to do the testing and tracking to figure out which advertising method and venue permits you to generate the best return for your money.

The systems are available for all of us to make money online, but it is up to you to navigate through the winners and losers to find your own specific formula for success. One you have established your own formula for success, you should follow your basic formula so that you can continue to grow your business well
into the future.

Sean Babb can help you Start your own profitable business and Earn Extra Cash on the Internet within the next 24 hours! To learn more, visit:
http://www.the-top-notch.com/