The Formula for a Successful Online Business

by Tod Kilgore

Published on this site: September 8th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Many people dream of starting their own home business and having it become wildly successful. You can find stories everyday of people who have done this, and they talk about how much money they made and how great it is to work for his or her self. But just what is the formula that one must follow to operate one of these successful home businesses?

When it comes to Internet home businesses, there are certain characteristics that a website needs to have in order to be profitable. Once merged, these characteristics become a repeatable formula for success.

Let's take a look at just what these characteristics of a successful home Internet business are:

A Solid Commitment by the Owner to Make the Business aSuccess.

Operating an Internet business from your home is not as simple as setting it up and forgetting about it. Running a home-based web company requires dedication and work on your part, if you want it to be truly successful and profitable. There simply is no get-rich-quick scheme that will bring you success.

A solid commitment by the owner means that you will need to continually learn about your business model and your customers. Successful home-based businesses all share the trait of an owner that is committed to making that business a success. A home-based Internet business requires that you in fact treat it as a business, not a hobby. This means that you will dedicate time to the business, especially in the beginning, to get it set up and to work out all of the bugs. No program, no matter how good it is, can instill this commitment level into you.

Solid Products and Services, With a Secure Shopping Cart, and Easy Navigation for the Customers.

A customer on the Internet, much like a customer offline, requires that you sell products or services that are of high quality. Customers are not willing to buy shoddy products and they look for things like guarantees and warranties, especially when they are shopping on the Internet. Since these customers cannot feel or touch the product that you are selling, they require some sort of promise from you that the product or service will be of high quality.

There are still many customers that do not feel comfortable shopping online for fear that their credit card information will not be safe and secure on the Internet. This is why it is essential that your home-based online business offer a secure shopping cart to the customers when they make a purchase. A shopping cart is the method of which the customer actually makes the purchase and can track exactly which of your products or services that he or she is purchasing.

Easy navigation is a must if you want to make sales. Too many webmasters make sites that are flashy and neat looking, but these sites often confuse and frustrate potential customers. If you have ever been to one of these websites then you know exactly what I am referring to. A website where you cannot find the information that you are looking for, such as the price of the product or an accurate description of that product, results in customers leaving without making a purchase.

Quality Products and/or Services that People Want to Purchase.

Any business, online or offline, which sells something that nobody wants to purchase, is doomed to fail. It has been said that on the Internet you can find a customer that will buy whatever you are selling no matter how odd or useless that product is. While this may be true that you find "a" customer that will make a purchase, successful companies look for products and services that "many" customers will want to purchase.

Remember that a successful online business requires useful products or services and repeat business from satisfied customers. A useless product may result in a few sales here and there, but in the long run it will not give you the profitability that you need to succeed.

Consistent Promotion and Advertising of the Business Over the Long Haul.

The Internet is extremely competitive when it comes to acquiring customers. It seems that almost every website has something to sell and each site is working hard to attract customers. This is why you need to develop marketing plan that includes consistent promotion and targeted advertising. No business would be successful in simply creating one marketing campaign and then forgetting about it their marketing altogether. Even companies that have been around for decades, such as the soft drink and automobile companies, are constantly promoting their products, even though everyone knows their brand and their products.

Tracking the Results of the Home Business Via Metrics.

Quality metrics are a must for any successful venture. Metrics are the methods that you use to learn about your customers and their purchasing trends. Via metrics you will learn what products are actually selling, the demographics of your customers, if there is a particular time of year that your products are in higher demand, and much more.

Without metrics a business owner will not be as efficient as he or she could be. You need to know who your customers are, what they want from you, and how much they are willing to pay for your products or services.

An Owner that is Willing to Keep Learning, from the People Who Know Have Been Successful Before Them.

When running a home-based business, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Mentoring programs have shown us for decades that learning from those that have been successful in the past is the most effective method of learning. Find any successful business person and you will find someone that is not afraid to learn from others, and more importantly, to learn from others who are more successful than they are in their business model.

Unfortunately, none of us will ever know it all when it comes to running a successful venture, and this is where the continued learning comes into play. There are always new strategies being utilized and developed that you will need to understand in order to be as profitable as you can be.

An Owner Who is Willing to Invest in his or her Own Future.

Investing in your own future means many things when it comes to running an online business.

This means that:

• you are willing to reinvest some of your profits into marketing campaigns that can give you a solid return on investment,
  
  
• you will be willing to pay for continuing education, and
  
  
• you will be willing to spend money to make money

Profitable companies know that they can increase profits by investing into their business and developing new products and services for their customers. They learn from metrics what their customers want to purchase and how to reach those customers.

Of course it is always advisable to take a good look at the payoff, or return on investment, before making a particular investment. Some investments will bring you a higher return than others, so it makes sense to figure out how you can best spend your working capital. It is important to remember that any business not willing to invest and reinvest in itself is sure to fail. Successful businesses are successful, because they continually invest into growing their business.

In Conclusion...

These characteristics of successful online home-based businesses are proven traits that successful business owners have utilized for years. These are the characteristics that will help you and your home-based business grow and prosper. Together, these characteristics comprise a formula that you can apply to all online business models, no matter how large or small. If you follow this formula for your business, your chances for success are greatly improved, and you will be light years ahead of many of your competitors.

Tod Kilgore is the owner of WebFromHome.com Discover how to start a successful home business that can bring in staggering profits and create total freedom by using this strange but completely proven system that Guarantees a home business that can start making you money as soon as tomorrow. Get our Free Report here: http://www.webfromhome.com/