6 Secrets to Online Business Building Success

6 Secrets to Online Business Building Success

Author: Donna Gunter
Category: Internet marketing/online business

6 Secrets to Online Business Building Success
The Internet marketing industry and online business
industry is fraught with fraud. There are more "get rich
quick" schemes here than in almost any other industry.
After all, who doesn't want to sit on home on his rear end
and make tons of money by working only a couple of hours
per week? The allure of such a promise is quite appealing.
However, remember the adage about promises that sound too
good to be true--typically such promises will lead you to
great disappointment.

Building a business online is neither easy or quick. It's
just like any other business. It takes time and dedication
to generate the kind of results you desire. Here are 6
"school of hard knocks" lessons that I believe are the
"real" secrets to successfully building an online business:

Lesson 1: Acknowledge your expertise. One of the great
difficulties of online business owners is their inability
to acknowledge their expertise in an area. I, too, suffered
from that problem in the early years, thinking, "I'm not
really an expert -- everyone knows this stuff, don't they?"
It took me years to realize that while others did have a
higher level of expertise than me, there was a very large
group of people who knew less than me -- and it was to
those people I could become an expert! And, better yet,
they would pay me to learn it so they didn't have to do
through the same trial-and-error method I did. In 2006, I
decided to officially declare my expertise by crowning
myself as "The Online Business Resource Queen" because I
know more about running an online business than just about
anybody I know. So, go ahead and crown yourself as an
expert!

Lesson 2: Niche your way to riches. Finding the exact
market that needs what you have to offer is one of the
primary keys to success in any business, but especially
when you're trying to do business online. Taking a shotgun
approach and foolishly believing that "everyone" needs your
product or service is the quickest way to failure. You
need to be able to identify and describe your niche market,
from determining what problem the niche market is actively
trying to solve and what they'll pay for (as well as how
much they will pay) to what publications they read, to what
groups/associations do they belong, and where they hang out
both on- and off-line. The more narrowly focused your
niche, the better. So, owners of Golden Retrievers are a
better defined niche than dog lovers, and executive female
golfers are better than women athletes.

Lesson 3: Build relationships online. Even though an
online business is virtual and you meet few of your clients
and prospective clients face-to-face, it is still possible
to build trusting relationships online. The most important
thing to remember is that your personality needs to shine
throughout all of your online ventures. So whether you
share personal stories about your life or business (these
will be very popular with your visitors), or write articles
or website text in the same way you speak, you need to give
visitors an experience of what it means to do business with
you. You can also use audio and video on your website as
well as photos of you in action in your business. Remember,
most people need to get to know, like and respect you
before they'll decide to buy what you have to offer.

Lesson 4: Create several "stay in touch" devices. An
ezine (email newsletter), blog (web log), and
autoresponders (series of automated follow up emails) are
the quickest and easiest ways to stay in touch with your
current clients and to bring prospective clients into the
fold. I think the most effective ezines are published
weekly -- it gives you one excuse every week to reach out
to your contact database. Blogs tend to be attention hogs,
so they are most effective as a marketing strategy when you
post to them 3-4 times per week. Once you've written the
content for a series of autoresponders, they can serve as a
personal marketing arm for you, as they can be personalized
and give prospective clients the impression that you're
writing a personal email just to them. The more "stay in
touch" strategies you use, the quicker your prospective
client base will get to know you and expect to regularly
hear from you.

Lesson 5: Be willing to give your info away for free.
Some experts will tell you never to give away your
information or expertise ("why buy the cow if the milk is
free" theory). I advocate that you should demonstrate what
you know, as that is key in helping you build online
relationships, and those who are really ready to implement
your strategies will seek you out, as most won't or can't
do it on their own.

Lesson 6: Don't expect overnight success. Despite what the
television ads might state or what the information products
might claim, success in the online world doesn't happen
overnight. There will be a few who will spot a profitable
trend before anyone else does, but eventually the income
will fizzle and they'll have to find another profitable
trend. Just like any other business, an online business
takes a great deal of time and attention. Some of the
tasks can be automated, but you still have to pay attention
to what's happening so that you can effectively create your
marketing and promotion strategy.

By adopting these Internet marketing mindsets into your
daily marketing mantra, you'll be well on your way to
positioning your online business for many years of success!