One of the best methods of learning how to succeed in your
Internet business is to first find a successful site to model your
business on.
Over the years I have studied many successful web
sites to try to find out what it is that is making them a successful
Internet business. And not just in one particular field, but many
fields, from the many different types of websites out there. Next time
you view an Internet site that you know is very successful, stop for a
moment to try and decipher why it is so successful.
You will find
successful sites on just about any subject matter you care to think
about. There seems to be no barrier to developing a successful site in
any field. You name it, people are probably making money out of their
website in that specialized area.
Just about anything, if planned
appropriately, can be sold online. If you want to be successful too, why
not look for examples of businesses which have already achieved the
success you would like, and model your business after that, i.e. play
follow the leader.
It would be too much information to try and
describe every single model of success, but I would like to introduce
you to just four model websites which keep springing up. Sites that are
obviously benefiting from being a successful online business model.
Look at these models to see if you are on your way to becoming just like that type of business.
Model No.1 - Opt-In List Builder
This
is a good model to build your site around by providing a free
newsletter or ezine. If you are building a mailing list this way, then
you must provide high quality information to your list on a weekly or
monthly basis. Never send just ads or useless information. If your
newsletter is just an excuse to push ads you can be certain it will not
grow. On the contrary, your subscribers will opt-out quicker than you
can replace them, and you'll probably not make any sales anyway.
Learn how to write effective testimonials instead of blatant ads. These
should be a small part of informative articles. They should fit in
nicely and naturally along with this information, indeed be a part of
it! Once your list gets into the thousands, you should start to see an
almost guaranteed income. Continue to use your website to build your
list up each month and watch your monthly income grow alongside it.
It
can be an effective way to create income, but you have to be willing
and able to write a weekly or monthly newsletter. It doesn't have to be
long, in fact it shouldn't be. But it does have to be informative. If
you hate writing this may not be the route for you.
Model No.2 - Free Services
There
are many services on the Internet that people like to use, or even
desperately need. Examples include such services as providing an
autoresponder service, traffic generating services, providing free
webspace, reciprocal link checking etc. Sites which provide something
valuable for free can often become extremely popular. Once this
popularity is achieved, and you start getting a lot of daily traffic,
then you can start to charge for allowing advertising on your site.
You're probably thinking something like "how could I possibly provide
such a valuable free service, surely you need lots of programming
knowledge and experience to run such a thing?". In reality it isn't that
difficult. All you need is the right pre-written script to add to your
website. Have a look here:
http://www.cgi-resources.com.
This website provides many CGI programs, many of which are low or NO
cost. Some of their scripts could make great traffic generators for you
if you use them on your site in a highly relevant fashion.
One of
the biggest advantages of this web business model is you don't
necessarily have to pay for any advertising. A good press release might
be all you need, particularly if you are providing something unique. The
hard part is coming up with a good idea. But if you can, because you
are providing a valuable free service, word of mouth can get round very
fast.
Model No.3 - One Product Page
If you have a hot
product that you want to sell, then create a good sales page and focus
all of your marketing efforts towards bringing that page to people's
attention. When you present just one choice at your site, you decrease
any distraction which may come from offering multiple alternative pages.
Getting
interested people to click through to this web page can produce
excellent profits, but this is also the hard part. You will probably
have to pay for all of your traffic so a well thought through
pay-per-click campaign may be your best choice for this business model.
Model No.4 - Affiliate Programs
A
popular website model for new webmasters is to create a site that
catalogs many different (but hopefully related) products within their
site. To do this you will either need a number of different affiliate
programs to sign up with, or you'll need to join an affiliate network
such as Commission Junction or Clickbank. These bring a huge number of
affiliate programs together - under one roof as it were (i.e. all
available through the same intermediate provider).
In order to
make this work you have to develop a specialized site. It needs to be an
information source primarily, but definitely not a sales pitch. Your
visitors will want to be provided with up to date information related to
their subject of interest which brought them to your site in the first
place.
You have an unlimited array of possible subjects to choose
from, but you should opt for something that interests yourself very
much. This way you'll have no problem deciding what other people with
the same interest will want to read, learn or talk about.
Within
this context you can then have recommended products directly related to
whatever you think people will be interested in, so long as it is
genuinely related and of value to your readers. If your visitors value
your site and are interested in your opinion you will make sales.
The
real beauty of developing this kind of site is you can potentially do
very well in the search engines, and that can provide you with a lot of
free traffic. I have provided lots of information to help you with this
at my site;
http://www.websmart-marketing.com.
Working your pages around popular keywords is how its done, and when
people type these words into their favorite engine, you want your site
to come out as close the number one spot as possible.
Each of
these website business models represents a possible online business for
you. Can you integrate the one which interests you the most in with your
favorite hobby or pastime? What do you enjoy doing the most? What do
you like to think about when you have the free time. Whatever this is,
there's probably a wide audience of people with the same interest. Why
not build them a website they can visit. You could find it relatively
easy to make money at the same time.
Best wishes for your future.
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