There are thousands of courses you can buy that will tell you how to make money online. But there is only one method – sell something to someone.
That’s it – that’s the ‘secret’ to making money online.
And once you know the ‘secret,’ it’s just a matter of deciding what you’re going to sell and who you’re going to sell it to.
The easiest way to do that? If you already know the basics of marketing, then probably the easiest method is to turn off your Internet connection and just get busy.
Because building your online business while buying every IM program that comes along is a lot like trying to get across town when you’ve got a hundred people telling you different ways to get there.
“You gotta have the right shoes or you’re not gonna make it – buy these.”
“You better buy our raincoat, it could rain and then you’d be in trouble”
“Dude, use my method and you can avoid the ugly side of town.”
“Take my shuttle bus and it will get you there faster.”
“Go talk to my friend Joe and he’ll fix you right up, only $9.99.”
“You better buy my car because otherwise it will take you forever to get there and besides, it will pay for itself.”
“Forget the car, take my limo and we’ll do the driving for you.”
“Limos are too slow and cumbersome, buy our jet plane. You’re guaranteed to get there fast.”
“That is way too complicated, just ride our camel, he already knows the way.”
“Look, that destination is over-saturated and it’s too late to go there. Here’s where you should go instead, and don’t worry – this way works for everyone.”
And so forth.
Pretty soon you’re so confused you don’t know what to do. Meanwhile, the gal who chose her path and ignored the rest has already arrived at her destination. She’s sipping pina coladas and wondering why everyone says it’s so hard to get to where she is. And she’s looking for you… only you’re not there yet.
Get the point? Choose a method, get busy and stay focused until you get there. The rest will take care of itself.
Starting an online business can be a great way to work from home, be your own boss, and earn a good income. With the rise of ecommerce and the increasing number of people shopping online, there has never been a better time to start an online business. However, starting an online business can be overwhelming and confusing, especially if you don’t know where to start.
The first step in starting an online business is to choose a business idea that you are passionate about and that has the potential to be profitable. This could be anything from selling handmade products to offering online services. Once you have a business idea, you will need to research your target market, create a business plan, and set up your website and social media accounts.
Starting an online business requires hard work, dedication, and perseverance. It is important to be patient and to stay focused on your goals. With the right mindset and the right tools, you can turn your online business into a successful venture that allows you to work from anywhere in the world and live life on your own terms.
Market Research
Starting an online business requires a lot of planning and research. One of the most important steps in setting up an online business is conducting market research. Market research helps you identify your target audience, assess demand for your product or service, and analyze your competition. In this section, we will discuss the different aspects of market research that you need to consider before starting your online business.
Identifying a Niche
The first step in market research is to identify a niche. A niche is a specific area of the market that your business will focus on. To identify a niche, you need to consider your interests, skills, and expertise. You should also research the market to identify areas that are underserved or have high demand. Once you have identified a niche, you can start to develop your business idea around it.
Assessing Demand
Assessing demand is a crucial step in market research. You need to determine whether there is a demand for your product or service. To assess demand, you can use keyword research, surveys, and focus groups. You can also analyze your competitors to see how they are meeting the needs of their customers. By assessing demand, you can determine whether your business idea is viable and whether there is a market for it.
Analyzing Competition
Analyzing your competition is an essential step in market research. You need to research your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing your competition, you can determine how to differentiate your business from theirs. You can also identify gaps in the market that your business can fill. You can use tools like Google Trends, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to analyze your competitors and understand the market.
Website Development
Your website is the foundation of your online business. It’s where customers will go to learn about your products or services, make purchases, and engage with your brand. Building a website can seem daunting, but with the right approach, it can be a straightforward process.
Choosing a Domain Name
The first step in building a website is choosing a domain name. Your domain name should be easy to remember, easy to spell, and relevant to your business. Ideally, it should be short and catchy. You can use a domain registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy to search for available domain names and purchase one for your business.
Designing the Website
Once you have a domain name, it’s time to start designing your website. There are many website builders available that make it easy to create a professional-looking website without any coding experience. Popular website builders include Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.
When designing your website, keep in mind that your goal is to create a user-friendly experience for your customers. Your website should be easy to navigate, with clear calls to action that guide customers towards making a purchase or engaging with your brand. You should also make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, as more and more customers are accessing websites on their mobile devices.
Overall, developing a website for your online business is an essential step in building your brand and reaching customers. By choosing a domain name that is easy to remember and designing a user-friendly website, you can create a strong online presence for your business.
Online Marketing
Marketing your online business is crucial for its success. With the right marketing strategies, you can attract potential customers, build your brand, and increase your sales. In this section, we will discuss some of the most effective online marketing strategies that you can use to promote your business.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). By optimizing your website for keywords related to your business, you can attract more organic traffic to your site. Some effective SEO strategies include:
Keyword research to find the most relevant and profitable keywords for your business
On-page optimization, including optimizing your titles, meta descriptions, and content for your target keywords
Off-page optimization, including building high-quality backlinks to your site from other relevant websites
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to promote your business and engage with your audience. Some effective social media marketing strategies include:
Creating a strong social media presence by setting up profiles on relevant platforms and posting regular, engaging content
Running social media ads to target specific audiences and promote your products or services
Engaging with your followers by responding to comments and messages and running social media contests or giveaways
Email Marketing
Email marketing involves sending promotional emails to subscribers to promote your business and products. Some effective email marketing strategies include:
Building a strong email list by offering incentives for subscribers to sign up
Sending regular newsletters with relevant and engaging content to keep your subscribers interested
Sending promotional emails to promote your products or services and drive sales
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC advertising involves paying for ads that appear at the top of search engine results pages or on other relevant websites. Some effective PPC advertising strategies include:
Keyword research to find the most relevant and profitable keywords for your business
Creating compelling ad copy and landing pages that encourage users to click and convert
Setting up effective targeting options to ensure your ads are shown to the right audience
Conclusion
Starting an online business can be an exciting and rewarding venture. With the right mindset, tools, and resources, anyone can create a successful online business. Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:
Choose a niche that you are passionate about and that has a demand in the market.
Research and analyze your competition to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Create a solid business plan that includes your goals, budget, and marketing strategy.
Build a user-friendly website that is optimized for search engines and mobile devices.
Establish a strong social media presence to connect with your audience and promote your brand.
Provide excellent customer service and always aim to exceed your customers’ expectations.
Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in your industry to remain competitive.
Remember that starting an online business is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes time, effort, and dedication to build a successful business. But with persistence and a willingness to learn and adapt, you can achieve your goals and create a thriving online business.
Thank you for reading this guide on the basics of starting an online business. We hope that you have found it helpful and informative. Good luck on your journey!
Those of you who are writers and non-writers alike should start digging up those creative writing skills again.
Information-based marketing is one of the oldest and most effective techniques for getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers, and it is becoming increasingly popular with modern communication technology. As a result, article writing, submissions, and publications are also becoming increasingly popular.
Many tools exist for people to distribute their articles more easily, including tools for social media, email, and blogs. While these tools are invaluable in getting the content more exposure, that’s not the whole story.
Before submitting your content to article directories, let’s look at some common mistakes people make:
The reason for writing the articles should not be confused with the reason for promoting them.
As part of your optimization efforts, article writing has three major benefits: branding, lead generation, and promotion.
If the article does not focus on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three benefits of promotion because no one will be interested in reading it.
If you create better content, you will be able to make people read your article and click on your resource box.
Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
Your articles can generate additional links back to your site, but did you know that the same articles can also increase visitors and improve search engine rankings?
Use keywords strategically. Don’t overdo it. Some people are even using anchor texts. However, most directories cannot support this technique.
Link building isn’t the only thing you need to focus on. When you do well in article marketing, you need to get picked up by publishers with a large audience and be able to leverage other brands because of the quality of your writing. A great benefit is having better search engine results.
There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity to boost your earnings. Not just to increase the number of visitors.
You should start with a plan and ensure that your article will serve the intended purpose.
Avoid publishing content that does not benefit your readers.
Maybe when you’re writing articles, you think all you want are links back to your website. Any traffic it generates is fine with you.
Guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications for the articles that they are accepting.
The number of sites you can submit to can be doubled by writing articles that directories want to share with other people. It only takes one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to double your potential audience.
The most effective way to use article marketing is to write the type of articles publishers want in their publications. As part of this process, you’ll also need to follow the standard guidelines, spell check, research a good topic, and even hire a writer to create the content.
At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of choosing. You can gain a little exposure from increased links back but at a very basic level. Or you can gain massive exposure by making quality content.
The choice is yours. You may not realize that articles submitted to directories do not get the same level of exposure as highly-focused content that is directed at a specific audience.
Knowing the difference between these two will certainly help you determine what kind of article to submit.
Long story short – people buy based on the benefits, and then they justify their decision based on the features. That’s why you need both to sell.
No one buys a lawn mower because it has a big engine – he buys it because he can cut his lawn in half the time and spend twice as much time golfing. He buys it because he can cut even the tallest grass without stalling out and making himself look like an idiot for not cutting his grass sooner. And he buys it because something this big and powerful can only make him look bigger and more powerful to his neighbors and his wife (or so he hopes).
But when he’s bragging about his new mower to their next door neighbor, he’s talking about how much horsepower that baby has, how it’s made out of the same metal as the space shuttle, and how a team of 4 inspectors go over the entire mower three times before it leaves the factory.
These features are his justification, and they’re nearly as important as the original benefits that made him buy in the first place. They’re the reason he can justify the thousand dollar purchase to himself and to his wife, and justify why he doesn’t return it for something smaller and cheaper they can actually afford.
Now let’s put this whole features and benefits thing on steroids…
Features are useful, but by themselves they won’t sell a thing. Benefits are terrific, and by themselves they will sell stuff. But without the features, you’ll get a lot of buyer’s remorse and refunds.
BUT… if you add EMOTION to the equation, you put your entire selling process on steroids. That’s because while people think in terms of logic (or to be more accurate, they believe they are thinking in terms of logic) it’s their emotions that weigh in most when it’s time to make a decision.
Emotion SELLS.
Thus, the more you can tap into your prospects’ emotional wants, the more they will respond to your offers.
And the best way to get at their emotions is to go all the way. Don’t stop with just the obvious stuff, dig deeper.
Let’s use an example: You’re selling a weight loss product. You could say, “Take this pill, lose weight.” Losing the weight is the direct benefit of taking the pills. But that’s what everyone in the marketplace is saying. Plus, you’re not tapping into your prospect’s emotions, are you?
Instead, dig deeper and find the indirect benefits. What happens when they lose weight?
They have more energy
Stamina increases
Higher self esteem
More confidence
Better dates with sexier people
More outgoing and social
Looks better
Feels better
Stronger
Better able to take on life’s challenges
Less jealous of others (now they’re jealous of YOU)
Happier
Healthier
Live longer
And so forth.
NOW you’re tapping into the REAL emotions behind losing weight.
Take it one step further, and put them directly into the picture. Don’t tell them they’ll have more confidence. Instead, ask him to imagine what it will be like when his confidence is so high, he can walk into a room of beautiful women and ask the most gorgeous one on a date, and she’ll say YES.
Or ask her what it will feel like when every eye in the room turns towards her – knowing all the men want her, and all the women wish they were her.
If you stay at home and want to earn an income for yourself or your family, now is the best time to do so. With so many opportunities online, you can easily start your own home business with just a computer, Internet connection, desk, and chair! It does not matter whether you wish to start a part-time or full-time home business. Here are a few excellent solutions.
Make Money Online by Offering Web-related Services
You can earn money online by offering Web design, graphic design, Internet marketing, or other Web-related services to others if you have the necessary skills. There are many homemakers and business people just like you who are getting online to start a business. They will need their own website, hosting, domain name, company Web logo, and Internet marketing services in order to succeed.
There is a tremendous opportunity for residual income if you can provide these services. Many of these services are paid monthly or annually, so your chances of success are very high.
Educate Others and Work from Home
There is good news for those with special skills and a passion for teaching. You no longer have to apply for a teaching job at a school or university. You can now create your own training website and teach others from your home. There is an increasing number of people who are seeking information on the Internet every day. Currently, many parents are providing instruction, selling e-books, and maintaining instructional websites while staying at home with their children. It’s a great way to make money online without paying high daycare bills!
As well as online home businesses, there are unique home business solutions where you can sign up with a company that provides training to students for you. By promoting their educational services, you can potentially earn a large amount of residual income.
Take advantage of an MLM opportunity
MLM has grown rapidly in recent years as a result of online technology. People are increasingly making money online by participating in MLM through online resources such as email, websites, and instant messaging.
If you decide to join an MLM company, be certain that it is trustworthy. Make sure to investigate the company before you sign on, or hire a company to conduct your investigation. An excellent place to begin is a reputable MLM directory. Several different home business solutions will be investigated by these companies, and only those that are legitimate and offer the greatest profit potential will be listed.
Niche Home Business Solutions
Several homemakers make substantial incomes by offering niche products or services. For example, if a mother enjoys sewing baby clothing, she may decide to sell her items on her own website or through consignment shops. For instance, a father who enjoys doing home improvement can start a “handyman” e-zine and sell tools and related products. When a young college student discovers the secrets of college life, he or she creates his or her own newsletter regarding college life.
A number of other niche home business ideas can be found online, including baking, hunting, fishing, music instruction, handmade crafts, handmade furniture, parenting, pets, weddings, gardening, and sports.
Investments
The Internet makes it easier than ever to invest in the stock market if you enjoy taking your chances on it. Investing in Forex, a popular and lucrative currency exchange market, is one way that many homemakers earn money online. Some earn money by investing in traditional stocks. If this is your passion, you can do it from home with minimal effort.
You should be aware that there are many scams with companies trying to get you to invest in fake stocks. Be careful with every opportunity, and ensure that you deal only with well-regarded, well-known stock companies and brokers.
Whatever solution you choose for your home business, use online directories and the testimonials of other online business owners in order to identify the opportunities that are most suitable for your schedule and budget.
You may have noticed that Internet marketing goes through phases where everyone seems to be jumping on the same bandwagon. That wagon might be the latest, greatest social network. It might be paid newsletters or membership sites or video marketing or…
You get the point. There are times when it seems everyone is coming out with a new product that does basically the same thing as the previous dozen products, and they’re all competing against each other for customers.
This is when you can be a copycat or smart cookie. Let’s say the newest, greatest thing is $10 a month paid newsletters. (Yes, I know that was a number of years ago, but this is just an example.)
The copy cats observe that courses on how to write and sell little newsletters for small prices to lots of people are selling like hotcakes. And because they’re copycats, they create their own courses and jump into the selling fray. The competition gets stiffer and stiffer and soon underhanded techniques are being used, prices are being slashed, and everything is downhill from there.
Just like the copycats, the smart cookies watch to see what’s happening in the market. But instead of jumping in like everyone else, they sit back and ask, “What do these people need that I can provide?”
In the case of the paid mini-newsletters, there are now tons of customers who bought or are about to buy the newsletter courses who are going to need:
Membership software
A list of profitable topics
A list of places to find their prospects
Content for their newsletters
Sales copy for their sales letters and sales videos
Etc.
And this is what the smart cookie does. She doesn’t try to compete with the dozens of people selling the “how to” courses on mini-newsletters. Instead, she looks to see how she can complement what everyone else is doing.
In this manner every customer of ANY product teaching how to run these newsletters becomes her target prospect. She’s not competing with the course sellers. In fact, she’s often working hand in hand to provide their customers with exactly what they want and need to make their new businesses work.
The customers are happy. The people selling the courses are happy. And she’s rolling in the dough because she took a step back from the fray and asked, “What can I do to complement this trend, rather than compete in it?”
Next time you notice a trend, don’t compete. Instead, find ways to help both the sellers and the customers of this trend, and watch your bank account grow as you fulfill customer’s needs and desires.
What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂
So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)
Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?
But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.
Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?
There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.
And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.
1: Build a Relationship
I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.
If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.
This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.
Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.
Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.
Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.
And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.
But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.
And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.
Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.
Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?
Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.
Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.
Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.
2: Use Your Own Voice
How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”
Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.
There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.
Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”
People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.
Same phrases, same message, same B.S.
If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.
Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.
Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”
I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.
But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.
Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”
The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.
Weird but true.
My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.
3: Email a LOT
This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.
You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?
After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.
Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.
Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.
Here’s why:
First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.
Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.
What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.
Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.
Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.
And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.
4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS
This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.
Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.
You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.
With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.
Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.
In today’s market, old-fashioned marketing tools are not going to keep your business growing and prospering. Hey, this month’s hottest techniques and information will be outdated in six months. It’s not that outdated marketing principles cannot be updated or incorporated successfully, but marketers should always stay up to date with the latest marketing trends as a rule.
Stay one step ahead of your business-savvy competitors by implementing these three tactics.
Keep an eye out for new advertising methods
If you don’t try things out, you will never know if they will work. Who knows? What you try next may be a million dollar idea. Keep an eye on marketing news!
Invest about 20 percent of your advertising budget and time into testing new marketing strategies that will increase your profits. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Put a fresh spin on things
Don’t get stuck in a rut. Sure, your products have been successful for years, but what would happen if you gave them a facelift? Would you attract new customers? Would your old customers enjoy the change? Changing the packaging of your old products will make a big difference in sales.
Your business can be spruced up in more ways than one. Make a few minor changes to the appearance of your store as well to give your business a boost.
The third step is to diversify
In other words, if you have multiple products and services to offer, you have more protection against the decline in popularity of one particular item. Therefore, don’t risk your reputation by going out on a limb when you’ve got a good thing going.
With these proven tactics, you can stay afloat during the rapid pace of market changes.
Post comments on message boards and discussion groups. Be sure to make useful, relevant statements based on the topics being discussed. Comments that only contain a link will usually be deleted or banned. By making valuable contributions, people will want to check out what else you have to say.
Give awards to sites you find especially outstanding. Include a graphic and a link to your website with the award title.
You can simply email other webmasters and ask them to link to your site. Describe how your site will benefit their readers, and provide a pre-coded HTML link they can paste into their site.
Blogs have a lot of power. Don’t underestimate them. Talk to bloggers about linking to your website and posting about it. Bloggers are constantly seeking new content, and the blogging community is ever-growing.
You can write a site review and send a link to the site’s webmaster. An opportunity to advertise a great testimonial is too good to pass up, right?
Start a contest to sell ad space on your newsletter if your site distributes one. Advertise a website in your publication to sites that give you free links.
Write free articles for an article directory (search “article directory” in Yahoo! or Google for submission options). Your work can be read and published for free this way. Don’t forget to include a link to your site in your Bio Box. Provide a clause that allows the article to be reprinted for free as long as the Bio Box is included. As a result, when people reprint your work, you will be able to quickly add extra links to your page.
Write to webmasters and compliment their sites. Usually, they will include your kind words in a testimonial section, and a link to your site will add credibility to the quote.
Create your own reciprocal linking campaign. Send an email to webmasters of quality, relevant sites you want your readers to see. Choose wisely! Describe how your site will benefit their readers, and how prominently their link will appear. Include a pre-made HTML link to your website that can be easily copied and pasted.
Get your website listed in as many directories as you can. Directories are the best way to gain targeted traffic to your site, according to webmasters. When your site is listed in a directory, users will view it as a reliable resource tailored specifically to their search criteria. You can submit your website quickly to hundreds of Link Directories by using an ink Directory Submitter.
The professionals in Business Development I’ve worked with have learned to think like entrepreneurs over the years, and that’s why they’re successful. They’ve all learned how to think differently along the way, and that’s what’s allowed them to rise to the top of their profession.
Entrepreneurs struggle with their business opportunities for a number of reasons, including a lack of capital, a lack of marketing knowledge, and personnel issues. Despite my own entrepreneurial experience and knowledge of others, there are three main reasons people fail in business.
Their self-worth is tied to the success of their business.
They don’t set realistic business and personal goals.
They are not prepared to pay the price of success.
Entrepreneurs with the right thinking survive and prosper over time. They understand Roles, Goals, and Tolls.
Roles
Successful entrepreneurs have learned to separate their roles in life from their self-worth and self-identity. They understand that their role performance or failure on their own venture doesn’t mean anything about them.
People who tend to equate their self-worth to their composite role identity are inherently risk-averse and try to hold on to the status quo. Being able to differentiate between these two identities lets them be risk prone vs. risk adverse, which is a key ingredient to success as an entrepreneur. Those who have failed, experienced it, and learned from it have not only learned how to differentiate their role identity from their self-identity, but also how to learn from failure.
Entrepreneurs know that early failures are a natural part of startup success. To be successful as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to embrace those experiences, learn from them quickly, and move on. In order to succeed over time, you have to be willing to deal with early failures.
Goals
People talk a lot about setting goals and planning for success as an entrepreneur, but few people learn how to do it. It’s not the plan that matters, but the planning itself. Setting goals gives them the confidence to take risks and fail.
Entrepreneurs who succeed aren’t just goal-driven and goal-oriented; they also know how to set and plan strategic and tactical goals. Setting goals down, writing them down and making a detailed plan to get there gives you confidence and motivation. They don’t just have business or operational plans, they have life goals too.
They have learned early that if they don’t work their own plan, they’re probably working someone else’s. They chart their own destiny, embrace leadership positions with risk, make adjustments as needed, and prevail.
Tolls
Last but not least, entrepreneurs know that there is a price to pay. In order to succeed in any field, you have to be willing to pay full price. You can’t get overnight success as an entrepreneur. I’ve heard it takes 15-20 years for overnight success to happen. Early on, entrepreneurs are forced to re-make themselves, which means growing beyond their current circle of friends.
Because most people tend to stay within their own psychological comfort zone, they begin to lose identity with risk takers. They are more comfortable with people who are more like them. A lot of entrepreneurs move on to a different circle of associates who get it.
As a result, old relationships can become stressful again. It’s lonely to step out, be your own person, and go into the risk prone unknown on your own. We’ve heard that pioneers get shot in the back and front, so only by differentiating role performance from self-worth, being risk prone, surviving adversity, sticking to your goals, and adjusting your plans will you be ready to deal with it every day.
It takes a lot of learning to be an entrepreneur, including how to run a business, create products, deliver services, make money, and deal with people on a daily basis. The biggest challenge is understanding yourself. Once you figure out what you want and what motivates you, you’re more likely to win in the long run against adversity. Entrepreneurs who are successful have learned to change their thinking, so they can succeed where others fail.
