5 Secrets to Building a Successful Internet Business

Everyday I talk with people who want to get started on the internet with their own business. But the whole process seems a mystery to them whether they have an affiliate marketing program, a real estate course or they sell health and fitness products. The easiest way I found to walk people through the basic building blocks is to use a real life example of building a brick and mortar business. Success on the internet is possible when you know how to build it and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Let's say you wanted to open a coffee shop that would rival Starbuck's®. Where would you begin? You would probably want to do some kind of research to see how many coffee shops were in your town or city. After all, if there are 5 in a ten mile radius, you might want to think about a different location or how you would make your coffee shop unique enough to slaughter the competition.

1. Identify your niche

Well, it's not much different on the web. You want to first identify your niche. First, let's quickly explain what a niche is and isn't. If you are selling every affiliate marketing program under the sun, this is not a niche. A niche would be to focus on affiliate programs in a specific field like health and fitness. Then you want to find out what the top websites are by typing 'health and fitness' into Google. Here you can see the top 10 sites that Google says are important. Remember that even the category 'health and fitness' can be broken down into further niches like weight loss for women or top 20 health products for longevity. See what your competition is doing and how you could do it different or better.

Another way to look for niches is to use Overture's search term tool. Place your keyword in the box and hit go. Overture will spit out anything relevant to that keyword. It will show you possible niches you hadn't thought of and how many people search for that keyword. For example, you may put in coffee beans and it may show you that organically grown and processed coffee beans are all the rage.

2. Build a user friendly website

Back to the coffee shop. Next thing you might do is have the shop built in a good location where traffic can come and go easily. You too must build a website that has what people are looking for, is easy to navigate, easy to shop and checkout with friendly customer service. Tip: If you are selling weight loss products, don't try and sell power tools. While this may sound obvious, many people try to take the 'sell everything' they can approach and what happens is they end up selling nothing.

What will the environment of the coffee shop be like? What experience do you want your customers to have? Your customers will be entering your website with expectations of finding the information they need and the products they want. In that order. You might invite them to sign up for a free 7 part report on 'how to lose 10lbs guaranteed over the next 30 days eating healthy.' At the end of that report you can encourage them to look at your weight loss supplements or vitamins.

3. Good navigation

As in the coffee shop, have your items for sale laid out in a well organized fashion so the buyer can order exactly what they want with little effort except to give you their credit card number. It is best to have your products grouped and images optimized for fast page loads. Think about what you like. Do you want to see ten products described well on a page or fifty crammed in? As you would have nice displays in your coffee shop so will you on your website.

4. Offer something better than your competition does

What other things could you do to enhance your buyer's experience? In a coffee shop you could offer free samples of new drinks or have a discount card for people who drink coffee with you every morning. On your website, you can offer free tips, reports and discounts on volume buys or repeat purchases.

5. Market wisely

So, how do you get people to come try your coffee shop? Typically, a brick and mortar business will advertise in the local paper. It may be that you have the coffee that is guaranteed to get them going in the morning, free internet access, homemade muffins or the freshest coffee beans available. With your website, you may do pay-per-click advertising, exchange reciprocal links or write articles.

Traffic must come in the door of your website, like what they see and hopefully buy from you.

While most of these tips are common sense, it is amazing how few people actually use these critical ingredients in their online business. Pretend you are a customer arriving to your web store for the first time. What could you do to make the whole experience better?

Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities including internet marketing, real estate investing, affiliate marketing, financial investing and more. Over 400 FREE reports available.

---

Im Talking, But is Anyone Listening?

Internet marketing is a wonderful thing, but it has it's... Read More

Marketing Maxims for Todays Challenging Times

These are turbulent times for all businesses - necessitating streamlined... Read More

Five Steps To Successful Web Marketing And Sales Process!

The basic principles used successfully by brick and mortar storefronts... Read More

Dont Baffle Me - Talk to Me

Congratulations, all you Internet marketing people you. You now command... Read More

URLs Everywhere

Your URL (www) should be everywhere and more. I know... Read More

Creating Multiple Streams Of Income Part 1

One day I was talking to a friend who had... Read More

3 Steps to Finding More Customers

Step one: Knowing your CustomerTo find your ideal customer, you... Read More

Website Promotion With Content Exchanges

Ever hear about an idea that is so simple yet... Read More

Internet Marketing

Is internet marketing something for you? Do you dream about... Read More

Five Foolproof Ways to Improve Your Web Site Sales

When you run an online home-based business, your web site... Read More

How To Get Qualified Visitors to Your Site

Having an eBusiness isn't just about getting gobs of people... Read More

A Powerful Selling Tool on the Net - 3 Factors To Apply

The Internet is a powerful selling tool. Never before has... Read More

Online Sales: Sneaky Technique To Increase Your Online Sales Anytime

There are some smart and sneaky techniques that can help... Read More

Why You Should Use Turnkey Websites To Jumpstart Your Ecommerce Activity

Most people looking to do business online have heard of... Read More

At Last, A Plain English Guide to Internet Marketing

Have you ever been horrified and intimidated at the convoluted,... Read More

Candy Jar Marketing

What is one of the main keys to a successful... Read More

Internet Market Selection

The advent of the Internet has made this world an... Read More

Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 1 of 2)

Online shopping continues to grow at leaps and bounds. Depending... Read More

I Don?t Smoke, But I Love a Good .sig!

.sig, or "Dot Sig" as it's affectionately known, stands for... Read More

If you Sell a Product, Use Online Marketing, Part 2

When you offer your products via an email campaign to... Read More

Affiliate Marketing Versus Network Marketing (MLM): Income formula Revealed!

Both affiliate marketing and network marketing pay people for referring... Read More

Collective Courtesy

I don't know what you are promoting, or what methods... Read More

Profiting from Articles - A Step-by-step Guide

"Content is King" - that's a given, there's no debate.... Read More

Web Marketing: Unusual Tricks Of Internet Marketing Gurus To Attract More Visibility

Do you post to message boards, e-mail discussion lists, classified... Read More

Internet Marketing Online: Secret To Gain An Advantage Over Your Competition By Using Bartering

If you've a business, you must always keep an eye... Read More

How to Turn Freebies in to Sales

You can increase sales and profits by offering freebies to... Read More

How To Make Make Money From a Website

I've had numerous conversations with web entrepreneurs about this topic... Read More

Viral Marketing:10 High-Impact, Viral Marketing Strategies,To Explode Your Sales

Hello, do you have any website that is not bringing... Read More

Internet Marketing Guide

If you are considering launching a website for your business... Read More

7 Quick Marketing Tips To Uplift Your Profits

1. Publish an ezine.Your ezine will help you to stay... Read More

Marketing Rapport - 3 Tips!

Establishing & maintaining rapport with your online audience is perhaps... Read More

How a Multi-Faceted Approach to Site Promotion Can Secure Your Search Engine Positions

Copyright 2005 Tinu AbayomiPaulIn my last article on site promotion,... Read More

Consumer Confidence Increased With Paypal

In the last year I have met people that have... Read More