Archive for September 2011
Online Business, Selling Consumer Products
Ecommerce sales are growing day by day and it’s not since one or two years but it started happening a long time ago. I believe I received the first survey about ecommerce sales in 2003 and after that in 2004 that since 2001 ecommerce sales and eshopping started spreading like wildfire and over night people started presenting new consumer products and services. Leading Internet research firm Forrester Research predicts that total e-commerce sales in the U.S. will grow from $144 billion in 2004 to $316 billion in 2010. That is a huge number indeed and as we see the growth of online shopping market and more online business websites we also observe the new and improved consumer product quality.
The online marketplace is a great venue if you have products to sell (such as auto parts, antiques, jewelry, or food). Regular day life products from edibles to all useful stuff that you may have in your home is available online today and trust me when I saw everything I mean everything (even your door mats are available online). Internet and web has always attracted those looking for unique items or something customized just for them. This is why you find most unique consumer products online with more unique and attractive offers.
If you think you should also take your business online then you will need to take care of few aspects only and you are all ready to go online with all your consumer products and offers. It all starts when you start believing your products and your business. Consider taking wares online if one or of the things that I will discuss now applies to you. Go online with your business if you think you have high quality products. If you are creating you own products, for example designer dishes, make fudge, or sell gift baskets of wine you definitely have the idea of its quality. You may also sell regional foods such as Chicago deep dish pizza or live lobsters from Maine. Ice cream may not be good because it will melt and you will may orders from geographically far located locations.
I have seen a lot of online business with entrepreneurs just like you, and I love their websites as well as their consumer products. Many such people offering food items give unique flavors and high quality in their food, as well as personalities and business standards.
Online Business – 6 Steps for Starting a Business Online
A System that Works 24/7 365 for You!
Wouldn’t you love to have an automated online business system that worked 24/7 365 for you? Guiding your visitors from one step to the next as they travel through your sales funnel giving you their information and becoming interested in you, and the product or service you are offering to them. Even if they don’t buy, you still get their information which allows you to keep in contact with them, and build solid relationships which could pay off in the long-term. As you can see, this becomes a win/win situation and knowing how to set-up a successful online-business creates unlimited opportunities.
Tip: The Direct Sales mixed with Internet Marketing is creating more Millionaires than any other Industry in the World. An Online business is a dream come true for an Entrepreneur.
Steps for Starting an Online Business
1. Find Your Niche and Examine Your Market: You want to find a product or service that is in high demand and can be easily distributed online. You want to make sure you do research within your market to see what the people are getting, and what the people want from this market.
Tip: You will have the most success when you find a niche that you are passionate about. In the Online world, there is always room for someone to join a market because the Internet is all about being Unique and Building Relationships.
2. Create a Great Website or Landing Page for Your Visitors: You want your website to be attractive, have valuable content, and easy to navigate. If you knock these three things out, you will be taken seriously by your visitors which will be the first step in getting their attention, and putting yourself in a position to build a quality relationship.
Tip: Your website is your store front that is working for you 24/7 365 that can be viewed on a global scale.
3. Build your Brand and Market your Product or Service: There are many different online marketing strategies that are bringing in huge numbers of traffic for people who know how to use these strategies effectively. What’s great about marketing online is that some of the most effective marketing strategies are free or low-costing.
Tip: Some Marketing Strategies that the top earners are using are Social Media, Article Marketing, and Video Marketing.
4. Call to Action: You want to give your visitors the next step to either giving you their information, purchasing your product or service, or a way for them to contact you through phone/email. When I say give you their information. I simply mean their Name and Email or even a phone number, but that is always optional. This step allows you to build a quality relationship and continue to give them value.
Tip: Your Visitors are always waiting for you to give them that next step. So you want your call to action to grab their attention and be easy to find so they can take their next step towards getting to know you and finding out more about your product or service.
5. Build a List and Feed that List: When you collect your visitor’s information. You are simply building your list. This is the most important concept of any business. To build your list, you have to give your visitors valuable content that will benefit them in a way that will give them a reason to take action and continue to visit your site. But it doesn’t stop there. Your business will be proportional to the value you continue to contribute to your customers, followers, and visitors. You want to continue giving value for the long-term.
Tip: Love Your List. Give until you can no longer give, be there for them, help them, and focus on keeping them informed and up to date on every move.
6. Email Auto Responder: The most effective way to communicate with your list is to keep in touch with them through automated emails that you set up for them personally. You can distribute product launches, affiliate products, and free valuable content on a consistent basis that you want to share with your list.
Tip: Internet gives you that ultimate control over your business because of the leverage it gives you.
Every successful online business uses all 6 steps in building an empire online or expanding their business in general. Even though these concepts are used in traditional businesses like brick and mortar and Corporations they are much more powerful when used online. An online business is viewed on a Global Scale, you can automate your system as much as you want, its open 24/7 365, over-head and marketing cost are very low and don’t even compare to traditional advertising and marketing.
Tip: We have gone from a Brick and Mortar World to a Click an Order World.
Online Business – The Biggest Barriers to Success Online
I think that one of the biggest barriers to getting rich online is the constant negativity from those around you.
I made $125 the first month fulltime online. I worked about 200 hours – I was working for about 60 cents per hour. The next month I doubled that. $1.20 per hour. That would cripple most people. But I had faith in what I was doing. The fourth month I made $2500 online. If I had given up at 60 cents per hour, because other people thought I wasn’t making enough money, I would still be going to work for someone else from 9-5. Now don’t get me wrong – I still work 9-5 or 9-7 and sometimes until midnight, but I am working for myself. What if I had listened to negativity of those around me?
You have to simply block it out. Do not let it affect you. Tell people you don’t want to hear the negativity. If they don’t respect you, stop spending time with you. If they asked you not to talk about something in their life, you would respect that, wouldn’t you? So don’t feel like you have to keep spending time with them if they won’t respect that.
I think another big barrier to success online is the tendency to jump on every new bandwagon that comes along, to join every new program that comes along. I can tell you this, there is not get rich quick scheme online that will really get you rich quick. And if you join a new program everyday and promote a new scheme to your list everyday, you will not succeed and your list will quit opening your emails. Commit to building a solid business online, and do not be swayed. Simply refuse to get involved in anything unless it fits into your plan.