If you are like most folks starting out online, you want to be able to grow your business to the point where it will provide you with a significant income. There are six key steps you’ll need to undertake as you grow and operate your business so that it can provide you with the significant income you desire.
1. Decide What Products And Services You Wish To Offer
Needless to say, this is where it all begins. If you want to earn a living, you are going to have to offer something that people will buy, or you’ll not be in business. Before you begin this phase, you need to know that just because you think a particular product will sell well, it isn’t automatically so. Part of the process of deciding what to sell and how to sell it will be identifying the market for your prospective product, what kind of competition there is for the product, and what methods you’ll use to make the sale online and deliver the product.
2. Solve A Problem
Most folks visit web sites because they have a problem they need to solved. When they visit your site, they are hoping that you’ve got the answer for them. As you build a web site – and definitely before you launch an traffic getting campaign – be sure that your site will provide the answers your customers are looking for.
You need to make sure that your traffic converts. In other words, your customers are doing what you want them to do. Maybe it’s simply giving you their name and email address for future marketing campaigns, or perhaps it’s making a purchase. Getting customers to convert will be the most critical component in your success. Provide your customers with the solutions they need and you’ll never have to worry about conversion rates.
3. Traffic Generation
Once your web site is converting visitors into customers, you’ll then want to be sure to increase the number of visitors your site is receiving. There are a number of ways to do this, including Search Engine Optimization, press releases, articles and video marketing to name just a few. You’ll find there are well over 100 different and effective methods of driving traffic to your site. You’ll need to research as many of these methods as possible and decide which of them is a good match for your budget. In my opinion, the best places to start are with search engine optimization, article marketing, and social networking. Once you master these areas, then move on to some of the many other methods available to you.
4. Become A Well Recognized Expert In Your Niche
As a general rule, most people buy online from people they like, know and trust. While it may not seem possible, it truly is very easy to achieve all three with your potential customers – in a short period of time while on a very limited budget.
Being recognized as an expert can be accomplished by sharing information on your particular niche or industry. The more you share, the more you’ll become recognized as an expert. Setting up and operating a blog is a great way to develop a following while getting yourself recognized as an expert. The great thing about a blog is that you can automate the content so that it’s always being posted on a schedule you dictate. As you operate your blog, you’ll find that your followers will become loyal to you. They’ll not only like you, but they will feel as if they know you and their trust level will continue to increase over time.
5. Build An Affiliate Team
Once you’ve got the traffic coming to your site and it’s converting as you want it to, the next step in the process is to have others sell your product or service for you. This is one of the best ways to increase your sales in rapid fashion. You’ll have folks out there promoting you and your product – and they’ll be doing it on their dime!
On top of this, you won’t have to pay your affiliates until after a sale is made. Most companies pay on a monthly basis, but I always pay on a weekly basis as I find it keeps my team more motivated, knowing that if they make a sale today, they’ll see the cash next Friday. There are scripts available today that are set up so the affiliate gets paid immediately. Talk about motivation!
It’s not uncommon for affiliates to double or even triple your sales, so an affiliate program is definitely not something to overlook.
6. Joint Ventures
Joint Ventures (or JV’s) are similar to an affiliate program, but on a much larger scale. In this scenario, you will partner with one person who has a very high stature in a particular niche that is in your niche or one that is complementary. You will then convince this person to recommend your product or service. This person will usually have a very large following and a great deal of influence over these people. You’ll likely have to give this person a bigger piece of the pie than you do with affiliates, but it also provides you with the potential to bring in several thousands of dollars in a very short period of time.
