How to Start an Internet Business
There has been so much written about how to start and run a profitable Internet business that you’d think the last thing the world needs is another “how to” on the subject. But we went ahead and developed our own program anyway.
Why?
Because almost everything that’s been written so far has been dead wrong. Most of the books were written during the Internet bubble, when the brightest minds believed the strangest things about how the Internet would change the world.
Some of the popular ideas at the time included these:
The best way to create a big customer base is to build a complex, awe-inspiring website. The new consumer is more discriminating than consumers were in the past. He knows what he wants and also knows exactly how much to pay for it. To service the new customer, a business must find a way to sell products more cheaply. The company that can sell any given product at the lowest price will be the winner. The value of a business should be based on the number of potential customers it has, not its profit history or cash flow. Getting millions of people to visit your website is a very valuable accomplishment.
This is just a smattering of the stupid ideas that books of that era touted – and it wasn’t very long ago. None of them turned out to be right.
At the same time, a few Internet businesses were quietly working away, making profits and expanding. Today, these businesses provide us with a blueprint for how to make the Internet work for you.
We’re going to present what we have learned about starting and running a profitable Internet business at ETR’s upcoming Internet Marketing Conference July 22-24 in Baltimore. Unfortunately that event has been completely sold out. But, you can join us, if you hurry, this August 25th through the 28th for our Second Internet Marketing Conference. If you are interested in using the Internet in your business – or in creating a second income for yourself – you’ll want to hear what we’ve come up with. Keep in mind, though, that the purpose of this conference is to teach people how to start an Internet business from home. It’s meant for start-up people … not for corporate executives of major companies.
The first part of the seminar will be devoted to exposing all the misguided thinking about how to use the Internet, how to build an Internet-based business, and the behavior of the post-Internet consumer.
We’ll provide specific examples that disprove some of the major bad ideas. For example:
That the website is the heart of the business. (Simply not true.) That the website must be elaborate and cost thousands of dollars. (This is true for only a very limited number of businesses. Most can make do with a $500 off-the-shelf website.) That banner ads are the way to go. (Banner ads are like billboards. They are fine if you have a very targeted audience looking at them and you have a very good and useful product to show them – but in nine cases out of 10, they are useless.) That buying opt-in names is the best way to build a customer list. (In fact, this is the worst way to do it.) That the easiest way to make a lot of money is to create your own website and sell products (Not a sure thing, by any means.)
Then we’ll spend the rest of the time covering what does work,including:
Giving existing customers a free e-zine that carries advertising. (A great way to make almost any business at least twice as valuable, to generate substantial cash flow, and to double or triple your profits.) Developing a responsive customer list by selling products to e-zine readers and backing it up with pop-up ads offering free e-zine service. (This works better than you might think.) Starting
from scratch and building your online business slowly via word of mouth. (Yes, viral marketing does work – even if you’ve heard otherwise.)
We’ll cover how to sell your product or service via microsites and subscription websites, too And how to convert your website visitors into long-term customers.
We’ll give you specific examples of how each of these approaches has worked for ETR and our related businesses. We’ll show you exactly how we did it and make suggestions for how you can do something similar yourself.
Here’s some of what we’ll cover in detail:
1. Choosing an Internet business that will keep you interested and make you the kind of money you are aiming to make.
2. Creating a unique selling proposition (USP) to make your product or service stand out from the competition.
3. Identifying your core market. There are millions of potential customers out there in the Internet universe. We’ll show you how to find out which ones will be ready buyers for your business.
4. Creating a lead product. Generating a customer base for this approach requires you to offer a unique and irresistible product at a very good price. We’ll explain how to do it.
5. Getting your Internet advertising written. Good Internet advertising copy is much like any good advertising – but with a few key differences. We’ll teach you what they are and how to use them.
6. Testing offers and products. We’ll give you step-by-step instructions – everything you need to know.
7. Getting started right away with the resources you already have … and just a few hundred dollars.
Plus, the program will present dozens of profiles of Internet businesses that have worked for other people … and could work for you.
And there’s much more:
Which products sell best on the Internet
Where to source products
Creating an effective landing page
How and where to make affiliate deals
Search engine optimization
Key words and meta tags
How to acquire online names at a reasonable cost
Co-registration deals
And all that’s just for starters.
If you’d like to attend our Internet Marketing Conference, contact Charles at 1-866-565-1117 x 304.
[Ed. Note. Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]