Happyshort

After being in business online for over 7 years, I often need a whack upside the head to remind me that not everyone understands this online stuff the way that we do. In fact, there are tens of thousands of people who venture online regularly, exploring ways to make a little extra money. Some are looking for ways to eventually quit their jobs and work full-time from home.
Since I have been living that dream-life for so long, it sometimes takes me a second to answer questions from complete beginners. I’m talking about people who not only haven’t built their first website, but aren’t even sure what type of product or service they want to sell. They just know that they want to make some extra money and have heard that the internet is an easy way to do it.

How would you respond to a complete online beginner who comes to you seeking advice?

Here’s what I tell them and why…

First of all, there are a lot of scams, hyped-up promises, and just plain “ways to lose your money.” So you do need to look before you leap. You can’t be too careful!

Secondly, building a business online is just like building a business offline. You need to decide “what you are going to sell in your store” before you open the doors. So you need both a plan and a product. Most people will advise you to build a website around a personal interest. That way, while the business is slowly “building up steam,” it will be easier to keep motivated, and it may even be more fun!

The easiest way to get into business online is through what are called affiliate programs. These are programs where you sign up and then you earn a referral commission from selling other’s products. Online, these products are very typically books, software, etc… things that have a low production and delivery cost. Software and electronic books can be delivered as a file that’s downloaded directly to your customers’ computers. So it has very little real delivery cost. Therefore, the person selling it can afford to pay you a hefty commission for helping them sell their product.

I generally recommend that beginners join a few affiliate programs and then begin telling others about them… referring others to the site. This is also where beginners hit the first snag. Who do they tell and how?

People like me have a mailing list of well over 100,000, and over 200 active websites. I can tell people about products and services through my mailing lists. I can tell people about products and services on my websites, which are found through the search engines, articles I write, and affiliate referrals. However, the beginner doesn’t have immediate access to these resources.

So how does the beginner attract people to his products or services? First, you need a website. It is possible to market online without one, but a website gives you a “home-base.” It’s a place that you can center your operation around, refer people to, and use to branch out.

You DON’T necessarily need to have a website designed for you since many affiliate programs do offer them for free. You DO need an affiliate website that you can modify to make it different from all of the other sites promoting the same product(s) or services as yours. If it’s identical to thousands of others, the major search engines won’t list it.

You also need to build a mailing list. This is a list of people who have contacted you and given you permission to stay in contact with them. For many online businesses, people join your list by subscribing to your online newsletters. You send these people your regular newsletter, and over time, develop a relationship with many of them.

It’s very important that you understand that people buy from people that they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. A newsletter allows you to share information and resources with your subscribers, and eventually causes them to feel this way about you. You have to earn their friendship, trust and admiration. You do this be doing things to help them succeed. It’s that simple.

The easiest way to build a list is to have a signup form on most pages of your site, and ask people to join your list. However, they won’t join unless you give them a good reason. Even though your newsletter may be free, you still have to sell them on the value of joining your list. Your potential subscribers have so many choices of free ezines, that they won’t sign up JUST because you ask them to. Tell them the benefits of being on your list.

So… you need a list, a website, products to sell, and some guidance from people who are actually doing what you want to do.

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