Making Money Selling Other People's Stuff

“How To Work From Home And Make Money On The Internet!”

 

Introduction

 

Welcome to the world of affiliate marketing! You're closer than ever to achieving your dream of working from home in a solid, easy-to-run business that will generate real income for you and your family.

 

You've already taken the first step by downloading this report. Your next step is to study the information provided here, then act on it. Everything worth having in life requires some effort, so keep this in mind as you go: success requires action!

 

The purpose of this report is to help guide you in taking the correct action. Each day, hundreds of thousands of people search for information about setting up their own home-based business. Unfortunately, there is a LOT of misinformation out there, including faulty business models and outright scams.

 

The truth is that you can succeed in working from home when you follow a proven business model, budget your resources effectively and remain focused on the goal at hand. You'll need to put in some 'sweat' up front, but this does not mean that you have to slave away 10+ hours a day to succeed.

 

A home-based business can and should be easier than working a regular job.

 

You might want to read that sentence again. Repeat it until you know it by heart. Why? Because the simple truth is that, if you are working as hard as you can and still failing, something is seriously wrong.

 

The most common mistakes I see people make when choosing a home-based business are as follows:

 

1. Having No Plan/No Model

 

In order to succeed, you need sell products that are in-demand. You also need a method ('model') for doing so, and this method should be easy to implement.

 

It shouldn't be any more complicated or require any more knowledge than 'Marketing 101'. In other words, you target a market and find products to offer to that market. You advertise to that market, collect leads, conduct follow ups and generate sales.

 

2. Working a 'Questionable' or Difficult Model

 

People who haven't learned basic marketing fundamentals are more likely to fall prey to 'scam' business models. Scams are pretty easy to spot if you know what to look for, though.

 

One of the biggest clues is that the actual product, and the market it is targeted to, are fuzzy. Have you ever seen those advertisements promising “hundreds per day” for stuffing envelopes? That's a good example.

 

Then, there are businesses that are legitimate, but which require far too much time and effort. Things like data entry or 'answering service' opportunities come to mind. These kinds of 'businesses' may as well be contract employment in light of what you get paid versus how much time and energy you have to put in.

 

The problem with these models is that you're never quite able to achieve the leverage you need. Real freedom comes in the form of leverage - meaning you have more free time and more money that you can use to generate even more time and money.

 

Knowledge Is Power

 

This report will arm you with the knowledge you need to avoid these mistakes, and find a home-based business that really works.

 

There are a lot of different opportunities available to aspiring entrepreneurs today, but we're going to focus specifically on the idea of Internet-based home business.

 

Internet-based businesses are ideal because they require very little in the way of start-up capital, are easy to run and offer the potential for serious income.

 

If you are new to the idea of online business, or simply never imagined it was within your reach, don't worry! It is far easier than you imagine and I think you'll agree by the time you finish reading this report.

 

In fact, I think you'll be so revved up and ready to start once you see how easy it really is, that virtually nothing will stop you! So, let's go ahead and get started!

 

Why Own An Internet Business?

 

Why own an Internet business? What advantages does an Internet-based home business have over a more 'traditional' home-based business?

 

The answers to these questions are myriad. I can think a dozen reasons for owning an internet business off the top of my head, including:

 

1. More flexibility

2. More leverage

3. Lower overhead

4. Greater freedom of choice

5. Greater personal satisfaction

6. Greater profit potential

7. Potential to achieve financial freedom

8. Ability to automate most tasks

9. Portable, work from anywhere

10. Easily own multiple businesses

11. Virtually recession-proof

12. You call the shots

 

Let's take a moment to look at each of these reasons in more detail, shall we?

 

Flexibility

 

An Internet business puts you in control of when, where and how you work. It is important to have a daily action plan, but there is no rule saying you must keep yourself on a 9-to-5 schedule.

 

You get to choose the best time of day to work on your business. Are you at your sharpest during the early afternoon hours? No problem with an Internet business! Just schedule your tasks for the time of day when you're most productive.

 

If you get bored or lonely working from home, that's no problem either as long as you've got a laptop. Just find a nice coffee shop with wireless access and move your 'office' for the day.

 

Leverage

 

An Internet business can give you leverage in the form of more time or more money. Most people just starting out tend to have more time than money. However, if you take your business seriously and reinvest your profits, you'll be able accelerate the growth of your business while cutting back on the amount of time you spend on it.

 

The great thing about leverage is that you do not sacrifice one resource for another. Quite the contrary, in fact. Leverage actually allows you to double, or even triple, your returns.

 

Overhead

 

Unlike most other businesses, an Internet business typically does NOT require a large investment of capital to get started.

 

Why?

 

Quite simply, you don't have to invest in inventory, office space, equipment or employees. There are a lot of products you can sell without ever touching, packaging or shipping them.

 

What you will need is your own domain name, web hosting account and 'autoresponder' (an email program that can collect names and email addresses). All of this generally costs less than $100 per month. How many other businesses can you say that about?

 

Choice

 

An Internet business provides you with lots of choice in terms of what products to sell and what markets to go after. These days, almost anything you buy offline can also be purchased online. Books, music, clothing, tools and even big ticket items are all fair game.

 

What's even better is that people also purchase information about their interests and hobbies. Digital products (e.g. ebooks, videos, membership sites, software) can rake in just as much profit as any tangible, physical product sold online.

 

Satisfaction

 

More choice ultimately leads to more personal satisfaction. An Internet business gives you the ability to market to niches for which you have an affinity.

 

If you love to go fishing, for example, there are numerous ways you can build a business around marketing equipment and “how to” information to other people who like to fish!

 

You get to help others, have fun and make money! That's a winning combination.

 

Profit

 

How much you earn from your Internet business is up to you. This isn't to say there's not a learning curve involved, but that's actually a good thing.

 

Why?

 

Because your income really can increase commensurate with your skill and knowledge. Not only that, but online businesses are dead-easy to set up once you get the hang of it.

 

This means you can set up more than one business, if you choose, in order to generate multiple streams of income. There need not be a 'cap' or 'glass ceiling' on what you earn.

 

Freedom

 

Financial freedom means you've got the resources and time to do the things you most want to do. A successful Internet business can give you this type of freedom.

 

Think for a moment about what you would do if your annual income were to double? What if it tripled or quadrupled?

 

I won't try to convince you that this will happen overnight. That scenario just isn't realistic for most people. Depending on how comfortable you are working with computers (as well as how much you understand about marketing), it could take you a year or more to double your income.

 

But think about that, too! If you're making, say, $2,000 per month in your day job right now, you'd love an extra $1,000 per month, right? So, imagine if you could earn this much extra income within a few months of going into business online? It's not only realistic, but likely - if you follow a solid business model.

 

Automation

 

Automation is up there among the top three benefits of owning an Internet business. It is the ultimate time saver! Tasks such as lead generation, follow up and payment processing can all be automated.

 

One of the best examples to look at is that of 'customer/potential customer' follow up.

 

In an offline business, you usually have to meet with people face-to-face, call them on the phone or send them personalized letters. In an Internet business, however, all of your promotional and sales material can be sent via email.

 

Better yet, these emails can be written and uploaded just once into what's known as an 'autoresponder'. After that, you just “set it and forget it”. The autoresponder does all the work for you.

 

This means more time for you to focus on generating your next money-making idea, building up your online presence (or 'brand awareness') and getting new prospects to your web site.

 

Portability

 

Internet businesses are portable. The motto is 'have laptop, will travel.' But you don't have to have a laptop, either.

 

You just need access to an Internet-connected computer, all of your relevant passwords memorized, and, voila, you can access your virtual 'office' from anywhere in the world.

 

Multiple Businesses

 

There's no limit on the number of Internet businesses you can own, other than human limits of how much time and effort you want to invest. This is especially true in information marketing based businesses.

 

Again, remember that almost everything online can be automated. All of your traffic generation, sales processing, product delivery and the like can be put on complete autopilot so that you don't have to lift a finger.

 

The key to this is to have a proven business model that you duplicate over and over again. You don't even have to stay in the same market niche. You just have to have an overall model that works.

 

Recession-Proof

 

Internet businesses are virtually recession-proof. Of course, blips in the global economy can have an impact on overall sales, but strong markets are always going to have buyers. There will always be someone, somewhere, who wants what you're selling and has the money to buy it from you.

 

Calling the Shots

Last, but not least, an Internet business makes you 'the boss', and you get to call the shots. You get to listen to your own intuition and rely on your own judgment when it comes to making decisions about the best course to take. Seeing the money roll-in from your efforts is a real self-esteem booster. Likewise, watching it roll right back out is humbling ;-) But, the trust and confidence you gain in yourself from both experiences is well worth it and can serve you in other areas of life, too!

What Is A Home-Based Internet Business?

 

At the most basic level, a home-based Internet business is something you should be able to create using only your computer and your Internet connection.

 

In other words, all of the most important tasks associated with running the business take place online, such as:

 

ü        Attracting potential customers

ü        Presenting your offer

ü        Closing the sale

ü        Processing payments

ü        Delivering the product

ü        Following up

 

Again, all of this can be done on the Internet and the majority of it can be totally automated. The only relevant exception to this comes with product delivery.

 

If you were to start your own handmade soap business, for example, and wanted to sell the soap online, you would have to pack and ship the products yourself. This is not ideal unless you are truly passionate about putting in that extra level of work.

 

I'm going to assume that you want your online business to be as easy, profitable and hands-off as possible, so from here on out we're going to bypass any discussion of businesses that require you to handle inventory.

 

Fair enough?

 

O.K. So, let's look at the alternative of the completely automated, digital business. What do I mean by this? A completely automated and 'digital' business is one that frees from ALL of the following:

 

ü        Inventory

ü        Packaging

ü        Shipping

ü        Returns/Refunds

 

How is this possible? Quite simply, this 'hands-free' business model is made possible by a method known as affiliate marketing.

 

Affiliate marketing is a method by which you can sell other people's products, and you never have to touch the products or deal with the big customer service issues at all. You just pocket a percentage of the sale for leading the customer to the product.

If you are unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, here is hypothetical scenario that will help you understand the basic principle behind it. Let's say a friend of yours is selling off his guitar collection.

 

He asks for your help in finding people who might be interested in buying his guitars, and tells you that he'll give you 20% of his take for every guitar sold if the buyer mentions your name.

 

In essence, your friend is paying you for the referral. This is affiliate marketing, which is also sometimes known as “referral marketing”, in a nutshell. As an affiliate marketer, you can earn 'commissions' by referring others to all sorts of products and services. There may even be an affiliate program out there for 'used guitars' ;-)

 

Affiliate marketing encompasses far more, however, than the sale of physical goods.

 

You can also promote intangible items, like e-books, video or music downloads, software, memberships and online services. What's great about this is that the products are downloadable. The customer you refer receives his product right after the sale.

 

A focus on this type of 'digital' product is often referred to as information marketing, because it is information that is most often sold in these formats.

 

If we were being picky about our terms and definitions, we could also call it 'entertainment marketing' in some cases.

 

The important thing, though, is that people are motivated to purchase these types of products in order to fill one very important need: to find a solution to a problem. When you think about it, even music or other types of entertainment solve a problem, the problem of 'boredom.'

 

Now, you can start any kind of online business you like, but my recommendation is that you start an affiliate information marketing business. This model is proven to be the easiest, most cost-effective and most profitable for home business newbies to master.

 

If you still aren't convinced, have a look at this site called Clickbank:

 

http:/www.clickbank.com/

 

Look at the top of your screen for the blue tabs, and click on the one that says “Buy Products.' Now, click on any link in the list from the List of Categories table near the bottom. What you'll see on the next screen is a list of link to products in that category being sold through Clickbank.

 

The Top 10 products in the 'Health and Fitness' category, for example, include product 'solutions' for things like fat loss, anxiety and panic and even hypnosis. These are hot topics and you can be that there are people online in search of this information.

 

You might wonder why someone would pay for this information when plenty of web sites offer information on these same subjects for free?

 

The truth is that not much of the free information online today is truly premium information. Not only that, but you have to spend quite a few hours compiling information from different sites just to get a big picture, and even then you may not discover the solution to your problem.

 

Most people don't want to pour through medical journal articles to find a 'drug-free' solution to their anxiety problem. They just want to feel better NOW.

 

Products such as the ones found on Clickbank promise to deliver that premium information quickly and easily. Purchase the product online, download it, and you've got your solution in minutes instead of hours.

 

Now, imagine yourself marketing those types of solutions. You can build an entire business around marketing those kinds of solutions! Every product in the Clickbank marketplace has an affiliate program associated with it, which means you can earn money promoting them.

 

Sounds pretty good, right? But let's talk about how to determine whether an Internet business if for you.

 

Who Can Start A Home-Based Internet Business?

 

Almost anyone can earn money from an Internet business with the proper training and commitment. In fact, I have seen some success stories from children as young as 15 and adults in their 'golden years' who lived most of their lives without any concept of the Internet.

 

Again, almost anyone can own an Internet business; but, not everyone has the capacity to do so. It has nothing to do with your age, your gender or your current financial state.

 

It also isn't limited too much by your level of education or intelligence. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to succeed at this. You just need common sense, average literacy, a little dash of resourcefulness and a burning desire to succeed.

 

So, understand that the first part of the success equation is all about mindset. Building a business takes focused effort, patience and commitment. You've got to be willing to take action in a step-by-step fashion, and keep the 'big picture' in mind.

 

The other half of the equation is your basic literacy in computers, the Internet and marketing.

 

If you feel behind in any of these areas, don't worry. ALL of this can be learned. However, you must commit to learning and filling in any gaps in your knowledge.

 

If you don't know your way around your desktop email program, for example, you're going to have a very difficult time grasping some of the other concepts around things like autoresponder and lead capture forms.

 

This doesn't mean that you can't succeed, but it is going to take you a lot longer to get set up. That or it will cost you extra money upfront because you'll have to hire someone to take care of those 'techie' details.

If you meet the necessary criteria, then you are definitely in a good position to start a home-based business on the Internet!

 

There are just a few more points take into consideration before you make the jump Use the list of questions below as “readiness checklist,” and make sure you can say “Yes” to each before you begin:

 

ü        I know my strengths

ü        I know my weaknesses and am willing to get the help or training I need to address them so they don't derail my efforts.

ü        I really like the idea of an Internet-based business.

ü        I'm ready to use a proven business model, and create a strategic plan for my business.

ü        I have time to devote to building my business.

ü        I have at least $150-$200 in start-up capital to get all of the basic tools I'll need for setting up my business.

ü        I know what my current budget limitations are.

ü        I understand the concept of leverage and am willing to reinvest initial profits back into my business.

ü        I am realistic about the work involved in starting my business.

ü        I am realistic in my expectations about initial profits.

 

So, we've covered the 'why', 'what' and 'who' of home-based Internet business, and now it is time to look at the last variables: 'When' and 'How.'

 

When To Start A Home-Based Internet Business

 

This is a question only you can answer. Are you ready? There's usually no time like the present, and the best time to start is today.

 

In fact, there are only a few instances where I would recommend someone wait, and these are covered below:

 

1. You don't have the start up capital

 

If spending $150-$200 right now means that you don't get to eat this week, then wait until you can spare that money with confidence. Keep working your regular job and save a little bit from each paycheck, or take on some odd jobs on the weekend to raise the cash.

 

 

You might feel tempted to just put everything on a credit card, but don't do it! You'll end up paying twice as much over time due to interest, and it is just a bad habit to get into in general.

 

Never spend today's money in anticipation of money coming 'sometime in the future.' What you want is cold, hard cash to invest without fear or worry, because fear and worry will kill your focus.

 

2. You're facing a major 'life crisis' or source of stress

 

There are several things that fall under this category. Maybe you've suffered the loss of someone close to you and you're still grieving. Maybe you're struggling with a medically-based depression.

 

Of course, everyone handles stress differently, but the general rule is this: anything that puts your life on hold or encompasses a lot of your physical and mental energy is something you'll want to get a handle on before you begin your business.

 

The reason for this, again, comes down to focus. As with any business, an Internet business requires planning and decision making. Planning and making decisions are two tasks best done with a clear head.

 

If you've taken all of this in, and still believe you're ready, then you probably are! As I said before, there's no better time than now, so let's go ahead and look at how your home-based Internet business will work.

 

How Home-Based Internet Business Works

 

We've covered all the basics so far. Now, we can take a closer look at the 'real world' of home-based Internet business:

 

ü        What can you sell?

ü        Who can you sell to?

ü        Where and how do you make sales?

ü        How easy is it to make sales?

ü        What is the income potential?

 

I believe you are going to get very excited about Internet business once you see the real world possibilities in action! I've been in my own business for a while now, and some of this stuff still blows my mind. It's almost too easy sometimes, but that's a good thing....especially if you're lazy ;-)

 

So, let's get the ball rolling here with some 'Marketing 101'. We need to talk about the formula underlying ALL successful business activities:

 

Market <--> Offer <--> Traffic + Follow Up

 

In layman's terms, here's what our equation is saying: target a niche market, create an offer targeted for that market, send 'market traffic' to your offer, follow up on the offer.

That sounds good so far, but let's break it down into even clearer detail.

 

Step 1: Target a Market

 

The process of market targeting is always your first step. This is really where you get the answer to “Who Can I Sell To?”

 

Proper market targeting is important to all business, but it is especially important in Internet business. What you strive for is a very clear definition of your niche. The more precise your definition is, the better your targeting, and this is vitally important when it comes time to construct your offer and drive traffic to your offer.

 

This is common sense once you get used to the process, but the concept of targeting is often 'fuzzy' for beginners who aren't used to breaking down markets into 'sub-markets'.

 

Here's an example to illustrate that point -

 

Let's say you want to target customers in the 'weight loss' market. This is a good market, but still too broad. You have to perform additional market research to narrow it down into subsets of weight loss approaches that the market is interested in, like: 'exercise', 'nutrition', 'carb counting', and so on.

 

The reason for this is that markets are not homogeneous. The situation is more like clusters of related interests under a common 'umbrella', somewhat like musical taste. Lots of people are interested in music, but that doesn't mean they all enjoy every style of it.

 

So, how do you go about targeting a market for your business?

 

One of the easiest ways is to look at the products that are already hot sellers. In other words, pick your area of interest (e.g. computers, sports, health, relationships) and start visiting sites like Clickbank (http://www.clickbank.com/) and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/) to study the most popular titles in your market category.

 

Keep in mind, this doesn't mean you have to sell books or information products, but knowing what information your market is looking for is the key to determining their needs and interests!

 

Now, once you have a general market area in mind, you need to verify it by doing some keyword research.

 

Keyword research is intended to do 3 things:

 

1. Give you an idea of how much market traffic is available

 

2. Give you a list of targeted phrases to use in traffic generation.

 

3. Help you spot potential sub-markets.

 

 

 

So, let's pretend that you want to target in the “health/exercise” market, and you're specifically looking for people who are into 'weight lifting' and 'build muscle' as you've found a relvant product offer.

 

Your next step would be to go to keyword research tools, such as WordTracker's Free Keywords Suggestion Tool (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/) and enter in the broad terms that describe your market ('weight lifting' and 'build muscle').

 

Let's look at the results for weight lifting:

 

The screenshot above shows just a portion of the results, but you can get the general idea just by looking at the top 10 results.

 

Keep in mind that the numbers you see are averages compiled by sampling reported search volumes from the search engines that actually make that information public. The actual number of searches on any given phrase may be much higher.

 

Just looking at this list, though, you can spot a couple of potential sub-markets. How about “weight lifting for baseball”? That's something you could actually create a new product around.

 

Or how about 'weight lifting gloves”? If there's a market for gloves, what other accessories related to weight lifting do people purchase online?

Now, let's look at build muscle:

 

This is interesting! You see, now, that you have two related concepts “weight lifting” and “build muscle”, but the “build muscle” phrase connects to additional potential markets.

 

The reason why can be seen in this search phrase: “build muscle without weights.” People can build muscle by lifting weights, but not everyone wants to lift weights in order to build muscle.

 

And the good thing is..they don't have to. You can build muscle by doing pilates, or riding a bike or working around the house.

 

Now, look at the phrase “build muscle tone.” Again, we see another aspect of a potential market. Some people just want good muscle tone, and not the bulging biceps associated with hard-core weight lifting.

 

As you can see, this keyword research phase is highly beneficial. We started out with idea of targeting health fanatics who might be interested in weight lifting and muscle building, but discovered several other related sub-markets in the process.

 

What this allows you to do is move with clarity into Step Two. Now, you can decide exactly who target and what type of offer you need to put in front of them. If you'd put a weight lifting product in front of people who just wanted to build muscle tone 'naturally', your conversion rate would likely be much lower.

 

 

 

 

Step Two: Create An Offer

 

This step is about answering the question: “What Can I sell?” Creating an offer can be as simple as promoting someone else's product as an affiliate, or as involved as creating your own product for the market.

 

Let's look at affiliate marketing first. If you're doing market research on Clickbank, for example, you could choose to promote one of the top-selling products right away.

 

However, it is always a good idea to dig in a little deeper than that.

 

For one thing, the market might already be saturated with affiliates for that product. Also, you need to determine which segment of the market the product owner has targeted.

 

What keywords is he using in his pay-per-click advertising? How does the product compare to similar products within the market, and what makes it unique?

 

A similar process applies if you decide you want to create a competing product of your own. You can outright swipe product ideas from others - not copy them, of course, but look at what they did to create a winning product, and then put together your own version.

 

For example, let's say you've found a site selling two e-books that teach people how to do magic tricks, and they've split the information up into two volumes (e.g. “beginner” and “advanced) which are sold separately.

 

If you wanted to, you could run with that idea and create a similar two-volume 'magic tricks' course, but put your own spin on it. For example, you could narrow the focus down just to magic card tricks.

 

Getting the product created wouldn't be very hard, either. You could hire a freelancer to do it. Or, you could find information in the public domain or at the library and just compile it. Instant product!

 

The most important thing to keep in mind about “the offer”, though, is that it will have much more to do with people's desires, needs and emotions than it will with the product itself.

 

People don't buy 'products' so much as they buy 'solutions'.

 

Creating a powerful offer means identifying your market's most powerful and fundamental motivations. Taking a close look at motivation will take you a long way in determining whether a particular product is really going to convert or not.

 

Think for a moment about why someone might buy an e-book called “Cure Anxiety Naturally in 24 Hours Or Less!” What's their motivation?

 

Right away, you can bet that their motivation is NOT to impress their friends or learn about various psychologists' theories about the root causes of anxiety. Neither of those options actually solves the problem of the physical and mental pain of being in an anxious state.

 

Instead, that type of customer is motivated by:

 

ü        The desire to feel better ASAP

ü        Get relief without prescription drugs

ü        Enjoy their life and feel 'normal' again

 

In other words, they're buying 'hope'. That means that what you want to write in your own sales copy (or see in the merchant's sales copy) is hope and a strong emphasis on “natural” and “quick” as benefits.

 

And if the sales copy didn't stress those points? Drop that offer and find one that does or you'll just be wasting your time when you hit Step Three.

 

Step Three: Drive Traffic

 

This step addresses “Where and How” you make sales. Essentially, you've got to get your offer in front of your target market somehow, and that means driving traffic to either a landing page or a sales page.

 

If you're working as an affiliate, you can choose to drive traffic to a landing page on your own site, where you collect names and email addresses for further follow up. You can also just link people directly to the merchant's sales page with your affiliate link.

 

Product owners can also place a landing page in front of their sales page, but most merchants tend to just embed opt-in email capture forms onto their sales pages and/or use pop up windows for collecting leads.

 

The important thing to note, though, is that visitors don't usually buy a product on their first visit to a sales page. A majority of visitors either leave the site or hand over their name and email address to get more information about the product.

 

Now, the question is: where are these visitors going to come from? The goal is drive targeted, market-specific traffic to the offer, right? Therefore, you must have a way of generating that type of traffic.

 

The way this is done is through various means of both free and paid online advertising

 

 

Some Methods of 'Free' Advertising

 

ü        Articles

ü        Viral e-books and videos

ü        Forum signatures

ü        Email signatures

ü        Free classifieds

ü        'Tell-a-Friend' scripts

ü        Traffic sharing networks

ü        Press releases

ü        Social networking

 

Some Methods of 'Paid' Advertising

 

ü        Pay-per-click advertising

ü        Banner advertising

ü        Buying text links or link swaps

ü        Affiliate programs

ü        Advertising on Internet radio or podcasts

ü        Joint ventures

 

 

Keep in mind that the “free methods” aren't completely free in the strict sense, and the “paid” methods don't always involve money. The price you pay for 'free advertising' is in the time you spend using free tactics. Meanwhile, techniques such as joint ventures typically involve some kind of trade in resources between business owners.

 

The important thing to note here is that all of these methods can be executed in such a way as to generate targeted traffic.

 

In the case of articles or press releases, for example, you write your content so that it is optimized on market-specific keywords/keyphrases. The goal with this is to have your content get some rank in the search engines for the terms your market is searching on.

 

Content methods are among the time-tested and proven traffic generating tactics, but there are also super-effective tactics you can employ by taking advantage of social networking and viral media.

 

For example, let's say you create a video that is branded with a link to your website. You can upload it to sites like YouTube, Revver and iFilm as well as the video-sharing sections of sites like Myspace.

 

Your video, along with your website URL, will potentially be seen by thousands of people.

 

It is a little harder to achieve precision market targeting with that method. However, if your video generates enough interest, you'll grab some relevant traffic just due sheer numbers.

 

You're probably wondering by now just how much traffic you need and how easy it will be to make sales? In order to answer this question, we need to look at follow up and conversion.

 

Step Four: Follow Up

 

The final piece of the puzzle is follow up and its impact on conversion. As I mentioned before, the majority of visitors to a website do not convert into customers on the first visit.

 

This is why most Internet business deploy 'lead capture' forms on their sites.

 

 

You see, if you can get the visitor to opt-in for more information about your offer, you've got a much better chance of getting the sale somewhere down the line.

 

Getting visitors' names and email addresses allows you to contact them on a regular basis and keep the offer on their mind, or even offer them an alternative product.

 

If you aren't convinced of the value of list-building, let me illustrate a sample scenario.

 

Let's say that you send visitors to your site, and only 1 out of every 100 of them converts to a sale. This is a 1% conversion rate. It's better than nothing, but you're not going to make much money over time unless you're selling/promoting an expensive item.

 

Why?

 

Pretend you've gotten your numbers up to 1,000 visitors per month. At a 1% conversion rate, that works out to only 10 sales per month.

 

On a $50 sale, that would mean your monthly profit is $500. Definitely not enough to quit your day job, and how much did you have to spend in time or money to generate those 1,000 visitors?

 

Now, let's say that you decide to start capturing leads. You get more of your visitors onto your opt-in list and start following up with them. Suddenly, your conversion rate goes up to 10%, or 10 out of every 100 visitors on average converting.

 

You still have 1,000 visitors to your site, but now you have 100 sales of a $50 product instead of 10, so your income jumps to $5,000/mo. Make sense?

 

Follow up is really one of the most important components of an Internet business, and there will rarely be a time when you're better off bypassing lead capture and follow up.

 

Still, it is important to note that there are cases where you can do so. If you're doing affiliate marketing, for example, you can send visitors directly to a merchant's sales page via your affiliate link, rather than to your own site first.

 

Again, most affiliates send visitors to their own sites first because this means they can get those visitors onto an opt-in list before the visitor gets to the merchant's sales page (and onto the merchant's email list, which likely doesn't track affiliate referrals!).

 

What Is The Income Potential of Internet Business?

 

The final question to answer for this section concerns income potential. Just how much can you realistically expect to make in your first month, or six months or year?

 

Well, the short answer is “It depends on you.” The success of your business will depend partly on your knowledge and skill. Your income will grow as you get better at running the business, choosing markets, creating offers, driving traffic, following up and so on.

 

 

It also depends on the level of automation you achieve in your existing business. If you can set your business up, from a technical standpoint, so that 80%-90% of it runs without you needing to type anything (or push buttons, or answer too many emails), then you'll be able to set up additional businesses.

 

Additional business are meant to give you the combined power of multiple streams of income.

 

For example, let's say you've set up a successful affiliate business in the weight-loss niche. You've worked out all the kinks in traffic generation, conversion and follow up, and now your whole system works on autopilot to the tune of $3,000/mo in commissions.

 

At this point, you could recreate your business model in another market, like “golf” or “stock investing”. You'd go through the same process of maximizing your system so that it converts well. Maybe you're making $5,000/mo in commissions on this one. Set it on autopilot, too.

 

See where this is going? You now have 2 business making you $8,000/mo, and it's almost all passive income since you aren't having to do anything other than check up on each business from time to time to make sure everything is still running smoothly.

 

Now, to be fair, you probably won't make $3,000 your first month. It is isn't impossible, of course, but it just isn't very likely because you're still on a learning curve. Realistically, though, you could make $100 - $1,000 in your first month, even as a complete beginner.

 

What you need to achieve that is as follows:

 

ü        A model to follow

ü        A plan of action

ü        A product that converts

ü        A product that nets you at least
$15-$20 per sale.

 

Over time, you're also going to want to throw in some products that earn you recurring payments or commissions. Membership sites and other subscription services are a good example of this.

 

This type of recurring income is truly passive. You do the work to get a sale just once, but keep getting paid month after month as long as that person remains a customer. This type of income can really add up over time.

 

Imagine that you had to choose between selling a $20 e-book versus selling a $20 monthly subscription to a membership site. If you wanted to make $2,000/mo off the e-book, you would have to generate 100 new customers every single month in order to maintain your income.

 

However, if you sold the $20 membership instead, you would need only to generate 100 customers ONE time. As long as the majority renewed their subscriptions each month, you would continue to earn $2,000 without doing anything else!

 

 

Now, let's talk about the REALLY big bucks. There are more than a few Internet business owners who have had “million dollar days” online. They achieved this level by building their brand awareness over time, and by doing a considerable amount of deal-making and networking to create “buzz” around their product launches.

 

You, too, could have a million dollar day in your future, but it will take some time.

 

 

'Almost' as good as million dollar days are the $100,000 - $200,000 + per year incomes that are the norm for business owners who have mastered Internet marketing.

 

It is very likely that you could achieve this income level within 1 to 2 years if you're a quick study and really motivated to grow your business.

 

How do people get to these levels?

 

ü        Understanding and utilizing the concept of leverage.

ü        Understand and utilizing the concept of multiple streams
of income and passive income.

ü        Understanding and utilizing multiple business models
such as affiliate marketing and product creation, and
mixing and matching them.

 

For instance, let's say that you're earning $50,000 per year selling your own product, but you'd like to double your income.

 

Instead of creating more products, you might decide to add affiliate marketing into your mix and promote outside products in follow ups with your existing customers.

 

Likewise, if you're an affiliate marketer, you might go into product creation in order to gain more control over what you can offer to your potential customers.

 

There's really no limit to the creative ways you can combine various business models online, and doing so can have a positive, cumulative effect on your income.

 

Conclusion

 

Now that you've the broad overview of Internet business, where do you go from here? Your best next step is to learn as much as you can about:

 

ü        Product Creation

ü        Affiliate Marketing

ü        Copywriting

ü        Traffic Generation

ü        List Building

ü        Website Creation

 

Each of these subjects is a crucial component in any Internet business. They are the required tools of Internet marketing.

 

The best approach is to learn the basics of these components in the context of the business model you want start out with - e.g., affiliate marketing versus product creation/ownership. The two models utilize these tools in similar ways but some of the 'fine tuning' is specific to each model.

 

For example, as a product owner, you will be intimately familiar with the benefits of your own product, and will have a much easier time writing promotional copy for your sales page and follow up emails.

 

In order to write copy as an affiliate, however, you've either got to buy the product and study it or you've got to “wing it” based on the points and benefits you pull out by studying the merchant's sales letter.

 

The same thing applies when setting up your business's Internet presence.

 

As a merchant, you've got to think about:

 

ü        Sales page design/graphics

ü        Payment processing

ü        Email capture and follow up

ü        Starting an affiliate program

 

As an affiliate, you focus on:

 

ü        Landing page design

ü        Email capture and follow up

 

So, you see, there are some overlapping areas of skill for each model, but being in business as a product owner tends to require just a bit more knowledge if you intend to set everything up yourself.

 

In addition to brushing up on your Internet marketing skills, you'll also want to think about budgeting and time management. How long will you work day-to-day on your business? How much money can you afford to invest each month?

 

Poor time-management and money-management can kill your business, so be brutally realistic when you address these issues.

 

With careful planning and consistent focus, you really can work from home in an Internet-based business. I hope this tour through the world of Internet business has given you enough of a taste for what's possible to really motive you to succeed. More time, more freedom and more money are yours for the taking if you're ready to take the next step.

 

Best of luck!

Sincerely,

Michael Martin

How To Earn, LLC