How To Start and Market a Profitable Online Buiness (Part 3)

Welcome back and thank you for reading and responding to this series, I’m overwhelmed by all the comments, social media interaction and email’s. I’m also touched by all of you who took the first steps in starting an online business or expanding upon what you have already done, CONGRATS!

If you have been reading these posts but still question whether or not you can do this, I pray that you see that you CAN do this and succeed. I’ll be the first to tell you that this isn’t easy but I can tell you that this is worth it. To be able to support my family with money that is made through this website has enabled us to live a life of freedom.

I hope this series helps you achieve all your goals. If even one person uses this to start something amazing, I will be over-joyed! So without any further delay:

Create awesome content

I heard Chris Guillebeau say in an interview that he wrote months worth of content on his blog before he ever started promoting it. Once he did start promoting it he wanted people to have something to look at and read for a good while. I don’t think you need to do that but once you get your website up and running, you need some amazing content that people will not only benefit from but want to share with their friends.

Not everyone who starts an online business will be a writer, most won’t actually and that’s ok. Great content goes beyond writing but your website is dead in the water without it. Even if you’re not a writer I would still have a page for a blog. You can use this page to update your customers or address any major customer complaints that apply to many.

If at all possible your blog should not be the first page of your website, your landing page should be, is it pretty obvious what Ben wants you to do, right? We do this to build up your email list which are your most interested prospects. So what is awesome content? Anything that moves the needle to get people from where they are to where they want to be. Tweetable? (Thank you)

This goes back to why you started this online business and what you want to help people do, so do it. Take what you know along with research and start creating articles and products that people can use. If you’re a writer, starting blog. I can’t tell you how many times a week that should be but whatever you choose be consistent.

I’m serious here. If people come to your website and don’t see much they won’t spend anytime there and won’t come back. You have to get their attention with your content. Make all your content relative to your target audience (we’ll cover more of this in marketing).  Enough said?

Making money from your content

There are many ways to monetize and I want to get the most obvious out-of-the-way.

Adsense you make money by letting Google place ads on your website. I don’t personally use this but I’ve heard from the people who do that Google does a good job matching the ads. The thing you should understand from Adsense is that you must have A LOT of traffic to make any real money from it. This is a process that takes time in general so if you’re willing to build slowly you can build your Adsense income slowly as well.
Affiliate links this is where you put links to someone else’s products or services and you get paid every time someone buys through that link. You can see an example on the side bar of this website, you see those books that have a link to Amazon? Those are all books that I have read and feel would help people but every time someone clicks on those and buys them through Amazon I get a small commission. Currently I make about $45 a month through people clicking on those links and buying those books. The cool thing about Amazon affiliate links is that whenever someone buys from your link you also get commission on anything else they buy on that transaction. So if they buy one of those books then buy a 70 inch TV, I get commission on both. There’s a great interview that explains this here.

The other lesser known ways

There are a lot of other ways to take your knowledge and monetize it. For the sake of the length of this post I’ll list them and I’ll go in-depth on Friday’s post (so that means you’ll have to come back).

Webinars
Online Courses
Ebooks this book is my dream come true. I would be HONORED if you went and “liked” the page. Thank You So Much!
Guides and WorkBooks
Audio Guides 

So in Friday’s post I’ll talk about the how to of all of these and how to plug-in your knowledge and start making money.

You have to take this seriously

One big mistake a lot of people make is that they treat something like this as a hobby. Starting and succeeding at an online business could open up so many doors and can completely change your life. If you want to get to that level you’ll have to treat it like you’re already at that level.

When you start this business up and you get that first comment, or first customer, or first email, you need to go over the top. Even after you multiple these by 1,000 you still need to be going over the top for your fans, followers and customers. This is how you build something that last.

Being serious means you give your 100% effort no matter what. If you’re a writer and you have one person reading your blog, don’t get lazy and write average posts. You should give 100% to each and every post no matter who’s listening. If you are creating other types of content, give all that you have to make the best product you can make, go beyond your best.

A Challenge for you:

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If you have been wanting more and thinking about starting something that could support a life of freedom and value, then I want to give you a little extra motivation. Here is the challenge:

You have to take some kind of action this weekend or soon. It could be buying a domain or getting a new website set up. It could be taking an existing website and doing something new specifically to further your dreams. The point is action, that first step forward.

When you do, I want you to share it on my Facebook page. I will then pick a few people and send them a copy of one of the above books from my publisher Sound Wisdom. This will be a little reward but the bigger reward will be you taking steps to change your life!

Thank you to all those that responded last week, it was amazing.

What could having an online business do for your life? Any tips from your own experience?