How to Build an Online Business Part 1
By Terri Seymour
Posted Friday, August 27, 2004
If you recently started an online business, you are finding out that it is different than owning a brick and mortar business. Although the basic strategies are the same:
*Marketing
*Promotions
*Advertising
*Networking
*Customer Service
*Multiple Income Streams
The method of each is different. The possibilities on the Internet are limitless..........contained only by lack of passion, creativity and commitment.
*Marketing & Promotions
There are countless ways of marketing and promoting an online business and a lot of them are free/affordable.
*Writing Articles - Extremely effective method of building your reputation and your business. Writing articles is not hard, just stick with what you know and do not think you have to use big words to impress anyone. People are just looking for understandable articles with helpful info and useful resources.
*Ezine Publishing - If you own an online business you should definitely be publishing an ezine to keep in contact with your website visitors and subscribers. Ezines themselves can be excellent income generators and they can also generate a lot of business for you.
* Reading Other Quality Ezines- I have obtained unlimited knowledge and information just be subscribing to and reading other quality ezines. Good ezines contain a wealth of information and resources.
Find all kinds of ezines here:
(http://www.myfavoriteezines.com)
* Fr~e Ecourses - Compile a series of articles and turn them into a mini ecourse. Give step by step info and provide helpful resources to compliment said info. Always provide links to your website, ezine and any products that are applicable. You also want to have your email on every page so it is very easy to contact you. Assemble your course on a fr~e autoresponder and start offering it to your subs, visitors and submit it to fellow webmasters for distribution. Example: mailto:moe-mini-course@getresponse.com
*AutoResponders - Autoresponders are used to mail out follow-ups to ezine subscribers, requests for more information, orders, article requests, etc. Effective follow-ups can raise your sales substantially. (http://www.getresponse.com)
* Fr~e Ebooks - Creating an ebook is not hard. You can simply compile several articles that you or other people have written. Provide tips, resources and information. Offer your ebook to webmasters, ebook directories and ezine publishers for distribution. More info:
mailto:ebooksforeveryone@getresponse.com
* Building A Good Reputation- It is essential to your business that you present yourself as honest and trustworthy. You must then carry out this presentation and be a person of your word and you must put your customers first. Treat people with respect, the way you would want somebody to treat you. Your attitude and personality will show through and people will respond to you as they see you.
Getting people to your website and then to actually become a customer is no easy task. There are hundreds of thousands of websites out there, with numerous ones similar to yours. Make your site more memorable by:
1. Have valuable content
2. Start a community to keep people coming back
3. Offer something for free - free ecourse, free ebooks, free tutorials, etc.
4. Have monthly contests
5. Keep adding new content, keep your site fresh
6. Have your contact info on every page
7. Make your site easy to navigate
8. Do not use over bearing graphics/music
These are just a few ways of marketing and promoting yourself and your business. As you spend more time online, you will learn which ways are most effective for you.
Part 2 of this article series will deal with advertising.
About the Author
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:myownezine@subto.us
FREE No-Hassle Subscription Management is Here! (http://myownezine.subto.us) Sign-up for the FR~E MOE Ezine Publishing Ecourse mailto:moe-mini-course@getresponse.com
