Well, as far as starting a website during today’s economy goes, the downturn could actually be a GOOD time to start an Internet business.
Online sales have never been STRONGER, you’ll have access to an entire global market, the start-up costs are negligible, and you can get started while you’re working a “regular” job, so you won’t feel the pressures of needing to earn big profits right away.
In fact, we’ve written an entire article about the benefits of starting an Internet business during a recession, which you can read here.
Now as far as being “scared to make a move,” it’s common to feel that way when you’re just starting out, but the truth is, there’s nothing to worry about!
As long as you’re following a tested and proven system for starting a successful online business, there’s actually VERY little risk that you’ll “flop.”
With the right system, you can start slowly, with almost NO upfront investment, using your free time on the weekends to get the “basics” in place.
Then, over time, as you continue to learn and grow — and start earning your first modest profits — you can begin to invest more time and money in your business, applying increasingly advanced strategies, until your website is making serious money.
Then, once that site is running hands-free, you can use what you’ve learned to start a second site. And then a third. And so on…
… until you’ve got MULTIPLE streams of income flowing into your bank account automatically, and you’ve kissed your regular job goodbye FOREVER!
It won’t happen overnight, and it’s not quite as easy as some would have you believe, but if you take your time, stay focused and motivated, and don’t give up, a life-changing income really CAN be yours!
To help get you started, we’d like to walk you through the six-step system we give to all of our clients, to help them build profitable sites.
We’ve been teaching this system for over a decade now, and it’s worked for literally thousands of people, many of whom are now making incomes of $5,000… $10,000… $15,000 or MORE a MONTH!
Step #1: Find A Lucrative “Niche Market” Filled With Hungry Buyers
If you’ve been receiving this newsletter for any length of time, the term niche market should be pretty familiar to you.
In fact, it’s probably the one thing we talk about the MOST here at The Internet Marketing Center, because finding one is SO critical to the success of your business!
But if you’re new to the term, here’s how we define it:
A niche market is a group of people who are all searching online for the solution to a common problem, and not finding many relevant results.
In other words, you’re looking for a market that has HIGH demand and LOW competition. Simple, right?
So how do you find a niche market? In a word, research.
You’ll need to do keyword research to find out what problems people are typing into the search engines, you’ll need to do market research to find out where your potential market hangs out online, and you’ll need to do competition research to make sure there’s room for you in the market.
And remember: Do NOT rush this!
This is the single most important step you’ll take when creating your business. Finding a niche is like building the foundation for a house. The stronger your foundation is, the more stable your entire house will be.
Step #2: Find Or Create A Hot-Selling Product That Your Market Will Beg For
Once you’ve found your niche market, and understand the problem you’re going to help people with, it’s time to find the solution (product) you can sell to them.
And while you can build your own product to sell online,there are plenty of things you can sell without having to spend money on development, manufacturing, shipping, and storing.
You can:
Work with a drop shipper, selling their products while they take care of the shipping and storage for you
Join an affiliate program, and make money by recommending other peoples’ products on your website
Offer to perform a service for people
And while these are all great options for someone just getting started, the HOTTEST thing you can sell online is information!
By creating your own ebook that solves your visitors’ problem for them, you can sell and deliver it hands-free, plus keep 100% of the proceeds from each sale!
Step #3: Write Compelling Salescopy That Turns Visitors Into Buyers
With your market and product figured out, it’s time to start building your website, right? Wrong!!
Before you even think about creating your website, you need to write powerful, compelling salescopy that answers your visitors’ biggest question: “What’s in it for ME?!”
Your copy is going to take the place of a salesperson in a brick-and-mortar store, answering all of your customers questions, overcoming their objections, and nudging them toward the buying decision.
And if you’re worried that your writing abilities may not be up to the task, don’t be! Writing good salescopy is more science than art…
… so as long as you understand a few basic principles of persuasion, you’ll be able to easily create highly effective copy for your site, even if you’re not a writer!
Step #4: Design a Website That DRIVES Visitors To Take Action
Typically, creating a website is the step that “newbies” want to do first.
But hopefully you can see now, that there are MANY advantages to getting your market, product, and salescopy figured out before you tackle the site!
And when you ARE ready to build your site, you’ll want to avoid just jumping in with both feet. As with everything else related to your business, a bit of planning goes a LONG way!
That’s because you’ve got just a few seconds to “hook” your visitors, convince them that you’ve got EXACTLY what they’re looking for, and keep them on your site long enough to buy.
So by figuring out how your site will look, what kinds of graphics you’re going to use, where you’re going to put the salescopy, and how you’re going to organize the information on the page, you’ll end up with a website that makes sales right from the get-go.
And if you’re not comfortable with the idea of building your own website, it’s actually pretty easy.
In fact, if you can update your Facebook profile or send basic emails, chances are you’ll be able to learn how to create your own simple website faster than you thought possible.
Step #5: Use Email Marketing To Build Relationships With Your Visitors
Chances are, most of your customers WON’T buy from you the first time they visit, so it’s crucial that you stay in touch with them, so you can continue driving them back to your site to make a purchase.
And by far the BEST way to do this is with email marketing.
First, note that we’re NOT talking about spam! You’ll use your site to create a list of “opt-in” subscribers; people who not only WANT to hear from you, but have specifically given you permission to email them!
Email marketing is the perfect way for ANY business to make profits, because:
Your email list is made up of people who are inviting you to sell to them
You’re developing lifetime relationships with your customers
The response is 100% measurable, so you can evaluate the success of your campaigns within hours (saving thousands on advertising)
It’s effective, instantaneous, and cheap!
And as with most other things related to your new business, email marketing is pretty easy to do! There are lots of tools out there that make it as easy as sending a regular email to a friend!
Step #6: Drive Visitors To Your Website and Start Making Sales
Your job is NOT over when your website goes live! Now you need to start actively sending customers to it, and the FASTEST way to do that is with a pay-per-click (PPC) adverting campaign.
When you get started with a PPC campaign, you:
Get your site listed at the top of the search results in as little as 15 minutes
Get lots of traffic for very little money
ONLY pay for the advertising that actually works
And it’s SO easy to get started!
You just bid on specific keywords so that, whenever someone enters that word into the search engines, a link to your site appears at the top of the results page.
When someone clicks through to your website from that link, you pay the search engine the amount you bid on that particular word.
Then once you’re earning profits with your site through your PPC campaign, you can begin to focus on the many ways of bringing FREE traffic to your website!
Your Personal Blueprint For Starting A Profitable Web Business
Of course, we’ve really just scratched the surface here, Mike. There’s FAR more to starting a profitable web business than we could possibly fit into a newsletter of this size.
But the good news is that we have laid out this entire step-by-step system for you in a comprehensive “roadmap” that ANYONE can follow to quickly and easily start earning profits on the Internet…
… even if you have NO previous business experience and NO technical skills.
We carefully walk you through EVERYTHING you need to do to start your profitable Internet business, including:
Help you decide what to sell
Easily get a sales website (complete with copy)
Attract your first visitors
And take your first credit card payment
And once you’ve accomplished these key milestones, we’ll show you how to ramp up sales and traffic quickly, and then automate your entire business so it’s “hands-free!”
Then, when your site is making serious money, we’ll show you HUNDREDS of ADVANCED strategies and techniques you can use to drive profits even higher.
Best of all, we’ve JUST finished completely updating and revising the system, so it contains the MOST up-to-date techniques and strategies that people are using to earn BIG profits right this second!
So watch your email inbox over the next week. We’ll let you know the second it’s available.
At the same time, we’ll be revealing TWO very closely guarded secrets that we’ve been keeping under wraps for MONTHS. The first secret is going to revolutionize the way people learn how to make money on the Internet…
… but the second one is going to ROCK the Internet marketing world!
