What Kind Of Online Business Model Best Fits Your Needs?

So you want to make money online and you want to do it quickly. After all, there's nothing better than rolling out of bed when you want and firing up the ol' computer to see how much money you made overnight. Whooaaa.... not so fast...

Before you can get to the part where you actually make money, you need to decide exactly what to sell. That's right, in order to make money online you'll need to sell something, usually a product or service. I'd like to help you decide what that something should be. After all, there are lots of choices. Unfortunately many of them lead to a dead end, wasting your time and money in the process. The following plan will help you avoid all that. When deciding what to sell online, you need to consider the three basic online business:

Buying and Selling
2. Creating and Selling
3. Selling Existing Products and Services
Each of these three options have successful models and unsuccessful models. So let's run down each of the options above, starting with choice number one...

1. Buying and Selling

You could use the basic retail model, where you sell like a retail store, except with less overhead than a brick and mortar store. But that's an expensive endeavor. Perhaps that's why the most common strategy for buying and selling on the Internet is starting an Ebay business. In this model, you purchase items, usually at wholesale and then sell them at a higher price by auction.

There are two keys to success in this strategy... finding the right niche and finding the right wholesale sources for products in that niche. An eBay type business can be a lot of work. However, if you like this business model and have your heart set on trying it, there are still some opportunities for new players, if you are clever.

Here's an example of what I mean by "clever"...
A couple years ago I met a neighbor of mine who makes his living buying things locally and selling them on the web. He specializes in antique furniture and other old items from my geographical area. He spends a few hours a day visiting flea markets, yard sales and local auctions. With a knack for spotting deals, he snatches up anything he considers grossly underpriced then markets it internationally, via the web.

OK, "market it internationally" may be a bit too fancy of a description for what he does. Basically, he takes a couple of snapshots of each item using his digital camera then sells the items at auction on ebay.com - the number one meeting place for buyers and sellers across the world. And believe it or not, he makes quite a comfortable living doing this. It works for him because he has a unique selling position.

His unique position happens to be his location. The region where he lives a great place to find many undervalued antiques and other authentic items. He's simply finding a new home for the items and filling a need at the same time. After all, where else would someone from say, Australia, find an authentic antique table from another country?

This is the path I chose to make my own living online. (I also mix in choice three below, buy I'll get to that in a minute.) I prefer the "creating and selling" strategy above all others, since I have complete control over exactly what I sell and how much profit it yields. I sell information and services. I create my products and services using my computer and then mold them into many different marketable formats including print books, ebooks, software, consulting and advertising services.

If you have, or can research and gather information on a niche topic, you can make money using this model. For centuries, people have been making money selling information and related products and services, and it will continue forever. It all boils down to helping people save time and money avoiding learning something the hard way -- through research. Basically, you do the research and sell the results. The better the information and services, the higher prices you can demand.

With a global audience online, you can create and sell just about anything! If there is a market for it, you can build a business around it. And therein lies the equation... Before starting ANY business you must consider carefully, WHO you will be promoting to. Think hard about the people who might be interested in what you plan to sell. And beware... if the answer is "everyone", that's usually a BAD thing.

Identifying a niche market gives you the ability to target ONLY your prospects you spend FAR less marketing and advertising. So do some market research BEFORE you start creating your product. I'll list some good research sites at the end of this article, that will help you determine if there is a need for your product. Finally, let's consider a third angle for those of you who do not have the time or inclination to "create and sell"...

3. Selling Existing Products and Services

You can start a new business online selling existing products and services. You simply earn a commission from each sale you make. The commissions can be one-time or recurring depending on the product or service you sell for the merchant. There are affiliate programs on just about any niche product or service you can imagine. Whatever niche you plan to develop your business around, you'll more than likely be able to find affiliate programs you can join.
And that is the key... choosing a niche that interests you. Something you enjoy doing or talking about. You may be surprised to find out that you can make money in just about any niche imaginable. Selling existing products and services is not just for new businesses.

It is also a great strategy for established businesses who want to grow their bottom lines. When done properly, it can yield income growth of more than 30% literally overnight. How can I make such a bold statement? Simple, I've experienced just that, by simply selecting existing products and services carefully and then introducing them to my current prospects and customers. The common thread in all three strategies...

In case you didn't notice, all three money making strategies above contained one common component -- proper niche selection. While you should choose a niche that interests you, you also need to choose a niche that can be profitable. To determine if your niche can be profitable, take a few moments and visit the following websites.

1. Ebay's Pulse lists popular searches as well as most watched items.
You can also search through just about any category imaginable.

2. Google's Zeitgeist shows weekly, monthly, and annual trends based on the millions of searches done at Google's search engine. Zeitgeist by Country is also available on a monthly basis.

3. Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a free tool that gives you reports on keywords and keyword phrases that you enter into the search box. Statistics show how many users search for you keyword on Google.

4. WordTracker Free Tool shows you the daily searches being done on any keyword or keyword phrase.

Internet Marketing Strategies - Where Do I Start?

Trying to decide how to strategically market your product or service (or yourself) on the internet can be overwhelming. There are a myriad of marketing possibilities to choose from, and more great strategies are being offered almost daily. How can an internet marketer decide on the best strategic marketing plan that works for their business?

There seems to be as many answers for which strategies to use in what situation than there are internet marketing strategies themselves! There are definitely too many strategies for any one marketer to utilize them all. If you have a very large team with access to multiple internet marketing specialists, your marketing strategies can incorporate most available methods. However, most of us do not have access to that kind of resource.

How Do You Choose Your Internet Marketing Strategies?

There are too many internet marketing options to discuss them all in a short article, but there are three general principles that can make a huge difference to your marketing efforts. Following these principles will not just improve the success of your current internet marketing plan, but can help you figure out where to start focusing your efforts in the first place.

Three Principles for Making Appropriate Strategic Marketing Choices

1) Be Capable in your Strategic Marketing

Not all marketers are created equal. We all have a variety of strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately we tend to focus more on how to fix our weaknesses rather than how to harness our strengths. It is true we should all strive to improve ourselves, but sometimes the time and effort placed on learning the internet marketing strategies we are struggling with would be better placed finding and perfecting strategies that we already have an aptitude for.

When a strategy works well for the majority of marketers it does not necessarily mean it will work well for you. If a particular strategy does not come easily to you, it will take more time and will likely not generate the top quality you need to stand out against your competitors. If you are not adept at something, use a different strategy that you can implement effectively with the unique capabilities you do have, or make the investment to outsource if you have the means to do so.

This does not mean we should not learn new strategies! If you are not constantly learning, you will also not succeed. Make sure you are not perpetually spending more time learning something that is difficult for you than you are taking to actually market your product or service. Some great internet marketing strategies are better left for others who have a better aptitude for them. Their expertise will allow them to do it better than you anyway.

2) Care About your Strategic Marketing

Let's face it; everything we do in marketing is not fun. It is work, and most definitions of work do not include the word 'fun'. However...take a second and think about sitting in front of your computer to work on your latest marketing project. If you would rather be sitting in the dentist's chair getting a couple of teeth pulled, you are spending your time with the wrong strategies. Work can actually be enjoyable. At the very least, you should be able to find a few good strategies that beat getting teeth pulled. There are many strategic marketing choices on the internet. Pick the ones you enjoy and care about.

"But my current marketing strategies are supposed to be the best for my product!" "My upline says this strategy has been working for everyone on the team!" If you hate what you are doing, it will show in your work, just as your passion will shine through when you are doing something you love. It will be difficult to put in extra hours when necessary, you will be more apt to give up prematurely, and you will be unable to do exceptional stand-out work if you hate every minute of it.

Start by learning the marketing strategies you are most interested in, see which ones you like, and master those first. Eventually learn them all so you can find which methodologies you most enjoy and are best at. These will be the marketing strategies that perform the best for you and are more sustainable in the long run.

3) Be Consistent with your Strategic Marketing

For many marketers, the strategy seems to be: 'Chase the latest and greatest marketing options as soon as they appear.' They work on something, get mediocre results, then three weeks later when a great new idea comes along, abandon their current efforts and 'try' something else. This is not a recipe for sustainable success.

Sometimes the latest hot new marketing trend can work wonders and inject a lot of cash into your business. New ideas should be taken advantage of when appropriate. However, if it's new it is unproven and may fail. Has it been tested in your niche market? Will it still be working a week from now? If you change your marketing plan more often than you change your socks, you will never get really good at anything. You will be spending as much time learning new things as you do actually marketing your product or service.

Consistency is the key. If your strategic marketing plan is based on solid and proven strategies and you do not give up and start something new every couple weeks, you will become an expert in those strategies. They will get easier, less time consuming, and start running like clockwork to bring you a consistent stream of clients. It is easier and less risky to learn and test new methods when you have a proven and profitable system already in place to fall back on.

Points for Choosing the Right Internet Marketing Strategy

- Develop a good strategic base of internet marketing methods that you enjoy and are capable of implementing effectively.

- Be consistent with these marketing strategies so you become an expert and are profiting from them with minimal effort.

- Try almost everything, including the 'hot' new methods that look like they have potential, but don't abandon the tried and true methods that have already been proven to work.

- If you find new marketing methods that you enjoy and can utilize effectively, add them to your long tern internet marketing strategy and use them consistently until you master them.

Follow these steps, be patient and consistent, and you will succeed in finding your own strategic path through the internet marketing jungle. Happy Marketing!