The Top 10 Reasons To Start An Online Business Today - Entrepreneur University

For this week’s Entrepreneur University we turn to Cynthia Minnaar. We last featured Cynthia in March of 2008 when she shared her advice on starting up while being on a budget (Starting An Online Business on a Shoestring Budget - Entrepreneur University).
Cynthia lives in South Africa and runs her own online home business. She is the proud owner of www.cyns-home-biz.com, the online home business site for online home based business start-up ideas, extra income opportunities, internet marketing training, affiliate marketing solutions and resources.

Today Cynthia shares with us her top 10 reasons why you should be starting an online business today:

“When life is going well and we have no financial worries it is not very easy to find a really strong reason why one should start an internet based home business.

We never know what life has in store for us from one day to the next. Life can be really comfortable and easy one day and turned upside down the next, so it makes good business sense to have a source of extra income just in case something does go wrong.

Have you wondered what the motivating factors behind successful business owners are? Here are some of the reasons that motivate people to start and succeed with an internet based home business which may just give you food for thought.

• 1. Calculating how much capital will be required to enable them to retire and live comfortably often is a huge motivating factor to start an internet based business.
• 2. Being retrenched or losing their job and having to find a way to make their own income in order to provide for their family.
• 3. The funds that are required to educate their children and provide for their college or university fees should they wish to attend.
• 4. More and more people start an internet based home business as a way of eventually replacing their salary so that they can quit their day jobs.
• 5. Many parents want to stay at home with the children so as to avoid the heart break felt every morning when they drop a child off at the day care center or not being at home to welcome the child home from school or being unable to attend a school concert or sports event.
• 6. So many working people nowadays just cannot afford the extra luxuries or holidays and are sick and tired of trying to make ends meet. They want more out of life instead of just existing.
• 7. Suddenly being encumbered by a huge expense resulting from for example a car accident or illness can be a very strong motivating factor.
• 8. Unfortunately, many experience the problem of mounting debt due to the fact that a salary can no longer cover the basic expenses.
• 9. Others have finally had enough of the amount of time wasted and stress involved in travelling to and from a day job resulting in having less quality time to spend with their family.
• 10. More people now help their ageing parents financially as their pension is just insufficient to cover their expenses and so look for ways to make extra income.

These are only a few reasons that motivate people to start and succeed with an internet based home business.

Whatever your reason, one must remember that it takes time to build a profitable internet based business so it is important not to wait for disaster to strike before getting started.
Instead plan ahead and be prepared and try and find a strong motivating factor to start an internet based home business now, so that it is already providing an income for you when you really do need it.”

Work From Home Careers

An ever increasing number of individuals are looking to the internet as the source of their income. Many are giving up the rat race of the office and moving to a more comfortable lifestyle of working from home. They are ever searching the internet to find that one gold mine…that one Work From Home Career. But how can the new entrepreneur find their own “Work From Home Business” success?

Your first step is to come up with an idea. What do you want to do? Unfortunately, nobody can tell you what path to take. There are thousands of online business opportunities on the web at any given time. Research the different paths that you can take and find one that feels right to you.

While searching for your “golden opportunity” please remember the following: There Is No “Get Rich Quick” Opportunity! Online businesses take time and effort to grow, just like offline businesses. Do not fall for the hype because that is all that it is…..hype. There is no guarantee of huge amounts of money to be made in a matter of weeks. The Internet is a land of opportunity, not the land of make believe.

So what are your options? Internet Marketing is becoming a popular home based business. What is an Internet Marketer? According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Internet Marketing is the “use of the Internet to advertise and sell goods and services. Internet Marketing includes pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, interactive advertising, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization, blog marketing, and article marketing.”

Because over one third of consumers who have Internet access available to them in their homes report using the Internet to make purchases, the opportunities for an Internet Marketer are endless. An Internet Marketer can choose to focus on one particular product and/or service or they can expand their reach into several different products and services, thereby increasing their profit potential.

Internet Marketing consists of business-to-business and business-to-consumer opportunities. The biggest push has been the business-to-consumer opportunity. On and offline business are taking advantage of the explosive growth of the internet by offering their commission based programs to Internet Marketers (affiliates) in order to get them to advertise their product. This concept works well for the Internet Marketer as they are able to set their own hours, work from the comfort of their own home and choose which products and services they want to promote.

A very popular affiliate program is SFI. SFI was launched in 1998. It is a member of the Better Business Bureau serving Southern Nebraska and is a member of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. It is currently touted as the largest affiliate network in the world as it currently has tens of thousands of affiliates in over 200 countries.

SFI is the exclusive marketer for the IAHBE (International Associated of Home Business Entrepreneurs) as well as Veriuni, a line of nutritional, cleaning, personal and pet care and telecommunication products, to name a few.

What makes SFI so popular is the commission structure. An SFI affiliate has the potential to earn commissions on a large scale, both by selling the products available and by recruiting additional affiliates.

Another popular affiliate program is Empowerism. Empowerism is an International Success Mentoring Online facility. Empowerism offers low-cost training and tools in Net marketing and is quickly rising in popularity among Internet Marketers.

ClickBank is yet another popular affiliate opportunity. ClickBank is one of the internet’s largest digital marketplaces. Thousands of popular products are offered by businesses worldwide. An Internet Marketer and join ClickBank and choose from a variety of products and services to market.

A twist on the Internet Marketing concept is the PlugInProfit website offered by Stone Evans. This acts as a spring board for many new Internet Marketers as it takes several popular, and successful affiliate programs (like the 3 mentioned above) and rolls it into one website. The new Internet Marketer can have a website built for them and be given the keys to use that website to jump start their business.

Though Internet Marketing is gaining in popularity among entrepreneurs, due to the sheer size of the internet, the growth that the internet is experiencing and the millions of products and services available worldwide, every Internet Marketer can find success. Unlike brick and mortar business, online businesses do not close down at night, do not close down for holidays or so you can take a vacation. Online businesses run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because the online business never closes, you are able to reach consumers worldwide at any given moment.

However, success does take hard work and dedication. As was stated, there are no get rich quick schemes. If you choose to go into business for yourself as an Internet Marketer, be prepared to work your business and learn all you can about Internet Marketing. You do not “set it and forget it”. However, you can build your business to the point that it runs fluidly even when you are not there.

How To Sell More Resale Rights Products Than Your Competitors

One of the easiest and quickest ways to make money online is
by acquiring resale rights products and selling them on to a
target market. However in most instances many people find
that there are also many other people selling these same
products, and so they subsequently fail to generate any real
profits from resale rights products because the competition
is so stiff. So how can you outsell your competition?

Well one of the most important factors in determining how
much money you can generate is the actual product itself. Be
very selective in choosing which resale rights products you
are going to promote. For optimum profits you ideally want
to find fresh and innovative products that have just been
released and have therefore not yet reached saturation
point. That's not to say you can't do well from promoting
older products, because you can if they are of good quality,
and have not yet been heavily promoted.

Another thing you should do is to actually get to know the
product yourself before you start selling it, to ensure it
is of a high quality. Promoting poor quality products will
only damage your reputation in the long run.

Once you've found a quality product, you should then aim to
create your own unique selling angle, so your offer stands
out from your competition.

One way of doing this is by creating your own sales page for
the product. Many people simply upload the sales page that
came with the product, and start driving traffic to that
page. However, this is what most other resellers are doing
as well, so by creating your own sales copy, that is ideally
better than the original copy, you can easily make more
sales than your rivals.

Not only can you use your own sales copy, but you can also
add your own unique bonuses to the product. These should
complement the product you are selling. For example, if you
were selling an ebook on SEO, then to make your offer stand
out, you could also add other SEO-related ebooks or software
that you have the rights to, as additional bonuses.

Other bonuses that work well are things like training
videos, that you can easily compile nowadays, that will help
the buyer use the product that they have purchased, or a
personal consultation from yourself, if the price of the
product is high enough to make this worthwhile.

Similarly another way of adding value to a basic resale
rights product is by compiling the product with other
related resale rights products, and coming up with a new
package of products (that only you are selling). For
example, going back to the SEO ebook, you could add
additional bonuses as I've already mentioned, but
alternatively you could create an entirely new product by
creating a compendium of SEO-related products. This is a
highly effective way of outselling your competitors.

Whatever your sales angle, the key to success with resale
rights products is to be different, and to make your offer
stand out by adding value to the product. Many resellers try
and compete on price, which only leads to more and more
people lowering the price and devaluing the product, until
it inevitably ends up on eBay for $0.99.

If you compete on value, you can maintain a higher price by
adding value to the product, using the methods I've already
discussed, and therefore generate a lot more profits than
your competitors because your target market will be more
inclined to buy from you.

3 Reasons Why Adsense Is Essential For Content Sites

To know why Adsense is essential for your content sites is to know first how this works.

The concept is really simple, if you think about it. The publisher or the webmaster inserts a java script into a certain website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script will pull advertisements from the Adsense program. The ads that are targeted should therefore be related to the content that is contained on the web page serving the ad. If a visitor clicks on an advertisement, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying the search engine for the click.

The search engine is the one handling all the tracking and payments, providing an easy way for webmasters to display content-sensitive and targeted ads without having the hassle to solicit advertisers, collect funds, monitor the clicks and statistics which could be a time-consuming task in itself. It seems that there is never a shortage of advertisers in the program from which the search engine pulls the Adsense ads. Also webmasters are less concerned by the lack of information search engines are providing and are more focused in making cash from these search engines.

The first reason why Adsense is essential for content sites is because it already has come a long way in understanding the needs of publishers and webmasters. Together with its continuous progression is the appearance of more advanced system that allows full ad customization. Webmasters are given the chance to choose from many different types of text ad formats to better complement their website and fit their webpage layout.

The different formatting enables the site owners the possibility of more click through from visitors who may or may not be aware of what they are clicking on. It can also appeal to the people visiting thus make them take that next step of looking up what it is all about. This way the people behind the Adsense will get their content read and making profit in the process.

The second reason is the ability of the Adsense publishers to track not only how their sites are progressing but also the earnings based on the webmaster-defined channels. The recent improvements in the search engines gives webmasters the capability to monitor how their ads are performing using customizable reports that has the capacity to detail page impressions, clicks and click-through rates. Webmasters and publishers can now track specific ad formats, colors and pages within a website. Trends are also easily spotted.

With the real-time reporting at hand, the effectiveness of the changes made will be assessed quickly. There would be time to sort out the contents that people are making the most clicks on. The ever-changing demands would be met while generating cash for the webmasters and publishers. The more flexible tools are also allowing webmasters to group web pages by URL, domain, ad type or category, which will provide them some accurate insight on which pages, ads and domains are performing best.

The last and final reason is that the advertisers have realized the benefits associated having their ads served on targeted websites. Thus increasing the possibility that a prospective web surfer will have an interest in their product and services. All because of the content and its constant maintenance. As opposed to those who are no using Adsense in their sites, they are given the option of having other people do their content for them, giving them the benefit of having successful and money-generating web sites.

Adsense is all about targeted content, the more targeted your content is, the more target the search engines ads will be. There are some web masters and publishers who are focused more on their site contents and how best to maintain them rather than the cash that the ads will generate for them. This is the part where the effectiveness is working its best.

There was a time when people were not yet aware of the money to be achieved from advertisements. The cash generated only came into existence when the webmasters and publishers realized how they can make Adsense be that generator. In those days, the content were the most important factors that is taken quite seriously. It still is. With the allure of money, of course.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is a way of promoting online business through affiliate programs and advertising that pay the affiliate (or publisher) a type of commission based on the amount of business their website brings the merchant company.

It's a form of revenue sharing or commission based advertising. The term affiliate marketing, however, is often associated with network marketing or multi-level marketing and therefore many companies prefer to use the term performance marketing. Affiliate marketing is the most cost effective sort of marketing there is, and is actually incredibly efficient. For this reason, many companies (especially those that started in the early days of e-commerce) owe a tremendous amount to affiliate marketing (amazon.com is a good example) and it has now become normal for companies to include affiliate marketing in many of their plans.

There are three types of compensation methods that are associated with affiliated marketing. The first type is Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Mil (CPM.) Basically, the affiliate earns by how many clicks the advertising on hisher site generates, or by just having the advert published on the website. But because of click fraud and many other questionable tactics, CPC is no longer the general form used for affiliate marketing. Generally, companies now either use CPA (Cost per Action) or CPS (Cost per Sale.) The first is based on how much the advert generates interest by the clicker to actually buy or register at the advertised site, the second is based strictly on sales. In other words, an affiliate is paid if the clicker actually purchases something on the advertised site.

Two Words that Separate the Online Winners from the Quitters

Ask five people what to do to be successful when starting a business and you will probably get five different answers. Everything from, "you absolutely have to have a business plan" to "failure is eminent without my new software." Although a business plan is very important and there are some very valuable software applications to grow a business, there is one aspect of success that seems to be very hard for many people to overcome.

Here's a story to illustrate the point. A friend, named Joe wanted to start an internet marketing business. Before he began selling anything he hired someone to coach him. The coach did not have any really revolutionary ideas, pretty much the same as the other guru's but he was honest with Joe when he needed to hear the truth. Joe followed his instructions on researching profitable niches. Once Joe's coach emailed him with a suggestion that he thought would make it easier for Joe, but Joe responded saying that he thought the suggestion made by his coach was nearly impossible. Joe told him, "I cannot do that, it's too hard." The response from the coach was paramount to Joe's success. It changed everything for Joe. He replied saying, "Joe, if you think you can't then you're probably right."

Joe understood what his coach was getting at. Joe's own thoughts about what he thought he could and could not do were holding him back. Joe decided that very day that he could in fact do what his coach suggested to find a profitable niche. That's right, he made a decision that he could do it and that he would not give up. Not only did Joe find a very profitable niche, he found ten profitable niches. Joe quickly started his first internet business selling a hard good product and it turned out to be a total success. This rest as they say is history.

Ask yourself, what could you do if you removed "I can't" from your vocabulary and weren't hindered by what you think are your abilities. Joe knew nothing about the niche he started in and even so his business took off like gangbusters. He learned about his product as he went along. He didn't know how to build a website but he learned. Joe's success had nothing to do with a large starting capital because he started with less than $300.

Your success at any business venture has very little to do with talent, money you have to invest, knowledge about the product and a whole host of other excuses that people come up with about why they can't start an internet business. Your success does have everything to do with your determination to succeed and perseverance when challenges come your way. Now don't go and throw money down the toilet because you don't want to give up, please use common sense. If you haven't made any money after a couple months don't decide that online marketing isn't for you. Consider moving on to find another niche. There are millions of hungry buyers in thousands of niches waiting to buy. Keep plugging away until you find a need to meet in a specific niche and fill that need. It will only take a few months to get to know your market.

Every single month, there are millions of people searching for information on how to make money on the internet, yet less than 3% of those people ever actually make any money. The difference among those that succeed and those that do not is that the ones who make money don't back down when faced with the same challenges that all online marketers face. It comes down to this, you have to delete the phrase, "I can't" from your vocabulary. Don't be one of the 97% that give up right before you strike gold.

How To Keep Your Online Business From Getting Lost In Cyberspace

Is It Possible To Survive And Thrive On The Internet?

Even though the Internet is a huge Wilderness, it is a fact that the general population is leaning toward going online for their purchasing decisions. From buying a car to purchasing flowers for a loved one or finding a realtor in a “soon to move to” town and of course we can’t overlook finding that special and very unique gift. Just like any off-line business, on-line entrepreneurs reveal at the prospect of presenting their wares to a huge sales audience. This presents a exciting environment and tremendous opportunity for any entrepreneur looking to generate high volume revenues.

It’s a matter of focusing on your on-line marketing to drive prospective customers to your on-line store to grow your business. Internet marketing can be a daunting task but by following a few simple guidelines, it can be accomplished. The rewards greatly outweigh the energy spent in starting and maintaining your Internet business.

Here are few tips to help you get started:

1. You Will Need An Effective Website

If your website does not reflect a level of planning, trust and professionalism, that instills confidence, you could miss out. If you just can’t wait to tell friends and relatives of your website, then chances are, it will not work for you. If it doesn’t turn you on it most likely won’t anyone else either. Take your time and develop a website that showcases the product your are selling in a most professional way.

2. Give Something Of Value Away In Exchange For Their Email Address

This is known as engaging the prospect or getting their attention. You only have a few seconds to capture the prospect’s interest, do it with flair. Make your landing page compiling and desirable. Make an offer they can’t refuse, but do it with integrity. Always be up front and honest. Use plenty of sub-headings, bullets, and other ways to make the text look interesting. It’s best to use graphics or pictures to help drive your point home. You copy should be well written and to the point.

3. Challenge Your Prospect To Act

Even though your copy is extremely powerful, it is of no use unless your prospect acts.

A good call for action can make all the difference in the world. Ask them to sign up for a free newsletter or e-book by simply filling out a information gathering form. A free report can be a rewarding incentive for your prospect. Be sure the information you give is of value and worthy of your prospect’s participation.

4. Publish an Electronic Niche Letter

A very valuable and cost-effective way to reach your niche is through the publishing of a newsletter directed at your particular niche. This not only provides your prospect and customer with valuable information but it also establishes you as an expert in the field.

is a powerful and cost-effective way to reach your target audience. Service providers, retail operations, and any other business that relies on client relationships can benefit a newsletter also gives you a chance to contact your prospect or customer repeatedly. This repeat exposure builds a bond between you and your customer.

5. Search Engines Seek Valuable Content

When search engines crawl the web the look for relevant information that is fresh and useful. Websites that are stagnate are penalized by the search engines by lower page rankings. To boost traffic, add new content on a regular bases. You can do this by adding articles, posting press releases, current news or upcoming events, posting reviews, or any other type of content of value. By doing this you are enticing the search engines and visitors who stop by to spent more time on your site. You also give visitors a reason to revisit from time to time as they look for new information.

6. Choose Key Word Wisely To Optimize Your Site for Search Engines

When people begin a search, they do so by entering a search word. These most often used key words are your ticket to search engine optimization. Include selected keywords within the text on your Web pages that potential visitors are apt to use to find you. Use these keywords and phrases at a rate of about six percent throughout your landing page. For example, if you are selling guitars in Nashville, your site should include the terms Nashville, guitars, Nashville guitars, buy a guitar, and guitars in Nashville. These words and terms should also be embedded in the meta tags for each page on your site.

7. Write and Publish Articles of Interest

If you want a quick and effective way to get links back to your website for search engines to follow, consider writing and publishing articles. Articles are a sure fire way to build expert status in the field of your expertise. People searching for information find your article and follow your tag back to your website. Each article has a bio or information about the author along with a click through tag back to their website. There are hundreds of article directories where you can submit articles for publishing.

8. Write and Maintain a Blog Site.

Blogs are like having a dialog with other bloggers by allowing short entries on a regular basis. For best results post several times week. Blog entries are like email, they don’t have to be very long. In fact, the briefer you are the better (remember, online attention spans are short!); three to four sentences is enough. Ideally Blog topics should include something to do with your industry, personal opinions on related subjects, links that are useful. Spend some time visiting other Blog sites to get some ideas.

9. Set up a Autoresponder

Autoresponder automatically captures a visitor’s information and sends emails back at regular intervals. You control the message and how long the messages will be sent. Most Autoresponder will send one email per day for one year. It’s a proven fact people make judgments after at least seven repeat exposure. Make sure your email letter is informative and offers something of value.

10. Set up a pay-per-click Campaign.

A very effective and quick way to lure traffic to your website and increase the possibility of business is with Google’s pay-per-click campaign. This approach allows you to bid for top placement in the search engines and pay for each click through to your site. Bids start as low as one cent per click and can be as high as several dollars for completive keyword terms. If you have done your job in setting up your site and it has a high rate of converting visitors into customers then pay-per-click can grow your business rather quickly.

11. Social Networking

Websites like UTube, Facebook, MySpace and a host of others are a great way to get the word out. Let everyone know your are there and how to find you. Friends trust and buy from friends. Make friends and mean it. don’t make a friendship based on their potential as a buyer but base it on a real relationship, you’ll enjoy it concededly more.