How To Treat Your Online Business Like A Real Business

No matter which income opportunity you choose, you must treat this as your real business.

Some people treat online income models lightly because they're stuck in the old, brick-and-mortar concept of what a real business should look like.

They think if they don't have an office space or dozens of employees, that they aren't really running a business.

“Nothing could be further from the truth”

The people you market to online are real people, and they are real customers. Real cash changes hands due to your involvement.

In fact…

“The more seriously you take this business, the more money you make” 

Even if you're, say, an affiliate marketer, and not physically shipping goods to a customer, you're still running a business. In fact, you're running a referral business. So, which approach do you think would make you more money?



1. Casually promoting a couple of affiliate programs in your spare time.

2. Setting a real website and opt-in list, communicating with prospects and devoting at least 10 hours per week promoting your best affiliate programs?

Obviously, approach #2 is going to bring in the real income. That's because you're working from the same essential principles of all businesses: to provide education, communication and service.

Finally, if you're going to start a serious business, then you need to have a business plan.

You need to clear on your goals and on your strategy.

In other words, determine in advance:

1. Where you're going

2. How you'll get there

3. How long it should take you

We'll call this your ‘master plan’…

Creating A Master Plan For Your Business

This will be your first step (after you choose which money making model to pursue), and one of the most important steps.

You see, the single biggest mistake made by beginners is in trying to wing it.

It is easy to understand why some people do this. It’s so simple these days to toss up a website, and do some basic advertising.

The problem is that most people perform these tasks in an unfocused manner. They don't know why they're advertising on, say, Google Adwords or Facebook.

They just know every guru out there is telling them to do it. Doing things this way leaves you stranded. 

“A better approach is to have a detailed 'road map' which guides you from point A to point B”

You need to know:

• Who your target audience is

• The best places to reach your target audience

• What types of offers/advertising your audience responds to

• How to leverage your efforts, so that you get more leads and more traffic for less money

• Ways to get some leads and traffic in for free

• How to nurture your prospects long-term, and turn them into repeat customers

• What the next step is in your business evolution once you've reach your first goal

These are crucial points to consider before you begin, and it’s best to have a step-by-step plan for each phase of the process.

Everyone’s master plan is different because everyone approaches business differently.

One of the first steps you need to take is to sit down and write on paper what you want to do with your online business.

It doesn’t have to be anything complicated, however the sheer act of putting on your thinking cap and committing your thoughts on paper has an almost magical effect – if you focus and follow through with what you plan.

Here’s an example of what your own online business master plan can look like:

Niche Market

Selection

I will devote the first part of Week 1 to researching and choosing a niche market.

Action steps I'll take include: 

• Checking Clickbank to find popular niche topics among the best selling products.

• Narrow down my list of potential niche markets by checking out the competition, the type and number of existing products in this niche and estimating my costs for running advertisements on place like Google Adwords, Facebook ads, selected e-zines and classifieds.

Monetization

Model

 I’ll devote the rest of the week to choosing the best monetization model for my niche.

 For affiliate marketing, I'll need to check available affiliate programs to see what my options are, and what I can expect to make in commissions.

 I'll also check the feasibility of my model against my budget, time constraints and technical 'know how'

Sales Funnel

 I’ll devote the second week to setting up my sales funnel. In order to do this, I need to determine which tools I need:

• Web site?

• Autoresponder?

• Blog?

• Software tools?

• A budget for membership sites? 

 Also, how will I direct visitors through my monetization model? 

• Lead capture?

• Direct referral?

30 Day Goal

 How much traffic do I need to set things in motion?

 How quickly can I expect to be in profit?

 What is the average profit I can expect to make from a sale or referral?

 How much work will I need to put in each day in order to reach my goal?

 Where and how should I advertise to get the quickest results?

3 Month Goal

 Once I reach my first $100, I want to increment my profits by an extra $50/month.

6 Month Goal

 In 6 months, I want to have established an income of $300 per month. I also want to work in more passive income opportunities, as well as throw some new products into the mix. etc.