10 Tips for Building an Internet Business

Lots of people start online businesses - but very few will succeed. Most will quit and end up back at their day jobs. Some will go on to make a living online. And an elite few of these new business owners will go on to make a fortune.

The difference? Those who learn how to make money online also know these ten crucial tips...

There are a lot of ways to make money online. If you want to make money online, you need to choose one of the proven methods. Then choose a goal, draw up a business plan and stick with it until you see results.

The easiest people to sell to are those who are already buying niche products. That is, they’re hungry for solutions. All you have to do is offer them more of the same.

One note, however: Don’t focus on a big market (like "dog training"). Instead, focus on a small segment of a bigger market (such as "training German shepherd dogs" or "dog training for busy people"). Even though you’re focusing on a smaller group of people, you’ll actually make more money because your niche members would rather buy a niche-specific product than a general product.

Example: Those who own German shepherd dogs (GSDs) will choose GSD training manuals over the more general "dog training" manuals.

Once you choose a niche, then you need to determine what they want. The easiest way to do that is by finding out what they’re already buying... and giving them more of the same.

Tip: If you’re going to sell digital products, then go to the Clickbank.com and Amazon.com marketplaces to find out which products are bestsellers. You’ll want to create a product on a similar topic.

People say, "the money is in the list." Truth is, the money is in three lists:

Your prospect list - those people who’ve joined your newsletter list but haven’t yet purchased anything from you.

Your customer list - those who’ve already bought from you.

Your partner list. This is your list of joint venture and affiliate partners.

You should nurture each of these lists and follow up with them regularly to build relationships and close sales.

Don’t count on one product to make you a fortune. Instead, create a lead-generating sales funnel that’s stocked with dozens of closely related niche products. When someone buys something from you, offer to sell them a related product. It’s the best way to build your business.

You don’t have to start from scratch when you’re looking for traffic. Instead, leverage the hard word of others by using affiliate marketing, joint venture marketing, social networking, YouTube and similar sites.

Some of the most responsive and profitable customers you’ll encounter are those that were referred to you by their friends. That’s why you should encourage and customers to refer their friends. You may even offer incentives, such as cash, discounts and freebies for those who refer other paying customers.

Your prospects are everywhere, both online and offline. That’s why you should contact and communicate with them using multiple channels, such as blogs, newsletters, social sites, direct mail, offline seminars and so on.

If you don’t know which of your products, ads, sales letters, advertising venues and marketing campaigns truly put the most money in your pocket, then you’re wasting your ad dollars. Start using tools like Google Analytics immediately so you know where to focus your efforts.

If you want to get your business off the ground fast, then enlist the help of trusted freelancers to help you build your business. You can outsource tasks like article writing, product creation, copywriting, posting to your blog, web design and much more. You can build your freelancing team using sites like elance.com, getafreelancer.com, rentacoder.com and guru.com.

Business success isn’t an accident. It’s the result of a series of well-planned steps, ten of which you just discovered in this article!