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At the end of the day, having a successful website or web presence means different things to different people. If you’re in the world of advertising, the name of the game is TRAFFIC. If you get a lot of traffic, people will PAY YOU to place their ads on your site. They may not pay a fortune… but they will pay. I have one such site myself. Let me tell you, it took a long time to get a lot of advertisers. I’ve developed a few sites using this business model, but I would hate to have to do it again. It’s a lot of work. There are other business models that I’ve found much easier to develop.
If you asked the people advertising on my site what their definition of success is, you’d get a different answer. For them, success is having people noticing their ads, clicking on them and most importantly – making a purchase.
Many of my clients own “brick and mortar” businesses. For them, success is all about having people coming to their physical locations and making a purchase.
If you’re selling a product that’s downloadable like an eBook or software product, your success is determined by the number of downloads you sell.
If you’re not selling anything and are simply blogging or writing about a topic as a hobby, at the very least you want to know there are more than just a handful of people who are following what you’re doing and looking forward to your updates.
HOW TO “NOT BE” A STATISTIC
Over 90% of online businesses fail. The statistics are really no different than that of offline businesses. I learned from experience what NOT TO DO ONLINE as well as what I needed to do in order to be successful. Was it easy? Nope. I wish I had someone to guide or mentor me through the process. When I started, there wasn’t such a thing as online mentors or coaches! There was only testing, testing and more testing. Here’s a simple outline for you to help you get started in the right direction in the world of Internet marketing. Realize this, no matter what your business, once you step into the online world – you’re an Internet Marketer as well.
- Make a decision. What do you want to accomplish with your website? If the answer is EVERYTHING, you’re on your way to becoming a negative statistic. In order to get established you have to have focus. In order to have focus, you have to make a decision of who you want to reach… which brings us to the next point.
- Have an action plan. What kind of plan? If you’re selling a service (as many of my friends do), your plan might involve using your website as a tool for directing people to call and schedule an appointment. People still buy from and connect with other people. Make it easy for them to do so!
- Network with others who can do what you can’t. I knew of a guy in one community who was very involved in creating community-oriented events and projects. Unfortunately, the projects never went very far because he couldn’t get the cooperation of very many people within the community. Others talked about him as being arrogant and unlikeable. In life, it’s important to be able to work with others, even if you don’t see eye to eye with them on every little thing. Today, perhaps more than ever before, it’s important to network with other people, companies and organizations who can do “what you can’t.” Likewise, there will be others who will come to you for the same reason. Being a part of the right network of people probably won’t happen overnight… but unless you realize its importance… it won’t happen at all.
- Don’t spend money until you have to. I heard this advice a long time ago. I ignored it. Well, it wasn’t so much that I ignored it… it’s just that there were so many “cool things to buy” I could hardly help myself at the time. That was then. This is now. Some lessons are more expensive than others. Keeping your overhead as low as possible is the kind of strategy that will help you continue to move forward when tough times come. Believe me… sooner or later, tough times come. Even squirrels store up for the winter time when the food supply becomes scarce. If you don’t have something left over at the end of the month, after all the bills are paid, now’s as good a time as any to reevaluate your plan.
Is there more? There is. First, however, you need to make the four steps I’ve mentioned above a part of you. Once you do, the rest of the steps will come a lot easier.
