An ezine is one of most effective ways to build relationships with people interested in what you offer. The people on your list have given you permission to get in front of them periodically to share a bit of your knowledge in your articles and to promote your services and products to them. They asked for information! What better audience to present your portfolio to?

Step 4: Build Your List

So far, so good. But step four is truly powerful one. Here's where we build your list. As those who know me have heard me say many times, one with biggest list wins. If you have many people on your list, you will make more sales with same conversion ratio. Put in English, if you send out a mailing about a new product and 2% of people who receive it buy product, you will sell more product and make more money larger your list is.

There are dozens of ways to build your list - many of them absolutely free. Some include getting listed on ezine directories and announcement lists, putting a link to sign up for your ezine in signature block of your email software, and putting a signup form on every page of your website.

These are some of simplest steps and there are many more. One that's very effective that I recommend to all my clients is to submit articles you've written to article banks on web and other ezine publishers. Get your articles onto as many websites and into as many ezines as possible - all with your website link in them, of course! - and you'll see more website traffic and more ezine signups.

Step 5: Profit From Your List

The last step is where it starts getting good - really good! You learn how to profit from your list. Having put all this effort into your business, it's time to start making that extra money!

Before you have a large list - and after - joint ventures can be very useful. They allow you to get in front of someone else's list to promote your products and services. When you don't have a list of your own, this can be a powerful way to start making money.

Even when you do have a list, sharing your list with your partner while you get access to his list is a terrific way to get more exposure. And you'll usually get affiliate fees from anything people on your list buy from your joint venture partner!

Just be sure to pick joint venture partners who have same target market as you, but don't compete with you.

There are two other ways to make money from your list. First, of couse, market your portfolio to your list, in your ezine and occasionally in a solo mailing.

Second, you may choose to sell advertising space in your ezine. This is most effective when you have a fairly good list.

This is an overview of a process you can use to start building an online business. The irony is that through implementing this process, not only will you develop additional product-based streams of income. You will also attract more clients for your existing services!

The most successful businesses of digital age are those that understand confluence of business and technology…how to apply emerging technology to business processes to get things done faster, with less expense and with fewer mistakes. Considering its importance, there seem to be few guidelines or best practices information available on strategic application of technology to business challenges. While many organizations already transact businesses on Web, many have failed to turn a profit and worse, some have damaged customer relationships by providing unreliable or poor-quality service.

Although each business is unique, all businesses can benefit from a adopting a structured approach that taps into body of knowledge we’ve accumulated from e-business successes and failures to date. At BusinessTechKnowledge, methodology we use to increase effectiveness of e-business initiatives is called IDEAS. This paper presents a high-level outline of IDEAS process that can be used as a checklist for emerging and expanding e-businesses. IDEAS for e-business success

E-business success requires more than setting up a shopping cart and accepting online payments. Today’s leading e-businesses generally have succeeded by adapting products to Web channel and strategically integrating Web with other customer channels. Using a methodology that integrates design, development and marketing components of e-business can help control costs and improve your chances of success on Web. The IDEAS e-business method includes five phases:

Identify - and document critical components your business needs to create an interactive presence Web.

Design - a solution by matching business requirements to appropriate technology solutions

Evaluate - objectively review project plans and make any changes you need to succeed

Act - building, testing, and refining your Web site and business processes

Service – Providing great care for your customers is much more cost-effective than finding new ones

We use term phase to mean an aspect or part of a process, rather than a distinct segment. In practice, some of phases will overlap and cycle of phases will continue as long as you’re in e-business.

For example, Evaluation stage may lead you to decide on an Action to Identify profitable market segments. You would then Design a plan to tap these segments, Identify how this plan is to be Evaluated, and so on. A huge advantage of Web-based channels is that they can instantly be changed or refined in response to new opportunities, market trends, competitive factors and more. Although every part of IDEAS methodology may not apply to your business, you may benefit from applying some parts or creating a similar structured methodology. Please visit our Web site to read entire IDEAS White paper – it’s free!

Next - five steps revealed!