R.M. Blackledge ©Copyright 2005

A major stumbling block for many internet marketing newbies is false belief that placement of a banner ad on a web page is all that's required to immediately start making a few sales. This is a false premise.

There are a couple of key principles of internet marketing that can prevent any newbie from falling into this enticing trap.

No. 1) Choose A Relevant Affiliate Program

Let's hope at least that as a newbie you have chosen an affiliate program to promote that has relevance to your online interests. As an example, if you have placed a website online that discusses care of young infants, it is certainly easy enough to find affiliate programs that deal with infant health, nutrition, clothing, or even security, such as baby monitors.

The affiliate program doesn't have to exactly match your website content, but it should be very closely related. If your site is about infants why on earth would you want to promote rock videos?

Only perhaps, if you think your own child is a future musical prodigy.

Yet, many first-time internet entrepreneurs make just such a mistake. Even an affiliate program that deals with teens or preschoolers is not close enough, because people coming to your site, presumably are not seeking information about those subjects.

Tiny infants are not preschoolers.

Of course you might make a sale or two, by virtue of blind luck, but that is not way to run an internet business.

You want at all times to be lean and focused. Don't waste effort promoting anything that is going to be a hard sell. Your effort is best spent elsewhere.

No. 2 ) Write Informative Articles and Testimonials

Using same example above, let us propose that you have wisely chosen an affiliate program that relates to young infants. Now what? You've had your banners up for a month or two, and you just aren't making many sales. This despite fact that your site receives a reasonable amount of traffic.

One of problems you've unwittingly created for yourself, is that banner ads are too easily ignored. They are like background music. Each hour online, anyone who surfs web is going to be bombarded with banner ads, such that they become invisible. And it doesn't matter even if banner ads are of excellent quality.

They are still banner ads.

Text-based ads are a much more effective advertising method, although at first glance it would seem exactly opposite.

But, let's look at this idea more closely.

Decide to Buy

Start thinking about buying an established business if you want to avoid immense risks involved in starting one. Not everyone wants to start a business from scratch, and buying a business with infrastructure in place lets you focus on building it up, as opposed to getting a new business off ground. This is not to say that it’s easy to buy an existing business; it’s a fairly complicated process throughout which you need to know exactly what you’re doing.

First off, decide that you do want to buy before you begin your research. This way you will look at options more carefully. A particular business may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but if you’re sure that you do want to buy, then you won’t brush it off immediately, without first considering how you might grow with it. Vested Business Broker’s deals with a wide range of businesses and will surely help you make up your mind quickly.

Talk to people in your life who are likely to be affected by venture. Let them know hours that you are likely to have to work and risks involved. You might need their support if you initially go through a rough patch.

Using a Broker

It would be more prudent to use services of a broker in buying your business. All important groundwork in terms of research would already have been done. And, you can focus on finalizing deal.

A broker will handle all those complicated negotiations which you may just find too much to handle. And, when things turn unpleasant you can leave it all to your broker.

Brokers are supposed to have systems in place to take care of deals. The sale is usually a time of some stress for both buyer and seller, so having someone to put everything together and take care of paperwork is very helpful. You will appreciate a broker’s services as it will allow you to concentrate on getting a worthwhile deal, and not have to worry about whether all documents -and there are a lot of them- are in order.

Of course, your broker will charge you a substantial commission, but it will all be worthwhile if you get deal you want. Vested Business Brokers can be counted on to take care of nitty-gritty that ensures a successful deal.

Business Essentials

Once you figure out your particular area of interest, think about size of business that you want to buy, location of prospective sellers etc. Know your financial resources so that you don’t waste time looking at businesses that are beyond your reach, even if you have always fantasized about being a ship-builder.

Identify your strengths. Are you good at sales? Operations? Look out for a business that is in a position to benefit from your particular strengths.

Once you’ve identified a business that you want to buy, make contact with seller but hire professionals i.e. accountants, attorneys, etc. to take care of different aspects of purchase. Using Vested Business Brokers services would surely help you narrow down your search and identify all expertise you might need to close deal successfully.

Allow yourself a gut instinct about seller and business. Feel free to ask why they want to sell business, and evaluate your decision based on their reasons. It might just reassure you that you should go ahead with deal.

Company Valuation

There are many methods of valuing a company, and it is up to seller to decide how to go about it. Make sure price is a fair representation of how valuable company is likely to be to you. It is obviously disadvantageous to you if a non-performing company that is heavy in assets is priced based on net value of its assets.

The asking price is negotiable. Even in a situation where seller is firm on her price, enquire as to method of valuation and challenge it if you think it leaves you with an unfair deal. While negotiating, be prepared to challenge seller with facts and statistics.