With
creation of Internet, it has become easier than ever to start a business, especially online.You can automate all of your business processes, and with a professionally done web site, you can have a 24/7 salesman handling most of work for you.
The downside is that business is becoming more and more competitive. Especially if you are marketing affiliate programs, you can be competing against thousands of others to sell your products or services.
Before you begin your web site, and before you make a sale, you need to make a plan. Below are six steps you can take to give you competitive edge in your small business.
1. Choose a customer Now I'm sure you may think I have it backwards. Maybe you think you should choose your product first.
The problem with choosing your product first is that you may not have a market to sell to. You want to make sure you have a market to sell before you choose products you are going to sell.
You want to do your research.
The easiest way to do this is to visit sites that can give you information on demographics. Demographics are pieces of information about different groups you can use to create your market.
There are many sites you can use to gather this type of information, but here are three to help you get started:
http://americandemographics.com/ http://www.freedemographics.com/ http://www.consumerinternetbarometer.us/
Now these sites will give you information primarily on US markets, but there are plenty of sites you can use to find information on countries outside US. The secret is to narrow your search terms. For example: international demographics, or internet demographics.
2. Choose a product Once you have a market in mind, then you want to choose a product.
You have several options here: affiliate programs, resell rights, or create your own.
Now I won't get into pros and cons of each because that's not what this article is about.
What you want to do here is make sure that you choose a product that matches perfectly with your market.
You can search for above terms in a good search engines to find what you are looking for.
3. Make it an offer your customer can't refuse Once you have a market and product in mind, it's time to craft your offer. Regardless of what type of product you choose, you'll have competition.
The secret here is to create something of value to add to your product. It should always be something no one else has. It could be a free report or ebook, or some additional software.
What's important is to make your offer so valuable your visitor won't want to go somewhere else to buy product.
4. Create a great sales letter Now maybe you have chosen to sell something that already has a sales letter. That means a great deal of work has already been done for you.
