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Archive for the ‘Steps to Success’ Category

5 Steps to Dominate Your Niche

We have already covered 8 steps to start your online venture; however, the odds are high that you won’t be the first and last to enter that particular niche. In order to really start making money and create some sort of authority, we need to figure out:

  1. Who’s the competition?
  2. Major players?
  3. What communities exist?
  4. Affiliate programs available?
  5. Any multimedia targeted to the niche?

Competition?

By far the most important step is figuring out who your competition is. What are these people doing, how are they trying to make money, and does it seem like they have a good following? You can do this by performing a Google search. See why you think they rank high for certain keywords.

It is important to remember that just because they are competition does not mean that they can’t benefit you? Feel free to ask them some questions. Most people online like to feed their ego, and asking them questions on how you can be successful is definitely stroking their ego.

Who are the Big Dogs?

Who are the top players in your niche? While these people may be a little bit more preoccupied, it does not hurt to try and shoot them an email. It would be best to constantly track the content they put out. The best method to do this is through an RSS reader, such as Google Reader.

What Communities Exist?

Probably the best and somewhat easiest way to gain authority and notoriety is by actively being involved in message boards and forums. You will usually find that most of these community members are the real fanatics of the particular niche. If you can make a name for yourself with them, then it will go long ways to gaining traffic and authority to your site.

What Type of Affiliate Programs are There?

There are so many different type of affiliate programs out there (AM Certified Affiliates), and you are almost doing yourself a disservice if you don’t sign up with them. Your affiliate manager has tons of experience with gaining exposure, and they are dying to help you out. After all the more money your bring in, the more money they make as well.

What Multimedia Options Are There?

The internet is definitely moving from text to other multimedia outlets, such as podcast and videos. Scour services like YouTube and iTunes to see what is already available. Depending on your niche, you may be the first to break into this class of your niche.

Bottom Line: So we have covered the basis of trying to figure out how we should go about trying to overtake others already in the niche

8 Steps to Start Your Online Venture

Whether you are looking for part-time or full-time income, an online venture can be a very rewarding and exciting journey. While the barrier to entry is very low, many have no clue where to start.

Here are 8 steps to easily start your own online venture:

  1. Research
  2. Hosting
  3. Create
  4. Content
  5. Share
  6. Launch
  7. Social Network
  8. Maintain

Research

What niche or market are you going to enter? Whatever it is you have to make sure it is something you are interested in. Starting an online venture takes a lot of time, and if you are not interested about it, then it will be hard to get up and work on it because you won’t  be getting paid much.

Once you pick a topic, then do some Google searches and see what your competition is and what they are doing. Get a glimpse of what you will eventually be doing, and if it still interests you. Also try to brainstorm some good website names and narrow it down to what you like.

Also makes sure to to research what it takes to build the business. Your niche is just a cover for the actual business you have to run. Do you know what needs to be done? How will you eventually make money?

If things are already getting too overwhelming, then you may want to consider sitting out for a little longer. Online businesses are not for everybody.

Hosting

Depending on who you talk to, they will judge the importance of a hosting company, but, to be honest, it really does not matter. Especially if you are just starting out. You can always move hosting companies or change subscription. The key to good hosting is value for your money and customer support.

We HostMonster for all our needs, and haven’t had any problems. They also throw in a free .com domain with hosting, which saves you $10 or so.

Create

Once you have purchased your hosting, it is time to start getting down to business. You now have money invested into this, so time is money. Every minute you go without something on yoursite.com, you are essentially throwing money away.

Depending on your experience, it may take longer than you like, but get it done. Keep in mind that you can always make changes later. It is impossible to know everything you will need, so you can rest assured that you will have to make changes once you launch.

There are many resources online, and a simple Google search should solve most of your problems.

Content

It is important to have a substantial amount of content before you officially launch your business. Whether you are running a store, a blog, or whatever, if your site looks empty, then people are not going to spend much time at it.

You may also want to consider having a good amount of content ready to be published, once you launch your website. This will help lessen your load, while you spend time marketing. Learn how to attract visitors to your site.

Share

Many people opt to share after they launch, but that order could potentially weaken the effect of your launch. Share your site with friends, family, and anybody else in your network. For one, this can start the buzz going, and it also helps show some activity on your site when you are ready to launch.

This step can also act as a beta version. So if there are any problems, they can be fixed before you show off your work to people you don’t know.

Launch

There is really not much to do here, but get in the mindset. Start posting and sharing your site all over the internet, message boards, and anywhere you can think of. Your site is now live, so don’t make any drastic changes or create some errors, unless you warn your visitors.

Social Network

Get your business out there. Let people know about it. Join every social network you come across, and actively interact with your followers. Eventually you will learn what works and what doesn’t, but when you first start out the more exposure the better.

Also get to know your competition. Introduce yourself and ask how they have grown their business. When dealing with these people, it is a good idea to act naive or a little clueless. Most of these people will help you out more if they think you really want their help and look up to them.

If you’re promoting a product, then see if you can recruit some affiliates to help you out.

Maintain

The most important step. You won’t believe how many people get to this step and then quit. Most people have very short attention span. If you don’t constantly keep your customers or readers entertained or wanting to come back for more, then they won’t. Contrary to what you may think, there are thousands of other people with the same business as yours, and they are just as easy to find.

Make changes, updates, and/or add new content to your site. As you continue to gain experience, soon you will able to understand what needs to be done and how to do it.

Bottom Line: While there is really no 1,2,3 step method to creating a successful online venture, these are the basic steps to get started. How you individually work each step and eventually maintain your site, will decide the outcome.

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