Online-Biz-Now

Article marketing is a truly great resource to the online entrepreneur.  It works great, it’s easy to learn and it’s free.

All you have to do is spend some time finding great keywords for your niche, write 30-50 quality articles around the keywords (you can actually start with around 10 just to get an idea if your niche will be profitable.  If it looks good you should add more until you get to the 30-50 article mark or until you have all the visitors/sales you want), submit your articles to article directories such as EzineArticles.com and voila, you have traffic.

I know many people reading this might have had a slight panic attack at the idea of writing 30-50 articles per niche.  And truthfully if there is a downside to article marketing the sheer number of articles needed would be it.

But you really have to view it as a process.  Don’t set unrealistic expectations.   Writing that many articles and doing the kewyord research will take some time.  Be willing to spread the job out over a week or so depending on how much time you can devote to it daily.

If you absolutely can’t stand the idea of writing all those articles you can always hire a professional to do it for you.  Just be careful who you hire.  When working with an article writing service, make sure to look for:

•  a qualified writer who is a native English speaker

• all articles are  only 100% original content

•  the article isn’t sold to anyone but you

•  and that you own all the rights to the finished product.

It really doesn’t matter if you write the articles yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.  Just make sure to use this highly effective traffic generation method for your online business, because it works!

I hope you’ve come to the realization that building a huge list of opt-in subscribers who trust you and practically hang on your every word is one of the most important, yet easiest, things you can do to optimize your online business.

Build the list once, give your subscribers something of value and you will have your very own hungry crowd who will be much more likely to purchase your product or a product that you are promoting for someone else.

Now comes the tricky part. How do you get them to sign up for your list?  Simple, you bribe them!  Now don’t get all upset, I’m not talking about anything that’s unethical.

All you have to do is offer them something that will help them as a ‘thank you’ for signing up to your list.   Then make sure that your newsletters consistently provide them with valuable tips and information which makes the  whole process  a win/win for you and your subscriber.

So, what types of bribes should you use?  That depends on your niche and the wants and needs of the people in your niche.  If you’re a little new to your niche and not quite sure what your niche might need just visit a forum and find out what kinds of questions people are asking, than provide them with the answer.

One of the best bribes is an 5 - 7 lesson e-course covering some basic information related to your niche.  You can follow up with additional email messages on a regular basis expanding on what you’ve covered in your course.

Don’t skip this important step.  It’s so important to your long term success  to build a list and don’t forget that if you want to get you have to give.  Give the visitors to your blog or squeeze page something of value and they will learn to like and trust you and that is how to build a profitable online business.

There are a dozen, maybe more,  ways to make money on the Internet.   There are also a  dozen, maybe more, ways to lose money on the Internet.  Unless you approach your Internet business with the right mindset you might as well paint a bulls eye on your forehead, because every scammer our there will be headed straight for you.

What To Look For

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.  I don’t know why so many people seem to forget that as soon as they start getting email messages claiming they can make a ton of money, overnight with no training and no effort.

While I’ll admit I believe an Internet business is one of the easiest to start and to build it doesn’t mean you won’t have to do anything.  You still have to work at it, consistently.

Where Do I Start?

Forget for a minute that this is the Internet.  Let’s say you were starting a career as a nurse, or a mechanic.  Would you just go out and apply at local businesses or hospitals and expect them to hire you with no training?  Of course not.  Yet online that type of thing happens all the time.   People think they can just jump in with no knowledge.

It’s easy to gain all the knowledge you need to build an enormously successful online business, and it won’t take long.  You can even earn while you learn.  But you can’t skip this step altogether.

So the first thing you need to do is find a good course that can teach you the basics of Internet marketing.   Than learn all you can and start implementing what you’ve learned.

And last, but definitely not least, don’t get sidetracked! I can’t stress that enough.  It’s so common to start your business  then a few weeks later you don’t think it’s working because you haven’t made much, or any, money yet and you’re very susceptible to the pitches of the scammers.  That’s the bulls eye on your forehead I was talking about.

Don’t allow yourself to get distracted.  If yo have taken the time to learn what  you need to know to get started, and you are using that knowledge in a consistent manner, you will make money.  It could take a month it could take six, but it will work.

What Won’t  Work

The thing that I can guarantee won’t work, ever, is if you skip from one ’sure thing’ to the next.   Think of it this way, if you had an offline business and the first few months were a little rocky: lots of work, little to no profit, you wouldn’t just chuck the whole thing and go open another business.  As a matter of fact you probably wouldn’t expect to make any money for the first couple years anyway.

An online business is similar.  Don’t chuck it after a month just because you’re not rich yet.  Online you don’t have the huge overhead of an offline business so it won’t take you years to make money, if you work at it consistently you can probably be making money in a few months.

The Bottom Line

Educate yourself first.  Don’t expect to just jump online and know anything about Internet marketing.  Learn and then do.  If you do it consistently without getting distracted by the ’sure things’ out there, you will make money.  You can make more online in less time than with any other (legal) thing I know of.  Just do it!