Five Kinds of Successful Online Businesses

By: Scott Oliver

If you're seriously considering starting an online business, it makes sense that you would want to choose something that's going to do well right from the start. When you're investing time and money in your business, it would help to know if you're setting yourself up for failure or for success. Here are five different kinds of online businesses that have proven to be a hit with customers. Perhaps you can find your perfect business idea here too.

Health and Weight Loss

Everyone either wants to lose weight or wants to improve their health. We're a society that wants to take care of our bodies and if we look good at the same time, that's all the better. If you want to start an online business, you might want to focus on ways to help people lose weight or simply to improve their health. You can do this by offering fitness and health related products on your website or perhaps by offering eBooks that will help them make better health decisions. Try to find something that relates to a question or a concern a person has about their health - and then you have a viable and profitable business plan.

Beauty

While it used to be that beauty was something that only women talked about, that certainly isn't the case any longer. That said, women are still the consumer group that is much more likely to invest in makeup and skin care products, though men too are looking to improve their appearance. With anti aging face products, both genders can begin to reclaim their youthful appearance, which will help them feel more confident in any setting. Selling high quality makeup products and helping customers with their choices is a great business plan, as it allows customers to have the department store experience from the comfort of their home.

Exercise and Sports

But weight loss isn't the only concern with it comes to health for customers. Exercise and sports are other areas where you can make a profit with your online business. For example, selling sporting equipment or products related to sports fans is still a big business. When you work with the team and their product line, you will be able to access thousands of fans who want to support their team with licensed products.

Fashion

Of course, fashion is still a hot seller, no matter where you are. If you can present high quality fashions on your website, you will attract not only the teenaged sector, but also those in their twenties and thirties - of both genders. Look to celebrity and gossip magazines to show you what's hot and what's not and then look for a vendor that sells the same or similar items that you can them turn around to sell for a profit.

Low Price Goods
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No matter what you choose to add to your website, if you can sell products available on other sites for a much lower price, you are going to do well. This goes for fashion, beauty, exercise, sports, etc. If you can find high quality products that can be sold at much lower prices, you will draw in many more customers than you could have with higher priced goods. For example, if you can find a way to sell organic goods and clothing for much cheaper than healthy food specialty stores, you can help those that want to be healthier, but can't afford the higher prices of other stores.

No matter what you choose, try at first to think of things that you yourself might want to buy online - chances are good that you're not the only one.

About The Author

Scott Oliver offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of "Website Traffic Secrets" and "Minisite Creation Tactics" for FREE -- immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com

Business Networking

Business Networking On The Internet

Networking has long been one of the most valuable and viable tools a marketer or salesman can have. Way before the Internet became such a business powerhouse, marketers built up lists of potential leads and business relationship partners through networking. Even though a lot of businesses have taken their sales efforts online, there are still lessons to be learned from offline business networking.

Industry And Trade Events

Industry and trade events, business meetings, and seminars are just a few of the most likely venues to meet people interested in your service or product. Offline network marketers have been attending these types of function almost religiously for years. Groups of like minded people naturally flock to these events providing ample opportunity to network and begin to develop relationships.

Social networking websites are a major part of Web 2.0 and offer opportunities for the active networker to meet and make new leads. Much has been made of Web 2.0 as being a more social Internet further enhancing the opportunity for positive business networking. Blogs, forums, and content sharing websites are just some of the types of website that you can get involved in. By leaving memorable and relevant comments with a signature link to your own site or portfolio you can effectively build a profile of new leads and interested customers.

A Pocket Full Of Business Cards

Every networker knows that they need a plentiful supply of business cards. They're always ready to hand two to anybody that asks (one for the receiver and one for somebody they know that may also be interested). An equally important part of networking, though, is the receipt of business cards. Any business relationship needs to be a two way encounter and that's why networkers always have a healthy selection of other people's business cards. This also gives them the chance to follow up on leads and keep in regular contact with any potential clients or referrals.

The link to your website acts largely like a business card. It directs leads to a central location that includes contact information and a raft of other informative facts about you, your service, and the products you offer. Always be ready to link to your website but only do so when it's called for. Don't spam and don't post links where they aren't welcome. It is true that links help to improve search rankings but illegitimate posting of your link offers only a very short term gain, if it offers a gain at all.

Be Memorable

The most effective offline networkers are friendly, amicable, and helpful. They don't engage in one sided conversations and listen to the whole discussion as well as offer intuitive and insightful information. First impressions really do last and it's important that you be memorable for all the right reasons.

Networking online requires the same lasting impression. You should come across as being helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. In every aspect of your networking it is imperative that you act appropriately - it may be a virtual world, but the people involved are no less real. When using blogs and forums that are relevant to your area, links will only really prove effective if they are accompanied by a genuine comment offering information or help. Simple posts like "I agree" or "great post" won't cut it with most people.

Build Relationships Rather Than Go For The Sell

Networking is a means of generating new leads. In some circumstances it may prove beneficial to go straight for the sell, but these circumstances are few and far between. Offline marketers know that by building a positive relationship with a lead they will be more inclined to use their service or buy their product over and over again but only when they need it.

Much is made of the power of your leads and for good reason. Building a list of online leads, with email addresses and other data, enables you to keep in constant communication. New product releases, special offers, and joint ventures can all be promoted to the same list with the possibility of selling numerous products to the same people. Building a list of leads is often done by using form of lead capture form on your website - offer a newsletter or a free offer that can only be accessed by providing an email address.

You Get Out What You Put In

Networking, whether it be online or offline, is not a simple task. It is considered a form of guerilla marketing because it can be done for very little money but an expenditure of your own time and effort is required instead. The more effort you put into building a powerful list of leads, the better the results you will acquire. Visit more sites, talk to more people, and grow your list quicker so that it contains more qualified leads.

Visiting sites that are highly relevant to your industry and to your product or service will ensure that you gain targeted and qualified leads. These leads are likely to be the most responsive when you later attempt to sell them anything. Be careful never to use underhand or black hat methods when networking online because it can get your link removed, your post banned, and can even cause untold damage to the popularity of your website that is incredibly difficult to recover from; in short, it just isn't worth it.

Look After Your Leads

Once you've built your list of qualified leads you need to take care of them. Don't just leave them without any contact for weeks or months on end - you need to keep in contact regularly enough that they don't forget who you are but not contact them too often that they unsubscibe from your mailing list. If anybody does want to unsubscribe then you have to remove them from your list as soon as possible and ensure that no more communication is sent them to them.

Networking is a good business practice. Offline, it has been used for many years to help entrepreneurs, salesmen, and marketers promote their service, product or business. The advance of social networking online means that it is an even more viable method to improve your online business results, generate sales, and offer a superb ROI on a minor investment.

Try out these social networking sites

1. AdlandPro

2. MyLot

3. Apsense

4. RFN

5. Traffic Era
As a member of trafficera, you will be able to do all of the following and MORE!

1) Advertise your websites, splash pages, and banners to millions of people worldwide
2) Connect with other people from around the globe
3) Join in discussion groups related to your own interests
4) Maintain your own blog
5) Compete in weekly competitions for huge rewards
.....

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About the Author: WebWiseWords creates compelling web site content that helps to improve search engine rankings and also improves sales figures. To buy content or find further information visit the WebWiseWords site.

Making Money At Home With Clickbank Elite : A Product Review

By: Liane Bate

An easy way to start making money at home almost effortlessly with your online business is to set up a Clickbank website. This site would offer electronic products available through the Clickbank marketplace that you can sell as an affiliate and earn commissions from. Clickbank is probably the best way online to sell affiliate products.

I wouldn't say that Clickbank is a business for making money at home in itself. Rather, it is something that allows you earn extra cash, big or small, from product sales to boost your regular online business income. In my opinion, it should be used as a supplement to your internet business, not as your only means of generating income.

I say that because an online business is more than just selling products and services to make money at home. A business means you offer something of quality to customers over the long haul in hopes that they will become repeat customers because you have offered information or services that are unbeatable from a source they can trust.

If you want to start making money at home quickly to supplement your business, Clickbank works like a charm, but you have to know how to use it effectively if you want to make the sales.

That's where Clickbank Elite comes in. Clickbank Elite is both a manual and software that will help you choose the top-selling items at Clickbank that you want to promote on your site or blog, or other advertising means. It is updated regularly so you know what's hot and what's not.

The software gives you a search screen where you can select products by keyword, categories, subcategories, commissions earned, popularity, gravity, and so on. You can further sort the data you receive with dropdown menu choices and even export it to a spreadsheet if you want.

Product rankings will let you know which products will help you start making money at home. You can even track where your sales came from, find products that will soon become hot sellers, and create ads that look like Adsense ads to promote your products.

Will this software really generate more sales for you and get you earning more money at home? Well I have been using Clickbank Elite for several months now, and while it is great at helping you find the best products to promote online, it has really not helped me anymore than one person's advice on a forum.

If you have no idea what products to promote, or what gravity and $/sale means, then it's a good idea to get a copy of Clickbank Elite because it will help you start making money at home.

But if you have a good or even basic knowledge already of what gravity means, how much you want to earn, and $/sale, then you really don't gain a lot more by ordering Clickbank Elite than you would by simply going to the Clickbank marketplace and choosing products based on gravity and $/sale.

The thing to remember when making money at home with Clickbank is that if you choose products that are extremely popular sellers, then as a newbie internet marketer, you may not generate any sales because all the top dogs are using their savvy advertising skills and profits to beat you out.

Therefore, making money at home for you would mean knowing how to choose what's popular, but not too popular. For someone just starting out, you might want to choose a product where gravity is about 60-100, and $/sale is more than $20.00. These numbers are listed right on the Clickbank website.

Check out these two products from clickbank:
1. Tons of traffic, sign ups and sales
2. Get Google Ads Free

Now I admit to not always being on top of the game with Clickbank and Clickbank Elite, as there are people making fortunes who are using Clickbank Elite on a regular basis, downloading the updates and new products daily. If you do this, you will have an advantage by using Clickbank Elite.

However, with a solid background in internet marketing, and a knowledge of what products to choose based on the criteria mentioned above, then you will still be making money at home with Clickbank without using Clickbank Elite. Much of my income comes from here, so it's a good thing to consider!

About The Author
Liane Bate owns a Plug-in Profit Site web business, and is author of 110+ articles related to online business and internet marketing.