Online Marketing, also known commonly as Digital Marketing or Internet Marketing, can be a very lucritive business opportunity, however there are a few key aspects to consider before rendering yourself unemployed, to kick off your online business. I myself, over the years, have left fancy titles, totally of my own accord, with the final destination being to 'work from home' and get rich. Okay, so where is the best place to start? I would suggest, starting from the beginning. I can say this quite confidently as I had learned from my own mistakes. A few failed attempts, due to insufficient reseach and not having a strategy, has enabled me to find my golden path to success. So if the context I have set thus far leaves you wondering whether to continue reading this article, well let me say, "Please do". My failed attempts has actually rewarded me with knowledge of what needs to be done to get my Internet Marketing business of the ground and on my journey to success.
So where does the 'average Joe' get started? Based on my experience and knowledge to date, and more importantly, based on my failures, I believe that I am in one of the best positions to answer this question for you, and at the same time simplify the answer to offer you a head-start.
Let us start by understanding what our desired destination will be. Author, Steven Covey, in his book, '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' stated, "let us start with the end in mind". Based on the high volumes of sales and the popularity of his book, I would suggest using his methods. Next we will review some of the problems and failures, I had encountered. Hopefully, this would prevent you from making the same mistakes. Finally, I will offer you a roadmap and a high-level strategy to succeed.
Stage 1: What is the desired outcome?
Defining your outcome prior to getting started is not necessarily a 'nice to have' but rather a priority. Often individuals tend to start projects or businesses without defining what they want from the project or business, and this often results in set-backs. Some of these set-backs could be a lack of motivation, imbalance in priorities, apprehension to allocate funds to the project or business and often the inability to envision their developing enterprise.
This being said, initiating your business with a vision of what it is and where you want to see your business go, is an important step in this process. A simple example of this:-
- Define the purpose of your business
- Define exactly what your business does to generate revenue. If there are multiple streams of income, define each stream, however start with your core money generators
- Creating a vision board would be a great way to galvanise your interest in your business prospects
Stage 2: Challenges with starting an online business
- Information overload is often a reason why viable concepts never turn to fruitful business ventures
- Too much information can lead to overload however on the other hand insufficient research can also pose a challenge
- Time wastage is another aspect that tends to creep up on you after start-up
- Losing a stable income, often by leaving work too soon can lead to challenges, as Online Marketing is not for everyone
Stage 3: Roadmap to success
- Identify a suitable schedule to work - If Online Marketing is not a passion it can become more of a burden to kick off, therefore setting up a schedule to work will enable you to stick to plan. Once the path to financial gain has been established you may invigorate your passion
- Draft your business plan - A method to overcome information overload and to offer direction would be to outline your business opportunity on a business plan. As you construct your business plan you will identify if the business venture is worth driving forward. This would then eliminate some of the potentially fruitless business choices. The business plan also offers direction and timescales to aid you to stick to defined timeslots per milestone that you complete. In my optinion it is often ideal to start small, concentrating on one Online Marketing scheme at a time
- Marketing your work - There are any methods to marketing within the Internet Marketing arena, however this area can pose some challenges. It is best then to start simple and to start with what you know, then grow your internet business by incorporating other channels. My suggestion is to start of with article writing, however blogging and article rewriting can also be starting points to quick remuneration. Basically, attempt to write as much quality content for the internet as you can. Remember to focus on quality before quantity when you get started, and to reiterate, start with what you know
- Where to advertise your content - Added to this is to identify the channels that would best market your content. Consider again that you are a starter and you need to build your portfllio. I would suggest starting of with article directories that enable you to advertise your articles free of charge
- Freelancing - Article marketing on a pro-bono basis is only a short term task and once you have built a portfolio of quality content you may start looking at paid article directories. Consider sites like Freelancer.com and Elance.com as these freelancing sites are recognised and will offer you remuneration for the articles or the content you write. They have self explanatory application processes and thus you could get started in a few hours. Also note that you could start on these freelancing websites and expect a remuneration for your content before having to build a portfolio, however potential buyers of your work would often want to review your prior work to gauge your level of knowledge and experience. To prevent any disputes my suggestion is to initite this process by providing free content on the interne
- Research - This may be one of the most important steps in this entire process. We need to keep abreast of changes in the industry as well as brushing up on our skill levels. Research is an aspect that you probably want to do right from the start of setting up your Online Marketing business and also before each step in this process
Some of the research you may want to embark on:-
- Writing techniques, including grammar and spelling
- Various Online Marketing schemes, e.g. article writing, blogging, affiliate marketing, etc
- Mission statement, vision and values
- Time management and in certain cases project management, depending on the number of writing projects you take on
- Sub-contracting, which is ideal when you want to scale your freelancing business to incorporate market solutions that you may not have skills for and thus you can sub-contract to individuals who have the neccessary skill
- Internet Marketing or Online Marketing tools to use within your business