Welcome to the Internet Business Blog

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Name change, brand change, yeah right!

Topeka to Google, Google to Topeka?

April Fools!

Or is it?

Best regards,

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Small Business Demographics

I attended a free business development meeting on 1/22/10. As I expected the information I obtained was invaluable. Particularly all of the services offered by the city of Hampton for start-up businesses (advertising, market research, etc). Since these services are offered by state agencies my state taxes pay for many of them.

The Virginia Department of Business Assistance facilitated the meeting. The attendees where made up mostly of 75% women which wasn't surprising because I read somewhere that women make up the largest entrepreneurial / small business demographic.

Virginia puts forth an effort to assist Small Women and Minority owned businesses (SWaM). SWaM offers state contract work set aside specifically for small businesses which can be a big help since the majority of start-ups fail within the first 5 years.

The old adage "you have to spend money to make money" holds true depending on the type of business you start. You may very well need a substantial amount of overhead to run your shop. Fortunately an Internet Home Based Business does not require much overhead but it does require time. That being said, I just vegged out during the Bankers presentation.

I must say I felt rather good about the fact that my business doesn't require a store front, physical inventory, etc. However, I do have fixed technology costs like software and computer equipment. My other expenses are for hosting and domain name registration which if you are familiar with these costs you know they are cheaper than a monthly cellphone bill.

I recently became a registered Notary with the state which I'll be specializing in loan closings (known as a Notary Signing Agent). This should become a very lucrative market that will allow me to offset any Internet Home Based Business expenses. I had to buy another printer, fax machine, notary stamps, notary license, background check and errors and omissions insurance. All total the notary expenses cost me $200. I made half of that back in the first week.

I'm still plugging away at but its not easy setting up a website specializing in:

  1. Web design
  2. Web development
  3. Web hosting
  4. Domain name registration
  5. Branding (Logo design, letterhead, business cards, brochures)
  6. Internet marketing
Since I'm transitioning into a content search engine optimization guru will offer these products while simultaneously being keyword optimized. So...yeah writing the content is the most time consuming part of finishing the site.

Anyway, I hope your enjoying your evening as I am. I'm going to watch a movie with my wife.

Best regards,

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Internet Home Based Business Overload

I have some important information to give you that will kick your Internet business into overdrive. I want this information to be an awakening from the hypnotic trance that has kept you moving in multiple directions with unsuccessful results.

...but first I have a few questions for you.

  1. Why is it so hard for you to turn a profit with your current Internet home based business?
  2. How many different digital products or multilevel marketing services have you signed up for?
  3. How many times have you forked over your cash for something where you didn't fully understand the process but hoped it would give you big results?
  4. How about all of the "fool Google" tactics that promise to get your website to the top of the search engine results for your product or service?

Most times, when you have a strategy in place that will drive more traffic to your website and turn visitors into buyers you run across something else that persuades you to change direction.

The aforementioned is a direct result of Internet home based business overload.

"When you have a strategy in place stick with it for at least 9-12 months before tweaking it."

You're looking for a way to make your Internet home based business drive money to your bank account. Or maybe you want to make enough money to pay your mortgage or car note so you'll have more money to save.

You've seen Internet Millionaire's in multiple markets boasting how they easily make hundreds of thousands of dollars while they sleep. How do they do it?

...oh wait, they sell you their e-book.

How can you be sure that your Internet home based business will prevail as did your Millionaire counterpart's? ...well lets see, were the multiple testimonials as to how their Internet Home based business plan made other people money enough to convince you? Whether your selling baby clothes or books, your customer's testimonials help your prospective customers trust you.

Depending on how reputable the testimonials are, skeptics like you and I will always needed more convincing. Depending on the price of the product or service the convincing could total up to thousands of words filled with guarantees, bonus offers, and even more testimonials.

The higher the price of the product the more convincing is needed to get someone to buy it. That being said, your sales page is the key component to success.

...ok, here it goes.

I'll sum it up for you in 3 easy steps:
  1. In order to turn your visitors into buyers first you need to catch their attention by appealing to their problem.
  2. Next, tell them how your product works (bullet points) and how it will resolve their problem. Also in this step you need to show how your product or service has worked for others (testimonials).
  3. Then, let them know how much it will cost. Don't forget to add no cost bonuses because we all like to get as many related products and services as possible for our dollar. Here you also have the opportunity to earn their trust with a money back guarantee that is much longer than your competition's.
Although simplified from my previous 6 step approach, these are the steps to creating a sales page that will lead to your online success. I suggest you practice and use these steps in all of your sales correspondence.

Additionally, you can also build an opt-in email list and use these 3 steps to create your email letters too. As a matter of fact, you should have an email list built into your sales page right now! This allows you to sell related products and services to current customers while your sales page is working to obtain new customers.

Best regards,