Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art and Writing

Internet business success: No free lunch. Really.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

My first rule of thumb when it comes to any product or service that someone is trying to sell me in regards to the internet is: before I pay you anything, let me do some research of my own.

I don't know how many times I've gotten enticements in the mail or my email that sell programs and seminars and all kinds of fabulous tools for the low low price of $Too Much. Gimmicks, offers, freebies -- all to entice me to spend my money making someone else's business a success. There are so many free and low cost services and information available on the web that it is foolish to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for someone to collect it and print it out for you at a seminar.

Up front, let me say that very rarely do I pay for web site services that I use as a webmaster. And, if I do, I certainly don't shell out thousands. I do research to find the best tools at the lowest price. In no way am at the point that I do that yet. My web site, my client list, and my income has slowly but steadily grown over the years.

So, it was with eight years of experience and all the above thoughts that I attended a StoresOnline seminar with my employer at my very-much part time design job. The seminar promised a free lunch, a free business planner, and an introduction to internet marketing. Rather than rehash the hard-sell for their product or theorize what they were or were not about, let me point you to this page. You can also do a simple Google search on StoresOnline and find the first page of hits to be full of negative reports. Take that for what you will.

What struck me was the make-up of the audience: hard-working people with multiple jobs, many elderly and retired people, and a high number of disabled or people obviously experiencing medical issues. In other words, people desperate for an additional income. StoresOnline was using Marketing 101 to sell their product to this select audience:

Offer something for free.
Offer just enough information to whet appetites but do little else.
Raise the intensity and pressure level to spur people to act or else they'll "miss out."
Offer a selective (i.e. time-based) discount.
String them along for further "rewards" (discounts).

StoresOnline -- and other companies like them -- have customers who have had success. Though they specifically state that results aren't guaranteed, that these are not the normal results, and that there is no such thing as a "get rich quick scheme", they only speak in terms of success and getting rich quick. The way they are selling their product seems to perpetuate the myth to a very hungry and desperate group of people that the internet is the answer to all their independent income needs.

The StoresOnline speaker suggested that these were the six highly successful tips and secrets needed for people wanting to start a business online:

Top the search engine lists
Strategic linking
Permission email marketing
Vertical portals
ePublishing
Target marketing
Affiliate programs
Drop shipping

The speaker also listed three "crucial" steps that must be followed in order to prevent business catastrophe:

The right knowledge and training.
The right tools and support.
Take action.

You can see how these would fit nicely into their own marketing plan and encourage people to do business with them. I can't say that the three steps are out of line or out of order, but I would like to extract them from a specific sales model and say that the right knowledge and training, as well as the right tools and support, are available from more than just a company like StoresOnline.

High-pressure sales tactics do not work on me. In fact, they create a reverse outcome: I am less likely to buy from anyone using them because they do not allow me time to think. I won't act on anything I can't first think about. The more I am pressured into buying or deciding without a seller stepping back and giving me time to think about it or research it on my own, the more likely I am to simply walk off and get away from the pressure. It is that reaction that led me to research StoresOnline, which led me to discover many heartbreaking letters and stories of people who dropped a lot of money into the hopes of reaching internet sales success. That led me to try to write a post on a topic -- having a successful business on the internet -- that I still am grappling with on my own. I hope this helps. Someone.

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What about that list? Are they right? Are those things the key to internet success?

Top search engine lists. Yes, this is vital. They are absolutely correct in stating that poor search engine ranking will really, really hurt. Unless you have incredible word-of-mouth success, search engines are how customers initially find your site. If people can't find your site, what's the point? Search engine optimization (SEO) has volumes written about it on the internet. It's a fluid topic, with the things I had to understand when I first put up my site in 1999 being very different now. The internet grows and changes and the search engines change to adapt. SEO requires constant vigilance.
Strategic linking. I discuss links in more detail below. This is tied into SEO, as well as into networking (also discussed below).
Permission email marketing. Again, I talk about marketing below and this will be covered. Basically, this is very different from the idea of blanket marketing, but instead marketing to those who are interested and have asked for you to include them in your marketing efforts.
Vertical portals. A vertical portal is basically a site targeted to a specific audience, customer, or consumer. StoresOnline, and businesses like them who are selling you web sites, encourage multiple web site purchases. Each site would have a different focus or product. Obviously, this works well for them since they will do better in sales. There is a place for vertical portals, but that isn't necessarily a given success/failure issue. Some sites have a variety of products and services and manage to market or arrange their site in a way that customers with a specific interest have no problem finding what they want (Amazon.com, for example). Other sites have too much variety and haven't found a way to "direct traffic" to the proper places. [See also Vertical Portals.]
ePublishing. Publishing without having to deal with paper and printing costs is obviously a help. Instead of paying postage to send out newsletters and such, you can use your target audience or current customer list to send one out via email. ePublishing is important. You need to keep your web site front and center with customers so they don't forget about it. You need to let them know of sales, offers, new products, changes, etc. This ties into the concept of keeping your web site content fresh, which is discussed below.
Target marketing. Target marketing is vital to small business or companies that don't have the budget to blast ad campaigns to a large general audience in hopes of picking up a few customers here and there. Target marketing makes sense, and with all the tools available on the internet that will help you discover your market is, there is no reason to not keep this in mind. The key here, of course, is that first you must know who your market is. Is it geographically based? Product-based? Age-based? You can't target them if you don't know who they are. This requires you to both know your product or service, research who uses it, and go from there. [See also Target Marketing]
Affiliate programs. You can find a pretty decent overview on how affiliate programs work here. Again, like target marketing, with the technology available and the fact that you are using a medium (the internet) that encourages such programs, it can be vital to your internet business should it apply to the product or service you offer.
Drop shipping. StoresOnline's program heavily relies upon you finding a manufacturer with goods you sell on your web site. The key is drop shipping. You never handle the goods, but the orders are forwarded to the manufacturer who fills the order and ships directly to the customer. It is for this reason I'm not sure StoresOnline, and other businesses like it, are a great option for people with their own product to sell. Drop shipping is something I, as an artist and "manufacturer" to people looking to just what StoresOnline is advocating, refuse to do. (I have it on my ordering information page that I will not drop ship, and may blog about the reasons why later.) Drop shipping isn't a key to internet success. There are all kinds of businesses out there that do not require it. It is just one aspect of being able to nearly fully automate your web site (which is one of the selling points of StoresOnline) since you neither fill orders nor create the merchandise. This all depends on the web site and business you have. [See also Drop Shipping]

I don't know anything about web sites. What can I do?

Start. You can at least get something started. For free. Read here on how to do that.
Software. There is software available to help you design a web site using a WYSIWIG interface. A great one is Dreamweaver, although MS FrontPage is also popular. There are also many free software downloads or online services that help you create a web page in this same manner.
Web host-provided services. Many of the web hosts offer decent template or store services in their package already. My host, Readyhosting.com, offers a free minimal store with the basic package purchase. You can upgrade this to offer more products. And it requires no HTML or other coding knowledge. GoDaddy.com also offers such services. Find a host that offers automatic web-creation and/or store services.

What steps to I follow to get started with a web site?

Buy a domain name.
Find a service to host your web site.
Build your site.
Pay for a shopping cart service or use a free option.

What about payment options for my customer?

Merchant account. If you have a brick and mortar store, you most likely have a credit card merchant account already. You can use that to enter credit card payment information.
Free options. If you are a new online business or a private individual just getting started, you can use PayPal, Google Checkout, or similar services at no cost. These don't even require a shopping cart, but can use the free "buy" buttons.

What brings search engines to my site?

Content. It seems obvious, but so many people miss the point. If your web site has little to no content, and if it isn't constantly being kept fresh, it starts to sink. Keep your content fresh and relevant. I often encourage people with web sites to start a blog or news page on it which, if done well and regularly, fits the bill perfectly. [See also Web Feed]
People linking to you. Links to your site tell search engines to take you "seriously", that others on the web are linking to your content and your site and that not only are you not a spammer, but probably have some degree of relevancy to whatever topic is getting linked. Links from highly reputable and well-visited sites carry even more weight. Link popularity is important, though I personally do not take too much part in actively seeking and trading links, particularly with sites that aren't relevant to what my site is about. [See also Google Bomb; Link Popularity; Reciprocal Link]
Patience during your gradual building. Don't wait five minutes after uploading your site and then start fuming. New web sites are made every day. Even with work dedicated to making yours stand out, it doesn't happen in moments. Some search engines take longer to "trust" your site. [See also Sandbox Effect; Supplemental Result]

How can I market my web site?

Find customers who want to be found. Think less along the lines of shotgun marketing, spraying a wide audience and hoping to hit a few who are interested -- works great if you're a huge corporation with the money to burn, but if you're small, like me, I need to be a bit more targeted in who I market to. [See also Permission Marketing].
Be creative. I've written about marketing in other posts. You might find a few ideas in those posts. Some of the ideas are low-budget and small-scale, but they are creative. Try something new. Don't just take an ad out in the yellow pages and call it done.
Network. The grand old 1980's and 1990's buzz word. If you think you should do it through some form of a social networking web site, try it. Join online forums with connected interests and do make your web site your signature. Leave comments on blogs that are relevant and bring people back to your site to see what you're about. Get started on social networking sites. The internet is a place of connections, of links and clicking and discovering new people and things. That's why it's called the "web." Network, make people want to connect with you and your web site, but...don't spam. [See also Viral Marketing; Word of Mouth Marketing; Social Networking]
Don't spam. Don't leave comments on blogs that do nothing but tell readers to check out your site. Don't collect email address from people when they don't give you permission to use them for commercial purposes. Don't leave comments on forums clearly trying to harvest clicks and links.

What can I expect if I do as you suggest?

Saving money by doing something yourself will cost you time at the beginning. You will make mistakes. You will have to learn by trial and error. You will have to do some research on the internet and find out what the new, hot tools are, what the new trends, software, and technology is. Decide if it's for you, and see how you can go about making it work for you.
You can't remain happy in your ignorance. You're going to have to have a little computer knowledge, and a little internet/web site knowledge, too. If you turn everything over to a designer, you have no way of adding tools (such as Google Analytics, as described below) on your own. You will have to wait until your designer can do it. Find ways to build, manage, and control your own site as much as you can without it becoming a burden.
Probably not millions. You may or may not find success. But, for certain, you won't have shelled out thousands and found disappointment or dashed expectations. My main point here is that what many of these companies are selling is already available for free, with a little work. If you would rather not be bothered by all of this, by all means, sign up for a company like StoresOnline and see what you get. You may be a success. You may just lose your money. I can't give you any better odds than that, anyway.

-------------------- LINKS and RESOURCES --------------------

General and Website Marketing Links:
Learn what others have to say about internet marketing.

ePublishing Services and Resources

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) links:
Learn what other people have to say about increasing search engine traffic on your site.

Stat Analysis links:
Learn who is visiting your site, what brings them there, and why they stay.

Keyword and Link Research:
Learn what keywords are being used on the web and more.