Wow, yesterday was a busy day! I’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes here at Powerofmore.net, all of which is designed to educate, support and assist you in creating a strong, successful internet presence. An update on all this will come soon.
The subject of todays blog post is more of a reality check for many of you. While on a 3 hour consulting call yesterday with a client, I realized that many of the clients I speak with, regardless of what industry or niche they operate in, all have a similar understanding, or lack of knowledge when it comes to the internet and/or business development. Almost every one of them have personal mental blocks or fears that prevent them from succeeding online or sometimes at their core business in general. Now, this is not to devalue you or your efforts to achieve success, but rather assist in providing you with some perspective and maybe even a simple guide to set you on the right path.
The Struggling Internet Business
To set the tone of this post, I’d like to draw a picture of what a struggling internet business looks like. The following is a bullet list of what a struggling business looks like.
- Failure to have a plan on how you are going to conduct business online.
- Failure to create a marketing plan to help you reach your target audience.
- You do not know who your target audience is.
- You do not know where your target audience hangs out.
- You do not know what your target audiences’ needs, wants and desires are.
- You do not know how to communicate with your target audience.
- Your website is cold and product oriented.
- Your website lacks the ability to connect with your target audience.
- You fail to convey the value to your target audience.
- You do not have a strong social media presence.
- You do not have an email list.
- You do not know what tools or technology to use in support of your business.
- You fail to understand that your business and your website are not the same.
- You fail to operate your internet business from a business perspective.
- You fear potential road blocks and fail to realize they are all in your mind.
These are just a few of the items that prevent you from creating a strong internet presence and achieving the success you desire online or in your business in general. I know you’re excited to get started with your business online, but time and time again, I see to many clients, individuals and businesses alike, rush the process and fail to plan for success.
Set It Up Right
To set yourself up for success, whether on the internet or offline, there are a few things you need to do to get yourself and/or your business off to a successful start.
Have a Business Plan
You must plan for success. Failure to have a plan means you’re setting yourself up for failure before you ever begin. You must clearly define how you are going to conduct business. Your plan should include details on your over all business processes, i.e. when a customer gets to your website, or brick and mortar business, how are you going to convert them into a buying customer. You need to define the sales process from beginning to end.
Your plan should also clearly state your business goals and include dates as to when you intend to accomplish these goals. You must clearly define how you intend to conduct business both online and offline and how your efforts online and offline are going to support each other.
Create a Marketing Plan
Create a marketing plan and mirror your online and offline efforts. Identify what marketing methods are best suited for your business and how you are going to take advantage of their strengths in support of each other. This is an area where many businesses fail. You must plan for how you intend to reach your target market and act on that plan accordingly, adjusting it as need be along the way.
Identify Your Target Market
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a consulting call with a client who didn’t know who the heck their customer was! Failing to properly identify who your target market is prevents you from effectively creating a successful marketing plan. Identify your target market, find out where they hang out online and offline, learn what their needs, wants and desires are and learn how to communicate your message to them in a way that makes them want to do business with you.
Create a Community
A successful business knows that connecting with their target marketing is a necessary step in achieving the success they desire. Doing so will allow you to establish a community around your business of people discussing, sharing and referring others. Word of mouth is extremely powerful and will create an awareness of you, your products and your brand.
Attend business networking events and conventions to connect with others and provide them with your expertise and value. Create a strong social media presence and set up profiles and fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Utilize social bookmarking sites such as Digg, SumbleUpon and Delicious to create backlinks to your website and share your content with others. Establish a social media listening post to monitor and participate in discussions about your business and act on opportunities when they arise.
The more present you are in your community both online and offline, the more buzz you will create around your business. This is strictly a branding opportunity that eventually leads to product sales.
Establish an Email List
I’ve stressed the importance of this in previous posts, you must have an email list to truly make any money online. People who subscribe to your email list want to hear what you have to say. They have given you permission to send them newsletters, marketing email, blog updates and promotions. Build a targeted email list and treat your list well!
Your Business is Not Your Website
It is important to understand that your business is not your website. Your website is simply a marketing tool, your outpost on the internet and your gateway to your products and services. Know and understand the separation of your business from your website and operate it as such. Approaching your website from a business perspective will go a long way in allowing you to succeed both online and offline.
If you want to build a successful business, you must plan according. Take the time to organize, research and plan for success. Do not rush the process or be in any kind of a hurry to succeed. If you do this right, your success will come, but you must be patient, formulate your plan and act on it in a methodical way.
Please retweet or share this post if you found it informative and valuable!
To Your Success!
Sean Smith
Related Posts
Did you enjoy this article? Please retweet it and subscribe to Powerofmore to receive FRESH, NEW tips on Internet Marketing & Social Media advertising as soon as they are posted!
