20 years ago, if you weren't born rich the best way to get rich was to become (or marry) a doctor or lawyer. That's where the money was. Fast forward to 2005. In the last 20 years, there has been a 75% turnover rate on the Forbes list. Internet millionaires like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Ballmer, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Jerry Yang, David Filo, Pierre Omidyar, and more, are knocking the traditionally wealthy off the charts. The Internet has created more millionaires, and more wealth, than any other technological change in history. So Why Are So Many Failing? Despite the vast global opportunity the Internet offers, most people are still failing at their online efforts. Why? Because here's a mindset, online, that you can shortcut your way to success. You don't need to know how to build a website. Or write copy. Or find traffic. That you don't need to pay someone to do those things for you, either. Just buy a push button solution or the secrets to success or a drag and drop website builder, or promote an affiliate code and it's a no brainer. Why does that mindset exist? Because of the vast number of profiteers promoting the notion that they can show you how to leapfrog the learning curve. Could you imagine a doctor having that mindset? Why spend 11 years becoming a doctor? Why not just get that push button surgery guide for $197 USD? It's delivered by FedEx and comes with a full unconditional 90 day money back guarantee! And what about that handy prescription suggestion tool? Is that cool, or what? Man, you can knock 10 years off the learning curve. Bizarre? Indeed. It doesn't work that way offline, and it doesn't work that way online, either, no matter what the profiteers tell you. There are five things you need to know if you want to succeed online. 1) Who is your target market? If you think your target market is, "Well golly gee, pretty much everyone," then you don't know your own target market. 2) What is your industry advantage?Sometimed dubbed USP, your industry advantage is the reason people would buy from you instead of from someone else selling the same thing you sell. If you don't know why people should buy from you, how on earth is anyone else supposed to? 3) How will you promote?If you don't know exactly how and where to reach your target market... you probably aren't, and you probably won't. 4) When will they buy?Statistically, less than one in a thousand people will buy on their very first visit. If you don't know what conversion rate is, or how to measure it, or how to improve it, you need to learn - if you're ever going to earn. 5) Where will you present what you offer?Whether it's a blog or a website, you need a web presence that says you are serious and you are not a rank amateur. According to a Consumer Web Watch survery, the #1 criteria that consumers use to judge credibility is website design. On the Internet, you seldom get a second chance to make a good first impression. One of the strange ironies of the Internet is that most of the profiteers promoting push button solutions have, themselves, followed the five steps above. Maybe it's time you did, too? |
