2) And the other method, well, is to be one of those affiliates, selling the products of others through an affiliate network such as Clickbank, Commission Junction or signing up directly with the company through their independent affiliate software.

The two points mentioned above can come in various and shapes and sizes from products that need to be shipped, e-products such as training or electronic media etc. A good way is to establish your presence on the internet one way or the other, regardless, and the sooner you start, the better for you in the long run. There are many ways to promote products online and the act of promoting, selling and exposing your products and services, whether your own or affiliated is collectively called ‘Internet Marketing’ which is the be all and end all of online survival.

Ways to promote your products are diverse. These include:

1) Independent Website Owners, which will include product websites, affiliate websites, blog sites etc. etc.
2) Hosted pages through sites such as blog sites, profile pages e.g. eBay, Myspace, Facebook etc.
3) PPC (Pay Per Click) promotion on Google, Yahoo and partner networks and can be in the form of direct linking, or landing page linking
4) PPV (Pay Per View) as above
5) PPI (Pay Per Impression) As above
6) Social Networks such as Twitter, Facebook etc.
7) Web 2.0 promotion with Digg, Squidoo, Hubpages etc.

I’ll give more details on all the networks and methods in an upcoming post, for now I want to give you an idea of what is possible and how online business should be approached, that is, with eyes wide open and aware of possibilities.

Social Networking is the new kid on the block, and after discussing some of the traditional avenues, this will be my focus in the short term.

Happy days – J

For those whom ‘congratulation’ are in order, let me try and dissuade you from this path, go home, have a drink, start your savings account. And for those whom a ‘good luck’ is in order, let me say this, you may find this page a glimmer of hope, a consolation or very unsettling.

But wait, let me explain:

Venturing out into the online world has always sounded easier ‘said’ than ‘done’. The ‘one day’ when I’m all grown up, the ‘one day’ when I have some spare time and spare cash, I will throw together that website, online store or ‘web page’ and make a killing online. Why not? everyone else is doing it, so I read, so I hear, right? Dear online adventurer, there is the world we dream, where fantasies float free, where riches and wealth are plentiful, and where we are the center of riches. Imagine! That web store we dreamed of became a hit, we have millions of visitors clicking on our site, we have products rolling out the door, and we have customers resembling a crowd with outstretched arms, fists full of dollar bills, begging you to take their money (and this is where that sound comes in, you know? The sound of the music record coming to a scratching halt) You are sitting in front of your computer, bills to pay, a job you hate, and you need to get to bed sometime today and start all this same old crap over again tomorrow …. when will my ship come in, you think?

Okay, enough of the dramatic visual, let’s get one thing clear upfront, your ship will never come in, and I mean it, NEVER. It is already here, only, it is in small parts and we have to start building. Yes, it is time to start build that ship ourselves, and with my help and our reader advice, you will. You absolutely WILL. Before I continue… read my first post on Earning Money Online if you haven’t already done so, okay…

First things first; Yes it is easier said than done, so we need to set out the building blocks of online enterprise. Before we get to the question as to ‘what you envision’ or ‘thought’ you should do online, or even ask ‘what?’ I should or could do online, there is the question, ‘What does it involve?’

Ingredients:

1 x Desktop Computer or Notebook
1 x Internet Connection
100% x Willingness to learn

The basic elements of online business is the following:

1) Website
2) Product(s)
3) Customer(s)

The easy part is the Website and the Product, thousands of wannabe internet entrepreneurs starting off get caught up in the question of, “What product(s) should I sell or promote, where should I start, and what kind of website should I have, build or buy?” And this question haunts them, keeps them up, plagues their minds and becomes a thorn in their side. Questions like? ‘Is there a better product?’, ‘Should I think harder’, ‘Should I be smarter?’ – We are always caught in the cycle of – ‘What is it that i don’t know that I should know?’ or ‘Am I making the right choices?’ – Let’s just lay that all to rest people, take a deep breath, and rest assured that those questions are not important right now, time will answer them. To much time is spent by new entrepreneurs pondering those questions and they waste valuable time. Let’s rather answer that exact question which is the root of our entrepreneural fears. ‘What is it that I don’t know that I don’t know about online enterprise.’ This way we can save a lot of time wasted on hours, days or months spent pondering this, thinking it over, changing plans, finding other products or building websites chasing that goose laying golden eggs.

Ask yourself this question, ‘What is the missing information then, what am I missing here?’. I can hear many of you saying, What? What are you talking about, having a cool website and products to sell is all I will need to make it happen. No it is not. period. Okay? There is a little secret you should know, and once you know this, have learned it through Online Elementary school, Middle and High School, you would agree. Let me not get ahead of myself for now.

Yes you need a product, and you need a website, but what else do you need, what would be the most important part? And suddenly I see a few people go, ‘yeah dummy, customers of course but I knew that already, someone has to buy your products or services after all. And this is where I go (clapping my hands) well done, schools out. Well, herein lies the problem, easy to say, and like I said above, it is ‘easier said than done’.

I will illustrate it like this:

Having a website = 5%
Having products = 5%
Having customers = 10%
And the remaining 80%? (continue below)

And the remaining 80% of online success is? … ‘GETTING Customers To Your Website‘ – violla. Okay, emphasis on GETTING. The hardest thing to do in online enterprise, and the least understood part in online enterprise is exactly that, ‘getting customers to your store’ – This is where most educational companies, those who love to take your hard earned cash to show you the way on online business, let you down. They let you down and don’t, or can’t teach you how to be successfull – It’s the hard part, and the part very few know, or very few will share. Yes, it’s the hardest thing to do, and the part that most don’t teach you, never will teach you or if you are very lucky, they will teach you the secrets for a small fortune.

Here are the words of wisdom, the golden goose … ‘You can sell whatever you want, have any website you want, because once you know how to drive traffic to your website(s), you are free to do as you please. And this is the most important thing you will learn. How to market your sites, how to drive traffic and how to make your websites popular, in internet terms.

Most people build a website, put some content on there, and ‘hope’ for the best. It’s like owning the best ice-cream store in town, but running it from your backyard with no visibility, or telling anyone about it. You need to learn how to place that ice-cream store on the beachfront in the middle of summer. Online real-estate has it’s own rules, and it is very unforgiving.

Now here we are, welcome to the ProfitWorx Online Elementary School – I will try and help you as best I can. My next post will broadly discuss some online ventures you can consider, and I will give you a rundown and my opinion on them.

Hey, see you soon,
John