Middleson LLC

Management Consulting

Q&A Blog

Become an Internet Entrepreneur in 10 Easy StepsI was on an panel at American University's Kogod School of Business last night and got several good questions from the students. Here is an answer to one great question:

Question: I know I want to start my own business, but I just don't know what it should be. Any ideas?

Answer: Becoming an affiliate marketer on the internet is a great way to start your own business. Basically it means finding a niche for a product or service that is in demand and create a site with advice and reviews on how to buy that service. You can generate revenue off of that site by signing up as an affiliate on networks like Commission Junction. Here are 10 simple steps to becoming an internet entrepreneur:

Find a niche. Use tools like wordtracker.com to see how often people around the world are searching for information on different products. Find a product niche that is relatively popular but not yet swamped with great competing sites. It's even better if you select something you already know a lot about and have a passion for (e.g., a hobby.)

Create the content. Do research on the niche you choose. Write reviews on the products. Give advice. If you are not a great writer, it is easy to find copywriters to do it for you on services like elance.com.

Make a website. It is pretty easy to build you own these days using downloaded software like wordpress.com. There are also a lot of online site builders and hosts like freewebs.com (which is what I typically use.) If you don't want to build it yourself, you can also use elance.com to find website developers.

Optimize your site content for search engines. Figure out the keywords and keyword phrases you want to target and write your content around them. Make sure you take the time to put in good site titles and filename titles as well with those keywords. Go to a search engine spider simulator to see what your site looks like to Google to make sure it sees what you want. Add a site map page to your site with a link and description of all your pages. This is not only good for people visiting, but it also helps the search engine spiders find all your pages to include in their index.

Submit your site to search engines. Go to Google and submit your site so they add it to their index. Do the same with Yahoo, MSN and DMOZ.org.

Get inbound links to your site. Go out and find other sites that people looking for your product might be. Not only is it an important way to funnel visitors, but it is also a key thing to improve your quality score with Google. Post comments in forums with a link back to your site. Offer to post links on your site to theirs.

Consider some paid advertising. Set up an account on Google Adwords to place text ads in searches or on relevant content. Try the same with Yahoo, MSN and maybe Facebook.

Blog. Add a blog to your site and post new content at least weekly. This helps your Google and other search engine rankings. (You can see your sites Google score by downloading the Google toolbar and visiting your site while you have that on.)

Place ads. Put ads on your site to generate revenue from your visitors. Sign up with Commission Junction to put ads on your site for relevant products. You will earn a commission on each visitor that ends up clicking or buying. Sign up for Google Adsense to have them put ads on your site.

Test & Learn. Look closely at the statistics of your visitors to your site to see what is working and what is not and make adjustments. Keep optimizing.

InternetBusinessMastery.comEmail Format - Text versus HTMLQuestion: HTML or text? What would you chose for a newsletter aimed at CEOs and CFOs? Erlend F. - Marketing Professional
Answer:Cost Per Acquisition Benchmarks

Question:
Melinda B. - Head of eCommerce and Online Sales at ZoneAlarm, a division of Check Point SoftwareAnswer: