One of the most frequent questions I receive is just that: "Valerio I would like to make a living from the Internet, but where can I start?" or "Valerio can you tell me what strategies I should follow to be successful with the web?".
The answers, if you have been following me for some time, can be many, and often the best results are achieved by mixing multiple strategies and tools, to optimize results.
One thing is certain: you have to do something you are good at and, most importantly, something you enjoy.
Maybe it's my independent nature, but doing something I don't like not only doesn't appeal to me, but I just can't do it.
3 Ideas for Your Online Business
1. BLOG: Needless to deny it, having a blog is the crucial first step in establishing yourself online. It is the only way you can effectively show what you are worth, how much you know, tell everyone what your goals, your successes, your thoughts are. Developments: from the blog you can build a readership base, build a mailing list, sell your products, and much more.
Difficulty: two basically, set up the blog and start writing. You can quickly bypass the first problem, perhaps by creating your own web space on wordpress.com or more intelligently, by activating your own hosting and installing WordPress on your own, and in this regard I point you to the Baby Plan on Hostgator.com Which you can get with my coupon at a discount of 25%: VALERIO25OFF but to take full advantage of it, you have to take the 1-year or 2-year plan, because the discount applies only on the first payment (so if you choose the monthly payment, you only save $2).
The second problem (what the hell do I write now?) you get through it with a tiny bit of planning: you first have to figure out what you want to write about, the chosen one should be the topic you are most knowledgeable about or like (whatever it is!). Then it's just a matter of overcoming laziness and some initial shyness. With a little practice you might be able to write a post every day!
2. AFFILIATIONS: They are not easy but they work. You already know what this is about right? It's when a guy (you) promotes someone else's product through their affiliate link, and if the people you send to the site where the product is sold, buy, you get a commission. A lot of people do it: Amazon, QVC, Media Shopping, and then there are the big networks where you can find deals: Clickbank, JVZoo, CJ.com (to name a few).
Issue: you need a clear strategy, a plan of action to stick to, and above all: you should never improvise. Unless you are already an experienced marketer (but then you wouldn't be reading this post), you absolutely must not change your plan of action on the fly. Don't try to follow your instincts until you have completed at least a couple of successful transactions. If you don't know where to start it I suggest two ebooks that are very easy to read and above all give you a practical strategy, explained step by step, capable of giving you results in just a few days.
Commission Heist: is both an ebook with valuable information on how to increase affiliate sales, and software to quickly derive product links to promote from Clickbank and JVZoo.
Affiliate Zombie: is a very detailed strategy on how to promote products online, and reveals some tricks that can give you interesting results very quickly.
3. KINDLE: whether you have a passion for writing, or you just have good ideas but can't even put two words in a file, the ebook business is exploding even here in Italy. While in the U.S. it has already been going great for some time, here in our country the market is just now expanding, and I foresee a real boom by the end of the year and throughout 2014. The business is simply to publish one or more books on Amazon and promote them.
Advantages: once the book is written and published, the rest is just marketing that, once triggered, is self-fueled by word of mouth, generating you a recurring passive profit.
Difficulty: there are two, the first is the making of the book but you can overcome it, if you don't know how to write, by hiring a ghost writer. The second difficulty is in promotion, which you could greatly facilitate, however, by having started a blog some time ago. As with affiliate marketing, you have to know what to do and you have to do it well.
After enrollment you will also be offered more in-depth courses, evaluate them, because they are very valuable, cost very little and allow you to start immediately.
These three areas of online marketing are tried and tested, they work, and most importantly they are the best way to start your own online business. No one can think of starting a business online by doing bang, on the contrary, doing it gradually is the smarter choice, because you will get to lay the groundwork you will need for bigger and more ambitious projects, build your reputation, practice and accumulate experience.