Type in the words ‘Online Business,’ ‘Working Online,’ or several other versions of that word-search and you will find a myriad of online business opportunities. It would appear that there are hundreds, if not millions, of people becoming entrepreneurs overnight, with millionaire lifestyles all with online business working only two-hours a day. If this were the case, would we not all be amassing our fortunes online?
The real question is: How do you sort out the wheat from the chaff: The good online business from the bad? There are so many online business opportunities on offer. There are a number of essential elements that any online business has to have to make it a credible and viable business:
1. Are the online business incomes credible?
2. Are you given full systems support for your business?
3. Do you get any training?
4. Is the training on-going – does it develop with you?
5. Are there real people for you to talk too for advice, help and support?
6. Is there an actual product behind the internet business?
‘Earn 100k in one month.’ We have all seen the adverts on Google or Yahoo. This will come as no surprise these claims are not true for the average internet business entrepreneur. The claims are more often than not bogus. Any internet business that is offer 100k income after four weeks is likely to be a scam. These sites claim that for minimal investment you will reap huge rewards quickly without having to do a thing. If someone, a complete stranger walked up to you in the street and said: “Give me £100 and I will make you a million.” Would you do it? No. I thought not.
It is possible to earn a good amount of money online, in some cases, life changing sums of money if you take the time to understand study and substantiate how the income claims are realized. For example an online marketing business may specify that it take 800 leads to return 1000 in sales per month. The business should specify whether the lead generation is free or requires investment in the form of advertising on Google or Yahoo. It is important to note that 800 leads may not automatically lead to 1000 in sales, as like in any business, there are always going to be some variables that impact on the overall sales per number of leads. Any sites that offer 100% conversion rates should trigger big flashing warning signs in your brain ‘Danger!’, a spoof business opportunity, don’t invest!
Once you have substantiated that an income potential is achievable form an online business opportunity it is important that you know how the business generates its income. What operating systems are in place to ensure that your internet business, that you have invested time and money in, will operate successfully and what does it cost?
A true online business should offer you an integrated and personalized marketing and customer management system. This facilitates you with the means to set-up and run your own personalized website and the leads generated by your website will be stored for you to view and follow-up with. The most professional online business opportunities will offer you a detailed traffic, leads and sales tracking systems that will allow you to see which adverts and promotions are driving traffic to your site and which are not. This saves you wasting time and money on advertising that does not work and investing more in those adverts that do generate sales.
Once you have a list of interested potential customers (leads); are you left to call the customers or does the online business operate a system that allows your leads to be followed up by their team of experts? Credible online business opportunities will offer you a professional call center to assist in helping to close sales or tell people more about your business and service and product that you have on offer. After all, you may not be able to talk to every lead; you may well be working your regular job while starting this new online enterprise.
An important point, that is often overlooked, is one of language. The internet is a worldwide communications conduit. This means that only having a business that operates in one language, like English, may limit the scope of what you have to sell to customers who understand that one language. Look for businesses that offer to market in multiple languages. The more people you can offer your product to, the more sales you will make.
So you have research the income claims and reviewed the business systems and support network but how do you use it? This is a massive issue. Many people signup to online business and fail because they don’t understand how the online business operating and marketing systems work and how to use them. Training is vital for anyone entering the online business world looking to make real money.
A reputable online business opportunity should provide full and ongoing training to all its members. Training that is tailored to fit your skill level and the speed and style in which you learn new skills. The pace should adaptable to your pace not the companies. It is an absolute that you must review the training that your online business opportunity is offering and that it offers training across a number of multi-media formats: written, power point, webinars (online seminars), conference calls either phone or video and one-to-one training. The training should be bespoke to the time and investment you have to put into your business.
You should be given a comprehensive education in your new business with strong emphasis on how to market your business and meeting your business goals and expectations in line with your current level of experience and investment. Once you have mastered the fundamentals of you new online business opportunity you should be offered (given) further training to help you optimize and grow your business help you to gain more sales and profit.
Beware! I say it again: Beware! Fully automated systems don’t work and are often a con. It is true that the internet is a twenty-four-seven, three-hundred-and-sixty-five day business and that this is driven largely by the Internets power to run fully automated systems but remember that fully automated systems have no interest in the success, or, for that matter, failure of your business. If you are going to invest in and grow and online business, are there people who operate this business there to help and advise you? Are there personal statements, written or video, of people who have actually had success with this online business? If you sign-up to an online opportunity or request information does someone call you or are you called by an automated message. If the latter, avoid this business – you and your new customers are worth more than this.
Lastly, and maybe, most importantly, is there and actual product to sell. Many online businesses sell you a system without a tangible product or service to sell. If there is no product or service, what’s the point? What are you selling? What are your customers actually going to buy?
If you are seriously looking for an online business venture be sure to check the following: Are the income claims real; how do the online systems work? Ensure that there is training and that it is ongoing and easy to understand; that the system is not 100 automated and that there are other people in the business that can help and support you, ideally with a vested interest in helping you succeed; is there an actual product or service to sell? Once you have answered these questions you should ask yourself one fundamental question: would I buy from this online business? If there is even the slightest hesitation once you have done you research, then don’t do it.