subject: So I Just Set Up A Website And Wait For The Money? The Truth Behind Online Business [print this page] More and more people are realizing the power of the internet as a sales tool, and with e-commerce revenue set to top 250 Trillion dollars by 2011, it certainly looks like there is a whole lot of money to be made.
As internet stores have no need for premises, e-commerce appears to have a low entry cost, and with no ties to any particular physical location you can operate your internet business from your living room sofa or a lounger on the beach. There are no international boundaries either.
Customers can shop from across the globe, or you can target customers in California from your beach house in Tahiti. The internet is not just a way to sell; it can be a way to change your life.
That said, it is amazing how many people believe, or maybe hope is a better word, that all they need is a website, then they just wait for the money to roll in. Sadly life and the Internet are not that simple. Setting up a website (and all the effort around that) is only a small part of being successful online. And it's not all about being found.
In theory, it's easy to make money. You find something people want, and then you sell it to them for more than it cost you.
One of the best things about life online is that there have never been so many tools around to help us find out what people want and how much they are willing to pay for it, yet some still launch products without doing their market research first, and when they do, they fail. One result is the prevalence of scammers on the web, preying on online stores that don't make the grade. They even make unrealistic promises backed up with guarantees they can't or don't intend to fulfill.
The sad truth for many internet entrepreneurs is that even if company xyz DID get you to the number one spot on Google (for a large fee), if you are selling something no-one is looking for, it won't make any difference. If there's no market there will be no sales. Even if you find a gap in the market, you need to be sure there's a market in the gap.
Selling on the internet is rather like setting up a small shop in the middle of the Sahara. Everyone wonders how people will be able to find you and your product, but that's not the initial problem.
You could send out a chauffeur driven sand mobile and be sure that people would visit your shop, but if you're selling a fur coat, an aqualung, or a bag of sand, it's not very likely that the visitors will buy.
If, on the other hand your product is a bottle of cool, fresh, water, you'll find them snapping your hand off to get to the product. But the other shops will soon catch up. There will be water shops all over the place and many will be big water shops who can sell for a lot less than you, so you need to find out more about your customer and find something he wants that the other shops don't have.
Sparkling water perhaps or lemon flavored water, something with enough interest to bring you income, but not enough to make the big boys want it for themselves. Find that market and you have a recipe for success. Search for 'Google external keyword tool' and you'll get started in the right direction.
There is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme, just like there is no such thing as a free lunch. An online business will cost you money, take at least a year to get established, and no matter what people tell you, there's no way to cut that short.
What there is is opportunity for those prepared to put in the work and do their research to find the right niche product to sell. They say that at the root of every major fortune is a crime. In this case, the crime is not to try.
