Ready to up your investing game in 2018? Acorns will give you a $5 boost just for signing-up to invest your spare change.
How to Start a Profitable Online Business
How to start a profitable online business? That is a question I often receive…
I started my online business five years ago. It came about in the most unusual of ways. At the time I was preparing for the release of my first book, Dumb Athlete: How My Biggest Fear Became My Biggest Motivator when everything started happening.
As a self published author, you are solely responsible for promoting and marketing your book. So immediately I began to look for different ways to market my book beyond social media.
Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are great but there are so many more ways to reach your target, ideal market, plus I needed to position myself to be able to take advantage of other opportunities that I was certain would come my way.
3 Major Keys
#1 Identify Your Target Audience: The #1 key to starting any successful business whether brick and mortar or online is “identifying your target audience.”
Know who you want to serve.
Before you create your business plan, know who you want to serve. As early as possible, start to envision the profile of your ideal client. Everything from their age to their relationship status are things you want to hone in on.
How to Start a Profitable Online Business
Subscribe to get the tools you need to get your online business started.First NameEmail AddressWe use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.I’M READY!We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.Powered by ConvertKit
#2 Create Content That Resonates With Your Target Audience: For an online business you have to dominate online. One way to find success online is to create content that your target audience is looking for.
If your online business is built around Personal Finance and Becoming Debt Free and your audience knows and loves you for your tips on getting out of debt, don’t alienate your audience by creating content about Lamp Shades & Picture Frames.
#3 Promote Your Content: After you create your content your number one job is to promote your content. Whatever social media platform you have a presence on, start there. Whether that is Facebook or Twitter, begin to share your content to those platforms.
If you don’t have a presence on social media, stop EVERYTHING you are doing and choose at least one platform (preferably one in which your target audience can be found) to call home.
Create a content schedule in which you are going to push out content. For instance, I try to drop new content at least two times per week. You have to be seen to sell and your audience needs to constantly hear from you. Frequency matters.
Whether you release something once per week or three times per week, find your zone. Find your sweat spot. Listen to your audience and they will tell you everything you need to know.
The Process
#1 Engage Your Audience: I hope you are in it for the long haul because there are no shortcuts. Once you have implement the major keys, you have to step your game up another notch. You have to engage your audience.
Typically, once your target audience get use to hearing from you, they will start replying to you. Your audience will ask you questions, they will make statements and certain remarks about content you post.
This is called social gold. This is your opportunity to really make your mark. By engaging and responding to questions that your followers have, you are unconsciously building a rapport that will eventually lead to a stronger relationship over time.
People constantly look for ways to become InstaFamous. If I can give you any advice on how to become a Influencer outside of creating really valuable content, to become a Social Media Influencer (that means hundreds of thousands of followers) regardless of the platform, you must engage your audience.
#2 Solve A Problem: Find out what pain points your target audience has and serve. Better yet, find out what your audience wants, and give it to them. The best way to ensure you have a profitable online business, is to solve a problem.
Why?
Because typically people will pay to have their problems solved.
That is the number 1 rule to making money online.
#3 Sell Something or Create a Product: This might seem obvious but I learned many years ago not to assume. Besides, I’m here to tell you and teach you everything you need to know about How to Start a Profitable Online Business.
There are just two ways to make a profit. You either sell something, that can be a course, an ebook or a service or you can create a product specifically for your target audience and sell it to them.
Now although there are only two ways to make a profit, there are a million ways to go about your online business. During my five years, I have done a little bit of everything. I coach, I consult. I speak (get paid to speak) and I sell books. I promote and recommend products (affiliate marketing) and I have a clothing apparel company.
There is no one way nor is there a right or wrong way. Just get to the money. Its the only way to have a profitable online business.
Final Tips
There are plenty more I can discuss, as those are just the initial tips to help you get started with your online business. I encourage you to follow and implement the strategies that I layed out but more importantly come behind the scenes to see first hand how I build and monetize my personal brand and business.
I offer a free course that takes you deeper. The course is intended to ensure you start out the right way. If you are serious and if you are ready, sign up at the form below.