Building an online business can seem like a convoluted and arduous process. There are so many moving parts and you need to get them all in alignment and running smoothly to start generating profits.
While there is some truth to the scenario mentioned above, the truth is that to build a successful online business requires only 5 components.
The ‘make money online’ scene is filled with courses and apps and ‘techspeak’ which only confuses and discombobulates most newcomers. This ‘noise’ drowns out the fundamental concepts of online marketing.
In truth, the 6 components below are all you really need.
#1 : An Informative and Engaging Blog
Having a website is a MUST. It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing Kindle publishing or affiliate marketing using social media sites, you absolutely MUST have a blog/website.
This will enable you to build your list and a relationship with your audience. The problem with relying on social media accounts such as Facebook or YouTube is that you’ll be subject to their rules and they can throw you out at any time without warning.
Thousands of people have lost their accounts and seen their businesses dry up overnight because they put all their eggs in one basket… and it was someone else’s basket.
Build your own site that you can call your own. This is crucial.
#2 : Products You Can Sell or Promote
To make money online, you have to sell something. If you’re an affiliate marketer, you’ll be promoting other people’s products – and once again, something needs to be sold for you to make a commission.
No matter how you look at it, you are selling. As obvious as this may sound, so many beginner marketers never seem to wrap their head around. They’re so busy buying products and consuming information that they fail to realize they’re NOT selling anything.
You’ll not make a cent unless you sell.
#3 : Traffic
Traffic is the lifeblood of any online business. Contrary to popular belief, a beautiful website and good content alone are no guarantees. You’ll have to actively generate traffic to your website.
You can either use paid traffic (faster but more difficult/expensive to master) or free traffic which basically is either search engine optimization or siphoning off traffic from more popular sites.
You may do a mix of both or focus on just one method. Either way, you MUST make traffic generation a daily task. Do something every single day that will contribute to generating traffic to your web properties.
#5 : A Budget
People often scoff at quotes such as “It takes money to make money”… and they use quotes such as “You don’t lack resources. You lack resourcefulness.”
All these self-help quotes aside, the truth of the matter is that you cannot multiply by zero. You will need money to buy a domain, pay for hosting and an autoresponder. If you’re doing paid advertising, you’ll need funds for that too.
While the amount of money needed to build an online business is a fraction of what you’d need to build a brick-and-mortar business, the truth is that it helps to have a few hundred dollars in your budget when you’re starting out.
So, if you have a day job, do save up until you have some funds for your business. Do NOT be too quick to quit your day job. Work at your job while working on your business.
Once you earn enough online to rival your monthly salary at your day job, you can decide if you wish to quit and go full-time.
#6 : A Responsive Email List
The last and most important component is your list. There is no denying the efficacy of a responsive list. A list of buyers (people who have purchased from you before) is invaluable.
Subscribe to a reliable autoresponder service such as Aweber, GetResponse, ConvertKit, etc. and build your list.
These are the 5 fundamental factors that will decide if your online business takes off or fails. Do give them the attention they require and your business will soar in record time.