Starting your first online business is a great move at any time. Right now, in a locked down, limited touch point world its a doubly smart plan. Trying to work out the How? What? Why and Where of it though can be like herding cats. I’ll share the ultimate resource I found at the end of the post but let’s start by looking at some of the most common internet business models.
Affiliate Marketing
I really think Affiliate marketing is the best format for your first online business and here’s why. Affiliate marketing is simply selling other people’s products and services for a commission. If you don’t have your own products yet it’s perfect.
There is hardly a thing in the world that you can’t be an affiliate for these days. From Uber rides to laptops, cars to education courses you’ll find either a stand alone affiliate programme or will be able to access one via an affiliate network. I’ve created a 3 part video series on this you can access here.
There are various styles of affiliate programs paying various levels of commission. Some cost nothing to join others do. Some don’t require you to be a customer, others do. As a general rule of thumb those that cost to join or need you to be a customer are “High ticket” programmes. The products include higher priced, higher value courses and membership platforms.
Though these cost to join you get much higher commissions and several other benefits. I like virtual products because of the speed of delivery. Basically its instant. The customer follows a link, buys the product, pays for it and gets it instantly.
The big advantage to choosing affiliate marketing as your first online business is that most of the work has been done for you. The products themselves, the marketing materials, sales funnels, copywriting and graphics have all been created.
The Affiliate Advantage
Essentially your only job is tell the world about them in your own way. For this reason I believe its best to promote products you have bought, use and value yourself. The more passionate you are about whatever you choose to promote the better.
Just as an example I bought one of those smartphone gimbals (a kind of steadicam for phones) recently. It just occurred to me today – which inspired this post – to check if they have an affiliate programme. Of course they do. I’ll put a video together demonstrating some of the fab cinematic scenes I’ve shot with it and include the affiliate link. The commissions are very small but I can probably at least recoup the cost. I do that for everything I buy for my main High Ticket business.
There’s a bit more to this – the numbers really matter for example – as I explain in my 3 part video series but really you can start with little more than a laptop.
E – Commerce
The second business model I’d recommend for a first online business is E-commerce. Affiliate marketing – especially on the high end – is often concerned with virtual products, Ecomm on the other hand is usually based on physical products.
Obviously those have to be stored, shipped and delivered. Luckily though not necessarily by you. You also don’t have to buy and store loads of stock in the hope that it will sell. Platforms like Spotify and Woo commerce enable you to use drop shipping and on demand selling. With those you pay a cut of sales to someone else for warehousing and shipping.
If you prefer a more traditional type of selling you can still leverage the internet and platforms like the mighty Amazon to store, ship and promote your wares. Again numbers are crucial with E-commerce especially if you decide to buy stock in advance.
You can source an unimaginable range of wholesale products from China and other countries very cheaply. You can even have them designed, manufactured, branded and shipped to an Amazon warehouse.
As you can imagine there are some potential minefields in that process. Get it right though and there are fortunes to be made. The resource I have for you has a dedicated e-commerce training platform which covers everything you need.
The Essential Glue
Neither of these business models needs special premises, equipment or big up front investment. There is though, one essential ingredient without which neither can work. Internet marketing. You might have the best products and the most wonderful services but if no-one can find them no one can buy them. Internet marketing is the glue that makes them work.
If you’ve been in business or even sales internet marketing will be a revelation to you. It was for me. Just imagine a global market that never sleeps even when you do.
Imagine being able to laser target your ideal customer and put the things they are looking for right in front of their eyes. They click on a picture and an automatic process begins which puts money in your bank account. Imagine being able to build relationships and trust with people so they will buy from you again and again. Best of all for me you can do this from anywhere in the world and automate most of it.
It’s a pretty big subject. Websites, social media, video, advertising, blogging, sales funnels, list builders are just some of the components. So we’re back to the herding cats scenario I mentioned at the top. But don’t panic I promise I’ll share an ultimate resource where you can get all of this in a step by step easy to follow way. You’ll also have your hand held by some of the most successful internet entrepreneurs on the planet and be part of a growing worldwide business community.
Your First Online Business Ultimate Resource
This is a very good place to be if you are ready to start your first online business with everything you need in one place. No more cat herding!
To learn more about this incredible resource just click on the link below to meet it’s founders. If you like what you hear you can then subscribe for a free series of videos they have created which cover everything they do in more detail.
