In this article I am going to go through the steps needed to start your own online business with information marketing. Information marketing is an ideal model to use for an online business because the whole reason the Internet was invented was for the sharing of information!
I have written down the essential steps to take to make things as simple as possible. The steps are the same for any niche that you are thinking of starting a business in.
Step 1 – Deciding Your Niche
First of all you need to decide what topic or niche your business will be about. The two most important things to bear in mind is that whatever niche you decide upon you must make sure that there are buyers and that the information is in demand!
For your business to be profitable you need to have a large number of people that actually want information in that niche and also customers that are willing to spend money in order to have that information.
If you already have knowledge in the niche or are interested in it then this will help.
Step 2 – Finding Out What Information Your Market Wants
You need to then find out exactly what information people are searching for in this niche. The best way to find this out is to visit the types of places that people interested in this niche are hanging out on the Internet.
For example, relevant forums, networking sites and blogs are a good place to start.
Step 3 – Creating Your Information Product
When you have a good idea of the kind of questions that people are searching for answers on then you will then be able to create your own information product answering those questions.
Step 4 – Creating A website
In order to sell your product you need some kind of platform to sell it from. For an online business this will be a website! You will need to purchase a domain name and somewhere to host your website on.
Step 5 – Getting Traffic To Your Offer
You now have a great product and will need to drive traffic to your offer on your webpage. Writing articles and posting helpful comments on related forums is a great and free way to start getting visibility. It is best to drive traffic to a squeeze page so that you can begin to build a list of subscribers.
Step 6 – Building A Relationship With Your List
Once you have subscribers you need to write emails that will build trust and increase your credibility. Offer value and ask for feedback when ever possible. Always be yourself.
Step 7 – Creating A Product Funnel
Once you have feedback from your subscribers you will understand more about their needs and can then begin to create more products that solve those issues. This is an on going process so that you create multiple products to offer your subscribers on autopilot.
Step 8 – Scaling Up Your Business
To grow your business you can begin to create membership sites and coaching programs. You also need to test and track your results so that you can optimise your efficiency and results.