New bag of fresh ideas for your Internet business
By Terry Dean
Every Internet business needs to come up with fresh ideas to drive more traffic to their site, increase their sales, and multiple their profits.
Too often, we get in a rut in our Internet businesses. We keep doing the same things every day even when they aren't working.
My definition of insanity is someone who does the same thing over and over again and expects to receive a different result.
Many people believe that there are only so many different ways you can market your products or services, such as: banner advertising, search engines, classifieds, etc.
How do you expect to come out ahead of the competition if you are going to limit your business to what other people in your market are already doing online?
Every multi-million dollar Internet business has one thing in common. They all came up with a new and fresh idea for creating an e-commerce site that stands out in their industry.
For some it was becoming the World's Largest Bookstore like Amazon.com. Others choose to spend their time organizing and indexing web sites like Yahoo.com. Another company named Ebay created the largest auction house in the world.
Each leading web site had one thing in common. They came up with a fresh idea for helping Internet users find what they are looking for. They found out what frustrations people had and came up with solutions for them.
Yahoo was originally started by two young college guys who wanted to make the Internet easier to use by indexing and categorizing the sites they found. This idea eventually evolved into the portals that we see everywhere today: Infoseek, Alta Vista, Hotbot, Goto, etc. Guess which one still gets the most traffic? The first is the still the best.
If you are out to create little wealth for yourself and your family, then an affiliate program may be the way to go. They can be a good start for the beginning web marketer. You get to learn how to make money online while being taught by experienced Internet marketers.
You will have to step over to the next level when you want to start developing some real profits from your Internet business. You will need to come up with your own fresh idea.
Don't tell me it can't be done. Remember, Yahoo was not created by a large corporation. It was created by college guys. What Internet trend are you about to create or what Internet trend can you cash in on?
It's funny. Most million dollar plus Internet businesses are not the creation of the major corporations. There are a few to be sure, but the majority of them were originally started by one to three people who just came up with a better way of doing things.
They all started as a fresh idea. Then, they evolved into a system and a web site. Then, as the site grew, they would quickly become the target of larger companies willing to buy them out. Overnight, after months or years of work, the creators become millionaires.
This type of scenario happens every day online. Don't tell me it won't happen to you, because it could. It can only happen if you become one of the Idea generators instead of just the Idea followers.
I want to reveal two simple secrets of success to help you learn how to generate your own fresh ideas.
Step One: Pay Attention.
You need to start paying attention to what is happening around you. Every story you see on the news is a potential idea for a web site. If the public is interested in a subject, it shows you have a market.
One thing that I have found common in successful direct marketers is that they all pay particular attention to the news. You will find that the ones who are successful are the ones who have spotted the prevailing trends inside of a market.
I used ISyndicate to deliver daily news from Time News Daily, The Web Guide, Web Development, News: E-Commerce, Wired News: Business, and CNET: Computers. A little further down you will find the hottest CNET Downloads. The hottest message boards and discussion groups online are also linked daily from this page.
Start spending time watching the world around you. What trends do people keep talking about? What types of frustrations are people experiencing? What is the hotnews of the month?
If you go to the bottom of my News page, you can track and see what message boards and discussions groups are hot. Jump into some of the discussions and read what people are talking about. What are they frustrated with online? Where are the potential opportunities?
The most successful entrepreneurs aren't always the brightest, the most educated, or the most likely candidates, but they are people who learn how to spot opportunities.
Learn how to ask questions of your visitors. Take polls. Put a form on your site for people to leave their comments. Find out what your targeted market is looking for. Then, give it to them.
Step Two: Learn How to Relax.
Something that most people have yet to realize when it comes to developing fresh ideas is that they usually don't come while you are actively working. They come later on while you are playing golf, doing your hobbies, or in the shower.
Too often your mind is plain too stressed out and worn out to come up with solutions while you are at your desk or on your computer. If you want to develop fresh new marketing ideas, you are going to have to learn how to relax.
The most successful marketers are usually those who have learned the right balance of work and relaxation in their lives. They actively work on their business and then while they are away from their business they let ideas come while they are doing the things they love.
You should always keep a notebook handy for this very reason. After you have thought about and studied what types of Trends and frustrations people are experiencing online, you never know when that winning idea may come to you. It could come when you wake up in the morning, on the golf course, or wherever you go to relax.
If you actively prepare yourself and allow yourself to relax, you are giving your mind what it just may need to come up with that next fresh idea to take your business to the next level of profits.
Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More:
http://www.netbreakthroughs.com
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Online Business Help Articles
More By Developer Shed
developerWorks - FREE Tools! |
Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial version of Lotus Quickr 8.0, which enables collaboration by transforming the way everyday business content such as documents, rich media, photos, and video can be shared. Lotus Quickr makes it faster and easier to share content of all types (not just documents) within virtual teams. It is designed to make it easier to collaborate across organizational boundaries, while continuing to work within the context of familiar desktop applications. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Discover how IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition can help you detext vulnerabilities in your web applications in the Web Application Security eKit. IBM Rational AppScan is a leading suite of automated web application security solutions that scan and test for common Web application vulnerabilities. The new Web Application Security eKit provides you with valuable resources, including white papers, demos, and additional information on the benefits of testing your Web applications. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Listen to this webcast to get an overview of Info 2.0 and a technical demo of how to quickly build an enterprise mashup. IBM's Info 2.0 technology leverages emerging Web 2.0 technologies such as mashups, feeds, AJAX, and JSON in order to simplify assembly of information using feeds and services. Come learn about the technical elements of Info 2.0 including the Feed Generation framework, Mashup Engine, and mashup assembly components. Learn how to pull information from databases, departmental information, and the Web to create mashups critical to your company’s success. We will also discuss best practices to help you get started. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
As organizations have grown increasingly dependent on online software, the risk of malicious attacks has also become far more serious. Fortunately, well-governed organizations can protect their Web applications by injecting vulnerability assessments and ethical hacks into their software development and delivery processes. This paper describes 12 of the most common hacker attacks and provides basic rules that you can follow to help create more hack-resistant Web applications. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Whether you are creating new applications or modifying existing ones, managing integration of new components with traditional z/OS elements is a critical part of building and deploying modern applications. Listen to this webcast to see how IBM can help you optimize your development process using an IDE like Rational Developer for System z that integrates with management tools, such as ClearCase to manage your application development on mainframes. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
In this webcast, IBM Rational will discuss the importance of Web application security and will share techniques and best practices to introduce application security testing into current QA processes including: understanding common security vulnerabilities and techniques to integrate security testing with defect tracking and remediation systems in an effort to safeguard sensitive online information. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
The Eclipse community is constantly working to extend Eclipse's functionality. In this webcast, learn about some of the most important and feature-rich projects under development. From multi-language support to plug-in development, tune in to see what Eclipse is capable of now. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
The discipline of assembling and delivering software is maturing beyond standard developer-centric compile/test software builds. The end-to-end software development lifecycle is emerging as the new focus moves “Beyond the Build.” Join this on demand webcast to learn about methods for streamlining software delivery and key capabilities of the IBM Rational Build Forge framework for automating build and release management in environments of any size. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
WebSphere Process Server delivers a unique integration framework that simplifies existing IT resources. Often, as IT assets grow to support business demand, so too does their complexity and manageability. In this webcast, we’ll discuss how WebSphere Process Server helps deliver an SOA infrastructure that provides a common model to orchestrate, mediate, connect, map, and execute the underlying IT functions. Discover how WebSphere Process Server simplifies integration of business processes by leveraging existing IT assets as reusable services without the complexities of traditional integration methodologies. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools! |