internet business isn't easy

As an internet entrepreneur, I’m often approached by friends, family, and those I’ve yet to meet with internet business proposals filled with dreams of striking it rich online, putting an end to their 9 to 5 misery. As misguided as many of these dreams appear to be – it’s no wonder why their blind optimism is often met with a certain level of skepticism on my part.

It never ceases to amaze me with how many people think that it’s “easy” to make a living online. As with nearly any career worth having, it is difficult and takes a certain business mentality that I believe most people simply don’t have. Do not let other blogs or websites fool you into thinking that you can be the next man or woman who generates thousands of dollars per day, working from a beach on a remote tropical island twenty five hours per week. Though this is possible, it certainly isn’t likely – and getting there definitely isn’t a cakewalk.

Why So Cynical?

I really don’t mean to come down so hard, and my hope is that nobody reads this and takes offense. Like the disclaimer below mentions, this article isn’t focused towards any one person in particular. The real purpose of this entry is to show the ‘other side’… the business side of what we do.

Let’s take a quick look at a couple of different variations of internet business, and what it takes to be successful at them:

1. Ecommerce
In my opinion, e-commerce is where the serious money is to be made. Year after year, we see exponential growth in this market as more and more consumers warm up to the idea of making their next purchase online from the comfort of their own homes. Though it is serious dough, ecommerce is not a synch – and a reputable ecommerce business can not be run with an hour per day. In an ecommerce situation, you have to worry about issues such as: suppliers (wholesale or drop ship?), shipping, customer service, software platforms, credit card fraud, competition, SEO, marketing, web designers, accounting, and a whole slew of other variables.

As with any other business, an ecommerce website is a business and must be treated as such to be successful. It is a full time job – and then some!

2. Affiliate Marketing
I like affiliate marketing, but admittedly am not very good at it. I have a few of these websites that do pay OK, but nothing spectacular. This is partially due to my lack of focus on the subject, since I greatly prefer the path listed above. What I do know is this: Affiliate Marketing is a numbers game (somewhat like ecommerce).

Decent Landing Page + Quality Targeted Traffic = Sales

If you’d like to try your hand at affiliate marketing, I suggest starting with joining an affiliate program for a product or service that you enjoy. This will make it much easier for you to write custom sales and landing pages for your product, and you will have a much easier time marketing said program as well.

3. Informational
Informational websites seem to be the most popular for new internet business ventures, yet have the highest failure rate by a wide margin (in my experience). An informational website could be anything from recipes to video game cheats, forums to blogs. They are often loaded up with annoying advertisements which bring in little to no revenue. What I feel most people tend to overlook is how rare a popular informational site really is – and that it’s generally better to buy an already established site rather than starting a new one from scratch.

Does it still sound easy? Probably not! But that isn’t to say that you can’t be the next success story. It is to say that there is much more involved in internet business than many people realize.

My Honest Advice

If you’re jumping into this as a career, my honest advice is to simply sell a product or service that people will find useful. If you must start an informational site – keep it as a hobby at first, and hopefully in the long term it will become profitable. There is no “fast track” to success on the internet, and if there is – no one is going to tell you what it is!

Disclaimer: It’s important to note that this entry isn’t written towards any one individual in particular. Rather, it’s something that’s been brewing inside of me for nearly two years!

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