How to start a successful internet business

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi All,

I'm calling for helpful suggestions to the many here who have much valuable internet experience.

I want to start an internet business, but am not sure in which direction to devote my energies since I'm not as internet savvy as many of you here. I'm unsure what works and what doesn't, - money making wise. I've read all sorts of articles etc, but usually the author has a vested interest in the advice being offered, so it becomes quite difficult to rely on said advice.

So, are there people here who can offer some/any advice and tips on what works, what to stay away from, tips for success, tips to avoid failure. I'm not really into MLMs, but I did like the methodology behind 'affiliate marketing'. As yet I don't have a website, so I need to address that.

I am willing to study what's necessary, put in the necessary work, and start small with a view to growing over the years.

But how do people start these sorts of businesses?

I have had a proper business before for many years, but we sold it a couple of years ago to just get a change in direction. We put the money received into property investments, - which are still fine, but we feel we need to generate some cash for now and into the future. I'm 53 which probably means I'm not all that employable. Having said that, I'd rather have my own business anyway, and have the sky as the limit rather than the office ceiling.

Any and all tips and suggestions will be extremely gratefully received.

Thanks in anticipation

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I am in your situation, The problem now is a couple of things. Before going to sell stuff take a look at the information on forums consumer market wise. An example is ideas I have put like selling rubylith torches that even when offered at a lower price or reasonable price, people still want to buy from overseas. This will be your sticking point, at least in the Astronomy industry.
I am currently liquidating a lot of my telephone and audio products as they are partially taken over by big business. I will now on consider only looking at option to sell just to keep my Uni studies operating along with some of my low representation products for disabilities. Even with an internet site you are going to need to put a lot of work in marketing and for a small business is a very difficult area.

I have been in business for 15 years and the free trade has killed my business. Depending on your capital injection consider getting professional advice maybe a franchise.

[Visionoz (Bill)]

Originally Posted by mswhin63

...

I have been in business for 15 years and the free trade has killed my business. Depending on your capital injection consider getting professional advice maybe a franchise.

Hi Paul

Don't intend to rain on your parade but my personal experience is like this that I heard once before from the real estate industry: "5% of agents sell 95% of the homes on sale!" and this applies likewise to many of the internet-based businesses

I sold my ISP business in 2008 to retire and I have had hundreds of my clients who were successful in some way by exposure thru the internet and other forms of advertising their business whilst there were thousands more of "wannabes" who spent lots of money chasing internet business and lost all of it just because the DotCom bubble was bubbling away at that time and everyone was on the bandwagon! I remember that there was a very prominent mining company here in WA that took equity in a smallish ISP during that time and when the bubble burst did the proverbial hit the ceiling fan!!

I am now semi-retired because I find twiddling my thumbs a bit stressful and since 45 years of experience in the IT industry still affords me to earn a "little" pocket money for astro-toys, why not work!!

Malcolm's right in saying it's best to get proper professional advice and I think franchise business is the way to go be it on the internet or otherwise

HTH
Cheers
Bill

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Also, Paul, if someone did post a good idea for you in here, can you imagine how many of the same businesses would be on the net the next day

I don't think a public forum is the place to mention a web business that would work

I can just imagine it. Someone comes in here and says "hey Paul, online pet supplies are the go".
Tomorrow there would be 30 members and probably 100 visitors in here opening online pet supply sites

The best way to find out what is a good online business is to study 'supply and demand'.

What do people want (demand) and is it properly catered for (supply).
Then there is capital.
Then there is advertising.
Then there is warehousing (or some form of storage).
Then there is Courier Companies.
Then there is online payment facilities.
etc
etc

I wish I could do it too, but I am yet to discover a good online business.

But I wish you luck

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by PCH

I have had a proper business before for many years, but we sold it a couple of years ago to just get a change in direction. We put the money received into property investments, - which are still fine, but we feel we need to generate some cash for now and into the future.

I'd suggest you take a look at the property investments you've already got. You might be able to improve their performance if they are not generating enough cash for you. Your property business should earn you money. Perhaps renovate and increase rents? If you don't mind doing cosmetic renovations yourself then this can be very profitable. Or alternatively swap under-performing properties for ones with more potential. Just a thought before you leave property investing behind

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Malcolm, Bill, Ken and Rolf,

thanks so much for your comments and suggestions, all of which are being digested and considered. I won't dissect individual comments and suggestions here, because I understand that they're all well intended and sincere, and I don't want to get into any debates about what is good advice and what isn't, since it's all down to the individual. I might be able to make a real goer of the last guys calamity .... or vice versa, for example.

So thanks so much for any and all suggestions guys. Happy to hear more comments.

Cheers

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Doesnt sound like you need advice on how to run a business, youve already done that, so no brainer there.

Im guessing you are just wondering how to do it on the internet. The whole online commercial back end stuff is just a technical exercise that can be bought "off the shelf" or contracted out, thats not the hard part. Sure, learn all that yourself if you like that kind of thing, but that is not critical to making a business successfull.

A web site is really just a form of advertising, the tricky bit is making it appealing and more importantly getting people to actually know it exists and visit it. THAT is the hard work.

[PCH (Paul)]

Hmmm, thanks Fred. Yes, I'm doing my research and checking and talking to people, and ideas are flooding my head now. I'll make a move on something quite soon. Thanks for taking the time to offer input.

All the best

[iceman (Mike)]

Fred's right - running a business is something you've done before.

Running a successful online website that you get traffic to, is something completely different and there's no 'easy fix' for that.

It really depends on the type of business too. Are you selling physical goods, or services, etc.

What's your target demographic? Your goals? Your business model? Put a realistic business case together, do your research and make sure there's a market for what you're trying to sell.

[PCH (Paul)]

Thanks Mike,

I appreciate your time taken to offer your comments and suggestions. All the comments so far have been helpful in one way or another.

I'm still in the collecting information stage.

Basically, I'd hoped to be able to do something that could work for me when I'm not there, such as is the case with e-products for example. I'd like to avoid having to carry stock, having to employing staff and having to rent warehouse/office space. These are my basic desirable criteria, - the other stuff I can work around.

I know my wants are limiting, and I may have to modify them. But at this early stage, I'm still working on it. And even with my above mentioned criteria, the basic rules of business do still apply. I understand that much.

Still thinking ........ hmm

[ZeroID (Brent)]

I faced redundancy just over a year ago but I had been given warning about 6 months previous so I had done quite a bit of research into this option. At 61 not very re-employable either so you look at it all.

Most of the sites that worked as you would like, ie no stock, no people, automatic everything were just click revenue operations. They existed by providing some 'useful' information and then links via advertising through the Google scheme to generate referral income.
All the owner of the 'business' had to do was keep adding new relevant information and push the site through google search ratings to get the hits and thus the clickthroughs. I started down that path but there were several issues. One was that I had an aversion to being a parasite on the system, ie scraping cents off each punter which obviously they paid for at the end in increased costs. Secondly the effort and avenues needed to get any real return was to be on every Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and social network\site you could be and to peddle your own stuff as the best place to go. Thirdly your content needed to be unique and fresh. Several court cases have come from people who plagiarised or just copied and pasted and were caught out. Finally it seemed to work best in the USA where the market is huge and just a few thousandths of a % catch rate would work. A smaller market like NZ ( for me ) just didn't have the size required.

I actually found a theme that was overseas viable and built a site but then I got a job offer ( my old job with the new outsource provider back at my old company !! ) so I was not forced down that route.

Maybe my ethics are too high or my business reasoning is wrong but it just seemed to be a heck of a lot of effort to rip people off for no good reason to me.

I still get emails from the guy who was peddling the concept promoting the idea, obviously his version, selling the concept works for him !!

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Brent,

some interesting thoughts there, - thanks for your input