Can You Really Make Money On-Line in Business?

2011-10-25T01:25:00.001-04:00

If you already have an off-line business, it stands to reason, if your business model is capable of moving to the Internet, then it is just a matter of time before you will be doing business on the Internet too.

Of course, it helps if you have a customer base that you have built up over the years. Your current customer's can use your Internet business site, if visiting your shop is not convenient. New customer's will find you by referrals and your Internet business site.

If you have not yet moved part or all of your off-line business to some type of Internet business presence, what are you waiting for? If you can think up a creative name for a blog, you can start exposing your business to the Internet through Blogger just by signing up for an account today.

Of course your best option is to have a site specifically dedicated to your store, products or services. If you are considering some options, a one page site, similar to a brochure for your business is the easiest way to start. Just putting the business phone number on your site will, at the very least, give potential customers a way of contacting you.

Your business site should also provide your business address, how you accept payments and an email address for visitors to contact you through email.

Would a mail list help? That depends on your business and how much relevant information you wish to publish on a regular basis about your business. Wordpress is a very reliable blogging platform and when combined with it's extended capabilities, it alone can be used as a complete Internet business site.

With mail lists though, once you send out the information, it is only available to those on your list. Alternatively, publishing only the necessary information at your site or even just using a dedicated blog about your business, products or services would always keep information out there for everyone to see.

If you don't mind handling phone calls, as well as collecting needed information from prospective new customer's, creating a simple one page site may be just the ticket for your business.

Depending on your site content and the level of interaction with your site visitors, you may also need to publish terms of service, a privacy policy and possibly disclaimers at your site also.

If you do not have a business yet and are thinking about acquiring or developing an on-line business you will need to carefully consider exactly what you intend to do in your on-line business.

Personally I have had my own computer support services business operating since 1993. When I first started that business, it involved directly supporting my customer's computer hardware and software as well as helping them integrate new things into their overall computer operations.

Nowadays though most of my work is centered around site hosting and development services, since most hardware and software setups are more disposable and replaced at the user level, requiring less technical support.

There are some very good Internet businesses out there, but unfortunately there are also a lot of very bad ones too.

Whether you choose to join an ongoing business or create your own niche business, you will need to set aside time every day to work at it to build it properly. There are many factors to consider, so gathering all the information you can for your market before you start committing to it, is best.

As the saying goes, do not try to re-invent the wheel. There are already time tested and proven methods out there for pursuing different types of businesses. Your best avenue is to begin working with what you are most passionate about or are most familiar with and building out from there.

Depending on the people around you, you may find it hard at times to continue especially if you are working on something to provide long-term residual income. From experience, I can tell you there are many more people willing to persecute you for your interests, rather than help you.

Success at anything requires good mentors, the correct advice, persistence, tolerance and possibly more failure than you currently have seen. Anyone who tells you it is easy better be willing to show you the easy way they are talking about then.

Have I been successful at creating my own on-line business that is generating a decent income that I can live on for the rest of my life? No, but I am a lot closer to that reality today than I was few years ago. I still need to work a 9 to 5 job and maintain my additional business interests, if I expect to succeed at it though. I have earned a lot of money in the past with my own business, and expect to keep doing that as I move forward with my Internet businesses as well.

Sal Zingale's Blog on Business

Can You Really Make Money On-Line in Business?