Thoughts About "The Online Business"

If you are anything like me, your inbox is flooded with emails containing promotions. Every product in there is something that is the "latest" and the "greatest" and you can't live without it if you want to be on the cutting edge. *yawn*. Video, peel down ads, video tutorials, resell rights boot camp, ad infinitum.

I'm wondering - "They" say that you shouldn't bother marketing to the internet marketing crowd. But, obviously, it must be pretty lucrative if everyone is doing it! There is so much action out there. Launches and pre-launches and everyone promoting the same products but with different bonuses... You have to have unbelievable determination, persistence and SMARTS to swim with the sharks. At least that's how I see it.

Some of the smart people I respect online recommend sticking to niche marketing, where your target market is just a bit less savvy about internet marketing related matters. Regular people, who don't eat affiliate marketing for breakfast actually don't mind buying through your link (because they don't know that that's what it is) and they aren't constantly looking for ways to beat the system. They just care about finding out how to plant a better tulip, lose some weight or improve their golf technique.

I'm getting a little sick of the IM "rat race". I'm thinking that it's probably a good idea to put most of my eggs in the niche basket. The niche market is so much bigger! There is a whole world out there. When you market to marketers you are really limiting yourself. And let's be honest - how much potential is there REALLY? Unless you are one of the gurus, who have tons of business savvy. Don't forget that most of these gurus were successful offline and they just moved their expertise online. Internet marketing is not about picking up some affiliate links and slapping them onto your site.

To be truly successful you have to plan out your online business with as much care and detail as your offline one. There are plenty of expenses and these have to be budgeted as well. It's possible to pull it together but a plan is just imperative.

Another thing to take into account is that it's so easy to be all over the place, and never get anything done. It's important to F O C U S on one project and see it through till the end. Otherwise, you may wind up with dozens of unfinished projects and that's a darn shame.

So, I think that the bottom line of my musings today is
1. Niche marketing is the way to go
2. Focus, focus, focus
Nothing new here. Just reinforcing what we all probably know already.

What do YOU think?

Have a focused and fruitful day!

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affiliate marketing, niche marketing