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New Bag of Fresh Ideas for Your Internet Business
By
Linda Overstreet
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 ideas.
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 use
http://buzz.yahoo.com/ to search the
top web ranking searches among other hot trends happening this week. Blogs
are great too.
Another little known tool is here:
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html This is Googles
Zeitgeist - this
page is regularly updated to
reflect tidbits of information related to the search behavior of Google users.
Plus I use
http://50.lycos.com/ Lycos offers a similar site which is great to watch
the trends emerging.
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 hot news of the month?
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.
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