On the other hand, it took each of Microsoft (1975), Apple (1976), Amazon (1994) and Google (1998) less than 10 years to become household names. Making it big is not limited to tech giants. Individuals are making a killing online in fields as varied and mundane as online training, physical fitness, and writing (otherwise called blogging).
Take as an example Brendon Burchard. He is an online trainer who
started circa 2009. Today he has over 3 million students in over 100 countries.
Hiss impact is so massive, Oprah refers to him as "One of the most
successful online trainers in history." His networth is estimated at
N22million.
Another example is Ramit Sethi. He launched his first blog in
2004 and in 2018 was featured in Fortune and Forbes simultaneously. In the same
year, Forbes featured Ramit side-by-side with Warren Buffet and estimated his
networth at $25m. Making it big is not limited to the menfolk. Chalene Johnson,
the global physical fitness icon, has an estimated networth of $10million,
while Marie Forleo has estimated networth of $14million.
While Chalene Johnson has been a household name as a physical
fitness coach for over 30 years, Marie Forleo catapulted to fame within the
last 10 years aided by her Marie TV, online training, coaching and books.
The fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to make it big is to
harness the power of the internet. As the internet gurus say, to succeed
online, do what works. In short, do not try to reinvent the wheel. The internet
is a paradigm shift. While it has created stupendous wealth for those who
master its ecosystem, it has also accelerated the gap between those who know
how it works and those who don't.
Generally, whenever there is a paradigm shift, the knowledge
base is reset to zero and everyone has to learn anew. To learn fast and easy,
it's necessary to follow a proven path. To succeed and thrive, you should
follow what I dub Internet Business Success Formula For Beginners. As you know,
there is order in the universe. If there were no order there would have been
chaos. My Internet Business Success Formula For Beginners is a brief but
powerful framework that shows you how to succeed Online. If you follow it,
you'll succeed. If you don't, you will fail.
The formula consists of 7 steps. Here are they:
Learn day and night
Despite its seeming
plug and play simplicity, the internet is a complex ecosystem. To succeed you
must learn day and night because change is fast and furious, with basic
algorithms changing overnight. Learning enables you to have depth and breadth
and keeps you evergreen
Here is the highlight of the things you
should learn. Learn:
• How the internet is evolving
• How to be visible
• How to connect with people
• How to build a list
• How to write scripts
• How to create products
• How to make your products discoverable
• How money is made online
Be Visible Off and Online
Being visible requires
you increase your off and online footprints so you become known and start
building credibility and gravitas. Here are the things you should do to
increase your visibility:
• Develop evergreen intellectual properties (books, courses, learning guides,
etc.)
• Have a home-base (website or blog)
• Have embassies (social media platforms)
• Have listening posts (mailing lists, social media platforms, podcasts)
• Have satellite towns/cities (guest posting, befriend social media
influencers.)
• Stage events and develop your own platforms such as YouTube channel.
• Court the media
Build Relationships
To attract strangers,
visitors, friends and former enemies into loyal customers and true fans you
have to build relationships. While it makes sense to have a vast relationship
base, it's more important to build a base of true fans. Here are the things you
should do to build relationships:
• Give out valuable things, like books and e-books, free
• Reach out to your other online influencers
• Extend a hand of fellowship to strangers you meet by providing advice
• Help out with specialized information wherever you can, example in forums
• Make recommendations in areas you have authority; don't be shy
• Join people together as a connector
• Ask for help wherever you're challenged, again don't be shy.
Build A Mailing List
Make building your mailing list a priority so you have whom to market and sell
to tomorrow. There is a raging argument online as to what comes first: mailing
list on product. As a beginner don't be distracted by these chicken and egg
arguments. List and product are the two sides of the same coin: you online
business. Just note that with a list you can market what you don't have through
affiliate marketing but a product with a list takes you nowhere. Also note that
as a beginner you will not be able to do affiliate marketing. So build you list
and pursue your product evenhandedly. Here is how to approach building your
list:
• Start a mailing list from day one (at least now you know).
• Begin with the low hanging, medium hanging, and finally high hanging fruits
• Build a segmented list to enable you tailor your messages
• Employ an affordable mailing or contact management system
• Invite people personally to join your list and be persistent
• Give away valuable incentives, such as books, video lessons, etc.
• Keep at it day and night
Have Something To Offer (Create Products)
Create products to sell so you can add more value to your followers. People
will follow you because you have something to offer them. When you do, you will
make money but making money should not be your primary consideration. When you
do it well, the money will come. Here are the things you should do:
• Equip yourself with knowledge and wisdom
• Write and refine your intellectual properties to perfection
• Develop irresistible courses, events & platforms
• Master the required technologies for production
• Master the required technologies for delivery
• Be consistent and focus on things that will last, the evergreens
• Specialize so people know what you stand for
Learn how to Market and Sell Online
Marketing and selling
are the lynchpins that bring in the money. The most successful business owners
online excel in marketing and selling. Invest a big percentage of what you
generate into marketing to generate more sales and continue growing your
business. Here are the things you should do to boost marketing and sales:
• Learn how to use marketing to grow your business
• Understand the psychology of buying and buyer behavior
• Learn how to build your business pipeline
• Learn how to build and optimize your sales funnel
• Learn how to craft sales scripts that convert visitors to customers
• Learn how to use social media for marketing
• Learn how to set up your landing pages
• Pursue selling with gusto because to sell is human but don't be salesy
Master Strategies to Win Long Term
Succeeding on a
sustainable way online is a marathon. Commit to it for the long haul. Develop
insight how effort is monetized online and where money is made along the value
chain. Know that Rome, as they say, was not built in a day. If you pursue
online business as a sprint or one hundred meters dash, you'll give up too soon
and fail. Here are the things you should do at this point:
• Master and refine your winning game plan
• Master the four phases of online business (learning, audience, product,
sales)
• Develop a long term view
• Keep keeping things evergreen
• Diversify into adjacent winning areas as you become more confident
• Develop offline assets to mitigate your online risks.
• Repeat and build on the principles of excellence
There you have them, the seven planks that constitute my Internet Business Success Formula. You may be wondering, where is technology, after all we are talking about the internet. The truth is, technology pervades all the seven steps, but technology remains what it is, an enabler. Technology enables you to scale and reach thousands online, but in the end relationships triumph. So we talk about hi-tech, hi-touch.
In the long run you must master technologies that enable you
learn day and night, be visible off and online, build relationships, build a
mailing list, create products, learn how to market and sell online, and master
strategies to win long term. Knowing the technical aspects or technology is
important because you're dealing with machines and technology will help you
scale and automate but it's not a paramount condition for success for a
beginner.
Success online is anchored in the two magic numbers: 10,000 customer base and $10,000 monthly recurring income. You can achieve both easily if you follow the 7-Step Internet Business Success Formula I have given you in this article. Once you hit these numbers, you're ready to leverage technology to scale. That will be the subject of another article.
Paul is the creator of iSchool, iBFC (Internet Business
Foundation Course, iBMC (Internet Business Mastery Course), Content Marketing
Mastery Course and BWC ( Book Writing Clinic) where he teaches how to build
business online, and write books among others. The founder of Vision &
Talent Training Group, he is the author of Bridges to the Customer's Heart,
dubbed The Customer Service Bible. Richmond Dayo Johnson, referred to him as
"One of Nigeria's most authentic experiential writers." His clients
include Fortune 500 and some of Nigeria's biggest corporations including
Dangote, First Bank, and Nestoil Group (whose clients include ExxonMobil,
Chevron, Shell, and NNPC, amongst others). Paul has been featured in The
Guardian, Vanguard, and SilverBird TV. A McKinsey Executive Panel Member, he's
a Platinum Author at EzineArticles.Com with 49 articles. Paul's E-Product
Development Blueprint For Beginners published on Medium has been downloaded
over 1,000 times. A trainer par excellence, overall, Paul has trained over
5,000 in his banking and consulting careers and has over 350,000 training
man-hours under his belt. Paul is always happy to help executives write books,
create courses, and build their expert empires. Invite Paul to speak at your
retreat, strategy or quarterly review session on Winning As A Team.
Email: paul@pauluduk.com.
Website: https://www.pauluduk.com/page.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Paul_Uduk/1194732
How to Start Your Affiliate Marketing Business And Become Successful
No comments:
Post a Comment