All of us have dreams of making it big - to escape from the rut of the work routine that bogs us down, and do something that's more flexible yet offers greater profits. The best opportunity for this is online business. This can be done free lance, part-time or full-time, making it an extremely attractive proposition.



Find a Niche

One of the biggest mistakes that most online marketers make is targeting a general market which consists of many diverse groups. Unless you have a gigantic amount of resources and infrastructure, this approach will not work. You will have to identify a niche for yourself and work within this to be successful.

You can either opt for a segment of a particular industry or convert your hobbies/interests and/or expertise into a niche. You can also use online searches to identify niches - for instance if you want to sell 'skin care products', a search will show you further niches like 'under-eye care' which could be a great specialist niche.

Characteristics of a Niche

However, remember there must be enough demand for the product/service that you want to offer. The niche must not be too broad or too narrow - it must contain a promising number of prospects to sustain your business, and the competition must be minimal.

Do Your Homework

Every successful business begins with research. See if your business will bring a solution that will satisfy an urgent need or desire for your prospects. Work on estimating the demand for your products/services by conducting a small survey. You can also give away free samples and use the feedback to review your products, re-position them or add value to make them more appealing.

Create a Good Experience

It's not enough to just build any kind of online store. Rather aim at creating a wholesome experience for your visitors. Use attractive graphics and content that complement your business. For instance, if you are selling 'teddy bears' use cute little pictures and soft colours to enhance the dreamy childhood effect. Give visitors options to view the products clearly by providing bigger images - and even better; use multimedia effects to add movement, voice or music.

Keep It Simple

When it comes to navigation, content or design, it's important to keep it simple. This will appeal to both regular shoppers and newcomers. An overdose of technology and technicalities could frighten away "Newbies".

Differentiate Yourself Strongly

Don't attempt to imitate existing businesses, but work towards creating a unique identity for yourself by focusing on what you have that others do not. For instance if you are selling vintage crockery from the 1800's make sure that this gets the most emphasis. Focus on information about the crockery - many of them have a quaint history. This should appeal to a target audience with a yen for nostalgia.

Step Up Your Marketing

You could build the best website on the net, but the challenge is getting visitors to take a look. This calls for developing an effective marketing strategy. You could use a combination of SEO (search engine optimization), banner ads, links, opt-in lists and so on.

SEO is the most important part of online marketing as this is what helps you attract targeted traffic to your website. Good results can be achieved by placing links to your website on other complementary sites that your prospects are likely to visit. You can build your own subscriber list of names and email addresses by offering a free ebook or anything else related to your business for visitors who subscribe to your newsletter. This is called an opt-in list and quickly builds you a database of promising prospects who will eventually buy from you.

There are many, many ways you can promote your website, and this article has given you just a brief outline on building a flourishing online business.