If you’re desperate to find an internet marketing busines model that works, here’s 3 I have personally proven and can guarantee.
I have been comfortably making my living online for more than 10 years now. It was a slow start, and I made some mistakes in the early days. I had a $5,000 per month income stream vanish overnight because an assistant thought they were helping me by clicking my Adsense ads… sadly Google didn’t see it that way. Similarly, I’ve wasted a lot of time chasing inefficient internet marketing business models.
In this post I am going to outline the three business models I successfully use today to make money on the internet. There are others around, but I can guarantee these three work – I have proven them to myself.
Here’s the first internet business model: – Sell Information Products
The great thing about Information Products is the high profit margin. You can have downloadable products, or use someone else to fulfil (print, pack and post) physical products. All you need is information which someone else will pay for. You need to be an expert is some in-demand area, or be able to find, buy or rent one.
Start with a free introductory report to generate leads. From the initial interest, upsell your audience into a paid product, then into mid-range and finally into high-range products. Ultimately you can offer seminars or coaching. I’ve done this time and again in my trading niche and even at Melbourne SEO Services we begin with a free report, the “SEO Manifesto”, and upsell to our products and seminars.
The second internet business model: eCommerce
Here is where you have actual physical products for sale, and use a website to transact business rather than a shopfront. There are great opportunities for excellent Search Engine Optimisation, to get your site to the top of the SERPs. Here’s one site where we drive over 1,000 unique visitors per day, selling 3,000+ different products www.planet13.com.au. The SEO techniques we use here are primarily onpage optimisation (keywords) and internal linking.
If you’re not sure how to build SEO for your ecommerce business, check out these cutting-edge techniques: www.theseomethod.com
The third internet business model: Sell Services
Use the internet to generate leads for a service, where you sell your time and expertise. Most business have no idea how to market effectively, either via the internet, or offline. There are an easy opportunities available for you to do this better than your competition. Here’s an example of how we did it for one of our clients: www.thedentists.com.au
Ok, I’ve given you the three best internet marketing models I know. These are the methods I use myself. Now, there are more (secret but simple) methods to making money on the net … but that’s a story for another post.
10 years of experience earning online. That’s a milestone and quite a feat already. But let’s say you are a complete newbie to Internet marketing and certainly you are confused with all the info that you are getting on what is the best way to earn online. Which business model would you suggest a newbie try out first?
Your example of an eCommerce is a good one, but I think it also requires that you stock up on your physical products and then deliver them to the customers. This business model maybe a bit too big for most people.
Hey MJ,
Great question… perhaps the best place to start is building an info website through Site Build It (http://www.sitesell.com/sbi3.html). They have a complete step-by-step system I have personally tested – my http://www.meta-formula.com site is on Site Build It. Info product are awesome since they cost very little to make but you can sell them at a very high margin. Start with affiliate programs and then over time build out your own product line.
Hope that helps. Your SEO coach,
Dave
Ps. You might like to check out the interview I did with Ken Evoy (the maker of Site Build It):
http://www.davidjenyns.com/internet-marketing/ken-evoy-the-extremely-rare-interview/
That’s inspiring, except for the ‘added assistance’ clicking those ads. Anyway, this is a good example of how making money online is really possible nowadays, just have to work smart and do ethical methods of doing so.
By the way, what have been some of the adjustments that you did after that incident (just curious)? This might be the same concerns other people have when hiring their assistants, that’s why I asked.
Hey Lia,
I actually moved away from using Adsense as a core monitzation strategy. These days I just focus on methods I have 100% control over… i.e. I focus on building my own information products. I don’t want my business held to the mercy of a third party provider.
Your SEO Coach,
Dave
That’s good to know. After all, that’s how business works, that is to have full control over it.
Re: information products, I have seen a lot of those from Clickbank. How long have you been into selling info products? Did you also do some keyword research before you pushed that info product as online merchandise?
I would love to read your personal experience on how you go about it. How about a future post (about tips) for those who would like to venture into selling info products online? 🙂
Happy holidays!
Yikes. I’m earning okay with Adsense but the story you just told just drove home the point why it’s important not to build an online business around Adsense. You just can’t tell when the rug will get pulled from under you.
I’m currently also selling services but boy is this a difficult model to follow. There just isn’t enough time for all the clients and there seems to be some sort of earning cap— I can only earn a set figure based on the price of my service and the average time I spend performing services.
Might be interested information product model. You’ve pretty much given the steps on how to go about it. I think though that the initial setup stage might just be a bit labor intensive don’t you think?
Lia: Beens selling info products for 7+ years and on clickbank for at least 6+. As for keyword research, in the early days I didn’t know what I was doing… I just fumbled my way around. The key is to just get started and you will find your skill develops over time. You’ll never start perfect.
Vil: Thanks for the comments. Internet business is like any other real world business – it takes time and effort. It might seem the initial stage is labour intensive but it’s worth it in the long run. Put the time in upfront and get paid for a lifetime.
Stick with it… the rewards are worth it.
Your SEO Coach,
Dave
I have been thinking of starting a ecommerce store for e-cigarettes, they seem really popular right now and many of the sites out there selling them look horrible so I think with the right design I could really pull it off!
Thanks for the tips!
Wonderful tips you got here. I’m new to internet marketing but so far I’m leaning towards giving affiliate marketing a try. I came across a video of a marketing guy (I’m guessing he’s a big honcho in internet marketing) and there he said that affiliate marketing is not a business because you do not have your own product to sell. Do you think this is correct? Would love to hear ideas about it.
Hi Terri… e-cigarettes? Are those the ones used by people who want to stop smoking? They light up at the tip and you can emit smoke but they don’t have the nicotine? Wow. That’s one niche I never thought about. 🙂
Thanks for these models, Dave. They got me interested to have my own online business. One question though. Assuming that these models work positively across countries…Hmmm…How do I know which one will work best in my country? Do you have guidelines , say some t0-answer questions before deciding on which one to choose?
i really enjoyed this excellent post ,this is the best website
best regards.