The 10 Commandments of Online Business

There are (at least) 10 absolute musts for anyone who
desires to run a successful online home-based business.

1. Thou Shalt Not Pursue A Free Lunch:

Chances are, you will not get rich quick. Deal with it.
Don't waste your time convincing yourself or listening to
others who tell you differently. Hard work and perseverance
will not fail you.

2. Thy Products Must Solve A Prospect's Problem:

We humans are greedy creatures most times. We want comfort,
ease, peace of mind, and a plethora of other self
indulgencies. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and ask
"What's in it for me?". If your ads or products do not
clearly spell this out, and tell the customer how you will
give him what he desires, most times you will not make the
sale.

3. Thou Shalt Educate Thyself:

Read, Read, Read. Observe other successful people in your
field. What are they doing? Read some more.

4. Thou Shalt Budget For Advertising:

Free advertising is an oxymoron. The only people reading
free ads are the ones who are placing them there, and all
they're looking for is their own ad, not yours. Instead,
learn all you can about your target audience, and find them.
Whether it is through pay-per-click advertising using
highly targeted keywords, eZine ads, banners on related
sites, etc. Don't go after the general public. Go after
people who are looking for your type of product or service.
Allow a certain monthly expense for advertising and stick
to it.

5. Thou Shalt Track Thyne Advertising:

You made a sale! Congrats! How did the customer find you?
If you have 10 different ads on 10 different sites, how on
earth will you know which one(s) are working? View your
server logs to see where the users came from. Create unique
URLs to use in each ad. For example:
http://www.yourdomain.com?ad1 http://www.yourdomain.com?ad2
etc. Just add the ?ad# to the end of the URL you post along
with each ad. Change the # for each one & for goodness
sake, write them down somewhere! StatCounter.com offers a
great free service that will assist you in tracking your
visitors.

6. Thou Shalt Tweak:

Familiarize yourself with the term "split-run". A split run
is where you take 2 ads and send them out simultaneously
and measure the results to see which ad pulled more clicks
and sales. You take the better of the 2 ads and create
another one. Run a split-test again with your best ad &
your new ad. The winner moves on to the next round. Repeat
this process often.

7. Honor Thy Mailing List:

Your current and previous customers are an incredible
source of revenue for you. It's a shame that many online
business owners neglect this each and every day. Stay in
touch with your prospects by sending an email or printed
newsletter or flyer. Offer them special discounts and
loyalty bonuses. If you forget them, they will surely forget
you.

8. Thou Shalt Not Be Hindered By Failure:

You will fail. Period. Dust yourself off & get back on the
horse. It is part of your education. Learn from it and move
forward.

9. Thou Shalt Duplicate What Works:

Commandment number six goes hand-in-hand with this one. The
wonderful thing about doing business online is the ease at
which you can scale-up your operation. If you find
something that works, do it again, and again. Reach a larger
audience. If you've found a successful niche as an
affiliate with a mini-site, set up 25 more sites.

10. Thou Shalt Reward Thyself:

You need some time away from the computer. Go outside. Go
shopping. Visit friends. Buy yourself a new toy. Read
something non-technical, fiction maybe. You've earned the
right to treat yourself. Make it a habit or it will become a
resentment.

Mike Nalbone is the Webmaster at http://www.WahSoHo.com :: Work at Home :: Small Office :: Home Office :: Education, News & Resources for home based business owners.

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