The Internet is truly a remarkable opportunity. Anyone, absolutely anyone can harness a major mass media to spread the word about themselves--and do it almost for free. Build your website, promote it like crazy, and you’re on your way.

Is creating an Internet empire an easy thing to do?   In many ways it is, but you have to have a plan. And,  you have to work your plan, consistently, with a determination not to give up until your reach your goals.  Internet business is like any other business, success requires hard work and persistence. 

TARGET YOUR MARKET. 

Increase your odds and shorten the time required by planning carefully right from the beginning. Start by finding a solid product, service, or idea that you can sell to others. Make sure the people who would want what you sell can be found on the Internet. The on-line crowd is still just a small percentage of our total population (although that’s a lot of people in total numbers). Netizens tend to be above average in income and education. Until recently, they were overwhelmingly young and male, although the number of women and people of all ages rapidly increased last year. People who buy on the Net like to use credit cards. Can your business sell to these groups of people? Does your product or service appeal to them, or would it sell better to other groups who aren’t using the Internet yet? 

Once you zero in on a perfect product or service to sell, consider what other products or services could be sold along with it. There’s a good reason why you need to sell things that can be grouped together. 

PROMOTING AN IDENTITY. 

The success of your Internet business will depend almost entirely on how well you can promote it. While traditional businesses throw fortunes at radio, TV, and newspapers; the on-line entrepreneur must do most of the marketing herself. Properly using newsgroups, free classified ads,  solicited mailing lists, e-zine ads and press releases  is hard enough to do with one business.  You don’t want to have to divide your time between two, three, or four different websites. It’s much better to have one multi-faceted website to send all your prospects to.

Work toward creating a single, recognizable Internet  identity for yourself. Everyone knows Amazon.com. They sell books.

They don’t sell financial services, health items, and travel packages--just books. But Amazon.com sells many kinds of books and a number of different related services including an entrepreneurial opportunity. It all fits under their hotly promoted identity. 

THREE STEPS FOR CREATING YOUR IDENTITY. 

Here’s how to hone in on your potent Internet identity: 

1. What is the main benefit that your business  will offer prospects?  People are only interested in the features your product or service has to  offer if they can clearly see how those things benefit their lives. I could have titled this article “An Analysis of Internet Targeting.” That sounds kind of dry, and unless you’re a marketing student, it probably doesn’t mean much. By calling this article “How to Build Your Business Empire on the Internet For Next to Nothing,” I communicate some real benefits to reading the article.

I could go one step further and add to the title “and make a huge income without having to have a boss, a regular job, or leave the comfort of your own home.” Now those are benefits that many of us can get enthusiastic about! 

2. Boil your main benefit down to a short phrase you could put on a bumper sticker. My business’s bumper sticker ID is “Marketing help for biz.” Most prospects are leading very busy lives.   To get  their attention, you must tell them how to improve their lives quickly and in a way that’s easy to understand. 

3. As you promote your business, and multiply the ways to make profits in your Internet empire, make sure that everything fits with your main bumper-sticker positioning statement. One guy has a list of 70 money-making opportunities on his website. He has them collected under a concise promise of supplying readers with dozens of ways to make money on their own websites. It’s a good way of grouping lots of different business strategies under one unified heading and and identity. It’s appealing, has lots of obvious benefits, and is easy to promote with a short bumper-sticker phrase. 

You can’t start too soon thinking about how you will market your business. When most people get an idea for a new business,  they first think about how much money they’ll make. The very next thought should be how they will promote the business. As you create and expand your Internet Business Empire, keep a constant eye toward how you will marketing it, efficiently and effectively. 

Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for businesses and organizations. Read all his money-saving marketing tips at http://DrNunley.com/  Reach him at kevin@drnunley.com  or (801)253-4536.