Hi This is Kate Wilber “The Marketing Momma” again for Tip # 2 in the 5 tips to starting an online store series here at the work at home success blog.  I wanted to Thank Leslie again for inviting me to visit this week.  If you missed yesterdays tip you can check it out here.

Today’s Tip is

3 Important Things You Need To Know First

When you are first starting an online business or actually any business there are 3 key things you need to know first before you set up your business structure.

1. First you need to know who your target market is.
2. Second you need to know what your target market is interested in and are they interested enough in it to pay money for it. And is there enough of your target market willing to pay money for it to build a sustainable business around it.
3. Third how are you going to get in front of your target market.

For the first of the three, there are a lot of ways to choose who your target market is and alot of thoughts on how to go about choosing a good market.  My first recommendation is to choose a niche that you either know alot about or you want to learn alot about.  You need to become an expert in that niche to be able to build a business around it.  If you don’t like a niche or you don’t have any interest in it you aren’t going to be able to stay motivated to keep things moving forward with it over a long period of time.  Plus the whole point of working from home and owning your own business is to enjoy what you do.  So pick something you are going to enjoy!!

Second–Once you have picked a niche next you need to do some research to see if that niche has other people interested in it to and if those people are willing to spend money on it.  Just because you love water ballet doesn’t mean that there are enough other people out there that love it too.  So do some research and see if there is an interest in it.  One easy way to research is to do a search for it on google–then look to see if there are any other companies doing paid advertising around that niche.  Normally if other companies are paying for advertising then that means somebody is buying.  You also would need to use the google keyword tool to see exactly how many people are searching for that product or niche on a daily basis.

For the third importance,  figure out how to get your product or service in front of your target customer.  You can have the best product in the world but if you don’t know how to get that product in front of the people who want or need it then nobody is going to buy it.  So find where your target customer hangs out and get in front of them.  One great way to do this is to search online for forums and blogs that are related to your niche–then make a presence there for you and your business.

If you know someone who would benefit from these tips to start an online store please send them to this post.

For more step by step guidance to building a successful online store

visit www.startanonlinestore.com

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

The Marketing Momma

When I first started looking for work online in the late 1990’s there were many jobs that involved researching and writing content.  Websites needed to fill their sites and databases with information and paid people to help them do that. Those jobs, in that fashion, don’t exist much anymore, but a new type of pay-for-content work has evolved.

You may have heard that “Content is King” on the Internet. In most cases people go online to get information. The sites that have the best information (content) tend to also have the most traffic and therefore make the most money. New news aggregators and content portals are vying for a piece of the pie and are paying people to help them develop quality content.

What’s Involved?

The basics are the ability to find information and organize it in a concise easy to read fashion. You don’t need access to the expensive data bases or a degree in journalism, but you do need to know how to find reputable information on the Internet and string words together coherently.

Most sites want 300-500 word articles that can cover topics of your choice or that the site has requested. The articles can be in a variety of formats including ‘how-to’, reviews, lists, ‘best of’, fact sheets, etc.

How much can you make?

This is the tough question. Like in most work-at-home options, some people make good money and others make nearly nothing. It really depends on the site, your topics, and quality of submissions. Some sites will pay you a small flat fee anywhere from $5 to $30 per article. Others pay you in ad revenue, which over time, if there is lots of traffic, can build. Some do a combination of both.

My opinion on this type of work:

If you want to be a full-time freelance writer, these options aren’t for you mostly because most magazines don’t view these sites as “clips” to add to your portfolio. And the pay isn’t as good as writing for magazines.

But if you want to make a few hundred to a thousand dollars a month AND have the time to write and submit frequently, and help the site build traffic to your submissions, then this is a good option. It’s extremely flexible…you write what you want, when you want. But you aren’t going to see that money overnight. Most people who work on it consistently indicate it takes a couple of months to see a steady stream of income.

Where’s the work?

There are many places such as Demand Studio and Associated Content that pay for content. But not all are worth the time and effort.  For example, Examiner is posting lots of work on job boards, but the pay is so low (1 cent per page impression) and not guaranteed. Plus it says it can take and reuse, rewrite, and redistribute your work without additional compensation to. That’s not fair. You’re better off to go with a site that doesn’t pay well but at least you own your work and submit it to more than one place. Or that will pay you more to have exclusive rights to your work.

What should you do next?

If this sounds interesting, take the time to do more research. Like most work-at-home options, a single article can spark an idea, but you need the nitty gritty details to know what do to next. You can start by checking out some of the content sites (all are free to join) and learn what sort of content they want, how they pay, and what’s involved.

I was able to get a hold of Matthew Sherborne’s Cash for Content System. I read a lot of ebooks and most aren’t that helpful, but Matthew’s is very good. It takes you through the steps of finding good profitable topics, how to put together quality content even if you don’t like or aren’t’ sure how to write, and the best ways to maximize profits at many of the best web content sites. He uses screen captures so you can follow along with him and not have to guess what he’s talking about. Plus he’s added toolbox that takes you step-by-step through the process of brainstorming ideas, writing content, and keeping track of the best paying sites. I’ve also thrown in a bonus that lists some additional sites that aren’t in Matthew’s book.

Check out Matthew’s great resource at Cash for Content System.