The Realistic Way to Start an Internet Business

Copyright 2005 Peter Dobler

We all are in search of the silver bullet that will put our business on autopilot and the only thing we have to do is to cash the checks. Aren't you looking for this as well? Isn't this the reason why you're actually reading all these articles, including this one? You're hoping to find the one tool, the surefire method, the hidden trick or the magic system that will make your dreams come true.

Once again I have to disappoint you. There is no such thing as a silver bullet that will magically run your business while you sit back and relax. If there would be one, why is everybody trying to sell you the next big thing or the breakthrough that will make you rich and you won't need to chase the magic system anymore?

Are you as confused as I am? You bet. Without clear definition of exactly what you are trying to do, there will be no answers. What does rich mean to you? What exactly will the next big thing solve for you? It sure means something different to you than it does to me. The only thing we all have in common is that we all strive to achieve our personal financial freedom.

Sorry for getting off topic here. You still want to know how to make real money with an Internet business, don't you? Instead of repeating marketing material over and over again I will tell you how I make real money with my Internet business.

First, you need a product and a website to sell your product. I'm a member of several clubs that offer new tools and books with master resale rights every month. This means that I can sell these products and keep 100% of the profit. I also have full control over the sales letter. This is very important. You set the price and you can add any bonus material you want to. You also need somebody to process the credit card payments. My choices are PayPal and 2Checkout.

Ok, now you have a killer sales web site and you're ready for business. Unfortunately nobody knows that you're open for business and the spider nets are starting to grow on your front door. What you need is traffic. Lot's of it. After experimenting with all kind of traffic exchange programs I can honestly say, they don't work. You need something more powerful.

This is exactly what I do every time I create a new web site for e new product I'm promoting. I put an ad on the major pay-per-click engines like Google, Overture, 7search and FindWhat. This gives my business a jump start.

Next I create doorway pages for the new web site and promote them to the search engines through a blog. Search engines will index your pages much faster when you have a link to them from a blog. Never submit your sales web site directly to any search engines. You will get much higher rankings if they find you.

I also make sure that I place an unblockable popup window on every doorway page to sign up for my newsletter. This way I capture at least the email addresses of my visitors. Also several Google AdSense windows will give me a little kick back.

To make it even more profitable, on the thank you page for the newsletter subscription I give away free stuff with lots of references to other web sites of mine and I make the subscriber aware that the real good stuff to download is hidden in an email. If they gave me a fake email just to download the free software it won't work. But at least they download the free promo material. My stats showing me that this is working. I always make sure that the free stuff I'm giving away has viral marketing built in. It needs to reproduce itself without any intervention from my part.

This doesn't look like a lot, but after setting up over 10 sales web sites the system is gaining momentum. After a while I will drop the pay-per-click advertising and the system supports itself with enough visitors to make a profit.

Ok, you're absolutely right. This is a lot of work. However, do the math. Let's say you create a new sales web site every month. After 6 months you break even with the initial setup cost and the startup pay-per-click costs. After that you're making net profits. Let's also say you're making $200 a month in profits. Not much, but realistic. After just one year you have 12 sales web sites up and running and they produce $2400 a month in profits. Would you walk away from a business like this? Hell no.

Bottom line if you want to get rich quick you need to go to Vegas. If you want to start a serious Internet business you might want to follow my strategy. This works for me, chances are that it will work for you too. If you really want to push this system to the limits simply create an affiliate program on top of it and your profits will go through the roof.

About the author:

Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Collect more free software and bonus content for your own web site at http://www.online-business-idea.com or send a blank email to mailto:pdobler@getresponse.com and my newsletter will arrive in your inbox.

Written by: Peter Dobler