What Is THE SINGLE Most Important Thing To Do When Starting an Internet Business?

22 replies
There are really several Very Important things you need to successfully start and build an Internet Business these days.

Unfortunately, the rules of 4-5 years ago no longer guarantee success. These days to be successful in Internet Marketing, you need have the following personal traits;

* Tenacity
* Persistence
* Driven
* Goal oriented
* Passionate
* Able to Follow a Proven Plan of Action
* Willingness to learn, and make mistakes along the way

If you've got those attributes, great. You certainly have the personal traits required to be successful.

So what is THE Single Most Important part of starting and building an Online Business.

I would describe it as being your willingness to give immense value to those you see as your prospects and/or customers, and without expecting anything back in return. If you're able to do that, your prospects and clients will develop trust in you very quickly. This in turn will help you build your list of prospects and clients, which is the lifeblood of successful Internet/Online businesses these days.

Think about it, when you subscribe to someone's list, and they then start bombarding you with email after email promoting something to buy every time, I don't know about you, but I quickly unsubscribe, whereas when I join someone's list and all they ever do is offer me lots of 'good quality' Free stuff, I stay connected with that marketer, and eventually I go looking for whatever it is they do sell, and often I will buy something.

Create the relationship much the same way you would in real life with a new friend. Provide value, offer to help, support them, and do whatever it takes to be their best Internet connection. Go above and beyond the call of what is expected, and you'll have a customer for life. (and probably lots of referrals)
#autoresponder #business #free content #free information #important #internet #list building #quality content #single #starting #thing
  • Profile picture of the author thomarv29
    Thanks for the post, however, I think you use way too many generalities, telling people to be dilligent, persistent, Tenatious, or driven really doesnt give any real guidance. The title was "What is the most important thing to do when starting out" but you dont give any specific information that may actually help someone achieve their goals like Building Backlinks, Optimizing thier sites for higher conversions or anything else. If you have valuable information to give out, give out actionable information and not a pep talk. When people come to this post from its title, I think they are looking for specific tasks they can take to actually get started. Sorry for beign so direct but this is a common occurance here on WF. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author entrepreneurjay
    Great points and you need all of these traits, or qualities. But let's face it you can have all these traits and not make a dollar if you do not have one thing in your online business.

    And that is targeted traffic and a lot of it! Traffic is what makes everything fall into place.
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    • Profile picture of the author Warren Tibbotts
      Absolutely, I agree that traffic (and a good supply of it) is also vital to the success of any online business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
    Great post.

    I think that the most important thing is to make sure
    that what you plan to sell is something that the market
    really wants and is willing to pay for.

    This is where I watch so many people fail. They try to
    sell something that not enough people want!

    Willie
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    • Profile picture of the author Warren Tibbotts
      Originally Posted by Willie Crawford View Post

      Great post.

      I think that the most important thing is to make sure
      that what you plan to sell is something that the market
      really wants and is willing to pay for.

      This is where I watch so many people fail. They try to
      sell something that not enough people want!

      Willie
      Thanks Willie. Good point. This is where the importance of research comes into play, and finding the hungry market with which you can fill a desperate need, rather than think of a product, launch it to a market you think might work, only to end up without any sales. This is something the newbies coming into Online Marketing need to pay particular attention to.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    The single most important thing when starting an IM business is list building. Consistently work on building list will pay huge dividends in the future.
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    • Profile picture of the author Warren Tibbotts
      Originally Posted by fated82 View Post

      The single most important thing when starting an IM business is list building. Consistently work on building list will pay huge dividends in the future.
      That's effectively the essence of my post, but to build a successful list, you need to be willing to give, give, give. That way you will build a very responsive list over time, and one that will pay dividends over the longer term. Your list will be your most valuable asset, and you need to treat it (and your customers, and prospects) with respect (especially when it comes to JV's, and list swaps, and the like) otherwise if you try and build your list at any cost, it will often disappear faster than you can say "Jack rabbit"
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Anderson
    Hi
    Some great replies....
    But it is a 2 way answer....
    WORK!
    And stick to a plan!

    That's it, if your plan includes a great product, a great website, a great social marketing system, a great fan page, a great e mail list, a great traffic getting method etc etc etc etc...

    No distractions ( like I am doing to myself here) LOL
    No games (like my farm-ville farm) LOL


    Work
    to your plan

    then work
    to your plan

    and finally

    work to your plan!
    Signature
    Just good marketing advice - Business ideas
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  • Profile picture of the author dawnbreaker
    Your having a good set of points out their!

    Everyone should adopt this values to gain a successful IM business.
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    • Profile picture of the author brianbiv
      I agree, you need to have persistence and patience when starting a business online. It does not mean that you will achieve success the moment you build your business.

      Do you think the pros who make a thousand or more than a thousand dollars per day achieved success withing a few weeks? Well, not really. Most of the success online are achieved within a few months or even years.

      If you're going to venture towards online business, you will need to be persistent and have lots and lots of patience. Surely you will have obstacles and difficulties along the way, but through these difficulties, you gain experience. Yeah, I tell you, it will be difficult, but in the end you'll realize that all your hard work and persistence would bear good fruit on your advantage.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Spencer
    Originally Posted by Warren Tibbotts View Post

    There are really several Very Important things you need to successfully start and build an Internet Business these days.

    Unfortunately, the rules of 4-5 years ago no longer guarantee success. These days to be successful in Internet Marketing, you need have the following personal traits;

    * Tenacity
    * Persistence
    * Driven
    * Goal oriented
    * Passionate
    * Able to Follow a Proven Plan of Action
    * Willingness to learn, and make mistakes along the way

    If you've got those attributes, great. You certainly have the personal traits required to be successful.

    So what is THE Single Most Important part of starting and building an Online Business.

    I would describe it as being your willingness to give immense value to those you see as your prospects and/or customers, and without expecting anything back in return. If you're able to do that, your prospects and clients will develop trust in you very quickly. This in turn will help you build your list of prospects and clients, which is the lifeblood of successful Internet/Online businesses these days.

    Think about it, when you subscribe to someone's list, and they then start bombarding you with email after email promoting something to buy every time, I don't know about you, but I quickly unsubscribe, whereas when I join someone's list and all they ever do is offer me lots of 'good quality' Free stuff, I stay connected with that marketer, and eventually I go looking for whatever it is they do sell, and often I will buy something.

    Create the relationship much the same way you would in real life with a new friend. Provide value, offer to help, support them, and do whatever it takes to be their best Internet connection. Go above and beyond the call of what is expected, and you'll have a customer for life. (and probably lots of referrals)
    The ability to be strategic and be everywhere in your niche. The fastest way to get people to say "who the heck is Joe Schmo" is to be everywhere.

    Blog commenting, guest posts, ezinearticles, forums, and anywhere else people hang out. You'll get bashed and flamed but the tenacity to provide good info and in prodigious amounts will make you show up faster.

    Get them on a list and you can conquer any niche in a matter of months. It can be done...as long as you're not full of ****.

    Cheers,

    Brad
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    I have learned that the single most important thing to do is test for yourself to see what works and what doesn't. In the last year I have found that the majority of information we are fed by those who "know" is little more than rehashed garbage. I am not saying that it doesn't have value...just that the secret to getting it to all work is between the lines...
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  • Profile picture of the author rhoda.pearl
    I think the most important thing to do when starting out an Internet Business is that you equip yourself with proper information like researching on the fundamentals of the business. Also, you must see to it that you have the right resources to sustain your business. When you already have these, set up your work attitude and qualities. That would be the most important thing for starting out internet Business.
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  • Profile picture of the author InfinetADs
    These are great points, very general but will definitely give the new people a start!
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    The Affiliate Network With Infinet Possibilities!
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  • Profile picture of the author Supernatural_fan
    whatever works for someone, will not work for everyone else. based on this, i don't think there is one skill or ability which is far more important and completely above the rest. what i think is the most important is the thing that actually lacks. When you're not very good at something, or you lack a certain feature or skill, that becomes and should become a priority, especially if you can't do your thing properly. if i'm motivated, but lack the ability to be different, then that won't get you far and so on. what you lack is the actual attribute that you need to learn and "own".
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Manetzke
    I think the most important thing for me was picking one thing and sticking to it. I would get distracted by the newest and greatest thing and then have 10 half-assed projects going and none of them would really be successful. When I focused on one thing and stuck with it is when I really started to have some success.


    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Warren Tibbotts
      Originally Posted by Chris Manetzke View Post

      I think the most important thing for me was picking one thing and sticking to it. I would get distracted by the newest and greatest thing and then have 10 half-assed projects going and none of them would really be successful. When I focused on one thing and stuck with it is when I really started to have some success.


      Chris
      Chris, I couldn't agree more. Being an Opportunity seeker, constantly looking for the best best thing, will result in years of wasted time, and money.
      When you decide on your niche (and this should be after exhaustive research)
      you need to learn all you can about every aspect of that niche, and focus on building your business one step at a time. Remove all other distractions, unsubscribe from distracting lists that don't feed your mind, and with that determined focus that you know you need, make your business flourish
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      • Profile picture of the author StanCan
        Originally Posted by Warren Tibbotts View Post

        Chris, I couldn't agree more. Being an Opportunity seeker, constantly looking for the best best thing, will result in years of wasted time, and money.
        When you decide on your niche (and this should be after exhaustive research)
        you need to learn all you can about every aspect of that niche, and focus on building your business one step at a time. Remove all other distractions, unsubscribe from distracting lists that don't feed your mind, and with that determined focus that you know you need, make your business flourish
        I completely agree with you on this one. The skills you mentioned in your first post are fundamental qualities anyone who intends to venture into IM must have but the key nowadays is to identify a niche and build from there. Research (and more research) enables you to provide valuable information to your target customers that would set you apart from all the detritus out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author justen_mllr
    Great points.

    For me the most important thing is action.

    Why?

    Well, I can very easily get distracted and don't take the action that I should be taking. Like now. Spending some time on the warrior forum. (I had wasting instead of spending but decided to change it) While it is good to spend time on the warrior forum and learn more and help others, it can take away much needed time that you should be spending taking specific action on things that are going to really help your business to move forward.

    So, to help myself to take action, I like writing down what I need to get done and then not do anything till those things on the list are completely finished. And if I ever get done with my to-do list, I just find more things to add to. Therefore I end up spending most of my time with things that move my business forward.

    I hope this helps someone.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Foster
    For me, I think the most important thing to start with is building relationships. Get to know everyone you can, and do whatever you can to help.

    In the future, some of those people might be in a position to want to help you in return.
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  • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
    Start with an idea. Not a niche.
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