Alan LeStourgeon

Are You Looking For Small Business Ideas?

So you're looking for small business ideas...and since you are on the internet searching, you probably want to do something that involves the Web.

There are several kinds of small business ideas you can do online.

An online business is one of the least expensive and most hassle free ways to start a business today. With the limited amount of resources and the limited amount of time most peope find themselves in today...

Building an online business is your top option!

You can:

Sell your own product.
Sell someone else's product.
Teach people how to start their own business.
Offer a service.
Generate leads for your own or someone else's business.
Sell someone else's products by becoming an affiliate. (No inventory needed)

There are several small business ideas under each of these five categories.

Small Business Ideas #1
Selling You Own Product

Small Business
Ideas Tip

It has been said that nothing determines your future more than the books you read and the people you spend your time your time with.

Start today by...
Reading Good Books

This is probably the hardest way to start your small business if you are selling hard goods. Hard goods would be physical products that you must manufacture, handle and ship.

Selling you own product can also be the easiest way to start a small business if you sell an e-good. E-goods can be software, e-books, your own stock photo collections, mp3s or other audio recordings, etc.

Since e-goods are easier, let's concentrate on these kinds of goods. We'll start with the easiest of all e-goods, the easiest of all small business ideas, an e-book...

Being an Infopreneur

Everyone has a wealth of knowledge lurking around in their brains just waiting to be spilled out. Yes, there's an e-book in everyone. And yours is based on what you already know.

After all, you're unique, right?

You know stuff other people don't... things people would pay to know.

So you're already very close to profiting from your knowledge.

Now you just need to know...

How to pull it out of your brain
How to publish it
How to sell it on the Net

In other words, how to make your knowledge sell!

Make Your Knowledge Sell is the title of a book that Dr. Ken Evoy and Monique Harris have written and it's a proven system for creating, publishing and marketing your infoproduct, yourself.

Looking for an idea for your infoproduct? There are so many possibilities that the mind boggles. Make Your Knowledge Sell shows you how to find your special niche. Here's just one real-world example for now...

How long have you been in your business or working at you job? 10, 20, 30 years? You've learned so much, so gradually, you don't realize how much you know! It's a lifetime of information that people will pay for! Get started writing now!!!!

Everybody has literally hundreds of starting points!

All you need is some guidance and a plan of action that you can follow. That's exactly what Make Your Knowledge Sell is.

What a great small business idea...Learn how to develop and sell your infoproduct now. Get more information on Make Your Knowledge Sell today.

Small Business Ideas #2
Sell Someone Else's Product

Thousands of people are earning a comfortable living at home by setting up shop and selling other people's products on the internet. However, tens of thousands fail at this venture every year. Why...

Because they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a flashy, bells and whistles, all-the-cool-stuff Web site that gets zero traffic.

That's right, most small business sites on the internet die from a lack of traffic. This is sad but true. If you have a web site or know someone who does, take the Alexa Traffic Test here. Where do you rank?

Even though traffic is of utmost importance, it isn't the only factor. If you don't have good content on your site when your prospective customers arrive, they will click the back button and say good by to you and your site.

Good Content...What?

The concept of just throwing up a Web site and trying to sell your product is gone...well, it never really arrived. Your Web site visitors are looking for information, they are not looking for you!

You have to start your web business by providing in-demand content to your potential customers. The world of selling on the web is much different than the selling in a retail store.

For example...

Offline, bustling crowds pass by your place of business. Some of the passerby traffic notices you and walks in. "Location, Location, Location"

Online, people search for information. Millions of people, but no crowds. Each searches alone. "Information, information, information"

Developing small business ideas for the web takes a completely different mind set.

Online, small businesses fail to act on the fact that the fundamental reality of how people use the Web is totally different.

They (and their Web masters) stay in "offline mind set" by default and "put up a site" without building traffic right into it, from the ground up. Result? Doomed from Day 1.

Why is the fundamental reality so important? Because it means that there are no bustling crowds online. So no one ever happens to "just pass by your site and notice it." Instead...

Individuals surf. Again, they are looking for information...

They are not looking for you. No one is looking for you. After all, if they knew you existed, they would not be searching. They would already be customers. No one is looking for you at all.

This is so important, that it is worth repeating...

No one is looking for you at all.

Your prospective customers seek information. And yet...

What Is The Most Common Mistake Made By Startup Online Businesses?

They fail to start at the beginning... CONTENT. Instead, they start at the end... MONETIZATION.

They spend time and energy setting up a shopping cart and a merchant account or some other way of "collecting the money." That's putting the (shopping) cart before the e-horse of traffic. As we have just seen, MONETIZATION comes last... it's the final result of doing everything else correctly.

The easiest part of any small business site is plug-n-playing any kind of e-commerce MONETIZING module into a site. There are literally thousands of such services. The hardest part, where 98% of small businesses fail, is in attracting TRAFFIC, the visitors who convert into income. Yet they start with the cash register!

The solution? The only solution?...

Recognize the fundamental reality of how people use the Web. Eliminate "offline thinking."

Master A Niche Through The Delivery Of Content

Why "niche"? Because a general site will never defeat eBay or WalMart or Amazon. But a niche attracts highly targeted visitors... pre-customers who you can win over through the delivery of content.

Why "content"? Because the fundamental reality of the Web is that people use it to seek information, to look for solutions. To succeed, you must start where your potential customer starts.

Bottom line? Content >> Traffic >> PREsell >> Monetize is the only way for the small business to succeed online, yet so few follow this natural, logical process. Do what less than 2% of small businesses do. Build a site that will be searched-and-found by prospective new customers... hundreds of them... then thousands every day, steadily building as your site gains in reputation and relevance at the engines. In other words...

Build a Site that Works

Whatever your niche, whatever small business ideas you plan to monetize... Follow the best-practices-based, step-by-step Site Build It! process as you apply the built-in system of integrated tools to your own particular business to build a high-traffic, Theme-Based Content Site.

All you have to do is deliver content about your theme/niche. SBI! handles all the behind-the-scenes technology and complexity of building and marketing your Web site, which frees you to focus on what you know best... your business.

Now that you know the big picture of how to succeed online, review the Quick Tour to see how SBI! makes sure you execute it to perfection.

SBI, the perfect tool for all of your small business ideas.

Small Business Ideas #3
Teach People To Start Their Own Business

I no longer recommend network marketing as a viable online business option. See what I recommend instead.

One of the very best small business ideas is for you to help other people start their own business. The perfect model for this is of course, network marketing.

Network marketing is one of the only kinds of businesses that gives the average person the chance to succeed and do something extraordinary.

One of the best benefits of network marketing is that it costs much less for someone to get involved in this kind of business than any other kind of business. And you can produce a huge income in network marketing.

To learn more about network marketing and to receive a free mini course entitled "10 Steps to Success in Network Marketing" go here.

To find out more about one of the better network marketing companies to be in and one of the best small business ideas, click here.

Small Business Ideas #4
Offer A Service

Some Facts About Selling Your Service

Fact #1
The sale of a service is basically the sale of specialized time... someone with a specific knowledge or ability sells hours which deliver solutions required by a "client."

Fact #2
The Net is largely used by people to search for specialized information and solutions!

Fact #3
The "delivery" of a service is frictionless. In other words, you do not have to pick-pack-and-ship products (the way Amazon does, for example).

Here are some service small business ideas to offer for sale on the Net. You could be...

a graphic designer (outsource to ad agencies, etc.) (I used to be a graphic designer until I started working full time from home.)
an accountant with special knowledge of tax havens
a fine craftsman, such as an expert in Japanese netsuke repair
a cartoon artist
an export specialist who sources and exports German-made products
an investment specialist in Brazilian bonds
a copywriter for direct mail and Web sites
an editor of medical articles for international journals
a translator (any language to any other language)
a vintage guitar evaluator/collector/reseller

Whatever service you have, no matter where you are, you can offer it and advertise your service through the Net. These services are global in nature...

But what about services that require you to be physically present with a local client? For example...

a landscaper in Hong Kong
a fitness trainer in Beverly Hills, California
a dentist in Buenos Aires, Argentina
a caterer in Cheyenne, Wyoming
a chimney cleaner in Juno, Alaska

These are called "local" services and these service sellers must be out of luck, right?

Wrong. The "coming online" of local businesses is a major trend that is just beginning.

If yours is a local service, one that is provided to local clients, please click here to see how to develop a solid Web presence, generate targeted traffic, build loyalty through a newsletter for clients, get the edge on local competition, and add new income streams.

Successful online business building is all about following the right process, while using strong tools.

Site Build It! takes what you know, and helps you turn that into your own unique content on your own unique Web site. You use the SBI! system of no-tech-skills-needed, all-in-one, set of tools to execute the flawless step-by-step process to build a theme-based content site.

Find out how you generate hundreds of targeted visitors per day to your Web site whether you are selling your service globally or locally. Do it today.

Small Business Ideas #5
Generate Leads for Businesses, Including Yours

Leads are the lifeblood of many businesses. If you have minor experience in any of several fields, you can produce leads, and get paid handsomely, for this service.

Millions of people search the internet daily for numerous topics that anyone, including you, can produce leads for.

Who can you produce leads for? How about...

Real Estate Agents
Insurance Agents
Mortgage Brokers
New Car Dealers
Used Car Dealers
Construction Contractors
Lawyers
Chiropractors
Network Marketers
Alternative Health Practitioners
Financial Advisors
Accountants
Money Lenders
etc., etc., etc.

The list is endless. If you know someone in business they could probably benefit from your lead providing service.

So, how do you produce leads?

Remember, millions of people are searching the internet daily for information. Take that stream of people looking for information and find a niche. Provide a theme-based content site full of high-value information about a subject that you know and love.

You then link that niche-oriented content to send visitors to specific businesses (offline businesses, especially), earning referral or finder's fees. Here's how it works...

The theme-based content attracts targeted visitors (i.e., potential customers).
Your site's content credentializes you in the eyes of your prospective new customers.
Your e-zine (electronic newsletter) builds more and more trust.
You recommend a business or service.
You get paid for the lead or sale that results.

Use Site Build It! (SBI) and SBI's Form Build It! to build your theme-based content site and gather information on your prospective leads. SBI provides all the tools you need to build a quality Web presence and attract targeted traffic.

Providing leads for businesses is one of the best small business ideas there is.

Find out more about building a Web site that works, with SBI today.

Small Business Ideas #6
Sell Other People's Products by Being an Affiliate

As far as small business ideas go, being an affiliate is probably one of the easiest ways to make money on the net. It requires little up front money, you don't have to have inventory, you don't have to ship a product, and it doesn't cost you to join. (beware of one that does)

An affiliate program in its basic form is you helping sell someone else's products. The best affiliate programs reward their affiliates for sending traffic to their sites to purchase the seller's products.

To learn more about the affiliate model for a small business click here.

You are on the right track, searching for information on small business ideas. There really is no other way to earn a living than having your own business and preferably working from home.

As you search for small business ideas, be careful, there are many scams on the Net. Don't invest any money until all of your questions are answered. If you can't get the information you are looking for, when you ask for it, you probably don't want to get involved.

To get more information on what we consider to be the best of all small business ideas and an exceptional opportunity for anyone click here.

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