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Evaluating An Internet Business
By Heather Egan
I think that you'll find that this is not your typical article. This is valuable information and I urge you to read this Intel thoroughly and then re-read it. It could change your life. I'm going to tell you how to evaluate an Internet business to find out if it's worth your time and effort to monetize it and attempt to make money from it. Simply put, you're going to need to focus on niche, unique, specialty products offered by a reputable company and your website will need to look fully professional. While this concept is easy to understand, finding the right businesses is not and getting some money together to have a pro website built can drain your cash resources, especially if you don't know HTML and graphic design. Let me explain. COMBING THROUGH THE JUNK
Evaluating a new business is not a difficult task, however the sheer numbers of business opportunities that are available makes the process arduous. You'll have to comb through several businesses before you find one that has the right components in place (product, Brand, competition). You're going to have to reject 10's or even 100's of prospects before you find the right one. Why? Because while starting an internet business is somewhat easy. Having one make money is not easy. First, you can completely disregard any 'get rich quick' mentalities. Finding the right business to go-to-market with takes good timing and excellent execution skills and a lot of patience. You're going to be saying 'NO' 100x more than you'll be saying 'YES." There is a running gag out there where people make money from the internet by writing books about 'How to make money using the internet!' The actual e-Book is THEIR marketable item and, unfortunately, few books actually contain the nuts-and-bolts information required for you to get started. Second, you'll need some serious technical and writing skills with a good dash of marketing instincts. Being able to convey key concepts to the customer in a short space is key to converting web lookers into web buyers. Knowing what phrases to emphasize and having a 'call to action' is what is required to make the sale. Knowing how to spec out a web site to an outsourced developer will require web knowledge (unless you get really lucky and get someone who does awesome sites for cheap with little or no direction, which is very rare.) Third, your website must look top-notch. I've seen a LOT of people promoting a website that looks like it was done by their cats pawing the keyboard or done in 1999 with FrontPage. Your website will need to look like it's worthy of a sale. If you think that people will want your product so badly that they will overlook a shoddy website, respectfully, you are mistaken. If you don't want to invest in a high-quality website, then you shouldn't be in the business of marketing over the internet. Use a service like Freelancer.com or oDesk.com and get yourself a professional-looking website for a good price. To successfully evaluate your new Internet business prospect, you'll apply these THREE factors to your decision process. - Strength Of The Brand
- Strength Of The Product Or Service
- Strength Of The Competition Strength Of The Brand
You'll need to ask yourself: "Has anyone heard of this company or am I introducing a new Brand to the world?" You see, if the Brand is established, you'll have a lot easier time convincing people that the product has high quality. Now, of course, this is usually not the case for newly introduced products or technologies. They are most often presented by new companies that have a new product to offer so there is always an offset with the awesomeness of the product and the familiarity of the brand. Either have a strong Brand or a strong product (or both) but never neither. If the Brand is weak and the product is weak, even if there is low competition, you're doomed before you started. Strength Of The Product Or Service
How awesome is the product you are selling? Is it something that they cannot buy anywhere else? For example, there is a company called Miche that sells a purse with an inter-changable shell, or a makeup company called Beauticontrol which sells a special type of skin product. Or are you trying to sell something that's available at the local store down the road? Focus on products that solve a problem. They are much easier to market. Stay away from 'everyday items' like soaps and consumables. Strength Of The Competition
Are you first to market this product with this company? Or are you late to market? Take a look at the search results for this product's name or Brand and view how many people have sites that rank for it. Are the first 2 pages fully dominated? Determining the strength of the competition is the 3rd part of the evaluation process. A Real World Example So, back in 2008, I came across a company called Scentsy which produced a new invention called a 'wickless candle' and they are always introducing new Scentsy products as time passes. Basically it works by melting scented wax inside a ceramic dish which was heated by a lightbulb instead of a flame. It's been successful. So, let's apply what we've learned above to this business and grade it on a 10 point scale (1-10). 10 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest. 1. Strength of Brand (5/10): Some people had heard of it but most had not. What people had heard of it was all positive (no bad reviews). Not a great starting score but not bad either. So far, so good. 2. Strength of Product (8/10): This product solved a problem of 'having a burning object in your house' (a candle). It solved a problem and was a truly unique product with their own patent. You couldn't buy it anywhere else, at any store. You had to buy it from Scentsy. 3. Strength of the Competition (7/10): In 2008, there were 12,000 consultants, now there are about 200,000. I got there relatively early. So, this opportunity scored 20 out of 30 which is a great score for making the decision for starting a new business. What new business would you like evaluated? Put your concept in the Qondio comments below! STAY TUNED FOR PART II! |
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PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Scentsy
Scentsy provides a flameless candle system
scentsified.com
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This intel was contributed by Heather
Heather
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May, 2012
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