It's no secret that 44% of new
businesses in the real world close their doors within the first two years of
opening them. In the first four years, 66% of small businesses fail. In the
online world, the numbers are worse. Everything is faster on the internet and
that includes the deterioration of new businesses. 95% of online businesses
fail and they fail in a matter of months.
Disheartening? It doesn't have
to be. You can learn from other
people's mistakes. Other people's successes in the online world drove you to
want to start your online business. Their failures can help you.
Who wouldn't prefer to avoid
rush hour traffic in the morning on the way to the office and in the evening on
the way home from the office? And everybody hates their boss. Even if you like
your boss, you prefer not to have a boss at all. That's the allure of the internet.
Making money in your pajamas and answering to yourself.
It's also one of the biggest reasons people fail in online
business. They have to answer to themselves. When you first venture into being
your own boss, it's extremely tempting to slack off on your work hours. It's
even more tempting if you work from home. You have the television, video games,
the refrigerator, the children and the spouse all to distract you. Being your
own boss takes more discipline than having a job where you take orders from
someone else.The reality is that in some aspects, being your own boss can be
more demanding than a job. Your businesses success and failure hinges on how
much work you put into it.
Many online businesses fail because the owners dive into the
venture with the wrong mindset. They try to take brick-and-mortar concepts and
apply them to the internet. The internet is a different monster than a
brick-and-mortar retail shop. With a brick-and-mortar retail shop, you start
with a great location and you build a beautiful store, a little advertising and
the customers come. Online business owners put all kinds of money into building
beautiful websites and then sit back and wait for the business to come to them.
It doesn't work like the late night infomercials tell you that
it does. That brick-and-mortar retail store competes with only the other four
or five retail stores in that plaza. You build your beautiful site and it
competes with millions of other websites. Now, how are people supposed to find
your needle in that haystack? Search engine optimization would be a good start.
Create a site that the search engines love. Hopefully, your site shows up at
the top of the search engine results (this is prime real estate on the
internet). But in order to do that, you have to plan accordingly.
Lack of planning kills any business. It's extremely detrimental
to internet businesses. For an internet business to succeed, there has to a
comprehensive plan that includes website design, the focus of your business,
marketing strategies, fulfillment strategies, and strategies to handle customer
complaints. Most new internet businesses have no focus. The owner just knows
that he wants to start a business online. He has some idea in his head that he
wants to sell video games, for example. Unfortunately, he has not created a
plan to differentiate himself from the other million and one websites that sell
video games. He becomes a speck in the dust.
In order to properly plan, the online business owner has to have
knowledge of every aspect of his business, marketing strategies others in the
field are employing with success, and the knowledge of internet marketing. Most
online businesses fail because the owner jumps into the business powered by his
dreams of financial success or freedom from a traditional job. They fail to
take the time to learn the intricacies and strategies of internet marketing and
what it takes to succeed in an online business.
An online business needs three factors in order to achieve
success. The business has to generate traffic, keep constant contact with
customer and close the sale. Even brick-and-mortar businesses can't survive if
they have no customers. Online businesses are the same way. If no one visits
your website, then you can't make any money. Many new online business owners,
their first time starting a business online, expect that simply having their
website online will generate business. It doesn't. They've gone several months
before realizing that they have to generate traffic on their own. By then, it's
too late for them to learn how to use internet marketing to their advantage.
They've already spent tons of money launching the business, warehousing
products, and shelling out for expenses.
Some people have the luck of hiring a website design firm who
has explained to their customer that they will need site optimization, and
probably offered traffic generation services. It's great to get traffic. But
you're going to be throwing your hands up in the air in surrender when you have
a thousand customers a day to your site and still aren't making any money.
That's because you've failed to grab hold of this prospect and not let him walk
out of the door. Online businesses have an advantage over brick-and-mortar
businesses. It's easier for an online business to capture email addresses and
information about customers than it is for brick-and-mortar business.
Unfortunately, some online business owners actually fail to do this. Simply
capturing email addresses gives you the opportunity to invite this prospect
back to your site. Too many business owners take this same mentality into their
online business. You can't be afraid to ask for the sale. If you never ask for
the sale, how do you know if you will every get it or not?
Finally, the greatest tragedy of all online business failures is
neglecting the use of the tracking capabilities of the internet. The internet
is such an amazing tool for tracking and measuring statistics. It's
unbelievable how many online business owners fail to track and measure their
efforts. This probably is a byproduct of improper planning. But even planning
without tracking and measuring results is pointless. Because of the lack of
tracking, you could end up spending more money into advertising efforts that
aren't working and less time and money on efforts that do work.
Your online business doesn't have to fail. Educating yourself on
internet marketing and operating and online business will build your
self-assurance. Constructing a plan for your business will help you develop the
discipline you need to keep your business moving in the right direction. Don't
allow your online business to fail when it's so easy to get the tools to
succeed.
nice post, really helpful...
ReplyDeleteThanks For Sharing A wonder Tips about Why People Fail in Online Business Opportunity .
ReplyDeleteCrm Small Business Online & Customer Relationship Management UK