Top Ten Lessons Learned in Internet Business

By Shelley Lowery

Since starting my Internet business back in 1997, I have learned many lessons along the way. These lessons have played a major role in my success, and I'd like to share them with you.

Lesson number 1 Collecting your visitors' email addresses should be one of your top priorities.

Start collecting email addresses the moment you put your site up. Developing a list of targeted potential customers is an absolute must.

Although publishing an ezine is usually the best route to go, it is not a necessity. You can use your list to send out web site updates, product updates, or whatever you'd like.

Lesson number 2 Your web site can either make or break you.

A professional looking web site will play a major role in your success. If you aren't secure in your abilities to design a professional looking site, you will be much better off hiring a professional.

Lesson number 3 If you want to make a lot of money, you must create a niche.

A niche fills a specific customer need. People want products and services that fulfill a specific personal need. If you are the first to fulfill the need, you'll reap the rewards.

Lesson number 4 Generating web site traffic takes a lot of time and effort.

The key to generating a lot of traffic to your site is getting your link on as many sites as possible. Sure, listing your site with the Search Engines is your first step; however, you must not solely rely on Search Engines to bring you traffic.

My two biggest traffic generators are as follows:

Affiliate Program - Having your own affiliate program is one of the best ways to get hundreds, even thousands of links to your web site.

Providing a Free Product or Service - Providing your visitors with a free product or service is a great way to drive traffic to your site. For example, I offer a free article syndication service. This service provides free content for web sites branded with a link to my site.

Lesson number 5 Selling your own products and services is much more profitable than marketing affiliate programs.

Some of the top Internet sellers include:

 Software
 Information
 Private sites
 Internet services