Written on September 26th, 2006 at 03:09 pm by Darren Rowse
Starting An Internet Business Yaro Style
Yaro has written a post titled 8 Pitfalls To Avoid When Starting An Internet Business which contains some worthwhile advice (although i disagree with a couple in part). His points in bold - my comments after in normal type:
- Don’t start a business teaching how to make money online - very true. I see blogs start on the topic of making money online every week. Some of them are brilliant and work out well but many of them are gone as quickly as they start - often because the person doesn’t really know how to make money online or because the market is so saturated and in the scheme of things there are only so many people looking for that kind of information.
- Choose non-Internet related niches - I think there are a lot of reasons for taking this advice. While it is possible to do well with an internet related topic I’ve had better luck with more normal everyday topics that people are interested in.
- Don’t focus on making money - to a point I agree with this - although if you’re starting an internet business (the topic of Yaro’s post) you will want to consider how it will be sustainable from the start. Having said this - many successful online businesses are started as hobby sites and on topics that the entrepreneur obviously enjoys themselves. I’d much rather make a living from talking about topics that interest me than ones that bore me and suspect that the business will be much more sustainable if you take this approach.
- Don’t enter a tiny market - yes, in many cases this is good advice - although tiny markets can be quite good if you’re first in and if you have no real competitors. The thing about the internet is that it’s global and even small niches can attract enough readers to make them worthwhile (of course it also depends upon what your margins are and how you’re monetizing the space).
- Watch out for tiny margins - not something I’ve really had much experience in as I don’t really sell anything - but it makes sense. Pricing is crucial and if you’re going to have a small margin you want to know you can turn over a lot of product.
- Look for leverage points - working with others (and your readership) is a great way to take your business to the next level.
- Avoid self-employment thinking - this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. It’s all very well to build yourself an online job - but building a business that you can step away from with others operating it is another matter.
- Be aware of your own limitations - focus on what you know how to do and find others to do the rest. I’ve yet to meet someone who is good at absolutely everything (I know a few people who think they are) - surround yourself with people know how to do what you can’t and you’ll be much better positioned to succeed.
What would you add to or subtract from Yaro’s list? Head over and let him know.
6 Responses to “Starting An Internet Business Yaro Style”
Brad
September 26th, 2006 4:16 pm
Don’t make a site teaching how to make money? Sure the market is saturated, but one of my idle blogs I update once a month brings in a decent chunk of change and all I did was add a bunch of articles to get it kickstarted. It’s an easy money maker for me, and my sole sponsor is clickbank.
adib
September 26th, 2006 7:45 pm
Yes true there are a lot of making money website but it is OK to build a blog as we start research for something that we have interest in.
Let say we want to study about pet, then we build a pet blog to write about our findings and resources available online about pet.
CurrentBlogNews
September 26th, 2006 9:25 pm
Problogger Talks about Starting a Internet Business…
…
Yaro
September 27th, 2006 12:19 am
Hi Darren,
Thanks for your review.
You know I think people, no matter what happens or what we might teach, will always want to start “how to make money” blogs. There is something fun about talking about how you make money, even if you don’t make very much.
I just wouldn’t base a business on it if you are new to it.
Good luck everyone!
Yaro
Erno
September 27th, 2006 5:47 am
Hi Darren,
It’s just me, but I don’t understand your explanation on point 7.
Glen
September 27th, 2006 8:01 am
I started in my niche to make money and it has grown into a business model as each day goes by. I am approaching my blogging in a different way now than I did when I started back in 04…great list.
Leave a Reply