My online business strategy is simple…
- Find something that interests me
- Research it like crazy
- Make a neat site and let it mature
- Swing back around and expand it
I’m not sure what I’d call this but I’ve made a process to it all…
- Source and order product (sample)
- Terapeak (in-demand, low shipping cost, durable, simple)
- Keyword/Market analysis (build customer avatar and strategy)
- Order product (sample) and understand it
- Test distribution channels (threshold)
- Keyword optimization, pictures, logistics/costs, and documentation
- Upload (Amazon, eBay, Craiglist)
- Promotion (marketplaces)
- Source and order products (bulk)
- Renegotiate (MOQ)
- Organize fulfillment organization/storage
- Repackaging & possible branding
- Distribution (large scale)
- Relist and optimize marketplace listings
- Build an ecommerce store (and customer service channel)
- Advertising and marketing campaigns (PPC, Organic, Affiliate)
- Growth/Maturity/Decline
- Growth (extra campaigns, partnerships, workforce)
- Maturity (entering a horizontal or vertical market, offloading)
- Decline (cut costs, liquidate assets, offload)
This kind of works for information-based businesses, too.
Except, swap a few things around where “product” becomes “topic”. And, anything physical you swap for one of the profitable niche ideas.
Why do I think this would work?
1st: You plant a few “seed” ideas by getting them online quickly so they’ll start ranking and collect enough data to make a better judgment vs gut feeling.
2nd: You generally have an end-goal in mind whether that’s later converting an info-site into a physical store or some other monetization method.
Example of the online business strategy:
I’m kicking around the idea of starting a marketing company in my area. So, I’d create the site, optimize it, and build a couple of initial links. If I start receiving traffic and contacts then I’ll double-down on its content, SEO, and listings.
This wouldn’t take up a lot of my time because setting up a site only takes about 15 – 30 minutes (including the basic pages). I could replicate this for several sites and business ideas — coming back 6/mo later seeing which looks promising.
Make sense?