Developing an Internet business can be exciting. And whether you want to create a web presence for an existing brick & mortar (offline) business or start up a new small business online you can have a lot of fun with it. But to insure that it's profitable for you requires careful thought and planning.
Your primary focus should be on the specific ways you intend to attract income. The best way to do this is to integrate more than one revenue stream into your business model. In other words, you want to work toward producing multiple streams of income.
This is true whether you're developing a new business idea or working to improve the profitability of an existing business. To assist you in the process, here are seven proven ways to increase the revenue of an online enterprise. And some of the advantages associated with them.
1. Selling products you've created or that you own the rights to. Selling products you've created or that you own the rights to gives you the highest level of control over your business. You know exactly what it cost's to create each product. And ultimately you decide the price points and profit margins. By selling directly to your clients - without middlemen - you can be more competitive in your pricing and attract more buyers.
2. Selling a service. Whatever business you're in there's certainly some service that could be added. The income potential may be more limited than with product sales because products can be shipped on demand, whereas services require time to perform. And selling services usually demands a more convincing, personal, credibility-building approach. Still, when done intelligently you can add a substantial additional profit stream.
3. Selling products that are drop shipped for you by wholesalers. This is a great way to represent high quality brand-name products with minimum costs in time, effort, or money. You eliminate the need to buy or create products. And you don't have to stock, handle, or ship anything. The wholesale warehouse or manufacturer does all of this for you. And in most cases it appears as you've done all the work because products are shipped and billed in your company's name. The dropshipper is invisible to your clients.
4. Selling other people's products and/or services as an affiliate. This can be a very low risk way to make more money. Selling as an affiliate means that you're recommending products owned by others. And just as with selling through dropshippers, you don't have to create, inventory, handle, ship or bill for anything. All of that is taken care of by the company whose product you recommend. And your commissions per sale are sent to you by them.
5. Selling advertising space on your content pages or in your newsletter. Selling ad space is a simple way to produce additional profit streams for an internet business without risk. The profit potential is relative to the amount of traffic that you get to your website and/or the number of subscribers that you have to your newsletter or ezine. With the advent of Google's Adsense program and competing ad networks it's quickly becoming easier to implement this strategy and more accessible, even to small micro businesses and even single-person enterprises.
6. Joint venture with other business owners. By working jointly with other businesses you can combine your skills and resources to create additional revenue sources. One way to approach this is to look for businesses in your market that sell products and services that complement but don't directly compete with your own. Then negotiate a win/win situation where you can recommend their products in return for an agreeable commission and visa versa. Done correctly this is a zero risk opportunity for both parties and can be very profitable.
7. Develop an affiliate sales force to promote products and services for you. For many online businesses this has become the most powerful method for producing sales. By developing a sales force of affiliates to sell your product for you - you multiply the reach of your business exponentially. There are many one-person businesses or micro businesses that produce massive profits using the affiliate business model. And there is little monetary risk because you only pay commissions after sales have been made and processed. Your affiliates spend their money, time and effort promoting your product and building links to your site.
By integrating as many of these 7 revenue models as possible into your business you'll increase your chances of creating a successful internet business.
