18 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Online Business...

[Joseph Ratliff]

If any of these resonate with you, avoid them…

1. I can do this for free. You cannot build a business online for free. Get over it.

2. Build it, and they will come. You cannot just put a website up, and expect to start raking in the profits.

3. Decorate it, “Trick it out”, not for websites…this might work for brick and mortar stores, but online you have to keep it to reasonable level.

4. Lacking a Unique Selling Proposition. You need to generate a real presence online…and you have to be unique.

5. “I don’t have to work hard to succeed online.” Pfui. Sometimes harder.

6. Earn money in your sleep, 24/7/365, etc… Yes, you can, but your business requires attention.

7. “I already know what to do, I don’t need a game plan, plans are for newbies.” You might as well count yourself out now, turn in the keys and go home.

8. Not getting to the point. People have so many other distractions nowadays, you don’t have time to go into theory, just get to the point.

9. Writing for the offline audience is the same as writing for the online audience. Wrong answer, thank you for playing the game.

10. Failing to remember you are dealing with people online. It is so easy to do online, and the impersonal nature of the media can help you lose business as fast as you can gain it.

11. Stopping at the first sale with a customer. Big error, this is only your first contact with a person who said “I trust you”…what are you going to do next?

12. Give them more reasons to show up again and again. It doesn’t stop at the first visit, what are you going to do to keep ‘em coming back?

13. Having a terrible follow up system. Are you following up with someone who gave their email address and name to you by sending endless offers?

14. “I have 10 million hits and no sales…how is that possible?” Traffic isn’t the key, targeted (quality) traffic is.

15. Don’t make them think. Getting your visitors the information they are seeking as quickly and easily as possible should be a primary objective.

16. Lack of focus on your business. There is more ways to make money on the internet than you could write a book on…but you need to pick one and focus on it until it develops profits consistently.

17. Failing to re-invest in your online business. You always need to focus a certain percentage of revenue back into the business.

18. Failing to properly track and monitor your online business. It is so easy to do this online, yet many don’t even try.

Well, there they are, 18 of the most critical mistakes you can make that will kill your online business.

[Captain Tycoon]

Bookmarked! There are some vital mistakes i have done and which are listed there too I know that I won't be doing them again! Thanks.

[Joseph Ratliff]

You are quite welcome sir. Glad it gave you something of value.

[ayushpant]

Great post. Thumbs Up!!!

[marketingmama]

Wow, this is such a great post. Some of it was like you read my mind.

Do you know how tired I am of hearing so many people insist that they can build a business for free? This has got to be one of the most ridiculous notions I've ever heard.

It's all of these absurd sales messages you see out there that claim you can make money for nothing and you don't need a website and blah, blah, blah. This rubbish is poisoning a whole generation of would be entrepreneurs.

Hopefully, a few of them will escape the lies.

Sheree

[ayushpant]

Online business cannot be built for free entirely. However, this should not deter newbies as I started out and build something out of nothing entirely. But, I had some other ways to generate capital for the business. Human brain is the most powerful tool on earth. Just that most of us don't realize how to make good use of it.

[Joseph Ratliff]

I would like to "chime in" on the building a business online for free topic...

You can make money online for free, yes. But it will be limited, and it can be frustrating. Newbies, heed this, you will at some point need to re-invest money back into your business to continue to build it. Blood, sweat, and tears will only get you so far.

Otherwise, you will eventually get lost in the trap of trying to find all the different ways of making money online.

You cannot build a long-term, sustainable business online for free, period, end of story. Others might say "well, yeah, I did start out online for free", but what they won't tell you is the frustration they are having building their business currently past a certain point.

Free is very limited....putting money into your business brings resources to your disposal that can help you build a real living online.

Plus, business building 101 states that at some point, after building some momentum, you need to stop working in your business, and start working on your business (i.e. outsourcing tasks so you don't have to do everything)...or it will stall.

Sorry for the dose of reality. I hope that it brings some clarification for some.

[ayushpant]

Actually, I would like to take my words back. I did have a starting investment. Precisely, $65 in the first month including domain costs. So, it wasn't free entirely.

It took blood, sweat, tears, and I would like to add fear to get it far. You have to devise your own strategies. The world is not out there to hold your hand and guide you step by step. You can get only so much help. After that, its you and your common sense.

Joseph, thanks for those great points. I really enjoy reading your insights.