http://ijumped.net poppy
I was thinking about the issue of competitors and how it is so easy to talk yourself out of going it alone by using the old competition argument. Let me explain:
OK, so textbook self-employment advice is that to lower risk you should (initially at least) go for an existing market or an existing product or service. Great, so in my case that means, to start with at least, finding a product to sell on-line – a product that has at least one affiliate scheme attached, and sell that product to a market that already exists – the great big internet-browsing world in my case (well the U.S. anyway, as that is the biggest market so I reckon the best to start with).
The problem is that, common to anyone setting up a business to bring an existing product to an existing market, whether on-line or off-line, whether here in 2009 or back in 1609, the problem is that the would-be entrepreneur, i.e. me, has a great opportunity to talk himself out of the whole enterprise with a killer argument – “if there are already people providing this product to these customers in this marketplace, how the heck am I going to elbow my way in and make a living?”
Internet Marketing is what I am trying to make work here, and this argument really does apply to Internet Marketing as much as anywhere else. More so, I would say, because the competition from all over the world is presented to each and every customer, potentially, after a few clicks of the mouse.
So how do I defeat this really negative voice in my head that says “Look, this product has been sold on the internet for some time, by experienced operators. How are you going to get a look in?” Well, I think that I have to step back a little. First of all, it is all too easy to assume that markets are saturated with competition on the internet. Actually, many of them are, but many are not. The internet is still VERY new, in world trade terms. On-line trading has been here, effectively, for 10 years out of, let’s see, how many thousands of years of trading? The niches are NOT all saturated. There is still room. It’s still a bit Wild West out there. Secondly, there are new customers coming onto the internet right now, still. On-line trading is still growing fast. This means that markets that are currently not economic to chase after because there are not enough customers, could become more economic to chase, so the market is expanding and I may be the first to discover that a niche has suddenly become worth pursuing. Thirdly, new products are coming out all the time, and with each one a new market to chase after.
What I have to do is concentrate hard on finding the correct niches to test. I have learned over the last few weeks that testing a niche is basically about getting 100 visitors – over whatever period but preferably promptly – so you can assess how many of them click through to your merchant’s site. Sales are a bonus at this stage as the numbers are low. However, it is no good doing this testing on a niche where you have no chance of success, so I am concentrating on evaluating niches. It’s about finding a way into a market, and you can do that by finding search terms that people use to find and buy a product, terms that other competitors have not used in producing their websites. I am using Market Samurai, a specialist tool, to assess keywords for this reason.
I think that because it is so easy to get into Internet Marketing, so easy to set up a website and advertise products, it is also so easy to forget that the same business rules apply as in the off-line world. It’s just that on the internet, you are not sitting in your empty restaurant, watching the cars drive past, while your neighbour’s restaurant is full, wondering how you are going to pay the next loan repayment, wondering what on earth made you think you should spend so many thousands of pounds on a business on a hunch it might work, wondering how long it would take to get out of it and how much you would lose. No, on the internet, you can get into a business within days and out within minutes, at very little cost. This stark difference means that it is easy to forget that an internet business is a business to which the same trading principles apply. Just because you are not physically surrounded by your enterprise does not mean it is any less real or that it should be treated any less lightly. After all, the effects of success or failure will be the same – you will either be able to pay those real world household bills, or you will not.
Unlike many would-be Internet Marketers, I am only too aware of the above, and I treat it all very much like a real business. I am afraid, yes, I think that is right, I am afraid of the competition. I can see them laughing at me. Real people, coming round to my house, saying “you thought you could set up a little website and sell these products – and actually make a living!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!” This I need to change. I need to get in there and get on with it. I need to find niches where there is room (actually, niches is a great word for this – a little space for the new guy to squeeze in!). Most of all, I need to have even more confidence in ME. I have been in I.T. for ages. I have a degree in it. I have been on the internet since it started. I have been on PCs since they first appeared. I have a trading thing in my head. I just keep bashing myself, limiting myself, with this negative talk about bloody competitors. It’s got to stop. There are thousands of people working away in Internet Marketing making a lot of money thank-you-very-much. There is nothing too special about them. They’re just getting on and doing it. And I have to do it too.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
