Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Internet Marketing in the 2010s -- Creating Your Own Community
What does it take to succeed in business online? A lot of people start their own business because they don't want to have some boss making their decisions for them. They don't want to deal with irritating co-workers. They want to be left alone.

If you went into business online because you hoped it would insulate you from people, you've probably already reached that fork in the road where you needed to make a decision. You had to decide either to continue your isolation and fail in your business, or open up to others in order to succeed.

Even if you run a sole proprietorship, business is never a solitary task. You have to interact with people. You need to learn what your potential customers really want, what needs they have, what buttons lead them to buy.

You have to work with others to get your business moving forward. Looking back on my career both in Fortune 100 and in self-employment, I can't see a single major step in my career that didn't involve help from someone else.

Working with others is an integral part even of a one-person business. I almost closed my business three years ago when I grew too frustrated with being totally isolated. It wasn't until I started partnering with other business owners and bouncing ideas back and forth between us that I had the social engagement I needed to be able to work alone.

The beauty of this is that this need to connect can benefit your business. People want connections, especially as life in general gets more disconnected. You can capitalize on that need by finding ways to build your target customers into a community.

You can find ways to help people through a membership site. Build a community around your area of expertise. They will get the connection they need. And you will get recurring, monthly income instead of one-time sales.

Not sure how to start a membership site? Become part of Jim Edwards' "The Net Reporter" training site and you'll find both community for you and a wealth of training in his Vault on how to set up a profitable membership site.

Or check out Jim Cockrum's "My Silent Team" training site. It has great training on a lot of different marketing strategies and is a great community of marketers in which to kick around ideas and get lots of new ones.

Look for ways to build community into your business. It will benefit both your customers and you.

And make sure you get your needs for community filled. It will make you a happier, healthier, and more successful business owner.
Jeff

Labels: Jim Cockrum, Jim Edwards, marketing, membership sites, My Silent Team, predictions, The Net Reporter