The Great Myth of Internet Business
One of the greatest myths many people have is that anyone can make money selling online, and for very little cost. This belief is partially fueled by the mystique surrounding this rather new way of doing business, but also due to the many “internet marketing gurus” proclaiming how easy it is to become rich selling online.
The sad truth is, that of the millions of web businesses online today, very few of those stores make any money. Although starting the actual business may not require much money, the fact is that it will likely make any money. Most of the work needed to squeeze a profit out of a website comes only after the site is already published to the web.
Real Example
Let’s give you a real example that will explain why most websites do not make a profit. I recently consulted a small website that markets a very niche product – only a very small number of people actually have a use for this item.
The analytics report of the website notes that there were 501 unique visitors to the site during the month of October. But actual sales – there only 4! Do the math – a less than 1% visitor to purchase rate! And that is even from a market that is extremely targeted, and highly responsive.
This is the same as if there was a store with 100 customers inside it, one person buys, and everyone else heads for the door with nothing! How frustrating is that?
The primary challenge of an ecommerce site can be summed up in one sentence,
“How do I get all those visitors to my website to buy?”
In internet marketing speak, a visitor turning into a customer is called a conversion. Imagine a store manager calling a customer check-out as a conversion. But with an online store, many times the act of getting a visitor to buy from you is just that – converting them from “just looking” to actually buying!
Directing traffic to your site can be accomplished fairly easy, using a variety of effective methods. Getting that traffic to convert, in a way that makes your web business a success – that is where the challenge is.