What these online business women wish they had known

Recently I had the opportunity to interview two successful online business women. Both of them are targeting the natural family living market and had some great advice to share. We discussed some of the things we did right, and some of the things we did wrong in the past year in our businesses. This information is extremely valuable to a woman who is just starting out so I'm going to share the highlights with you now.

The List

Firstly, one thing that was outlined is the importance of building a list sooner rather than later. So many people who launch a website decide to start collecting email addresses from their visitors as an afterthought, as a way of generating additional revenue once their site is established. But after hearing several online business owners express regret that they waited to collect emails and as a result lost out on a lot of income, I now am convinced that offering a newsletter or ecourse is a top priority for anyone as soon as they publish their site.

If a newsletter sounds intimidating, try a 5 day ecourse instead. Or simply place an opt in box prominently on your site, preferably on every page, that offers something valuable to your visitor in exchange for their contact information. Then when you are ready to begin sending out a newsletter, you already have subscribers. The fact is that the majority of people who come to your site will not buy anything from you. But if you get permission to contact them again, the chance of them eventually becoming your customer or at least buying something through your affiliate link is very good.

Focus!

The second thing these ladies agreed on is the importance of focus. Don't get distracted in your business and start launching new websites if they don't fit into your overall business plan and meet the needs of your target audience. We only have so much time in a day and only so much energy. Getting involved in too many site projects means that our "bread and butter" websites will not get the attention they deserve. That might mean that you need to sell a website or two to develop a laser tight focus. Doing so can actually boost your profits fast.

Never Be Content With Your Content

The third thing these women were doing right is by providing their target market with excellent and informative content. Content that kept their readers coming back for more, that kept search engines happy, and that sold their products for them. These women were constantly adding valuable content to their site, newsletter, autoresponder and blog.

Great content also serves as a kind of business partner for you, drawing media and potential joint venture partners. In addition to writing their own content for their websites and blogs, they also purchased high quality private label rights articles and used that to create additional content for their virtual real estate empires.

The interesting thing about a successful online business is that although it takes focus, work and dedication, it really isn't rocket science! The principles are actually quite simple to implement. You just have to be armed with the right information.