Choosing the Right Web Business Model

Overviewlower priced items help the customer develop trust in
There are a number of different ways that you canthe business or product offering. It is a small decision
set up an internet business. Think about all theto accept a free item, and once the person has done
different types of web business models that youthat, then it will be easier for him to open up his
have seen online. There are catalogue web sites,wallet to purchase the $10 or $20 product. Once
one-product web sites, there are information webagain, when the customer has purchased that
sites, sites that sell information, sites that containproduct, and it fulfills all the expectation created by
content for the purpose of generating advertisingthe sales letter or web page, then there is less
revenue, web sites that focus on selling a productresistance to purchasing larger product. And the same
unique to itself, web sites that sell other people'sprinciple will hold true as you move up the price scale
products, and web sites that exist for the purposein the sales funnel.
of simply generating a mailing list that can be used toSome of the most successful individual internet
direct visitors to any one of the other web models.marketers have used this technique to create large
When you first get started, you must decide whichfortunes and very successful web businesses. Just
of the web models will best suit your current skillthink about how fewer products you have to sell at
level and type of product or service you choose to$500 than at $10, to get to a certain income level.
sell. It is advisable to start with only one web modelAnd the sales funnel allows you to slowly but surely
and become quite good at it, rather than trying tobuild until you have created enough trust to sell the
create several web models at first.higher-ticket items.
Content ModelList Based Model
One internet business model that has achieved someThe list based model is another popular web business
success as of late is that of the content-based webmodel, especially for the information vendor. By
site. Based on the combined principles of searchbuilding a list and marketing to the list, rather than
engine traffic and advertising, content based sites aresending web visitors directly to a sales page, you are
designed to offer web surfers informative contentable to repeatedly send traffic to those same web
and create advertising revenue when surfing visitorssites, and capitalize on the effectiveness of repeated
click specially designed web links that lead the visitorsexposures to build a strong business. For example, a
to the advertisers' web site.website might normally have a 1% conversion rate,
Single Product Modelmeaning that on average, for every 100 visitors that
One of the most common models for beginner andviews the site, 1 of them purchases the product. If
even many of the profitable internet marketers isyou were to put the visitors to that web site on a
that of the single product web site. Many of themailing list first, before showing them the web site,
profitable internet marketers, although they maythen you are able to send that visitor to the web
currently have multiple products, still sell each productpage more than once, increasing the odds that he
from its own web site, sort of as a stand-alonemight purchase. In some cases, you might find that
product or business. One advantage to having ayou can sell as many as 10% of the individuals on
single-product web site or business is that you canyour list; if you had sent those subscribers directly to
focus on becoming very good at selling that onea web site rather than adding them to your list first,
product. With literally millions of people online buyingonly 1% might have purchased.
things everyday, it is often easier to becomeThe list based model can be used to ultimately create
extremely good at one type of product or to testtraffic to any of the web business models discussed
and tweak one web site, than it is to do the samehere. The list simply serves as an intermediary step
with many products or web sites simultaneously.that allows you to ultimately squeeze more profit out
Multiple Product Modelof the same set of visitors.
Catalog Product ModelAffiliate Marketing Model
With a catalog web business model, you will have anThe affiliate marketing model is one in which you
assortment of related products that can easily besend visitors to other people's web sites and when
marketed from the same web site. An examplethey make a purchase, the other web company
would be that of a candle web site, where yousends you a commission for referring the customer
would have a number of different candles for sale,to their web page.
and perhaps some related products like candleThe affiliate model can be combined with just about
holders and lighters. Another example would be thatany of the other models discussed, and is convenient
of a pet supplies web site, where you would marketbecause you do not need to create a product or
a number of different pet supplies from one webeven a web site to be able to send traffic to an
site. These are all related items which complementaffiliate web site.
each other in some way, and the assortment of theThe list building model is frequently used in
items would benefit, rather than detract from, theconjunction with the affiliate marketing model, as the
sales process.conversion rates on a visitor in a list is often much
If you are just getting started, you certainly want tohigher than the one-time conversion at the affiliate
avoid setting up a 'garage sale' type web site, whereweb site.
you sell a little bit of everything. The reason for thisHow the Models Can Work Together
is that you will have a difficult time attracting theAlthough the web models described here are the
right kind of traffic to purchase your products. Ifbasic fundamental web models that currently produce
indeed you have an interest in selling a wide varietythe bulk of income online, these models can work
of products that are generally unrelated, considertogether synergistically.
using someone else's web site that already has trafficYou can build a web site that markets a number of
geared towards that type of selection ofdifferent affiliate products, or you can create your
merchandise, like Ebay.own product, and then market an affiliate product to
Sales Funnel Modelyour customers. In conjunction with just about any
A sales funnel model is one in which you have aof the models, you can build a list to continually
series of web sites or web pages that sell a series ofexpose your web visitors to the selected web sites
related items to the same individual. A sales funnelmultiple times for additional profits. You can have a
can be extremely profitable when managed correctly.mix of affiliate products and your own products. You
An example of a sales funnel would be a set ofcan have a catalogue-based web site that also sells a
information products that have a related them. Thespecialized unique product. You can have a
beginning of the sales funnel might be a free item,catalogue-based web site that serves as an entry
and then once the visitor has chosen to purchasepoint for a sales funnel. With a little creativity, you
that free item, you would direct them to the nextcan come up with a number of different
item in the sales funnel, perhaps a $10 or $20combinations of web business models that can work
product. Once they have purchased that product,together effectively.
they would next be directed to purchase an evenHowever, considering the fact that you are probably
larger, or a more in depth product that might bejust getting started online, it is advisable that you
priced at $40 or $50. After that, there might be astart with a simple business model and as your
$100 product, and even a $500 to $1500 product.business grows, you can consider expanding it or
The advantage of using a sales funnel is that theintegrating additional business models.