Article from May 1998 issue of The Profit Zone Newsletter

How to Take the Mystery Out
of Making Money Online!

Does E-commerce have you bewildered?

Do you wonder how you can become one of those Internet success
stories?

Would you like to know what people are actually buying online?

And better still, are you curious about who's making money on the
web?

Whether you're still thinking about putting up a website, or
already have one, the following information can help you decide
how to focus your marketing campaign to enhance the product or
service you provide, in order to meet the demands of the
ever-changing Netizen appetite! Here's your answers...

WHO'S MAKING MONEY and LOTS OF IT:

1. Music Stores
According to Cowles/Simba Information, the top five music stores
reported a gigantic leap from 21.5 million in 1996 to $52 million
by the end of 1997.

2. Software Stores
According to Forrester Research, more than $3.7 billion worth of
computer products will be sold by the end of 2001.

3. Online Auctioneers
Pioneer "Onsale" reported a 277% jump in gross merchandise sales
from the previous year. "eBay", another auctioneer, boasts
600,000 registered users and 325,000 auctions every single day!
Their average page views per day is a whopping 8 million.

WHO'S MAKING MARGINAL MONEY (but look very promising)

1. Travel Companies
Although profits are still not where they should be, the travel
industry is working very hard to successfully crack the online
travel market.

2. Booksellers
Amazon.com and many others like them get lots of traffic but are
still working on how to make that traffic more profitable.

3. Car Dealers
According to a recent survey published by J.D. Power and
Associates, a total of 16% of new car buyers use the Internet to
make their purchase decisions. Actual transactions remain to be
seen as they may prove to be too large a sum of money to conduct
over the web.

If this list doesn't include you, don't despair! These examples
represent the extreme cases and it doesn't mean you cannot succeed
in the online market. People are also buying stocks, sports info,
mortgages, flowers, CDs, toys, condoms, online marketing tools,
website design, and tropical fish too! And of course, cybersex has
always been a tremendous hit.

So how can your business make money online? Follow these golden
rules to cash in on the Gold Rush of the 90's:

1. Design your website with your customer in mind. 
Shopping should be easy and fun - not just a blatant advertisement
or text-driven catalog. Remember, your website is taking the place
of a "real world" storefront with a "live" sales clerk that can
help your customer with immediate questions, a human cashier, the
aesthetic environment of your store, and the layout and
organization of your store. Therefore, your "virtual" storefront
should provide enough information to close the sale, a trusting
way to transact money, and be pleasing and easy to navigate.

2. Realize that profit isn't always the primary goal.
Well, at least not initially. Many of the most successful
companies are pumping most and sometimes even all of their revenue
into future growth. If you grab the market share now, you can make
BIG profits later! At any rate, promote relentlessly with whatever
you can possibly afford.

3. Learn from the successful websites but be original.
You can create your own niche market within the proven successes.
For example, don't try to compete with the large travel companies
offering the same services without the marketing budget they have
at their disposal. Rather, look for the niche within travel. Offer
travel-related products or services like travel insurance,
luggage, etc.

Remember, the Internet is still brand new and just about anything
goes these days. With a little creative thinking and old-school,
common sense sales principles, you can pave your way to
cyber-stardom! The Web is watching.

Best regards,

Jeanne Pritt
Editor
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