Jim’s NEW Top 10 Rules of Online Business Success

Posted by in Creative Ideas, Email Marketing tips, Hot Niche Markets, inspiration | 21 comments

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I sent out an article last week that has generated a lot of email responses back to me so I thought I should put the entire article here for us to discuss. If you have questions, agree or disagree please leave a comment below. Let’s see what the brilliant readers of my newsletter think of my list:

Here are some big picture observations I’m making about the online landscape currently.

1. Google (and slowly but surely all other search engines) can’t be fooled or relied on long term. If you are trying to do either you need to stop now.

Note: Only great websites will be on page one very long and even they aren’t safe no matter what anyone tells you. The ONE POSSIBLE exception is local search – more on that in a moment.

2. Affiliate marketing is HARD and getting HARDER. It’s no place for a “newbie” to play. Sending other people all the customers you are generating IS NOT a good stand alone business model for the long term. If you can’t grow a mailing list you certainly can’t succeed at affiliate marketing.

3. Building a website is NOT the place to start. Building relationships or a following is where you start.

Note: If my 10 year old can get 30,000 views in a few months on youtube.com there’s no excuse for the rest of us not to be growing a following.

4. Good ideas are a dime a dozen online. I’ll take a big TARGETED audience over a good idea any day.

Note: If you ask me, “Will this work?” I’ll ask you, “Where’s your audience and how do you plan to reach them without spending a fortune?”

5. eBay and Amazon remain a VERY reliable way for any online entrepreneur to profit in creative ways very quickly.

Note: I know so many people still doing SO WELL on those two sites. Most of the “complainers” have all stopped selling there, but a lot of sellers are STILL getting rich there RIGHT NOW. eBay also remains a great place to grow your prospect list when done right.

6. Grow your email list. Learning to do this is the ONLY “techie skill” you’ll ever need.

Note: Lifetime customers are possible in a way unknown to business in the past. Take advantage of this! Here’s a link to my brand new course that shows in step by step video how I’ve grown HUGE email mailing lists…and it’s ALL people that LOVE to hear from me. You can do this too. The price of my course is very low compared to the other “list growth” courses out there.

7. You need to be an EXPERT at something. The world NEEDS experts now more than ever. Even tiny niche ideas are seeking leaders. Step up.

Note: The fastest way to “expert status” is to write. Articles, a blog or better yet, a book. Can’t write? SPEAK into a microphone and pay a transcriber that edits spoken word into easy to read copy.

8. The fastest way to success is to go where success is already happening and partner with it in a win/win/win way. Lone wolves nearly always die online.

Note: Win/win/win happens when you win, I win AND the email list or audience that either or both of us have also wins.

Speaking of “lone wolves”, you NEED a community of like minded people supporting you. A great way to find partners, new ideas, support, and friendship among your peers is to join a community of like minded folks. A great example of such a community is my membership site at MySilentTeam.com that boasts a membership of thousands with active discussion forums.

9. Many of the best online opportunities for you RIGHT NOW are probably within a few miles of where you are living RIGHT NOW. Note: This is why OfflineBiz.com is so popular and growing so fast. Local businesses lack Internet skills. The opportunity to partner with local businesses even to do something as simple as sell excess inventory on eBay is HUGE.

Perhaps the best TOOL ever released to help you dominate as a local Internet Marketing expert helping small businesses is Traffic Geyser. I’ve been endorsing it for years and it keeps getting better.

10. Your reputation is your ticket. Do things right or you will be exposed EASILY and it will burn you in a big way. Always over deliver!

NOTE: Reputation management will become a huge industry. Your ability to influence and succeed will be tied to your reputation in an exponentially increasing way.

I promised ten rules, but…

11. (Bonus rule. Over deliver!) If it can’t be automated or nearly automated don’t do it. There are too many low hanging fruit opportunities online to waste time chasing “jobs” that require all your time, effort and energy. Stop trading dollars for hours – your life really is too short for that.

12. ANOTHER BONUS RULE: No matter how great the “big launch” of the latest income earning system looks to you please just WAIT IT OUT. If an idea is great RIGHT NOW it will still be great in a couple months when the price drops, or someone else comes out with a cheaper version of the same course, or as occasionally happens, the course turns out to be a real dud and NO ONE is still talking about it etc.

I’ve been observing the online marketplace for a decade and I doubt you’ll find many people that have a list like that they can give you based on watching thousands either succeed or fail.

Please leave a comment below – let’s discuss this.

  • http://www.john-edwards-blog.com Ed

    Hi Jim,

    Lots of solid advice here, the one simple think you mentioned that i liked was holding back on new product releases, to see if they hold salt, i suppose this can break the habit of habitual buying and make you focus more on what needs to be done with the product/s you already have?

    Great point….Ed.

  • Darren

    Wow, that was a really solid, tell-it-like-it-is post. I’ll probably always do some business on Ebay, but find that they hold too many of the cards which makes it riskier for sellers. It seems they are allowing more bad behavior by buyers to the detriment of the people who pay all the fees. You couldn’t be more right about Internet Marketing for small business. The discovery stage is about over. The huge growth and acceptance stage is now underway. It would be very wise to get in very soon if this business truly interests you. It’s incredible.

  • http://www.stuartturnbullnewsletter.com Stuart Turnbull

    Hi Jim

    I agree wholeheartedly with all of your points, the ones that particularly stand out for me are;
    Grow your email list; a responsive list really is the next best thing to cash in the bank.
    Resist the temptation to jump on every big product launch; use and evaluate what you buy before buying anything else.

    Stuart

  • http://www.3genfamily.com CK Wilde

    Jim,

    Great advice to stop chasing every new search ranking trick. The key is quality content added over time for your followers. So yes, ebay and amazon offer the ways to earn money fast while you are building your following and content.

  • http://www.FamilyBusinessIdeas.com Julie Anna

    Hi Jim,
    Great list. I can’t agree more with the thought that relationship building isy in marketing online. This is the reason we need to build lists. Once I established myself as an expert through good content in my posts at groups and my free newsletter I had the know like trust factor with my following. I read it recently and it’s true that usually the 20% that love you will buy everything you ever recommend or produce. So if it’s 20% then numbers (as in growing your list) are essential to make it online. I should add, though, that if you work on the relationship aspect and create a highly responsive list that the conversion rate can be way more than 20%. A noble goal, to be sure. Caring and being authentic is my biggest secret to online success. :)

  • http://makeyourmoneyeasilyonline.com Doc Plehn

    Jim your 10+ rules are not only great advice for the newbie, but any marketer would do well to follow them.

  • http://makeyourmoneyeasilyonline.com Doc Plehn

    Jim, I would like to get your permission to quote your #5 rule in an email to my list. Of course I will give you credit as the author.
    Doc Plehn
    PS Sorry I don’t havfe your email address and this is the only way I know to get in touch with you.

    [reply from Jim]: Use any of it that you’d like – with credit of course. Thanks for asking. btw – this rule goes for anything I write in my newsletter or blog.

  • Dawn Stephenson

    As a person who is still a newbie after struggling for 2 years getting nowhere! what you have to say I TOTALLY agree with, and is so refreshingly honest it is like music to my ears. I am just about to try eBay after struggling with affiliate stuff, blogs and websites. I wish I could have read this when I was first starting out. I would love to join MySilentSalesTeam and will as soon as I can.

  • http://www.onlineauctionideas.com Lynn

    An excellent list Jim. I totally agree with them all but #10 is surely the most important. A blemish on your reputation can render the others useless. Your philosophy of over-delivery is spot on. Unless you do right by your customers and earn their trust you are on a hiding to nothing.

  • http://www.joellerenehughes.com Joelle Rene Hughes

    Hi Jim,
    As always, thanks for the great information. I definately fall into the ‘newbie’ category you mentioned and you’ve made me a believer of the power of email lists. I would not be in John Thornhills excellent Marketing Masterclass today if I hadn’t read about it in one of your emails. For that – thank you! I am ready to learn all that you can teach me about building lists. Keep me in the loop.

    Joelle

  • http://www.mikemulanax.com Mike Mulanax

    Hi Jim,
    I agree with you on all but one thing:
    #3-”Building a website is NOT the place to start. Building relationships or a following is where you start”. The reason I don’t agree with this is because everyone knows, or should know, that a targeted, responsive subscriber list comes before all else.

    Two things are needed for this. #1 – Aweber:) #2 – A Squeeze page offering something of high quality, tremendous value, and Free in exchange for their details.

    Since an opt-in form needs to reside somewhere, a simple, yet attractive squeeze page(website) is needed. So, you really do need to build a website(squeeze page) to start with. Would you agree or no?

    Build a website sounds too much like carpentry. I prefer to use the term, “Create A Website”.:)

    Take care Jim!

    Cheers,
    Mike

    [reply from Jim]: I agree with you…and disagree. You CAN build an email list WITHOUT a website. I’ve put several strategies in my new course (coming soon…stay tuned). That being said, IF you are going to build a website that BEST site to start with is a squeeze page that gathers leads for you. On that point I agree 100%! The problem is that most people think a website is always a multi-paged multi-menu button multi-option affair that requires great planning and constant expansion and tweaking. That’s NOT where you want to start.

  • http://www.seniorhomecareusa.com Sheila

    Hi Jim,

    You always deliver such great information. Your 10+ rules rock for a newbie or an old pro to brush up.

    Thank you

    Sheila

  • Steve

    Gold nuggets in here as usual. I’m sure there are golden logs and trees in your membership site, which I’ll be joining as soon as I devour your books.
    Probably the better time to join when I have some background know how ah..?
    Cheers

  • http://twitter.com/fit2btied Mike

    I like the bonus rule mentioned (#11). This is the foundation of your book “The Silent Sales Machine”.

    It’s easy to fall into the trap of getting into an online opportunity that takes all your time and effort. The goal is to set an income stream in motion and keep it running with minimal maintenance, then move onto the next one.

    Mike

  • Fiaz

    Jim,I am a newbie and trying to understand the world of online business. You yourself claim to have gotten a lot of your income via affiliate marketing, yet in Rule#2 you are not encouraging this to newbies. Is this a contradiction?

    [reply from Jim]: Yes it WOULD be a contradiction if I had been getting a lot of money from affiliate marketing since I started, but it’s only after I learned about traffic generation and email list growth that I was able to generate affiliate income. Trying to earn affiliate income IS NOT a good starting point in my opinion.

  • Pippa

    Hi Jim,
    I have been observing and planning for about 3 years now and finding it is a bit like trying to jump onto a moving merry-go-round!
    As an observer I agree with all your wise words and as someone trying to catch a ride I am especially taking note of point number 8 !
    Thank you

  • http://www.demandmovies.net Reg B.

    Hi Jim…
    Great information and food for thought. The only thing where I’m confused is on Rule #11,putting it on Auto Pilot… Yes that be great but once you have list you need to continuing feed new information and I’m confused on how to set that up on auto pilot.. Any way thanks for your great information…
    Have a great week…
    Reg B.

  • Forrest

    Doesn’t Rule number 11 kinda cancel out rule number 9? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made some good money using Offlinebiz.com ideas, but it is trading time for dollars (albeit at a very good hourly rate) and not so automated.

    [reply from Jim]: Even the entire OfflineBiz.com concept can be automated! We have members that are very close to accomplishing it already. Every piece of it can be outsourced or turned over to others! Great observation though!

  • http://www.terryconti.com Terry Conti

    Hi Jim, your ideas are truly worth paying attention to. Thank you so much for enlightening all of us. Terry Conti

  • http://www.sellmydiabeticteststrips.com Steve

    Jim, is one of the real people who earn on the internet.

  • http://www.eamondiamond.com Eamon Diamond

    Hi Jim,
    Great list. I can’t agree more with the thought that relationship building isy in marketing online. This is the reason we need to build lists. Once I established myself as an expert through good content in my posts at groups and my free newsletter I had the know like trust factor with my following. I read it recently and it’s true that usually the 20% that love you will buy everything you ever recommend or produce. So if it’s 20% then numbers (as in growing your list) are essential to make it online.