If you have taken the leap to start your own online business. Then you probably know that it’s a learning process just like everything else. Learning to make money online takes education and lots of practice. Think about it, if you are looking to start your own business offline, there are plenty of accredited schools you can attend; but, trying to find the online equivalent is virtually impossible. That’s not to say you can’t find good places to learn.

In fact, when learning how to make money online you can search the Internet day and night for useful information. You will definitely learn one thing very quickly: the most difficult thing about using the Internet for research, especially if you don’t have guidance, is information overload. Once you’ve found a method that suits you, stick to it as long as it keeps working for you. Making money on the Internet is all about duplication and consistency.

Anyone who can read, write, and has Internet connectivity can start an online business. Obviously, a computer helps. If this is your path, the first thing you will need to do is find the right source that will give you knowledge you need which can be done through a number of ways.

One method is to seek guidance and direction from a coach or mentor to help you establish a solid plan. Working with a coach one-on-one is the best way to eliminate information overload, because they will tell which steps and actions you need to take to build your business. A coach will cost you anywhere from approximately $30 per session to $100’s of dollars per session.

Frequenting forums is a way to learn from multiple people in the Internet business. Apart from experience, most of my knowledge has come from these types of forums. A simple Google search for “marketing forum” or “Internet forum” will give you many to choose from.

You may also choose to sign up for e-courses. These will give you regular lessons and assignments to follow, as well as measurable goals to achieve. Most successful e-courses set measurable monetary goals, and show you how to achieve them by the end of the course. Note: Please remember that even the best e-course will do nothing for you if you don’t take action on its lessons.

Lastly, search for a seminar or Internet marketing group in your area. If money is an issue as seminars can be costly, offer to be a volunteer. Most likely you will get more value out of the event because you will have direct contact with people who actually know the seminar leader.  Networking seminars is also a great way to get good connections with other people who are seasoned in the Internet marketing game.

Don’t believe all the get rich quick schemes you see. This is a real business that will take time to perfect. You can be sure that after you get over your learning curve and start to build momentum, the money you make online will be most rewarding.

Whether you realize it or not, you will only make money if you sell. Now this doesn’t mean you have to be shilling inferior products, or come across like you’re selling snake oil. You are not a carnival barker, you are an Internet marketer.

Your first thought may be that there are lots of ways to make money without selling. If there are, I haven’t found one. What it comes down to is the definition of the word ’sell’. The only way you will ever get people to give you their money is if you convince them to do so. They have to feel like it is the right decision based on the information they have.

Doing what’s known as the ‘hard sell’ often turns more people away than it’s worth. This is because they are programmed to recognize this selling technique as one that scammers use. Trying to force people to buy may get you a few sales, but it will never bring in the lifelong customers that are the soul of any successful business.

The skill you need to master is that of the ’soft sell’. Which one of the following do you think is easier?

A. Begging, pleading, convincing, forcing or beating people down until they buy.

B. Presenting the facts and benefits of your offer in a way that people convince themselves.

If you said ‘B’, you’re right. It’s not just easier – it’s more effective. There are a few basic things you can do to help your potential customers convince themselves to buy from you.

Show what’s in it for them. People don’t care about the features of your product, they do care about its benefits. For example, people don’t buy sports cars because they have more horsepower, people buy them because they go really fast. It’s a thrill to drive them. You can still mention the horsepower, but sell the thrill.

Don’t be pushy and avoid hype. This can be tricky when you are enthusiastic about your product. Please, by all means, use that enthusiasm to bring your sales message to life. Get people excited. Just strike the right balance. If you come on too strong, then you are back to doing the hard sell.

Use a conversational tone that’s appropriate for your audience. The idea here is to build rapport with your visitors. Get your potential customers to think of you as one of them. Don’t talk above, or below, their level or it will turn them off. People feel more comfortable buying from someone they can relate to. It’s only natural that people feel this way about whomever they are doing business with.

A fellow Internet marketer has said, “People like to buy without feeling like they are being sold to”. That’s an excellent observation. Putting these soft sell techniques into action increases sales, and increases your lifelong customers. They see the benefit of buying from someone they like who doesn’t overhype their products. Not only is that common sense – it’s good business.

As you can see, we now have a shiny new logo!

Before you head into the whole article, we would like to ask you to comment on this post when you are done reading, telling us what you think about the new logo, the story behind Imnica, and our plans for the future.

Let’s start at the beginning…… The name…. Imnica.

MANY people have asked us where the name came from, as well as what does it mean. They wanted to know if it is an abreviation for something, etc……

When I started marketing online, I did as many people do, and started building a brand around my name. I eventually decided against this approach, and decided that I wanted to build something that could be passed on to family, grow exponentially, NOT be tied to my name, etc.

With this in mind, and the main focus of the company being Online Marketing, I wanted to make sure I get a proper .com domain name. I also needed to make sure I get something that is not too long, nor too difficult to remember.

I went in search of domain name suggestion tools, that would also check if the .com is available for it. I eventually found this brilliant free site at: http://www.makewords.com/ which allows you to sellect a language, and set some other parameters, and then suggests some domain names, as well as check on the .com availability.

Here is the sad part……… I sat on this site, refreshing the suggestions for close to 5 hours!!!

The SECOND the domain imnicamarketing.com came up, I KNEW I got it! I called my wife to have a look, and she concurred. SOLD!

So, there you have it…… Imnica does not stand for anything, it does not mean anything, it just came about from me searching for a short, easy to remember .com domain name.

Right so, why the new logo then?

Well the old logo was done by myself, who is a self professed graphics neophyte, on the same day I got the domain. I REALLY suck at graphics, but, I REALLY wanted a logo to go with the new site. So, I sat down for a couple of hours, and did the old one.

As Imnica is growing not only in size, but in scope, I wanted something that would really reflect the professionalism of the company.

So, I went to the best place I know of to get logos done: http://www.designoutpost.com/ and placed a project on there to re-do the Imnica logo.

All the submissions were awesome, and it was really tough to pick one, but, in the end, I picked one that was simple, did not force the customer to think what it means, and was professional.

The result is the logo you now see on all our pages.

I would really like to hear what YOU think of the new logo! Let us know by commenting on this post.

So, the next question we get a lot is: What does Imnica do?

Imnica is an Internet Marketing company. We produce products, services and coaching which teaches people how to, as well as help people, market their products and services on the Internet.

To date, our primary focus has been individuals.

Moving forward, we will do many more products and coaching, focused on individuals, but, our services business will shift focus to businesses.

Why the shift in focus for the service side?

Well, the services we provide are generally more relevant to businesses to start with. We also need to increase our prices for our services to sustain our continued growth.

Imnica is not a one man operation anymore. We have bills to pay, salaries to pay, etc.

So, summing the future up…… Consumer focused products and coaching, and business focused services.

Will we be abandoning consumer focused services altogether?

NO! We will just be adding more business focused ones!

I hope this post has given you some insight into Imnica as well as it’s products, coaching and services, and we would LOVE to hear what you think!

Please comment in the form below!

There is a lot of concern over the sending of commercial email messages. Governments have passed laws that need to be followed by ethical marketers. Add to that, that you can be falsely accused of sending spam and you may decide an email marketing campaign just isn’t worth the risk. I will say that it is more risky NOT to run an email campaign if you really want to increase your online profits.

Much of the risk involved with email marketing comes from not doing things right. If you follow the “rules” you will come out ahead, and the few bumps you encounter won’t be felt at all. Let me ask you this, have you ever taken a “shortcut” while driving only to end up lost or way off course? We all have. It seemed logical to take the shortcut, but we really didn’t know the way – we just thought we knew. Email marketing can be the same way.

The overriding concept here is simple: be ethical. That’s it. Of course it wouldn’t be much of a post if that’s all I said. Here are a few ideas to keep you on course.

There is an ongoing argument amongst marketers about whether or not you should use single or double opt-in. Single opt-in means a person fills in their name and email address and starts receiving messages. Whereas double opt-in means people fill in the form, but they must respond to the first message you send to confirm they indeed want emails from you. Both sides have good arguments. As long as you don’t use false pretenses to get people’s information, either form of opting in will work.

Be honest when convincing people to sign up for your emails. Point out the benefits, explain why you’re better and what they get for signing up, but don’t resort to misrepresentation or hype.

So far we have looked at having people sign up using a form that you put somewhere. What about buying a list? This is almost always a bad idea and is asking for trouble. It’s one shortcut you should avoid unless there are extenuating circumstances. Never buy an email list that offers millions of names – ever. However, you may know someone personally who is selling their online business. Even then, you have to be careful. Make sure you really know them. Do they have a good reputation? Have you communicated with them previously? Also, be sure to request that the list seller notifies their list that it will be changing hands. This will give people a chance to opt out if they are worried about a new list owner. If all of these steps are in place, then buying a list could be an option.

Do not spam your list. This includes passing their information on to others, or sending unrelated offers to them. Keep any emails you send relevant to whatever they signed up for. It is okay to send them offers, as long as it’s within the bounds of any promises you have made.

Following these simple guidelines will help to minimize the risks associated with email marketing. You don’t have to rely on cheap tricks, in fact if you do things ethically you will have an easier time on the road to success.