I have found that when seniors want to learn about Internet Business or online business, many of these seniors are so eager to want to know how to go about doing it. Right from Day One, many of them are just eager to want to know how to create a website or how to start promoting other people’s products and services. They are just so anxious to know “how” “how” “how’…
Well, in this second article I want you to approach the learning of doing this kind of business by first asking “why”, then “what” and then only “how” instead of just wanting to learn the “how”, “how”, “how”. This is because I believe that once you have got the “why” and “what” right, then the “how” is the least difficult of the whole process.
1. First Start With “Why”
Most of the good internet marketing gurus will always ask their students to spend the initial part of their learning process focusing of getting the right “keywords”. Well, for us senior newbies, what this means is to get “Why” right first. And what do I mean by that?
Let’s examine the first three possible scenarios, that is, either you have a product to sell, a service to offer to customers or you want to help to promote someone else’s products or services.
Even if you have a product or service to offer you should ask the question, “why does the customer want to buy your product? “. If you do not have any product or service to offer to customers and you may want to help promote someone else’s product, again you also have to ask the question “why does the customer want to listen to you when you are promoting someone’s else product?”
To promote someone else’s product or service you need to know what product or service do you want to help to promote? Take you time. Don’t worry about where to find the products or services to promote. That’s the “How” part of this process. First just think of what interest you or “why do you think the customers want to buy that product or service? “. You can promote many products related to such topics like music, fishing, golf, handicraft, cooking, learning languages, astronomy, magic tricks, yoga, tai chi, travel and the list goes on and on. That’s why I say, take your time. This is the most important part of the process. Get this wrong and you will reduce your chances of succeeding significantly.
So the first and most important thing is to really understand why would the customer want to buy from you?
Don’t be afraid to spend as much time as possible on understanding the “Why”s. Why do you want to sell this product or service
2. Then we ask the question “What”
To help us understand why we think customers want to buy from us, we should ask the question “What is the problem that the customer want solved?”. Once you are very clear on that, then we can see if what we are offering is providing the solution that the customer is looking for. What problems are those products or services trying to solve for the customers? For example, if the customer has an overweight problem then the weight loss program that you are trying to promote may be a potential product to help such a customer. From your perspective, you should also try to be more targeted in your customer group. For example what target profile of the population are you focusing when you promote your weight loss program. Is it for overweight teenagers or overweight seniors? Who are you trying to help? Spend some time asking the question “what problems are you trying to solve for the customers” or “what are the most urgent problems that potentials customers have and what solutions can you provide”. Remember you can combine the “why” and the “what” when looking at customers’ problems and “what” and “why” a particular product or service is the best choice to consider.
Once you have identified the product or service and the problem that it will solve then, and only then, can you start looking at “keywords” which brings us to the third question and that is the “how”.
3. Finally we will look at “How”
When we ask the question “how”, what we are trying to find out is “how do customers look for solutions to their problems?”. Now what do I mean by that?
Let’s take one example to illustrate what I mean.
First lets take the simple example of cooking. Now if you are keen on the subject of cooking and you want to promote your own cookbook or someone else’s cookbook then you need to know “why do customers want to look for such a cook book?”. “What” is the cookbook trying to solve for the customer? For example, it is a Japanese cookbook for non-Japanese cooks. So the “why” and “what” is obvious. For example, helping non-Japanese who are very keen to learn how to cook Japanese dishes. To understand the “how” we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the “potential” customers of this cookbook. They want to know “how” to cook Japanese dishes. So when they go online to look for information about how to cook Japanese dishes, “how” do they go about doing it. They probably will use Google Search and will key into Google Search such words like “Cooking Japanese dishes” or “how to cook Japanese dishes” or “easy Japanese cooking guide” or some other such terms. Well in the Internet Marketing world, such words are called “keywords” or “key phrases”.
Our main objective in the first phase of our journey is to learn how to identify the right “keywords” or “key-phrases” that potential customers will use when they do their “Internet searches”.
There are several “tools” online that can help us to check which are the most popular “keywords” and “key phrases” that potential customers use to search for solutions that your products or services can provide them.
So in this article, what we have learned is that the most important first thing to do if we want to start an online business is to take our time and really study why and what problems does the potential customers have and then what products or services that you have that can provide solutions to these potential customers. If you already have a business in mind then that’s great and you can move to the “how”.
However if you are still trying to “discover” what is the “best” subject to get involved in to start your online journey, then here is a simple technique. Most IM gurus always say “don’t try to sell someone something. Instead, try to find out what some people need and then be the one to help them meet their needs.”
Once you have identified the product or service that you want to sell or promote that means that you have found the “niche” that you want to focus on. Then it is time to put on the “customer’s hat” and start to think like the customer. Within that niche, what problems or needs does the potential customer have? How would he or she start looking for solutions online? What words or phrases will they key into Google Search to find help for their needs. Make a list of all the possible “keywords” or “key phrases” that YOU THINK they will use to search for more information online. Then you can use some online tools to “check” if these are really the common keywords that people use to search online within that niche. In this way you can identify what are the most popular keywords related to your product or service. The secret here is that the more specific your niche is, then the more targeted your potential customers will be and the higher will be your chance of serving the right customers within that niche. Take for example the game of golf. Now if you are just selling golf training books, then your customer group is fairly diverse. However if you narrow that down to “how to improve your putting?” then your target customers become more specific. So instead of promoting a golf book for all golfers, you position yourself as someone who is trying to help golfers who want to improve their putting techniques. Just like instead of promoting a cookbook, position yourself as trying to help people who want to learn how to make chicken pies. As most Gurus will tell you, the secret is that the more specific your niche is the better is your potential to find and serve the “right customers” who have a specific need that you may be able to fulfill. So be more specific in finding your keywords or key phrases.
One of the most popular online tools for this is the free Google Keyword Planner.