Online Business Strategies Can Easily Be Applied to Other Markets

Online traders do not need to be restricted to their first business sectors. They will have developed skills and techniques that will be useful in any other market they choose to try.

1. Spread your wings with an Internet business One of the best things about selling products and/or services online is that the Internet marketer is not restricted to any one niche. The whole world of Internet business (which is coming to mean most businesses) has opportunities for online traders. Skills that are developed in one area can be applied across a wide range of trades.

2. There is now no need to demolish before rebuilding In the "old economy" there are huge problems transferring businesses from one sector to another. A factory cannot be relocated, or remodelled to create new products without massive cost and probably the total destruction of the old facility. Even a local shop cannot move without risking its loyal client base. But in the online economy there is no need to destroy before rebuilding.

3. Market sectors are fluid Some sectors have obvious connections and related clients. For example, flight reservations, car hire and hotel booking share common customers even though in principle the equipment and premises they use are totally different. Therefore customers and suppliers have exploited the possibilities of online trading. Although planes, cars and hotels are different businesses with totally different needs for funding, structures and equipment, pulling them all together to sell online has opened up great possibilities for travel companies and their clients.

4. Many different products can be sold online If the travel business has been streamlined by the online business revolution, what about businesses that have no apparent links or similarities? What about selling airline tickets, books, property, or food? Although the end product is entirely different the buying process online is surprisingly similar. There are many examples of leading products whose suppliers have applied skills learned in their original markets with results that have propelled them to the top of their new sectors.

5. From affiliate offers to your own products The easiest way to start marketing online is to sell the goods and services of third parties through affiliate links. Most top marketers started that way, and many keep to that business model throughout their careers. The way skills used in one market can be transferred to new sectors means that skills developed early on are not wasted. Unlike the used car showroom, which would be useless as a place to design and build new cars, an Internet site can be used to sell both affiliate and wholly-owned original products.

6. From virtual to physical goods Many of the best products are sold and delivered entirely online. What is delivered to customers may never exist outside cyberspace. Even so there are advantages to creating physical products, which lead for improved brand recognition and better customer value. This does not mean the online trader always has to touch physical goods. It could be simply a matter of supplying downloadable versions of MP3 or PDF files. Fulfillment businesses can handle the distribution if products need to be delivered to customers. Sometimes the online trader can set up links to factories where goods are made so that the order, product creation and delivery are handled automatically with no involvement of the Internet trader, except to be paid for arranging the deal.

7. Start from what you already know It is not essential for an online trader to start selling digital or affiliate products and move on marketing his own products or physical goods. Amazon started by selling new books, and spread out from that core business to an ever-growing range of products. Leading supermarkets started their Internet businesses selling their food online, but they now sell online financial services such as insurance, and some even have their own online banks. This proves that it is possible to reap huge benefits from trading online, but the starting point needs to be something that the seller is comfortable with. For most new Internet traders this comfort is likely to come from digital products, probably created by an affiliate. The greatest long term success is likely to go to Internet traders who expand their comfort zones using the flexibility offered by Internet marketing.