By Lee Benson & Bill Nieporte
[November 17th, 1999]

See Also   How to Build a Web Store for FREE   How to choose mailing list management software   How to Grow Your Web Business   How to Accept Credit Cards without a Merchant Account   How To Develop Online Products That Sell   How to Change Your Web Hosting Service (ISP)   How to Deal with Disgruntled Customers   How to Get Top Search Engine Positioning   How to Beat Credit Card Fraud   How to Design an Affiliate Program   How to Accept Credit Card Payments   How to Choose a Shopping Cart

With more than 6 billion dollars of online revenue being produced in 1999 alone, the chance of e-commerce and global sales is now remarked as a definite reality. To put it bluntly, the Internet is producing a heck of a lot of profits for many Internet Marketers worldwide.

For example, take a glance at my situation. I'm Lee Benson, the 'infamous' CyberProsper Internet Marketer.

I live in Europe, a continent known for it's high phone charges and it's sense of conservative human morality. Unlike the USA, many people take the "It won't work" approach to lots of things in life, and so the talk of producing hundreds of thousands of dollars of profits online every year would tickle anyone's skeptical side.

However, despite the dull, non-entrepreneurial environment that I'm forced to live in, I still manage to collectively earn a gross profit of over $50,000 dollars EVERY year online.

It's the same with my friend (and co-author of this article), Dr. Bill Nieporte (http://ezinesuccess.com).

We virtually live on the Internet, spending hours per day 'tweaking' our sites and actively studying the Internet Marketing process.

Allow me to add that we also:

• Work from home, which is both flexible and needless to say, comfortable.

• Have no need to travel to work at inhumane hours, facing the challenge of daily traffic jams and the 9-5 rat-race atmosphere that so many of us are sucked into.

• Have no bosses - that's right, no need to suck up to anyone in the effort to invoke a pay rise or to be told what to do and when to do it. This means we're not working to contribute to anyone else's success but our own.

• Produce thousands of dollars of online profits, by simply using a home computer and having the 'right' website and sales system in place.

So How Can You Achieve This With The Internet?

Unfortunately for a lot of people seeking Internet riches, the talk of money clouds their vision to see the TRUE reason why E-commerce is now producing billions of dollars online every year.

It's all about the customer. They want QUALITY products or services, and they're willing to pay good money to receive those products.

So if the customer WANTS good products or services, why do people continue to promote rubbish?

Quite simply, because they don't CARE. The talk of the 'quick buck' is their only goal, and that's all they'll consider...

Not only is this a completely stupid move, but it's also the quickest path to failure.

Your clever sales letter may initially dupe your customer into spending their hard-earned dollars, but you can bet your life you'll end up paying in lost credibility and returns.

What I'm about to show you is the simple 5-step approach to achieving online success by producing your OWN products or services. Dump those zillion-and-one worthless affiliate programs, and develop your own solid program.

If you're serious about creating an impact on the 'net, then this is the only way to go. The benefits are amazing.

Don't get me wrong, a LOT of money is being produced with affiliate programs. But to be honest if you're ONLY promoting an affiliate program, you're not really owning your own business. To me, affiliate programs are great side-line income produces, and I've developed many profitable techniques to integrate them into my every day business life.

However, what I'm about to teach you now will produce the basis for which all future online ventures will build upon.

Are You Ready? Good, Then Let's Begin ....

Step 1 - Defining Your Product

I'm constantly asked the question of 'what sells online'. To be honest, there is no one single answer to this question.

However, the question of 'what sells BEST online' can be defined more easily. Quite simply, information-rich products or services are the HOTTEST online sellers.

Let's consider Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. His company is built entirely on information-rich products. Their biggest money-earner is software, which is just data. Nothing more than information, a collection of binary digits that forms a program.

Microsoft earned over 19 billion dollars this year selling software (amongst other products). See the potential here?

But it's not just software that sells like hot cakes. The old saying that 'knowledge is power' is becoming more and more believable, because it's knowledge and information that sells so well on the Internet.

If you have the information to create a solution to someone's problem, and there's a HIGH demand for this type of info, then Hey Presto. You've struck gold. You've found the PERFECT product to sell.

Why? Let's find out...

Step 2 - Creating A Product With A HIGH Profit Margin

The Internet is making more millionaires than any other invention in history. Never before has it been so possible for the average person to go international and to earn excessive amounts of money selling products and services online.

And why? Because virtually ALL of the overheard and production costs are eliminated with many online products.

You can get started for less than $250 a year (that's to cover the website hosting costs) and then you simply purchase a domain name and design your site for free by yourself. Once you're up and accessible on the WWW, the potential for global sales exists.

Compare that to the costs of an offline shop, and you'll see why the Internet is being favored.

In the real-world you have to pay for land rental fees (which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars), hiring staff and staff training, interior decorating, product inventory and much, much more.

On the Internet however, none of these costs need exist. You can create a powerful website for free using your home computer, and get your own domain name and website setup for a few hundred bucks a year.

With this in mind, why should your production costs be any different? You can create an information-rich product from home that provides valuable information, and produce and replicate the SAME informational products at no extra cost.

It's only data, and data costs nothing to produce. However, that doesn't mean people aren't willing to pay BIG money for valuable information.

For instance, if you sold a 10 page book that told people how to earn $2000 with the stock exchange, then chances are an investor would be willing to pay $500+ for that valuable information, even though it costs only pennies to reproduce.

It's the quality that counts, not the quantity. Even if your product takes only 10 minutes to reproduce and no-cost, your customer will still pay BIG for valuable information.

Notice that I say 'valuable information'. Not just any old product will sell. Forget those 'Buy 5000 reports for $30' programs. Create a BRAND NEW informational product that's guaranteed to satisfy.

A 'Splat In Your Face' Example:

Have you noticed the amount of Internet Marketing courses being advertised at the minute? And why do you think that is? Simply because a LOT of people want to know how to successfully sell on the Internet, and the people who can teach them that will earn a lot of money (and are doing).

And this is exactly what you should be aiming to do. Create a product based on your OWN expertise and offer that advice for a fee.

More: Step 3 - The Key to Success