Before I even begin discussing how you might go about finding a niche on the Internet, I would like you to ask yourself the following questions:
- How old are you? _________
- How old do you think you'll be when you die? _______
Now by subtracting answer (1) from answer (2) hopefully you should have an estimate of how much longer you have to roam planet earth in your present human form.
My next question for you is how would you like to spend the years you have left? Or in other words, what lies burning inside of you that you absolutely must create or express in some way, shape or form before you leave this world?
Admittedly these are big questions to ask yourself and probably feel quite daunting. But they are incredibly important questions to ask nonetheless. Please don't feel a need to answer them straight away. At this stage, it may be enough for you to simply ask them of your deepest self.
Try not to pressure yourself into finding the 'ultimate answer' as this is not the purpose of the exercise. The exercise is purely one to stimulate your awareness. Rest assured that your answers will also more than likely continue to evolve over your lifetime, so long as you open up to path of doing what is absolutely true for you.
Once you have connected with the feeling of what you want to create and express, I want you to spend some time thinking about particular group of people that you have been put on the planet to serve. Whose lives will you touch purely by fully expressing what you have inside of you? Spend some time thinking about the problems, challenges or burdens that these are carrying that will be made lighter purely because you have reached out to lend them a helping hand.
By connecting with your inner most desires and by giving them an opportunity for expression you will be well on the way to not only connecting with your niche but living your life on purpose.
Designing Your Web Site.
Once you have an understanding of your website's strategic purpose, it is now time to start considering how design can actually support you in achieving this purpose. It is important not to get to caught up with trying to understand the technology behind creating your site as this is something you can always outsource to a web design expert. What is important is for you to create the vision of exactly how you want the site to appear. The tighter the design brief you can hand to a web designer the better results that you will achieve. Where to start?
The best place to start is by analyzing the various websites already in your market place. It may also pay to look at various website ideas from further a field with the intention of being able to adapt them to the specific needs of your own market place. Pay special attention to what you like and dislike about each of the particular sites. Observe how long you spend on each page, notice how easy it is for you to obtain the information you want and also give considered thought to your overall experience of the sight. Have you considered color psychology?
Once you know what you like and dislike from a design point of view, it will definitely be worth your while to give serious consideration to your color scheme. The colors you select will have a dramatic impact on your web visitors experience of your site. colors have an incredible ability to send us into different states of mind and being. It is very important that you spend some time considering the kind of experience you want people to have on your website. Select colors to support the kind of experience that you hope to create. For a more in depth discussion of color psychology please see Wikipedia.
And what about complimentary colors? Once you've chosen the dominant color of you site, it is worth exploring what colors you can use to compliment that color. Selecting complimentary colors is actually quite a scientific process. I'd recommend using a color wheel to ensure the combinations you select are complimentary.
Once you have an understanding of what you like and dislike design wise and have selected a color scheme that invokes the experience you are trying to generate, you are well on the way to being able to paint a clear picture of the site you want your designer to create. Alternatively, if you have the energy you may like to develop the skills to build the site yourself!
Compelling reasons to build a subscriber list!
If you where to ask me what I thought the most important thing that an entrepreneurial service professional could do to improve their business prospects online, I would have to say that it would be to build up a list of targeted subscribers. Here are six compelling reasons why you should starting build your own targeted subscriber list now!
- You increase your earning potential. This is a pretty simple one. The more people who are aware of the products and services that you offer, the more chance you have of selling your products and services. This is particularly the case when you communicate with a growing list of people who voluntarily stepped forward and expressed their interest in your business by signing up to your subscriber list.
- You spend less time selling. Lets face it, how many people actually enjoy trying to sell things to people who just aren't interested? I know I certainly don't! When people sign up to your subscriber list what they are actually doing is stepping forward to let you know that they are interested in what you have to say and what your business has to offer. This creates the opportunity for you to spend less time selling and more time being of service.
- It helps you to develop your expert profile. One quick indicator that people use to determine your level of expertise in any area is the size of your audience or following. If you can demonstrate growing numbers of interested people in your newsletters, products and services, people start to become a lot more interested in what you have to say.
- You can gather global recognition for your expertise. Having a targeted subscriber list can help you develop global recognition as well customers for your products and services. The rapid evolution of technology, in particular the Internet, has created possibilities for people to create businesses with global reach all from the comfort of their home office.
- It opens up Joint Venture possibilities. As you list develops and grows you will start to become more attractive to possible joint venture partners. Teaming up with other businesses that have built up a targeted subscriber list as well will enable you to grow your list and your business exponentially.
- You attract exciting opportunities to you. When you are out in the world sharing your expertise you start to attract all sorts of interesting opportunities to you. By building my subscriber list I have attracted invitations to speak internationally, write for magazines and was also invited to do a screen test to host a television program. All this is possible for you purely by raising your profile through a targeted subscriber list.
Building your Internet success team.
If you want to succeed online you almost certainly need to create a team around you. Remember that no man or woman is an island. If you take the 'Lone Ranger' approach then chances are that you won't succeed. The world is moving far too quickly for any one of us to make the transition alone.
Your challenge is to spend as much of your time as possible focusing on the things that you truly excel at and then finding ways to delegate the rest. The best way to achieve this is by surrounding yourself with people that have the skills you don't have and need to make your business dream a reality. Now if you are just starting out this needn't cost you a lot of money. Below I will mention four creative ways that you can access the skills that you need without it costing you the world...
- Co-creating through partnership
I want you to think about all the projects you are currently working on or plan to begin and ask yourself 'who could I partner with on this project that will make this experience more successful, fun and profitable than if I try to do it on my own?' You'll be truly amazed to what this slight change in focus can actually do for your business. Each project that I work on these days I am also looking to synergise with someone with complimentary talents and abilities to my own and I have had some truly stunning results so far!
- Marketing Joint Ventures
Another great way to work effectively with others is through marketing joint ventures. Marketing joint ventures are when you team up with other small business owners to cross promote products and services to each others lists. It's worth noting that you should definitely believe in the products you are cross promoting or otherwise it could actually damage the trust that you have already developed with your list. If your interested in building your online business fast, this is definitely one of the quickest ways that you can do it.
- Skills exchange
Skills exchanges are where you team up with other small business owners and instead of trading services for money, you trade services in kind. Skill exchanges work best when both parties desire the services of the other. For example you may be a designer in need of some copywriting writing assistance. You may be able to a great mutually beneficial exchange with a copywriter in need of a website!
- Outsourcing
Outsourcing is where you pay for someone else to do the work for you. In reality you should be looking to outsource as much work as you possibly can. One of the most popular outsourcing websites on the Internet is Elance.com - a tendering website where people can advertise their projects and have people bid on the work from all over the world.
Copyright 2006 Senn-Sational.com
Damien Senn helps people turn their passion into profit online. He is the author of the ebook 'Kick Start Your List' and his inspirational newsletters are read by thousands of people in over 100 different countries around the world. Please download your free
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