5 Ways to Kill Your Online Business Before You Get Started

Starting an online business is an attractive proposition for those who dream of working for themselves. There are practically no start-up costs involved, and by signing up for affiliate and MLM programs you can have an online business up and running in less than a day. Sounds easy, right?
The sad fact is, online businesses fail at the same incredibly high rates as brick-and-mortar start-ups: somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent. That’s right: at least nine out of ten online businesses will never show a profit, and eventually fold. This often starts the intrepid entrepreneur on a vicious cycle of abandoning one affiliate or MLM program, just to wind up with a string of failures. Why? Often, it’s because they fall for one of these five common mistakes online business owners make.
Mistake #1: It’s just an online business—I don’t need a plan.
Wrong! Every business needs a plan, even if it’s “just” an affiliate or MLM program. In fact, affiliate and MLM online businesses may need plans more than other business. You will be competing with dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of other online businesses who are selling the exact same products as you.
You don’t necessarily have to come up with a 30-page business proposal outlining the steps you plan to take for the next ten years. You do, however, have to determine where you want to be in the next 12 months and figure out how you’re going to get there. It can be something as simple as “in twelve months I plan to make enough from my online business to quit my day job”—as long as you have the how to accompany the what.
Mistake #2: I get a free website with my affiliate programs, so I can skip investing in a private domain name.
This is an easy mistake to make. Why pay money for something you can get for free? The answer is: because you can’t make money without spending money. There are two very good reasons to invest the ten bucks a month it will cost you to get your own domain name for your online business. One is that it looks far more professional than a long, nonsensical affiliate URL with a string of numbers tacked on the end. People will be more likely to trust you and your products when you have your own domain name.
The other is purely from a marketing standpoint. A private domain name is easy to remember and can be printed on business cards, flyers, and other sales material—try to do that with a domain name like www.thisgreatproduct.com/yourname/426563#. Additionally, search engines tend to give more weight to private domain names, and will sometimes ignore unwieldy affiliate site URLs altogether.
Mistake #3: The more programs I participate in, the more money I’ll make.
In online business, the real money is made by cultivating the businesses you own. Slapping your name on twenty different affiliate programs will not bring you any profit. You can’t just plaster a website up and then sit back to wait for the money to roll in—contrary to what some internet marketers would have you believe. Each program needs an investment of your time to make it work. Pick a handful of programs that you believe in and will be passionate about, and focus on them.
Mistake #4: The more money I spend on advertising, the more profitable my online business will be.
This makes sense on paper. But as it applies to online business, it’s completely erroneous. Throwing money into pay-per-click programs will generate you a lot of hits on your website—but it won’t translate into sales. The real key to success in an online business is time. You must build a customer base, cultivate loyalty and word-of-mouth (or word-of-mouse, as the case may be for an online business) and concentrate your efforts on offering value and service. Buying customers is bad business sense; you want money coming in, not going out.
Mistake #5: If I e-mail, they will come.
Here the message for avoiding mistakes is simple: don’t spam. This is the fastest way to turn potential customers off. Always build your mailing list through double opt-in messages. Your online business must be as professional as possible. Spraying e-mail boxes with your marketing messages will not only generate a negative image for your business, it can also get you banned from search engines.