Internet business

As modern human beings living in the 21^st century, we have grown to realize that not many things are certain in life – however, few of us would argue against this one fact: the spectacular advent of the internet over the past few decades has had a significant impact upon the development of humanity as a whole. Not only has this network of networks revolutionized the world of technology, but it has also altered – for the better or for the worst, it’s for each of us to decide – the collective and individual human psyche to the point where its influences can be felt at the very core of human identity.

What is the internet? There are millions of possible answers, both positive and negative: a global system of interconnected computer networks, a marketing channel, a source of virtually unlimited information, a channel for internet business ventures or else unlimited internet business opportunities, the place to make friends, meet would-be spouses, find jobs, post photos, the birthplace of internet business scams, a channel for effective identity theft, the reason we can now bank online, pay bills and order our favorite books, chocolate or gadgets from millions of places – virtual or otherwise – around the world. And the list can go on.

To the well-organized mind, the online universe with its equal shares of horrors and wonders is the ideal channel to either start an internet business from scratch or else promote existing business ventures. Indeed, starting an internet business may be a wise choice nowadays, particularly given the gloomy state of the world economy and the overwhelming pace of job losses affecting most developed and developing countries. The unprecedented growth of the internet has forever altered the way most companies and consumers regard businesses, as well as the number and type of internet business opportunities available to would-be entrepreneurs. If we think of the internet as a giant web which links together buyers and sellers (generically speaking), it becomes easier to visualize how prospective internet business owners should aim to place themselves on the world-wide web market in order to achieve success. People’s preferences are as diverse as their cultural and economic backgrounds; this means that internet business opportunities are virtually endless; businesses can thus target very specific consumer segments with very specific tastes in terms of…well, everything from personalized lighters to tuned vehicles and porcelain cups and saucers shipped directly from Germany.

At the very base of almost all successful internet business ventures is this one straightforward principle: the entrepreneur needs to come up with a brilliant idea for a product or service. An internet business opportunity is less a matter of coming up with huge amounts of money and more a matter of starting off with a very good business concept. Of course, capital is important as well for any internet business, but it is much more important to prospect the market, identify a specific niche segment and cater to it, or else tap available online marketing channels to promote existing products or services. Always remember that people are willing to buy if they are offered the right type of product in the right way. How willing? Statistics published by global e-retailing industry body IMRG show that online retail grew by 17% in 2009 compared to the previous year, and its growth continues at a double-digit pace.

The virtues of the world-wide web are many – as are its vices. The internet business opportunities abound, mainly because the versatility of the online environment makes it a flexible channel, which can accommodate a wide variety of business models. People chose to start businesses online and take advantage of yet-untapped internet business opportunities because they can save the money they would normally spend on renting premises and put it towards other, more stringent needs – like advertising. But the accessibility of all things internet-related also means that competition is very intense in the virtual world. A statement anyone with an interest in starting an internet business is bound to come across frequently is that anyone can make money online. That may be regarded as true up to a point – however, two amendments must be made to this recklessly optimistic pronouncement: first of all, even if the internet business opportunities abound, not everyone who can make money online will make it, and secondly, given that the internet business scams are getting more daring and creative by the day, not everyone who manages to make money online will do so legally.

Let us refer to the legitimate side of the internet business ventures, and leave the scams for a later section of this article. One thing that anyone looking for internet business opportunities must keep in mind (actually, reciting it daily as a mantra would be a great help) is that making money on the internet is an extremely laborious process. Put simply, an internet business opportunity, no matter how exciting it may appear, does not equal easy money. Making money online takes time, resources and dedication, and it is unlikely to yield significant returns (irrespective of how valuable the internet business opportunity is) within the first year of being in business. In fact, an internet business may well become a source of frustration well before it becomes a source of profit – however, if you have correctly identified your niche market and are willing to invest the time and energy, the results may grow to surprise you.

As a general rule, would-be internet business entrepreneurs must start by engaging in some serious self-assessment, evaluate the skills they have and the internet business skills they are willing to acquire; the latter will not only help them towards succeeding but also assist them in dodging the ever-present internet business scams looking to lure people with the prospect of the internet business opportunities that require little effort and bring instant returns – all rolled into one with a nice ribbon on top. Among the skills likely to come in handy when venturing into internet business are knowledge of HTML, social media and website marketing and sales, as well as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics. With that in mind, the next step is also less practical as it is psychological. For internet business start-ups, a pre-packaged program might sound like a good idea, however, as mentioned earlier, ultimately customization is the key: the more unique the product or the service an internet business provides, the higher are its chances to succeed.

In today’s environment, several internet business opportunities have distanced themselves from the pack, so to say, and have become the focus of a number of successful initiatives. The prospective internet business owners could review them and regard them as useful – if overtly general – pointers in the right (online) direction. One such example is blogging. Most of us know what a blog is – basically an individual website which an author chooses to personalize and fill with information presented under various guises, from articles to reviews and or diary-style entries. And yes, to answer your imminent question, blogs have been known to become huge internet business opportunities and are perhaps the least-predisposed internet business ventures to fall prey to internet business scams.

For the gossip-savvy among you, a perfect example of such an internet business venture is Mario Lavandeira, stage name Perez Hilton, the owner and main contributor to Hollywood’s self-proclaimed “most hated website”, which has turned people’s constant interest in the lives and lies of celebrities into a significant internet business opportunity. Active since 2005, Lavandeira’s blog is the perfect definition for a successful internet business. It has become notorious for its unique brand of sharp, usually over-the-top celebrity criticism and infamously offensive) doodles on top of celebrity photos.

In this case, Lavandeira’s internet business opportunity came from his interest in exposing others as much as promoting himself. Keep in mind, we’re not talking about personal preferences here – even if many of us consider Perez Hilton’s blog offensive and never log on to it themselves, the point is – it’s a working internet business model and millions of others do just that: log on and read his comments. An internet business opportunity is about identifying a consumer niche and catering to it, and this is exactly what Lavandeira did. In his case, the niche consisted of people tired of reading the ‘official”, publicist-endorsed versions of celebrities’ lives and looking for a harsh dose of reality. The results speak for themselves: his blog receives around 3 million unique visitors per day, while a 150×200 pixel advertisement running for a week on his blog would set you back around USD 9,000.

Yet another internet business opportunity worth taking into account is making a business out of promoting services or products offered by other companies via a personal website. This brand of internet business is known as affiliate marketing, and the main source of income is a commission received for each sale they have mediated. And since there is just one step left from promoting other companies’ products to selling or reselling products yourself, e-commerce and auction selling are also internet business opportunities worth looking into. The former is somewhat easier to approach and is based on an internet business model that consists of selling products of online services (be they financial, technology-based or otherwise) via a personal website. Auction selling on the other hand is a much more complex type of internet business, as it involves the entrepreneur buying products either via the internet or directly and then selling or reselling them via online marketplaces the likes of eBay, TradeMe or Amazon. Such internet business opportunities are also more productive in the long run. Products might include used goods or goods that are bought wholesale and resold in a retail fashion.

One other type of internet business opportunity worth considering is providing freelance services. These might range from providing market research for various companies to offering consultancy services (in case the would-be internet business owner possesses solid trade-specific knowledge preferably accumulated in the course of a previous career) to corporations, entrepreneurs or investors, as well as providing other types of professional services that can be billed on an hourly rate. The latter include web design and programming, copy writing or even photography. Such internet business opportunities should of course be approached cautiously. The image of a business professional – let’s say, an insurance consultant – lounging at home in front of his computer and running an internet business at his convenience, tapping into knowledge he has already accumulated might be tempting, but it is as unrealistic as it gets. True internet business opportunities require a certain amount of vision, patience, capital and the ever-present awareness that even the brightest business ideas could very well end in failure.

As unavoidable as it may be, failure should at least come as an unfortunate ending to a well-meaning internet business opportunity. In other words, business owners should be mindful not to invite failure in by falling victim to any one of the thousands of internet business scams that are looking to exploit those who still believe the internet equals easy money. Truth be told, the fast-paced development of internet business opportunities also means that a large number of end users, while preoccupied with their professional of family lives, are having a hard time keeping up with what is new in terms of both legitimate internet business venture paths and internet business scams. Unfortunately, the development of the internet also means that there are always more people than we’d like to imagine out there who are deliberately (and just as tirelessly) working to trick others into unwittingly financing their criminal endeavors. In other words, crime is their own personal brand of internet business, while their internet business opportunities are provided by consumers that do not treat “easy money” opportunities with sufficient caution.

The general rule of thumb in as far as avoiding internet business scams is concerned is as follows: if an internet business opportunity sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. As we have mentioned above, a legitimate internet business takes months, if not years to set up, and requires dedication, patience and hard work. Successful internet business opportunities do not just “happen” overnight, they require careful planning, research and commitment. To fight fraud and help create a fair marketplace for all types of business initiatives, internet business ventures included, a corporation was set up in the US and Canada known as the Internet Better Business Bureau (BBB). Its main purpose is to fight against internet business scams and promote the development of a fair online environment, where internet business owners can focus on improving and promoting their initiatives rather than constantly being on the alert to foil criminal attempts.

Among the proprieties of the Internet Better Business Bureau are the prevention of identity theft online, the fight against credit card fraud, the resolution of disputes and complains, the business education of consumers and internet business owners alike, the promotion of legitimate internet business opportunities and of truth in advertising, as well as the enforcement of a code of online business practices that looks to create trust among business providers and consumers that chose to transact online. The Internet Better Business Bureau also alerts the general public whenever a fraud attempt occurs and provides information on ethical business practices for emerging internet business owners. Companies that decide to join the BBB as Accredited Businesses must meet a series of requirements generically referred to as the BBB Standards for Trust and make a commitment to conduct their business affairs with reliability and integrity. 53

However, not even the existence of a dedicated industry body like the Internet Better Business Bureau can prevent internet business owners, whether prospective or already in business to fall prey to well-devised internet business scams. One of the most profound changes brought about by the development of the internet has to do with the fact that for a business relationship to establish, the buyer and seller no longer need to be strictly physical presences, entities in whose absence commercial relationships cannot be established. The internet allows buyers and sellers to stay largely “invisible” if not downright anonymous, prompting many individuals to take advantage of this newfound online ‘cloak of invisibility’ to perpetrate a wide variety of crimes online. And unfortunately, no amount of Internet Better Business Bureau activity can prevent such individuals without solid support from internet business owners themselves.

Oscar Wilde said “man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will show you his true nature”. This holds true for all the internet business scams. Anonymity is a fraudster’s best shield, and as such, it should not be allowed to define the legitimate internet business exchanges. In fact, one of the main rules that are especially valid for individuals looking to go into internet business as sellers and / or re-sellers of goods and services is that consumer trust equals transparency. In other words, in order for the full potential of such internet business opportunities to be exploited, buyers should be made to feel that they can contact the seller at any time. “Humanizing” an internet business may sound like contrary to the very essence of online commerce (which consists, after all, of businesses run from behind one or several computer screens), but experts assure us it is one of the key elements of running a successful retail internet business. The internet business scams thrive on the unknown, the anonymous, the deceptively easy. If consumers are shown that they can easily reach a website’s owner, ask for advice or even complain, establishing trust between buyers and sellers might become an easier process and internet business scams may be kept under control.

There are many types of internet business scams out there. Such scams are not only dangerous because they can trick consumers, prospective internet business owners among them, into parting with their money in exchange for nothing; perhaps the largest amount of harm they inflict comes for the damage such internet business scams cause to the overall levels of consumer trust in internet business ventures. Low consumer confidence not only damages internet business opportunities, but it can effectively render them useless, as sellers’ most important assets are more often than not their reputation and reliability.

One common type of scam affecting the online retail environment is the so-called internet marketing and retail fraud. Such internet business scams are quite straightforward, and are all the more harmful to legitimate internet business owners as they are perpetrated by internet marketing and retail sites, with the difference that the latter run legitimate-looking businesses with an underlying dishonest agenda. The ultimate goal of such internet business scams is to trick consumers into buying goods or services that ultimately turn out to be false, very poor quality or which are never actually delivered, while also revealing their credit card information in the process.

Other illegitimate internet business opportunities exploited by cybercriminals have to do with the so-called marketing and SEO internet business scams, which basically aim to convince new internet business owners that a specific strategy can assist them in dramatically increasing the web traffic to their start-up websites. Legitimate internet business owners looking to avoid this type of fraud should be on the lookout for supposed internet marketing specialists who claim to have the ability to multiply revenues from internet business opportunities many times over within a short time span, but are unwilling to share any of their miraculous strategies until payment is made. Be wary of self-proclaimed internet business specialists claiming to solve “all” your problems, who try to dazzle you with brilliant testimonials whose legitimacy cannot be verified. Keep in mind that internet business SEO strategies take time to deploy. There is no such thing as a miracle cure for any type of internet business opportunity.

Yet another brand of internet business scams is looking to take advantage of the hype created around giant auction sites such as eBay or TradeMe. Such fraudsters pose as legitimate internet business owners and initiate auctions for items which are typically very expensive (think watches or computers) and which they pretend to sell for very low prices. Far from being lucrative internet business opportunities, these are in fact classic schemes meant at taking advantage of eager bargain hunters. The promised goods are either never delivered after the customer payment has been cashed, or else fake or low-quality items are shipped instead.

Finally, the rules for avoiding internet business scams and running a legitimate, ultimately successful internet business are quite simple to state, though not always easy to apply. Avoid anything and anyone promising unnaturally rapid return on investments; remember the internet better business bureau is there to provide assistance and help foster a safe online environment for new internet business ventures; expect a lot of hard work and be ready for a slow start; and last but not least, think of the internet as a tool, a channel to bring your own hard work to others who are in a position to appreciate it.