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Top 11 Online Start-up Business Mistakes

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(This start-up business mistakes tip list is geared for U.S. business operations and may be different for each county, state, & other countries. The below should not be construed as legal advice and is meant simply as an informational article to help get you started in your research. We advise that you do all you own research and consult with a licensed business consultant for up to date and accurate process information.)

For the most part, the internet is basically just a medium for conducting business, however you still want to avoid making mistakes and spending time on tactics that just don't work very well. By avoiding some of the more common mistakes listed below, you'll be doing yourself a favor in the long run game.

Check out the top 11 online start-up business mistakes below.

1. Get rich schemes
Don't fall for the "easy Money" online sales pitch. There will never be a substitute for hard work.

2. Program Hopping
Way to many people get discouraged fast if they don't start making money within a few days / weeks / months & and then jump ship to the next program. Building a successful business that generates a profitable revenue can take time. The more you change your mind & switch programs the longer it will take to actually make any money.

3. Too broad of a niche
A commonly overlooked mistake is choosing generalized / wide spectrum niches. The more refined your niche, the easier it will be to develop / brand / and market. Lets not forget that tight niche markets convert way better than generalized ones. Start small & tight, you can always expand later once you start gaining momentum.

4. Build it and they will come - Wrong!
Never fall for the old wives tale "If you build it, They will come" saying. Even the best website / product / service in the world will fail if nobody knows about it. You'll definitely need to promote your business a while before you can start a celebration of any kind.

5. Consumer Relations
Yes, even in the online business world, you'll need to establish trust with your visitors / potential customers. In many cases even more so than in a brick-n-mortar business since your website is technically your face to face meet & greet. You really only have up to the first 3 seconds a visitor lands on your site to capture their attention, otherwise they leave and may never return again.

6. The next big thing syndrome
Of course it's a great idea to come up with an original business plan that nobody's ever done before. However, don't fool yourself into thinking you can't make any money with a re-tooled / expanded / feature rich idea that's been done already. If you can offer something different / unique / useful to the same target audience they don't already have (even if just added features), you can more than likely make some revenue with it. Just be creative & try not to do the same exact thing. An exact clone of something normally fails.

7. Be An Opportunist
A huge mistake many new start-ups make is going into business with money being the only thing on their mind. If all you think about is money, you'll fail. You need to balance your desire for money with a product / service that will actually benefit people and allow you to sleep good at night knowing you actually helped someone. Provide something people actually need and will find value in, that's where you'll get your repeat and referral business (The heart of all businesses).

8. logical buying decisions
The most common buying trigger is impulsive emotion. Buyers don't care as much about how something works as much as they care about if it solves their problem. Get established more on your definitive solutions to every day problems before you start focusing to much on features.

9. Getting the cart before the horse
Another mistake start-ups make is expanding to fast without all the proper research, resources, and man-power to follow through with it. Be sure to get all your ducks in a row prior to launching an expansion or promotion. If you don't, you may find yourself over whelmed with lots of unhappy visitors that didn't get the quality service / product they were promised.

10. Top Notch Support
As I've mentioned before and can't seem to stress enough, your repeat and referral customers are your life-line and will prove to be the best long term asset you have. With that in mind, be sure you offer optimal customer support both before & after a sale. If you just want to close deals & then be done with it, you wont last long in business. After sales support is critical in repeat customers & them referring their friends and family to you.

11. No Business Plan
We find that this one is another of the most common mistakes. If you jump into something with no structure or understanding of how it works, you're setting yourself up for failure off the bat. Take the time to research the industry niche you've chosen, figure out how you want to present yourself to the public, establish a monthly marketing budget, list all the problems you want to solve for people, get an estimate on developing it properly, make sure you have the time and or manpower to operate it once it's launched, figure out how much revenue it will potentially generate, set weekly / monthly / yearly goals, etc..

In other words, don't start a business you have no clue about. It's normally easier to select a product or service you've actually used or have hands on experience with already. This will make it 10x easier to create content, trouble shoot problems, assist customers in their buying decisions, provide optimal customer support, etc. Let's not forget that its easy for anyone to sell something they have personally used Vs. trying to sell something they just was in a picture for the first time. Customers can normally sense when you genuinely know what your talking about and when you're making stuff up.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Eric. Really awesome post.

Especially important is number 4. There is a saying in the sales field...

"Its not about what you know, its about who knows what you know."
 
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Great article!!
Thanks a lot!
 
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This was a really helpful post, thanks man!
 
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Eric,

I really like tip #11. I've learned from someone I worked under that a plan must be developed in order for a business to begin to exist. I took that with me and I invest in two different mindsets: something that I plan on selling, parking, etc. from or development.

If I am planning on development, it is added to a list of names that I create a plan for. Every name that has a plan already is expanded until it is complete. If a plan is incomplete, it's just like reverting back to #4 (build it and they will come). This is because you have not undergone market segmentation and know exactly who you're going to target and how.

In addition to that, a plan can be the difference between you putting your own cash down, a joint venture or quite possibly a savvy investor (depending on how far you've planned and projected).

A lot of good tips subtly mentioned in here and if you've never been in management, owned a company, been in domaining, etc. ask questions on what this trash means (Marine Corps speak for good, still in moto mindset from our B-day) as it's the difference between sink or swim!

Many of these should also speak for themselves, but there's always a fish in the sea to catch (#1 get rich schemes, etc.) from big fishers that irks me because it takes advantage of people who actually need money. Keep in mind that these are people that are also willing to give up everything they got for a chance at the all American dream and catchy phrases lure them in to big dreams.

-David
 
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(resuscitating an oldie, but still a goodie...)

Many of these should also speak for themselves, but there's always a fish in the sea to catch (#1 get rich schemes, etc.) from big fishers that irks me because it takes advantage of people who actually need money. Keep in mind that these are people that are also willing to give up everything they got for a chance at the all American dream and catchy phrases lure them in to big dreams.

Yep - the best advice I have for noobs who want to make money online is "Don't waste money on information products." Guess how those hucksters make most of their money? Selling their courses, ebooks, dvds etc. to YOU!

I also like:
#4 - "Just build great content" will get you squat if nobody knows about it!
#9 - Domainers can be some of the worst offenders here - don't try to shoehorn a business into a domain, plan the business first then choose a domain which suits it.
#7 - Provide value, the money will follow.
 
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This is an incredibly informative article. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Helpful Information. it's a great tips for startup business. thanks.
 
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Good Information.It's a great information also we need to choose a best CRM to develop our business
 
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Awesome tips. My huge mistake was to never work with a business plan. Which was a bad idea, since even a small business plan can help you a lot.
 
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Great post! Thank you for these tips! Well...sometimes it is difficult to have a plan because there are a lot of changes in the market and you have to be flexible.... I find it difficult to stay flexible and follow the plan
 
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Thanks admin its a helping article. I really like the point #7 only money doesn't work actually there is a need to understand the wants of people when we will think about this our product will be a brand .
 
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thanks for the information, mate
 
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Thanks for the article. It's really helpful.
 
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