There is a spike in the number of people searching for how to start an online business from home.
Many people are realizing you can earn a full-time income at home with an online business.
They are searching for how to make money online and from the comfort of their homes.
There is also a shift from traditional education.
The expectation is you graduate from college with heavy debt, find a salaried job, work for over 40 years for an employer in a 9 to 5 job, and retire with a pension.
People are increasingly investing in digital marketing skills through online courses.
Many go on to build 6 and 7-figure online businesses from home.
The internet and social media have leveled the playing field in starting and scaling a business.
This post is about a proven simple step-by-step process many entrepreneurs have used to build successful online businesses.
Why Start An Online Business From Home?
There are several advantages in starting a home-based business online:
- One of the strongest points is flexibility. You can run your business from anywhere and whenever you want. You set your own schedule and do not have to adhere to a rigid timetable.
- Low overhead costs: Unlike a traditional brick-and-mortar business, the overhead costs of online marketing are relatively low and the profit margins are high. You can literally start a business from your laptop, with a cellphone and internet connection.
- You can reach a global audience with your online presence. Instead of limiting your business to a local clientele, you can sell your products and services worldwide.
- There is an unlimited income potential with an online business. Whereas your income is capped in a 9-5 job, there is no limit to the amount of money you can make depending of course on your effort.
- You can achieve a better work-life balance by having an online business from home. With online entrepreneurship, you can spend more time with your family and family and pursue other interests while still running your business successfully.
- As an online business owner, you have more control over your business operations. You are the boss and can make decisions independently without having to answer to anyone else.
Who Needs An Online Business From Home?
With the rising cost of living, high inflation, and job insecurity almost everyone needs to start an online home-based business.
Are you in a 9-5 job you don’t like?
Are you feeling stressed and burnt out in your job?
Most of us need extra income to give our families the kind of lives they deserve.
Maybe you are a stay-at-home parent.
You can start an online business as a side hustle in your spare time.
Many have gone on to grow successful businesses that allowed them to leave their jobs and spend more time with their loved ones.
Choosing An Online Business From Home Model
Anyone looking for online business ideas has several options.
The most popular are e-commerce like Amazon FBA business, Dropshipping, Network Marketing, and Affiliate Marketing.
My personal preference from extensive research is affiliate marketing.
The advantages of affiliate marketing over e-commerce are that you do not have to create a product.
With affiliate marketing, you do not have to store a product and there is no inventory.
There is no shipping and no requirement to deal with customers.
No experience is required and it is the most beginner-friendly of the business models.
With Network Marketing, often you are required to buy a certain volume of products monthly, build a team and sell to family and friends.
This is not necessary with affiliate marketing where you are promoting other people’s products with a unique link given to you.
You receive a commission when someone purchases the product through your link.
High Income Skills To Start An Online Business From Home
I cannot emphasize too strongly, the importance of learning the high-income skills that are critical to building a successful online business from home.
As an online entrepreneur, digital marketing skills are essential.
You should invest in building such skills as lead generation, copywriting, email marketing, social media marketing, funnel building, sales, presenting, and marketing.
The Legendary Marketer 15-Day Online Business Builder Challenge is a $7.00 dollar training that gives you the foundations to start an online business.
Read my review of the 15 Day Business Builder Challenge here.
Find A High Ticket Affiliate Product
The first step in starting an online business from home with affiliate marketing, is to find a high ticket affiliate product.
There are several affiliate marketing programs but there are advantages with high ticket affiliate marketing.
Over 80% of brands worldwide will pay you a commission to promote their products.
The best example is the Amazon Associates affiliate program.
Amazon will pay commissions of up to 20% to promote any product from Amazon.
The commissions are very low and you have to sell many products through your links to get a reasonable income.
So, the key is find high ticket affiliate programs.
These are companies that will pay you $500 or more (often over $1000) for each sale made through your affiliate link.
A good example is Legendary Marketer.
Legendary Marketer is an Inc. 500 educational company that markets digital marketing online courses.
They have advanced training courses that can earn you high ticket affiliate commissions if someone purchases through your affiliate links.
Many online courses pay high ticket affiliate commissions.
Popular examples are Affiliate Secrets 3.0, the Super Affiliate Accelerator, Affiliate Escape Plan and Amazing Selling Machine.
The second type of affiliate program I recommend are those that pay recurring commissions.
These are usually software companies where users pay monthly or annual subscriptions.
So if anyone subscribes through your link, you will receive monthly or annual commissions as long as the subscription is active.
Some of the best examples affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions include ClickFunnels 2.0, ActiveCamapign, AWeber, Go HighLevel, SiteGround, Thinkific, Teachable, SEMrush, Invideo, Surfer SEO, Jasper AI.
Create A Simple 2-Page Sales Funnel
The next step is to create a simple 2-page sales funnel.
This is the engine of your business.
Sales funnels are more effective than traditional websites in generating leads and making sales.
The first page of the sales funnels is the landing page.
The primary aim of the landing page is to collect email addresses.
This is in exchange for a free offer like a free video or ebook.
By connecting an email autoresponder to your landing page, you can set up an automated sequence of emails.
This allows you to use email marketing to make more sales.
The second page of the funnel is called the ‘bridge page.
This is where you describe the high ticket product and how it will help solve a problem.
This is done with a short video or text.
You also introduce yourself to generate trust and confidence.
The last important componet of the ‘bridge page’ is a call to action button.
This will take your leads to your affiliate company through your affiliate link.
You earn commissions when they purchase the product through your link.
Some of the best funnel builders include ClickFunnels,Systeme io and GrooveFunnels.
You can download a FREE DFY affiliate marketing funnel here.
The top email autoresponders for starting an online business include ActiveCampaign, AWeber and Get Response.
Below is a diagram showing how a simple marketing funnel is designed.
You can learn how to build your first marketing funnel here.
Drive Traffic To Your Funnel From Social Media
With you affiliate funnel now set up and connected to your email autoresponder….
…and automated emails all done, you business can now run on autopilot.
All you have to do is run traffic to your landing page.
The social media has made it relativey easy to generate free organic traffic.
You daily task is to create content consistently to your funnel.
It is best to use one platform when you start.
Right now TikTok is the best platform to build a following very quickly.
You create content to show how your affiliate product will help someone solve a problem.
For example if your affiliate product is for weight loss…
…your content will show how the product will help someone lose wight.
You then direct leads to your profile link which takes them to your landing page.
Other platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest are pushing the short form vertical video format.
You are spoilt for choice which platform to choose.
It is advisable for the beginner to choose one platform first.
Master the platform and algorithm. You can then gradually add other sources of traffic.
Check out my YouTube channel here.
Facebook organic marketing is a very powerful tool for promoting high-ticket affiliate products.
You can learn Facebook organic marketing here.
You can also use a blog to promote your high-ticket affiliate product.
Learn how to start a blog here with a free 7-day email course.
Content Creation For Online Business
The advent of artificial intelligence is helping content creators to produce better quality content much faster.
There are several AI writers that will help you speed up your content creation, particularly for bloggers.
I like Jasper AI and Tailwind Ghostwriter.
Other tools for content creation for bloggers include Surfer SEO, SEMrush, Content at Scale, and Originality AI.
There are also video automation tools like Invideo, Pictory and Synthesia.
With the aid of all these tools, it has become so much easier to run an automated online business from home.
You also have the advantage to do it from anywhere either as a side hustle or a full-time endeavour.
The Mindset To Be Successful With An Online Business From Home
High income skills are critical to buiding a successful online business from home.
However your mindset is the most important factor in determining your success.
Entrepreneurship requires dedication, focus, persistence, perseverance, passion and application.
You need the mindset to keep going and not giving up when you do not see early results from your effort.
That success mindset also means you will see setbacks and failures as part of the runway to achiveing your goals.
I would recommend Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad Poor Dad to understand the financial and personal advantages to having your own business.
Final Thoughts
What is the best online business?
How do I start an online business?
These are common questions people are increasingly asking and searching for answers.
This is perhaps the best time in history to start an online business from home.
There are many online business ideas and examples.
The internet has made it relatively easy to start a business and use the power of social media to scale very quickly.
Social media can be harnessed to generate free organic traffic.
Once your automated business is established…
…you devote 2-3 hours daily to create consistent content that drives free leads to your business funnel.
This has the potential to scale to 6 figures.
An online business from home could be a full time venture.
Others may start as a side hustle that allows them to ultimately escape from their 9 to 5 jobs.
Follow the link below to learn how to start an online business from home.
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