Assuming you’ve been interested in online marketing for more than about 5 minutes, you’ll doubtless have heard the statistics that are quoted ad infinitum about why online businesses fail. I’m assuming they’re mostly talking financially, in that these people don’t manage to reach profitability or if they do, they don’t generate enough income.

Perhaps the most oft-quoted statistic is that 95% of people who ‘try’ to make it online, don’t.

I don’t know where that stat comes from and I don’t much care. I desire you to have the kind of success that you want, which is the point of this blog post… The failure rate is not where our focus must be if we’re to achieve success.

So, here goes…

There are 3 key reasons why online businesses fail:

1. People create jobs for themselves on the internet to replace their offline job. They don’t create businesses.
2. They are overwhelmed by all the information and potential directions they could possibly take.
3. Their focus is on themselves and earning money, not on how they can provide a solution for those that need and/or want it.

That last one is a biggie, and I’ll deal with it in more depth shortly, but let me briefly explain each of the above in order so you can achieve what you desire.

People create jobs, not businesses

This is one of those things that many people don’t realise they’re doing until it’s too late.

They set out with the best intentions, selling services online. Many great marketers started out this way, but crucially, they didn’t stay there for very long. There’s a good reason for this:

If you can’t step away from what you’ve created online and still earn money, then you don’t have a business, you have a job.

Selling your services is a great way to earn money online and with the power of the internet, you can find clients far more easily than you would if you were cold calling or going ‘door-to-door’.

It’s a wonderful way to get started, as it means you can use skills you already have and simply transfer them onto the internet, in places like The Warrior Forum.

But it isn’t the key to a successful business because it requires you to exchange your time for money. Instead, you need to create products and exchange those for money instead. You could also scale up the services you offer and rather than doing them yourself, hire outsourcers to complete the work. However, this must be as automated as possible to prevent you having to sit a desk all day being the middle man or woman.

So, learn how to create products and automate their delivery, then outsource the product support desk. Job done!

Information Overload

Perhaps one of the largest problems in the world of internet marketing is the sheer amount of things you could be doing. I’ve fallen prey to this a few times and the feeling of overwhelm is truly horrible. Thanks to my friend and colleague Andy Shaw, I’m currently removing this feeling from my business and life and I’d recommend you do the same.

There are a few ways you can limit the amount of overload you feel, here are the ones I use:

• Limit the amount of information you receive on a daily basis. If you’re on twenty different mailing lists, that’s 20 e-mails that you may feel the need to react to. All that time reacting, reading and looking at offers is time away from finding the path that you’re looking for.
• Work on cutting down the amount of time you spend on your e-mails. Many e-mails are simply brain farts by other people that are not particularly relevant to your progress. I only check my e-mail once per day now and I don’t reply to every single one as it doesn’t move me forward.
• Limit the amount of time you spend on blogs and forums. I realise that idea may seem ironic considering that you are reading this on a blog right now, but allot a certain amount of time to learning and then spend the rest of the time doing!
• If you’ve bought a product, actually be disciplined enough to see it through to the end and actually apply what you’ve learned, instead of looking for the next ‘push button’ solution that will solve everything (they don’t exist, so give yourself a break and stop looking for them). It may not make you your fortune overnight, but that product may teach you something that you can apply that will help get you there.

Even if you simply apply these four, you’ll find you become more productive and less stricken by the Overwhelm Monster.

There are tons more ways to reduce overwhelm but Andy’s book ‘A Bug Free Mind‘ will definitely help you identify the ones that really work.

Focusing On Themselves Not On Other People

If you’re planning to create products online and make money from selling them, then your job is to provide a huge amount of value for those people. Ideally, you will provide more value in knowledge or systems than you take in financial terms. Basically, give people exceptional value for the money you’re charging.

I realise that you may well have started your online business to make more money or set yourself free from your job. You may have also done it to fund your dreams, as I have.

But you will fail miserably if you don’t focus on providing others with solutions and enriching people’s lives.

All the best ‘solution providers’ create exceptional value for their target market. The ones who are purely in it for the money don’t do as well. In most cases, they don’t succeed at all.

Frank Kern explains this point beautifully in his most recent State of the Internet Address, where he talks about ‘The Magic Bullet’ and why you need to be creating them for your customers, even if you’re just starting out and don’t have any customers yet.

Incidentally, on this point, you may want to refer to my free guide on How To Do Keyword Research Properly, as it will show you where to find potential markets and niches.

Also, focusing on the people in your niche makes you better at your business. You get to find out EXACTLY what they want and need and give them that, thus making you more successful, thus making you more money, so it really is in your interest to seek them out and listen to them.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please leave a comment underneath letting me know what you think of the above, and anything you’re struggling with right now and I’ll do my best to help.