You Need to Begin With Step One

I know, easier said than done. We are constantly tempted by new things, new methods, new programs that guarantee "off the chart traffic", "make money in your sleep", "secret jedi mind tricks to woo customers". It is hard not to want to try them… but you must resist. My clients that are successful are building their businesses step by step. The clients who are spinning their wheels are jumping from one thing to the next, changing strategies mid-stream, and not focusing their efforts.
Here is a quick list of the 5 things you need to get started buidling your online business. Three of them are not online at all. Don't do anything else until you've done these five things.
1. Get a very clear picture of your target market. Until you are clear on exactly who you are talking to (the smaller the group, the better…) you are wasting effort reaching out to people who won't buy from you.

2. Figure out where you can reach your target market. Again, try to find websites and forums that are direct to your audience. Hang out with your peeps.

3. Know what problem you can solve for your target audience. People will want to listen to you if you can solve their problems.

4. Create your bribe to get people to sign up for your list. This does not have to be War and Peace or a complete manual on your subject matter. All we are looking for here is a tiny taste or pink spoon to entice people to give you their emails and to get a feel for all the great things you have to offer.

5. Create your 2 page "list catcher" or squeeze page. On the squeeze page write about your bribe and how it will help people. Hook the page up to your autoresponder. Create a message in the autoresponder welcoming people to your list. A nice touch is to also have subscribers write in their biggest question about your topic.

Once you get the basics established, you can move on to the next step which would be creating a system to start getting your valuable information out to the world and start building up your "fan base".