Is your Online Business Model Basic or Complex?

Mark over at 45n5 wrote an interesting post about choosing solid online business models, which got me thinking about the subject. The general advice he is giving is solid. Looking at some of his creations, I can’t really argue with the man too much. He obviously knows his stuff.

So many people advise others to find something that works and stick to it. I won’t argue the fact that going 5% on 10 different things is a lousy business model, but I will argue that you should concentrate solely on ONE or two things.

There is so much conflicting “advice” when it comes to running a successful online business. I believe the reason for that is because some things work for some people, while other things work for others. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa.

However, there is one thing, no matter what your business model consists of, that we should all take into consideration. That is the fact that no matter how well you do with something, it CAN crash and burn!

Relying solely on search engines has made many people rich. It has also caused many people to go Bankrupt!

There are so many variables when it comes to marketing online you simply must have a backup and a backup for your backup.

Adsense - Huge income potential (if done correctly,) but your account can be banned - Ouch!

ClickBank - Huge income potential, but your account can be banned and oh, by the way, in many cases your reputation is a driving factor in sales. So no matter how big you get, one bad decision could cost you LOADS of money in long-term sales. One person comes to mind, but I won’t mention any names

Blogging - Have you noticed how many people are selling their blogs after Google started taking PR from those selling links? The next penalty could be to those promoting affiliate products, not likely, but who knows?

These are just a few of the many online business models. One could dive into each one and find several factors that could cause that model to go down the drain.

You simply cannot rely on ONE income source!!!

This is how I’ve created my business model over time. Keep in mind, when I first started I had no business model. If you’re just learning, you can’t really have a business model because you don’t know what it’s all about. BUT, if you’ve been doing this for a while and you still don’t have one, you may want to give it some more thought.

- Find one thing that intrigues you. Work on it until it brings in a steady income, don’t “half-ass” it.

- Once your first venture is up and running efficiently, find another that intrigues you and go full-force with it until it creates another source of income.

Do this over and over until you have multiple streams of online income.

It’s important not to over do it. Obviously one person cannot effectively conduct loads of campaigns, but one can indeed effectively conduct 3 or 4.

The key is to first find things that you can excel in and second knowing your limit. You may have the potential to excel in 10 different things, but unless you’re superman or superwoman (or you have a staff) you won’t be able to spread your eggs too far.

3 or 4 different “successful” ventures, however, is very attainable! In other words, never “put all of your eggs in one basket,” it could very well break!