What Is Your Online Business Model?

What is your online business model? Whether you are just getting started with an online business, or have been at it for awhile, the time will come when you must decide if you will create your own products or stick with affiliate marketing. That was the decision I was facing in 2006, and I chose to do both. I call this the Hybrid Marketing model.

Hybrid marketing combines product creation with affiliate marketing. This way you can have the best of both worlds while you are building a lucrative online business. I will explain exactly what I mean with this. Keep in mind that you must think about serving the people who trust you to guide them from within your niche, plan ahead so that you will continue to increase your income, and set yourself up for recurring income for the months and years ahead.

When people find us online, it is a leap of faith for them to give us their name and email address in return for whatever we are giving away. Typically they have not heard of us before. Perhaps they have read a blog post or an article we have written on our topic, but they are still not sure how we can help them to achieve their goals. It’s always about serving the needs of the people who come to us, so keep that in mind as you continue to build your business.

The very first opportunity we have to show our intention to serve them lies within the first email message they receive after they opt in. Deliver on your promise and the trust will begin to grow. Over that first week you will show them some offers that pertain to your niche. I like to start with an affiliate product. I do this for a few reasons.

One, it allows me to start the relationship with my prospect in a way that tells them that I will be sharing resources with them other than my own. Second, I am able to choose an affiliate product that is specific to what they have opted in to receive information about. Also, I am able to change this offer from time to time as I find more appropriate and current products and services that align more closely with the needs of my prospects.

Planning ahead to increase your income on an ongoing basis must also be a consideration. This is where having your own product makes a lot of sense. By creating your own information product or course, you are able to guide your prospects as they move into becoming your clients. The products you create can reflect what they want as need, as well as fill in the gaps with what is already available on that topic.

As you can see, having the ability to offer both your own products and services as well as those created by others has its advantages. Over time you will find that you prefer one type of marketing over the other, but you will be much more successful overall if you stay open to the idea of mixing both into your offers. This will serve your clients in the best possible way as you help them to solve their problems and to achieve their goals.