Business Alone

There are a lot, and I really mean A LOT, of entrepreneurs that have a fear of offering products for sale online.

Now, you may not have that specific kind of fear, but many others have mentioned over and over again that their fears are holding them back from moving forward in business.

I'd like to examine that topic and see if we can break those fears down and overcome them be (1) identifying the problem, (2) analyzing how and why it happens, (3) proposing solutions that anyone can implement, and (4) moving beyond the barriers that block action.

We will make this a two part series because of the details that we need to discuss!

Lots of new business owners (or would-be owners) have said that they have not been able to start a business because they have been halted in their tracks by one or more crippling, paralyzing roadblocks that they just can't find their way around.

Here are the most often mentioned reasons (fears) for failing to get started:

We are continuing our discussion of the fear of Internet selling. You see, many would-be entrepreneurs have extreme fear of offering products and services online to potential customers.

Some have expressed their frustration with fears so intense and debilitating that their business has stalled and they have not been able to get past this single obstacle.

In our previous discussion (Part 1 of the same title) we listed the top seven fears that seem to be fairly common among new business owners.

Today's discussion is about how to approach those fears and move past them in order to push a new business idea forward.

Here is a very simple but undisputed fact: only a small percentage of the people that have ideas about making money online ever get to the point of actually doing it!

For many, one or more of their fears have paralyzed their ability to implement their business plan and carry it through for income generation.

When it comes right down to brass tacks, I would say every Internet business owner should consider herself or himself an information publisher.

It seems to me that all business web site owners need to be publishers of:
a) website information;
b) sales letter copy;
c) site content in the chosen niche;
d) products in digital or hard copy form;
e) blog content;
f) email communications;
g) customer service responses;
h) advertising / marketing copy;
i) articles and press releases;
j) probably other things I'm forgetting about ...

My point is, whether you consider yourself to be an info marketer or not, you really need to pay close attention to your publishing (i.e. putting it out on the net or in emails) and how it can affect your overall business.

All small business owners will be faced with the decision to use less than truthful advertising and promotional strategies in their sales letters, email communications, ads, and other promotional material.

How do I know? It seems to be the way business marketing has evolved on the Internet.

Deceptive practices include all those little white lies, half truths, and marketing tactics that many feel are perfectly legal, excusable, and appropriate in this day and medium.

Some, I know, would question why we are even discussing this topic as they feel anything is game as long as you don't cross the line of outright lying in your presentations.

I don't see it that way.

I believe that Internet marketers has a responsibility to their prospects and customers that includes being upfront, honest, and ethical in everything they publish, say, and do.

There are several usability issues, methods, and procedures that you need to consider when designing and developing new business web sites, regardless if you hire a professional for the design or attempt to build the site yourself.

Most important are issues relating to ’upfront’ decisions such as setting clear and concise goals for your web site, determining a professional and smart set of user requirements, ensuring that the new site meets user’s expectations, setting usability goals, and providing useful content within the niche you've chosen.

To ensure the best possible outcome, designers should consider a full range of user interface issues, and work to create a site that enables the best possible user experience.

The latest research suggests that the best way to begin the construction of a web site is to have many different people propose design solutions (parallel design), and then to follow up using an iterative design approach.

This requires conducting the appropriate usability tests and using the findings to make changes to the Web site.

Web sites should be designed to facilitate and encourage efficient and effective human-computer interactions.

Designers should make every attempt to reduce the user’s workload by taking advantage of the computer’s capabilities. Your web site prospects will make the best use of you site when information is displayed in a directly usable format and content organization is highly intuitive.

Prospects also benefit from task sequences that are consistent with how they typically do their work, that do not require them to remember information for more than a few seconds, that have terminology that is readily understandable, and that do not overload them with information.

Your site visitors should not be required to wait for more than a few seconds for a page to load, and while waiting, they should be supplied with appropriate feedback. Prospects should be easily able to print information.

In addition, designers should never ‘push’ unsolicited windows or graphics to users.