Say Good Bye and Hello

INTRODUCTION

This short report is just a very simple overview of several important topics. That is why there are links from the report to various related materials online. These links go to You Tube videos, websites and blogs.

The viewpoint of this report is like an airliner flying high over a mountain range. You can make out the rough outlines of the mountains but none of the details. Then when you go to the links those are like helicopter tours of key points of interest. However none of this will make money for you until you make practical applications. That is like landing working from ground level to create your online business.



BACKGROUND
What you read here and on the associated materials for Increasing Income Streams is the fruit of hundreds of hours of online research. During the last two years I read thousands of pages of websites and ebooks. I listened to many hours of teleconferences and downloaded audios. I have seen lots of online videos. Along that journey I wasted much time so that you can go right to the best materials.

What I discovered was promising as well as confusing. There are dozens of experts teaching Internet Marketing. Some have been doing this for many years. They have students that are earning small, medium and huge incomes.

One of the major money making methods used is to persuade the web visitor to buy this amazing digital product today. Plus there is an invitation to subscribe to the email newsletter called an ezine. Then each week in your email inbox you will be sent a short lesson along with links to a few more amazing digital products. Often the initial presentation is on a very long web site that is called a sales letter.

Another popular method you can earn money online is by registering as an affiliate. That is like becoming a commission sales person. So just by linking the customer that buys the ebook you will receive a commission on products sold. Some people have left their day job and are earning much more at home just with affiliate marketing.

Plus there are at least a dozen other Internet Marketing methods. Later each method will be defined and described on the Increasing Income Streams website http://increasingincomestreams.com/ that is unfolding. You will have links to both the best examples as well as ways you can gain the skills to create these online media materials yourself.

Those systems are proven. But it is not how I want to start.


UNIQUENESS
Here is the tale of the lessons I learned along this journey of discovery. And how each phase was processed inside of me to form what has become the design elements that will make my emerging business unique.

When I first read these long sales letters I got very excited. Most of them have testimonies that are very stimulating. They usually have bulleted lists with all kinds of promised benefits. Most offer a money back guarantee. I purchased several. I wanted to buy many more than I could afford.

What I discovered is that having a few cool tools does not automatically put me into a profitable online business.

That is the same as buying a fitness machine from an infomercial does not automatically cause you to loose weight.

There is no doubt that some people were able to make big money with what I bought.

Also surely a small percentage of those that bought the fitness equipment had results beyond their expectations.

DEPARTMENT STORE
Part way along this journey I recognized that my experiences could be illustrated as the difference between a flea market and a department store. It was like I had been like traveling across country and visiting flea markets. There were always plenty of things to buy. And amidst this abundance of attractive options were a few things I could use. But finding my way around was very difficult.

Then I thought about a department store in a mall. It has all the items waiting in the right department. For example when I shop for dress shoes I go right to that part of the store. I can see in a few minutes if they have what I might want to buy. Imagine if I needed to go up and down all the aisles in the entire three story building to find the dress shoes scatted all around.

So along the way I decided that one service I can offer others in my online business is to provide a well organized website that is like the department store. Those who come to my site can quickly find what they need. They will find similar items together. These are the best of best I had found from many hours of online research. I earn my money from having previously registered as an affiliate with most of them.

Some links to recommended resources will not make me money. But that is okay because some useful products do not offer an affiliate program. I seek to become the one stop shop for most of the needs of online business owners. When my customers are happy they will come back and they will tell others.  That loyalty and positive public relations grows into future profits. 

LESSONS UNTO SALES
I pondered that model a while. Then I recognized another valuable element that will greatly increase my sales by providing additional value to my customers. This is an adaptation from the giant hardware stores. When you go inside of the mammoth building you find more than enough tools and supplies for any weekend project. And in many of these mega-stores on the weekend there are people giving free demonstrations.

Surely when the expert demonstrates the skill saw then those sales increase. The store manager brings in all kinds of experts all year long. Then giving away little education for the customers reaps many new sales.

So part of my business model includes giving away short online videos. I have a few on You Tube now and I will be adding many more in the coming months. You Tube videos links http://youtube.com/profile?user=IncreasingIncomeStre

Here is a case in point. Let us say that at the beginning of the summer five homeowners decide to engage in a major project to improve their residence. Then at the end of the summer these are done. All of them went mostly to the same giant hardware store. But what they ended up with varied. Some examples of what they had could have made include a deck, carport, remodeled guest bathroom, converted garage to a home office or landscaped their back yard.

This one store serviced all five home owners and many more during that season. It was not just because the items sat on the shelf nor that sometimes a few of the tools were demonstrated. The home owners needed to gain access to instructions. So the big store sells a wide range of Do It Yourself (DYI) manuals. These include step by step instructions with appropriate photos and diagrams. The format could be book or DVD. Plus on their website are all kinds of answers to frequently asked questions FAQ.

In my extensive research online I came across very few step by step instructions. Mostly what I found was sales oriented hype or long winded articles with technical jargon that assumed I understood their specialized terms. What is lacking are basic How To instructions like could be found in Do It Yourself (DYI) manuals. Too often they were either in too big a hurry to make the sale or assumed I was at the intermediate level geek.

Then I remembered my days in the Boy Scouts. Much of their educational system centers about the merit badges. Each merit badge has a well written manual that offers an overview of the essential concepts along with practical assignments. Here is the merit badges online link http://www.meritbadge.com/ to better understand. They are still in the process of building that huge website. What is there now is all the requirements with a few external links in the format of a wiki.

WIKI
It is my game plan to offer a huge and well organized wiki about Internet Marketing. It will have plenty of brief articles about each key part. And within the articles are hyperlinks to related articles as well as definitions. At the bottom of each wiki page will be links to related materials within the wiki as well as external links. The external links will include those to the best resources related to the article.  I will have established an affiliate relationship with most companies. Then I earn a commission when a sale is made by a prospect that arrived at their site from my link.

I expect that Increasing Income Steams will earn enough money for me to afford to hire qualified people to add to the content and carefully edit the contributions by others. I will allow members to post articles to this wiki and include link to their site.






Simple But Not Easy

Increasing your income is simple but it is not easy.

There are tens of thousands of people online today that are earning large incomes by making and/or marketing digital products. There are dozens of experts online that have been teaching thousands of students for years. These experts are called Internet Marketing gurus. Each guru has digital products in the form of ebooks, podcasts, videos and more. Many of them ship CDs, DVDs and manuals to their students. Often they offer special seminars and memberships. The registration for the seminars and memberships can range from a few hundred to many thousand dollars.

These Internet Marketing gurus had become millionaires long ago. Some had retired then got bored with that lifestyle and came out of retirement to teach others their system. 

During my extensive online research over the last two years I encountered a few dozen such gurus. Very few of them mention that any other gurus exist. However I will begin to introduce them to those who subscribe to my monthly newsletter named Guru Reviews. These reviews will point the subscribers only to the best of the best online.

So what makes it easy to increase your income online is to just follow directions. Increasing Income Streams is positioning itself as the networking hub to these and other experts online.

Another kind of expert that the subscribers to the ezine named Guru Review will learn about is those that teach home based business owners how to save lots of money on taxes. There are ways to keep good records of business expenses and file as a business owner. And that can allow many to have a net increase of income.

So how to increase your income is simple because it boils down to following the instructions. Many others have followed the same instructions these gurus and come out ahead. You too can follow in their foot steps. 

The problem is not a shortage of materials. Instead the challenge is filtering out the pretty good and getting to the very best.

Soon the difficulty becomes making sense of all these different inputs. Those who subscribe to my ezines and click the links on my hub site will soon find that there is an abundance of free lessons. These are online as articles, blogs, ezines, free ebooks and much more. For those that pay for digital products could soon have more to read than they have waking hours.

So I have great confidence in my business model that is moving from the blueprint stage to the online beta stage. Those who are new to Internet Marketing as well as those with experience will appreciate the Big Picture overviews I will offer. Also I will offer general guidance in creating systems that suit your niche needs. Then with these perspectives the materials by the gurus have a context. A person will know what kind of lessons they need during this season of their business development.

One of the areas I want to specialize in is learning the basics of each facet of Internet Marketing. Then let the gurus provide the intermediate and advanced materials. Some of the basics my business will offer includes

Business blogging
Article marketing
Business podcasting
Writing and marketing short reports
Writing your first ebook
Starting and growing an ezine
Basics of affiliate marketing