New Bag of Fresh Ideas for Your Internet Business

By Terry Dean

Every Internet business needs to come up with fresh ideas to drive more traffic to their site, increase their sales, and multiple their profits.

Too often, we get in a rut in our Internet businesses. We keep doing the same things every day even when they aren't working.

My definition of insanity is someone who does the same thing over and over again and expects to receive a different result.

Many people believe that there are only so many different ways you can market your products or services, such as: banner advertising, search engines, classifieds, etc.

How do you expect to come out ahead of the competition if you are going to limit your business to what other people in your market are already doing online?

Every multi-million dollar Internet business has one thing in common. They all came up with a new and fresh idea for creating an e-commerce site that stands out in their industry.

For some it was becoming the World's Largest Bookstore like Amazon.com. Others choose to spend their time organizing and indexing web sites like Yahoo.com. Another company named Ebay created the largest auction house in the world.

Each leading web site had one thing in common. They came up with a fresh idea for helping Internet users find what they are looking for. They found out what frustrations people had and came up with solutions for them.

Yahoo was originally started by two young college guys who wanted to make the Internet easier to use by indexing and categorizing the sites they found. This idea eventually evolved into the portals that we see everywhere today: Infoseek, Alta Vista, Hotbot, Goto, etc. Guess which one still gets the most traffic? The first is the still the best.

If you are out to create little wealth for yourself and your family, then an affiliate program may be the way to go. They can be a good start for the beginning web marketer. You get to learn how to make money online while being taught by experienced Internet marketers.

You will have to step over to the next level when you want to start developing some real profits from your Internet business. You will need to come up with your own fresh idea.

Don't tell me it can't be done. Remember, Yahoo was not created by a large corporation. It was created by college guys. What Internet trend are you about to create or what Internet trend can you cash in on?

It's funny. Most million dollar plus Internet businesses are not the creation of the major corporations. There are a few to be sure, but the majority of them were originally started by one to three people who just came up with a better way of doing things.

They all started as a fresh idea. Then, they evolved into a system and a web site. Then, as the site grew, they would quickly become the target of larger companies willing to buy them out. Overnight, after months or years of work, the creators become millionaires.

This type of scenario happens every day online. Don't tell me it won't happen to you, because it could. It can only happen if you become one of the Idea generators instead of just the Idea followers.

I want to reveal two simple secrets of success to help you learn how to generate your own fresh ideas.

Step One: Pay Attention.

You need to start paying attention to what is happening around you. Every story you see on the news is a potential idea for a web site. If the public is interested in a subject, it shows you have a market.

One thing that I have found common in successful direct marketers is that they all pay particular attention to the news. You will find that the ones who are successful are the ones who have spotted the prevailing trends inside of a market.

I used ISyndicate to deliver daily news from Time News Daily, The Web Guide, Web Development, News: E-Commerce, Wired News: Business, and CNET: Computers. A little further down you will find the hottest CNET Downloads. The hottest message boards and discussion groups online are also linked daily from this page.

Start spending time watching the world around you. What trends do people keep talking about? What types of frustrations are people experiencing? What is the hotnews of the month?

If you go to the bottom of my News page, you can track and see what message boards and discussions groups are hot. Jump into some of the discussions and read what people are talking about. What are they frustrated with online? Where are the potential opportunities?

The most successful entrepreneurs aren't always the brightest, the most educated, or the most likely candidates, but they are people who learn how to spot opportunities.

Learn how to ask questions of your visitors. Take polls. Put a form on your site for people to leave their comments. Find out what your targeted market is looking for. Then, give it to them.

Step Two: Learn How to Relax.

Something that most people have yet to realize when it comes to developing fresh ideas is that they usually don't come while you are actively working. They come later on while you are playing golf, doing your hobbies, or in the shower.

Too often your mind is plain too stressed out and worn out to come up with solutions while you are at your desk or on your computer. If you want to develop fresh new marketing ideas, you are going to have to learn how to relax.

The most successful marketers are usually those who have learned the right balance of work and relaxation in their lives. They actively work on their business and then while they are away from their business they let ideas come while they are doing the things they love.

You should always keep a notebook handy for this very reason. After you have thought about and studied what types of Trends and frustrations people are experiencing online, you never know when that winning idea may come to you. It could come when you wake up in the morning, on the golf course, or wherever you go to relax.

If you actively prepare yourself and allow yourself to relax, you are giving your mind what it just may need to come up with that next fresh idea to take your business to the next level of profits.