If your answer to couple of these questions is no, I am sure you aren’t making much money. Find out what’s lacking and start working on it today. These are basics of any online business and avoiding them would be nothing more than foolishness.

Making money online is not much difficult. Yet, many people fail to exploit the vast opportunity and fall straight on their face. This is mainly because most of the online gurus have made it quite complex for beginners to comprehend the money making strategy. Here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself before you start any online business. If the answer to any of these questions is no, probably you are missing the basic element.

Have you defined your target audience?

You cannot start your business for ‘general public’. You need to focus on specific group of people and know everything about them. Because you are providing service to them, you must know their habits, their liking and disliking, what frustrates them, what excites them, etc. If you have answers to all these questions about your audience, marketing your idea isn’t difficult because you know what works with them and what not.

What is it that you are marketing?

What is it that you are trying to sell online? Is it a product or a service? Many people don’t know much about the product or service they are offering. The only thing they are sure about is the motive to make money. However, people out there are searching a genuine service or product that will fulfill their needs, something that will help them, something that will make their lives easier. If you don’t know what you are marketing, STOP. Get something genuine.

Do you own a website?

Stupid question, isn’t it? However, many people tend to ignore this stupid and simple detail. It’s this simple: If you want to have an online business, successful or not, you must have a website. Book a domain and get it professionally designed before you step into this world.

Are you able to attract traffic?

Having a website and a product or service isn’t enough. You need to attract people to entice them. If nobody visits your site, how are they going to buy your product? Traffic is a must for any online business and for this you need to put enormous efforts. Do whatever it takes to attract people, but start doing it. For this, again, you should be able to define your target audience, without which your business is nothing more than a dead website.

Are you able to sell?

There is more. Having a website, product, and traffic isn’t enough either. You should be able to sell them. It is very similar to face-to-face selling. For instance, you are selling a shampoo (product), and a beautiful girl (target audience) visits your shop (website), it’s up to you how you can convert it into a sale. The customer must be able to see value in your product.

Are you following up appropriately?

Even if a customer shows interest in your product or service, it isn’t a sale yet. You need to follow up. And if you don’t, you are definitely missing the boat. 70% of the money made online is due to effective follow up. If you aren’t doing it, it’s time you must start immediately before it’s too late.