The Biggest Mistake Infopreneurs Make Online

Most infopreneurs' Web sites are cluttered.

You might have started with a "glorified electronic brochure". Then you wrote a couple of articles. Then added a newsletter. Perhaps you took a brief stab at some Google advertising. Then somebody told you that blogs were the Next Big Thing, so you started a blog ... And stopped it a few weeks later. You might have created a demo video for bureaus. That's a nice little addition to your Web site. But then you gave up on it because it's not really bringing in the bookings.

What about this new Web 2.0 stuff? Maybe that's the solution! But that doesn't work either. It seems like every day, somebody else is coming up with a new idea for making your Web site work better. But after a while, you discover it's just a new idea for making your money disappear faster.

So what's the solution?

Get your strategy right.

You see, all those other things are tactics. And tactics will always keep changing. You'll feel like you're running on ice, unable to get any traction. Or you'll feel like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing around at somebody else's whim, jumping from one tactic to another, but never finding something that works.

It's different when you focus on strategy first. Get your strategy right, then move on to the tactics.

Here's how to get started on strategy ...

Broadly, you can have four types of income in your business:

Active: You exchange time for money - e.g. in keynote presentations, training courses, public seminars, coaching.
Bundled: You still have to make that personal exertion to get paid for your time, but now you increase your fees (by adding more value).
Recurring: You now leverage your personal exertion into creating a recurring income stream.
Passive: You don't spend time delivering material - but you will still spend time marketing it.

Now ask yourself two questions:

In percentage terms, how is your business income (Note: NOT just your Web site income) currently broken down into these four areas?
In percentage terms, how would you like your income broken down into these four areas within the next 12 months?

Why is this important? Because it allows you to set the strategic direction for your Web site. And that in turns determines what you put on the site.

Here's the point:

Focus on a Web site that supports your current income type(s).

For instance, if you're like most infopreneurs, you're currently making most of your income from turning up and doing what you do best. In other words, you're generating active income.

So build a Web site that supports that. And then look to the next level: Bundled income.

If you try to do it all at once, you'll fail. But if you focus on a Web site that supports what you're doing now, it will all fit together with everything else in your business.

Web Site Success for Infopreneurs: Online course

If you've already got a Web site, don't throw it away! You might just have to tweak it here and there to get big results.

To help you, I've created a complimentary on-line course Web Site Success For Infopreneurs. Every two weeks, we'll look at one aspect of an effective infopreneur's Web site, and I'll give you some things to check on your own site to discover whether you're doing it right.

This is not a random set of ideas - it's based on my experience building and reviewing hundreds - yes, literally hundreds - of infopreneur Web sites from around the world.

Sign up for the course here.

Key words: Web sites, marketing

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Gihan Perera is the author of "Get Active: Web Sites for Speakers, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" and "Fast, Flat and Free: What You Need to Know to Stay Ahead in a Connected World". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary copies now.

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