How To Start An Online Business: An Inside Look At Online Business Models

By Jerry B

In order to start an online business, we should first be able to define exactly what an online business is. There are many variations to what would qualify as an online business. Meaning, that there are many, many, many models that would qualify as being a business.

For our purposes, we're going to use the definition of an online business as:

"Any activity conducted online by a person with the intent or purpose to generate a transaction that involves the exchange of information or monetary value."

That's the "stuffy" version of the definition. At least my definition. Proper legal business structure aside, that is the definition we are going to use for the context of this article.

Some of the online business models practically anyone could get started with are: affiliate marketing, Cost Per Action(CPA) marketing (another form of affiliate marketing), lead generation/prospect list building, direct marketing, Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), eCommerce, drop shipping, "domaining," blogging, consulting, providing services to other Internet entrepreneurs, day trading, forex trading and information marketing. To name but a few Internet business models would-be entrepreneurs could choose to pursue.

One of the online business models listed above, is one that many Internet entrepreneurs would argue "isn't a real business." It's the affiliate marketing model. The argument is that since you're not selling your own products or services, you don't have a "real business."

To put that argument to bed, refer back to our definition of an online business model above. Affiliate Marketing, is a real business model because it "generates a transaction that involves the exchange of monetary value" for the originator of the transaction.

As there are a multitude of options for Internet business models, there are also a multitude of ways to get started. Some will require that you have a domain name registered and hosted and a website online with various mechanisms in place to facilitate the generation of transactions, as previously defined. Other online models don't require a website as the business model could be in generating website traffic that would eventually result in a sale or exchange of information for various product owners and service providers.

The options for getting started in your own business venture are virtually endless. You will have to conduct some research to start narrowing down what makes the most sense for your current situation and skill set. Other considerations are time and money resources.

Peek inside the mind of a seasoned Internet entrepreneur and follow along as he starts from scratch to build a $3 Million Dollar per year online business. Visit Jerry B's blog at http://www.iMarketerLab.com