Forget About Internet Business. It’s Just Business.

Since when did internet business or internet marketing become a different kind of thing from what people have been doing for hundreds of years?

The Internet is a new medium, yes. But, on that medium, we conduct BUSINESS. And we conduct MARKETING.

Internet business and internet marketing aren’t different animals in any other way except that the medium is different.

And along that note, I wanted to highlight a comment – and my reply to it – from my last post: Don’t Chase Chump Change On Your Blog. Think Bigger. Moe says:

I understand the concept but for many people starting out that chump change keeps them going and believing. Most new blogs do not have the authority yet to successfully get people to pay a subscription or buy their premium products that you 10-15 year Gurus can.

I wanted to highlight this because I know this sentiment is a popular one. The idea is that…

• The model that works is to sell info products and expertise.
• And in order to do that, you have to be a “guru”. If you’re not a “guru”, then you’re basically shit out of luck and you’re stuck doing small-time things.

This notion has been propagated along with the idea that the Internet is somehow different than the rest of the world. And, quite frankly, this idea comes from spending WAY too much time with your head buried in the internet marketing world. When you are spending all your time reading IM products and browsing sites like the Warrior Forum, then you end up with this tunnel vision that the “guru business” is the only way to go.

Well, here was my response to Moe:

Sounds to me, Moe, like you’re a little bit stuck in the “internet marketing” mindset. Just forget about the whole IM space for a minute, with “gurus”, training courses and masterminds.

Just take it down to plain ‘ol business.

Businesses start up all the time in the “regular” world. And, with the right marketing and the right offer, they make money. They don’t require that the owner of that business be a “guru” to have any chance.

So, why can’t you translate the same thing over to the Internet?

Find a market with a demand, and serve it with an offer. It doesn’t require you be a “guru”. What it DOES require, though, is to stop comparing yourself to IM “gurus” and start realizing that this is just another medium for BUSINESS. The rules aren’t any different, and this Interwebz isn’t merely the land of gurus and prices that end in 7.

Off the top of my head, let’s come up with a couple examples:

• Zappos sells shoes and clothing. They happen to do a lot of marketing on the Internet. That’s internet marketing, isn’t it?
• 37Signals solves business problems with software. They also do a lot of their marketing on the Internet, and their software runs… on the Internet.
• Dominoes Pizza has an awesome platform on their site for ordering pizzas and having them delivered, and they do engage in online marketing. Its a medium for marketing, not the business.

If you were an executive consultant who sought leads on the Internet via a website, then you’re conducting marketing on the Internet.

If you do web design services, then the Internet is probably going to factor pretty highly into how you find clients.

If you sell an ebook on how to remodel basements, you’ll likely be selling it on the Internet.

My point is…

This isn’t “Internet Business”, or “Internet Marketing”. This isn’t some special class of thing, where only the “gurus” win.

No, this is just business. It is just marketing.

And the same rules apply as anywhere else. It is the same rule a budding entrepreneur would need to think about if they were opening a pizza shop downtown, or a supply store in the suburbs.

Find a market with need or want, produce what they need or want, deliver it to them, and get paid for it. (click to tweet this)

That’s business.

Do it well, and you make a lot of money.

And it doesn’t matter one iota if your product comes in the form of an ebook, a membership site… or a pizza, or a consulting call, or a physical product in the mail. The point is, are you serving a market with a solution they’re looking for?

Inside The Academy, we’re focusing on building a real busines which happens to be on the Internet. Much better foundation than chasing tactic after tactic.