Hello friends,
You either have an online Christian business or you want to start one. Our goal at the Online Christian Business Opportunity blog is to help you become successful with your current web business or the new one you want to start. We offer you cutting edge tools and tips to give you the information you need to build an online business whether you want a few extra dollars a month or a full time income.
Today we are looking at the most basic question you must answer for your business. It is a question that all of your online business building activities will be focused on. If you don’t get this answer right your chances of success are almost zero. What’s the question?
What problem does your web business solve for your customers?
If you can’t answer this question with a short, to the point answer then you are in trouble. Let’s review how a business works. You (the business owner) provides a service or a product to your customers. Why are your customers looking for what you have to sell? Because they have a problem and they are willing to pay for a solution. You solve the problem and that customer pays you for making their life easier. It’s that simple.
That’s all there is to business in the big picture. Your audience has a problem and they are willing to pay you to solve that problem. You offer a solution and that solution brings value to your customers because they no longer have to deal with the problem. They pay you because you have helped them out. Now granted there are many more parts to a business (and we will help you with those as we go along) but, if you don’t know what solution your customers are looking for you will not succeed.
Let’s look at some examples. A grocery store: the customer is hungry and the grocer provides food. The shopper buys the food because is fulfills a need. A gas station: the customer needs gas to drive the car and the station sells that gas. Problem-no gasoline, solution-sell gasoline. An online Christian book store: the customer wants to experience stories about the Love of Jesus and the store owner solves that problem by offering a selection of books which fulfill that want.
This is how all businesses work. Can you name a business that doesn’t? The whole key to a successful business is to find a customer base hungry for a solution, let them know you have the solution, and then charge them to receive the solution. If you give value to your customers they will be happy to give you money in return. It is a win-win solution.
So now I have THE question for you. What problem do you solve for your customers? What is it you provide that will fulfill a need in the marketplace?
Is the answer to this question on the tip of your tongue? Is the answer ready to jump off or do you have to stop and think about it? This is the most important question you can answer to make your business successful. If you can’t answer this question without thinking then you must stop right now and fill out the blanks in the following statement:
I give my customers _____________________ and I get _______________ in return.
Maybe you think you solve many problems. If that is your answer then you must distill it down to a statement like the one above. The internet is so big you can’t be everything to everyone. The people who are finding success (and there are millions of people making money online) are focusing on small niches and their problems. The successful online entrepreneurs are becoming experts at solving one particular problem and they are building massive lists of customers by doing so.
Right now stop and list all the solutions you think you provide and then see what is the common thread in all of them. If there is not a theme that runs through all the solutions then pick one problem to solve and become the expert in that. Become the Go To person when someone has that problem.
The knowledge of what solution you offer is the basis for everything you do in your business. You must understand what problem you are solving in order to be effective. Otherwise everything you do is just a shot in the dark.
The solution you offer will drive your advertising because the key to advertising is to show the customer that it is in their best interest to do business with you. It also will drive your product selection. How can you know what to offer for sale if you don’t know what your customers are hungry for? Lastly, the solution determines how you will interact with your customers. If you are a local house painter you will interact face to face, if you are selling books online you will interact through your web page.
Get this part right and your chances of success are great. Lose sight of this important factor and you will just be blowing in the wind.
If you want to make money online, you must provide a solution for a big enough group of people who will pay you. Everything else is a waste of time and money.
