Online Success with Multiple Streams of Income

Today’s post is my answer to Day 10 in the 30 Day Blog Challenge.

Here’s the question: Which are the key online revenue streams you want to focus on in your existing business?

Although it is great to focus on revenue up front, the key to long-term success is building an audience. Without an audience there is no one to buy the product or service.

The other benefit to first building an audience is to identify what they actually want. Once I know what they want, I can create products to serve them – the real people in my audience.

A Chord of Three Strands is Not Easily Broken

Depending on one kind of revenue is like depending on only one of 11 players on a football field. The more forms of revenue, the better. In my case, I will focus on at least three, with all three being digitally delivered and not requiring much of my personal involvement.

My key online revenue streams include:

1. SaaS – Software as a Service.
2. eBooks with tiered pricing.
3. Affiliate marketing.

Software as a Service

Why? I like this revenue model because it focuses on solving other people’s problems. The key is to ask businesses in a particular niche enough questions to learn two primary things:

1. What is their most important business activity?
2. What pain is associated with that activity?

Knowing the answer to those two questions allow you to go about solving the pain. Developing a subscription-based web application to serve the customer and help solve their significant pain is like removing the thorn from a lion’s foot. As long as I take good care of them after helping eliminate their pain, they will stick around.

Software as a Service has a very high profit margin and the income is recurring. The key to developing a product is to create something with the least number of features that will still attract paying customers. A Minimum Viable Product.

Once the minimum viable product is in the market, the next step is to improve the product based on customer feedback and with the cashflow from paying customers.

What could keep me from succeeding with this revenue stream?

1. Lack of patience when doing research to ensure what people really want. Creating a product without knowing what people actually want is like gambling.

2. Lack of good ideas. Wait, that’s a lame reason. Lack of a good idea is actually a positive thing because it will force me to ask my future customers what they want instead of guessing.

3. Lack of capital to build the product. This can be solved by creating revenue in advance of product development. The idea is to educate future customers and get them so excited about the product that they will pre-pay for a number of months to ensure the product is developed and to guarantee their monthly cost will never go up (this is one model).

Another way of handling customers is to have them pre-pay for lifetime access to the product. This “one payment plan” will help capitalize development, and give the customer a great deal on the product.

Another way to fund development is to find a developer who will work for a share of the revenue. The way to convince a developer this is a good deal is to get a number of paying customers in place before talking with the developer.

If I have 15 customers who have pre-paid for three months, as an example, the developer will know I am serious and will be willing to partner on development. Why? Because the developer will be able to see there is already revenue, which means the likelihood of ongoing revenue is much higher.

eBooks with Tiered Pricing

Why? Because I am pretty good at writing and editing, people like getting immediate access to helpful information, the value of my product can be proven by paying customers, and tiered pricing makes it possible to create strong revenue streams.

Rather than writing a book that I hope will resonate with a publisher, I will build an audience and ask them what they want. Once I know what they want, I can create exactly that instead of guessing.

The idea is to create an insane amount of value before, during and after publication of the actual book. The book itself, along with additional product resources, will be focused on solving problems for people who are already paying good money to solve those or similar problems in their business or profession.

Another reason I like this method is that it involves video, including stand-alone video shot with a camera, as well as screen capture videos. I enjoy breaking processes down into step-by-step how-to guides and this is suited perfectly to the eBook tiered pricing model.

What could keep me from succeeding with this revenue stream?

1. A poorly written book. If the book is going to sell and continue selling based on what paying customers have to say about the book, it needs to be super high quality.

2. Fear of failure. Fear of what I think readers my say about the book. Again, this is a great reason to create a fantastic product.

3. Lack of a list of readers and potential future customers. The key is to create the list in advance of releasing the product. Without a list, few sales will be made. With a list, more sales will be made.

4. Picking the wrong niche. The key is to find a niche where people are willing to pay good money to solve a problem. Or to find a niche where the book buyer will learn something of such great value that they can put it to use in creating a valuable product or service to sell.

Affiliate Marketing

My approach will be to promote only those products I am already using and am happy using. If I don’t use it or I don’t like it, I won’t promote it, regardless of the potential income. I would rather sleep well at night than make an extra buck.

What could keep me from succeeding with this revenue stream?

1. Picking the wrong affiliate programs.
2. Trying to sell stuff I have never used or that I don’t like.
3. Lack of transparency when sell the product.

The Wrap UP

Software as a Service, eBooks with tiered pricing and Affiliate Marketing are three pillars to a solid online revenue stream. After focusing on my audience and determining what they want, I will set about creating products and services to help my audience. That’s quite a good affirmation. Here it is again with emphasis:

“After focusing on my audience and determining what they want, I will set about creating products and services to help my audience.”