Why Internet Marketing is Ideal for Retirees

Should you, as a retiree, consider developing your own internet marketing business? Well, if you are like many retirees you live on a fixed income and may find it difficult to make ends meet. Maybe you have too much time on your hands and are looking for something to do that will both keep you active and challenge your mind.

However, you’re not interested in taking a regular job. If you work, you want to work when and where you want. Being able to come and go as you please is important to you. You retired for a reason, right? Any work you do now must fit your schedule and your lifestyle. It is for these very reasons that you should consider an internet marketing (IM) business. IM businesses offer potentially substantial incomes while allowing you to work from home on your own schedule.

Low Startup and Ongoing Expenses

As I mentioned before, many retirees live on fixed incomes and do not have much, if any, disposable income to start a business. Traditional home business can have start up costs into the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. I’m not even going to talk about the start up costs of non-home based businesses. For these retirees, most home based businesses are beyond their means.

Internet marketing businesses are different. The startup costs for an IM business can be only a couple of hundred dollars or less! Here are the essential things you will need to start your own internet marketing business:

• A personal computer (PC). If you have a personal computer (PC or Mac) and an internet connection, you already have the main components necessary to start an IM business. If you don’t, perfectly adequate PCs can be bought used for under $100. Check Craigslist, ebay or any number of online classified sites for used computers.
  

• An internet connection. Many retirees will already have this. This will be one of your few ongoing expenses. Ideally, you want a high speed internet (HSI) connection like cable, DSL or satellite provides. More and more neighborhoods are offering fiber optic internet service at amazing speeds. If you still have a dial-up connection, you might want to consider upgrading to an HSI connection. A dial-up connection will work for an IM business but you will spend too much time waiting on downloads and uploads which means less time to build your business.

• A web site. Many people, especially retirees, find this the most intimidating part of starting an IM business. If you are at all familiar with surfing the internet and sending and receiving e-mail, then establishing a web site is well within your grasp. There are plenty of hosts such as GoDaddy and HostGator that will provide tools that can enable you to set up a site in minutes. Online, step by step tutorials abound on the internet so there is no need to be intimidated. If you can follow directions, you have nothing to worry about. Soon you will be setting up websites like a pro.

• A web hosting service to host your web site. Web hosting services like GoDaddy and HostGator provide complete web hosting services including unlimited traffic, email, autoresponders, and more at very affordable prices. My hosting service provides me unlimited traffic for under $15 a month.

• A product or service to market. Of course, this will be the key to you IM business success or failure. Your business has to have a product or service that people are willing to pay for. You must identify a market with an unmet need and fill that need. The narrower the market the better. A narrow market means less competition and you want to stand out from the competition. Also, it is much easier to stay on top of changes in a narrow market. This is the essence of niche marketing.

Choosing a Product

If you choose to market a product, you can sell your own product or someone else’s. If you sell your own product, then you need to be concerned about sourcing the raw materials, if any, manufacturing, storage, inventory, marketing, accepting orders, handling shipments and returns, etc. This is probably not what you were looking for in your retirement.

The easiest way is to sell someone else’s product as an affiliate marketer. That way you don’t have to worry about all the concerns mentioned above. You earn a commission on every sale you refer. The more you sell the more you make. It’s really pretty simple. You can learn more in my hub about affiliate marketing.

Information Products

Some of the most popular products for internet marketers are information products.  Information products are simply products that provide information that someone needs. They are normally electronically deliverable, knowledge-based products and are also referred to as "digital goods" and "knowledge-based goods". It can be anything from how to groom a dog, to how to bake a casserole to how to fix a computer.  If you think hard enough, just about everyone came come up with something they are an expert on.  If you have knowledge that other people want that they are willing to pay for, you have the makings of an information product.

Information products usually come in the form of ebooks, white papers, reports etc.  Information products have these advantages:

• Information products can be created with little or no money. You can create them from your own knowledge and experience using simple word processors or freely available ebook software.
  

• Information products can be reproduced in any quantity at no additional expense.  Even if you sell a million copies, your production costs stay zero.

• With information products, there are no storage or inventory hassles.
  

• With information products, shipping costs and return problems are completely eliminated.

• Because they are delivered electronically over the internet, delivery is near instantaneous.

Where the Real Work Is

Once you have developed your niche and have a website to market to your product(s), it’s time to start driving traffic to it.  This is where the real work in internet marketing lies.  In 'Field of Dreams', the Kevin Costner character hears a voice telling him, 'If you build it, they will come'.  This could not be more untrue than with a website.  If you don't drive visitors to your website, no one will find it.  Getting traffic takes time and effort.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  However, once you learn the strategies and techniques to do so, you can do it over and over again.  That, however, is the topic of another hub!

Once the traffic starts coming and sales begin, you can put your IM business on autopilot and make money even when you are not at home. You monitor and manage your business when you want from wherever you want. Since it is internet based, you can check it from anywhere you have internet access!

The Real Genius

The genius of this kind of IM business is that it can be easily duplicated. Once you have developed a successful market, you have all the knowledge and skills necessary to enter a second market, then a third and so on. Instead of placing all your eggs in one basket, you can create multiple streams of income from multiple niche markets. Even if your niches only make $200 a month, then 5 such niches will bring in an extra $1000 a month. That is nothing to sneeze at, at least for me. A who says your niches will be limited to only $250 a month?

If demand in one niche falls, you’re IM business isn’t wiped out. You still have income from your other niches and can develop even more to replace the failing niche. As the world changes, you can identify new niches and be the first to exploit them. You just have to keep your eyes open for emerging markets with unmet needs and take advantage of it.

Closing Thoughts

If you are looking to get rich overnight, then internet marketing is not for you.  If anyone tells you otherwise, don't believe it.  An IM business requires real work, thought and time to identify a niche, develop a product and market it.  Once you have done all that, you can have an income stream that is reproducible and profitable.

So, you can see that internet marketing is tailor made for retirees. It requires a minimum investment to get started yet can yield substantial profits. It has minimal ongoing expenses and anyone willing to learn and work hard can be successful. It allows you the freedom to work when you want and how much you want. In fact, IM businesses are ideal for anyone wanting to supplement their income including single parents, the unemployed or underemployed, the homebound and more.