Whateverlife

Seventeen-year-old Ashley ‘Ashbo’ Qualls is not your average teen. In fact, she runs a flourishing online business and has achieved far more than other successful entrepreneurs three times her age. The times we are living in have spawned a bumper crop of out-of-the-ordinary entrepreneurs.

That, in a nutshell, is the beauty of the Internet. Anyone can make it if they have the bravado. Ashley has built a million-dollar business from her blog, where she started selling individualized MySpace layouts. She now gets over 7 million visitors in any given month and the money is rolling in.

But this open arena has also meant that you have to have a great deal of creativity and stick-at-it-iveness in order to get to the top. You need to have an eye for the new and different and an instinct for doing business.

Ireland-based Aodhan Cullen started his Web analytics business when he was just sixteen. Now, aged 24 and winner of the 2007 BusinessWeek New Entrepreneur of the Year award, he runs the popular online StatCounter, which incidentally, boasts an enviable Google PageRank of 10 and has over 1.5 million users!

The Internet is much too fast-paced for anyone who insists on doing it all ‘by the book’ or taking the long, slow route. You’ll simply get left behind. Ashley and Aodhan identified gaps in the market and filled them in their own unique ways, and in ways that held mass appeal to their respective niche markets. The more you can make yourself stand out from the crowd, the more chance you have of attracting the attention necessary to become a success on the Internet.

Sometimes marketers have made their mark by being abrasive, and even using shocking language. I personally feel that these instruments have become passe as a tool for getting noticed. Yes, bad language and rude behavious still shock, but the novelty has worn off and most of us prefer to maintain a modicum of mutual respect when doing business.

You don’t need to shock in order to get noticed online. Here’s a list of what you must do for success in your chosen niche:

  • Maintain a blog, or at least keep fresh and lively content on your website. If you can create resources that are useful to your audience and put those up online, you’ll create a hub where your potential customers will love to gather.
  • Cultivate a style that will appeal to your chosen audience. You don’t need me to tell you what that is, you should know better than anyone else what’s likely to strike a chord with your particular customers. If you need inspiration, examine the websites of successful entrepreneurs in your field. HINT: check out the websites that rank highest for your major keywords.
  • Be yourself. This might seem at odds with the previous point but it’s not really. It is possible to adopt a certain style yet make your own individual mark on it. This is what all the top fashion designers do every season: they take a prevailing fashion and make it their own!
  • Try and encourage dialog–engage your visitors in discussion. If you can break the ice and form a relationship with your audience, you’re half way to forming a successful business relationship.
  • Be approachable and be nice. This is essential for online business. Young entrepreneurs have an advantage because they communicate easily. As we get older we sometimes lose the ability–don’t let it happen to you!
  • Network. This can’t be emphasized too strongly. Linking up with others on the Web is crucial to your business success. Seek out your potential customers wherever they may be, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Xing, and anywhere else you care to mention.

What you don’t need to be is young in order to succeed online. I’ve cited two very young entrepreneurs because their young age makes them all the more remarkable, but there are examples of mature individuals who have turned to the internet in their twilight years to make a living–and turned their efforts into a major success.

Again let me say it: all you need to succeed online is a fresh outlook and a willingness to find what works. Keep an open mind and be prepared to work long hours to begin with, and you’re nearly there.