How To Cut Costs In Your Online Marketing Business

Absolutely you can make money online, but you can’t necessarily do it for free. What a misconception? That is that you can make money online for free.

Now that I have your attention, there are ways to be more cost effective with your online business and that is what this article is all about - discovering ways to reduce your costs especially if you are just starting out. But even if you are a seasoned online business owner you may find there is something here for you too. 

Strong online business owners want to be in control of their business. They don’t want to hand it over to others and put themselves in a position of falling victim to the whims of others. Keep the core of your business close to you so don’t hand the essential parts of your business to others. If you do you lose control of it. 

In order to have control over your online business, there are a few essentials you need, like your own domain, a hosting service, an autoresponder and a website to name a few.

Here is the problem with free stuff, you don’t own it and it can be taken away just as easy as you got it. And there is usually some catch, for instance you really don’t get what you need and to get what you need there is an upsell. So you pay anyway – and even more than you originally intended. 

So yes, you will need to spend money to build a successful online business. However there is good news. Your initial investment is nowhere near as much as a brick and mortar business.

In fact, with around $200-$500, you’ll be able to build your very own online business from scratch and notch it up to a comfortable income.

If you are on a tight budget the following strategies will help you reduce costs that will take out some of the burden of starting an online business.

1. Start Small

Starting small is the most important rule of the lot. When buying a domain name, use an affordable service like Godaddy. Choose a 1-year plan rather than opting for more just because you get a discount.

When choosing hosting, go with a starter plan and pay monthly rather than paying yearly because you want a cheaper price. 

This is what starting small is all about. When your business is doing well, you can opt for the annual payments to enjoy cost savings – but not when you’re a beginner who’s just scraping by.

2. Follow your nose rather than the herd

The online marketing space is filled with followers who will jump on every new thing that comes along. You need to be more astute and alert.

When you’re first starting off, you may need a page builder for your sales pages. Think about using Google Documents, or your own Word document. These much more cost effective than purchasing ready-made documents.

Email is still one of the best ways to market your products and if you use Facebook right you may find you are building your list while at the same time strengthening your relationships with your clients and customers.

The best advice says, "Watch for not getting trapped into expensive options and reduce your recurring bills as much as possible."

3. Track your expenses

If you’re paying by PayPal, most of your recurring bills will be automated and it’s easy to lose track of your pre-approved payments.

Make a list of all the monthly expenses in your online business. You may be shocked to find that you’re paying for services you no longer use. For example, you may have a Canva subscription, but you’re hiring graphic designers from Fiverr.

So you’re wasting money here. You can eliminate wasteful spending just by tracking your expenses. And, make sure you have access to your receipts in case the tax man cometh.

4. Leverage free trials

A lot of software, tools, and the like come with free 7-day, 14-day or even 30-day trials. You can save money by using them – but before you sign up, make sure that you’re ready first or you’ll be wasting the trial.

For instance, when you take a 30-day trial for an autoresponder, prepare your opt in pages are ready and obtain traffic before signing up for the 30-day trial. In this way, you’ll hit the ground running from day 1 and build your list instead of wasting precious days getting the other components in your funnel ready.

5. Quality matters

You get what you pay for. Sometimes, it’s better to pay more for a product to get a better service. You’ll often find, for instance, cheap self-hosted autoresponders sold by dodgy marketers.

Their selling point will be that you only pay a one-time fee. That’s true. But once you start using their software, you’ll find that the cheap software breaks down or has atrocious deliverability rates and so on.

You’d be better off paying a monthly fee for a solid service like Get Response or AWeber and avoid wasting money on questionable products. Your key here is to find the balance between cost and value.

6. Shop around

You may find that some info-products, educational programs and courses. are priced differently in different places. 

For example, you may find a PLR store selling you a resell rights product for $9. That same product may be sold in another website for $3.

This happens all the time and is no different from a buying a bag of popcorn costing 3X more in a cinema than at your nearby grocery store. Shop around and see if you can get the product at a cheaper price.

If you are buying products on Warrior Plus or JVZoo make sure you read reviews first before being taken by the glossy sales page. Remember these are prepared by seasoned marketers who know their stuff and have excellent internet marketing experience. Also many of these products have “down sells” so watch you don’t jump at the first page that is presented to you. Finally look at the bonuses that sellers offer, ensure you understand them because some sellers are just unloading worthless products that have glitches in them.

7. Look for coupons

​Another way to save money is to search on Google for ‘product name + coupon’. You may find coupons that help you get a few dollars off.

Always be alert. Sometimes software is discounted during times like Black Friday, Christmas, and other festive holidays. These may be the best time to grab products and save yourself some money.

Alternatively, you can contact the product vendor directly and ask for a discount coupon.  Many vendors will respond to your requests if you’re polite. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

At the end of the day, you want to run a lean, effective online business that makes money round the clock without incurring huge costs. One of the easiest ways to increase your bottom-line will be to trim your expenses.

Constantly look for ways to do this and your business will see higher profits and you’ll be able to earn more and save more.

Thanks for reading,
And as always stay safe, be well and continue becoming the best version of yourself.
Richard Fontanie

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