Online Business Can Be a Boom for Baby Boomers

I've spent the past eight months researching and creating an online business.

I was downsized two years ago. But as a person over 50 I wasn't eager to go through the stress of interviews and starting all over again. So, I began to ponder alternative ways that I could work and earn money.

I turned to investigating online businesses. As a marketing communications professional online business was a very interesting concept. I threw myself into an eight-month immersion session and learned as much as I could about the process, the people who were making it work, and the potential for success.

What I learned was there are many people who are selling products, their skills, and their experience online and making a living doing it. I came to the conclusion that many Baby Boomers, like me, would benefit greatly from creating their own online business. Whether they are unemployed or not, an online business could serve them well in the future.

According to Pew Research "roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day, and about 10,000 more will cross that threshold every day for the next 19 years."

That's a huge population of seniors. But these seniors aren't like the ones in the past. They are more educated, physically active and in better health. That means they will be living longer than their parents. They will need to have a substantial retirement nest egg to live a good quality of life. So, after thorough research, I created Prime Life Academy to help other Baby Boomers.

Unfortunately, during the past recession, many of them lost a substantial portion of their investments, lost their jobs or were forced to take early retirement. Some had to tap into any savings that they had. Many of them are already planning to keep working past retirement. 

The benefits of creating an online business: 

• Work from home. (Yes, in your pajamas.)
• Option to start before retirement. You don't have to start after retirement. 
• There is a low cost of entry. Your costs include your computer, printer, some office supplies and a few online courses. Not a building or office.
• There is an active group of people doing the same thing you are doing.

Authors, personal coaches, teachers, retailers, pastors, plumbers, anyone that has a product or skill can create an online business. Your offering can take the form(s) of a physical product, webinars, e-books, audio/video modules or e-courses. Some online businesses branch into offering workshops and seminars based on their online activities. 

Consider it and check out Prime Life Academy.

Prime Life Academy helps Baby boomers create success and freedom through the power of entrepreneurship. We give you all the tools you need to find ways to take action on creating a business to supplement your income well into retirement doing what you love, all while becoming happier and more fulfilled. 

How to get to your niche market through digital advertising

When it comes to niche marketing many people don't really take the time to understand the importance of researching and narrowing down their target market.  They just throw advertising dollars at the next "new" thing, hoping they will hit their niche.

A niche market is a specific group of people that share something in common. In the business world they are the groups of consumers that you should be focusing on because they are the ones that will most likely purchase your product or service. They are referred to as your target market.

When I was growing up, we had three television channels.  So, if you wanted to advertise on TV, you had to be on one of those channels.  It was called mass marketing.  But very few people subscribe to mass marketing these days because we have so many options to place advertising. We have cable TV -- with it's defined audiences -- radio, various print vehicles, and of course the internet.  

So how do you reach your market?  Well, as you know, more and more people are on the internet.  So, wouldn't you like to be on the internet?  That means that you can actually find the people more likely to purchase your service or product.  How? You can actually target your customers WHEN they are ready to buy. 

By using keywords your ad can pop up when people are searching for a product or service like yours.  Based on keywords, ads are placed on websites, blogs, or other niche websites your market is viewing. 

This year Google opened up display advertising real estate for small businesses. Before this, only Fortune 500 companies could develop display campaigns and place on sites like national news, entertainment, and blogs as well as heavily trafficked local sites.   Wouldn't it be great if your potential customer was on the ESPN site and your pizza parlor showed up on the site?  And because it is targeted to your geographic area, you don't waste money advertising to someone out of your marketing area.

Advanced targeting options like “remarketing” can bring interested prospects back to your website, increase conversions and profit, keeps your business top-of-mind and help these interested prospects complete a transaction.

Remarketing is the process of your ad “following” the person throughout the internet.  This technique boosts conversions by 48 – 50% or more. You are probably familiar with this.  Have you ever been to a shopping site online and then every time you go to another site you see the same product or a product “you might like” on a totally unrelated site?  That’s re-marketing.

This type of advertising can be tracked for effectiveness as well.  Google makes it so simple to track your conversions and sales all the way back to every keyword in your campaign. 

Create a dynamic online video with little or no money

Over the last five years, technology has made it very easy for entrepreneurs and small businesses to decrease the cost of  marketing their products and services. This is especially true about video. Now, with a little creativity and a few quick clicks of the mouse, you can create a  professional looking video that can be used in many venues and in many media outlets. Here are a few of my favorites:

Animoto 
Animoto is a subscription-based service The number of templates you can use is based on your basic or pro subscription. It's the easiest of the three programs listed here.  All you have to do is upload your favorite photographs.  The templates weave your photos through backgrounds -- from seasonal, romantic, business and techno.  There is a pretty extensive music library that you can use.  Or you can upload your own music.

Goanimate
Goanimate creates some really cool animated videos. It comes with ready-made templates or you can create your video from scratch. The program has a diverse number of characters. So many programs don't offer as many character options. A variety of backgrounds and extra "props" are also available to spice up the visual appeal.  It's a great program for a designer or marketing professional.

VideoMakerFX
I've done several videos using VideoMakerFX.  I have one on my website  It too, provides a sampling of templates but in animated slide presentation form.  Very limited on characters (although they will be adding more in the coming months), but you can mix and match slide templates, move them and re-color backgrounds and text. Much more fun than PowerPoint or Prezi.

Unlike the other two programs, no subscription is necessary -- just a one time very reasonable yearly fee that you can upgrade.  It only takes about an hour to learn and create a video.

While a good visual image always attracts attention, you still need to communicate to your niche with message development and good copywriting.  The combination of strong visuals and clear messaging will make your video awesome!

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