A Real Book For The Virtual World

By Nancy K. Crevier

Newtown writer Sharon L. Cohen lives with a foot in two worlds: the virtual, online world of e-books and the real world of paper books. With her newest book, 199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars, published by Atlantic Publishing late last year ($24.95, paperback), she continues an effort she began with two earlier books in helping online business entrepreneurs get off the ground.

The print book focuses on who is the best candidate for an online business (“You have to know yourself and your work style,” Ms Cohen cautioned), the ups and downs of an online business, web design, products, inventory, and other secrets to success, as well as 199 case studies of niche businesses that have done well online.

The print book appeals to a large audience that still prefers to get its information from an actual book, she said, even while they plan to build a virtual business. But she tiptoes into the online world with her own online business that offers business advice and her writing skills, echoing the book, and yes, linking those who visit her website to the print book.

“I’ve been a writer for 30 years,” said Ms Cohen, who graduated from Fairfield University with a master’s degree in communication. She has also worked as a communications officer for a savings bank, and as a freelance writer for corporate and non-profit businesses, newspapers, and magazines.

“When the switch came to websites, a lot of businesses I wrote for went to electronic communications. The communication media everywhere has changed, and my writing has had to drastically change. It’s a ‘flat world’ now, with everyone looking for the same clients, globally,” she said. She decided to evolve her writing into web writing and blog writing for clients, and editorial coordination, as well as e-books, and has been quite successful in the transition, Ms Cohen said.

The decision to publish 199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start as a print book, as well as How To Start An Amazon Business and Yahoo Income, co-authored with Dana E. Blazis, was that of the publisher’s, said Ms Cohen. “But this has established me as an author. Old-fashioned traditional books still mean a lot to people. There is still a population that does not see e-authors as ‘real’ authors,” she said. She is able to leverage on the print book, too, she said, for example by leading business workshops this fall in the real world.

What she divulges to her readers in her most recent book is the importance of marketing an online business.

“It’s important to know you can’t just put up a business and say, ‘We’re open!’ No one will ever find you online,” said Ms Cohen. She leads readers through the labyrinth of communications available to online businesses: blogs, social networks, YouTube videos, and even writing e-magazine articles and e-books about the product featured in the business, all linking back to the website for selling.

“You can produce an e-book that fits your product or service and put that on your website. It helps establish respect and credibility in your expertise,” she said. Ms Cohen has found her niche within the niche businesses by providing the service of writing web content and e-books for business people who do not have confidence in their writing skills.

“That’s all marketing,” said Ms Cohen, “and it’s imperative to do it. If you don’t do online marketing, your business won’t succeed.”

Seeing a business in several electronic guises creates name recognition, said Ms Cohen, and builds a rapport with customers that the businessperson will most likely never meet. When a name gets out there online and a product gets known, customers will remember and return to that business when they are ready to buy. “Your customer base is millions, worldwide,” she pointed out.

The case studies she provides in her book are all niche businesses, which are subsets of traditional businesses. “For example, your expertise could be in racing bikes, not just bicycles in general,” explained Ms Cohen. The beauty of niche businesses is that they tend to stand out in search engine operations like Google, and are ideal for a businessperson with a particular passion. It is the expertise offered and the customer relationship built up through marketing that makes a niche product attractive to customers.

“If you get a sliver of a business through a niche, you can do well. Online businesses are doing well and growing, but they do take dedication and effort from the owner,” she said.

Half of the population still lingers in the traditional world, Ms Cohen said, and her hope is that her print book can help ease traditional business people into the virtual world – or at least put one foot into it.

To purchase 199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars visit online-business-guide.com.