Diversity in Internet marketing can make or break your business. When it comes to making money online, you can never have enough diversity. Think of it like a stock portfolio – the more investments you make across the board, the better a position you are in when one of those companies fails. Just as you would diversify your investments, you should seek to diversify your online business.

What is it?

Diversity is not a term that is commonly used in Internet marketing, which is a shame because so many beginning marketers need to understand this concept. Diversity is building your Internet business in many different areas all at once. You can either diversify by having many different websites and monetization methods in the same niche or, even better yet, you can diversify across several niches.

The old saying "you should never have all of your eggs in one basket" definitely applies to Internet marketing. We’ve seen it happen time and time again. A large group of people build their online business around one business model, like Adsense advertising. Then overnight they lose a lot of their income because the program they were working with changed the rules. Change is inevitable online but you can mitigate your losses by diversifying.

What are three keys to doing it successfully?

1. The Right TIMING.

Many new marketers hear the advice about diversifying and try to do everything all at once. Not only does this take a lot of energy but it can be very disheartening. With so many different income streams going at once, a new marketer can become frustrated when they don’t see income coming in right away. A better method is to master one way of making money and then spread out from there until you have a stable of different sites.

2. The Right TARGETING.

Once you’ve had success in a particular niche, you should try diversifying your business within that same niche. Since you’re familiar with the niche already it will be very easy to use that information in new ways.

3. The RIGHT TRANSITIONING.

In an effort to stay diverse, many marketers hold onto their lame duck websites for way too long. If a site isn’t make money, cut it loose and concentrate your efforts on your more profitable sites and your new sites.

Can you give me an example?

You have created a successful blog in the weight loss niche. Once your blog is bringing in a nice profit stream, you have some decisions to make. You can diversify your income by creating an eBook based on the content in your blog. You could also create an additional blog or website on a different method of weight loss. Alternatively, you could use your blogging skills to enter a completely new niche and develop a successful blog in that arena. No matter which of these routes you take, be sure to monitor the progress of each site in your stable and cut loose those that aren’t making money.