Profiling Your Online Home Business Visitor

A Home Business Article Contributed by G. Uma Bennett

Online Home Business: Profiling Your Visitor

Once you have made the decision to create an online home business, you need to know who is online - what's the profile of the average internet user? Why is it important? Because online home business owners have to be in touch with their customers so that they can market and service their customers better than their competition, and understanding the demographics gives you an idea of what types of services and products they will buy.

Research shows that on average, the median age of internet users is 38, that they are predominately male, that over 50% have college degrees with a household income of approximately $55,000, working in professional, managerial or computer-related fields and more than 50% are single. Women are the fastest growing market on the internet and the United States has by far the most internet users in the world.

Taking Your Online Home Business International

If your online home business has international appeal and you're planning to use the internet to begin marketing to this audience, another very important figure to take into consideration is the actual percentage of the population that are online in the countries you plan to target. The general rule of thumb is to target countries with at least 10% of their population online.

This percentage is an indicator that a country is approaching critical mass, especially if there is a large enough base population or other reasons for a particular product or service to prosper. Interestingly, countries like Iceland and Finland have a higher percentage of their population online than the United States, with Canada's internet users matching those of the US.

Other countries of note when it comes to internet usage are: Denmark, United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, Switzerland, Korea and Japan. Many of these countries have a strong desire to purchase products made in the United States and can provide a very lucrative online home business.

Who Will Buy from Your Online Home Business?

For an online home business owner, the real question is exactly who is buying online? Keep in mind that there are at least 3 times as many people that shop online than those that actually complete transactions online. These shoppers have discovered the convenience of shopping online from the comfort of their own homes anytime - day or night, however for security reasons, they're still prefer to place their orders via phone, fax or postal mail.

Another factor is the length of time the individual has been online, the longer the period, the more likely they are to make an online transaction. Research also shows that men find online shopping and transactions very attractive. They can comparison shop for a gift, computer or other item right from their office computer.

In a matter of minutes they can place the order using a credit card and have the product shipped to their doorstep or choose to have their item gift wrapped and sent directly to the gift recipient on most sites.