The internet is the place of the millenium to own and run your own business. It can be done by anyone with access to the internet and the return on investment can be extremely profitable. So what does it really take? Well simply you need a product or service, a website, traffic and sales.
That’s it, it’s that easy. This is the formula used by thousands and the secret to success is being able to do each of these steps right!
Pick a product that is going to sell well by researching demand. Do a keyword search using Google’s keyword tool https://adwords.google.com. Do a Google search yourself and see what the competition is like, are there a lot of adword ads for your product or service? If so it can mean you are on to something hot. Another idea is to setup a Google Alert http://www.google.com/alerts for your specific product or service and get real time market research results. A hot topic, service or item will give you results. You do want to be specific as possible or you will be flooded with results. So if you are thinking about selling “Ladies Hats”, do a Google alert for “ladies hats for sale online” or “ladies hats website”.
Your next step is to get your website up and running. This is a step that can lead many astray and be very costly time and monetary wise. Don’t get lost here! Consider your online marketing strategy first (more on that later). Define your exact needs beforehand (use a checklist), define your budget and research your alternatives. Nowadays you can use website templates, ready made websites, a freelancer or web development company to fill your needs. I suggest you start looking at website templates and work your way up to development companies. Get estimates, read the fineprint and know if domain registering and hosting are included. If not, register your domain and get hosting first.
Once you have your website up and running, you need traffic. Remember I suggested considering your marketing strategy BEFORE you build your website or even by your domain. There are good reasons for this. Their are simple steps here you can take that will increase your traffic just by choosing a good domain and knowing who your market is and what makes them tick (or buy!). Choose a domain that closely reflects your most prominent keyword or product/service. This is the first step in a search engine optimized website. Then you want to make sure that your properly search engine optimize your website. Learn some basic seo practices and techniques. There a tons of articles and tutorials on this subject. Next understand that search engine traffic takes time to build, you are going to have to use alternative methods to drive traffic to your website at first. Those methods can include article marketing, direct ad placements, media buying, google adwords, yahoo sponsored ads, forum posting, yahoo anwers, video marketing and more.
Once you’ve got some website traffic coming in, you need to make sure you are taking advantage of it to the fullest extent. This is where analytics and conversions practice come in effect. In more simpler terms, you need to make sure you are getting the right traffic for your service or product and that you capitilize on it. You can do this by having two different pages for opt-ins or sales landing pages. Then measure which has more success. Obvio usly you want to go with the one that is more successful but always be testing! Also get as much customer feedback as possible. Do polls, request comments etc.
So that’s how to start an online business in a nutshell.
