Starting an online business is a simple process; however running an online business takes effort to make it work. Those who say it doesn’t or are trying to sell you a “done for you system” where you pay a monthly fee, they do the work for you, and you just sit back and watch the money roll in are lying.
You have to have some value to offer, a product, a service, or an idea that solves a need. In this post I’m going to share eight simple steps on how to start an online business or to get your current business online, if you already have one.
8 Simple Steps to Start an Online Business
1. Decide What You’re Going to Offer or Sell
If you’re going to start an online business you have to have something that you’re going to exchange for money. As I said earlier, this can be a product, a service, or an idea that solves a need. If you already have one, great if not start to think about your passions. What are you passionate about? What do you already know that people are looking for? Do you play an instrument that you can teach others how to do? Are you passionate about fitness and losing weight, creating crafts, gardening, photography?
Whatever it is it doesn’t matter, you can take almost anything you’re passionate about and turn it to profits online. If you can’t think of anything you can always sell other peoples products as an affiliate. Places like clickbank, commission junction, and even Amazon will pay you commissions on their products that you sell and the best part is there’s no need for you to have any inventory of the products, most are digital in nature.
2. Purchase a Domain Name
Starting an online business is going to require you to have a domain name, a web address. If you’re going to brand yourself, which is what I recommend, then you’re going to want to invest in YourName.com. This way you can brand yourself as the expert in your given niche. If you’re not, then you’ll want to get a domain name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and if possible, has the key word or phrase that people will be searching for online.
Another tip, always get a .com. Stay away from .net, .org, etc. always get a .com because people are use to typing in .com and if you have one of the others you may lose traffic from people typing in your web address wrong. There are a lot of places to purchase domain names, I prefer GoDaddy. They’ve been around a long time, they’re reliable, and they have good customer service.
One thing to watch out for when you buy a domain name from GoDaddy, is they’ll try to up sell you on all sorts of extras, just ignore them and just get the basic domain name, (and I always just go for one year).
3. Get Web Hosting
Once you have your domain name, you’ll need a place to host it. This is where a hosting account comes in. A host is server where you will store all your web files. It’s the connection between you and the internet. You have to have hosting if you’re going to have a website, unless you use a service that hosts it for you, which I’ll discuss in step four.
If you’re going to self host your website I recommend using Host Gator. They’ve been around for a long time, they’re who I host my sites with, and there customer service is excellent. I’ve called them many times and they’ve always been able to help me with whatever challenge I may have had. If you decide to go with Host Gator get the “baby plan” it’s all you’ll need and it’s cheap, plus you can enter this coupon to get 25% off you initial purchase:
4. Set Up your Website: Blog
Now that you have your domain name and hosting you’ll need a web site. I recommend having a blog as you’re website instead of just a regular website for a couple of reasons. A website is your online real estate that you want people (sometimes referred to as traffic) to visit. Go to Google and do some searching, what you’ll see is blogs coming up in the results more than regular websites. Why? This is because the search engines LOVE blogs.
Blogs are always producing new content that Google wants their users to find. A regular website is static, it doesn’t change. People are searching for information and if your blog is providing valuable information they’ll find it.
Another reason to have a blog is that it’s relatively easy to set up and maintain. It helps with your branding, it shows you as an authority in your niche and helps create creditably.
If you are going to self host your blog then you’ll need to set up a WordPress blog, period. WordPress in my opinion is the best self hosting platform out there and it’s free. Now, there is a learning curve to using WordPress, however it can be learned. Setting up and optimizing your WordPress blog for traffic can be challenging, that’s why I created a course that walks a person through every step from buying your domain, linking your hosting, changing your themes (the look and feel) basically an A-Z course where you watch over my shoulder and follow along. To learn more go to WPTrafficFormula.
Now, for those of you who think you’re too technically challenged, which you’re not, you can always decide to use a done for you blog platform. These are great if you don’t want to hassle with all the set up and learning curve of a WordPress blog. The only one I recommend is the Elite Marketing Pro blog platform.
With the Elite Marketing Pro (EMP) you can have your blog up in minutes with only a few clicks of the mouse. The great thing with Elite Marketing Pro is they actually teach you how to market online and you don’t need hosting, it’s a low cost and it gives you the ability to unlock 13 brand new income streams, some which will allow you to generate residual income from if you don’t know what you’re going to sell. I personally use my own blog and Elite Marketing Pro. You can check out Elite Marketing Pro by clicking Here.
5. Get an Email Follow Up System
Regardless if you decide to use the WordPress platform or Elite Marketing Pro you’ll need a way to build a list of prospects and follow up with them. This is where an autoresponder comes into play.
An autoresponder is a permission based email marketing system. It allows you to capture visitor’s emails, when they fill out a form, and allows you to stay in touch with your prospects through follow up emails. This is what you use to build your list and your list is your most valuable asset online.
There are lots of autoresponders out there and the one I use and recommend is Aweber. I’ve tried others and I think aweber is the best. You can find out more about aweber by clicking the aweber picture.
6. Build Your Brand and List with Valuable Content
Now that you know what you’re going to sell, you have your website and autoresponder set up, it’s time to build your brand and list. You do this by providing valuable content. Have you ever heard the phrase content in king? Posting regular valuable content to you blog is how people are going to find your website.
Find what people are searching for in your niche (by doing some key word research) and post articles that are relative to those searches. When you’ve made a post the search engines index it and if you’ve done it correctly (like I show in WPTrafficFormula) you appear in the search engines. You can also take the link post and share it across the different social networks, like FaceBook and Twitter.
There are other ways to getting traffic and we’ll save that for another post. Once someone comes to your site you want to capture their email so you can inform them of updates in your content and follow up with them, which we’ll discuss in the next step. You do this by putting an opt-in form, through your aweber, on your site that offers something of value in exchange for their email address.
This can be a free report, a free video series, an ebook, something of value that you give away for free. Once this is done you move to the next step.
7. Develop a Relationship with Your List
When someone gives you their email address in exchange for your free offer now you have the ability to follow up with them and develop a relationship with them. This is done by sending a series of “follow up” emails that provide value with information related to your niche.
You can survey your list with services like survey monkey to find out what they want to learn or know more about. Then you can create content based on those responses. The key here is to build that relationship so your subscribers get to know and like you. When you create a new post or find something that will benefit them you can email it to them. You’ve heard the old saying; the fortune is in the follow up? Well, the fortune is in the relationship you build while following up.
8. Market Products or Services that Fill Your Lists Needs
Once you’ve built a relationship, which doesn’t have to be a long process, then you can market products or services that fill your lists needs. You have to know the needs first and have the relationship before you can do this. Also you just don’t keep sending marketing messages, spread them out.
Give valuable content for a few emails then send a marketing message, then go back to sending valuable content, then after four or five content emails you can send a marketing one. Just make sure that whatever you are marketing is valuable, fills a need and will help your subscriber. I see a lot of people just marketing junk to try and make a sale. Always put you subscriber first and give the best you can give to them, just like you would a close friend.
As you can see starting an online business is a simple process. It may seem like its complicated, but it’s really not. It’s just doing certain things in a certain way. Still some people may need help and if that’s the case with you than I encourage you to subscribe to this blog by filling out the form to the right of this page to stay up to date with more information that will help you build your business online.
If you got value out of this post than leave me a comment below and any questions you may have because I truly want to help you succeed with your online business. You can do it. You just need to have the faith in yourself and believe it’s possible.
Deciding to start an internet business is in my opinion, one of the fastest and smartest ways women today can earn money. Below are 10 reasons for starting an internet business and the one reason why you shouldn’t!
1. Money
This is a no brainier, we all could use a more of it. Whether you want to get out of debt, build a retirement, take a family vacation, travel the world or just simply make ends meet. With the right guidance, an internet business can start generating income almost immediately and money is really good for just two things. One it allows you to be more comfortable and two it allows you to render far more service way beyond your own physical presence.
2. Family
Let’s face it Moms, a lot of you desire to be home with your kids. You’d like to be able to go on all the field trips, attend all the plays, the sports games and all the school functions. A work at home job is great for just that reason. No longer to you have to ask your boss if you can leave early or have the day of, which by the way you don’t get paid when you’re gone. An internet business truly lets you run it from home and generate income while you’re attending those functions.
3. Flexibility
When you work at home, you can arrange your schedule to be available when a child is sick and has to stay home and as I said before if there is a field trip at school, or if you just take a mental health day and sit at a park and read. How many bosses would give you the day off to read in the park?
4. Self Esteem and Confidence
Many of you are so busy at being good Moms, and wives that you forget to design something in your life that reflects your inner self. Starting (and becoming successful) in your own online business can raise your feelings of self worth, and that rubs off on everyone in your life making everyone a winner!
5. Tax Benefits
When you start a internet businessat home you’ll be able to take large tax deductions for your home business. Things like your internet, phone, and the space you use in your office can be written off. Less taxes = more money in your pocket, and that’s a good thing in my book.
6. Community
The community that you live in becomes better off because you’ve started a home businesses. It establishes you a good role modeling for the children, provides tax base for necessary programs such as police and fire, and a community where people exhibit pride and hard work is a better place to live for us all. It allows you to give back to worthy charities and you never know, maybe you will inspire more women in your community to start a business! If you can do it so can they.
7. Work at Home Household Savings
Working at home means no expensive wardrobes, unless you’d like them. The average professional suit for a woman can cost over $150! Can you imagine NOT having to buy expensive clothes for work anymore? Just think of how much money a year you can save your families budget? Also, how much do you think a work at home mom uses for restaurants and take out?
8. Control
Being in control of your own business means you are no longer in fear of layoffs. Now, don’t get me wrong here, a home business can go down too…but at least YOU hold the reins and make the decisions, not someone else and if you build a presence online correctly you can build another business in far less time than the first.
9. Your Schedule
You decide when you work, how much time you spend, and how much you make. The days of being paid for less than you are worth are over. No longer to you have to beg your boss for a measly raise. If you educate yourself right and align yourself with the right people, you can pretty much combine working smart with persistence and have unlimited income.
10. Automation
When you leverage technology you can use tools that can pretty much automate your business. You can build your internet business to a point where it pretty much runs on autopilot. I say pretty much because there is always some effort that has to be involved, however you can get to a point where you can outsource many of the tasks which frees up more time for you to enjoy the things you now only dream about.
Now we come to the one reason NOT to start an internet business…
DO NOT start a business to please anyone else. Today there is so much pressure on women to do it all…many times women feel they are not successful unless they make a lot of money, unless they are the perfect mom, unless they never gain a pound…you get the idea. Do it for YOU. Start a business for you, and your dreams, not to prove it to the world, or your mother in law, your husband, or the neighbor next door. Believe in yourself! If there is one mom out there that has build a successful online business, YOU CAN TOO! Starting and running a business is not for everyone, but you’re not everyone. If you want to follow your dreams, work at home, and make an awesome income, starting an internet business is a great place to begin.
If you’re ready to start your business, but don’t know where to start then you’re in luck.
Every home business entrepreneur wants get more traffic and that’s a fact! The secrets in this article will guide ANY home business entrepreneur who needs content marketing help to get things done a lot faster!
Overall, this content marketing article put some real power in your corner as a home business entrepreneur. But don’t forget, there’s a lot more to content marketing success, especially if you want to get get more traffic. So don’t let this article be the end of your journey, but rather the beginning of your quest for more knowledge.
Setting up a wordpress blog is a simple process that anyone can do. There are essentially four steps to getting the wordpress program installed and ready for use.
In the video below, which is taken from the the overview module of the WordPress Traffic Formula course, I go over the four steps. Now, just setting up a wordpress blog is not going to bring you free leads and traffic. There are specific things you can do to your blog once it’s installed, specific settings, plugins, configuration, and structured posts that will assist you in bringing floods of free leads and traffic, but that’s for another post. In this post I’m just going to focus on the four steps to setting up a wordpress blog.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/N8s8zzYnMG4[/youtube]
That’s it simple as 1, 2, 3, … 4. Keep following this blog and check out my other posts on wordpress and you’ll find valuable tips on plugins, themes and much, much more.
I hope you can see how simple it is to set up a wordpress blog and if you want help setting yours up and configuring it the correct way to bring you free leads and traffic then check out the WordPress Traffic Formula course for step by step videos on setting up and configuring your blog the correct way from the start.
To your massive network marketing success,
Stop banging your head on the wall trying to configure and setup a wordpress blog. There’s an easier way. Make the Decision, Right Now, that you’re going to do what it takes to do it correctly. There’s a simple way to configure and setup a wordpress blog that will allow you to generate to bring you free leads and traffic every day for your business. Unless of course you already have too many leads. Then, in that case, good for you… You Rock. However, if Not – Click Here to Find Out How
The benefits of setting up a wordpress blog are many, but the first one I want to share with you is one of my favorites and that is that wordpress is…
That’s right, you heard me, It’s FREE. The actual wordpress program is free. Now, you do need to have a hosting account and a domain name, but the business investment for these things and to maintain them is very minimal.
When you set up your own self hosted wordpress blog no one can take it from you. There are a lot of blogging platforms out there that don’t require you to have hosting and you’re going to stay away from those.
There are several reasons for this, but the number one reason is that when you set up a blog on a free hosted platform, it’s not yours. When you host your wordpress blog yourself you own it. No one can take it away from you.
Imagine this, you start a blog on a free hosted platform, you work hard a putting out great valuable content. You get to the point where you’re getting a couple of 1000 visitors a day, people are sharing your content you’re building a list (more on that in another post) life is good.
One day you go to your computer to log into your blog and it’s gone, vanished, poof… well that’s what happened to more than 73,000 blogs last year with a popular free host blog site. The site was shut down because of an FBI investigation into related terrorist activities. You see, with those types of sites you have no idea what other people are doing, when you host your own blog, you are in control.
Another benefit of setting up a wordpress blog is it’s…
WordPress has thousands of plugins that allow you to do pretty much whatever you want to do with it. If you can write and email or word document then you can build and make posts in wordpress.
Changing the look and feel can be done with a few clicks of the mouse. There are many free themes that do just that and when it is correctly optimized it can create a flood of FREE traffic to your site.
WordPress is much easier and more operational than simple html pages and with the correct plugin configuration, it makes it easy to optimize correctly for Google.
Most people have no idea how to get the best results from wordpress. People find a free video on Youtube or somewhere else on how to install and set up a blog, but 90% of them are not optimized correctly to generate traffic.
Keep following this blog and check out my other posts on wordpress and you’ll find valuable tips on plugins, themes and much, much more.
I hope by now you realize the many benefits of having your own wordpress blog and if you need help setting yours up and don’t know where to begin then you need to check out the WordPress Traffic Formula course for step by step videos on setting up and configuring your blog the correct way from the start.
To your massive network marketing success,
Stop banging your head on the wall trying to configure and setup a wordpress blog. There’s an easier way. Make the Decision, Right Now, that you’re going to do what it takes to do it correctly. There’s a simple way to configure and setup a wordpress blog that will allow you to generate free leads every day for your business. Unless of course you already have too many leads. Then, in that case, good for you, Go get em. If Not – Click Here to Find Out How
Start a WordPress blog is the advice many seasoned online marketers will tell you to do when beginning to build a business online and there are many good reasons for this. In the last post we went over “What is WordPress”. Now, I want to briefly go over why you need wordpress as your own self hosted blog, specifically three main reasons.
The first reason you need to start a wordpress blog is branding. Now, this can be personal or business related branding. Having your own wordpress blog gives you a platform to share your message, your purpose. It helps create the image to your market that you are trying to establish in your niche.
Your brand should honestly reflect you, your skills and talents. We all have something we can give to others that will uplift and enrich their lives and by giving you shall receive.
The second reason to start a wordpress blog is that it helps make you an authority in your particular niche. Most experts are seen in the public as having valuable content to share in their market. By setting up a wordpress blog you create that same type of platform for your content and people get a chance to know you.
The third reason to start a wordpress blog is that it creates credibility. With valuable content you will be viewed as a valuable resource that visitors and reader will come back to again and again in order to get the information they need and you will become their resource of choice. A wordpress blog documents you for the world to see and when it’s correctly configured and optimized it can create a flood of FREE traffic to your site.
There are many other reason you should start a wordpress blog, I’ve just given you, in my opinion, the top three. Starting a wordpress blog can be intimidating, however when done right it’s an easy process.
If you’re ready to start a wordpress blog for yourself but not sure how to start then check out some other posts here on this blog or you can check out my online video course “WordPress Traffic Formula” where I go step by step setting up and configuring a new wordpress blog from start to finish.
To your massive network marketing success,
Stop banging your head on the wall trying to configure and setup a wordpress blog. There’s an easier way. Make the Decision, Right Now, that you’re going to do what it takes to do it correctly. There’s a simple way to configure and setup a wordpress blog that will allow you to generate free leads every day for your business. Unless of course you already have too many leads. Then, in that case, good for you, Go get em. If Not – Click Here to Find Out How
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