|
Below, you'll find extensive information on leading
worst floods articles and products to help you on your way
to success.
What Do You Really Need To Go Into Business On The Internet?
By Deanna Mascle, Sat Dec 10th
I have lost track of the number of discussion board posts andemails I have answered about that topic. I admit for those firstventuring into the uncharted waters of internet business it canbe challenging and more than a little daunting. There is a floodof products out there clamoring for your money and all claim tobe absolutely essential to your success on the internet. Don'tbuy it, they are all selling snake oil! There are some essentials you will need (assuming that if youare reading this that you already have an email account andinternet access) but you really can start out at the groundlevel with nothing but an idea and build your internet businessup from there. You can start your business on a shoestringbudget of just $10 a year. If you are ready for the fast trackthen you can start with as little as $10 month. If you areaiming for the penthouse then you can up your monthly budget to$30. What are the essentials?
Ground level approach: Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sitesavailable online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are manyother good options). This will serve as your internet base. Itreally is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes,you could create a free web site at one of the many availablebut blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus theyoffer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energywill be spent on content which is the king of the internet andthe real reason you want an internet presence. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which willgive you immediate access to something to sell --and the addedadvantage that many products also come with some handy contentyou can use to fill out your new blog. Sign up for a contextualor pay-per-click advertiser such as Google's Adsense or Chikitaand you'll start earning from visitors as well as customers. That's it! You are now in business. Keep filling your blog andpromoting it as well and you will soon start earning! Shoestring approach: This method is similar to the previous approach with one crucialdifference -- you purchase your own domain name. A domain namewill cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether yougo .com or .info (or one of the many other options available).You don't need to find a web host or create a site. Simply pointthe domain at your blog for now and continue with thedevelopment and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owningyour
own domain name is simply that later when you have themoney, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domainname will already exist and have filtered through the searchengines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a freeblog cannot. Fast-track approach: You host your own domain and offer your blog either as the siteor as an addition to the site. You should be able to do this forbetween $10 and $20 a month with a reputable host that offersall the tools and utilities you might need for your currentsite. Maybe down the line you'll need to upgrade but by thenyou'll know your income and your needs. Penthouse approach: You add one final tool that will make your internet businesscomplete -- a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 amonth and it will be worth every penny for sales, customerservice, and promotional tool. That's it for just $90 you can have every tool you need to makehundreds or even thousands from your internet business and youcan actually get by with a lot less than that for your initialstartup. Two final notes. First, I did not include any budget in here for advertisingbecause there are a lot of free ways you can get startedadvertising and promoting your site and I would recommendexhausting those options before you begin looking into spendingmoney on advertising. By that time you may well have started toearn a profit from your internet venture and so you can have abetter idea of the size of your advertising budget. Second, if you plan to sell products yourself then you will needa payment processor. You can sign up for free with PayPal sothat is no additional expenditure (you pay a percentage of eachsale so it is self-funding) or you can sign up for vendoraccount with ClickBank which will cost you a one-time fee of $50plus a percentage of each sale. I would not lay out a lot ofmoney for a shopping cart program or one of the other programsthat charges a monthly fee. I have done business with PayPal andClickBank as my exclusive payment processors since 1999. Everyso often I will investigate my other options and every time Istick with these simple, effective programs. Good luck with your new internet venture! About the author:Deanna Mascle is happy to offer her recommended Internet Business Tools as well asother advice about Doing BusinessOnline. Internet marketers can also subscribe to herinternet marketing newsletter Establish YourEpresence.
|
