Since the dawn of the internet, what is now the world's largest communications network, people have been looking for ways to make money with it. The last few years this has been particularly true with more and more people desperate to make money. Online based businesses are very attractive for many reasons and to a wide range of individuals. Do you want to work an online business full time? Perhaps you simply need a part time income to supplement your current lifestyle, either way there are options available.
No matter your plans for an online business, there are several things you are going to need to get this thing off the ground.
1. A Domain Name - The first step is to buy a domain name for your new online business. A domain name that matches one of your primary target keywords is optimal in order to take full advantage of optimization for organic search traffic. You could have the best website in the world, but if no one can find it in the search engines, it's not going to do you much good.
2. Webhosting Services - There are plenty of these services available on the internet and many offer low cost small business hosting. Seek out those that are compatible with easy to use content management systems such as Wordpress or Joomla. You want as little resistance as possible when you begin building your site, and these make adding content a breeze. Depending on your business, you may also want a hosting service that offers shopping cart support or other ecommerce solutions.
3. Marketing - If you're going to have a business, you need to publicize it early and often. Pay per click (PPC) ads and search engine optimization (SEO) are good choices. PPC advertising offers quick traffic while SEO techniques can provide you with long-term traffic for no cost.
With PPC ads, you only pay when someone clicks on one to visit your site (thus the term "pay-per-click"). It's also easy to make them fit into your budget since you can set the amount you want to spend before placing your ads -- the ads will run as long as the money you've allotted lasts, so there won't be any unpleasant surprises about your ad costs.
Search engine optimization is pretty much what it sounds like; setting up your website to be friendly to the search engines. Search engines have to know what your site is offering to the millions of searchers, and when people search for products or services like what you have to offer, your site will show up in the results. SEO is far more complex than this simple explanation, of course, but is an important part of long-term success online.
4. Monetization - There are a lot of ways to do this, ranging from selling advertising space on your site (either through Google AdSense or another online ad service, or selling ad placements yourself) to having a full-fledged ecommerce operation. There are many other possibilities as well, including using your site to promote other merchant's products or services as an affiliate marketer or using the site to promote services you provide.
Regardless of the type of online business you choose to operate, getting started requires the steps mentioned above: domain name, webhosting, and advertising to make it all worthwhile.
No matter your plans for an online business, there are several things you are going to need to get this thing off the ground.
1. A Domain Name - The first step is to buy a domain name for your new online business. A domain name that matches one of your primary target keywords is optimal in order to take full advantage of optimization for organic search traffic. You could have the best website in the world, but if no one can find it in the search engines, it's not going to do you much good.
2. Webhosting Services - There are plenty of these services available on the internet and many offer low cost small business hosting. Seek out those that are compatible with easy to use content management systems such as Wordpress or Joomla. You want as little resistance as possible when you begin building your site, and these make adding content a breeze. Depending on your business, you may also want a hosting service that offers shopping cart support or other ecommerce solutions.
3. Marketing - If you're going to have a business, you need to publicize it early and often. Pay per click (PPC) ads and search engine optimization (SEO) are good choices. PPC advertising offers quick traffic while SEO techniques can provide you with long-term traffic for no cost.
With PPC ads, you only pay when someone clicks on one to visit your site (thus the term "pay-per-click"). It's also easy to make them fit into your budget since you can set the amount you want to spend before placing your ads -- the ads will run as long as the money you've allotted lasts, so there won't be any unpleasant surprises about your ad costs.
Search engine optimization is pretty much what it sounds like; setting up your website to be friendly to the search engines. Search engines have to know what your site is offering to the millions of searchers, and when people search for products or services like what you have to offer, your site will show up in the results. SEO is far more complex than this simple explanation, of course, but is an important part of long-term success online.
4. Monetization - There are a lot of ways to do this, ranging from selling advertising space on your site (either through Google AdSense or another online ad service, or selling ad placements yourself) to having a full-fledged ecommerce operation. There are many other possibilities as well, including using your site to promote other merchant's products or services as an affiliate marketer or using the site to promote services you provide.
Regardless of the type of online business you choose to operate, getting started requires the steps mentioned above: domain name, webhosting, and advertising to make it all worthwhile.
About the Author:
As an internet marketing consultant, Stu Lisonbee helps businesses both large and small, and even helps new entrepreneurs start their own online business from home, including how to make money with online auctions.
