[su_note]You might be a person willing to start an online business, already in online business or someone who has a brick and mortar business. In any of the case building online business is of paramount importance as that is what will enable you to reach more customers. Much better if you want to beat time-zones, geography and want that your business tirelessly works for you day and night.[/su_note]For lot of people money seems to be a limited factor when starting a business or thinking how to build my business. And in a way they are right for they are referring to the investment they would make in terms of setting up the business location, office, store to stock the products or may be delivery vehicles to carry the products to the customers and even employees who shall take care of the things like accounts, sales, marketing and collection of payments.
My question is, is there a way to circumvent all that and start a business? Well that’s what exactly an online business does. You have a website or store where people can check on your product range any time and understand what you are selling or servicing, they can even place an order…and guess what? a logistics carrier will pick up the product from where it is stocked and get it delivered to the customer. Even better if you sell information products…that need no space to store or a delivery vehicle to deliver. You have capability of delivery products right into customers computers or mobile devices right of after they make a payment…any where in the world. That brings us to the most important point.
Idea no 1. Sell an information product.
That being said you might say- Ok great I am ready to build my business but which information product should I chose and where would I get it. My first advice to you is to build your own information product. Think about it, almost everyone has a hobby or a favorite pastime, you might well write a short report or a book on that. It just can be anything under the Sun.
Idea no 2. Build your own information product.
Just in case you still feel you have no hobby or interest worth writing a book, always remember that you can actually sell other peoples products and make money. Sign up for receiving a free report – The Affiliate Marketing Mastermind and some great tips to promote affiliate products.
Idea no 3. Sell other peoples products
When selling other peoples products, you will have to zero in on what to sell and that again calls for something that you have interest in as you will be naturally driven to work on it rather than thinking that it is purely something that is your “job”. This can eventually beat lot of frustration and boredom as you would be excited to learn more on the interests you have and possibly bring in information for people who might be happy to have your support.
Idea no 4. Choose products in your interest area
Choosing a product also includes the consideration that it has a profitable market. And that means the niche should be not just be interesting but have a lot customers who are willing to put money on the table for getting a product.
Idea no 5. Choose a profitable niche
Alright so you have most of the things sorted out now you need a online headquarter. That would mean you need a domain name. The domain name is just like a business name with which people can identify you online. You need to book a domain name that may be branded. You may pick up a domain name that is holding your keyword if possible but don’t be too particular about it. Pick a domain name that may be easily branded than something that looks like a bunch of keywords for domain.
Idea no 6. Pick a Domain name for a Brand
Once you have your domain name that next step is to look for hosting. But worth mentioning that you may buy domain hosting from a service provider like http://www.bluehost.com that also provides you with a free domain. When choosing a hosting plan pick up something basic for the starts. You can always upgrade your plan once ramping up.
Idea no 7. Pickup a basic Hosting plan
Once you have your Domain and Hosting plan in place you are all set to take the grand leap of joining the select group of people who don’t just exist online but also go way beyond in creating content that’s engaging and remarkable. Well and to do just that you have WordPress. You might hear a lot of people saying why WordPress and that to use other CMS or just not use them. The choice is yours…But if you ask me I will go for WordPress eyes closed.
Idea no 8. Install WordPress
Once you install WordPress you would want to customize the look and feel of the website. And be care full of the catch here. You might end up in giving a lifetime on look and feel but that’s not the right thing. Consider this as just a stop. There are more important things you need to do before you really invest good time on look and feel.
Idea no 9. Kick it off with a basic website
The real power of website is about the structural design and visual appeal that should help you get more customers period. Have that as a single aim when investing time on look and feel and the fancy plugins you want to use. Sign up here to get the list of must have plugins that I install on my websites including the ones that are paid and take you miles ahead on SEO and SEM/SMM game.
Idea no 10. Install the “known list” of plugins
Once have reached this step its about putting the “real meat” on the website the Content. if you have brick and mortar setup you might want to look at how you want to use website to your advantage. If you are building a information product business online you may want to communicate that well so that people know what you are about as soon as they land on your webpage.
Idea no 10. Bring on the unique and real content
I know a lot of people among us don’t want to write our own stuff. But I have a suggestion. Do some homework understand what you are selling, what is your USP (Unique Selling Preposition). How are your competitors selling in the market you are. What are they doing differently. At this stage it will greatly help if you will write down yourself the core aspects of your business. Like what is your business in not more that 3 sentences. What is the Business background like when was it established, who are promoters, where is it located, How can someone get in touch with you. Any interesting story/fact you want to share with your customers that will make it interesting,what is your product and how it solves a problem.
This will greatly help you all your Business Details captured and easily shareable with the people who are either interested in your business or helping you develop the content.
Idea no 11. Outsource content development and writing
Congratulations now you have your business online but remember this is a beginning and remember that ” Well begun is half done” Now is the time you set a measure on how you will measure the success of your business. Yes in the beginning its just about how many visitors you get. But one has set realistic targets like number of optins generated every month or number of sales. This shall keep you closely tied to the goals without spending much time on things that are less important.
Idea no 12. Set your goals.
A lot of people never go beyond this point. What we have done so far is just the foundation. Any online business is useless until it has traffic. And a traffic that really converts (buys). Getting traffic is the major part you should involve into your self. The more you learn and spend time on this area more successful and in demand you will be. Traffic is the single most challenge every business faces. There are a lot of hoops you need to cross before you may really understand what works for you. You may keep on buying those $7 products for a lifetime and never actually master a way to generate traffic. For really becoming a traffic ninja you need to learn from the experts and do exactly what they are doing. I recommend you try out The Traffic Academy.
Idea no 13. Get Traffic
Well now you have the machine running. Its time to critically look at how things have shaped up. Where can you start to optimize things. Now is the time to test everything. Look at which pages are most visited. Which pages are the ones that most people are visiting time on. What are people searching when they land on your page. Optimization is a never ending process and you should be looking out for any and everything you need to get more visitors, engage with them, solve their problems and possibly convert and up sell them as much as possible. Over to you…Take action!
14. Improvise and Optimize your online business.
