Starting an Online Business Tips

12 Things you should know when starting an
online business

By Elizabeth McGee
Having your own business is the American dream. It's an escape from the
day to day job that we hate or the boss that drives us crazy.

For many of us, having that dream was fairly unattainable until the birth of the internet. E-commerce is an exploding business that is turning out new netpreneurs every day. People have quit their jobs and dedicated their off hours to starting that dream. It's an attainable goal for anyone but requires careful planning and consideration.

1. Easy or Not So Easy?
    Don't let anyone tell you that a business online is an easy way to go or a
    way to get rich quick. If you fall into that trap you're in for disappointment.
    Don't get me wrong, internet marketing can be extremely profitable and
    certainly a bit more affordable than most offline businesses but it's not a
    cakewalk. Just as in any business you need to do your homework.
    Understand how things work and research, research, research. The good
    news is the internet offers lots of information to help your research.

2. Do you have what they want?
    This is the million dollar question. Is what I have to offer in demand? Will
    people buy it? There are lots of tools out there to help you in this area.
    Google and Overture offer tools to help you know what people are searching
    for. Ask your friends if they'd buy your product online. Visit forums and see
    what people have to say. Is there a lot of competition for your product.
    Don't be afraid if there is, this just means there's high demand and an
    opportunity for you to make your product or site better. If there's not a lot
    of competition this may be a huge opportunity for you.

3. If it sounds too good to be true … you know the rest.
    I'm constantly frustrated with ads that claim you can make lots of money
    and make it fast. There are lots of get rich quick schemes out there. Don't
    be fooled, you'll be disappointed every time. Don't ever hand over your
    money unless you fully understand what you will be getting. Check out all
    programs thoroughly and ask lots of questions.

   The internet is a "learn as you" go process. Things are changing all the time
   and experience is key. Don't expect too much too soon and don't get
   discouraged if things look a bit bleak heading out of the shoot. Most
   internet businesses took at least a year to show a profit and many took a
   lot longer.

4. Will you make money on your own product or someone else's?
    You can sell your own product or business - In this process you do it all.
    You have a product or service and you to sell it online. You will need to
    coordinate the logistics of collecting money and providing delivery You will
    do payment processing and you will perform customer service.

     Affiliate sales - Affiliate sales is the process of marketing other merchants
     products or services. This can be done with or without a website. You are
     given a special tracking website address that tracks sales referred by your
     URL and you receive a percentage of each sale. You only perform
     advertising. There is no money to collect, or customer service to perform.

     Dropshipping- The dropshipping process is where you accept orders for
     items you advertise on your website, however you do not hold any items in
     stock, instead you place orders you receive directly with the wholesaler and
     they deliver the items directly to your customer. You pay the wholesale
     price and your customer pays retail price. Your profit is the difference.
     You don't have inventory to consider but you do have payables and
     receivables to process and customers to respond to.

5. How Will They Find You?
    There's millions of sites out there, are they going to find you? If you have a
    website, search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial. You won't attract
    traffic to your website without it. There are things you can do to optimize
    your site. Read up on meta tag creation, there are lots of sites that offer
    free information on this. Also research website linking techniques. Both
    of these tactics will help you attain search engine ranking and acquire
    decent website traffic

6. Know your customers
     Analyze your site traffic. Know what your customers are doing when they
     come to your site, where do they navigate to? Put yourself in their shoes.
     Find out what it is they are looking for. When they come to your site, how
     long are they there? There are free software tools that will help you with
     this but also you can post surveys, ask questions, get as much feedback
     as you can. Listen to your customers and they'll respond favorably.

7. Know your products.
    It's a good rule of thumb to purchase and use the products you are
     promoting. This isn't an absolute must but you'd be surprised how your ad
     campaign and marketing strategy can take form if you've actually used and
     experienced the product or service your selling. It's a lot harder to convince
     someone they need something if you haven't seen or used it yourself.

8. Getting set up and what does it cost.
    There are several costs to consider when getting set up on the internet.
    The costs are much cheaper compared to offline business startups but
     there are investment costs just the same. There are several fees
     depending on the business you run however setting up a basic website
     for selling your product(s) will incur the following:
     Note: These are approximate amounts, your costs could be more or less

       - Cable or dial up fees / $10 - $50 a month
       - Website building software / Free to $100
       - Website hosting / $6 to $50 a month
       - Search Engine submission fees $20 to $300 or more
       - Merchant account

9. What to watch out for.
    Scams are the biggest problem on the internet. Keep yourself aware of the
    latest scams by going to U.S. Federal Scam site. Also protect yourself
    with virus and firewall protection software. It's a huge headache that you will
    ultimately want to avoid.

10. To build a website or not to build a website.
      Regardless of your internet business, it's a good idea to start with a
      website. A website will be a reflection of you and your business. It's
      important to build an image and draw viewers to your product or service.
      A website will also allow you to provide and receive feedback as well as
      update your viewers on your products or services.

11. Email marketing caution.
      Email and spam is a huge issue with regard to the internet. It's important
      to know what the rules and laws are before emailing anyone. The following
      site will be of help Spam Laws.

12. The internet can be a lonely place.
      Don't go it alone. Use online forums to get feedback on your site and to
      ask questions that you need help with. You may even develop some great
      business partners in the process or make a friend or two.

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About the Author:
Elizabeth McGee is the owner of Pro-Marketing-Online, the Expert Marketing Tools site. If you wish to learn more about how to market online from the experts and find expert tools for promoting your site then please visit Pro-Marketing-Online.

Visit the author's sites
Pro Marketing Online
Homenotion.com

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