How to setup your own online business?: August 2008

Stage One - Think about it

Everyday, someone starts to think about setting up their own online business but not everyone will take that thought and put it into action. There is one expert Virtual Private Server Web Hosting company whom offer superior web hosting solutions in comparison to others hosts.

There are various steps which should be carried out when you are thinking about starting up your own online business.

When you are there thinking about setting your own online business up; make some notes if you can or just jot down some of the ideas that you are having.

You need to try to think about:

There are always alot of things that you may need to think about and the list above only contains some of the important things.
There are still smaller things which you will notice as you think about it more.

What will your company do?

When looking at setting up your own online business you need to decide or think about what your company will do or offer... A good example is a Digital Marketing Company in Maidstone that uses the same domain registrar and hosting company for their site. Another Example is this Maidstone Accountant

There are many things that your online company can do or provide.
You can run a reseller store and your E-Commerce website and Provide Advertising Services and ECT.

Run a reseller store?

There are many different affiliate programs and reseller panels. Some are free, and others may require purchase.

There are various ways to run these stores and many efficient management methods.

If you are nice to people and make reasonable offers that you can keep, then people will come and recommend you. (A list of links to run your own reseller store for free)

Run your own website hosting panel for free
List of free affiliate programs

Running your own E-Commerce Website/Store?
(A list of software and scripts to help you research)

Browser-Based Stores

Shopping Cart Solutions

Advanced eCommerce Systems

(Source: Sitepoint)

Looking at providing your own advertising services?

The ability to create your own advertising network is now indeed a reality. By bringing a series of content-connected blogs together into a single, vertical, "thematic" network, you can strengthen your authority and value by aggregating related high-quality sources while maximizing potential revenue for you and those you have invited to join the new network party.

Tightly focused, high-quality niche content remains the key ingredient to any successful and profitable blog or news site. However, as niches are little islands focusing on very specific aspects of a larger whole, the ability to identify and bring together closely related content sources to create "thematic" mini-networks is the next natural evolutionary step for online publishers of all sizes.

However, while writing this, I remembered this old video on YouTube for Improve Your Scores!

If website hosting is not for you, then have you considered providing Traffic Management Solutions

Why are you any better?

The main thing that you need to ask yourself, is "What can i offer that is equal or better than theirs."
This is a common misconception that many people overlook. You have to think about this because if you don't, then you can start up your business and then find out that someone is offering something better than you and that all your "Possible Clients" are going to them.

You need to think about what you can do to make your service, just that "Little bit" better than those who also offer the same product/service that you are offering/selling.
Once again, some people will think that they can just setup an online business and then people will just come rushing to them.

Running an effective and worthwhile online business takes time and a fair amount of effort.
"Do not give up your day job", because you may not profit much for a while until your company/store is well known and is trusted by many.

Once you have your idea, take a look at who offers the same or similar product/service.
Once you have done your research, see if you can make better changes or offer something cheaper but make sure that you can still cover your costs.

"Do not rush!"

If you start rushing ahead of things then the chances are that you may miss something vital. Even minor things can have a massive affect on how it works and if it succeeds or not.
Take things slow and think through them many times. "Review your thoughts"

Who to choose?

This is another major thing that you need to think about. "Why should someone choose your company when compared against others?"

I am talking about this because many people will rush in and just hope that once their online business presence has been made; that people will just "Rush" in and start buying.

Once again, a misconception on behalf of the person who is wishing to setup their own online business. The business needs to be carefully planned and well advertised before any good sales start coming in on there own accord.

"The factor of Trust"

Many, (if not all) ; online businesses require an amount of trust. Not only from the "possible buyers/Clients", but also from the suppliers.

Even in this modern day and age, (2008); businesses and people work on the factor of trust.
The buyer may order something and then not pay up, or cancel it at the last minute when some of the work is done, thus "Wasting the sellers time ."
On the other side, the buyer may pay for their product and then not receive it.
This is why people need to rely on his factor of trust.

"Convincing"

When you are running an online business/store then you need to convince people that what you are offering is good and that you are respectable and reliable.
There are many methods to do this, such as; Free samples,reviews,testimonials,etc.
These are some of the best ways but there are many more.

Attracting People?

When you have the site up and running and you have already thought about a lot of other things; you need to find a way to bring visitors to your website.

There are various traffic building websites that you can use to get traffic to your website for free. It is like an exchange.

Traffic Syndicate is a very good traffic exchange. You surf a few sites and then you can place your website their to be surfed.
(I surf yours, you surf mine) kind of idea.

You need to spread the word; tell people, post on forums (Relevant posts), post a blog, email your mates (Do not SPAM!) and advertise on social networking websites.

The most important thing, is to make sure that your website looks good or trustworthy. This way, if people visit but do not buy something the first, second or third time; they might come back and bu something the forth time because they believe that your website is trustworthy and they feel secure making transactions through it.

Keeping People

Once you have people registered with you or who have bought one of your products/services, then you need to do your best to keep them.
The best way for this is offers, great support and overall politeness.

Financing?

When setting up a business, finance is usually the biggest restriction and chooses when you can start a business. One way to plan for this is to setup a bank account while you’re still working and to put some money away which you can use to invest. You could also take out a loan from a bank if required but it is advised to avoid this if possible.

The most advised way to deal with equipment would be to make sure that you have enough money to purchase the equipment before hand so that you have it before you require it. This way, you do not need to worry so much about getting into debt.

In some circumstances, there can be hidden costs when you are setting up your own business.
I have found that the best way to avoid this would be to make a list of everything that you may require.

Do not forget that you also need to have a budget set away for marketing and general payments.

Please remember to make a list of what may be required and to price things up accordingly.

The Company Name?

Choosing a name for your business is a creative but important process. It is also something that you need to get right. Possible clients/customers may make an impression on the company based on its name.

Although it may be interesting to see what you can come up with from your personality, there are many reasons why you should not. Being objective and thinking carefully about your company name can reflect well on your company.

Choose a sensible name can make you or break you.

Advertising?

The first thing that you need to consider before starting to advertise is who are your target customers/audience.
I.e, their age,country,gender,etc

Now that you have taken a look at what your audience may be; you need to choose which media that you may use to advertise. I.e, radio,TV,newspaper,web site's,etc.

Try to make an idea of how you can get your advertising into the chosen media and how much it may cost you.
(This should not be so much of a sting, if you took note of the advertising budget.)

It is advised that you sell the main benefit of your product/service and try to show the "buyer" what you can do to help them or solve their problem.

Ty not to make the advertising of your new business too complicated. You have got too many other things to worry about.

Stage Two - The Plan

Now that you have thought about the online business; it is time to start making those all important plans. Without these plans, you may fail. The reason for this would be that you have not really taken in your ideas and let them prosper into facts.

Plans are useful because they allow you to see things and review them over and over again. This allows perfection or something along those lines of.
Nothing is ever perfect, you just have to keep working on it.

The stages of planning:

What to offer?
Finding a market?
How to stay in the chosen market?
What if i want to move market?
Your website?
Customer transactions & How?
Financing?

Each one the above need to be looked into, some with more depth than others but each with the same amount of interest because they may all be required.

What to offer?

Now that you have taken a look and thought about what you need to do in order to setup an online business; you need to start planning everything.

Let us start with what you are going to offer.

You could start off with a simple affiliate scheme, a resellers panel or some other commision based store.

If you have something to offer, I.e, if you are a Maidstone based Accountant then you can offer Accounting services for some nice prices.

If you want to sell website hosting then you could become a free reseller.

You could also setup your own clothes store.

There are many other ways to earn money online.

One of the most popular ways to do it would be for you to setup a Google Adsense account and earn revenue through your website.

You could be creative and think of something original.

Finding a market?

Now that you have looked at what you are going to offer, you need to look at who you are going to target your product/service towards.
Your target audience must be known so that you can make the advertising attract them.

"You need to sell your idea"

"Selling" your idea is the most effective way to get customers for the first time and maybe for a while after that.
By selling your idea; i mean that you need to show and tell them what your product/service can do for them and why they should buy it.

There are many products/services available and you need to choose a market which looks easier to manage. (I suggest this until you are off your feet and doing well.)

Please Watch the videos below to find out a little more.

How to stay in the chosen market?

Now that you have found a market and you have got work going on within it. The best option for now, would be to stay with that market and see what happenes. (If you have your fears then leave it and move to another.)

The best way to do this, would be for you to make sure that your product is well advertised, it attracts people and that you going to a few corporate meetings/events to get the word out.

Moving Market?

If you are already settled down into a market then it is advised that you should try to make a good go of things whilst you are there.
In the circumstance, where you are unable to work in that market or if you decide that it does not work well with what you are offering/selling then move market.

"The Move"

Once again, please think before you move because you may not be welcomed back into the other market if you leave.

To move market, you need to clear a few things up with the one you are in at the time of the move. Once you have cleared things up and are ready to move, you need to play out your ideas on your new chosen market.

If they work and your are happy with this new market, then by all means move to it.

Your website?

Now that you have thought and planned a majority of the others things that are required; you should take a look at your website.

Because you are now corporate, you need to think about it and getting your website hosted and designed.

You will need a nice looking and easy to use website.

This is the best way to get clients.

The website represents you and this is the most vital point. To get recognised, you must have a good site.

Please be aware that SEO is a good thing to work with. Search Engine Optimisation.

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