Seven Steps to Starting Your Internet Business

There is no reason to be afraid of creating an online business. It is a very easy process if you take it one step at a time. Let's make the assumption you aren't going to quit your day job (not yet, anyway). So how do you get started working part-time only?

Think of this as a step-by-step process.

Step 1. Forget the website for now!

Many people believe they have to start an online business with a website. This is wrong and a dangerous mistake. Why? Websites (particularly for a novice) can take a lot of time and money to create. Why start there when you aren't even certain you can make this work? Let's start easier.

You "think" you want an online business. Let's start by spending maybe $20. Sound ok?

Go to your closet or garage. Find four or five things to sell and list them on eBay. It's very easy to set up a seller account (and free) by following the eBay tutorials. The listing fees are very cheap compared to other methods of selling. It is an excellent place for a novice seller to start.

Now, when you make that first sale, do you feel a rush? If you don't feel the exhilaration that comes with selling something, don't quit your day job. An online business is NOT for you. But what if you do feel that rush? Time for step 2.

Step 2: Make the Business Legal

To start a business requires at the very least a business license (probably city/county and state) as well as a resale license. These are very easy to obtain. Start by going to your local city or county office (determined by where you live). Tell them you want to form a home-based business and they will give you the paperwork necessary. Also ask them what state obligations you have. They will point you in the right direction.

Now that you're all legal, it's time to find a product we can sell profitably.

Step 3: Choosing Profitable Products

In order to choose a profitable product to sell, you need to follow four steps: observe, analyze, test and commit. Start by observing the world around you. Look at trends reported daily in the news. For instance, obesity in America gets a lot of coverage and based upon your observations, it appears to be true.

Next, make some assumptions about the trend you have identified. For instance, if people are generally fatter, we can assume they don't like that and they are probably wearing bigger size clothes. Now let's test those assumptions.

Let's use eBay as a microcosm of a larger world. We can use one of many tools available on the market to analyze sales at eBay. "Auction Intelligence" is one of them. With Auction Intelligence, we determine that in the last 30 days at eBay, plus-size clothing for women has sold more than $191,000 and exercise equipment has sold in excess of $1.125M (all in 30 days!). Obviously, these could be profitable products for us to sell.

It's time to commit to one. So let's pick plus size clothing as our example. Now it's time to find a supplier.

Step 4: Finding Wholesalers

When we made the company legal, we obtained a resale license (unless you live in a sales tax-free state like Oregon). A resale license is required if you wish to purchase products from legitimate wholesalers. But how do we find legitimate wholesalers for your plus size clothing line?

There are three methods for finding legitimate wholesalers: thomasregister.com, trade shows, and trade magazines.

Thomasregsiter.com is a free service to you. You use the search tool on their website and find prospective wholesalers. For your plus size clothing line start by searching for "women's clothing" or "women's plus size clothing". You will have contact information available for all wholesalers which meet your search criteria (many will not have a website). Contact them by telephone or writing. You will ask them to send you a catalog (they may charge for the first catalog to make certain you are a serious buyer). That's one easy way to find wholesalers but you should also consider attending a trade show.

Trade shows are an excellent way to meet hundreds of prospective wholesalers face-to-face. Search the Internet or trade journals for a list of trade shows for your product line. Find a trade show near you and attend. Take lots of business cards!

Last, but not least, subscribe to trade magazines for your product line. There will be many articles on prospective wholesalers, as well as classified ads by many of them.

Now that you have a supplier, you need an outlet for selling your product.

Step 5: Creating An Online Presence

Those snazzy corporate web sites can cost millions of dollars. Do you need one? No! Customers expect you will have a web presence but start out easy. An eBay Store will cost you $15.99 a month (about the same as web hosting) and you can set it up in a day.

Professional designers spend years and thousands of dollars purchasing the right programs and learning how to use them. You can skip the learning curve by starting with an eBay Store. You eBay Store will be fully ecommerced-enabled (people can use a credit card) and you'll be ready for business in no time. But, it isn't that easy. We need to drive traffic (customers) to our web presence.

Step 6: Getting Customers To Our eBay Store

You may have noticed that eBay Stores show up in your search results when you are surfing the web for products. This is because your eBay Store has a unique URL (web address) just like a website. What does this mean for you?

You can place your eBay Store web address on your business cards. You can add the web address to your signature line on every email you send out. You can find hundreds of free online classified ad sites on the Internet to post your address. And, you can make your eBay Store searchable by the search engines by electing that option when you establish your eBay Store.

After the eBay Store has been producing well for you, you will establish a website. Every serious online business ultimately has their own website with their own name.

Step 7: Establish The Website

Establishing a website consists of three steps: securing a domain name, designing the website, and finding a web hosting service.

A domain name (the www.yourname.com of your business) is easy to secure. Simply contact any online accredited registrar, like godaddy.com or register.com. Pay a yearly fee (about $8.95 for a .com name) and get the name of your choice (if it's available). If it isn't available, choose a name that references your product or is easy to remember.

Website design can be done without professional assistance but not very effectively for a novice. You don't want a website that looks like a beginner did it. Get help with the design and writing your web site copy. Effective copy can make a huge difference in how many people buy from your web site.

Having a professional writer do all your copy will probably be too expensive. Instead, write your copy yourself and have a professional writer fix it up. It may take no more than an hour of their time. Become an expert on your product or something related to your product. Experts are in constant demand. Everyone wants to buy from an expert. Becoming known as an authority is probably easier than you realize.

Spend time at your local library reading up on a subject your customers care about. Use search engines to find more information online. Jot down the things you learn and spin them into short articles using your own words.

Once your website is ready to grace the Internet, it's time to find a web hosting service. You might want to ask your web designer or copywriter for suggestions. The most important part of a web hosting service is their reliability and low price.

Conclusion

You may not quit your day job today but your can plan your escape. Follow the steps we've identified above and that cubicle will become a thing of the past. Picture this?

No alarm goes off in my morning silence. I awake naturally to the sound of birds about 6:15am. I slip on my slippers and walk 40 feet to my home office. I'm at work! No disapproving boss monitors my every move. No crazy drivers tailgate my vehicle. I am at peace. I have a successful home-based business.

What stands between you and a 40 second commute? Nothing, except a little knowledge regarding how to start, and successfully run, your own business.

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a "Corporate Freedom Fighter" dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners throughout the country. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to "Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time".

____________________

Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!

Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!

Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!

Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!

Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!

In The News:

---

Best Syndication
A-1 Internet Design - Keeping Pace with the Global Internet marketing
Best Syndication, CA - 6 hours ago
Their web programming services are wide ranging; A-1 Internet Design professional expertise also extends to providing Internet marketing and search engine ...

Norwegian Cruise Line Selects Omniture to Provide a More ...
CNNMoney.com - 11 hours ago
Omniture Genesis integrates complementary third-party online marketing technologies with Omniture products. Omniture Genesis gives online marketers the ...
Norwegian Cruise Line Selects Omniture to Provide a More ... International Business Times
all 10 news articles

Hotelier’s 2009 Top Ten Internet Marketing Resolutions | By Max ...
Hospitality Net (press release) - Jan 6, 2009
Here at HeBS we firmly believe that a comprehensive, ROI-centric Internet marketing strategy is the hotelier's perfect "survival tool" in the current ...
Hotel Revenue Management Meets the Recession | By Neil Salerno ... Hospitality Net
all 3 news articles

Best Syndication
E-mail Marketing Tips for Small Business
Search Engine Watch - Jan 6, 2009
E-mail marketing isn't necessarily a function of search. Online marketing is about making money any way you can. Any well-rounded Internet marketing ...
Internet Marketing Tips and Predictions for 2009 Promotion World (press release)
all 3 news articles

Coremetrics Reports Mixed eCommerce Signals in December
MSNBC - 55 minutes ago
These findings are based on data from Coremetrics Benchmark(TM), the industry's only peer-level benchmarking solution that measures online marketing results ...

Article Marketing 101
A Pakistan News, Pakistan - 6 minutes ago
Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands ...

Internet Music Marketing 2009 Combining Traditional and Web 2.0
USPRwire (press release), UK - 1 hour ago
Internet Music Marketing ebooks and videos for the 2009 and beyond music artist. Trent Partridge author of the new book "Internet Marketing for Music Artist ...

IndiaBook Indian SEO Company Launches Search Marketing Outsourcing ...
PowerHomeBiz.com (press release) - 9 hours ago
January 7, 2009 ( PowerHomeBiz ) - India -- India SEO a Professional Internet marketing Firm located in Chandigarh, northern part of India, since 1999 has ...

New Class Helps Small Business Owners Utilize Social Networking ...
PitchEngine (press release), WY - 5 hours ago
As the President of the Internet marketing and strategy firm, Vision Business Concepts Inc, Lori has created successful techniques that help her clients ...

Mixer alert! Learn about Internet marketing
The Desert Sun, CA - Jan 6, 2009
An Internet marketing expert is scheduled to speak at this month's Women Leaders Forum of the Coachella Valley Desert Women Entrepreneurs Mixer. ...

internet marketing - Google News

Identify your Target Market by Tracking and Exploiting Profitable Search Engine Keyword Phrases

There's a very lucrative "marketing formula" to targeting prospects on the Internet with "laser-beam"-like precision.Unlike savvy marketers, most Internet businesses focus on generic "single-word" keywords, other than... Read More

How To Get An Instant Flow Of Traffic Doing What You Always Do

How DO you get a great flow of traffic for free? Well I know one way you can get great traffic doing what you do everyday you... Read More

Internet Marketing Help

If you're looking for Internet marketing help you've come to the right place. Below you will find several tips to help you navigate your way through the... Read More

The New Marketing Landscape

Many of us in the marketing services and/or agency business are starting to see some real tangible marketing patterns emerging that businesses need to be aware of... Read More

Internet Marketing is Changing Right Before Your Eyes!

There's no doubt about it . . .Big changes are in the air!In the midst of all the usual scams and rip offs, there's a New Wave... Read More

4 Reasons Why Having Your Own Product is Essential for Serious Marketers

I know what you're thinking, "Why is having your own product essential?" Quite simple really, without your own product you will never market to your full potential.... Read More

Sales Training: How To Succeed Online By Networking Your Business

The backbone of business success is communication.And networking is one of the most powerful sales training strategies that can open up an avalanche of leads for you.Networking... Read More

Anatomy of an Online Marketing Failure

Wife: "I'm getting sick of these harrassing bill collectors who call me all hours of the night and day."Husband: "I know Sweetheart. I'm going to turn things... Read More

Why You Must Have More Than One Niche Sites

Have you heard of diversifying your investment portofilio?No? Well, it's extremely famous in financial planning.Those financial planners will tell you that in order for you to minimize... Read More

The Secret Weapon of Successful Web Marketing Is

Impulse shopping in the checkout lane may be what drives grocery store profits, but chances are it doesn't do a thing for your business. Your customers are... Read More

Niche Marketing and Finding Your Way to Profits

If you haven't heard the word 'niche' being batted around by Internet Marketers then you haven't been listening. Finding a niche has become the antidote to competing... Read More

Stepping Outside the WAHM Zone

Often times on message boards you'll see several reps from the same company, making it difficult for all reps to gain enough sales. We've also seen issues... Read More

Local Search Makes Your Business a Big Fish in Your Local Community

The Internet Contains Billions of Website Pages - All Clamoring for AttentionWith so many competing websites, it's unlikely that yours could stand out among them. Until recently,... Read More

Effective Time Management Earns You More Money!

In this article, "product" means any tangible product, digital products (ebooks and software) and services such as membership sites, web design and development, hosting, "print on demand"... Read More

Making Money out of Your First Effort

Have this phrase broken through your life at least once? I think so, most of us want to be paid when we are sleeping, resting or on... Read More

Internet Marketing: Dr. Robert Anthony Reveals How To Use Quantum Physics To Supercharge Success

What secret dreams do you have for your Internet marketing business? Would you like to quickly expand your list to giant proportions? Would you love to have... Read More

Chasing New Business?

As well you should. New business is what makes the world go round. Your business relies on new business to survive. To get new business you must... Read More

Use Photos as Part of your Marketing Arsenal

Photos should be important parts of your marketing. The photos are useful- to document your offers- to achieve positive acceptance of what you are displaying- to function... Read More

The 3 Rules To Maximizing Profits From Banner Ads

Placing those ads on your site are designed to do just one thing, make you and the advertiser money. No it's not rocket science but there is... Read More

Targeted Traffic is More Important than Ever!

In the early days of web development, business owners had learned the very expensive lesson that a Web site with no visitors is of little value. Once... Read More

Learn Judo and Beat the Summer Traffic Blues

Did it seem like as the Fourth of July fireworks went up, your traffic went down? Or perhaps you are dreading your visitors taking a vacation and... Read More

Seven Sure Steps In Building Your Reputation Online

If you have to part with your hard-earned money for some goods or services, who would you rather trust: a novice provider or an expert one?The answer... Read More

Ten Tips for Getting More Sales From Your Website

(1) Create a Direct Response Website, with the minimum number of pages possible (e.g. an Index Page, a Contact Page, and an Order Page).(2) Make sure your... Read More

4 Ways In Which You Can Achieve Critical Mass

Critical Mass Website Promotion is the elite goal rarely attained by website marketers in any industry. Reaching critical mass and getting targeted website traffic on autopilot (meaning... Read More

Book Yourself Solid Key Number 2: Choose Your Ideal Clients

The Book Yourself Solid article series continues withKey Number 2: Choose Your Ideal ClientsYour clients are an expression and an extension of you. When I first started... Read More

The Struggling Internet Marketer

Instead of giving you advice on how to make a million bucks, and pretending to be famous and wealthy, I would like to talk about all the... Read More