The Everyday Entrepreneur

Starting an Online Business: What You Need to Know

The ultimate home business is, in my opinion, computer based, and better yet, web based. What's not to like about a business that:

Can be managed from a desktop computer in the comfort of your own home
Makes it easy to spend time with your family
Has a relatively low start-up cost
Has relatively low overhead
Is clean and non-toxic
Can be done day or night from anywhere in the world
Is fun!

There are many business you can start from your computer-- I will focus on those that that are computer centered, such as:

Web Design/Maintenance
Publishing
- E-books
- E-zines
Online Auctions
Virtual Marketplace
Proofreading/Editing
Classes/Teleseminars
Any combination of these!

In order to begin a web-based business, you need to spend a little time learning about the internet, researching what sort of business would be best for you, and learning to how to start, promote, and maintain an online business. It's intense at first, and you can actually never stop learning, because the online world changes so quickly. I will share here some of the most important things I've learned and some of the best resources I've found in operating my own online business. Good luck!

Website Creation: Domain Names, Hosting, and HTML (or not)

The first thing (assuming that you have a computer and internet access) you will need is a good e-commerce website. What's that, you ask? E-commerce means 'business on the internet,' and an e-commerce site will usually have a shopping cart and secure pages for processing payments. You can learn to code HTML (the programming language used for websites) from scratch, or you can do as I did, and encourage an interested family member to learn it. Who's going to know that your webmaster is 11 years old, and further, who's going to care as long as everything works well (and your webmaster will grow up--- mine will soon be a college grad)? You can create a site on a shoestring, but there is one thing you must buy-- your domain name. The URL of your website should be www.yourbusinessname.com, not something like www.yourchildhoodnickname.freewebsite@patheticbeginner.com. Having a strong, professional domain name is a signal that you are a serious business-person, not a fly-by-night operation, or a 10-year-old prankster.

If you want to avoid learning HTML at the outset, I recommend that you purchase Macromedia's Dreamweaver. This is wonderful program-- professional web designers use it, but so do I. My pathetically small knowledge of HTML isn't even necessary when using Dreamweaver, as the program has an WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface. However, you can look at the code view also, which is a terrific feature. I keep the code window open at the top of my editing page, and I can type directly into either view. I'm learning more HTML more easily than I ever did just trying to do it from scratch. There are other web design programs available, but frankly, most of them are Mickey (trademark protected rodent). If you want a decent website and a program that can grow with you for the remainder of your business life, get Dreamweaver or Adobe GoLive, which is another professional-quality program that will do what you need it to. Don't-- and I do mean this-- don't get stuck with little baby programs that will tie you up in knots and produce an unprofessional looking site. Good tools save time, aggravation, and money, so get what you need.

If you are lucky enough to be a college student or a homeschooler, students and teachers can order software at a dramatically reduced price-- as much as 75% off the regular cost at sites such as Studica or Academic Superstore. I've used both these sites and they are incredibly fast and efficient. You just have to supply proof of your qualifications to order-- your student identification, your course listing, or whatever else they suggest. Very simple, and definitely worth it.

The simplest option for web creation is an all-in-one e-commerce package. Find a vendor that offers an entire e-commerce package, and at least half your work is done for you. I'm not talking about the cheapie hosting services that offer awkward templates for beginner websites, but about services that offer domain hosting, nicely designed and customizable site templates and all the features you need to make a highly profitable e-commerce site, including search engine optimizers and a good support staff.

Do your research carefully here-- this is the equivalent of renting office space for a non-web-based business-- location can make or break your business! You're going to be in a very cozy relationship with the company you choose for a very long time (provided that all goes well), so read all the information the company offers on their website. Look especially for testimonials from users, and check out the websites the users have created with the e-commerce hosting service you are considering. This will tell you a lot about what a successful site looks like, how customizable the company's site designs are, and much more.

I have assembled my site piece by piece over the years, and although I'm happy with my hosting company, it is not always convenient to have to keep up with all the bits and pieces-- a counter from one company, stats from somewhere else, domain names from still another company. I don't have time for all this! So what can I do about it?

The Anybody-Can-Do-It Website

When my current hosting plan expires, I'm seriously considering moving my site to a full-service e-commerce provider, Site Build It. Some of my very favorite sites have been built with this incredible all-in-one e-commerce site creator, and I'd like to get my hands on it. It has every single feature I want for my site, particularly the features that keep an e-commerce site high in the search-engine rankings. Not only does it do more than the patchwork of tools I've put together, it seems that it would be a whole lot easier to use. For a home business person, time is money, so easy is good!

You can read more about it by clicking on the button below. Be sure to notice how much support the company offers, too. I've learned a lot from the site about marketing, elements that make a site successful, and other essentials for e-commerce. This company gives away more information for free than many sites offer in their most valuable info-packs! So be sure to at least visit the site and learn a few things. Some of the great free e-book downloads that I offer come from this company, so if you have downloaded them, you'll know what I mean about quality materials and great support.
Click here to learn more!

Website Building for the Cheapskate

If you want to do as I did, go ahead and start pulling together the ingredients of an internet business. As we discussed, you must first purchase your domain name. I buy all my domain names from GoDaddy. Not only are they cheap, but they have been super-reliable for all the years I've used them. The hosting service I use is called iPowerWeb, and I have been very happy with what they offer, and their prices are excellent. Best of all, their servers seem totally reliable-- my website has never gone down in all the time I've been with them. The most economical way to buy both domain names and web hosting is with a multi-year rate. Once you've selected a service you like, go with the longest terms you can afford.

Once you have the domain name secured, you will need the following items:

A place to host your website
A way to process payments
A plan for fulfilling orders
A way to stay in touch with your customers
A plan for marketing

Coming soon! More resources, and information about what to do once you get your domain name and website.

What Kind of Internet Business Should You Start?

There are so many different types of businesses you can do online-- information marketing, selling a product that you create, selling a product that someone else creates, and many other opportunities. There are several resources for exploring the options, but if you're serious about creating a business, and need to have it up and running fairly quickly, you can get a jump start by attending an intensive internet business seminar. These aren't cheap, but the amount of time and effort they save in the learning curve will usually more than pay for the cost of attendence.

One seminar I attended as I was beginning to study internet business ideas was the Big Seminar. This is a huge, weekend event with multiple speakers who are successful in different branches of online business. If you attend, you not only learn about the many possible ways to earn money on the internet, you also get a lot of solid information about exactly how to do it.

You are also encouraged to network at the meals and between seminars, and you can learn an amazing amount, just listening to conversations and asking questions over lunch. This seminar occurs twice a year, so I'll try to post a banner or other link before each seminar, so you can learn more. If you visit this page and there is no current banner, just bookmark it and come back, because it will show up sooner or later;-).

I took an entire notebook full of notes, and it's something I still refer to for reminders and ideas. I implemented several of the ideas I learned, and the year after I attended the Big Seminar, my income doubled from the previous year. I was able to observe people at various stages of business, and to learn about systems and tools that make managing an online business very simple.

There were several homeschool parents and teens there, and if your teen has any entrepreurial interest at all, I highly recommend taking him or her along. I believe there is a discount for a second family member to attend, and if you attend once, you receive something like 50% off when you return to future events.

Stephen Beck's Online Entrepreneur Newsletter

The Becks offer a look at online business from a Christian perspective, and they have many great resources. I first met them at the Big Seminar, and have found the information they offer to be very helpful.

Resources for Creating an Online Business

The Non-Designer's Web Book by Robin Williams: Trust me, you need this. If you have no graphic design experience, Williams' brief, simple book will save you from many of the sins of the very-bad-webmaster. She will help you produce clean, clear, attractive pages that load quickly. Her other book, The Non-Designer's Design Book, is a great resource for designing print media, including your business card, stationery, and brochures. This first edition of this book has been within reach of my desktop since it was first published, and I still use it.

Web Hosting Services: I host my websites on my own virtual dedicated server, which I have through GoDaddy. If you plan to start small, then grow, look for a plan that will grow with you. Most services offer small business plans that are more than adequate for a start-up venture, but as your traffic increases, you'll need to keep an eye on your site to be sure that your server is adequate.

Yahoo!- Reliable, affordable business hosting from Yahoo! Web Hosting.
Netfirms- Discover why Netfirms hosts over 1,000,000 Websites.
Blue Page- Build a great web site ? no experience necessary!
StartLogic- Free setup/domain, Web builder, unlimited emails, PHP, mySQL, CGI, FrontPage. From $6.50/month. Click Here for more info.
Blue Host- Introducing $7.95 Hosting, Free Setup and $75 Marketing Rebate
IXWebHosting- $4.95/mo - Superior Service with Excellent 24/7 Toll Free Support, Live Chat, and Email. Linux AND Windows packages!!!

Affiliate Marketing
One terrific way to increase your income is to add affiliate links to your website. This is called passive income, because once you add the links, your work is done. It's totally free to become an affiliate, and each time someone clicks a link and purchases one of the products you list, you earn a commission! This is the company I use to process my e-book orders and affiliates. They are one of the oldest in the industry, and despite a less-than-intuitive website, they do a great job, and their tech support is excellent. I highly recommend working with them!

Online Storefronts: If you have a product to sell, one quick and easy way to get set up is to use one of the big-name services. Both E-bay and Yahoo offer reasonable packages for online sellers-- just compare them and see which works best for what you have to sell.

Online Business Opportunity

If you would like to earn a commission for offering Transcripts Made Easy on your own website, CLICK HERE. As an Everyday Education affiliate, you can earn 33% of the sale price each time someone clicks on a link on your website and purchases an e-book. It's super-easy to sign up, and it's a good way to earn extra money while sharing valuable information with others.