Hello and welcome to Market Further. As this site is filled in you will find lots of wonderful information on starting your own online business. There are a few basic components that you’ll need and we will cover all of these in future posts. For now I will give you a summary of the steps involved in creating an online presence.
Business Ideas
First off, you need an idea of course. For some business ideas come easily and for others it is a struggle. Either way once you have an idea you should really make sure there is a market or an audience for this idea before you get started with anything else. Thorough market research is critical to a successful business. There are lots of ways to approach this and we will cover some of my favorites.
A Business Plan
Once you have a solid business idea with an eager audience, you’ll need a business plan. This is where you will break up everything that needs to be done into manageable chunks and it will allow you to see your timeline from a realistic perspective. One of the wonderful things about an online business is that you don’t necessarily need much upfront cash to get started. In fact it could sort of be done with no money at all, but you will be best served if you have at least a meager sum to get started.
Making it Official
With your business plan in hand, it is time to get official. If you are in the United States this means setting up an LLC or incorporating your business. Personally I prefer the simplicity of an limited liability company structure, but you can consult an accountant or lawyer if you want to go into more specifics. This step is optional as you can just run the business out of your name, but your personal assets won’t be protected and frankly that worries me, so I like to be nice an safe behind an LLC.
Creating a Website
Next up, you need a website. I like to use Instant Domain Search as I can just type things in as they come to mind and see if they are available. Your website should either be your brand name or a something related to the keywords of your business. Your site can take different forms depending on what you need it to accomplish. If you have a physical product it will be an ecommerce shop type of site. Others might just be selling a digital product. And still others may just be promoting other people’s products (affiliate marketing) or just running advertisements around their content.
The Best Web Hosting
The simplest way to get your site up fast is to buy some inexpensive web hosting from Blue Host (you can register your URL at the same time) and then install WordPress on it. There are lots of free themes to make your site look good. I use and recommend Headway and will be conducting a full review of the new Headway 3.0 soon. Then write some content for your site and make sure everything is working correctly.
Connecting With Your Audience
Next you’ll want to get your audience to your site. First you should optimize your site for search engine traffic. There is lots to be said for this and we’ll be covering it in detail another time. You can also consider various types of online advertising: Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook, and a litany of others. You’ll also want to set up a social presence on Facebook and Twitter to connect with your customers directly and be active on your website blog to establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Refine and Profit
The final step is to review and refine your business to improve your bottom line. This includes analyzing statistics for your website traffic, the performance of your advertising, split testing new campaigns, tweaking copy, improving your product, and a whole host of other possibilities.
That’s all for now. Look for more soon. Best of luck and cheers!