Steps on how to start online business
If starting an online business was easy everyone will be in business. Now that you have an idea, of what product or service you are looking to promote or offer. Your next step is to find a consultant or mentor to guide you in that product line or spend the time and effort to dive into the research to know everything there is to know about the product you are looking to make, sell and promote. Just like when my cousin made that handshake deal, I was off to the races trying to figure everything I need to know on how to import goods from a different country. This is where you need to do the research on what other people in business are doing that is close to what you are trying to accomplish and see if you can repeat that process with your unique personality.
In case you missed my first business post: Check out my: Starting an Online Business post here.
What I did to start and online business:
- Work with a consultant that is knowledgeable in your product line or put in the effort to do the research yourself
- Where do I find a consultant? You can try doing a Google search or check out Fiverr, if your product is commercially available you can try asking your account lead for help on what is the best way to move their goods or ask them what others have done to move product
- Research your competition
- What are they doing that you can do better?
- Are they not serving a particular niche that you can leverage?
- How do they promote it, prepare it and move it?
Get on your competitors mailing lists so you can observe how they are promoting their goods and services. Are they following a seasonal pattern? Are there current events happening in the news that they take advantage of for cross promotions? When I used to sell my coffee online, I followed the marketing strategy from my first Online company that I used to work for. They sent out seasonal promotions every quarter and since they were in the music and entertainment business, they promoted products that was complimentary to the special events that were coming up. Like the music awards, Grammy’s and VMA’s. What ever it took to keep the brand alive they would follow through on.
Where we left off, starting an online business:
- Decide what product or service you are going to offer your audience
- What need or void are you trying to fill for your audience or clients
- Write down your business plan or overall objectives of what you want to do and let your mind process what it takes to get there.
- Take Action
- Come up with a business name to register through LEGALZOOM
- Open a business account and be sure you understand the business fees your banks will charge
- Have an initial investment ready to start your business
- You will need to research what that is and understand what the ongoing costs are. When you start your business, it can take at least 6 months to a year to see any money come in to cover your ongoing costs. Be sure you understand this step before committing your investment to your business
- Download the free Online Cost Of doing Business Worksheet to help you plan for your budget
- Roll Up your sleeves and do the research on how best to promote your goods and service
- Find a consultant or mentor to help guide you or do the research yourself
Online Platforms
Now that you have your product in mind, and you have your business consultant or research in hand your next order of business is the platform you will use to promote your goods and service.
Types of online business platforms:
- Your Own Website
- 3rd party
- Amazon Seller
- eBay
- Shopify
Pros and Cons of platforms
I personally prefer my own website, since it’s yours to control and you are not defined by a strict policy agreement of the 3rd party. Now there are guidelines you must follow from your own hosting provider, but it is less restrictive. You will need to leverage a social media platform to cross promote and share updates to your followers, but I prefer to have a main website to use for my blog post and product shopping carts. Leveraging other platforms other then your own does take one aspect out of the equations which is the technical aspect up setting up:
- Domain name
- SSL certificate for keeping your site and shopping carts secure
- Mailbox
- Web designers
Just to name a few.
If you do decide to setup your own website but choose to hire a professional web designer that works with WordPress, you can spend thousands of dollars and additional time to bring your website to market. If you are going to setup a blog post you will need to learn how to post new work yourself or you will be paying someone to do that for you. A WordPress back-end site is one of the easiest websites to promote new blogs.
If you are technically incline or someone who is more of a DYI you can do what I did and that’s the hybrid approach.
Items I purchased to create my own website: (Yes there are cheaper version, but this is what I used)
- Go Daddy Web Hosting package w/Auto SSL
- Domain Name
- Microsoft Office with One Drive
- https://themeforest.net/ Website Templet
- $60 for a fitness website look at the Demo
- Plugins you will need:
- Yoast SEO
- WooCommerce
- Mailchimp (to help manage your email list)
- Google Analytics (GAIN)
The Hybrid Approach
GoDaddy does cost more but I feel they offer better customer service. Their websites are very intuitive and easy to follow. When choosing a hosting package, they do pair it with all the secondary items you will need like domain name, SSL Certs and mailbox. Their tech support is ultra-friendly and will help you set certain technical items up. You can save thousands of dollars by simply setting up your web hosting site and work with Go Daddy support to get it ready to turn over to your web developer or Fiverr consulting service.
Checkout what you get from Fiverr
- 10 web pages
- Design customization
- Content upload
- You will need to plan your website and have content ready to upload
- For stock photos I used: https://depositphotos.com/
- 10 plugins/extensions
- Yoast SEO
- WooCommerce
- Google Analytics
- MailChimp
- You will need to make accounts for all these service
- E-commerce functionality
- You will need to set up a Credit Card processing company if you’re planning on selling items. Be sure your goods and services are not on the restricted policy of your credit card company, or they will cancel your account and freeze your funds for at least 180 days. I know this from experience.
- 10 products
Once you have your website up: Check out The Best Free Guest Posting Sites for Building Backlinks and 5 Reasons to start an online business
Grand Total
For $150 you can have a basic website set with blogging ready to go in no time and as you grow you can make changes gradually but, in the meantime, you’re up and running promoting your latest product or services. You will need to create accounts for your web developer or Fiverr consultants but only to the WordPress site. Do not give up any credentials to your GoDaddy portal unless you absolutely know you can trust the team you’re working with. I have never given up such control to anyone.
I will leave here for now and continue next week. Stay tuned!
Please leave your comments on any experience you have on starting an online business or just drop me a line to say hello or if you have any questions regarding web hosting.
Good Luck!
Vito
Wrap Up
Finally, read MY STORY on how I was fat and unmotivated, turned my life around, and stopped eating ultra-processed foods. Not only will I tell you what I did to start the process of losing weight but also how I added exercise to do it right. I am a regular guy following a simple plan who was able to change his life around, and you can too. Also, check out Stop the Global Fast Food Insanity! – FAT FIT FREE , Losing weight with psychedelic mushrooms! and How Exercise Improves Your Mental Health– FAT FIT FREE
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