Make Money Starting Your Own Home Business

You’ve been thinking about starting your own home business, but until now, it’s been just a dream. Now I’m going to help it become a reality for you. In part 2 How to Start a Home Business – Getting Started, I cover the following: constructing a website, setting up a sales processing system, personal customer service, open for business, and finally review, rewrite, and revise.

If you missed part 1, here’s a link to How to Start a Home Business – Getting Started.

Step 6: Constructing A Website

Today web sites are becoming easier to create. You don’t even have to know a line of HTML in order to create an effective Web page yourself. Pick a Web address (otherwise known as a URL, or Uniform Resource Locator) that’s easy to remember. You can purchase a short domain-name alias, such as company.com, to replace a longer one like internetprovider.com/~username/companyname/index.html. If the ideal dot-com (.com) name isn’t available, you can choose one of the newer domain suffixes such as .biz.

An easy way to get a great website that has everything and is fully optimized is to use Site Build It, they help you every step of the way and provide plenty of video tutorials. This is the way to go if you don’t know anything about website building. Read my Site Build It article review for more information.

Another popular option is WordPress, a templating system which includes widgets that can be rearranged without editing PHP or HTML code, as well as themes that can be installed and switched between. The PHP and HTML code in themes can also be edited for more advanced customizations.

If your interested in building your own website, be sure to check out my templates photoshop and website design articles. You’ll find lot’s of great content to help you get started with html or wordpress.

Deciding On A Top – Level Domain Name

Where does a business like yours get the easy-to-remember addresses you need? You purchase them from one of the approved domain name registrars. A registrar is a business that has been designated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as having the responsibility for keeping track of the names registered in one of the top-level domains. Originally, there were six domains; but as .com and others became crowded, alternatives were eventually approved.

If you need to purchase a domain name, you’ll need a good domain registration company. Team up with the internets best. GoDaddy the internets #1 domain registrar, also the company I use for all my domain registration needs.

The domains available are shown below.

The list of domains presented by ICANN indicates that certain domains are “restricted” only to certain types of individuals or organizations. For instance, .biz is restricted to businesses, .pro is restricted to licensed professionals, and so on. In actual practice, businesses don’t observe such restrictions very strictly. The .net domain, which was originally intended for network service providers such as ISPs and Web hosts, is commonly used by businesses that can’t find their ideal name in the .com domain, for example. You aren’t necessarily limited to one domain, either.

Make Your Site Content – Rich

Provide Compelling Content

The textual component of a Web site is what attracts visitors and keeps them coming back on a regular basis. The more useful the information and compelling content you provide, the more visits your site will receive. By compelling content, I’m talking about words, headings, or images that induce visitors to interact with your site in some way. You can make your content compelling in a number of ways:

Provide a call to action, for example “Click Here!” or “Buy Now!”

Explain how the reader will benefit by clicking a link and exploring your web site.

Briefly and concisely summarize your business. Concise communication is key to having your dream realized.

Scan or use a digital camera to capture images of your sale items (or of the services you provide), and post them on a Web page called Products.

Don’t forget the personal touch when it comes to connecting with your customers’ needs. People who shop online don’t get to meet their merchants in person, so anything you can tell about yourself helps to personalize the process and put your visitors at ease.

Step 7: Setting Up A Sales Processing System

Online Success

Many businesses go online and then are surprised by their own success. They don’t have systems in place for finalizing sales, shipping out purchased goods in a timely manner, and tracking finances and inventory.

An excellent way to plan for success is to set up ways to track your business finances and to create a secure purchasing environment for your online customers. That way, you can build on your success rather than be surprised by it.

Providing A Means For Secure Transactions

Getting paid is the key to survival as well as success. When your business exists only online, the payment process is not always straightforward. Make your Web site a safe and easy place for customers to pay you. Provide different payment options and build your customers’ level of trust any way you can.

Paypal offers a great way to start accepting credit card and check payments online, all you do is put in your PayPal link on your website and let PayPal do the rest. For more details on setting up a paypal merchant account visit PayPal.com.

Becoming A Credit Card Merchant And Setting Up A Merchant Account

The words electronic commerce or e-commerce bring to mind visions of online forms and credit card data that is transmitted over the Internet. Do you have to provide such service in order to run a successful online business? Not necessarily. Being a credit card merchant makes life easier for your customers, to be sure, but it also adds complications and extra costs to your operation.

I don’t want to discourage you from becoming credit card ready by any means, but you need to be aware of the steps (and the expenses) involved, many of which may not occur to you when you’re just starting out. For example, you may not be aware of one or more of the following:

Merchant accounts: You have to apply and be approved for a special bank account called a merchant account in order for a bank to process the credit card orders that you receive. If you work through traditional banks, approval can take days or weeks. However, a number of online merchant account businesses are providing hot competition, which includes streamlining the application process.

Fees: Fees can be high but they vary widely, and it pays to shop around. Some banks charge a merchant application fee ($300 to $800). On the other hand, some online companies such as PayPal charge no application fee.

Discount rates: All banks and merchant account companies (and even payment companies like PayPal) charge a usage fee, deceptively called a discount rate. Typically, this fee ranges from 1 to 4 percent of each transaction. Plus, you may have to pay a monthly premium charge in the range of $30–70 to the bank.

American Express and Discover: If you want to accept payments from American Express and Discover cardholders, you must make arrangements through the companies themselves. You can apply online to be an American Express card merchant by going to the American Express Merchant Homepage and clicking the Apply to Accept the Card link. At the Discover Card merchant site, click the Become a Merchant link, which leads you to the application for credit card merchants.

Software and hardware: Unless you depend on a payment service such as PayPal, you need software or hardware to process transactions and transmit the data to the banking system. If you plan to accept credit card numbers online only and don’t need a device to handle actual “card swipes” from in-person customers, you can use your computer modem to transmit the data. 1st American Card Service lets you use software called PCCharge Express for processing transactions with your browser, but you have to either purchase the software for $295 or lease it for rates that vary from $22 to $34 per year. The hardware involved is a terminal or phone line, which you can either purchase for $229 or lease for anywhere from $17 to $26 per month, depending on the length of the lease.

The good news is that getting merchant status is becoming easier, as more banks accept the notion that businesses don’t have to have an actual, physical storefront in order to be successful.

Step 8: Personal Customer Service

Outstanding Personal Customer Service

The Internet may not seem like a place for the personal touch, but technology didn’t actually create the Internet and all of its content; people did that. In fact, the Internet is a great place to provide your clients and customers with outstanding, personal customer service.

In many cases, customer service on the Internet is a matter of being available and responding quickly to all inquiries. You check your e-mail regularly; you make sure you respond within a day; you cheerfully solve problems and hand out refunds if needed. By helping your customers, you help yourself, too. You build loyalty as well as credibility among your clientele. For many small businesses, the key to competing effectively with larger competitors is by providing superior customer service.

Your knowledge and experience are among your most valuable commodities. So you may be surprised when I suggest that you give them away for free. Why? It’s a “try before you buy” concept. Helping people for free builds your credibility and makes them more likely to pay for your services down the road.

Someone once told me “if you give everything and more away for free, then people will know what you have for sale is really good and worth buying”, and I truly believe that.

Make Your Web Site A Go-To Resource Site

Many online entrepreneurs succeed by making their Web sites not only a place for sales and promotion but also an indispensable resource, full of useful hyperlinks and other information, that customers want to visit again and again. For example, I give away a lot of valuable home business content for free on www.makecashnow.biz. I feel strongly that the secret on the Web is to provide a solution to a problem and, for the most part, to do it for free.

I could have easily made a ebook full of many of my great tips and sold it for $50, but instead I made the content free and accessible to everyone. I choose to make money thru advertising, which most people will click on when they are ready to leave my site. Advertising is a great way to make money with your website, we will talk about it more later.

In order to be successful and make money, you need to give people a reason to visit your site on a regular basis. Having repeat customers makes it easier to be successful, otherwise you’ll have to generate new traffic each and every day.

Email Auto-responders

Become An Expert E-mailer

For an online business, knowing the names and addresses of people who visit and who don’t necessarily make purchases is a gold mine of information. The business can use the contact information to send members special offers and news releases; the more frequently contact is maintained, the more likely those casual shoppers will eventually turn into
paying customers.

Aweber is one of the best company’s to use for your email auto-responder needs, they are the industry leader and their program features are excellent.

Use an auto-responder to email newsletters, offers, tips, or free gifts.

Become A Super e-mailer

E-mail is, in my opinion, is the single most important marketing tool that you can use to boost your online business. Becoming an expert e-mail user increases your contacts and provides you with new sources of support, too.

The two best and easiest e-mail strategies are the following:

Check your e-mail regularly and as often as possible.

Respond to e-mail inquiries immediately.

Additionally, you can e-mail inquiries about co-marketing opportunities to other Web sites similar to your own. Ask other online business owners if they will provide links to your site in exchange for you providing links to theirs. And always include a signature file with your message that includes the name of your business and a link to your business site.

Step 9: Open For Business

Get The Word Out

In order to be successful, small businesses need to get the word out to the people who are likely to purchase what they have to offer. If this group turns out to be only a narrow market, so much the better; the Internet is great for connecting to niche markets that share a common interest.

The Internet provides many unique and effective ways for small businesses to advertise, including search services, e-mail, newsgroups, electronic mailing lists, and more.

Try them all and see which ones are most effective for you! Don’t forget about advertising offline as well, offline advertising can still be very effective.

Listing Your site with Search Engines

How, exactly, do you get listed on the search engines such as Yahoo! and Lycos? Frankly, it’s getting more difficult. Many of the big search services charge for listings. But some let you contribute a listing for free, though there’s no guarantee if or when you’ll see your site included in their databases.

Add your site to local searches: Most of the search engines have local search functions, and you should definitely appear there. Visit www.local.yahoo.com, www.local.google.com, and www.superpages.com to list your site.

You can also increase the chances that search services will list your site by including special keywords and site descriptions in the HTML commands for your Web pages. You place these keywords after a special HTML command (the <META> tag), making them invisible to the casual viewer of your site.

You will also need to make sure all your web pages have been search engine optimized, so the search engines will pick them up. Be sure to read my search engine optimization articles so you know exactly what you need to do.

Step 10: Review, Rewrite, and Revise

Update Regularly

Getting your business online now and then updating your site regularly is better than waiting to unveil the perfect Web site all at one time. In fact, seeing your site improve and grow is one of the best things about going online. Over time, you can create contests, strike up cooperative relationships with other businesses, and add more background information about your products and services.

Businesses on the Web need to evaluate and revise their practices on a regular basis. Online business is a process of trial and error. Some promotions work better than others. The point is that it needs to be an ongoing process and a long-term commitment. Taking a chance and profiting from your mistakes is better than not trying in the first place.

Another thing to remember, content can become dated you may need to update or replace it from time to time. Also consider changing what’s on your home page from time to time. Add new pictures, new text, if there’s a holiday coming up use something holiday themed. People like to see new content and tire of looking at the same old thing.

Rate This Article:  (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading …

Popularity: 2% [?]