Like most people I started my online business knowing absolutely nothing. What was worse…I didn’t even know anyone I could turn to and if I had known anyone I was to ignorant on the subject to even know what questions to ask.
So for those of you who are putting this internet thing together for the first time, this article is your life line. It will save you lots of time and a heck of a lot of money. I’m going to cover the six essential things you must have in order to have a complete online presence, share the sites I used and what I learned.
The number one most important thing you’ll need is GOOD COACHES! I can’t emphasize that enough. Without good coaches you will wander around the vast internet until you drop from exhaustion. Unless you have an explorer’s mentality like Columbus, you must get your self good coaching.
I know Most People starting their internet businesses are strapped for cash, I get it, and if you get yourself good coaches you won’t waste any of it. They will help you avoid the money traps that can drain your valuable resources and your resolve. But more importantly, they can point you to the promised land.
Now, to play the internet marketing game you’re going to need a few things to be in place. To start with you’re going to need a Domain Name. There are a few important things you should know before choosing your domain name so make sure you get coaching on it. There are a number of sites where you can register your Domain name for as little as $2.00 each. Godaddy is one of the more popular and very reasonably priced.
Next comes your website or blog. While you’ll want to give it careful consideration there is no need to for you to spend lots of money at this point. There are many thousands of sites that will allow you to set up very professional looking site free. Blogger and WordPress are among the more popular. Both are excellent choices, choose the one that best serves your you.
An autoresponder will also be one of your most useful tools. This is the system that will manage your list and automate your sales and marketing campaigns. “Are there free auto responder services”? Absolutely, the ones I used early on were Responsebot and JV-Marketers. The only problem is that there is no support. So when I got stuck I had to figure it out on my own which often cost me quite a bit of time. Not only that but the number and quality of features offered by the free service were terribly inferior compared to the paid service. It wasn’t long before I opted to use a paid service. If you’re there… you’ll want to check out either Aeweber, or possibly Constant Contact. Both have excellent system features, designs and support. You’ll have to check them both out against your needs and choose the one that works best for you.
Of course you’ll want to monetize your site in order to make any money. For that you will need a product or service. If you don’t have either…not to worry there are literally thousands of developers who would love to have you market their products. In that regard affiliate marketing services such as Clickbank or Commission Junction will accommodate your needs. They are free services with thousands of products you can promote on your site. But don’t go over board. Remember that your primary responsibility is to offer value to your perspective customer in your particular market niche, product sales is a distant second to that. If you’re not providing value… how good your product is won’t matter because no one will show up to buy it.
Whether you choose to promote existing products or your own product you will need a well written capture page. If you are offering a product developers product they will already have a number of different customizable capture pages. If you are promoting your own product you will have to develop your own. Again Google or Bing can support you in your search. Simply type in “lead capture page” you will get a million results.
If you intend to market your site via social networks such as facebook or twitter, then automation will be your best friend and there are two categories of options. One is the downloadable bots like Tweetank, the other is online services such as Hootsuite or Social Oomph. Both work well, just remember if you choose the downloadable bots and you have a power outage or system crash; that portion of your business will be shut down until the situation is rectified.
Once you’ve had a chance to gain some experience…and some money, you can add bells and whistles. Until then keep it simple.
Want to find out more about online marketing? Then visit Marion’s home based business resource center. On your visit be sure to register for the free “Famous In 60 Days” facebook webinar to learn more aboutmaking_money_on_facebook.
