You’re considering starting an online business and now wondering what the first steps are.
By searching on the Internet you have already taken the first step to starting an online business- let’s see if I can help you.
In this post I will outline a few of the considerations require to get your online business off to a good start.
Table of Contents
Step 1 – 4 Essentials for A Successful Online Business
Regardless of the business model you choose there are four essential requirements that every online business must have.
Leave any one of these 4 out and your business will fail.
- A Niche.
A niche has been described as a particular product or group of people that have an interest in a particular subject.
Know your audience and know your product. Competition is very strong online and the better you understand your niche the more likely you are of attaining success.
You do not want too broad a niche. Examples of broad niches are sport, weight-loss, photography etc. These can all be broken down into much more targeted niches that will provide you with more favourable results and a greter income. - A Website.
Your business will be online and you will need a website.
Some people will say you don’t and that you can market successfully through social media platforms such as Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.
Yes I am sure you can get the odd sale by placing a link on these platforms – but success? NO!
To be successful a Website is an essential component.
A website and hosting need not be expensive and can even be obtained for free.
What may cost you is the set-up, design and ongoing maintenance of the site.
Far better to do this yourself and with a bit of training you can have your wesbite up and running in minutes. - Customers or Traffic, as it is known in the Online World.
OK so you have your niche chosen, you have your website up and running with your product on display and ready for sale.
Now you need customers – if no-one comes through your shop door you are not going to make any sales!
This is where your business will fail or succeed.
There are a lot of ways to get traffic online – you can pay for it by using one of many advertising methods or you can get it for free through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Getting traffic to your website will become the main focus of your online business.
I can show you where you can learn the various methods to find the one/s that best suit you. - Make Money Through Sales … $$ … ££ … €€
This is why you start an online business – sales will inevitably follow if the above 3 requirements are met.
Ironically, and naturally, people usually want to know how successful they are likely to be – or put another way “How much money will I make from my online business?”
The answer to that depends on how you treat your business. You need to show up every day and create value for your customers.
In return the business stays open 24/7 and will produce sales while you are sleeping – but only if you understand that sales should not be the focus of your attention.
Your attention should always be on providing relevant answers and solutions to your customers queries and concerns.
Give them the information they are looking for.
This comes back to knowing your niche market.
Build trust by helping people and the sales will come pouring in – it is as inevitable as night follows day.
Step 2 – What Type of Online Business Model Best Suits You
There are literally thousands of online business options – far too many to discuss in detail in this post.
Let’s have a look at the more common ones:
- Blogging – extremely popular because it is also perceived to be a great lifestyle. And it can be a dream life if your blogging is about something you have a passion for and could do every day of your life. Past times that come to mind are traveling, gardening, photography, sport, knitting and sewing and hobbies in general.
- Affiliate Marketing – this is how I make my money. Very similar to blogging, affiliate marketing can be based around something you are passionate about. Many of us start out this way as it is an easy way to get started. The beauty of Affiliate Marketing is its endless options with limitless products to choose – there are over 5.5 million products on Amazon alone and you can market any of them as an Amazon affiliate. It’s a great lifestyle and well worth looking at because of the excellent commission rates and vast array of skills you might learn (and be able to market for a fee) for example website building, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, Pay Per Click (PPC), Pay Per Action (PPA), article writing and many others including blogging. Like blogging it is a great lifestyle provided you work hard at it.
- Drop Shipping – similar to affiliate marketing but in a more restrictive way. Like affiliate marketing you promote vendors’s products and sell them through your website. Unlike affiliate marketing in drop-shipping you buy at the vendor’s price and on sell to your customers at a price you feel they will pay. In other words you add your own mark-up, whereas affiliate marketing pays a commission. With drop-shipping you are responsible for all the paperwork, the financial transactions (between you and the customer and you and the vendor) and deal directly with the customer in the event of disputes. It is far more hands on than affiliate marketing.
- Online Shop – another popular online business model. Pretty much like having a normal retail outlet except everything is done online. Shopify is a popular model and lots of folks make a ton of money this way. If you have a product to sell then this may be the online business model for you
- Online Services – With the increase in online business activities has come an increase in online services. Services such as website building and maintenance, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), graphic design, surveys, website hosting, article writing, product research and reviews and many more. Businesses are clamoring for services they lack in these specialist fields and pay handsomely for quality work. You can join sites like Fivver, Elance etc. to get started and to get established. Once established, with a loyal and supportive client base, the world might just be your oyster.
Step 3 – Requirements to Get Your Chosen Online Business Model Started
In addition to the 4 essentials for online businesses each business models has different requirements to get started.
Considerations will include, but are not limited to:
- Your financial goals
- Your product/niche
- Set-up costs – starting with a domain name.
- A website – build it yourself or pay someone to do it for you
- Legal requirements
- Accounting needs
- Hardware
- Software
- How much time you can put into your online business
- Staff requirements
- Preferred vendors
- and more …
Step 4 – Draw up a Detailed Business Plan
You cannot go into a business, online or otherwise, without a business plan.
- Where are you at right now and where do you want to be in 6 months time, a year, 5 years etc.?
- How are you going to achieve the goals set for each of these milestones?
- Plan for the best and prepare for the worst – have a plan B in the event things get derailed.
- What is your marketing strategy?
- Do you have a budget for 6, 12, 18 and 24 months?
- Have you calculated your projected sales?
- Who will be on your team?
- Ensure responsibilities are clearly laid out in detail.
- Do you have a mentor that you can be accountable to and bounce ideas off?
- Is your family on board.
- Have you decided on the products and vendors will you be promoting and supporting?
- What is your Niche market and do you fully understand your customer or are you hoping to throw stuff against the wall and hope something sticks? This latter approach will fail …
- Research, research and research your market, products and business model. Online marketing is an ever evolving beast. Some of it you cannot control so concentrate on what you can.
Starting an online business can be more daunting than, and as expensive as, opening a traditional business – the exceptions to this rule are blogging and affiliate marketing which can both be started in your spare time and at very little costs.
Step 5 – Start Your Online Business – Work Your Plan
You have a business model and a business plan – it’s time to get to work.
Follow your plan step by step and keep your eyes on the ball.
I remember when I first started as an internet affiliate marketer I kept looking at my stats and commission schedules. It was the wrong thing to do as it led to disappointment and created despondency.
I was told over and over again that I probably would not earn any money in the first 3 months and would be lucky to have any return in 6 months.
That didn’t stop me checking every 5 minutes – you know “just in case”.
I was wasting my time, time I could have spent working on my business by sticking to the plan!
If you have a plan of earning nothing in the first 3 months then why bother looking?
If on the other hand your business is a model like Shopify then you could expect to make sales as soon as possible but these appear immediately and there is no need to go searching for commission.
Work your plan and your plan will work for you.
Final Words on The First Steps to Starting an Online Business
I’m not here to tell you starting an online business is easy – it isn’t and it does require regular and diligent work.
I’d be lying if I said otherwise.
With my own personal business model (affiliate marketing) the only way anyone can fail is to give up!
Stick with your business plan, keep working and success will eventually catch up with you.
I’m here to help so please fire any questions or comments in the section below and I promise to get back to you soon with an answer or response.
All the best and …
Keep on trucking!