Thanks to the Internet it has never been easier how to start a small business online and learn how to make money with different ideas.
However, easier does not always mean better or more successful.
Because there are so many variables that go into getting started what we are going to do in this article is just focus on starting a small business that relies on the Internet for everything you need to get started.
Doing this makes it possible for anyone, anywhere, and with any kind of background and current money situation, to start a small business online.
Need-Based Niche
You hear a lot about choosing a niche, and for a good reason, I would suggest you choose a niche based on a need. With billions of web pages, online the last thing you want to do with your small online business is to try to create a need.
A better approach is to find a need and then build a business to fill that need. The best way to do that is to become a problem solver.
A problem solver has a small business that has identified a niche where there is a problem looking for a solution. Do that and you can spend 100% of your time developing your business around this idea.
Look at my blog. David BishopMoneyMakingTips.com is in the wealth niche. This is what is called an evergreen niche.
It will never go out of style. There is a never-ending number of prospects coming online every day looking for tips and ideas on how to make more money.
I have taken the wealth niche and drilled it down to a micro-niche by specifically targeting people who are looking for ways to make money. It is a great niche to be in and the fact I can help people makes it even better.
Click here right now for our review, my personal help, and instant access to our free training videos where we'll show you exactly how we did it ourselves starting out as complete beginners without ANY prior knowledge or experience in marketing online whatsoever!
Establish Your Budget
You are starting a new business and the word business suggests you are going to have operating costs.
However, the fact you are doing it online provides many benefits to you from a cost standpoint. Here are the 4 basics.
1. Domain name. Choose something that represents what your business is about.
The cost is around $15 a year. If you choose Blue Host for your website hosting they give you a free domain name for the first year.
2. Website hosting. This is where you will establish your online presence.
You can find hosting for anywhere from $4 to $10 a month at sites such as Godaddy, Bluehost, and Host Gator. All of them have a one-click setup for your website using WordPress.
3. Use a WordPress theme. Build your online site using WordPress and make it very easy on yourself.
There are many great themes for free you can start with. If you prefer to upgrade to a more elegant theme check out ElegantThemes.com.
4. Autoresponder. This is going to be one of your most important tools. I personally prefer TrafficWave at $17.95/mo. with a free 30-day trial, and suggest you check them out.
An autoresponder is where you will store names and email addresses for future follow-up. This is known as list building and will be a primary focus for future business.
These are the very basics of starting an online business. I think of these as tools for building the shell of a business.
Your domain name, hosting, WordPress theme, and autoresponder get you going online. You will feel very proud when you look at what you have done so far and you should.
So what are the next 2 steps?
Website Content
I suggest people use a blog for their website and start adding content to it. WordPress makes publishing very easy.
Easy as far as getting your content online. However, you still need content!
If you have chosen a business idea you have knowledge of getting content is as easy as writing about what you know. This still presents 2 problems for many people.
1. Time,
2. Money.
If you have a full-time job time is money. This is why there are so many people who outsource content today. They are just too busy to do that part of their business.
Nothing wrong with that. I recommend you find a good freelance writer and let them do the content part and you focus on the marketing side of your business.
I personally like working with one content writer, but at first, you may want to use a content site. Several good ones include Up Work, Freelancer.com, iWriter, and many more.
Click here right now for our review, my personal help, and instant access to our free training videos where we'll show you exactly how we did it ourselves starting out as complete beginners without ANY prior knowledge or experience in marketing online whatsoever!
Let me offer one more important tip. Become an Internet niche spy.
Look at what the top websites and blogs in your niche are doing. You could even go so far as reverse engineer their sites to build your online presence.
Never plagiarize anyone, but see what they are doing for blog posts, keywords they are targeting, products they are selling, and so on. This is a tremendous way to save a lot of time in the beginning.
Spend 90% Of Your Time Marketing
Spend 90% Of Your Time MarketingThe fastest way to fail with your new Internet small business is to not market it enough.
Getting traffic is the main reason online businesses fail.
It’s easier to keep re-doing your website or hanging out on social media and having fun. Marketing is hard work and it takes consistent time over a period of time.
It also can be expensive. Something I learned right away was what you lack in money you can compensate for in time. And what you lack in time you can make up for is money.
Can you afford paid advertising? If so spend some time learning the basics of Facebook Ads, or some other pay-per-click advertising methods such as Google Ads or Twitter Ads.
If you can not afford paid advertising be prepared to do a lot of social media marketing yourself. As an example, you make a blog post.
Then you go to your social accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest,
Get Some Help Here
What if all of this seems overwhelming? Do what I did and get some help. Here is my #1 source of training for people who are starting a small business online and do not want to do it all alone!
If you need help on how to get started, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, personal private assistance, my personal help, and much more.
PS: Click here to review my #1 recommendation in detail.
See the 4 steps to working online from home & earn residual income
Hey! Great information here! I really appreciated that you put in the Autoresponder program you use and why. It’s nice having a starting point to look into when looking at programs and software to make life easier as you build and sustain your business. How long did it take you to find that program – what other programs did you use and why did you settle on Traffic Wave?
When starting a business a lot of testing has to be considered if you going to build a business for it to be around for a long time. Any company that I am joining I have to feel that the owners have my best interest. This is the reason I am a happy member of Wealthy Affiliate, not only for the training I receive but the owners are actively involved on a day to day basis of meeting the members need.
Traffic Wave is exactly the same. And although I use other autoresponders I stay with Traffic wave because Brian Rooney, the CEO is actively involved with your needs and concerns. And that is a big plus for me. cause as my business grow and issues arise, I must be able to know that it can be handled immediately. hope that answer your questions. You can read my Traffic Wave review here and see other reasons why it works for me. All the best.
Hi David
You have some great ideas about how to start a small business online. Your advice about how to choose a niche and then dig down to what is virtually a micro niche is really helpful.
But personally I would not like to do this without some expert help, so I would recommend your readers to click on your recommended No1 source of training, where they will find so much expert help and advice in every aspect of online marketing.
Thank you so much for a very helpful post.
Chrissie 🙂
Thank you for your kind words of wisdom. And yes, although I gave a detailed outline on how to start a business online, there are a few things that have to be considered, and that is having the right platform and support to build a successful business.
That is why I recommend that they join Wealthy Affiliate, not only for the training and experts to guide them along the way but they will have me to give them one on one support to help them build it right. you see I take this business seriou\sly, and I will do whatever it takes to see others have the same success. thank you for your insights.
Great Content and information thanks for this concise and thorough article,
I thought I knew how to start businesses online but you definitely opened up my mind on the subject matter. I believe the selection of Niche is the most important tip here and also working towards building your traffic.
I have bookmarked the article so I can show it to my team. This will be a subject for professional development meetings we have regularly, and the article will be useful for discussion. Thanks for your effort putting this together, you did well with the subject matter!
Thank you for your comment and kind words. glad to know that this article would be of help to you and your team in your gathering.
You are right on track by bsaying choosing a niche and driving traffick is of uttermost importance when building a business.
I nalways break it down in 4 simple steps.
1. Choose a niche
2. build a website
3. Get traffic to that website
4. Earn revenue
Feel free and come back from time to time, cause i make regular updates with new strategies almost dfaily. Thank you and all the best with you and your team.
Hi bishop
I have just read your whole article about how to start a small business. Really This is very much helpful for the people who want to start a small business. Nowadays online is the best way to start their own business. I did not know about it. By reading your article I understand the system. Domain name is the first process to start an online business. Really your article is so important and helpful for me. I will follow the tips you provided and I think this will help me a lot. Thank you for sharing this.
Glad that this article was helpful to you. If you need help getting up and running, please do not hesitate to contact me. Knowledge is key when starting out to focus on educating yourself on how the Internet works And remember to ask lots of questions.
Thank you for this article! This is really a helpful guide to getting started with an online business, and I like the way you break it down into simple steps.
What you said about finding a need-based niche makes a lot of sense to me. Do you have some suggestions on how to research this and figure out a good niche?
Building an email list makes a lot of sense to me too. At what point do you recommend getting an autoresponder? Right from the beginning, or after I build my list to a certain point?
And I think your idea about becoming an “internet niche spy” is brilliant. That’s such a great suggestion to learn from what others are doing – of course not plagiarizing, as you point out, but just getting pointed in the right direction and sparking ideas of one’s own.
Thanks for sharing all this great information!
Kind Regards,
Joanie
Thank you for the kind words about the layout of this article. I always have the newbie at heart.
This is what I recommend when coming up with a niche for your business.
Identify your interests and passions. This may be something you’ve already done. …Identify problems you can solve. With your list of 10 topics in hand, you’re ready to start narrowing down your options. …Research your competition. …Determine the profitability of your niche. …Test your idea.
I see people spend lots of time here and most time it keeps them from building their website. I always explain to them that they can change their niche anytime they want in the future……
If you have a steady flow of traffic coming to your website, about 10 visitors a day. Then is time to build your list by setting up an autoresponder.
Joanie, thank you for your input here. hope I answered your questions.