Getting Your Business Started....
Let me
cut to the chase and let you know what I believe is the
best way to get you business off the ground. It's actually pretty easy if you take it one thing at a time. Here's
the checklist:
Get Legal
First thing you
have to do to start any business legally, is get a business license.
Sorry for stating the obvious, but it's important to
stay on the right side of the law. In most cases, a Master Business License is all you'll
need, you can usually apply for it right online, and it
will only set you back about $20. Just Google "Master
Business License" and the name of your state. That
should lead you to your state's government web site.
When you get there, you'll want to check to see if they want any additional permits or licenses. Since you will be working out of your home, I would venture to say no, but it's best to make sure that you are legal.
You'll also want to file a Form SS-4 to get an Employer Identification Number. An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number, and is used to identify a business entity. Generally, businesses need an EIN.
You can find out more about Employer Identification Numbers and even apply online here. It's a good idea to have one as soon as possible, especially when you are applying to a drop shipper. They will ask for it. It also shows that you're much more professional than if you gave your social security number (not to mention safer from identity theft, IMO).
Software & Hardware
Make sure that you have all the computer hardware and software you will need. Got a computer? Whew! Glad to hear it! =]
You'll want to get some good web site editing software. There are many to choose from that range in price, including Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and many more.
Here's a great article to help choose the one that is right for you.
You can also Google "website creation tools" or something along those lines and see what is offered out there. There are many free ones and most are WYSIWYG (wis-ee-wig) or What You See Is What You Get. That means that you won't have to know HTML code (a little sure would help you in the long run, though. You can pick it up as you go. Trust me; I'm self-taught!). You place things such as text, pictures, etc on the pages and the code is done for you.
I've used
Microsoft's FrontPage since version `97 (the newest is 2003) and I love it! Don't worry about your skill (or lack of) as someone who can design a truly fancy web site. The best web sites on the Internet are the simplest. Take a look at Google and eBay. Not overly fancy and very usable. Get it? It's the old KISS (Keep It Simple, St....well, you know) idea. To help, there's thousands of pre-made web site templates on there that you can use and not even have to think about your design. After all, we want to concentrate on the business and making some cash!
I also use
XSitePro. This WYSIWYG is a powerful
puppy! More than just an editor, actually, this is a
full suite of tools to help you create and get your
web site to the top of the search engines.
I highly recommend XSitePro, especially if
you're just starting out.
Your Office
Hopefully, you have a nice, quiet room, den or office to work in. At least a place to call your own where you're free to set up some type of office environment, be comfortable and work.
You can always find some really awesome deals on just about anything you can think of at Overstock.com
as well as Amazon.com
(two of my favorite places to shop online!) You may want to start (if not finish) there for your office supplies and equipment. In any new business venture, I always get a good supply of business cards to hand out to people.
The company I use for that is VistaPrint . Good quality and terrific pricing. How does FREE fit your wallet? It sure beats paying
from expensive retail stores and we're all about making the money, rather than spending it. Right?
Building Your Site
Now, you can always sell your product(s) from a
Yahoo Store,
which takes no web design experience
Ultimately, in order to have any kind of business worthy building, you're going to need a website that pulls in the traffic. A site without traffic is totally worthless. There is an all-inclusive building package that gets a huge thumbs up from people all around the web called
Site Built It.
I have seen many businesses do extremely well as a result of using it (including mine).
I tend to Google a business to find what other
people are saying, good and bad. I recommend you do
the same. To date, I haven't come across a bad word about anything this company puts out. I use Site Build It for my
Romantic Oregon Coast Vacations site and so far, so great! Just one more thing you may want to check out. You can grab
your favorite beverage, kick back and
watch a great video tour that SiteSell has put out.
I suggest you look into all of those avenues and do
what is comfortable for you. My recommendation is
using Site Build It, for the best return on your money. You don't even have to be web savvy.
Hosting For Your Site
For the all-in-one option, where it's all wrapped into a
nice package for you, I once again recommend the people
at
SiteSell.
If you want to venture out on your own, find a good, inexpensive web host for your site. In
this case, I highly recommend
HostGator. They have very reasonable prices
and great customer service to help you out if you need
it.
One of the issues that you will be looking at if you go with a host like
HostGator or the like is that you are totally on your own. The marketing, search engine work and on and on is all up to you. You have no help. That can be a real problem if your time is limited and you are not technically inclined.
SiteSell's motto is "ecommerce for the rest of us."
Thank you again for all you have done to develop
Site Build It. It has made a tremendous difference in my life. I have a hand-built site, costing almost nothing, and making $10,000 MORE per MONTH.
This evening I am presenting Web site marketing to my dental implant study club (25 dentists) in San Jose, showing the use of SBI and C-T-P-M as the core of the presentation.
These guys all have boilerplate, $10,000 built sites, with no traffic and no "Return On Investment!" And speaking of ROI...
SBI! already brings in $10,000 a month in additional revenue. If you think in terms of Asset Equivalent Value (AEV), it would take a portfolio in the amount $2,000,000 (at 6% return) to give me the same extra monthly income.
Yes, SBI and a little elbow grease has created a 7-figure equivalent asset for me.
Talk about ROI!
John Burch
http://www.drburch.com
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Following up on last month's awesome results, I'd like to share with you this month's phenomenal stats:
a.. Last month www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties was ranked 117,705 (Alexa). Today, one month later, the site is ranked 59,340 and moving up by the day.
b.. Over $4,700 in sales (and over $600 in commission)
c.. More than 14,000 visits (more than 10,000 unique) and over 38,000 page views
d.. More than 8,000 click-throughs to affiliate sites
e.. Almost 250 newsletter subscribers
f.. I can go on and on.
I'm already starting to build the concept for two new SBI sites and plan to get them running next month.
Elad Shippony
Elad from Coolest Parties
California, U.S.A.
coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com
And the next month's happy report...
My fourth month into SBI! generated almost $6,000 in sales and broke the $1,000 mark for COMMISSION! The site is ranked 50,821 and I've got close to 500 subscribers to my Birthdayography newsletter.
Oh yeah, and during August I was also on vacation for a whole computer-less week of Scuba diving in the Red Sea while my site continued to work as usual.
Without a doubt,
SiteBuildIt! is It!
P.S. You've just heard what I have to say about YOUR product. You should hear how MY visitors love MY site!
Elad Shippony
Elad from Coolest Parties
California, U.S.A.
coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com
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Collecting the Cash
Next, you need to have a way for your customers to pay you.
There are a couple different options. One is to sign up
for a
Business or Premier PayPal account. The other option is to
get a merchant account that allows them to also pay with
their credit card, but gives a bit more freedom to do as
you want. The trade off is that merchant accounts tend to be pretty spendy for a small, up-start business. Your web host may have some tie-ins with
various merchant accounts to help you in your decision.
Both ways allow payments to be transferred into your
bank account.
Ready, Set, Go!
Alright. Now that we have all the absolutely necessary stuff taken care of, here's my recommendations to get you started on the right foot, straight out of the shoot. You're going to need to brainstorm and figure out exactly what you want to sell. Sit down with a piece of paper and just start writing ideas down as quickly as they come to you. Don't worry if they seem silly. They may turn into money!
Remember the Pet Rock?
The best thing is to find a "niche" or something that everyone is not already selling to an extreme, something that you already know about (the best
way) or want to learn about (this will work too). Think of a product or products that you can believe in and have a passion for. When you write your copy for your web site, that passion (or lack of) will show through to all your potential customers. You also want to be selling something where the market is not already saturated. You'll want to find things that
are in high-demand but in shorter supply. That's the
ideal. In my opinion, a piece of software called
The Market Research Wizard,
which you can now find integrated in the
Worldwide Brands interface,
can make that whole process a lot easier and provide you all the information you need to find that niche, backing it up with expert, up-to-date data. It's really an awesome tool and something that is sure to reap you big rewards!
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"The starting point of all
successful selling is understanding demand and supply.
And it's a very delicate balance. If there's no demand,
it doesn't matter what you're selling or how great your
merchandise because nobody will buy. But if there is too
much supply, you will be one of a herd, competing only
by continuously reducing your price – a depressing
scenario to be strenuously avoided.
Yet, sadly, most would-be
sellers avoid this all-important step, either because
the analysis is too time consuming or they don't know
how to do it. Therein lies the value of the Market
Research Wizard. All you have to do is decide what
product you want to research and the Wizard does the
work for you – instantly and efficiently. You don't have
to understand the “how-to” because the Wizard already
knows. It gathers data from multiple sources in seconds.
Computers excel at tedious and repetitious tasks. Let
the Wizard do the boring work while you use your time
and brain for the creative work that computers cannot
do. This fabulous tool is a permanent and indispensable
part of my marketing from now on!"
Sydney Johnston
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Write Good Content
 As I said, once you find what you are truly passionate about, really let that show through to your visitors. Your "voice of one" needs to be attractive to them. They need to learn to trust you as an expert in your field and to believe your recommendations. That is called PRE-Selling. You want to bring them warmly into your web site with an "open-to-buy" mindset. Nothing will send them away screaming faster than a feeling that they are reading a sales pitch. It's a fine line, but you can learn to do it. The best e-book that I have read on the subject is called
Make Your Content PRE-Sell by Ken Evoy. This easy-to-read and fun e-book is what I cut my teeth on. It will teach you all you need to know to write good content for your web site; the kind of content that puts your visitors in a "open-to-buy" mindset and establishes you as an expert in your field.
Grab yourself a free copy right
HERE.
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