Condensed web business plan for beginners

The three main steps to starting a successful web business are 1) deciding what you will market, 2) setting up your web site and 3) getting traffic. This tutorial explains the key elements of each and offers the resources to get it done, step by step...

Step 1: Decide what you will market online - in the short term and the long term.

If you have no idea what you will promote on the web, making this decision is your first step. The best way to do this is to focus on something you know and enjoy. After all, if you're going to be in business, you may as well like what you are doing. Once you have an idea, then focus on the short term and the long term.

Let's say you want to promote information products of some type. Well, as I mentioned in the "Make A Living Online!" book, your best bet is to promote your own products so you can maximize profits. But in the short term that may not be possible. After all, it takes time to develop a good info product.

So set your long-term goal as promoting your own info product(s) and in the short term you can promote related products or services that already exist. There are affiliate programs available in just about any product or service category you can imagine so this strategy can apply to just about any business. You can even jump right into the Make A Living Online affiliate program which is now officially open!

But it is also a good idea to get to work on your product/service right away. These resources will help. And in the meantime start implementing step two and three below.

Step 2: Start setting up your own website.

You can lay out your basic site ideas on paper in a few hours. Then once you have everything in place, start designing the site with a WYSIWYG (stands for what you see is what you get) design tool or save time and money by starting with one of our high quality website templates. If you are not up to designing the site, hire someone to do it for you. I'd be happy recommend a few designers who can offer you a quote on their services.

At this stage it would be a good idea to reread chapter five of the "Make A Living Online!" book. It explains in detail how to set up your site and gives ideas on what it should contain. Pay particular attention to what your home page should contain.

For this tutorial I have listed the key components you must have at your website and how to implement them easily...

• Credit card ordering capability

If you will be offering even one product or service that is your own, from the start, then you need to be able to offer secure credit card ordering right away. Nearly 95% of orders generated at my sites come via credit card. Not offering this is certain death for your business.

There are lots of ways to do this and the cheapest long-term solution is to acquire a merchant account. You'll find a discount offer on merchant account services here. If you are not happy with the rates quoted, go to your local BJ's or Costco. Most offer low-cost merchant accounts to their members.

If you are not able to afford a merchant account, fear not. You can still accept credit cards at your site. There are many companies that will handle everything for you and take a percentage from each sale. While this solution is cheaper initially, than getting a merchant account, the ongoing fees can be a bite more costly over time. But it is a way to get started accepting credit cards until you can get your own merchant account.

If you will not be promoting your own products or services in the very beginning, this step can wait a while. Nearly all affiliate programs already have credit card ordering in place and any customers you refer will order using their credit card facilities.

• Opt-in list signup form

In order to grow your business online you will need to grow at least one opt-in list. You can offer a free email newsletter, a free email course or anything else you want, but you do need to grow some form of opt-in list. You will do this by offering a signup form at your website so that every visitor is encouraged to leave their email address with you.

I've found that automating things completely is the easiest way to handle an opt-in list and recommend this tool for beginners. It will allow you to add a signup form to your site by simply pasting code into your web page. It then captures names and email addresses, follows up by email regularly (with personal and helpful messages that you write!) and allows you to broadcast messages (such as newsletters) to your growing list anytime you want.

• Keywords and META tags

Once your site starts to take shape you need to do a little tweaking so that your site is "search engine ready." To do this, make a list of keywords and keyword phrases that your best customer might search for on the web. Then go through your web pages and make sure these words appear throughout. A few instances of your best keywords on each page will do.

Example: Some keywords and keyword phrases I use are...

"entrepreneur"
"start an Internet business"
"home-based business"

Your keywords and keyword phrases will pertain to what your site is about.

Next take your list and create META tags for each web page. You can do this with the META tag creation tool here at the companion site.

• Grab a domain name, upload your site to the web host of your choice and test every aspect of your new site.

Before you can put your site on the web for the world to see, you'll need to come up with a domain name. Here is some information on choosing and registering a domain name.

Once you have chosen a domain name and registered it, you will need to select a web host. There are thousands of companies on the web that can host your site. Here are a few recommendations and special offers that are ideal for beginners.

The next step is to upload your site to your new host. This is not as difficult as many beginners fear. An FTP tool such as the one I use, called CuteFTP allows you to drag and drop your web pages from your computer to your web host.

Once the site is uploaded it is important to test thoroughly. You'll find a few tools to help you with this at the bottom of this page. Also consider getting a quick site critique from one of our experts. You may save lots of frustration by taking time to do this.

Step 3: Start promoting your website.

OK, now that you have a web presence, it's time to start promoting your website. You will not start making money until you start generating traffic.

Here are the best free and low-cost ways to get traffic to your new site...

• Read everything about search engine promotion here and submit your site to the recommended directories.

• Start broadcasting helpful information to your growing opt-in list. (One to four times per month is recommended.)

• Start gathering ezine editor contact information from publications related to what you promote, and submit articles and buy a few cheap ads.

• Start utilizing all the resources and strategies from sections III and IV of your "Make A Living Online!" book and this area of the companion site.

As you can see, you have your work cut out for you. Take things a step at a time and do not become overwhelmed by all of this. Remember, a website and a web presence for that matter, is always a work in progress. You will continually change things, make site updates, add pages, try new strategies and develop new plans of action. I'll be here to guide you as you go along. The main thing is to take your condensed plan of action and act!

To your success...
Jim Daniels