Start Your Own Online Home Business

Everyone wants to start their own business and become their own boss, but many do not know how to do it. There are several types of home-based businesses. Service companies, product sales, and web-based home-based businesses, to name a few.

In this article, I will walk you through the process of starting your own online home business. I will try to eliminate some of the mystery of the process. By following this guideline, you'll be up and running in no time without making a huge investment.

First, you need to know what your business is going to do. Will he provide a service? Do you intend to sell products? These are the two general types of home-based online businesses I will discuss in this article.

If you plan to provide a service, what kind of service will you provide? Will it be provided to people who own websites? Will it be a service that everyone can use or will it be confined to your area?

Ask similar questions if you plan to sell a product. Will it be a product that you sell and deliver locally, nationally or internationally? If you choose around the world, do you know anything about shipping your product abroad? The same applies to national delivery. Do you know the costs associated with delivering your product anywhere in the country where you live?

Once you have answered these questions, you will have more of an idea on how your home web business will eventually be shaped.

Then you will need a domain name. Most people think that the name of their business is the best way to get a domain name, however, a generic domain name with keywords associated with your product or service will serve you a lot better. You can also register your company name as a domain name and direct it to your website, but it is not necessary.

The generic domain name can help you with search engine traffic and can be more memorable. This is just one of many factors that will help you with search engine optimization, but it's a step you should take at startup. Example: Cars.com is a better domain name than Ford.com, even though Ford has spent millions of advertising and branding itself. Even something else is better because people will look for that.

You have to find a good domain name registrar, not a cheap domain registrar. Cheap means cheap in the field of domain names. Your domain name is important. Spending $ 25 a year on a registrar who offers more services and quality VS spending $ 10 or less at a cheap registrar is what we are talking about here. If this extra $ 15 a year will make or break your home business, then maybe you should not start one.

Then you will need a web hosting service. Again, cheaper is not better. There are good hosting services for $ 100 a year or even a little less. Anyone who offers you hosting for less than that should trigger a red flag. Choose and pay for at least a year, just as you have registered your domain name. If you are going with a monthly plan, you are probably not fully engaged in your new home business.

Now you have your domain name and hosting your new website, but where is the website and how can I get it? You have several options. You can learn HTML and build your own. You can use a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage to create your own website. You can hire someone to build your website for you.

First, let's talk about learning HTML to build your own website for your home business. There is a learning curve here. This is the best option of the three that I mentioned above, but it takes time to learn. You will probably not be operational in a few days with this option. In the long run, it will save you a lot of money to learn HTML and build your own websites. The more websites you have in your wallet, the more you will have at least one who will be a big winner. Writing your own code means that you can create a new site as often as you want.

Then build your own home-based business website with a WYSIWYG publisher. (What you see is what you get). These editors are similar to creating a document. Everything is visual and you do not need to Code a piece.

Then hiring a web designer to build your home business website is another option. A professional website designer knows how to give your website the look and feel you need. However, be careful when choosing a web designer. I will add a few things that you need to be aware of here;

1. If they say they will register the domain name for you, say no. Registering a domain name is not technically difficult. Do it yourself. Many web designers register the domain name at the cheapest place they can find, then charge you $ 100 or more per year for the domain name. Then, many of them record it in their own name! This will cause you huge problems if you decide to stop using their services. The domain name should always be in your name.

2. Ask them which program they use to build your website. If they will be using FrontPage or Dreamweaver or another WYSIWYG publisher, you may as well build your own home business website. If they do not write HTML from scratch, then they should not be in the web design business.

3. If they want to bill you monthly to run your website for you, be careful. Do not sign annual contracts. Their job is to build you a home business website. Let them stick to that. Most designers are just designers. They are not search engine gurus, business leaders, or anything else. Hire a designer to design and others to do what they are good at.

4. Do not let them talk about features you do not need. Just like used car salesmen, they will try to make you add a lot of bells and whistles you do not need.

5. A brochure website is one that is basically designed to just let people know what products or services you are providing and to contact you for more information. Usually, it's the main page, a page about, and a contact page. It should not cost you more than $ 500.

6. If you are going to add the ability to purchase your product or service by paying for it through your home-based business website, then it becomes an e-Commerce website. Again, pay attention to the bells and whistles that the used website seller is trying to sell you. PayPal is a good option when you are starting out. You can get a PayPal account easily. You can create your own purchase buttons and insert them into your website with the code they provide without being an HTML guru. You can even set the shipping costs and everything else via PayPal for free. They charge small percentages per sale, but the services they provide are worth it. In addition, they have no setup fees or monthly fees like other e-commerce solutions. When your sales volume reaches thousands of dollars a month, you can look for a better solution, but until then, use PayPal.

7. An old adage among those who make money on the web is "You build the first for the show and the rest for the dough". What does this mean? You will probably be very concerned about the appearance of your website at first, but the design is the least important aspect of your home web business. Many will disagree, but who cares? Let me repeat, design is the least important aspect of your home business. A beautiful website without traffic becomes uglier every day. An ugly website with the traffic that makes money becomes more beautiful by the dollar. Create a total budget for your home web business. Do not spend more than 30% of this budget on design. Spend the rest of your website promotion, advertising and other actions that bring you customers. Do not let a designer tell you that his design is more important than the success of your home-based business.

Now that your domain name, hosting, and website are up and running, you now need customers. Where do you find them? I have my website, will not they find me now? NO, they will not do it.

There are many things you can do to get traffic. You can buy AdWords from Google, MSN (coming soon), or Yahoo. This sends you traffic from people who are looking for specific keywords. Pay attention to bidding and set your spending limits until you see what keywords will earn you.