Starting and running any type of business takes dedication,
perseverence, effort and most of all a good knowledge about
the business you are setting up. You wouldn't start a motor
repair business without the training and knowledge required.
Starting any business requires knowledge of the product and
market place.

The following points I found to be of great importance when
starting my businesses.

1. READ AND RESEARCH

Ensure you have all the necessary information to start
building your home business. Research the demand for your
product. Do all the checks on legal requirements in your
area. Prepare a budget and stick to it. But most of all,
ask yourself are you prepared to commit time and effort to
your business. Don't for one moment think you can put your
site on the web and sit back and wait for a miracle. This
is when the work really starts.

2. CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME AND HOST

Choose your Domain Name and your Domain Host. Ideally the
Domain Name should reflect the type of business, service or
product you are selling. Make the name as short as
possible,long names are difficult to remember and are often
misspelt.

There are some great web hosting companies, I use two, but
for my main site I chose Third Sphere because they offer so
much more than just hosting and when I was just starting
out, I needed all the help I could get my hands on.

3. WEBSITE DESIGN

If you are not a web designer and would like to do your own
website, there are some great tutorials, guides and
programs that can make the task a lot easier.

For example: "Site Build It" offer a wonderful product that
really guides you every step of the way.

There are also tutorials such as "eBusiness Mastery"
by Paul Barrs

You may prefer a book such as "Website Design Made Easy"
by Dennis Gaskill, this book is widely used in colleges
throughout America.

Whatever you decide, make sure your site loads quickly and
check that it loads correctly on a couple of different web
browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and
Netscape.

4. SUBMITTING YOUR SITE

Before you actually submit your site to the Search Engines,
please check and recheck your content for spelling errors
and ensure all your links work.

Ensure you have the best possible keywords and content
description to ensure maximum Search Engine optimization.
There are many reports and ebooks on this topic alone, you
will find free information on this subject so don't pay for
something unless you really have to. Search the web for
freebies first.


A lot of Web Hosting Companies such as Third Sphere have
a Search Engine Submission service, this makes the task
quick and easy.

You will also need to decide whether or not you are going
to pay for submitting your site to some Search Engines such
as Yahoo. This can be quite costly, so do your homework
first, before spending any money.

5. ADVERTISING AND PROMOTING YOUR SITE

There are some great ways to promote your site. You can use
the pay per click type of advertising with Google, for
example. Advertising in ezines using either free or paid
ads is another very good way to get your site and products
promoted.

Also, do not overlook the "power of the press", it is still
a great way to get your message out there. Local papers,
magazines relating to your product are worth a try. But,
keep a close check on results - track where your customers
are coming from - then you can decide which advertising
method is best for your business.

Another very effective way is to write your own articles.
I use "submityourarticle.com", this is one of Steve Shaw's
marketing systems.

And - add your signature to all your emails! and don't
forget to include your URL.

6. DON'T BE FOOLED!

You have no doubt read that once your website is up and
running you can sit back and your business will run on its
own, automatically, like magic! Not true! A good
Autoresponder can certainly make life easier, but you have
to feed it with prospects first!

You have to start building your subscriber list. I've used
subscriber list generating companies, but in all honesty if
you want really good subscribers who are interested in your
products, you have to do the work.

Another thing I found with buying subscriber lists, you
really are fooling yourself into thinking you have a list
of people who have subscribed to your list because they are
truly interested in your product only. This is usually not
the case. Certainly use these types of lists to get
started, but keep in mind that a large percentage will opt
out. (And you have paid for them!!)

So as I mentioned previously, you have options -

Advertising, writing articles, or strategies such as Link
Exchanging and joining in on Forums will all help.

So, No you can't sit back and wait for the dollars to roll
in, you have to put in the effort first.

Finally, the best advice I would give anyone starting an
online (or offline) business is this:

Read all you can on your topic of interest - DO NOT get
your credit card out unless you are convinced the product/
information you are buying is what YOU need, not what
someone else tells you you want.

In the words of Jim Rohn ...

"Let the views of others educate and inform
you, but let your decisions be a product of your own
conclusions"

Follow these simple tips and advice and you are bound to
reap the rewards.

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Her website and newsletter provide this and the website is
regularly updated as new and up-to-date information comes
to hand:

http://www.joanmaughan.com