Starting an internet business from home may be financially rewarding, but it can also be an exciting roller-coaster ride, so strap yourself in.
Make no mistake, starting an internet business from home can be pretty simple depending on what you want to achieve, however it will take a significant amount of time effort & perseverance for it to be successful.
A well structured internet business can produce impressive results & create a certain amount of wealth but the road to riches is not easy unless you stumble upon a new Facebook idea that catches on.
So before we get ahead of ourselves let’s get your home internet business up and running with the following guide.
9 Step by Step Guide to Your Own Home Based Internet Business
1. Research Your Business Idea
The theme & main topic of your internet business should be in a niche market that has sufficient interest as well as not be too competitive.
For instance making it all about web hosting in the hope of sell web hosting plans would be extremely difficult as there is so much competition not to mention that the big hosting companies have the market pretty much sewn up.
If you’re stuck for ideas it’s not a bad idea to browse Amazons range of categories & products to help you brainstorm the idea you want.
So no matter what market you decided on it would be best for your new home business to target a very niche market where there is less demand but also less competition which will give you a better chance of grabbing a slice of the pie.
Pro Tip: Choose from this list of the 10 Most Profitable Niche Markets
2. Business Plan
A sound Business Plan is essential and it should consist of the following:
- a short term plan (1-3 months)
- a medium term plan (6-12 months)
- and a long term plan (more than 1 year) In this plan you need to record budgetary items as well as your objectives in terms of what you want to achieve in monetary value as well as lifestyle.
Reducing the above to writing is highly motivating and serves as an excellent source for inspiration when you are feeling flat and demoralized.
Remember: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
2. Domain Name
Establish and register an appropriate and memorable domain name – not a freebie as it will hurt your search engine rankings for one thing and your credibility for another.
Register a domain name as soon as possible (before even thinking about a website as the older a domain name the better it is for your search engine ranking) with a reputable domain registrar – find out here how you can Secure & Register Cheap Domain Names »
3. Web Hosting
It is essential that you sign up with a reputable web host, definitely not a free one, and ensure that they offer enough web space and bandwidth for your needs and do not host ‘bad neighborhood’ websites on their servers.
This could have a detrimental effect on your site’s rankings and effect server reliability.
Your best option in terms of cost effectiveness, reliability and website software is to sign up for a professional webhosting account for the princely sum of $4.95 per month, which includes a site-builder, 24 x 7 support, 45 day money back guarantee, multiple email addresses, Awstats and all the other website resources you will need – no contract is required either.
I cannot emphasize this enough, as I’ve been a victim of poor quality web hosting in the past which not only cost me money, aggravation and time trying to recover but also a loss of customers and damage to my reputation.
So I therefore urge you to please ensure that you only sign up with a well known, reputable and well established webhost »
4. Website Setup
The image, functionality etc of your website obviously needs to be out of the top drawer.
It’s no good having tons of traffic that is not captured and doesn’t result in sales.
It is therefore essential to portray professionalism with a well designed site which obviously can cost a lot of money.
In my opinon, the best way to set up a professional online web presence is with a WordPress blog.
With a trusted hosting package it only takes a few clicks to get your blog up & running which you can customise by choosing a theme from the tons of free themes that best fits your topic.
5. How To Make Money From Your Home Internet Business
There are a few ways to generate an income from your site as follows.
i. Sell your own eBook
This would entail you writing and publishing an eBook which would obviously have to be a good fit with your website’s theme.
Selling your own quality eBook or info-product is one of the best ways of making money from your home internet business as you would’ve built a certain amount of trust with your audience who would be more inclined to buy a product created by you than an unknown author.
ii. Sell your own products
If you have your own products to sell this would again be an excellent way of generating an income from your site.
iii. Sell your skills & services
If you are a professional person, like an accountant perhaps for example, you could offer your accounting services for a fee or if you’re into photography the same would apply.
You would obviously post useful content on your topic that your audience would be interested in & integrate your premium services into the post or just advertise in your newsletter (see below)
iv. Sell advertising
Advertising revenue can come from display banner ads or text ads for advertisers at a price (cost per click or monthly rates for example) or you can register with the Google Adsense program to become a publisher.
This use to be one of the most lucrative ways of making money online & is still highly relevant.
6. Affiliate Marketing
If you are going to do affiliate marketing decide on a niche market and promote the appropriate affiliates only.
Promoting many products and affiliates on your site will only serve to confuse the site visitor and result in no sale!
With the unlimited earning potential, the work at home opportunity and the flexibility offered by affiliate marketing you have nothing to lose by signing up, at absolutely no cost to you with the affiliate networks above.
Identify quality products & services that fit your theme & target market well to make it easier to promote and sell from your site.
It’s also a good idea to sign up with following affiliate networks which will provide you with a vast range of digital products (products that can be downloaded online – eliminates the physical delivery process) from which you can choose.
- ClickBank (International)
- Sharesale (International)
- OfferForge (South Africa)
- Admarula (South Africa)
Once you have signed up with the networks above you’ll be able to find products that complement your site’s theme or topic – and don’t forget you will earn a commission on every product that is sold through your affiliate link from your site.
In most cases you will be able to download graphics and other promotional material that you will help you to promote your chosen products more effectively.
PS. Affiliate marketing is a science that takes a great deal of learning, trial & error as well as internet marketing skills.
So whilst there’s a ton of money to be made from it, you could be one of many who struggle to make a few dollars every month.
My advice to you would be to take a look at this excellent affiliate marketing blueprint that was created by Mark Ling (self made online millionaire) – you won’t regret it.
7. Advertising
There are various ways to advertise your business or your products but the most effective way, in my opinion, is by using Google’s Adwords program.
From experience I can tell you that with a well considered Adwords campaign you can generate tons of highly targeted buyers to your site.
Make no mistake though, a badly structured campaign will not only deliver tyre kickers who have no interest in buying, but it will also cost you an arm & a leg.
So if you want to give Adwords a try, do your homework carefully & be prudent.
So if you are going to spend money on advertising, spend wisely as you don’t want to waste your budget on a non-effective marketing campaign.
8. Website Traffic
To establish a high profile for your website you will need to pay a lot of attention to Search Engine Optimization for your site to appear in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) – if it doesn’t feature in the search results you won’t be getting much traffic.
However it takes a long time and a great deal of work to get your site ranking well so to get qualified traffic quickly you may need to generate it via other avenues.
A well crafted social media strategy will help drive targetted traffic to your site & build a reliable audience.
9. E-Mail List
This is arguably the most important element in any internet business.
Without a list it’s very difficult to engage with your audience & build credibility & trust with them in order to get them buy your products.
Establish an opt-in email list to send out newsletters to.
As the list grows so will your business, however if you indulge in spamming practices your business will only go one way & that is down!
Not only will this e-mail solution (arguably the best one available and used by all of the top internet marketers) automate your e-mailing task, but will also show you how to make 45% more money by automating your e-mail.
The investment in this software will result in you adding the most essential tool to your internet marketing kit.
Finally, ask any successful internet marketer and they’ll say that not only is the money in the list but to market and manage your list for maximum profit it is a priority to ensure that you have the best email list software in the business »