How to Start a new Online Business

The current economical situation that we are in has created an environment of change and a lot of new entrepreneurs.  This is largely due to layoffs, retrenchments and insolvent businesses. One of the easier and less costly options available to entrepreneurs is starting an online business.  This article will touch on some of the basic concepts regarding the start-up of a new online business.

Deciding on a Business Model

It is crucial that you make the correct decision when deciding on the type of business that you want to start. Mistakes at this point can be disastrous. Here are some key points:

• Can you meet the need? You need to have some knowledge of the business that you want to enter into. You cannot decide to become a Financial Consultant if you do not have any experience or knowledge in the finance field (Balancing your monthly household expenses does not make you an expert).
• Is there a market for this business? Research the market to determine the level of competition and need for the type of service or product that you want to promote.
• Can you compete in this market? If you search the keywords associated with your model on Google you will be able to see the level of competition. If you are going to compete against 38 560 000 service providers you might need to rethink your business model.
• By using Google Adwords Keyword Tool you will be able to determine the volume of searches for the keywords associated with your new business model. This will indicate possible markets to target.
• Niche products or services are always a good bet and easier to succeed with.
• Blogs and forums can be an excellent source of ideas for a new business.
• Stay away from "Get Rich Quick" schemes.
• Research the legal requirements associated with the type of business that you want to start-up and always make sure that you are protected and that your risk management is in place.

Designing your Website

There are various options available when designing your website. You can use one of the free website hosting services and create your own site with the tools they provide, or you can pay someone to design your website for you and pay for the hosting. Both of these options have advantages and disadvantages. In the end you need to look at your business model and personal situation to make the right choice for you.

In this article we will not be looking at all of the website designing techniques or options but will focus on the key SEO requirements that your website needs to comply with. These are:

• Researching and deciding on the best keywords and phrases (high monthly searches with low competition)
• Designing a Search Engine friendly website around your keywords and phrases.
• Using SEO tools or a SEO company to optimize your website effectively (title, meta tags, meta description, H1 - H3 headings, bolding of keywords and a lot more).
• Your website should contain relevant information that is easy to read and understandable while still professional.
• Your services or products should be displayed and described clearly.
• Pricing should be comparative and in line with the industry norms.
• It should always be easy for a visitor to your website to purchase a product or service from you.
• Make sure that you can deliver what you promised to deliver without fail.

Marketing of your Website

The effective marketing of your website will make or break your online business and is therefore crucial to the success of your new business. Some pointers:

•  Article Marketing is one of the best ways to market your business and to create additional links back to your website. It is very important to make full use of this tool.
• The securing of high value backlinks is very important because links to your website from other sites are seen as "votes" by the search engines. The more "votes" your website has the higher it will rank, the highest value links to your site will be the links from respected and trusted sites with similar but not competing content.
• Social sites are the new best thing and you should bookmark your website and articles on as many of these sites as possible to generate traffic and improve your search results rankings.
• Submit the URL (www.mysite.com) of your website to directories. Two of the more important directories are: DMOZ.org and Yahoo.
• Send out a press release when anything of importance happens within your business.
• Place adds advertising your services and/or products on all of the important advertising sites (including Google).

This article provides a brief overview of the areas that you will need to consider when starting-up a new online business. It is very important that you conduct further research on each of these areas if you want to be successful. Thank you for reviewing this article and hopefully it provided you with some useful information.