The World is your office
Running an Internet business is more than
just creating an exciting website
IMAGINE waking up in Bali with the sun on your face. You stroll
out of your villa and carry your laptop to the nearby restaurant.
You switch it on and the working day has started officially. That
could be the typical routine of an online entrepreneur.
Many people want to own an Internet business, so I
will de-mystify the process of creating and running one in this
article. Here are the key steps to getting started:
Launching a business with no
product
One of the simplest ways of doing business online is the
referral Internet business. The best part is that it does not
require owning a product or service, nor much capital to get
started.
A referral Internet business operates like a
tuition agency, where you match interested buyers with vendors and
get paid a referral fee per sale.
This business model applies to most industries, and
most companies will be happy to collaborate with you to promote
their business online.
You don't need to be high-tech savvy or familiar
with programming to start an Internet business. There are many
simple website creation tools like WordPress to help you get
started.
WordPress provides many attractive design templates
for free and has simple step-by-step tutorials on You Tube to guide
you.
However, the website is just a tool to attract
ready buyers online.
To succeed in an Internet business, you must follow
these three simple guidelines:
1
Research your
business idea
Don't start a business on the strength of word-of-mouth feedback
or "gut instinct". To minimise failure, you need detailed market
data to know the real market potential of your idea.
Google tabulates the monthly demand of all online
searches worldwide into a database and this information is
available online via the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
Products or services with a monthly demand higher
than 1,000 searches indicate a profitable market to embark on,
while anything lower than that should be reconsidered.
2
Speak
to convert
Most websites communicate
from the company's perspective instead of the prospects' interests
and it creates a disconnection.
To convert your prospects, you need to speak to
them in their language and consider their interests.
Many of your prospects will do research on your
business in forums before they search online.
Imagine being able to consolidate all yom
prospects' honest feedback and forum questions - wouldn't it be
easier to market to them with this information as a reference?
Go to Google.com and type in keywords that your
prospects will use to research on your business with the country.
Click on the "More" tab below the search box and click
"Discussions" - Google will tabulate all forums with those
keywords.
Go through all the forums to understand your
prospects better before crafting content for your website.
Remember, people buy because they feel understood,
not because they understand your business.
3
Market, market
market
A website with no visitors is like a shop in a ghost town. After
launching a website, there is a need to market it. These are the
best channels to attract hot prospects online:
• Search engine
optimisation: Through structuring your website with the
correct keywords and acquiring backlinks, Google recognises your
website as an authority and starts to rank it higher in search
engines. This allows your prospects to find your business online
for free.
• Pay per
click: Google advertisements can be inexpensive monthly,
ranging from less than 50 dollars to a few hundred. Google targets
users by their search keywords - which is a pretty accurate insight
into their interests in your products or services.
• Facebook
marketing: Advertising on Facebook could give you access
to the active users online. Face book targets users by their
interests and allows you to appear in front of your customers on a
small budget.
The website is like your online store and you need
to market constantly to attract hot prospects to your website. By
leveraging the affordable platforms to market, it is easy to
attract a regular influx of prospects.
Rules and regulations
An Internet business
operates under the same regulations of a brick and mortar business,
but it is run quite differently.
Registering an Internet business can be done online
at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority's (ACRA)
website within 30 minutes.
You will need to pay income tax if you run a
referral Internet business because the income is generated within
the country.
As for operating an Internet business, you require
less than $500 to start an online business.
Online marketing costs are also lower than
traditional forms of advertising. Launching and running an Internet
business is quite simple once you know the proper processes of
executing one.
Article by Pam Siow, founder and Internet and business coach,
Internet Biz Owners Club. For more information, call 65213159,
e-mail [email protected] or
visit www.lnternetBizOwnersClub.com. Learn the five
critical steps to launching a successful online business at her
free workshop at www.internetbizownersclub.com/register-seminar/
CATS Recruit, The Straits Times Tuesday, December 18, 2012, Pg
C22
