How to Start a Business Online

1. Your Business Idea
   It's important to start with a solid concept for your new online business. If you decide to start with an untested product or service be prepared for a longer profit curve, or ROI, and additional budget for breaking new ground. Regardless of your product or service you will need to educate your audience. Be cautious of get rich quick or work 4 hours a week schemes design to take your money in return for hype. I've built hundreds of online businesses and can speak first hand at what it takes to make a successful online business.
   

2. Licenses
   Consult with a Business Attorney, who is familiar with your assets, and decide if you should file for Incorporation, LLP, S Corp or Sole Proprietorship The more personal property you own the more you need to protect yourself. Regardless of your choice you will need to file for a business licence, DBA, State, City or County filings may be necessary depending on the city, county, state or country.
   

3. Legal
   Make sure you have a Business Attorney develop or review your existing contracts, agreements, copyrights and trademarks.
   

4. Choosing a Domain Name
   I encourage you to choose a domain name that contains at least one of your keywords or keyword phrases in the domain name. I recommend you consult our sales department for a free consultation.
   

5. Selecting a Web Host Company
   Do not use a free hosting service. It's okay to purchase shared hosting ($8.00 - $12.00 per month is good). As your business grows you might want to move to a dedicated server or VPS (virtual private server) if you are running any long videos, you should look into the costs of streaming hosting services.
   

6. Designing a Web Site
   Web design has evolved over time. Colors and styles that worked a few years ago may now be stale or out of date. According to most research firms PDA and hand held devices are the new laptops, you want to make sure your web site functions on PDA or hand held devices. Hire a professional firm if you want to look professional. Ask for their portfolio and make sure they show you functioning web sites they have produced. Make sure the firm you hire has a profound understanding of marketing. A good test is to see where they page rank or how they advertise on the web. Ask the firm to show you examples of what they would do to market your business on the web. Many firms are will willing to show a few marketing ideas, they won't give you the whole plan. Many of the so called "Marketing Gurus" are selling the same thing to everyone. One size does not fit all. You want a firm that can has experience in many channels of business.
   

7. Developing Content for your Web site
   When developing content, text, images, video, audio or animations for your web site, consult with the company your web design company or development firm. They should have a marketing department and/or writers who can assist or guide you in the right direction. If your business requires a State license you should be aware of compliance issues when writing your web site content. If planning SEO as a strategy, you should follow specific SEO guidelines set by search engines. For example Google has its own guidelines. Developing original content is always best.
   

8. Traditional Marketing
   If your business is local, you may want to consider a local media blitz when you launch your web site. Joining as many networking groups as you can handle is a good idea, make sure you're getting the right ROI no matter which groups you join. Join a couple of online business networking groups and measure your results from both, after a couple of months. When joining a networking group test drive before you buy and discover if this group has the right kind of business class you seek. Developing a limited number of paper flyers is always a good idea and business cards are a must. Today most professionals rely on good digital flyers and informational pieces.
   

9. Marketing Internet
   This is the an ongoing and long subject to cover, I'll make it brief for this presentation. You can always contact my office for more information. If you want to try marketing yourself, I recommend using a PPC (pay per click) as the main method for attracting visitors to web site/s. You may not want to send leads to your home page. Creating a landing page is specifically for PPC ads is a good idea.
   

10. Interactive Web sites
    All web sites should be interactive. Adding a poll, vote, survey, quiz or game all all simple methods of interactivity. Consult with your designer/developer for which best fits your needs.
    

11. Data Collection and Building a Customer Base
    You can configure any of the items in Step 10 for collecting visitor information. Experience web design and development firms will know how to configure any of the interactive modules for maximum results.
    

12. Repeat and Recurring Billing Business
    From the very start you should place this high on your "How to Succeed List". Repeat business is key to any business success formula if you can incorporate a recurring billing cycle then you'll have a better idea of your monthly billing.
    

13. Accounting and Taxes
    Choose a firm familiar with online businesses. For example digital goods are not taxable in most states.
    

     

14. Insurance
    As a business you may be liable for products or services you offer. I good way to protect yourself is to purchase an Errors and Omissions and/or Product Liability policy to cover you business and make sure it covers you web site. Consult an Insurance Professional or discuss with your Attorney your specific Insurance needs.

    The information on this page is for reference only and not intended as a step by step or business plan. AccentDigital.com makes not guarantees or warrants any advice listed on this page. Use this information at your own risk. AccentDigital.com take no responsibility for the contents of this page.

    If you would like to discuss the viability of your business idea please contact one of our Internet Business Professionals at 310.577.8677 or email sales@accentdigital.com