Essential Steps for the Online Netpreneur - Part I

Dear Friends,

I hope that this article acts as a step-by-step guide for you on the many ways you can start up your own successful online business. These are tried and proven tips that have helped many to achieve success online. So take the time to read through these few tips as I'm sure it'll help you to focus on what you want to do and initiate an immediate plan of action...

1) Know your target market
I know you've all heard this many times over, but believe me, if you have taken the time to research your target market and find out what their exact needs are then you have already taken the first step towards success.

For example, if you were to start selling a new, more effective brand of dishwasher detergent, you would need to make sure that before you waste all your well-earned money into marketing and advertising, that you know what exactly is your target market looking for. Are their concerns related to the pricing? Or is the brand that interests them? Or do they prefer a liquid detergent as compared to powder or tablet form?

I'm hoping that you're starting to see the picture. And that is why the big companies spend so much money on `market research'. This information alone saves them millions of dollars and promises a substantial gross profit margin. Now a normal person, such as ourselves, do not have that type of money to spend on research but there are other tools that we can use to find out what our target market is searching for.

WordTracker [Wordtracker.com] is a proven and an indispensable tool that you can use to find out what exact keywords, your target market is searching for most on the search engines. Once you visit their site, you will be given a choice of whether to use their free trial service or their paid services but either way, you will get a very interesting idea about what your niche market is really looking for. WordTracker shows you how many people searched for your keyword, your online competition (number of other websites with similar products/services), the rating of how good the keyword is and it also compiles for you a list of other similar keywords that people have also searched. It truly can give you an edge over the competition.

2) Set Goals and Plan out your Strategy

The second most important step for you to be successful in either online or offline business, is to sit down and over a cup of coffee carefully plan out and structure your ideas before jumping headlong without a direction. At this point some of you must be thinking, "Yes Ammar, I already know my goals and its pointless to plan each detail out as they're all in my head".

If anyone of you has not read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill, then I would recommend it now. As it is one of the most powerful books written on the subject of success. And one of its most important ideas revolves around the notion of planning and writing down what are you exact long-term and short-term goals are and what steps you are going to take to reach them. This is one of the major ways by which you can keep motivated, especially during those `dull days'.

The best and the only way to plan, is to sit down with a piece of paper and pen and write down your exact short-term (attainable and realistic) goals, the exact amount of money that you would like to receive, the exact methods that you will utilize to reach this amount and the exact date by which you want to achieve this goal. Be it extra income, money for a new car, purchasing of clothes, items that you've wanted etc. Write it all down in a paragraph form or a couple of sentences so that it forms a strong statement about your desires and your actions.

You should read this statement aloud, every day before going to bed and once when you wake up, in order to remind yourself and your subconscious mind about the importance of your goal and the things you need to implement that day to get closer to that goal.

The old adage still stands true to this day, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Plus, having well thought out plans and ideas will save you a lot of time and money in the future and if ever you do need to borrow money, you will be able to acquire this funding more easily as you would have well, written-out plans about the steps that you would be taking.

3) Decide on a budget

The first question you need to ask yourself, is "do I have enough money to cover my starting expenditures or will I need to borrow money from the bank or friends?"

My advice to you would be to stay away from Bank loans and lines of credit as much as possible because reimbursing them can very soon become a nightmare and to convince them to give you a loan would require you to show them a detailed plan of your future actions, and I mean detailed.

So therefore, if you need the money, your first source should be your relatives, friends as they would be pretty happy to give you money to get you started on your business.

But I'm pretty sure that you have more than enough capital to start up with your business online as that's the beauty about the internet; Your initial start-up costs are extremely low.

Most people start out with a budget of less then $100. Registering your domain name and finding a good hosting company should cost you about $50, and that's it, You're READY! A good place to visit for hosting and registering is [Websitesource.com] as they have plans that can get you set up for less then $30.

4) Design and Build Your Website

Ah, now comes the step where the majority of the people groan and moan and even consider giving up BEFORE they've even begun! The first thing that you need to know is, you DO NOT need a graphics-laden, picture perfect site to be successful online.

In fact, people should be concentrating more on their sales copy as opposed to the "fanciness" of their website. The people who will be visiting your website, are not looking for fancy graphics with dazzling logos and navigation but instead information on how your product/service can benefit them.

For those of you who are new to the internet and have no clue about how to create a website, don't worry! There are many courses being sold on how to make good websites and all you will really need are the basics. The two best programs to make your websites on, are Microsoft Frontpage and Macromedia Dreamweaver (you can download a free trial from their respective sites). For people who are new to making websites, Frontpage is very similar to Microsoft Word and due to its user-friendliness everybody can use it. Plus, there are just so many website designers out there who would be willing to make a site for you for a very reasonable price.

But you should keep in mind that by building your own website, you are in complete control of any testing, tweaking or changes that might need to done and you won't always have to pay a website designer to do it for you. So get your feet wet and make your first site...

Some good web-building resources are:

-Builder.com www.builder.com
-WebDeveloper www.webdeveloper.com
-WebMonkey www.webmonkey.com

In order for your site to be successful, you need to ensure that the it works and that all the elements of an easy navigation are present. This means, that you should have a navigational bar which contains all your important links, such as:

-An order page,
-a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page,
-an about us page,
-a contact us page
-and a testimonials page (very essential!)

Note: You should make sure that you do not have any more than six-eight links on your navigational bar as this would just lead to confusing a potential buyer.

You also need to make sure that you have an Opt-in offer so as to collect the email addresses' of your visitors. It is to these people that you can afterward send promotional emails without worry of Spam. But you have to give your visitors a persuasive reason for giving you their email addresses such as a targeted newsletter, free information or informational products (such as an e-book that is related to your target market) or perhaps even a contest.

5) Plan your Salescopy

You might be asking yourself, "why would I possibly need salescopy?". The answer is very simple, because salescopy acts as your personal contact with the majority of the people who visit your site. It acts as your own, personal salesman who keeps pitching 24/7.

On the internet, you have to create relationships with your customers as soon as possible. And in order to do that, you need to ensure that you present yourself as a credible business owner with a very useful product to sell for your target market. Without salescopy, this would not be possible and you would be giving up atleast 90% of your profits.

I could go on for longer about the importance of salescopy, but I'll spare you the details and leave you with one thought: Your Site Needs Salescopy, whether you are selling one product or ten...

There has been a long debated question on the net of whether you need `long copy' (6-10 pages) or `short copy' (1-6 pages). And my opinion is that `long copy' wins hands down. Why?

-Main Reason: Long Copy Sells
-Enables you to prove your credibility
-The more clicks you ask your visitors to go through, the more you risk losing them
-Unless you are an established website, such as Amazon.com, you will need `long copy' to persuade and lead your visitors from the beginning to the order page by presenting them with specific facts/benefits at specific places on the copy.

There are many aspects to creating a good salescopy, but you have to keep one thing in mind, your salescopy is the major appeal for your visitors and it will determine if you make the sale or not.

But do remember this crucial piece of information, anyone and I mean anyone and everyone can write salescopy and great salescopy at that. I personally don't like writing, but hey, I'm doing it aint I ;)

And writing on the internet, is much different then writing out a school or master's paper. It's much more relaxed and there's an actual science behind it. See my profile to find out more.

To be continued...

by Ammar Ahmed

About the Author: Ammar Ahmed is a well-established entrepreneur who runs his own online business and acts as a guide for people who are just starting out online. To learn how ANYONE can start their own successful internet business... in less than 48 hours and see profits by next weekend, visit this site https://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/793095.