Economy Strain Fueling A Need To Start Your Own Web Business ?

By Author: Ronnie Mack
Total Articles: 16
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Are you contemplating starting your own web business?
Is this economy driving you to think about a second source of income ?
Are you approaching your retirement with apprehension researching the possibility of a part-time income source ?
Perhaps you have an product or service idea , a hobby or craft which you may want to leverage as an extra source of income by selling on the web.

Launching your own web business can be easy on the wallet compared to starting a brick-and-mortar store, however, do not underestimate the dedication and commitment with your time and energy.

It can be intimidating, time consuming, frustrating and risky for a new enterpriser who has aspirations and dreams running their own internet business.

The spawning of an idea for a product or web based service can quickly get extinguished when it's time to lay your business's foundation and suddenly find yourself overwhelmed with the countless number of steps, processes and selecting service providers required to build your infrastructure!

You will need a positive attitude, determination and resiliency.
The ...
... most important tool starting out is having a well defined plan coupled with a basic level of competency in ecommerce. (i.e. the process of selling on the internet).

The process of developing your internet business infrastructure will be filled with gotchas, do-overs, mistakes and wish-I-had-known's. It can be done! It's really only a game where the objective is to simply follow the step-by-step plan and not quit.

A few areas you will need to address :
1) First, get educated and exposure how an internet business works
- What is required to setup, execute and launch my internet business?
- What is web host provider?
- What is a merchant account and gateway provider?
- What is a shopping cart?
- What is SEO?
- What will be my total costs?
2) Second, Develop a plan with a realistic time table... some items to consider :
- Set aside time for research. Are there similar ideas out there?
- Evaluate the competitive landscape. Review your competitor's sites.
- Nail down your business identity ( your biz name, location, domain, logo etc )
- Set up you business office ( office and toll free telephone, mailbox, EIN number, insurance, business cards etc.)
- Decide which business entity is best suited for you (sole proprietorship, LLC, Partnership or Corporation)
- Launch your Web Site design, development and integration
- Initiate Marketing campaigns... yep, you have to attract clients!
3) Third, Understand the necessity to nurture and sustain your business
- Is it absolutely essential to have a sustaining program that understands the heartbeat of your prospective clients so your business will grow and mature.
-Your potential customer marketing sweet spot will fluctuate and change over time.

Next, you will need to explore the service provider landscape for the required services you need such as selecting a Host Provider, Merchant Account and Gateway provider.

Go ahead, search for Host Providers or Web Hosting and you will see over 2 Billion results returned, combined for MSN, Yahoo and Google !! Wow !!!

Not to mention , Merchant Account Providers. If you envision your business will accept credit cards through your web site you definitely need a merchant account provider and a gateway solution. Go ahead, do another search for Merchant Accounts you will see an additional 20 Million or so responses combined for Yahoo, MSN and Google.

How can you sort out the good from the bad, who offers the best fit for your business and who provides the best total costs?

So, how do you compare these solution providers ?

Well, if you have the time and energy you should :

1) Check the provider's business standing.
- Analyze what the Better Business Bureau states about the profile of the company. Also, check to see if the company discloses a business telephone number and a business address. You may be surprised how many providers do not !! Why ?
2) Get a sense just how popular the provider is .
- Visit Alexa.Com and Quantcast.Com. You can get a darn good perspective who drives the most traffic. The premise : The more traffic the more popular the site !
3) Compare the costs. Yep, you bet !
- However, you need to do a deep dive on this one. Don't take at face value the website catch-ads!
- Make sure you understand the setup fees, annual fees, monthly fees, contract and cancellation fees. These providers can be very creative with fees and bury them in the fine print , especially in the Merchant account realm !
- Be especially wary of lowest rates and will beat all other rates declarations !
4) Compare value. Compare what you get for the price you are willing to pay.
- For instance, when selecting a host provider you should check just how much you are paying based upon your disk allocation and bandwidth allocation. You may be shocked at the relative costs. This can be a real eye-opener !!
5) Check to see what features the provider offers for free!
- You want to ensure your business has scalability .. the ability to grow with your selected provider. Isn't it better to have a provider with a full menu of free services and applications that you can plug into your site at a moment's notice ?
6) Call them !!!
- Have a conversation with the representative of the service provider company. Use your intuition. If you feel uncomfortable or uneasy, simply try another solution provider.

One last thing, you don't have to do this all by yourself! There is a wealth of information and web based service providers who can help you navigate this maze... if you know where to look and what to ask for!!! Plus... it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

Be a savvy consumer. The internet can be an intimidating and hostile environment with money pits everywhere. Do your homework!!