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Estimates say that 100 to 150 million people are now online. That's quite a customer base that you can access from your home with a few taps on your mouse. If you had your own online business, that is.
It's easy for anyone to have a global presence today thanks to the Internet. You can have a small start-up company and be accessed as easily as IBM or Sprint. Many feel the Internet is the greatest invention of the 20th century because it has the capacity to link all of us around the world. It's a force that we all can use and benefit from in our personal and professional lives.
Experts predict that online commerce or electronic commerce--e-Commerce, for short--will become a $3.2 trillion industry by the year 2004. It's a figure that is no longer unfathomable when we consider that right now Dell Computers makes $7 million a day from online sales!
Thanks to the Internet and a neat commodity called the "website" anyone can have an "electronic storefront." Retailing is referred to a "e-tailing" on the Internet. We normally think of stores and shopping malls constructed of "brick and mortar." Internet jargon calls these electronic storefronts "click and mortar" businesses.
If you are tired of hearing about all the Ernie and Ernestine Entrepreneurs making a million dollars from home with an online business and you're frustrated because you don't know how to get started, look no further.
There are many ways you can make money online. You can sell a product or service from your website, you can set-up net affiliations and make commissions from sales on the products of others, you can become a service provider, you can offer special services to online businesses and customers, you can create an online ad agency, you can...well, the possibilities are limitless and we'll introduce you to tried and true opportunities.
Want to start an online business but have no idea where to begin?!? We offer this crash course on the Internet. This feature will help demystify the Internet for you and take you on a step-by-step journey of how to establish an online enterprise. (You'll even learn how to make $1000 a month while you sleep!)
After reading this feature you'll know how to purchase a computer, get online, start a business, take credit card orders and click your way to a hopeful fortune.
When Jeff Bezos conceptualized what to sell online to create Amazon.com, he figured he should sell something that is easy to pack and ship. Books were his ticket. Thanks to the success of his online enterprise, more and more individuals are learning they can do it, too. They might not duplicate the victories of Amazon.com, but they are learning ways to pocket an extra $1000 to $50,000 a month with an online venture.
If you plan to sell a product online, look for something that is simple to pack and inexpensive to ship. Products such as hardware, jewelry, even apparel, might not be as easy to sell online as they are in a brick and mortar shop where customers can touch, feel and try them on for size.
How It All Began
It was the U.S. Department of Defense that is responsible for creating "the Internet." In the early seventies, the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) was responsible for creating an information network to transport data. First known as ARPANET, the goal was to enable different computer systems to share information and data. Because of security concerns, the U.S. Department of Defense wanted no central hub so that if one part of the system was destroyed, the network would continue to transport data and info.
Research facilities began to use ARPANET to send messages (e-mail) to communicate ideas and resources. These early messages contained no graphics or color. There was no graphical user interface. Eventually, Mosaic was created by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the World Wide Web was born. The World Wide Web, also referred to as the Web, is a graphical interface for the Internet that is composed of hyperlinks. These hyperlinks are graphics or different-colored text that contain programming instructions that provide the connection to the next site.
The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous. The Web is only a portion of the Internet. According to web expert, D.A. Smith-Hemphill author of CyberAssistant (AMACOM, $19.95), "Think of the Web as a large group of filing cabinets with drawers full of documents. Imagine that you go to the cabinet, pull out a document, and start to read it. In the first sentence you see a word you need defined, so you put down the piece of paper and start to look around for a dictionary. When you find the dictionary, you open it, search for the word, and finally get the definition.
"Scientists were able to put a 'tag' of text within your document so that when you got to that word, you could click on it and the dictionary would be brought to you with the page open and the correct definition highlighted.
"The Web is made up of documents that are connected by these tags. By using a Web browser, you see the tags as hyperlinks and make use of their connections," explains Smith-Hemphill.
We click and bounce along the Web thanks to these hyperlinks. When clicked with a mouse they automatically open another file for viewing. The Web is made up of millions of documents written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
When information is sent along the Internet, there is not a direct link between its users. When a message is sent, it is split into small pieces called "packets." Each of these packets contains a small portion of the entire message, as well as information about the person who sent the message as well as the recipient, and the message as well.
The small packets might even take different routes. When the packets get to their destinations, they re-group and become a single message once again. This is in keeping with the guidelines established by the Department of Defense so that messages could not be read or deciphered.
When messages are sent over the Internet they are encrypted and de-encrypted when they arrive at their destination. That is why so many consumers find it perfectly safe to shop over the net and offer sensitive information such as credit card numbers, addresses and phone numbers.
Thanks to advances in the 1990s--inexpensive PCs, higher speed modems, browsers like Microsoft Explorer and Netscape, and easy-to-remember web domain names, the Internet is accessible and affordable to many. It is possible for start-up entrepreneurs to have a huge web presence to sell products and services and get their name around the globe. The size and the location of your small business is irrelevant thanks to the Internet.
Step 1: Get A Computer
You need a computer to start your online business. Should you buy an Apple or a PC? Many find the Apple's operating system easier to use than a Personal Computer. An Apple or a Mac is compatible with a smaller base of computers. Mac users also have a smaller selection of software from which to choose. More than 80% of corporate America relies on the PC so that could influence your buying decision.
The PC is used by more people and has a greater selection of software. Consult with your friends and ask them if you can try their Mac or PC. Visit dealers. Hewlett-Packard, SONY, Dell, Compaq, IBM are all PC brands. Macintosh and Apple are viewed as one in the same.
You can purchase a computer in a store or through mail order or the Internet. You can buy systems today for less than $1000 but they often are attached to rebates, Internet service provider offers and the lower priced models deliver less in terms of memory and modem speed. Call Dell (800-999-3355) and Gateway (800-846-4208) and request their mail order catalogs to familiarize yourself with technology and deals. Visit computer stores in your area and attempt to pick the brains of the staff.
When PC shopping, many computers are referred to by their processor's part number, such as 386 or a 486. Then the Pentium chip came along and many feature the Pentium, Pentium II or Pentium III. Some computer users today are still relying on a 486, but most have upgraded to a Pentium chip. One of Intel's Pentium versions is called "Celeron" and it is just an excellent option for your net needs.
You'll be buying Windows 98 if you purchase a PC and you'll think of it as your main software. You'll also need a monitor, a keyboard and a printer. Most PCs today come with built-in (internal) modems and CD-ROM drives.
Memory and Speed are two words to remember when computer shopping. You'll want to buy as much memory as you can afford. You should look for 128MB (mega-bytes) of Random access memory (RAM). This should be adequate, but buy more if your budget permits.
To become connected to the Internet you'll need a modem that will connect you. The modem enables you to "talk" to the Internet. Modem speed is measured in bits per second (bps) or the number of units of data that pass a certain point in one second of time. The fastest modem around are advertised as "56K" or 56,000bps. Another option is an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) adapter, which is a kind of a digital modem. ISDN service might be available from your local phone company, but it will cost more. In some regions of the U.S. computer owners can use a TV cable system or a satellite hookup but it is costly.
Step # 2: Select An Internet Service Provider/Online Service
Now that you have a computer, you'll need to select an Internet Service Provider or subscribe to an online service to get access to the Internet.
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) will offer you Internet access in exchange for a monthly or hourly usage fee. They often will give you a discount if you pay your fee in one annual installment. Fees vary greatly from one ISP to another. Make sure you investigate the options and that you have ISP access with a local phone call. Otherwise, you will be paying costly long distance rates just to get online access. The company will send you software, that you'll load in your CD-ROM to get set up with their service. They often provide telephone help lines, too.
Online Services try and make the Internet more user-friendly. They are CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online (AOL). The process is simple and it basically installs itself. Online services charge a fee just like the ISP and that fee will include access to special content such as AOL bulletin boards, forums and discussion groups.
Many beginners choose online services because they receive a free software package and a free trial service run. Whichever you choose, ask the following questions: How long have you been in business (ISPs) ? Do you offer additional services such as e-mail or a personal web page? What are the dialing charges? What speed connection is available with your service? Do you offer a help line? Are there any additional charges?
Whichever you choose, guard your password and change it frequently if you feel its privacy has been jeopardized.
Step # 3: Choose A Web Browser
A browser is your personal limousine. You tell it where you want to go and it will take you there. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can download the browser you are not using to compare features. Visit www.microsoft.com/ie for Internet Explorer andwww.netscape.com/download for Navigator.
Your browser can help you organize your navigation of the net, too. For example, if you have Netscape Navigator you will have access to "Bookmarks." These bookmarks "mark" your favorite site and store them in a menu. It is therefore very easy to access your favorite websites at a click.
In Internet Explorer, the marking feature is referred to as "Favorites."
For more information on their browser services, visit www.netscape.com for Navigator and visitwww.microsoft.com for info on Internet Explorer.
Step #4: Get An E-Mail Address
Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Netscape Communicator browser suites include e-mail programs. Microsoft's program is called Outlook Express and Netscape's is called Messenger. If you have America Online as your online service, you will receive an e-mail address. If you leave AOL your e-mail address will change, because it is fashioned after their "my-email" address program.
There are a number of Internet-based e-mail services that can easily help you generate an e-mail address that will allow you to send and receive e-mail from any computer with access to the Web. If you're traveling, it will be a cinch to check in with your e-mail.
The big ones that offer this e-mail service are:
www.bigfoot.com
mail.yahoo.com
www.hotmail.com (owned by Microsoft)
www.juno.com
www.usa.net
Step # 5: Find What You Need
You'll be using "search engines" to locate the information and specific documents you need. You just type in your query and you'll be given a list of sites to check out and explore. Often it is appropriate to conduct more than one search, using several different search engines. This referencing several options will ensure that you'll find the most information on the topic you need to research.
The search engine is made up of a large database that organizes the content of web pages; the engine is software that uses the keywords you provide to find and match results. The search engine sends software robots affectionately known as worms, spiders, webcrawlers and wanderers out on the Web to find new things and bring them back into the search engine database.
Here are some of the most popular search engines. Some are more sophisticated, specific, limiting or in-depth than others. They are:
www.altavista.com
www.excite.com
www.hotbot.com
www.infoseek.com
www.lycos.com
www.yahoo.com
Directories will also help you locate information you need. They work similar to organized phone directories such as the Yellow Pages. You type in the topic you are interested in finding more about, and a list of relevant sites will appear.
The largest Internet directory is Yahoo! By the way it doesn't mean "Golly gee, Yahoo, I finally found it!" It means "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle." Go to www.yahoo.com and you'll discover lots of humor and information.
Other directories are:
www.netguide.com
www.einet.net
www.webcrawler.com
www.magellan.excite.com
www.excite.com
www.windweaver.com
To find people, try the following phone/address books:
www.bigyellow.com
www.bigbook.com
www.switchboard.com
www.yellow.com
www.worldpages.com
www.infospace.com
www.theultimates.com/white/
You can search for e-mail addresses via these directories:
www.four11.com
www.whowhere.com
www.bigfoot.com
www.iaf.net
Step #6:Map Out Your Website:
There are so many ways to get your website up and running. You can design it yourself with the help of one of the many hundreds of website design software programs, you can hire a web designer/developer to create and/or maintain your site, or you can take advantage of some of the many free website packages out there (with these, you might have to include a banner ad from a company that is in effect running advertisements all over your website).
Many businesses choose to hire a web designer/developer to create the look and feel of a Fortune 500 website. If you do work with a web designer, check their references to make sure they can provide what they promise. Make sure you maintain ownership of your website and that they won't try and draw a commission from the products/services you sell on your website. Read the fine print and get recommendations from non-competitive companies who have websites that you like. Write a contract for the web designer and use the words "work made for hire." This will ensure that you are hiring the web designer to create work for you and that you own whatever is created in the process.
It is also important to determine whether or not the web designer you've hired will maintain and update your site. Make sure you understand the particulars such as timing and frequency of updates. Termination, confidentiality and pricing schedules should all be spelled out before any work begins or ideas are exchanged.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, don't be dismayed. Check out software programs and do investigate free websites such as the one from www.websiteforfree.com. See what these companies have to offer.
If you have Netscape Navigator, visit their Site Maker section for assistance on creating your own customized website for your small business.
Website Hosting:
Where will your website be placed? A hosting service will make sure your website is connected to the Internet so that potential customers can find and access your site.
The website hosting service will charge you a monthly, quarterly or annual fee and should offer great customer service and a fast connection to the Internet in the process.
The hosting services will charge you a one time fee (about $50-$100) to set up your service and a monthly fee ranging from $20 to $50 to keep the website out there. In exchange for this they will sell you about 50-60 megabytes of storage space and that is enough for a basic website. That's more than 8500 pages of text.
You can visit www.webhostlist.com for a comprehensive directory of site hosting services that range from your basic one-man operation website to the websites of mega-giant conglomerates.
Here are a few others you can consider:
www.digiweb.com
www.hiway.com
www.hospro.com
Ask if the hosting service will provide you with an account of weekly or monthly tracking data of your customers and visitors. Also, determine how difficult it will be to make changes on your site, once it is up and running. You'll want to make sure your connections are fast and that your potential customers don't have to wait too long for information on your website to be accessed. Ask your potential hosting service about bandwidth, the size of the electronic pipeline through which information flows in and out of your website. The higher the bandwidth, the faster your site will operate and sustain viewer interest.
Discuss termination policies, too, in case you want to change your hosting service.
Lastly, talk to your potential hosting service about security. User data and credit card numbers must be kept secure. Make sure the hosting service you are considering has a policy of respecting and protecting your data.
Step # 7: Choosing A Domain Name For Your Site:
A domain name is the text version of the IP (Internet Protocol) numerical addresses that are assigned to every computer hooked up to the Internet. Domain names are useful as they are usually very easy to remember. For example, the domain name for Small Business Opportunities magazine is www.sbomag.com.
You can use your company name, product or special attribute in your domain name to keep it catchy and memorable for the consumer.
Network Solutions is the company that registers the domain name and you'll need to do this to finalize your agreement with the hosting service you've selected. It cost about $70 for the first two-year period and $35 a year after that. Your hosting service should do this as part of your agreement, but if you have negotiated that you will handle it yourself, visit www.networkssolutions.com and do-it-yourself.
You can choose either the ".com" at the end of your domain name or the ".net"; organizations take ".org" and there are some companies that have their domain name registered with all three endings.
Choose a name that you will like because you are going to be using it a lot on stationery, letterhead, business cards, your car or van, pens, caps and t-shirts.
Just as you should be careful to choose a name that can grow with your business, choose a domain name that won't limit you to the one product that you sell at this point in time. Yes, you sell evergreens through your website, but what if you decide to add groundcovers? Rather than trying to use www.evergreens.com try something that incorporates avidgardener.com. With a domain name that can be stretched, you can incorporate more products in the future.
Choose a name that is very easy to spell or it can be very frustrating for your customers to find you. Keep it short and simple. Try not to use a lot of dashes, hyphens, and slashes as it makes the domain name harder to read.
Choose a name for today and tomorrow and you'll be a happier online entrepreneur. Once your company is established, it is virtually impossible to change your domain name. If you can't come up with a good domain name (or so you think), visit www.unclaimeddomains.com and they will offer you a list of at least 250,000 unclaimed names for about $30.
Step #8: Review Website Design Software:
If you are going to design your own website, you'll need to purchase some website design software. Don't panic. You won't need to learn HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) to create your own website. You won't need to learn any programming. There are four features in the website design software you'll want to have:
- Universal CompatibilityThis means your page(s) will be able to work with anyone's browser.
- Visual Page DesignOften called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), which signals that whatever you see on your screen is exactly what a visitor will see on their computer monitor. This is also referred to as pixel-point accuracy.
- Design TemplatesThese are professionally designed helpers consisting of banners, buttons and other "bells and whistles" to give your site a good look instantly.
- Site ManagementThis tool makes it simpler to you to organize your website and view it like a company's organizational chart if you so desire. It will help you put your homepage first and keep the subsequent material/pages looking neat and organized.
www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver
www.adobe.com/prodindex/golive/main.html
www.netobjects.com/products.html/nf4.html
After you have created your new website you will copy the file and transfer it to your hosting service using FTP programs (File Transfer Protocol). With the programs mentioned above, FTP is built right into your design software. You just push a button to copy and transfer your site.
Step #9: Design Your Site:
In starting to design your site, visit some experts and professionals who make a living out of website design. The Site For Site Builders is www.builder.com. Builder.com contains a lot of good information on what you should include to help you develop a great site. It also contains tutorial information for the novice web designer.
Also review the information and graphics at www.developer.com. It contains lots of technical information and even has a lot of tools you can download. It is more of a techie self-help site.
Upbeat and fun is www.hotwired.com/webmonkey.
Another place to stop and view is www.sitelaunch.net. Sitelaunch will help you develop a checklist to get your website designed and launched. The website offers free add-ons, too.
If you want to review some up-to-the-minute splashy sites, visit webdesign.about.com. Updated regularly, it will help you get going, too.
You might have heard of Dmitry Kirsanow, the Russian website designer. Visit www.webreference.com/dlab. for the latest from St. Petersburg.
For users of NetObjects Fusion design software there is www.efuse.com that features the latest screens from Fusion software.
The website for webmasters, www.brainfind.com, might inspire you in creating your website.
There are plenty of free clipart services available if you should want to include bullets, balls, lines, buttons and more. One such site is www.aaaclipart.com. We advise against using these standardized graphics, however, as you never know where else you will see the images.
It's important to spend time surfing to view as many websites as you can before you start creating your own. Map it out on paper. Make it simple, accessible, quick, bright and easy to use. This is the way to keep customers coming back to your website.
Including FAQ
Include a section on Frequently Asked Questions about your small business. This will help you deflect e-mails on a wide variety of topics. Visit other websites to see how companies handle their FAQ section.
If you want to add free features to your site, go to the following websites that will let you download free trivia games, special effects and other features:
www.uproar.com/webdevelopers/intro.htmlwww.dynamicdrive.comwww.pollit.com
If you would like assistance on fine-tuning your website, you can visit several websites that will help you tune up your own web presence. GIF Lube tool will visit your site and compress your graphics once a month. This will create faster download time so your customers won't get bored trying to access your site. It costs $10. See www.websitegarage.com.
NetMechanic will check out your website and clean up your graphics. Visit www.netmechanic.com for more information.
Step # 10: Making Money From Net Affiliations:
This is a neat concept. You establish a website and provide "links" to other websites. Every time an online user visits your site and then jumps to another website because of your link, and then purchases a product from that link, you receive a commission. This is how to make $1000 a month while you sleep!
Believe it or not, there are individuals out there who have established websites that only consists of links to other websites. We know of one individuals who makes $250,000 from the linked website concept. He basically makes money while doing absolutely nothing (except maintaining his site and keeping it lively).
These are called "online affiliate programs" or "partner programs" or "associate programs." Even if you have a website where you are selling your own goods, consider adding a few links that could keep you in the green while waiting for your own products to sell.
The beauty of the online affiliate program is that you don't need to actually take the orders, you don't have to collect payment, track inventory or ship anything. You don't even need a customer service department. Just sit back and the commission will be sent to you.
The commissions range from 5% to 25% and you are paid on a monthly basis.
If this idea excites you, visit the companies that are eager to have you create a link to their website:
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