Starting an online business is easier now than ever before. Here are the tools that you will require to manage your Internet business and carry out the various digital marketing activities.
Before the Internet revolution, the number of hurdles that an individual had to cross, in order to get a business up and running was enough to discourage even the most hardworking and intelligent of people.
Most bricks and mortar business required some documentation, and one had to slog for months (or even longer) before you can see anything that resembles a steady income.
Fortunately, things are a lot different now.
Getting started now requires nothing more than a computer, an Internet connection, and an idea.
Today, people sell all kinds of things and offer all kinds of services on the Internet.
And getting paid for it is easy as well. There are several popular online payment sites such as PayPal that makes it easy to accept money in your bank account (from foreign countries).
Small Busines Ideas: Various small business ideas that you start in the fitness, health, wellness, nutrition, sports, niche.
How to Build a Website: How to Build a Website – CMS, Blogs, Websites & Website builders explained
Choosing Web Hosting: Web Hosting Service: How to choose the right type for your needs.
Content Writing: Creating great content for your website is essential, and it’s the actual content that has the potential to make or break your online business.
How to Get Website Traffic: If you are going to build an online business, one of the most important things to focus on will be the traffic to your website.
More TOOLS OF THE TRADE: For Online Business
Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links and I get compensated if you make a purchase. I recommend them because these tools/services are helpful and useful, not because I earn a small commission from your sign-up.
I’ll add to this list as I learn more, and weed out the unhelpful services.
There are however, several free alternate options available to these (more cumbersome and slow), so do not buy these products unless you think they’ll help you achieve your goals.
Web Hosting and Domains
Owning a website is a must for all businesses today but you need a web server first to put your web site on the internet. A web host (company) provides equipment, memory space and other technical programs to host a website. These hosting companies charge a monthly fee for the service of storing your web site (files and web pages) on servers and allowing your web site to be seen on the internet.
A server is a specialized type of computer that acts as a hub to connect computers, they provide data backup and storage, and also provide email and internet access.
There are two basic types of web hosting: Shared hosting, Dedicated hosting
For most purposes, shared hosting plans will suffice.
These hosting plans are generally reasonably priced, starting at around $5 to $15 per month. With shared hosting, the servers and host resources are shared among multiple websites.
This is not typically an issue for most people who own small to mid-sized websites. However, if your website has specific configuration requirements and if you get a flood of traffic, you may require dedicated hosting. In dedicated hosting service, the client leases an entire server (not shared with anyone else) allowing it full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. (suitable for huge websites.)
Popular web hosting providers include BlueHost, HostGator, GoDaddy, among others.
Bluehost: 99% of my websites are hosted on Bluehost. Easy to use, 1-click automatic WordPress installation and excellent customer service. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using Bluehost for your first site.
Namecheap: A great/reputable domain name registrar.
More Useful Tools
Blogging
WordPress: The #1 Blog Publishing Platform. Free and easily customizable with wonderful support. Most of my blogs use WordPress.
Email Subscriptions & Marketing
Aweber and Mailchimp: Email marketing/broadcasting tool. This is what you need to build an email list and send newsletter.
Testing Results
Google Analytics: Google’s free website tracking and analytical tool. A must have for anyone with any type of website.
Outsourcing Work
You can outsource most of the tasks related to managing and promoting your business, in case you’re short of time.
Fiverr, Elance and ODesk are popular platforms for hiring freelancers, programmers and web designers.
99Designs is a great place to get your logo design done. You submit the description and designers will compete against each other to win money.
Virtual Staff Finder: Best and quickest head-hunter service on the web if you’re looking for high quality virtual assistants (VA).
Marketing Tips to Promote Your Business Online
A website usually has information about the products or services that your company is offering, for potential customers. These websites are essentially the same as brochures.
If you own a fitness, sports, or wellness related business, digital marketing can help you attract more customers to your business. To get traffic to your website, your marketing efforts should ideally combine different strategies for the best results.
Here, we’ll discuss the various digital marketing methods and how they all come together to create an effective, worthwhile marketing campaign.
Search Engine Marketing
In this method, a website is marketed to get traffic from search engines by improving the ranking of the site using search engine optimization (SEO), or using paid advertising.
Social Network Marketing
In this method, a website is promoted on social media such as Instagram, YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Email Marketing
Make an email list and send information about your products or services to the list.
Video Marketing
Make videos about your products and services and promote on various media, such as YouTube.
Many of the techniques employed by SEO and Video Marketing are the same, such as: requires keyword research, optimization, and high quality content.
Banner Advertising
Place advertisements on other popular and relevant websites for a price. Newspaper and magazine ads would be the offline comparison to banner advertisements.
Create Valuable Content
People are more likely to visit your website, if you offer unique and high quality content to them. You should also make regular updates to your website in order to provide additional incentives for people to visit.
You must also leverage your existing content. Re-format blog posts to share on social media, convert them into videos (for YouTube).
Conclusion
In order to get considerable amount of traffic, it is important that you spend considerable time promoting your website as well, in addition to producing content for your site.
A good strategy to use is to have a mix of the various advertising methods.
You may use paid advertising initially to save time and get that initial traffic as organic methods such as SEO and capturing emails can take time.
It takes time for the search engines to see your site, so be patience with the new website.
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