6 Tips to Starting Your Own Business on a Dime
By Kathy Wilson
Starting your own home business can seem like such a daunting and expensive ordeal that most people never even get started. I was a stay at home Mom with too little money, too little time, no college degree and no experience on the internet when I started, just like many of you. Yet I have built a business that has taken me to become the editor of some of the most popular home and garden websites on the internet, a published author and columnist, and home decorating expert for LifetimeTV.com. And you can find your place on the internet highway as well, with these great tips to get you started, even if you have little money like I did!
*Chances are you already have internet access, so use all those free resources to research, learn and equip yourself to be successful. The internet can provide such basic information as business structure and book keeping and tax advice, yet also provide you with inspiration concerning what type of business is right for you. Make a list of all things that interest you, then surf the internet, message boards and forums gathering information to help you decide what truly speaks to you as a business of your own. Then use those sites you find to refine your knowledge, and make yourself an expert. All this won’t cost you a penny!
*Find yourself a work at home website that really addresses your issues, and make sure you sign up for a few different free newsletters to get a broad range of information coming your way. Almost all informational sites offer free newsletters...did you get that part? FREE! www.Women-on-the-Net.com is a great place to start! Be careful to check their privacy policy though...some sites sell their lists to other companies, and then all you’ll have is an email box full of spam!
*Get yourself a domain name and a website. Don’t think you can build a website? I have used Homestead for years, and you can get a domain name, site hosting, hundreds of professional templates, drag and drop site building software and tutorials for less than $10 a month. Worth it? I have built all my sites with them, and I recommend them highly. Find them at our resource page at http://www.women-on-the-net.com/resources.html.
*After you have your website up, you need traffic. This is where people believe they have to spend big money on advertising, but I have never paid one dime in advertising. There are dozens of ways to market your site for free, but one of the best is to write and distribute articles on your topic. After all, you’re an expert now! (Yes, you are, and don’t let anyone tell you different!) Think you can’t write? Nonsense. How to articles are written exactly as you would speak to a friend, anyone with a computer can type out an article! Make your article between 500-700 words, and search the internet for like minded websites and offer the article for free, in exchange for a short bio of your website and a live link back to your site. MOST websites on the internet operate this way, likely including the one you are reading this article on. Also submit your articles to article banks. These are websites where you can post your articles, and other publishers can download them for use on their websites, with the same bio and live link we discussed before. Some good ones? EzineArticles.com, IdeaMarketers.com and GoArticles.com. Try to submit one new article a week for maximum growth.
*Now that you have traffic, you need to start capturing email addresses and create a newsletter, to keep your loyal readers coming back to you. There are email list management programs, and some are very good. However, if your budget is tight, you simply need to sign up for your own Yahoo Group...and it’s free! Go to www.Yahoo.com, click on groups on the left side of the page, then “start your own group”. You can change the settings so that you only can post, as in a newsletter, or so any member can post like a message board. They even give you the code to put on your website, so every page can give visitors an opportunity to sign up for your free newsletter.
*Finally, you need a way to make money with your site. Here are my top three, and they won’t cost you a cent to implement. First, make sure you have signed up with Google Adsense. You can sign up here: http://www.women-on-the-net.com/google_signup.html
It’s free to signup, all you do is place a small ad or two on each page of your website, and every time someone clicks on those ads...Google pays you. The more traffic you have, the more Adsense revenue you will make! Second, join an affiliate program for a product you believe in. Affiliate programs pay you a portion of each sale you make from your website. They provide the ads, you place them on the site, and their tracking software keeps stats on what you sell, and they send you a check. Most affiliate programs are free to sign up for. Make sure you pick a product you have faith in, because your reputation is on the line here. You will make a lot more money in the long run creating trust between you an your readers, rather than slapping up every ebook or product you can find, unrelated to your site or of questionable quality. I recommend starting with Clickbank, and you can sign up at http://buddec.reseller.hop.clickbank.net.
Now you have the basics, I suggest you bookmark this article, or visit our Quickstart Checklist at http://www.women-on-the-net.com/checklist.html and print it out. And get started, today! You no longer have lack of money as an excuse not to create a business of your own, and start working toward your dreams. And it will be work mind you, but with the help of good sites like Women-on-th-Net.com, ANY woman can learn to make money on the internet!
Visit Kathy at www.Women-on-the-Net.com, Where ANY Woman Can Learn to Make Money on the Internet: Even if She's Just Getting Her Surfing Feet Wet, and Using What She Already Knows and Loves!
