How To Start An Online Business?

Are you ready to be a boss? Do you want to start your own online business that leads to your road to wealth?

I know I was. For years, I was working long hours that led to the success of many businesses. But they were not my businesses. They were other people’s businesses. My efforts helped others make hundreds of thousands of dollars, and some even millions of dollars!

At some point, back in 2014, I decided enough was enough. These companies were making so much money. Why shouldn’t that be me?

Why should I be getting a fixed wage that has a predetermined salary ceiling?

With my own business, no one is going to tell me I can only earn so much a month. It is up to me to work hard, and make as much as possible. Those hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars that those companies were making. That could be mine.

Fyi, this blog post is part of a series titled – How to Start and Grow Your Successful Online Business. Check it out.

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Out Here On My Own

So, I decided to start my own business.

But there was a huge obstacle – the capital to start a business.

Rental of an office is expensive in Singapore. And so are salaries of staff. What if I started a business that incurred all these high costs, and the sales and revenue were not enough to cover it? After all, we do business to make money right?

It is known that most businesses take a few years before they finally see profits. I did not have enough capital to tide over a few years.

Then I realized that my forte is in the digital landscape. It dawned upon me that the best option for me is to start an online business.

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My Own Online Business

When your store is online, costs are lower. And an online business can reach millions of customers from all over the world. These were just a couple of advantages of an online business. The problem was – while I had years of digital marketing experience, I had no experience in starting an online business.

Undeterred, I started to do research. I spent months and found a few duds. Tried some programs that claim they could help me start an online business easily. Some even claimed they have the get rich formula. Tried them all and ended with nothing.

But I never gave up. I was sure that there must be a legitimate program out there. A program that would work and would help me start my own online business as well as help me succeed. And I found it! It was Wealthy Affiliate.

I followed the training, and here is what I learned:

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1. Choose a Niche

The first thing needed to be done is to Choose a Niche that your business will be in. Before choosing a Niche, it is important to know What Is A Niche? Basically, it is a group of people with similar interest. It is a topic that they are passionate about. Seems simple right? But I found it not to be so. There is a lot to consider.

Wealthy Affiliate provides a very good training on What Is A Niche and How To Choose One. Link to the Free Training below.

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Get The Free Training On What Is A Niche and How to Choose One (includes a training video) Now >>>

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2. Products

A business, of course, will have a product (or service) offering. But when I came to this step, what I did not like was the high costs to store and ship products. And if they are your original products, then there is the cost of manufacturing. Plus, the cost of packaging.

There is too much costs for a small and new business. And all that is before you even start running the business and making money from sales!

There is a couple of options that can remove or reduce these costs. It involves selling other people’s products. And the choices are drop shipping and affiliate marketing. I will discuss the latter a little further down this article.

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3. Register the Business

Even though your business is online, it is a good idea to register it as a legal business. Every county and city have their unique laws and requirements about registering a business. I suggest you find out from the legal governing body what are the requirements and what needs to be done to register your business and make it official.

Some of you may choose to register later. Again, this all depends on what are the legal requirements in your individual country or city. Do find out.

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4. Buy a Domain Name

What is a Domain Name? It is the web address that people will be able to go to in order to visit your business website. The physical world’s equivalent is the actual business address. The domain name is the online address.

If you have a brand name, that can be your domain name. The same for a business name that can be the domain name. If you do not have either, and are thinking of a domain name, do go for something short and catchy. A name that is easy for people to remember.

You can buy a domain name direct from the registry or from a hosting company.

Wealthy Affiliate also has a very thorough training (with training video) about Choosing a Domain Name. Link to the Free Training below.

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Get The Free Training On Choosing a Domain Name (includes a training video) Now >>>

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5. Get Web Hosting Service

Remember that the Domain Name is only the web address. Just like a physical business address, it is only an address. You will need a piece of land and a building on that land with that address in order for people to find your business and learn more about you.

The piece of land in the physical world is like the web hosting service. Just as you build a business building on that land, you build a website on the hosting service. Together, you have an online property that people can visit and engage in business with you.

There are many web hosting service providers. Some are free. But if you are serious about running an online business for the long term, I would highly encourage you to consider paying for one. Choose a web hosting service that provides all the tools and services you need to run a website. You will be less likely to run into any problems in the future.

Did you know that Wealthy Affiliate also offers web hosting service? It is one of the most reliable service I know of and has really powerful tools to make your website safe and always running. Find out more Here.

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6. Create a Business Website

As mentioned above, the domain name and web hosting service set the stage for your website. Your business website is the all-important factor in your online business. With this, you can inform visitors about who you are, what is your business about, what you are offering, how to contact you, and most vital of all – how to buy your products.

Creating a website includes a lot of steps. Too many to include in this blog post or it will go into thousands of words. I will write another blog post all about How To Create a Business Website. Do subscribe to my newsletter to be updated when this post is published.

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7. Get Sales

This is the ultimate purpose of a business isn’t it? I know it is for me. As mentioned from the start, the reason I am doing online businesses is so that I can make the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

To get sales, you will need to promote your products. Nowadays, most of the marketing activities are also online. There are various digital marketing strategies such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing, Content Marketing, and more.

The goal of all these strategies is to drive traffic to your website. When you get a lot of traffic, you have the opportunity to convert visitors to customers. And that is when you get profits from sales.

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Affiliate Marketing

I wrote an article about What Is Affiliate Marketing? For more details, you can Click Here.

Here, I will give you a summary of what it is. Instead of creating your own products and incurring all the high costs, you can choose to sell other people’s products. And you do not need to buy their products, store them in a warehouse until they are sold.

You simply promote the products on your website.

You are given a unique affiliate ID. And when visitors buy the products through an affiliate link that contains your ID, you earn a commission.

Again, if you like to get more details about what Affiliate Marketing is all about – Click Here.

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Conclusion

The above is a simple explanation on How To Start An Online Business. As you can see, it can be quite simple, especially when you learn from a powerful training platform like Wealthy Affiliate. To be honest, I would not have started my online businesses if not for Wealthy Affiliate.

Even with my years of digital marketing experience, I found it helpful. Another thing I learned is to not hesitate or procrastinate. The earlier you start your business, the earlier you start to earn. And the earlier you are on your road to success and wealth.

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You can join the Free Starter Package with just your email. No credit card needed for this Free Starter Package.

There is some free training as well as really powerful tools and features to help you do digital marketing for your online business.

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If you have ANY questions about this article or Wealthy Affiliate, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help you out.

Also, if you are a current or former member, and would like to leave your own review or feedback below, I would love to hear from you, too.

Thank you for reading this.

Best wishes!

Timotheus