There are several different online business models that you can choose from. It is very important that you choose the right online business model as you will need to work on this every day to achieve success.
The most common online business models:
Affiliate marketing
CPA marketing
Product creation
Your own online store
Amazon FBA
Drop shipping
Drop servicing
Freelance services
Self publishing
You need to consider a number of different factors when choosing the right online business model and we will examine those in this article. It is very important that you do not make the wrong choice here as this will be a major barrier to your success.
Do you have Money to invest?
Do you have a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to invest in your new online business? If you don’t then you can forget about setting up your own online store or Amazon FBA. Unless you are prepared to do all of the work creating your own product. Then this is probably not a good choice either.
Whatever online business model you choose you are going to need a small amount of money to pay for a domain name and web hosting and an autoresponder service for email marketing. So take a good look at your budget to see what funds you can allocate to your online business.
You could borrow money to start your online business but this is probably not a good idea. It can take some time for you to see profits and in the meantime you will have to make loan repayments. Only you can decide if borrowing money is a good idea or not.
How much Time do you have?
All of the online business models will require your time, but some of the models can be successful with less time than others. For example, it is relatively easy to get started with affiliate marketing . When you are short on time then you can use paid traffic sources to generate targeted traffic to your offers.
If you have a full time job that is currently paying the bills then we strongly recommend that you stick with this until the income from your online business overtakes the pay you receive from your job. Don’t put yourself under unnecessary pressure.
What Skills do you have?
Do you have skills that you can sell for a high price by offering freelance services? You have a skill that you can turn into a high demand product? Perform a skills assessment to see what you can offer. Determine the demand for your skills before you make a decision.
If you are a good writer or copywriter then you can make a lot of money selling your services. Bear in mind though that you will be selling your time for money and this can be really tough if you have a full time job.
Creating a training package around an in demand skill that you have could be very lucrative. You can record training videos and other resources to create a powerful package. Maybe you are an expert in a particular niche and can start a blog about this and create a YouTube channel. You can sell your own products or recommend affiliate products.
Getting Started With Your Online Business Model
What do you need to start an online business? Well you will need a website to promote whatever you are selling. There are free website services available such as Weebly.com, Blogger.com and WordPress.com. But we strongly recommend that you avoid these free services.
Internet users are a lot smarter than they used to be. They know that they can start a free website with Weebly for example. This is OK if you just want to blog about your life and let your friends know what you are up to.
But it is not OK for business purposes. In order to make money with your online business you will need to sell something or promote things for a commission. If people see that you have a Blogger site then they will know it is free and think that you are cheap. There is a very slim chance that they will purchase anything.
Get a Domain Name and Web Hosting
The best way to get setup with your online business is to choose a domain name. Then connect it with a web hosting account so that you can make your website live on the Internet. A domain name is usually available for around $10 from registrars like Namecheap.com and GoDaddy.com. You will need to renew this each year.
There are thousands of companies offering web hosting services and it can be difficult to choose the right one. Page loading speed is very important for your visitors and for the search engines like Google. So do some research and find web hosts that have the fastest servers.
Nobody will want to wait too long for your website to load. There is so much choice available they will just go elsewhere. This is a disaster for your online business so make sure that you choose a web host with fast servers.
Other things to look for with a web host include:
Unlimited disk space
Unlimited bandwidth
The number of domain names you can use
Free SSL certificates
Malware monitoring and removal
One click WordPress install
When you are starting out a shared web hosting plan is fine. These are the cheapest plans as you share resources with others. As your traffic increases you can migrate to a VPS server or a dedicated server.
Install WordPress on your Domain Name
The easiest way to create your website is to use the free WordPress content management system. This is why it is important that your web host has a one click install for this (most of them do).
Once your domain name is connected to your web hosting you can then use the one click WordPress installation feature to install the platform on your domain name. You just need to provide a couple of details and then click the install button and a few seconds later your website will be ready.
The reason that we recommend WordPress is that it is so easy to use. You do not need any technical knowledge to setup WordPress or add your content to it. Change the look and feel of your website with a new theme and enhance the functionality with the numerous plugins available.
Affiliate Marketing is the premier home business model. Its easy to start and the least expensive. Get on you way to INSTANT and Ongoing Cash Flow… in no time at all
