Start a Business: Make More Money

Hey, I’ve got a new website devoted to starting a business on the Internet. I’m trying to share my knowledge with anyone just getting started. I try to point out the dangers as well as the potential. I’m not the guru, but I can tell you the people I’ve found that I trust. It’s been two years of study and I’m still learning.

Business-DoItYourself.com is new, but it grew out of Website-DoItYourself.com which now can focus on just website building and let all the more advanced topics reside on business-doityourself. Some people aren’t interested in business but they do want a cool website for photos or a personal blog.

It helps me because now I can focus on business and build an email list of anyone who is interested in creating a business.

The new site contains general articles on the main subject and will add articles in the coming months on any details I think need to be explained. I encourage anyone who has a question to email me (see the site for a contact page) and let me know what you are interested in.

Thanks,
John Burch

Want your own website?

Hey, let’s talk about getting a website of your own.

You could start a blog – like this one – or start a real business.  A lot of us want to earn more money and when you work all day at the office or factory, it is hard to see where the time and energy will come from to start a business.

In the past, it was hard, you needed a lot of money, or you had to go into deep debt.  Not so today. The Internet makes it easy to start a business.  A website is cheap, easy to create and it’s up to you, the creator, how it works or how it makes money.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a LOT to learn before you can make a living on the Internet.  But you need to get started and learn as you go.  You will need to read and study and then test your knowledge. In the end, if you keep pushing in that direction, you will make it. You will have a business on the Internet and your income can vary from small to unbelievably large. It’s a competitive field and thousands of other entrepreneurs are working very hard for the same success.  Thank goodness, the market is huge and still growing, so you can always find something to sell.

Possibly you could sell other people’s products (as an affiliate) without ever having a website, but that is rare.  At some point you will need a site even if you only use it as a support to your selling efforts. Most people working on the Internet build many websites and each site makes money and the diversity is good.

If you have your own product – such as an ebook on how to care for antique furniture – you will have a website devoted to that product. You will do things to let people and search engines know that your website exists.  And how well you do that determines the traffic that comes to your site. Which determines how many ebooks you sell.

If you are curious, click here and see how to put up a website yourself .

The Immediate Future

Instead of writing about what might be 20 years from now, let’s tackle the next five years. Looks like an economic downturn that might be a bear. What life preservers exist? Jobs could get scarce. Job security could vanish. But the Internet will still be there and will be the power line for any recovery to come. Even if people tighten up and don’t have as much available cash, some things have to be spent. Like food and clothing. And maybe information on starting a business. Think about it, if you lose a good job, and jobs are scarce, what can you do? Sure, look for another job, but consider selling something in addition.

It’s not easy but there are ways to make a living working for yourself. It all depends on what you have to sell. If people need it, you can sell it. Even in a recession. The idea is to identify what you have that people need and want. If you don’t have it, then find it. Remember that old saying, you have to sell something, either your time or a product. Your time is limited, but a product – even someone else’s product – can be sold time and time again. So, let’s talk about how to sell things people need or want.

Most people who start their own businesses do so when they see something they like and they assume a lot of other people will also like the same thing. Very poor decision. And most businesses go broke in the first five years. Mainly, I suspect, because they tried to sell something not many people wanted. Or not enough people, anyway.

The internet is something new. It’s very cheap to start a business – cheaper than any other method. Even a website is easy – see how to do it yourself here. The idea is to find a product or service and sell it. But you start by asking what people need rather than what do you have to sell. Maybe they are the same, maybe not.

How do you decide? Using the internet you can look for information on how many people are searching for a particular term. Google provides a free keyword tool you can use to get a feel for the popularity of a keyword. And how many other people are trying to supply information or a service to those same people. It takes some familiarity with the tool to see it’s value but it and other tools like it can help you see who is searching for a particular term. If not many people search, then not many people want or need it. Try several keywords. Say you are interested in shoes. Try “men’s shoes” or “quality shoes” and look at the results in Google. All those people are supplying information or a product that relates to those keywords.

Assuming you see something people want or need, you have to decide if too many people are already selling a solution. If the field is too crowded, that makes it hard for you to compete. So the goal is to find a subject that gets 3000 to 5000 searches a month on Google and only has a handful of other websites that sell a product that would compete. Those websites can give you a lot of ideas on what products exist to meet that need.

John