Internet spending growth improves each year and it is estimated that over $90 billion was spent on the Internet last year. This figure does not include auction sites, travel sites, and commercial shopping. This is about a 20% increase from the previous year, so it has a significant impact on all of your internet business opportunities and holds great promise for years to come.
Many start-up businesses use the Internet to generate their first income by creating an e-commerce site. Whenever you have a product to sell, the internet can be the gateway for that product to get noticed and sell. Creating an internet business opportunity with your product requires a great deal of planning and research, here are some simple steps to make your product a success online.
- 1. Prepare a business and online marketing plan. This should be the first stage in which you meet with your team to share the objectives of the product. This ‘master’ plan should include all costs incurred with start-up and ongoing costs. You should also set a budget for your internet marketing opportunity and a sales forecast.
- 2. The domain or web address. Find a domain that accurately represents your product and brand. Search engines use the domain to accurately list your website, so make sure the domain is appropriate and details you and your product.
- 3. Shopping software. If you’re a new business looking to keep costs down for your Internet business opportunity, select eCommerce software that’s widely available through a hosting company. The other option is to hire a web developer or programmer to create a shopping cart system for the website and integrate it however you like into your account structure.
- 4. Merchant account and security. Most online shoppers use credit cards to purchase products online. You need to sign up for a merchant account with your chosen payment gateway. The more payment options you offer the customer, the more likely you are to buy your product and trust to buy through your online business opportunities. When you have a merchant account, you are responsible for customer data, therefore everything must be secure within your system and meet credit card security requirements.
- 5. Design the website. Once the ‘back-end’ or programming is ready to accept payment, you need to work to produce a user-friendly site. The shortest route to checkout is the best solution, the fewer clicks a user has to make, the higher the chances they will buy.
- 6. Test the website online. Google has a number of tools you can use to monitor your website from page visitors to conversion paths. Use this data and modify your website if you see that users are not converting.
- 7. Internet marketing opportunity. You need to promote the website, using SEO techniques to get your site higher in search engines is now essential because of the competition. You may also have a budget for a PPC campaign that can drive relevant traffic to your website to increase sales.
These steps are a guide to starting an Internet business opportunity and could well be your main source of income for your product. If this is your first site, take the time to cover all of these steps and you’ll be in the best position to make your website a success.