Why an online business?
Creating an online business is simple and once you are set up you are your own boss.
The best thing is you can work from wherever you are whenever it suits you.
If you want the freedom to explore the amazing planet we inhabit on your own schedule then generating a passive income stream from a website is a great way to do it.
If having this sounds like something you want then keep reading and you will learn a simple way to get your first online business going in a weekend.
How to succeed where others fail - A simple strategy to get ahead of the pack.
Before we start a word of caution .. many people try this and fail for a few really simple reasons that are easy to avoid.
- Some fail because they are afraid to start.
- Some fail because they don't know how to start.
- Some fail because they don't get immediate results and give up before they succeed.
Overcoming a fear of failure is easy .. Just get started the worst that can happen is that you are not 100% successful and you learn from your mistakes.
One thing I can guarantee is that you won't succeed if you don't try
The rest of this article covers the "I don't know how to start" challenge by providing step by step instructions that show you a simple way to build a niche site and attract visitors without spending a fortune.
But most important of all simply do not give up, always keep in mind what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it.
I think Calvin Coolidge said it best with these words :
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. "
It's a simple message - keep going until you succeed.
Simple step by step instructions
In the following instructions, you will learn how to set up a simple site that will allow you to attract and engage with an audience who are interested in what you have to say.
Once you have done this you can then make money by making products and services that are of interest available to them.
No need to worry you don't have to provide the products you just make a bit of money when your visitors buy them from other people.
You can easily have your business up and running in a weekend for under $100 and be working towards a passive income.
To get started you will need:
- A little imagination and inspiration.
- Persistence and determination.
- About $100 - $150 to get your hosting and your domain name set up.
- A desire to learn a few new skills.
So let's get started
Step One - Identify an interest that people will spend money on.
Start by thinking about all the things that interest you and writing as many as you can think of down in a list.
A few ideas that go straight onto my list are woodwork, motorcycling, Home maintenance, cooking, travel.
Your list will probably be quite different and might contain things like fishing, shooting, crochet, knitting, photography or other things you like to do.
Once you have done this narrow it down to something a little more specialized. When you are doing this ask yourself a few questions:
- Are there lots of people interested in the niche?
- Are there lots of things to write about?
- Are there problems to be solved for people?
- Do people like to spend money on this niche?
- Are there affiliate products I can promote for the niche?
- Are there other people making money from this area of interest?
Here is an example to give you an idea of how this works.
The weather is warming up and I took the cover off my swimming pool only to discover that it had turned into a green swamp.
Something had not worked quite right over winter and I needed to fix it.
I'm no expert on pool care so I turned to the Internet for help and discovered that there is a vibrant community of pool owners looking for information and helping each other.
It also became apparent that the tech and science behind pool care interest me a lot and is something I could learn and write about for years to come.
And it cost me a small fortune to buy all the chemicals, tools, gadgets, and parts I needed to get the pool up and running properly again.
Looking good so far ... There is a large audience, lots of problems to solve, lots of stuff to write about, and best of all people not only want to spend money they have to.
So the next thing to do is establish if there are affiliate programs that can be used to make money and a quick look in the Startearning affiliate directory quickly shows that there are.
From my original research when I was trying to fix my own pool I know there are plenty of people already making money in this niche and it looked to me like there is plenty of room for another great resource in the market.
Decision made - My new niche will be Swimming Pool Care.
Your Task: Brainstorm and decide on a niche.
Step two - Buy a domain name that is easy to type and remember.
A domain name is your address on the internet as you can see ours is startearning.com which is easy to remember, easy to type, and directly relates to what we do.
The most important thing is to get an address so that people can find your site but you will make life much easier for yourself if you stick to a few guidelines:
- Stick to more traditional domain extensions if you can e.g. .com .net other domains are not a deal-breaker but they will be a little harder for people to remember.
- Keep it short. The chances of getting a one-word domain are pretty slim but try and keep it down to two if you can.
- Make it easy to remember and spell don't use hard to spell words and don't use hyphens, dashes, or numbers.
If I were looking for a new domain name I would avoid domain names like start-earning-money-online.info or start3arning.com
I usually go to Godaddy to buy new domains but there are plenty of other reputable registrars you can use.
it's hard to get a perfect domain without paying a fortune so just find the best name you can and register it, you can't start a site without one.
Your Task: Go to Godaddy.com and use the search function to find and register your new domain.
Step three - Get fast and reliable WordPress hosting.
There are alternatives to WordPress but there are good reasons that the most widely used content management system is WordPress.
- It is quick and easy to get a good looking site up and running.
- It is easy to use.
- It is free.
- It is flexible enough to meet the requirements of almost all niche sites.
So if you are just getting started we recommend WordPress
Wordpress.org assess hosting companies for performance, ease of installation, ease of upgrades and have described Bluehost, Dreamhost, and Siteground as being amongst the best.
Bluehost has a reputation for having the best performance and being the easiest to set up so we happily recommend them.
We have created a guide to setting up WordPress hosting at Bluehost to show you just how simple the process is.
Performance is important !!! Most people will not wait for a slow page to load so you need good hosting.
If you don't need the guide you can get started by visiting: https://www.bluehost.com/special/wordpress and selecting a hosting plan.
Step four - install WordPress
Most Web hosts have an automatic installation option for WordPress that makes it easy to install but Bluehost has gone to a lot of effort to make it really easy.
We have created a step by step guide installing WordPress on Bluehost to show you just how simple it is.
If you decide to go with other hosts the steps are usually pretty similar:
- Log into your control panel.
- Find the automatic script installer.
- Click on Install WordPress.
- Select the domain you want WordPress installed on.
- Provide some details including admin username and password.
- Click on install.
- Wait for notification that installation is complete.
- Visit your newly installed site.
Simples!
Step five - Set up your new website
Visit your new site at http://www.yourdomain.com (replacing “yourdomain.com” with your own domain) and you will see a very simple, essentially empty page.
Now you need to make it your own before you start sharing information with the world.
If you are new to WordPress this can be a little confusing, so we have created a WordPress setup guide that shows you how to get set up easily.
Step six - Set up Google Search Console and submit a sitemap.
One of the best and cheapest ways to get visitors to your site is organic search traffic and Google is still the biggest player in this space.
Given that your site is brand new search engines don't know your new site exists so you need to let them know about it.
The way to do this is set up a search console and submit a sitemap.
You can find more information about how to set up Google Search Console and submitting a sitemap in this tutorial.
Step seven - Set up Google Analytics.
Once you have set up your new website you will want to know how many visitors your site is attracting, where they are coming from, and what they are looking for.
With this information, you can establish which content is working well and work out where to focus your monetization efforts.
Google Analytics is a completely free tool that gives you all this and more.
Good news is that the Folks over at ThemeIsle have created an easy to follow Analytics setup guide that will get you up and running quickly.
Step eight - set up an email list.
The reason for this is simple. Visitors come and go and if they choose not to return to your website or don't remember your URL they may never return.
How often have you tried to find a site again only to be unable to locate it in a search engine?
The simple fact is in many cases if you don't get contact details from your visitors their first interaction will be the last you have with them.
Building an e-mail list is probably still the best way to maintain an ongoing relationship with your visitors.
You can get a mail list up and running quickly for free by following this tutorial.
Step nine - Set up Facebook and Instagram accounts
Social media is an important way to keep in contact with your visitors so we recommend setting up Facebook and Instagram pages for your new site.
If you have another favorite social network feel onto register it as well but we recommend setting Facebook and Instagram straight away.
You can manage your social media profiles manually but when you become popular this may take a lot of time so you might consider using a social media management tool.
Social media marketing and management is a whole other topic which we will provide more information on soon.
Setup Complete.
Congratulations! You now have everything in place that you require to start sharing your passion with the world and make some money from it.
There will always be things you want to improve on your website but the setup phase of your new business is done.
Build your Business.
It's time to move into the build phase for your new enterprise where you start engaging with your audience and promoting your site.
This is the part where persistence and determination are key and the winning formula is a simple one;
- Create and publish the best content you know-how.
- Promote your content.
- Engage with your audience.
- Measure your success.
- Learn from your successes and mistakes.
- Rinse and repeat.
Step ten - Create useful high-quality content.
Before you start actively promoting make sure you have created some great content and made it available on your site. You want people to find your content valuable and be looking for more.
For many, the hardest part of writing a blog is deciding what to write about. If you are like me ideas will come to you all the time. Except when I sit down to write my next post.
To overcome this I write ideas down as they pop into my head and then create a really rough (unpublished) post as soon as I get a chance. When I am lacking inspiration I just review the list of unpublished posts.
Once you are inspired this guide will show you the basics of writing a stunning blog post.
Most importantly get into a routine and keep producing fresh content, If you can create 4 or 5 high-quality posts a week you will be in really good shape.
Step Eleven - Promote your new Site and Engage with your Audience.
Once you have created some great content you will need to start actively promoting it if you want to attract an audience.
Marketing your website in very simple terms means the following:
- Get listed in search engines and attract organic traffic.
- Collect email addresses from your visitors an engage with them.
- Get your visitors to follow you via social media and engage with them.
Sounds simple, doesn't it?
You will discover that Internet marketing is a huge and complex subject to learn and that there are many ways to promote your content and engage your audience.
Start by learning the basics with this beginners guide to promoting your blog.
Step Twelve - Measure your success and adapt
If you are going to succeed you need to understand your audience including :
- How many visitors are you attracting?
- What content is attracting them?
- How long are they staying?
- What are your visitors searching for?
Website analytics is another big topic so we recommend you get started with the free Analytics academy courses that Google have created.
Time to make some money.
Final step - Monetize your traffic.
Once you have built and engaged an audience it is time to make some money.
There are a number of ways to do this including:
- Affiliate programs.
- Advertising.
- Creating and selling digital products
- Creating and selling courses.
- Donations.
- Consulting.
- Selling your business
You can get more information in this guide to monetizing your blog.
What next ??
Now you have set up your new content site you can continue to build your business by repeating steps ten, eleven, and twelve.
So long as you persist you have a good chance at making money from your new site .. how much is up to you.
There are many people making thousands or tens of thousands from their sites and with skill and determination you could be one of them.