As our business grew, we made a real effort to measure each marketing program to find out how much of a return it provided. We carefully monitored our online campaigns, and used incentives like coupons to test the effectiveness of print ads. Because we measured the return on every dollar spent on marketing, we learned […]
Steve’s Marketing Rule, discussed in the previous story, is really just a corollary to a general rule that I’ve always found to be true. While this general rule doesn’t have much to do with selling online, I think it’s worth sharing. Steve’s First Rule of Money: Never trust anyone who tries to sell you anything with a […]
A key to survival while you test your product idea and grow your business is to minimize your starting costs. This gives you the chance to try different business ideas, if necessary, without too big a drain on your family finances. As long as you possibly can, work entirely from your home using your family […]
Keys to Starting an Online Business
If you’re thinking about starting an online business, here are some fundamental ideas to help you stay focused and grow. 1. Learn by Helping Others An easy way to learn about online marketing is to help a friend, family member, or organization set up a website to promote their product or service. As explained in […]
Part 1: Find Your Product Idea Contrary to what you might think, it’s usually not difficult to come up with a great product idea for your new company. Start by keeping notes about the products and services you’ve encountered in everyday life that really stink. Are you frustrated because your car mechanic ripped you off? […]
Choosing the right company name, in the form of a web address (or root domain, as it’s often called) is essential for your online business. Your choice of web address should determine the legal company name that you register with your government, and not the other way around. Just as important as choosing the right […]
If you’re going to own a web store, you’ll need a web address (often called a “root domain“) that will appear online in visitors’ search results, or when they type the name into their browser address bar. As discussed in my article about getting the right company name, your choice of web address is critical […]
Website Basics When starting your first online store, it’s usually best to start simple and keep your costs low. It makes little sense to hire an expensive web designer – or to sign up for an eCommerce service with high monthly costs – until you’ve proven that you can sell your first products and keep […]
As discussed in the article about making your website visible, there are important reasons to buy online advertising from Google* and others. The benefits of online advertising can include jump-starting traffic to your website, and keeping you focused on the key terms you’ll need to emphasize on your web pages and in your ads so that […]
For your business to succeed, you’ll need to build your online reputation like it’s your most valued asset. Achieving positive word of mouth requires you to respect customers’ money and time, and allows for very few mistakes. Dealing with a constant flow of questions, feedback and criticism isn’t for everyone. Among other things, giving good […]
It can be a challenge to start an online business while you keep your day job. At times the process could feel like a juggling act; you’ll need a lot of energy and determination. The general rules for starting a company while you keep your day job might seem like common sense, but some of […]
Once you start to sell online and prove your product idea, you can help your business grow by following some simple advice from a really smart CEO at a company where I once worked. This CEO is unusual because he shares so much information about running a company with his workers. It’s no coincidence that so many […]
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