The aim of this article is to provide people who are interested in venturing into the online businesses world with my some useful information. In the past I learned the hard way by rushing into online ventures.

There is far more to running an online business than simply having a good business idea, purchasing a name, getting a hosting company and having a website designed. I bet everyone wishes it was that simply.

Below is a step by step guide. (For the aim of this exercise I will take it your business idea and plan are completed).

1. Think long and hard about your domain name, I prefer to use something relevant to the product these are more search engine friendly. For example if your site was about selling businesses I would look to name the site www.business-for-sale.com

2. The next step will be to find a host for your domain; most people use the same company they purchase the domain from.

3. By using free keyword tools find the best 2 or 3 keywords that people are likely to type in a search box when looking for a product you are offering, do not rush this stage, research it extensively.

4. Then to the difficult part, getting the right designer for the job, I have worked with good and bad, I would recommend Dan at http://www.clarity-media.co.uk the good thing about Dan is, his company will help and advise you every step of the way. There is more to an online business than simply a good idea and a good looking website,

5. Next is the world of SEO, Search Engine Optimisation. This is basically the art of getting your site as high up in the rankings on Google/yahoo etc as possible. There are many people willing to take your money with the promise of getting to the first page on a search engine, my advice DO NOT PAY for anything, simply get your designer to help you;

i. Design a corporate looking site, the correct use of colours/fonts and layout are crucial

ii. Have the text on the site enriched in keywords

iii. The meta tags/description etc are all set out properly, a good designer will do this.

iv. Having a good website is all about adding relevant on theme links and original content DAILY; this can be achieved by having, blogs, forums, resource sections and article sections. Check out my site at www.bizseller4u.com for an example.

v. Having the legal side taken care of, by this I mean your Terms and Conditions and a Privacy Policy if you are collecting data from visitors. I can recommend Kaltons at http://www.kaltons.co.uk not only will Maitland Kalton produce your Terms he will also explain in detail there full meaning.

vi. Get your site listed on the main directories, this will incur small unavoidable costs, however there are free directories these are available at www.geocities.com/site_vortex/Directories_Indexes_Portals.html

vii. Post on forums especially the ones that leave a link to your site.

viii. Finally I would run an Adword campaign with Google.

These things alone will not bring your business success, however it will give you a good start, the rest is simply down to hard work. I was informed yesterday by a successful online businessman that the first 3 years are the worst.

Good luck with your venture, I hope this article will serve to assist people with their ventures.

About the author - Peter Arkwright recently retired from the military, he is now the Managing Director of www.bizseller4u.com

A new portal that allows people to list their Business for Sale

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