For stay at home moms, setting up an online business is one of the best solution for mothers who want to get back their financial freedom or want to continue pursuing their interest. Setting up an online business is much easier than setting up a brick and mortar business. Two big advantages are online business takes less money and less time to set up. You can practically have an online business running in just a few days if you know how. Here are a concise and basic guideline for setting up an online business:

1.Choose a niche based on what you are interested in or what you are good at, then specialize in it. Do not think that you are going to make big bucks by selling everything under the sun.

2.Choose or create a product. You can either use affiliate products or create your own.

3.Finding a good name is an important step. It should be short, easy to remember and reflect what your business actually does. Your domain name is the name by which your online customers will remember you by. A good domain name is one that is memorable, short and easy to spell. There are many websites around offering domain names, and prices are set around $6 to $8 for a .com domain.

4.Get your own website. I know this sounds intimidating especially if you have no idea of any technical knowledge. Actually with the presense of blogs, setting up a website is so much easier. Do not go for a free page on some affiliate site, but get your own.

Next, decide if you want to use a template or a blog for your website. Blogs are popular and they are perfect for someone who are not technically inclined. However, if you are seriously technically challenged, then you will need to hire someone to handle all the technical aspects of your online business. Freelancing marketplace such as Elance or Guru is a great place to hire someone to get the job done.

5. Sign up for a hosting plan. There are plenty of companies on the web today offering their services. Make sure you read user review of the hosting company before you commit yourself. It is important that you examine the ?uptime guarantee? that each service provider offers. Also, analyze the physical infrastructure of where your online business will be stored. But probably most important of all is that you should scrutinize the hosting providers ?Back Up? and ?Data Security? systems. This includes calculating how much time would be required to reinstall your online business if there was a complete infrastructure failure on the part of the hosting provider. This will help you to calculate the least possible loss to your business if such a situation arises.

6. Start building a list. This is important so that you are able to repeatedly talk with visitors to your site. It is important that you keep the visitors updated as to what is happening with your site. This also enables you to contact them numerous times regarding whatever offers you wish to present them.

7.Look at the ways in which you will handle the payments made by your customers. If you are selling an affiliate product, then this will not be a problem as the affiliate program will handle the payments for you. However, if you are selling your own product, then you will have to set up your own payment processing system. This will be looked at more closely in another chapter of this book.

8.Look at the ways in which you will arrange for goods to be delivered to your customer if selling your own products. You must look at local courier companies, as well as the postal service and find out which will be more cost effective for sending goods to customers. Also, you will then need to decide on the pricing system for the sending of packages to your customer's. But it is important that you choose a shipping company who you know is going to be reliable. Look especially at those companies who offer an online tracking system.

Now, after following the 8 essential steps, you have set up an online business. The first time is always the hardest. However, once you have set up , you will find that things will get easier. After testing your brand new website to make sure everything is running smoothly, it is time to start promoting your business and reap the profits.