Starting a Home Based Business Without Spending a Fortune, Six Simple Steps

Starting any type of business takes dedication, perseverance, effort and most of all a good knowledge about the business you are setting up. You wouldn't start a motor repair business without the training and knowledge required. Starting any business requires knowledge of the product and market place.

1. Read and Research

Ensure you have all the necessary information to start building your home business. Research the demand for your product. Do all the checks on legal requirements in your area. Prepare a business plan, including a budget and stick to it. But most of all, ask yourself are you prepared to commit time and effort to your business. Don't for one moment think you can put your site on the web and sit back and wait for a miracle. This is when the work really starts.

2. Choosing A Domain Name and Host

Ideally the Domain Name should reflect the type of business, service or product you are selling. Alternatively, you may wish to use your own name or business name. Make the name as short as possible, long names are difficult to remember and are often misspelt. There are some great web hosting companies, I use two, but for my main site I chose Third Sphere as they offer so much more than just hosting and when I was just starting out, I needed all the help I could get my hands on.

3. Website Design

If you are not a web designer and would like to design your own website, there are some great tutorials, guides and programs that can make the task a lot easier. For example, Site Build It offer a wonderful product that really guides you every step of the way.

Alternatively there are tutorials such as eBusiness Mastery by Paul Barrs. This is a great product for beginners, it is like having your own tutor right by your side.

Or you may prefer a book such as Website Design Made Easy by Dennis Gaskill, this book is widely used in colleges throughout America.

I have used all three of these products in building my business and websites.

Whatever you decide, make sure your site loads quickly and check that it loads correctly on a couple of different web browsers, such as Internet Explore, Mozilla Firefox and Netscape.

4. Submitting your Site

Before you actually submit your site to the Search Engines, please check and recheck your content for spelling errors and ensure all your links work.

Ensure you have the best possible keywords and content description to ensure maximum Search Engine optimization. There are many reports and ebooks on this topic alone, you will find free information on this subject so don't pay until you have to.

A lot of Web Hosting Companies such as Third Sphere have a Search Engine Submission service, this makes the task really simple.

You will also need to decide whether or not you are going to pay for submitting your site to some Search Engines such as Yahoo. This can be quite costly, so do your homework first, before spending any money.

5. Advertising and Promoting your Site

There are some great ways to promote your site. You can use the pay per click type of advertising with Google, for example. Advertising in ezines using either free or paid ads is another very good way to get your site and products promoted.

Also, do not overlook the "power of the press", it is still a great way to get your message out there.

Local papers, magazines relating to your industry are worth a try. But, keep a close check on results - track where your customers are coming from - then you can decide which advertising method is best for your business.

Another very effective way is to write your own articles. You can use one on the many article and ezine submission services, such as submityourarticle.com, this is one of Steve Shaw's marketing systems.

And a free and often under utilized way to get your name out there - add your signature to all your emails! Including your URL.

6. Don't be fooled!

You have no doubt read that you can now sit back and your business will run on its own, automatically, like magic! Not true! A good Autoresponder can certainly make life easier, but you have to feed it with prospects first!

You have to start building your subscriber list, if your particular business needs to send out mailings. I've tried buying subscribers from list generating companies, but in all honesty if you want really good subscribers who are really interested in your products, you have to do the work.

Another thing I found with buying subscriber lists, you really are fooling yourself into thinking you have a list of people who have subscribed to your list because they are truly interested in your product only. This is usually not the case. So as I mentioned previously, you have options -

Advertising, writing articles, plus another couple of strategies such as Link Exchanging and participating in Forums will all help.

So, No you can't sit back and wait for the dollars to roll in, you have to put in the effort first.

Finally, the best advice I would give anyone starting a business and using the internet in their business is this:

Read all you can on your topic of interest - DO NOT get your credit card out unless you are convinced the product/information you are buying is what YOU need, not what someone else tells you you want.

In the words of Jim Rohn ... "Let the views of others educate and inform you, but let your decisions be a product of your own conclusions"

Follow these simple tips and advice and you are bound to reap rewards.

Joan Maughan CEO of Summerset Global Marketing.

"Joan's previous experience in business has been in the accounting and secretarial fields. Deciding to setup a business from home led her to research fields of interest. As part of this research she discovered the many pitfalls, but also found that there are a lot of people wanting good honest, reliable products and advice".

Her website and newsletter provide this and the website is regularly updated as new and up-to-date information comes to hand. She strives to bring quality products, advice and assistance, especially to new home business owners.

http://www.joanmaughan.com