How To Start an Online Home Based Business Today
First and foremost, you really have to ask yourself WHY? you want to start your own online home based business. It may be because you don’t want to work in a dead end job any longer or the daily commute is grinding you down. For whatever reason, you must be clear about WHY because this is going to be the single most powerful motivator that you have. It will see you through the tough times and spur you on to become better and better at what you choose to do.
Next you will need to focus on the WHAT? For most, it is something that they are genuinely interested in and like to learn about. If you are a school boy rugby coach with years of experience then you should seriously think about writing a small handbook that shares all the best information.
I myself decided on web development and marketing.
So you know your reasons WHY and have decided your WHAT… Now you need to think about WHO is going to help and support you? So your family and friends are all there but you will need to learn from other successful people in your chosen niche. A good mentor or 3 is very important and will save you a lot of time and expensive mistake.
1) Establishing Your Online Presence:
We are all branded, branded, branded. With the advent of Web 2.0 and the age of the individual we are all brands, brands, brands.
Developing and building your personal brand has never been so important as it is today. It is a different world with different dynamics such as the Web and Social Media.
When ever you apply for a Job, tender for a contract or generally try to get on in the world today, the chances are that “Your Going To Get Googled” by the hire/recruitment manager or by anyone that is thinking of doing any kind of business with you.
Corporate and/or Personal Career Building Now Demands Personal On-line Branding.
The starting point for developing Brand You! * is to register you’re domain name (i.e. http://www.michaelcloke.com/
You will need to set up your own blog or website and include, photos, videos, a brand statement, bio and attributes. This will help you position and differentiate yourself from the crowd.
The next thing you need to do is lock down all your social media URL’s. You will definitely need to sign up to Linkedin, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress.org, Flickr, Digg and Gmail.
To bring it all together, you will need to develop, build and host your blog or websitesite. You will need a an HTML editer for your Website and a WordPress Themed Template, some PHP coding and Hosting including 3 MySQL databases with WordPress installed.
Now you are good to go, start blogging and promoting yourself. You should spend at least one hour per day on your Social Media sites.
2) Email Marketing – The You Inc business model:
The problems facing on-line business owners Today are:
1. A vast increase in competition and Information. With the advent of Ad Sense and the ability to carry out research on your product/service find a better deal elsewhere.
2. A decrease in attention span. Unless you can give people what they want in the format they want it and a price that’s acceptable, they are gone. Booom…
3. An increase in attrition. Unless you can get your prospects up and running and making a success with your opportunity within 6 weeks, they are gone. Booom…The You Inc Model is designed to solve these NEW problems that on-line marketers face Today!
The advantages of the You Inc business model are:
1. Anyone can generate FREE leads.
2. Automatic marketing via auto responders and web sites.
3. Protect you from competition.
4. Multiple income streams.
The You Inc business model:
1. Build your list. This is your biggest asset.
2. Relationships. This is your value and equity.
3. Market to your list.
Let’s take a closer look.
1.Building your list requires traffic and a way of capturing optin’s. This is done by giving away great value on your websites, blog and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
2.Relationships are critical. This is where you endeavour to get people to know, like and trust you.
3.Market to your list and monetise. Offer something that your list wants and or needs.
3) Article Marketing:
Article marketing is one of the best ways to create back links to your site and get some free targeted traffic. Here are some of my favourite article sites:
http://GoArticles.com
http://Amazines.com
http://fellgr8.co.uk
http://www.articlealley.com/
http://www.articlecube.com/
http://www.articlesbase.com/
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://www.affsphere.com/
These are all free to join and you can start posting straight away.
4) Social Media Marketing:
One of the Golden Rules on Social Networking Sites is that you are meant to build up a relationship with your friends and followers. There are some amazing people out there to begin networking with and over time, they will become good friends. The big mistake a lot of newbies are making is to pitch their business opportunity to people that they don’t even know.
People will seek out what it is you do, once they are interested in you. They will never respond positively to being sold to.
5) Pay Per Click Marketing:
Pay Per Click Marketing is the best way to drive traffic to your web site with any given keyword, phrase or geography.
The main pay per click site is Google Adwords.
Google Adwords
Yahoo Search
MSN
Google is undoubtedly the best ppc program but you will need to be very careful to begin with. You will need to test each ad for performance and once you have a proven ad, then you can upgrade the amount you bid per impression.
To Your Contined Success 
Michael.
