Of course, if you insist, you can even get started making money online without a website. Check out Google Cash.
But if you want a solid, sustainable Internet business, you'll eventually want your own website. So here's our simple list of needful things.
- Domain Name: Your address on the Internet, without which you cannot be found. We generally register our domain names with Go Daddy.
- Web Host: Unless you went with Site Sell (which includes hosting), you'll need a host for your website. A web host is like your online landlord from whom you 'rent' the space for your cyberstore. Again, without having a space on the Internet on which to stick your domain name/online address (also known as a URL for Uniform Resource Locator), and a store to showcase your products, there's no place for your potential customers to go.
ThirdSphere has long been our host of choice. Unlike most other web hosts, their $24.95 monthly hosting fee includes an autoresponder (a must have for building your Internet business). Plus, for a $10.00 set up fee, they'll host as many websites as you want for no additional charge. Exceptionally user friendly. Helpful staff. ThirdSphere President Miguel Alvarez even took the time to write some specific instructions to get us going when we were starting out and confused 98.5% of the time.
But if you're broke (we know the feeling), take a look at BlueHost.
- Autoresponder: If you haven't gone with ThirdSphere, you'll probably need to get an autoresponder elsewhere. An autoresponder is a program that allows you to send out automatic reponses, newsletters, and so forth to potential customers who have signed up to receive offers from you. Since statistics show that it generally takes several contacts to actually make a sale, it would be pretty tough to build your Internet business without one. Two of the most highly-rated are AWeber and Get Response.
- The Simplest Products to Sell - Affiliate Marketing: What to sell when you have nothing to sell! Affiliate marketing is the simplest online business format to get you started making money online. No need for buying or storing inventory, or for shipping orders. Rosalind Gardner - one of the first and one of the most ultra-successful super affiliate marketers - breaks down her method into simple steps that even we could follow.
- Building Your Website: Most webhosts (including ThirdSphere), provide you with templates in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) format. If you can type a letter in a basic text program like, say, Microsoft Word, you should be able to fill in a template. But. Templates are limiting. Sometimes annoyingly so. Which is why we suggest you do yourself a favor and learn enough basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language)to build a website all by yourself. It will give you a lot more control, and it's really not difficult. If we can do it (and we can: you're looking at it), you can do it. A very useful, step-by-step book on the subject is Ian Lloyd's Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML & CSS. Long title. Good - and simple - book.
- Drop Shippers: Just in case you still don't know what to sell, and don't think affiliate marketing is for you, you might want to look into a drop-shipper. As with the affiliate sales model, drop-shippers provide and store your inventory, then fulfill orders for you. Worldwide Brands is one that comes highly recommended.
The above list will set you up with your basic store. But if you want to grow your profits, you'll need to become knowledgeable about marketing on the Internet. Again, our old favorite, SiteSell, gives you an extensive marketing education along with an array of tools and hosting, so it remains one of our top 2 choices for getting started online.
The other top choice is the FREE website we'll give you for signing in below. Oh, and we'll also keep you posted on whatever business building ideas and programs we may find. Remember: you can only succeed if you start. So - go ahead and sign in!
