For those of you who haven’t started your online business, I sort of understand because when I first started out, I had virtually NO IDEA how was I supposed to make money online. The cut a long story short, I’ve been learning from a lot of internet marketin mentors such as Khai Ng and Edmund Loh who have been very generous in imparting their knowledge to me.

Somehow, I felt that it was only right that I shared my learnings with others. That’s why I started the HomeBizBlogExpert Blog and gave a free report on how to start an online business. (You can download it too by signing up on the menu bar at the right). Now I was looking through my report, and I realised that its far from perfect. I also realised that it may be difficult for some to put the pieces together as to how to start a profitable business online. That is why I decided to write this blog post. It will save you MONTHS of figuring out how to combine your knowledge in building your website… marketing, advertising, capturing leads and finally making that sale…

Please take note that if you feel lost, feel free to refer to the free resources provided in the Home Business Guide. I would suggest you read the guide first and then read this blog post if you haven’t already. Lets go!

Your Product

This is the first step to your online business. You must first determine what your product is going to be. It must be something your target market needs (not wants). The best way to find out is to do market research. Scour the forums or just talk to people in your target market to find out what they want, and then create something of great value for them. The product is the first step because it will determine the direction of your business and how you want to position your business to compete in your chosen niche.

Your Website

After you have created your product, you will need a website. The tools provided in the ultimate home business guide will show you how to set up one. Why must you have a website? Well, the website is like the physical presence of your business. Is where you draw visitors (prospects) and turn them into long term, loyal customers. Your website is where you will connect with them, provide them value and also show the human element. Important to note is that people buy things out of emotions, and rarely logic, especially in the online marketing arena. Your website is where you will instill the emotions of desire into your prospects and help them to solve their problems.

Lead Capture

The next important step after your website has been setup is the lead capture process. You must be able to turn your website visitors (also known as traffic) into leads. This can be done by offering them something of value for free, in exchange for their emails – using an automated email responder program such as GetResponse. If you haven’t got one, please get one immediately! From the program you can generate sign up forms where people can sign up to get your free product. What does it look like? Just look at the menu bar on the right. People can sign up to download my Home Business guide for free.

Drawing Traffic

Once you have your website and lead capture all set up, its time to rack up the traffic. And i’m not talking about those annoying vehicles you had to go through when you still were in your 9-5 job. There are many ways to draw traffic to your website. Once again, refer to the resources in the Home Business Guide or check out the marketing tools section on top to learn how you can draw tons of traffic to your website. The more traffic you get, the more subscribers (lets call them prospects) you can collect for your business.

Building The Relationship

So now you’ve got subscribers from all that traffic you have generated. Great. Now what? How do I make the first sale? Well, in order to profit your must first provide value. This is the law of the universe. You will be rewarded in direct proportion to the amount of value you provide to your customers. Therefore, you must connect. Use the automated email responder program to craft emails which will be sent at fixed intervals which will provide useful information to your subscribers. GIVE GIVE GIVE. Give and you shall receive. I can’t stress this point anymore. If your subscribers love your stuff, they will definitely buy from you. When was the last time you bought a book or product from someone? If because that particular someone or business has conveyed sufficient value and credibility to you.

Selling The Product

You’ve a great website, tons of traffic with tons of value, and lots of loyal subscribers you have connected with. You’re almost done. Finally, send out an email blast promoting your product. Don’t promote the product in the email, just ask them to checkout what you have to offer and give them a link. This link will bring them to the sales page. The sales page is your online 24 hour salesman which will sell your product for you. Once again, refer to the guide for tips on writing a killer sales page, or just look around at how other internet marketers craft their page. I won’t go into detail on every nook and cranny of the winning sales page but I just want to show you all the important points of a working business funnel.

Once you have made the sale, don’t stop there. It costs much more to get a new customers than to retain existing ones. So continue to provide value to your subscribers and constantly innovate new products which they might find useful. Ok, that kinda sums up the basics of putting your online business together. There are tons of advanced techniques for marketing your business, getting more traffic, turning leads into customers and so forth. I won’t go into all that today. I hope you found this post useful. If you liked it, please share it with your friends using the share button below. Meanwhile, refer to the marketing tools section on top for more tips on bringing your business to the next level. Stay tuned for more blog posts on online business building tips.

Good luck!

P.S. The hardest part about starting an online business is taking the first step. Once you have passed that and started to build momentum, things will definitely pickup from there. I promise that