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Tools for Your Success
Scroll Down as we describe what you need to run your business and why. And learn the best sources to use as you start up your business.
The Functions Your Business Needs
Marketing and public relations
Bringing information to potential customers or clients
Staying in touch with customers
Making a sale
Securing a payment
Delivering the purchase
Providing customer service
Attract future sales
Automating the Process
Tools You Need to Operate Your Business
The tools you will most often use in operating your business on the internet are; autoresponder, email, website, blog, squeeze or landing page, an opt in form, sales page, e store, and a payment processor and web hosts. There is an infinite array of options for software and services to choose from.
Most Popular and Easy to Use Options
Blog
WordPress www.wordpress.org
www.wordpress.com
Wordpress.org is free and great for just a blog. It has restrictions of use. If you are a business you will most likely want to pay for your own domain and set up a wordpress.com site. It is free to use the wordpress format but you must purchase your own domain name and hosting.
If you have a wordpress.org site you will have your site name and wordpress.org in the domain name which is the address for your website. It is what everone types in to go to your website.
If you have a wordpress.com website you will have your site name and .com or .net etc. but you will not need to keep wordpress in the url. There are no restrictions using a wordpress.com site as you own the name and are hosting your site independent of the wordpress.org blogs.
Blogger www.blogger.com
Website
Wordpress www.wordpress.com
As we mentioned above wordpress is a very popular and easy website platform. Originally a blog platform it has expanded into full service websites platform with tons of themes for customization and pluggins for versatile functionality.
Domain Name Registration
GoDaddy
Website Hosting
Website Hosting
Host Gator www.hostgator.com
Tip: Many entrepreneurs prefer to have separate domain registers and hosting companies. You can use the same company to register your domain and host it there too. However if you have trouble with your hosting company it is better that you have not also registered your website domain name with the hosting company, this way you are always in control of your domain name. I have never had any problems but I have heard this mentioned numerous times and can see where on the rare occasion you might encounter a problem it would be beneficial to have a separate domain register and hosting company.
Email Autoresponders
Email Autoresponders
Mail Chimp
My first autoresponder ~ it has a totally free version. Paid upgrades are possible. A great place to start and perfect for the startup budget.
AWeber
Aweber collects and organizes all of the contact info you get from opt in forms and sign ups to your newsletter. You can set up email campaigns to send out automatic emails scheduled by date or triggered by sign ups.
Constant Contact
Get Response
Shopping Cart
Shopping Cart
1Shoppingcart
Paypal
Not really a shopping cart Paypal is an easy way to take payments on your website and you can also send payments to your vendors. With paypal you do not need to get a merchant account to handle credit card transactions so this is an easy first choice for many startups.
Virtual Assistants
Virtual Assistants
Website Designer
Website Designer
Some more detail on the functions you most likely want to perform and the tools that you will use:
Autoresponder
An autoresponder is a computer program that answers e-mail sent to it. Early auto responders were used by individuals or businesses to say they were away or that your email had been received.
Today autoresponders are often used as e-mail marketing tools, to immediately provide information to prospective customers who opt in to newsletters and they are invaluable in building your list.
Autoresponders are also incorporated into electronic mailing list software, to confirm subscriptions, unsubscriptions, posts, and other list activities.
Mailchimp
Aweber
Icontact
Email
Email is unarguably the most used and familiar tool. However how to effectively use email in your business is a very important area of concern for small and large businesses alike. Entire seminars are offered on the subject and many software tools like autoresponders are a staple in online business.
Gmail
AOL
Yahoo
MSN
HotMail
Website
Websites once were expensive static online brochures advertising a business’s services and contact information. Today Websites are very interactive and affordable if not free.
Popular choices are wordpress free sites or privately hosted wordpress websites that can be either static or interactive or both. Blogs have become very popular options and integrate very easily with today’s social component of online marketing.
Other popular options are Frontpage and Dream Weaver software or hiring a website designer to build a website for you. We will discuss more about these features later.
Wordpress
Squeeze Page / Landing Page
Squeeze Pages or Landing Pages are specific pages designed solely for the purpose of gathering information from the visitor who came to the page specifically to get information on an area of interest or a particular product.
Opt-In Forms
Opt- In Forms are often found at the top of a web page or on a squeeze or landing page. It is the automated form the visitor enters their contact information usually name and email and to which the company will respond with the information being requested. It is a very valuable tool for gathering contact information to build a list of prospective customers.
Sales Page
Sales Pages are carefully crafted pages that present enough information to create curiosity and the desire to have or purchase the service or product. A lot of skill is required to create a converting sales page and entire seminars and courses are dedicated to this process and skill.
E Store
E Stores can be part of a site, a whole website can be a store or it can be as simple as one or two items featured on a web page that are linkable to a fulfilment center and a payment center.
Amazon
Payment Processors
Payment Processors are readily available but the most well-known and trusted are Pay pal and clickbank. These services provide the code to use in your website to sell and collect payment for your products or services. Once you have set up an account and been approved you can put these links anywhere on your web site or sites for easy internet commerce.
Pay pal
Click bank
Web Host
Web Hosts, without a web host your website would never be seen by the public. The web host stores your files and makes them available and viewable to the public. A monthly or annual web hosting fee is required. Many web hosts have built in software and training that allows you build your own website. Many have additional features. Comparing prices and features is important when choosing a web host.
In addition to business created by the software these tools are run on, there are entire businesses create from the need to learn about and understand how to use these tools.
Domain Registration
Before you can put your website on the internet you need a name and you need to register that name with a domain registry. Your web host company can usually do this for you or you can handle this directly through any domain registry. The most popular and affordable is Go Daddy. Keep in mind you will need to list your web host with the domain name register to point your domain to the host you have chosen, if it is not the same as the register. Tip: Keeping the register and the host is one way to simplify this process.
Bizland
Go Daddy
Skills You Need
In addition to the tools you need to operate your business on the internet you will need specific skills as well.
Identifying Your Target Market
Product Creation
Writing Copy
Generating Traffic to Your Web site
Article Marketing
Social Media Networking
Video Marketing
Advertising
Disclaimer: Some of the tools referred to in this report I personally use and some I receive affiliate referral fees when a purchase is made through my affiliate account link. You may go directly to a website by typing in the website to avoid a potential affiliate link.
You may like to become an affiliate of the business products you use, as your use in itself is an endorsement so why shouldn’t you receive a fee for it?!
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