HOW TO START AN ONLINE BUSINESS WITH A $0 BUDGET
Can you start an online business with a $0 budget? Yes! I am
living proof of this! Many people I've told this have
understandably not believed it or were skeptical and don't get
me wrong... I'm not saying that this is an IDEAL way to start a
business but I think maybe this will give at least some of you
the inspiration and encouragement to know that YOU CAN DO IT! No
matter what your financial situation is or even your personal
physical condition may be. So, here's my story...
As a child, I was a born entrepreneur! From the tender age of 5
or so I was hitting the streets selling my products and
services... everything from lemonade stands, handcrafted
potholders (a favorite among the neighborhood ladies!), puppet
shows (we also sold refreshments!), dancing and singing
performances in my parents carport (poor souls had to endure
this but they kept coming back every year so I guess we weren't
too bad... teehee), doing odd jobs, etc... You get the
picture... if there was a money making possibility from
ANYTHING, my brother and I did it! Funny too because we both own
our own businesses now. I told you I was a born entrepreneur!
In 1995 I was working as a surgical nurse for a Vascular surgery
group. At that time I'd been a nurse for 13 years. I loved my
job and never envisioned myself as doing anything else. At the
height of my nursing career I was stricken with Multiple
Sclerosis. I thought my life was over. I couldn't be a nurse
anymore due to the physical disabilities that followed. I was
severely depressed. I had always been an extremely active person
and this was really putting a damper on things, not only with my
career but my hobbies and social activities as well. I needed to
do something to pull me out of this slump! So... even though I
had never even moved a mouse before, I bought a computer and got
online. A whole new world opened up for me here! This was just
what I needed to keep me busy and keep my mind off the illness.
I was inspired by all the websites out there! I just had to have
one too but how? I began teaching myself HTML and graphic design
(I had PLENTY of time on my hands). I had always been somewhat
of an artist so this was a way I could do my art again in a
somewhat different form. To make a long story a bit shorter,
after a few years of lots of trial and error, trying affiliate
programs, working for other people online, etc... I finally
learned enough to be successful with an online business of my
own.
What I'd like to share with you is my experience so you won't
have to struggle like I did trying to start your own online
business and wonder why it's not making you the amount of money
you need to make a living from it. Remember the title after all
this gab... HOW TO START AN ONLINE BUSINESS WITH A $0 BUDGET?
Well, I did! It turned out initially to be vintage lingerie and
now internet marketing as well. And yes, I started it with a $0
Budget! Okay, yes, you DO have to have a product or service to
sell online. This can be anything from things you handcraft at
home or even things you know about and can provide information
on (to sell) such as "How to make your own candles", etc... The
possibilities are endless!
Steps you need to take to get started:
1. YOU NEED A WEBSITE
While it's true that you will need some experience to make one,
there are lots of free services still out there that can enable
you to create a website with little or no HTML experience. This
is a start and you can always improve on it from there. Try AOL
(if you're a member) or Geocities.com (a part of yahoo now). You
can get a free website and they will host it on their servers
for you for free. If you DO have a website already or HTML
experience to design your own, even better! You've already taken
the 1st and biggest step. Be sure that you have GOOD content on
your site! You can't just throw up some graphics and call it a
website OR a business. You need to include information about
your products, provide some nice content, interesting articles,
etc... If you don't have enough of your own, find other similar
websites that do and ask them if you can display their
information or article (in exchange for a link of course! See
below for further information on linking)
2. YOU HAVE TO MARKET YOUR SITE SO PEOPLE WILL KNOW YOU EXIST
AND VISIT IT!
This is absolutely the hardest part... learn from my experience!
There are many things you can do to market your site. They
include but are not limited to:
Submitting your site to search engines
There are lots of free services to submit your site to a lot of
search engines all at once and for FREE. I personally have never
paid to have my sites submitted and I DO make money from them so
don't be discouraged if you don't have the budget for a paid
submission.
Exchanging links with other complimentary sites.
This is the BEST way to get your site some traffic! It's time
consuming but worth it! Now before you start asking anyone and
everyone to exchange links with you... You don't want to link to
everyone! You want to link to sites that are not necessarily
your competition but sites that sell similar products and/or
services. Do your homework and surf the internet by doing
searches for sites you might like to link with. When you do the
searches, the sites who are listed higher in the search engines
are better since you will be benefiting from their already high
traffic. Be polite and email them, complimenting them on their
site and the things you like most about it (be honest!). Do this
first before asking them to exchange links with you. Also, make
sure they have a links page before you even bother. Some sites
don't (shame on them!) and you don't want to waste your time on
most of them although a suggestion that they start one is not a
bad idea. I've done that before and have actually had them
display my link on their pages even when they didn't have an
actual links page - even better for me!
Bulk Email... Just My opinion
Don't spam! Bulk email in general is not a good idea and your
email probably won't even reach them anyway since most people
have junk mail filters that will delete you. I've never had to
spam or send bulk email and my business is doing great.
INSTEAD OF BULK EMAILING... USE OPT-IN MAILING LISTS!
Once you have a website of interest you can have a mailing list
for people to sign up voluntarily. That way you're getting
people who are really interested in what you have to offer. I
use a free opt-in mailing list and newsletter service (just copy
and paste the code in your webpages) from
http://www.wwwtoolz.com that works great! They have a lot of
other free tools as well. This allows you to build a mailing
list and to send newsletters and/or emails to the people on your
ever-growing list. Be sure to use it! Once you have people join
your list, send them a welcome email and keep them posted with
updates, new items you have for sale, new website content,
etc... Again, don't spam these nice people who signed up for
your mailing list voluntarily or they will quickly unsubscribe.
Don't send them email every day or even every week. Don't
forward email to them! That's bad business since it's not
keeping it personal! Yes, in many ways you have to have a
personal touch even in business! Building your mailing list
takes time but you have to start somewhere so be patient.
Cross-promote using online Auctions, especially eBay!
If you have discovered online auctions and sell your wares
there, by all means cross-promote! If you buy but don't sell yet
- start selling! Not only will it help jumpstart your new
business but it will support your buying habit! haha... Now,
eBay has strict rules on this so you can't be too obvious by
displaying your web address on your auction pages but I do have
a few tricks that ARE EBAY LEGAL. Email me and I'll explain
about that. In the meantime, everyone who wins an auction from
you... send them a thank you email and tell them about your
website! Don't bore them or solicit them with a long ad, just
mention that they may find other items of interest on your
website and give them the URL. A better way to do this is with a
signature file (details below)
Create a Signature File in ALL your Emails!
In your email program there is more than likely a place for you
to create what they call a signature file. This is a permanent
signature that you can customize with your short ad or at least
the title of your website with a link to it. Be sure to not only
include the hyperlinked title of your site but the actual web
address below that and a short desciption of your site (just in
case people don't realize it's a link... there are always
newbies out there so be understanding). You'll be amazed at how
many people will be curious and go check out your site! This is
how I get a lot of new customers so be sure to do this!
Join groups and post on message boards!
This is also time consuming but worth it! The groups don't
necessarily have to be about your business topic and it's
probably better if they aren't. It can be another interest group
or hobby, etc... IMPORTANT: Talk to people, don't just post an
ad! BAD! BAD! BAD! You'll get kicked out of the group for sure!
Try to join groups who have a lot of members that post
frequently so you'll get the most exposure for your time. Now,
like I said, you don't have to post ads to these groups at
all... Just use a signature file as previously described above!
People will be interested and visit. Many groups also allow you
to post a banner so a good banner could get their attention too!
I get tons of exposure this way! Ebay groups have been
especially helpful for me.
Write articles and press releases!
This is a great way to advertise! Hey, you're reading this so
obviously it works! Hey, don't get mad at me, I'm trying to make
a living here too! haha... There are lots of places for you to
do this on the web. Some of my personal favorites are Alumbo.com
and Searchwarp.com but there are many others and you should
search for them according to the topic you're writing on for
more options.You can put out a press release on your new website
or business, write an article on something you're good at, an
opinion piece, whatever! Put your thinking cap on and be
creative! You have something to say, you just don't know it yet!
A word on writing... if you're just not good at writing or don't
want to do it yourself, get someone you know who IS and have a
ghostwriter (No, I don't have a ghost writer... wish I did
sometimes though! They might be better than me!). If you write
your own, please use your spell checker to make sure you are at
least spelling words right. It doesn't look professional if you
misspell words. (Gee, hope I don't misspell anything in this
article... haha... let me know if I do. I'm a perfectionist and
a grammer freak!)
Okay, you knew it was coming sometime... get ready for the
pitch!
Okay, yes, I have somewhat of a sales pitch here but it IS an
HONEST to goodness valuable marketing tip and it's FREE... I get
tons of traffic from hosting contests and sweepstakes and have
started my own sweepstakes site. I'm always looking for good
websites to join my group of sponsors. If you have a website
you're proud of and you sell a product or service (or want to)
just pop on over to my sweepstakes site and enter to win a free
1 month sponsorship. You get so many perks and new customers,
increased sales, I can't even begin to describe them all here.
If your site isn't quite ready yet and you need help I am
willing to critique and offer suggestions so make sure to check
out my website for details. If you don't have a website yet, you
can still enter the many sweepstakes run by my sponsors who give
away great merchandise every month. You can win 1 or more each
month!
Go to: http://www.a-slip-of-a-girl.com/sweepstakes.html or email
me for more information on this at: hostasweep@hotmail.com
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR URL SO I CAN ENTER YOU IN THE CONTEST, TYPE
A LITTLE NOTE SO I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! I GET A LOT
OF EMAIL AND USE JUNK MAIL FILTERS SO I DON'T WANT TO THINK
YOURS IS JUNK MAIL! ALSO BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR MOST USED
CONTACT EMAIL SO YOU'LL GET A REPLY FROM ME. There is so much
more I could say here but this should be enough to spark your
creativity, get you going, and make you realize that YOU CAN DO
IT! YOU CAN START AN ONLINE BUSINESS WITH A $0 BUDGET! Hey, If I
can do it anyone can! Good Luck! Please email me with your
comments or if you'd like more information on anything. I am
always willing to share my knowledge and resources. All the best
to you for your online success! Mindy Riddell