When you decide that you are ready to take the plunge and go into business for yourself, there are many questions to ask before you dive in head first. Here are some questions to answer before you make any business moves. The reason most businesses fail is due to the lack of planning and answering these simple questions below. Get a head start and make sure you can get through this list before you plan to take over the world with your new venture! This list can technically be used as a sufficient business plan if filled our entirely.

Download a copy of this document so you can fill it out: 50 Business Startup Questions To Ask Yourself

1. What industry will I start a business in?
2. Who are my competitors?
3. What are my skills?
4. Is there a lasting need for my service?
5. Is there a big enough target audience?
6. What is my entrance strategy?
7. What is my exit strategy?
8. Will I stay a one man/woman shop or hire employees?
9. Will I form a legal entity such as an LLC, S-Corp or Corporation?
10. Is the market saturated already?
11. Do I have the dedication and time commitment needed to succeed?
12. How will I fund the business?
13. How will I plan for future growth?
14. What if growth is slow? How will I handle hard times?
15. Can I balance the work and the everyday lifestyle I live?
16. What will my top 3 challenges be? How will I handle them?
17. Should I start out part-time and hope it leads to a full time gig or go full time from the start?
18. Will I have a physical location or will this business be web-based only?
19. Do I need any special permits?
20. Will I do business in the U.S. only or international?
21. Will I take a paycheck or save up the money and reinvest it into the business?
22. Who will handle my legal and tax issues?
23. What will my work schedule look like?
24. Will I have a dedicated office if I am working from home?
25. How will I provide my family with health and medical insurance?
26. How will I save for retirement? Mutual funds? Index Fund? IRA?
27. Will I purchase new office equipment or use what I already have?
28. How will I brand my business?
29. Do I have a marketing plan in mind?
30. Do I have the will power to work when the motivation is not there?
31. Will I mind putting in more hours than a normal 9-5? Possibly double?
32. Did I write down the pros and cons of starting your own business?
33. Do I know how to make a website?
34. Do I know how to market a website?
35. Do I have a business network that I can tap into?
36. Will I start a blog for my business?
37. Do I have prior experience within this industry or is this something totally new?
38. How is my patience?
39. How is my copyrighting ability? Can I sell myself or can I sell my product/service?
40. Have I done all of the necessary research/homework to start the business?
41. Is my business affected by different time zones?
42. What is my marketing budget, if any?
43. Do I have anything to fall back on if this doesn’t work out?
44. What will I do when people try to copy your great idea? How will I remain a leader?
45. Will I patent or trademark your business idea?
46. Can I negotiate with the best of them or am I a pushover?
47. What are my short term goals?
48. What are my long term goals?
49. How will I achieve my goals?
50. How much luck do I have?

Best of Luck!

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If you are a loyal reader to this blog, you probably have hopes of making money through the web… how can you turn that corner and make a living off of your ideas? It is possible to make 6 figures from the Internet, and there are many people doing it… we can help, but first you need to have realistic expectations of what you can achieve quickly.

Somehow and somewhere the misperception was born that the Internet is the best place to turn to get rich quick. Everybody knows they want to be the next web millionaire, but they don’t know how to get there.

Lets start by throwing out some realistic expectations for your website…

Realistic expectation 1- You will not have website traffic unless you create website traffic. Websites don’t just get found on the Internet by random traffic, you need to market sites actively. Everybody seems to think if they put up a website, you will instantly be found on the web. The truth is, most websites sit stale and don’t have ANY visitors. If you want traffic, you probably should consult with a web marketing firm and let them explain the different routes available to get visitors.

Realistic Expectation 2- You will lose money before you make money. You should expected to spend money for web marketing services right off the bat. You may also need to spend money for website development, advertising, and optimization services. It is very difficult (unless you can do all these things yourself) to have a legitimate website up and going for no cost at all. Dedicate some money towards these steps, and you will see your return come back quicker.

Realistic Expectation 3- You will have people copy what you do. If you really think you have a unique idea to make money online, expect several other people to copy this idea quickly, and they will try to do it better. Great concepts on the Internet are not popping up as quickly as they once were, so if you think you have that million dollar idea… make sure you do it right the first time. Otherwise, somebody will steal your idea before you can cash your first check.

Realistic Expectation 4- You will need to work… HARD. You have probably watched those info-mercials where people are making all this money from the web, while they are lounging on a beach drinking Coronas. The best line from all these commercials are “The website is in auto-pilot!” This is not the case and not how websites work! Profitable websites take a lot of work to create, update, and maintain. If you do not have somebody available to make updates you should figure this out before you start. Websites require maintenance the same way a car does. One day it is running fine, and the next it has stopped right in it’s tracks. Be prepared to put out these kind of “fires” on the fly. If you don’t want to worry about these types of problems, hire a firm to do it for you.

Realistic Expectation 5- You will probably second guess your decision to start a website business in the first place. This is natural because it does take so long to start to see profits come in. Most likely this will keep you up at night… but keep the faith! Web traffic will start to snowball if you are preforming the proper web marketing strategies. One day you might have 5 visitors, and the next day you may turn the corner and have 500. We have seen this happen so you must keep the faith and keep on truckin for that goal.

Good luck and feel free to send us any questions about how to get started!

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If you are creating a website or a web business, then a great domain name can do wonders for you. Unfortunately, many and most of the great domain names have been purchased by domain brokers and resellers and are now only available for a premium. No longer is the day where you can go to GoDaddy.com and get a perfect domain name for around $9.00. Don’t get me wrong, if you dig hard enough, you can find good domain names but it’s not nearly as easy as it use to be. You have to get creative with your domain name search.

So, in this tough domain name market, how can you buy a good domain name? There are basically three types of domains you can look for and purchase.

1.) Brandable domain names
2.) Keyword rich domain names
3.) A mixture of branding and keyword rich domain names

Each type has its pros and cons and we will discuss each to find out what suits your business or website best.

Brandable Domain Names

Brandable domain names are domain names that you pick for your business or website that over time will become it’s icon or the face of your website, if you will. Examples of brandable domain names include Google, Yahoo, Digg and there are millions of others. Being brandable, the domain name often will not give any indication of what the business or website is about. If you have never heard of Google or Yahoo, then you would have no idea what they do. They have branded these names and now they are part of our everyday lives. If someone says Google, people know exactly what to associate Google with, without even checking them out.

Pros of brandable domains
You can make a unique name for your business or website…something totally different than what is out there already. Brandable domains are easier to find. You can find a brandable domain that makes no sense to anyone else but it might be perfect for your new business or website. If you truly believe in your company brand, this is a great way to make a name for yourself and your business.

Cons of brandable domains
Sometimes people pick brandable domains but don’t put in the time and effort to actually brand the name. You have to have a marketing plan and you have to get your name out there in order for people to recognize it. Don’t just buy a brandable domain name and hope it sticks.

Keyword Rich Domain Names

This is exactly what it says. These are domain names that have keywords included in them. Keyword rich domains have value in the search engine world and are easily recognizable based on the keywords that are associated with the name.

Pros of keyword rich domains
Keyword rich domains can provide a great boost for your search engine traffic and can get noticed in the search engines much easier than a brandable domain name. Search engines are driven by “keyword” and “keyword phrase” searches and by having keywords in your domain name, you are more likely to show up for particular searches related to your website and domain. For example, let’s say we have two websites and domain names that provide the same service or product. Let’s say the first domain name is www.dipadoo.com (this is available as of 2-6-07) and the second domain name is www.needwebsitehelp.com (this is our domain!). Well, you can obviously tell which one is the keyword rich domain and you can tell which one is the brandable domain name. Which one is better? It all depends. We choose a keyword rich domain for the simple fact we want people to know exactly what we are about without them having to dig too deep.

Cons of keyword rich domains
Keyword rich domains can sometimes get very long and can be pretty dry. People also think if they cram 100 keywords into a domain name, they will be good to go. This is not the case. You can’t just buy a keyword rich domain and hope for the best. You should still try to brand a keyword rich domain just like a brandable domain name.

The last type of domain name is a mixture of both brandable and keyword rich. This sometimes hits the best of both worlds but you have to be careful to not get too lengthy when choosing these domain names. Often people like to put an “original” or brandable first word and then the keywords following such as www.johndoewebmarketing.com. You just have to watch that you don’t create a name that’s so long that all the branding in the world won’t fix.

There is no right or wrong way to pick a domain name whether it’s a brandable domain or a keyword rich domain or a combination of both. Every business and website is different and what works for one website my be totally wrong for another.

Also, one other tip on domain names. You can still find good domain names on sites like GoDaddy.com for around $10. If you like, you can also look at domain broker sites such as Sedo.com which provide domains at a premium.

Best of luck in your domain name searches.

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It’s great to think that you can throw up a website and a few days later you will be making money online. If it were this easy, don’t you think everyone and their brother would be doing it?

It’s very true that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to create a successful small business but you do have to know what you are doing. If you jump in blind, you will run into obstacle after obstacle and not know how to handle them when they arise.

There are a number of things you can do to help assure your small business will become successful. If you go into starting a small business with realistic expectations and the assumption that you WILL have to work hard to become successful, you are one step up on most of your competition.

1.) Have a business and website plan. I cannot stress this enough. SO many people start businesses and websites without planning anything and a few weeks or months later, they are closing up shop and asking, “why did my business fail?” You have got to plan if you want to succeed as a small business. If nothing else, create a Microsoft Word document describing what your business does and the goals and objectives of your small business. This is the bare minimum. You should definitely go into much more detail such as financial analysis, competitive analysis, exit strategies and so forth. Also, you should think about what business structure you prefer such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLC or a corporation. All have their unique pros and cons so look into each to find out which is best. It’s also advisable to discuss this with your attorney or CPA.

2.) Do your research.. You must know your market before you can control your market. Know your competition. Do research on their corporate websites or research portals such as Hoover’s. By just digging a little bit, you can find very valuable information about your competitors and how they do business. Soak everything in. Find out what they do wrong. Find out what they do right. And, if they do something right, find out a way to do it better! Competition is fierce in most industries so figure out a way to provide something of unique value through your research. Do something different than what is currently out there.

3.) Focus on what you are good at. Even if you are a one man company, focus on what you are good at and outsource or find help to do the stuff you are not so good at or don’t want to do. By focusing on your core strengths, you will be able to provide a service or product that is valuable to your clients. When you start getting tied up in the tasks that don’t interest you, you will start to lose focus on the primary business goals and your products and services can possibly suffer. Focus on what you are good and at leave the rest of the work to others who can help.

4.) Don’t try to do too much all at once. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen small business owners take on so much all at once that they can’t even function. When you have so much going on in your mind, you lose sleep, you get stressed out easily and you are not very efficient. So, stop trying to do everything and take baby steps. It’s better to take your time and do things the right way than cram everything all at once and have to go back later and re-do most of what you did wrong. Take your time. This isn’t a one-day business venture. You want this business to last, right? Then treat it like a business and do the things that successful business owners would do.

5.) Start a business you enjoy. This is essential in starting a successful venture. If you don’t like the work you’re doing, then you will be in the same situation that you were in when you worked for a corporation or had that nagging boss. Creating a business that you enjoy will make it seem like a hobby and not work. It’s very true that no job or company is perfect and it goes the same for a small business you might start. Every single day might not be perfect but if you can get by most of the time saying, “Hey, this is definitely the gig I want”, then that’s really all you can ask for. Even you as the owner of your own business will have down days. But if the majority are good, then you’ve won.

6.) Get support from your friends and loved ones. Starting a successful business is hard…there is no way around it. But, if you have added support from friends and family, the small business journey will be a much more enjoyable experience for both you, your friends and your loved ones.

7.) Create a valuable service or product. Create something that makes peoples’ lives easier. Something that provides a unique experience…something different than what they’ve seen or done before. Find a niche industry or market to tap into. Don’t jump on the bandwagon and do something that millions of others are doing. This will only clutter up the marketplace more. If you can find a niche market…one that is of value to a certain demographic, then you have written your ticket to a successful business venture and a very lucrative lifestyle. If you can find or discover something that people need or a way to enhance the way we go about doing everyday things, you are on the right track to success.

8.) Have a nice/quality website and have a plan of attack. It’s essential for your small business to be on the web. If you are not online doing business, then you are missing a HUGE target audience and potential huge money. Make sure you have a nice website that provides value. You want people to trust you. Have great content on your website to provide even more added value. Make sure you have a way to market your website. It’s great to have a nice website online but if you have no way to get it in the hands of the millions of users, then it’s basically a waste of time building it. There are numerous ways to market a website…it just depends on what industry you are in and the type of audience you intend to attract to your site that will determine your web marketing plan of attack.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of other things you can do to help assure you create a successful small business. If you just take a look at the tips above, you will be ahead of most people in your shoes. Remember, creating a successful small business takes time, hard work, determination, luck and support. It won’t happen overnight…and if it does, please contact me and let me know how you did it! Best of luck with your small business ventures.

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What do you think the one most important thing is about your website and the success of your website? Do you think it’s the design? No. Do you think it’s the content. Maybe…but No. Do you think it’s your logo? Nope…not even close. How about the services you offer. Wrong again!

The single most important thing to a website is a website analytics package. You NEED to know where your visitors are coming from. You need to know your visitor’s behavior. You need to know where your visitors are searching on your website and you need to know why they leave your site…and where they leave your site.

Web analytics can do so much for a business but many website and business owners neglect ever using a web analytics package. How can you improve your business without knowing your website visitor patterns and behavior? You can’t!

Here is a list of things that a basic website analytics solution can provide:

- Unique visitors per day/week/month/year
- Page views per day/week/month/year
- Where visitors entered and exited your website
- What pages are popular
- Amount of time spent on the website
- What location your visitors came from (What country, state, city, etc…)
- Website traffic sources such as organic traffic, referring websites, direct traffic, etc…
- Keyword analysis
- Integrate adverting campaign management and conversion tracking
- Access to various analytics reports

Most website analytics packages offer much more than this but this is what you will focus on when reading your reports. If you need to dig deeper, you can. This is enough above to allow you to improve your website pages in order to gain more traffic and keep the users engaged in your website.

There are many website analytics packages. Some are expensive, some are cheap and some are even free. If you run a very enterprise driven website environment with a lot of dymanic applications, Webtrends can be a great choice as it will do anything you like, even possibly walk your dog and cook you breakfast, if you program it correctly! If you are like most website owners, you don’t need such a comprehensive and complex website analytics package. In this case, Google Analytics is a great choice. You can always upgrade at a later time to something more detailed but you will likely be just fine with Google Analytics and what it offers.

Google Analytics can be set up pretty easily by signing up for an account with a Gmail Email Address Account and by then placing the generated code onto your site via your server. Depending on your website setup, this can range from very easy to difficult depending on the structure of your site and depending if you have a static website or an ecommerce website.

Website analytics is an essential piece to every web marketing strategy. Get to know your website visitors and you will learn how to improve your website accordingly, based on what your website visitors tell you through your website analysis. This will in turn draw more website traffic and will keep the website traffic as loyal visitors due to the improvements you’ve made because of what your analytics is telling you.

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