Setting up an Online Business

In this Miniseries we are going to be covering what is involved and advise on how to set up your own online business, why you should and the best way of doing it. We are going to add a new part every day so keep coming back to check out the next part.  Anything specific you would like covered or any questions add a comment and we will do our best to answer it.

Here is a list of the sections we will cover:

• Why an Online Business?
• You’re Website
• Taking Money
• Online Marketing
• Things to avoid

View Part One: Why have an Online Business? after the break…

Part One: Why have an Online Business?

Potential Customers

The growth of the internet is undeniable and in the UK and US now the number of people with internet access is now a staggering 80% or thereabouts. That is a potentially massive target audience for any new business, when our website was first built way back in 1996 just 5% of the population had access to the internet.

Future Proof

It is forecasted that by 2020 the world will end 40% of all retail sales will be online! That’s a staggering percentage when taking the previous figures into account. The internet is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Many companies this year started their January Sales on Christmas Day and took record amounts of traffic. I have to confess myself that I bought a new bed on Christmas Day morning because it had gone on sale.

Low Start-up Costs

The internet enables you to start up a business with very low start-up costs around £15 for a domain name and hosting can be found as cheap as £20 – 30 a year if you look hard enough.  This allows entrepreneur’s to dip their toes into the water for new ventures and niches and see if they have potential to succeed before committing a large budget. Or if you have a great idea but cannot risk the mortgage by quitting your current full time job you can let your new online venture build up before you commit yourself to be self employed which leads us onto the other benfit.

It’s liberating

Running your own business lets you be your own boss, you can focus on selling something you passionate about and you get out exactly what in which makes it rewarding too! So come back tomorrow to read our next part “Setting up your website” at let’s get you started!