In this third lesson of our six part series, we start building the foundation of a successful Internet business with understanding the importance of Domain names, finding a hosting service for your web site, and setting up email accounts.
This is the third of a six part series that will cover the step-by-step process of building a profitable Internet business on a shoestring budget. A new step in this series will be presented each week until the process is completed.
Where we left off
We are in phase 3 of building our profitable Internet based business. In lesson 1, for the sake of this learning series, we assumed the following:
- You don't have a web site
- You don't have your own products to sell
- You don't have a merchant account
- You can't afford subscription web site software
- You don't have an 'app on tap' to offer clients
- You don't have products to sell on eBay
- You don't have any products to offer affiliates
- You don't have much of a budget (less than $100 a month)
- You do have a little free time
We must understand, at this point, that we are limited in the direction we can take with this business, but surprisingly, we still have quite a few profit models available to us. The focus of this lesson is to build toward those profit models.
In lesson 2 we learned the importance of finding a niche and defining our target market.
The importance of finding the right niche market
We learned that this is absolutely the most important part of a successful business model. Get this right and you have a great chance to succeed. Get it wrong and it is an instant recipe for failure.
When it comes to searching for the right niche market, it best to understand your goal.
In almost every case, your goal is to:
- Find qualified customers, within a sub-niche topic of interest, that have been totally ignored by the mainstream media and product providers.
- You are looking for a small, highly qualified market where customers are starved for the products or information that you have to offer.
- Understand that you don't need, or want, hundreds of thousands of customers. All you need is a few thousand customers that are willing to spend a $100.00 a year with you.
- Keep in mind that your goal is not to find a market with millions of customers. A market that size is most likely already over-saturated with product offerings by many other businesses. This will create lots of instant competition.
- Your goal is to find a market that is filled with qualified customers that are starved for the products or information that you have to offer.
Staying focused on the goal - Profit Models Available
Due the restrictions we stated above, the profitable Internet business models we have available to us are:
- Generate income from banner advertising and sponsorship
- Generate income from affiliate links
- Generate income from Google AdSense program
- Generate income from informational products that can be downloaded
- Generate income from subscription sales
Building a strong foundation
Regardless of which web site business models we decide to pursue, we first need to get a web site. And before we do that, we need to find and register a domain name.
The domain name is what visitors need to remember, what they are going to type into the browser to get to your site, and what you are going to use to create your brand and market your web site.
Because we want this site to be a success, we need to spend time finding and registering just the right domain name. To choose the right domain name, ask yourself the following questions:
- Will visitors remember it?
- Is it easy to type?
- Is it easy to say?
- Does it have prestige?
- Does it have any negative connotations?
- Is it eight characters or less, no punctuation, no numbers?
- Is it 'Generic' enough that we can use for multiple projects?
- Does it end with .com?
- Is it available for immediate registration?
- Does it appeal and represent the niche market you have targeted?
Choosing the right domain is so important to the success of your project. Choosing the wrong domain will cause endless problems that will continue through the rest of your project .
Before we can think about profit and revenue streams, you first need to find the right domain name and register it. This may be the most difficult and important task before you. Once you have decided on the right domain name it is time to register this domain name with a domain name registrar. A "Registrar" (or "Domain Name Registrar") is an organization like WebHost4Life, Network Solutions, or GoDaddy that has control over the granting of domains within certain TLDs (top level domains, like the generic .com/.org/.net or country-specific. ca/.us/.mx etc.).
Once you have decided on your domain name, it is a simple process to register it with one of these companies. I have many domain names registered on GoDaddy and WebHost4Life. I use www.webhost4life.com when I register domain names, because I've found them easy to work with. Since I host the majority of our DotNetNuke web site projects at WebHost4Life.com, it is much easier for me to track when the domain registration is up for renewal by having it with the same company that is hosting the site (one password, everything in one location, etc.)
Hosting your web site project
When your web site begins to be authored, you will need a place to stow it. This will enable you to view the progress and creation of your site and enable visitors to access the site after completion. Truth is, setting up your own host, which involves a dedicated computer that's permanently wired into the Net, is time-consuming and expensive and, for most small businesses, a bad idea. Better to outsource hosting to folks who specialize in it.
After you choose and register the domain name, set up with a quality hosting company. Don't cheat yourself by choosing a free hosting service - you will regret it. You could use the free space that comes with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) account. All providers, from AOL to GoDaddy, offer users at least some space as part of the basic package of services.
Frankly, though, this space is rarely suited to running a business. Servers are slow during peak traffic hours, and domain names can be cumbersome. This space may be great for putting up test pages and fiddling with a site before you are ready to go live, but when you want to get down to business, you will need a dedicated host.
When looking for a web hosting company, ask yourself the following questions:
- How reliable is your service? Look for at least a 95 percent uptime guarantee, and find out what that guarantee means.
- What kind of performance do they offer? Let your host know if you use bandwidth-gobbling features like streaming audio and video.
- How good is your support? Look for 24/7 phone support available from a live person. Then check it. Call or e-mail the tech support line at 9 p.m. on a Sunday and expect it to be answered.
- What will it cost? Entry-level service with a single domain name, 2000MB hard-drive space, e-mail service and up to 1GB of monthly data transfer (which may also be expressed as hits) should cost no more than $50.
- How do they handle security? Passwords should be required to control the host and manage or modify your site. All files should be backed up daily. Always look for a host that offers secure transactions.
- How much control do you have? Do they offer a management console where you can manage your web site?
- Can they handle the technology you are using? A DotNetNuke web site requires a Microsoft Server, .Net, and a Microsoft SQL database server. I look for a hosting company that specializes in hosting DotNetNuke web sites.
- Do they offer email accounts?
Email Accounts
If you want to leave a professional impression of your business, do not use your Hotmail or Google email account. Use an email account that matches your domain name.
After you register the site name and secure the hosting service, set up at least two of the 10 email accounts they give you - one for webmaster and one for support.
The rest of the email addresses we will use later on. But it is important to have the two email address (webmaster & support) ready for you use in the next step.
Future Steps
In the next lesson, I'll show you how to set up your marketing plan, how to painlessly set up top level accounts with the major affiliate programs, how to quickly build a 'ten best' pages project with affiliate links, how to join a no-cost web promotion network, how to add the top 10 best selling information products to your site at no cost, how to set up with the major instant credit card processing services (at no cost to you), and how to start building the other three revenue streams we will be adding to the project web site.
But remember, you can't do any of this until you build the solid foundation consisting of the right domain name and web host as discussed in this lesson.
Note: This business model was chosen because of the assumptions listed at the top of this article. This is not necessarily the best business model for a web site, but is the business model that best fits the criteria for these lessons.
Watch for the next installment of this series at the end of each week.