JohnnyMechanno.com

As part of my learning about Internet Marketing I attended a number of  "real world" seminars. I found that these were really worthwhile for a number of reasons. First off I was in the company of like minded people. Some of these people were just like me, new to the business and unsure if they had made the right decision.

Some were already in business but wanted to learn more because there is always more to learn.

The real bonus was the speakers who had all achieved success in varying degrees. Some were making good money on a part time basis,working towards the day when they could give up their regular job. Others were making five and six figure incomes from their businesses and spoke of the freedom that was one of the rewards for their efforts. The common denominator for everyone was that the all started from scratch just like me.

I’m seriously considering going to London from Feb. 28th. to March I st. The UK  Entrepreneur Convention ‘09 is taking place then. I’m sure I could learn some interesting ideas from listening to the panel of speakers. Click on the link above if you want more details.

Good luck on your journey.

Now we are laying the foundations for our business. We have purchased our Domain name and set up our hosting. We are now ready to attract potential buyers to our business. To do this we need to be able to communicate with them. So we set up an Auto -responder which allows us to respond to people automatically day or night. In this way we can run our business on autopilot. It allows us to tend to our business at a time of our choosing thus giving us more of that time freedom that so many of us so badly need.

I set up my Auto-responder on Aweber mainly because that’s what was recommended to me. There I store my messages that are sent to people who request information from me. For example if someone subscribes to my updates they will get an email asking them to confirm their subscription. Having confirmed they then get an email from me thanking them for subscribing. This is called double opt-in and eliminates any issues  in relation to Spam. There is also an unsubcribe link at the bottom of each email once again ensuring that I am fully compliant with Anti Spam regulations.

Rember this is a business and it is best to adhere to best business practices and any regulatory requirements in order to keep it up and running on a continuing basis.

Now we have a nice new Domain name the next step is to have that Domain hosted. All the advice I got recommended that I go with Hostgator as they are very reliable and very competitively priced. I went with the "Baby" plan because it gives the option of hosting unlimited Domain names and only costs a few dollars more. I know that at the moment I am only setting up one business but I am optimistic and expect to set up more new businesses over the next few months. I will probably be in different sectors so I want to give myself plenty of flexibility in naming these businesses.

I have learned that it is best to have your own Domain name if you are going to do business on the Internet. When you build a list of subscribers on your Domain you own that list which becomes one of your assets. I went to GoDaddy for mine. Just go for the one year basic package for now. Ignore all the add-ons and list of special offers. Select your Domain name and click through to complete your purchase. The name of the game is to conserve cash for more necessary purchases.

The attraction of an Internet based business is the low start up cost. It is possible set up a business on the web for under $100 and own it all. Compare that to setting up a shop in a high street building or in a mall where you have the cost of  leasing, fitting out, stocking up, hiring staff etc….etc….

There are similarities however. Your website is your shop window and as such it’s purpose is to attract potential buyers. Just as in the real world presentation and display is important. You can have special offers or sales to attract more potential buyers.You can communicate these offers to your list via email. People who come to your website from your list are more likely to become customers.After all  they already know a little bit about you and have chosen to come as the result of an invitation.

Notice that I have use the word "potential" in relation to buyers. It is all very well getting people to look at your lovely window or visiting your website. The only reason for setting up a business is to make money. So we need to get potential buyers into our shop/website and to convert them into satisfied customers. This is the challenge that faces all business people. The most basic element of sales and marketing is giving the potential buyer what will meet his needs and show a profit for us. Building our list is the akin to building up a client base in the real world.

Sometimes the person will tell us what he wants. Sometimes we have to ask, so establishing a rapport with the person is important. On the Internet this done using newsletters, ezines, giving  free samples of our products, social media ect. The list of ways of building rapport grows daily. It is important to be real and be yourself. If a person gets to know you, they will probably get to like you and then to trust you and so it will be much easier to convert a potential buyer into a customer. listbuilding is about building relationships Remember that it is one human being dealing with another human being so be honest and fair with every one you come into contact with, work hard at building your list/customer base and someday soon you and I will be able to live the Internet Lifestyle .