The presence of web visitors make running a website an interesting and engaging business activity; the presence of competition gives me adrenaline rush to make my web business better; the possibility to make money online via a website gives me an opportunity to, well, make money. However, before a web business owner reaches his/her ultimate goals, there are some obstacles a website owner must survive against.
Working with a laptop at home still raises some eyebrows…
Online entrepreneurs are typically self-learners – and love working at home (or mobile working.) They learn the basics via many trials and errors from the resources they read online and offline. Initially, building and running a group of websites seem fun, exciting and thrilling. But there will be times that you, sooner or later, will meet naysayers.
You may get very little encouragement from your family and friends who are not really tech-savvy and/or involved in “traditional” industry; they are not likely to follow the trends in web business, let alone believing the fact that you can make money from your websites. To them, you seem to waste time sitting in front of your computer and doing things they can’t seem to comprehend; investing and trading in domain names seems don’t have a future at all.
You see, those obstacles, along with your fear of the unknowns and – sorry for saying this – lack of resilience and perseverance, are probably some of the reasons why 9 out of 10 businesses fail within their first 2 years; the best business ideas won’t guarantee you success, either. In fact, the biggest obstacle to your web business success is you and your fear.
Well, here’s what passion, resilience and perseverance can offer you: Success, eventually… when the time comes. Some years ago, “Google” was not even a word in dictionary. Today, Google is the most popular and influential search engine in the world. How about Microsoft? Ditto. Dell? Yep. Apple? Yes.
How to get started in web business
Unlike what many people say, your real journey in web business starts with a real domain name, not an account on, say, Blogger.com, WordPress.com, etc. Then you need to learn about the nitty-gritty of web building: Understanding how CMS (content management system) can help you; learn how to SEO your website properly; learn how the competition works; and many other things you should learn – and gain hands-on experience.
1. Choose the right domain names
You need to have knowledge of what good domain names are made of – should you buy dot-com, or dot-us? Should you buy domain names with keywords on it or simple and memorable ones? Should you consider buying dot-net or dot-org version of the already existing dot-com – will you get yourself into legal troubles in doing so?
2. SEO your website properly
Then comes SEO or search engine optimization; what should you do in getting your site ranked better on search engines? How about the structure of your page? .com/jokes/ or .com/funny/jokes/ URL structure is different with regard to SEO purposes.
3. Add value with quality front-end design
Should you consider using a fully-featured template or should you design a custom one? As we all know, although content is king, great front-end design can help you “package” your content and add value to it.
4. Have a plan – and stick to it
Like investors with stocks the webmasters have to have a plan and stick to it. You need to plan your content, link building campaigns and social media endeavors properly if you want your websites to grow quickly. Again, plan properly and envision where your websites would go in 5 years time – and stock to it; don’t procrastinate and sway away from your plan.
So, it’s decision time: Are you ready to beat your fear of the unknowns and do what it takes to make your web business a success? Your answer will determine how you will go in your business journey.
Don’t let fear steal your funk! Your website, your move ;)
About the Author: This blog post is written by Tom, regular writer of a guest blogging network. Noobpreneur.com’s editor has heavily updated the article in response to a reader’s feedback.
Image: graur razvan ionut