How to choose a Site Builder

YAY! you decided to start on online business. Great. You know what you want to sell or write about? Great. Where are you going to put your site? If you read that and thought, "I have no idea" then that is ok, because I wondered the same thing. There are many options for places to build your website, but you need to ask yourself some important questions.

• Do you want to build your site from scratch? Can you code, and what is your ability level?
• DO you want a drag and drop, quick build?
• Do you need to be able to take payments on your site?
• What can you afford? Can you afford a monthly fee?
• How much support will you need to maintain and build your site?
• How long do you plan on running your web site?
• Will your site need a lot of videos and graphics?
• Do you plan on allowing advertising on your site?

Once you know the answers to those questions you can start researching. There are multiple sites that will guide you through the process step by step, and have great customer support. Wix and Weebly are good examples. If you have a little bit more experience, you can try wordpress, building the design yourself. Make sure you consider what you need, and the time you have to devote to it. Then get building! Good luck. 

Business Models: Affiliate or Drop shipping?

What is an affiliate? Simply speaking, it is bringing people to your website, sharing knowledge, and then directing the customer to different sites where they can purchase the same, or similar items you have been discussing. Your part of the process is done at that point. If the customer purchases from the other site, for example, Amazon, Amazon will pay you a small commission on the sale, and they will then ship the item to the customer, and deal with any other issues that may arise from the transaction. You do not take any payments from the customer on your site, you are simply providing information, and a link where they can make a purchase if they choose.

What is drop shipping? Drop shipping puts you in business with the customer. You will create a web site, You will offer products, and then you will take payments. However, you will not have inventory on hand. You will have to choose a manufacture, and as you get orders, you will then purchase from the manufacture, and have them ship the items directly to the customer. Even though you are not the one shipping the items, you are the one responsible for all interactions and problems that may arise with the order, and all customer service.

This Week I learned a lot from the marketing class, and that is that there are so many different things to consider when starting a business. The internet truly changed the way businesses work, and it is evolving every single day. If you choose to be in business on the web, you must continue to educate yourself on new technology, and new ways to reach your customers.

This week, as I considered the steps to starting a business I realized how many different ways there are to go about starting. I have not used the keyword planning tool, but I played around with it for a while, and it made me realize there really is just a tremendous amount of competition out there. I can see how it can be overwhelming, and scary to even start thinking of a new idea. The thing is, you have to figure out a way to be different. You have to do what everyone else is doing in a better way, a way that makes you stand out, and a way that solves a problem for people. You also have to want to be doing it. It is clear it will never be easy, and you will probably make a lot of mistakes. If you believe in what you are doing, it will be easier to want to push through the hard times.