Resources for Starting an Online Business

Anyone trying to start an Online business needs to have
a number of resources before it is possible to build and
promote a successful website. The following are
essential tools that I have found very valuable.

1)Wordtracker

Before you build a website you must target the correct
keywords, otherwise you will not have the necessary
traffic to run a business. You may have a good niche
but if you optimise your pages for the wrong keywords,
you will attract little traffic.

And without traffic on the Net, you have no business!
Wordtracker is an excellent tool that evaluates keywords
for their profitability. A free trial version is available.

http://www.wordtracker.com

2) Ken Evoy's Free Internet Marketing Ebooks

Ken Evoy of SiteSell has written some Free Ebooks which
are essential for anyone contemplating an Online business.
Topics covered include:

·How to be a successful Affiliate marketer.
·How to run a Net Auctions business without Ebay.
·How to develop your own Information Product.
·How to be a successful Service Seller on the Net.

http://www.merchant-account-service.com/free_courses_online.html

2)Website Building Software

Unless you know HTML you will need to use a HTML editor
such as Microsoft Frontpage, Hotdog, or Dreamweaver which
is a bit more advanced.

Site Build It is a complete web building tool that includes web
page building, web hosting, keyword research for your web
pages, and continuous website submission to the search
engines. Site Build It users usually get high search engine
rankings.

Site Build It
http://www.merchant-account-service.com/sitebuildit.html

Hotdog
http://www.sausage.com

Dreamweaver
http://www.macromedia.com

Microsoft Frontpage
http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage

3)Forums

Internet Marketing forums can be very useful for the beginner.
You can post questions and get swift replies from some very
knowledgeable marketers including some of the big names.

Some of the most active are:
http://www.ablake.com
http://associateprograms.com/discus/

4)Article Submission

Articles are a good way to get free publicity for your business.
A well written article can be published in ezines or on a
website, thereby giving continuous targeted traffic.

Submit your article to article databanks where publishers and
website owners can pick it up and publish it..

http://www.hugeaffiliates.com has a good list of article databanks
where you can submit your articles.

5)Alexa.com

When your website is up and running, you need to check its
ranking in the search engines and the number of sites that link
to your site. Although it is not always up to date, it gives a good
idea of the amount of traffic and links a site has.

http://www.alexa.com

6)Virus/Firewall Protection

You will need to install virus protection and keep it running in
the background. If you have constant Internet connection,
you'll also need to run a firewall program to keep out hackers.

McAfee
http://www.mcafee.com

Norton
http://www.symantec.com

Firewall Protection
http://www.tinysoftware.com

This is a personal choice of resources and may not be relevant
to everyone's needs. If you have a question about any aspect of
building or marketing an online business, you can always post
to one of the forums that I have listed above. In most cases,
you will get an informative response quickly.

© John Lynch

( For a review of Site Build It - the leading website building
software for small and home business go to :
http://www.merchant-account-service.com/sitebuildit.html )