1. You don’t need a website to launch your first online business
The simplest way to get started is to create a website using WordPress, Tumblr, or any other popular blogging platform. You can then use this site as a marketing and sales tool. However, you don’t actually need a website in order to start your business. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has challenged anyone making claims that they require their product or service only be purchased through their specific site without admitting that there are dozens of other ways of getting it (such as by buying it at an offline store).
2. You don’t need to build a website from scratch
You can use one of these tools to quickly set up your online business:
3. Your website is for your customers, not for you
The purpose of a website is to help you connect with customers. As such, it should be designed and built by someone who knows what their customers want and how they are likely to interact with their product or service. If you do this yourself, chances are good that your site will not be as good looking or easy to use as those of other businesses. Because of this, your competition will have better-looking sites that they can point out in order to convince people that yours is not worth the money.
4. Don’t assume that because you have a website, your business is on the internet
Although having a website is a necessary part of being on the internet, it is not sufficient. You must also:
5. Your customers don’t care about the technology behind your site
All that matters to most people when they are looking for a product or service online is that the site be easy to use and have what they want. They do not need to know whether the site was developed using Java or PHP nor how it works.
You should evaluate each technology based on two criteria: how well it meets your business needs and how nice it looks.
The simplest way to get started is to create a website using WordPress, Tumblr, or any other popular blogging platform. You can then use this site as a marketing and sales tool. However, you don’t actually need a website in order to start your business. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has challenged anyone making claims that they require their product or service only be purchased through their specific site without admitting that there are dozens of other ways of getting it (such as by buying it at an offline store).
2. You don’t need to build a website from scratch
You can use one of these tools to quickly set up your online business:
3. Your website is for your customers, not for you
The purpose of a website is to help you connect with customers. As such, it should be designed and built by someone who knows what their customers want and how they are likely to interact with their product or service. If you do this yourself, chances are good that your site will not be as good looking or easy to use as those of other businesses. Because of this, your competition will have better-looking sites that they can point out in order to convince people that yours is not worth the money.
4. Don’t assume that because you have a website, your business is on the internet
Although having a website is a necessary part of being on the internet, it is not sufficient. You must also:
5. Your customers don’t care about the technology behind your site
All that matters to most people when they are looking for a product or service online is that the site be easy to use and have what they want. They do not need to know whether the site was developed using Java or PHP nor how it works.
You should evaluate each technology based on two criteria: how well it meets your business needs and how nice it looks.
