How They Started A Successful Internet Business & How You Can Start Yours

I have just finished reading an inspiring Internet business successful story article from independent newspaper of the UK.

The story was on how to start a successful internet business. What I liked about the businesses was they were simple ideas of home based internet businesses.The main ideas were obvious, have a business plan, know your niche and market your idea. It was the interviews of successful internet entrepreneurs that touched me. Their opinions were very enlightening. I have picked up a few gems for you:

Online business Success Story of Hampers Gift UK

"It's all about finding a niche," says William Berry, a self-made internet millionaire. "Hampers, for example, are a niche of food retailing, but there are already market leaders in this area, so you either need to aim for a niche which doesn't already have a market leader, or attempt to become even more niche – by offering Christmas hampers, say. "

Nick-james.com on How to Build a Trust-able online Brand

Nick James, a small-business consultant and the founder of Nick-James.com, an online club for entrepreneurs says. Keep the site clean and simple: people will buy from you if they trust the site and can find what they want.

"Make sure you update your website's content constantly, as innovation, imagination and invention are essential if you are going to succeed in the longer term," he says. "Also make it easy for people to get in touch: your business needs to present a human face."

A long and rough road to online success - Story of Photobox

Graham Hobson started photobox in 2000 after he noticed the lack of online storing and printing websites in the UK, compared to the vast number of similar sites in the US. PhotoBox now has 2 million members.

"I'd always worked in technology but I'm an accidental entrepreneur," he says. "I wrote a business plan, got financial backing and a partner to join me in the business."

Graham gave up his day job in 1999. The first three years, he admits, were "painfully slow."

"We expected it all to happen quickly, but in reality, it was about steady growth," he says. "We were naive about marketing in the beginning and had to learn a lot of lessons."

Viral marketing has helped PhotoBox, and last year it merged with Photoways, a French firm.

"If you want to set up an internet business, you have to convince all the people around you it's a good idea," Graham says. "Put in your own time and energy, but other people's money – and take as much advice from other people as you can."

There you have it, now go to work and build a successful internet business. And I will feature you at small business web hosting.

How To Start An Online Business From Home

Since I started making money online I have been asked countless number of times How To Start An Online Business From home? My answer is find a niche, set up a website and write lots of content.

The advantage of starting an internet business is, you can run it from home. The start up cost of starting an internet business can range from $10 (cost of buying a domain name) to millions of dollars. The millions of dollars is for sites like Facebook that required investing money in costly servers and personnel. If you are starting a one man show internet business from home the start up cost will consist of domain name, web hosting and home internet connection.

Finding a market for your internet business

One of the most important elements of setting up an online business is finding out if there is a market for your idea. The best way to find out whether there is a market is use Google Keyword tool. Enter the Keywords of your niche and the tool will give you data on the number of monthly searches and number of competitors.

Get The Right Domain Name For Your Internet Business

Domain names cost $10 a year. But you can always get a free domain name from bluehost when you sign up for there web hosting. The domain can be a generic name or a name based on your product or service. I have used both methods and I have seen there is no advantage in using the name of product or service.

Find A Good Web Host to Host Your Internet Business Website

Shared hosting is sufficient for a beginner. Shared hosting plan can handle a website that gets 5000 visitors a day. You can start with a shared hosting plan and upgrade to more powerful services once your website gains traction. If you are running an e-commerce website where you will be taking customer credit card information you may need to purchase a dedicated server that comes with extra security.

Learn From the Best

We are never to big to stop learning. Learn from people who have been running successful internet businesses. A good place to start is problogger, Pat Flynn and yours truly www.kickerhosting.com.

Marketing Your Website

There are two methods of attracting visitors to your website. Advertising on Google Adwords or getting Free traffic from Google search. The first method requires spending money but the second method will require you write articles for your website. The articles have to be written using the keywords that are relevant to your website. The more you write, the more traffic you will see on your website. If you feel writing articles is a boring Job, you can hire a cheap writer from elance.com.

Manage Your Time Well

Time management is essential for success. When you are working from home it is easy to get distracted by so many things and it is important you separate business and domestic chores. Start by setting up a home office in a secluded area, a spare room or convert the basement, garage, bedroom into a home office. I have seen I am able to focus better when I write a daily schedule of things to do.

Be Patient And Persistence.

Succcess online comes slowly so be ready to work for a long period without seeing the fruits but be assured success will come if you stick hard in it.

To Your Success!