How To Get All Of Your Web Pages Indexed In The Major Search Engines

A website is more than just a home page. In fact, it is useful to think of a website as a cluster of mini websites, with each of the inner pages being a full-fledged website. Depending on the content of these inner pages, visitors will enter your site through these "side doors" on the strength of search engine queries that match the content of these interior pages.
This is great news for you, especially if you have a lot of pages with interesting content. However, if these inner pages are not indexed in the search engines, then you will not gain the advantages of all this "extra" traffic. Here are some steps to take to make sure that all of your pages are "spidered" and included in the major search engines.
1. First, make a check to determine your present indexing position
Normally when a search engine robot finds your main page, it will then follow links to your inner pages, and continue following links until all of your pages have been indexed. If your site is well constructed, and search-engine friendly then all of your pages may already be indexed. You can find out how you are doing by going to Google, Yahoo or MSN and making the following search query: site:www.yoursite.com . The results of this query will show you how many of your pages are already included and which pages they are.
2. Improve the navigation system of your site to make your links search engine friendly
If you do a check and find that only your main page or only a few of your pages are indexed and the rest are not, then it is important to look at your link and navigation structure and to make changes that will enable search engine robots to find and follow all of your links.
Links to inner pages that are contained in the java script of drop-down menus or as "hot spots" on graphics are more difficult for spiders to recognize and follow. If your site uses this kind of navigation structure, then it may be helpful to add an additional text link navigation system at the bottom of the pages. This will not only help the search engine robots, but will also give your visitors another handy way to go on to the other pages of your website.
3. Build an html site map with text links to all of your pages
A site map is something like a table of contents. Construct a web page using your usual graphical and navigation, so that it matches the rest of your website. In the main content section of that page, make a text link to each of your pages, using the title tag of those pages as the clickable link text, and putting the description tag of the page as text below the link. Putting the descriptive text under the link does not affect the work of the search engine robots but it will help your visitors to choose which page to click on.
Some online website builder and website construction software (such as Xsitepro) contain built in site-map generators. If you have a very large site with many pages then you can find free online site-map generators or download software for this purpose.
4. Participate in the Google Sitemaps Program
Last year Google set up the sitemaps program to help webmasters make it easier for their site's pages to be found by the Google spider. To participate, you have to construct an XML file with information about each of your site's pages and upload this to the main directory of your website. XML files are the same kinds of files used in RSS syndication, but in this case the XML file is meant only to provide information for the Google robot.
If you don't know how to make an XML file or you have a very large website with hundreds of pages it is best to use an XML sitemap generator. A free, online Google Sitemaps generator can be found at http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp
Once you have made your XML sitemap and have uploaded it to your server, go to www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps and set up a sitemaps account with Google. When you log into your account you will see a tab at the top of the page that says Add. Click it and then check the box, add "General Web Sitemap". You will be asked to put the url of your sitemap. Normally the url of your sitemap will be http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
The Google sitemaps program is particularly important if you have a large, data base driven site or ecommerce website with many pages that you want to be available in Google searches.
If you want to increase traffic to your site, check and see how many of your pages have actually been included in the various search engines, and then take steps to make sure that all of them are included in future search engine updates. Your efforts to improve the search engine friendliness of your site will be well rewarded.
About the Author
Donald Nelson is the director of http://www.a1-optimization.com, a firm providing search engine optimization and other Internet promotion services and is the chief editor of a reprint articles directory, http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

How To Make Your Internet Business Work

With all the information on the internet and Idiot's Guides, and "for Dummies" books in the bookstores, how do you know what to look for in marketing material? The massive amount of information can be overwhelming, especially if you don't have much experience with internet marketing.
CHOOSING A BUSINESSWhen selecting a new business, the first thing you need to find out is, what will your duties entail. If you want an internet business that requires very little involvement from you, then you should narrow down your search to companies that promote an automated business system. What this means is that basically your job is to get as much traffic to your website that the company gives you, and they will do the rest. The company will handle all the inquiries that come in, explain the aspects of the business, follow-up with your visitors, and close the sale. A system like this is designed to strip out all of the rejection that's so common in many network marketing companies. Once the sale is made, then you will receive a check or get paid instantly into your online payment processor.
TRAINING & MARKETING TOOLSRegardless of which internet business you join, one of the most important decisions you will make is learning how to make your business work. The quality of your internet marketing training will determine whether your business will succeed or fail. If you select a home business that promotes internet training tools, coupled with an automated business system, then three-fourths of the work is already done for you.
Tools you want to look for include training software, pdf's, audios, and videos. Armed with these types of internet marketing training tools will prepare you for direct response marketing and set you up for success for many years to come. The more you learn, the less time you will need to spend to create the kind of income you're after. The key that unlocks the vault is marketing. Master that key, and you'll be able to do whatever you want in life.
A MARKETING SYSTEMOnce you have the right marketing tools, find out what kind of system is in place for the new people who join your business. Are you expected to personally train your new business partners, or is there a system in place to do that for you? Look for an internet marketing business with a system that has an integrated back office which includes a messenger system so that you can keep in touch with your upline and downline. A good system will also include interactive videos to explain how each component of your back office works. The less time that you and your partners spend training others means more time on marketing your business and increasing your income. You also want to make sure your internet marketing system can track your marketing campaigns. This way you know which of your marketing efforts are bringing in the most traffic.
CUSTOMER SUPPORTWhen deciding upon an internet marketing business, send customer service a test email inquiring about the company and the business. This will help you to determine how long it takes for them to respond to your request. If you do not have access to customer service, send an email to the person who's website you responded to initially. If it takes the company more than a week to get back to you, then you do not want to represent a company with poor customer service. People need to be able to get their needs met in a timely manner, or they will become frustrated and quit.
BENEFITSWith the right internet marketing tools, you'd be surprised to find out how little time is required to run your online business. The majority of your time will be spent generating traffic to your business. Having the right tools can increase your revenue whenever you want it to, simply by increasing your marketing. Your income has no cap because it's based solely on your expectations. If you can get excited about the internet marketing business you are evaluating, then you will get enjoyment from promoting it.
About the Author
Adrianne Geyer has a degree in Computer Networking and has been a full-time Internet Marketer since July 2000. To learn more about how to build a successful internet marketing business using the tools mentioned in this article, visit the following link: The Ultimate Marketers Toolkit

Ten High Powered Ways To Increase Traffic

10 High Powered Ways To Increase Your Traffic
1. Trade links with other web sites. They should be
related to the subject of your web site. Instead of
trading links, you could also trade banner ads, half
page ads, classified ads, etc.
2. Start an e-zine for your web site. When people
read each issue they'll be reminded to revisit your
web site. They'll see your product ad more than
just once which will increase your orders.
3. Form an online community. It could be an online
message board, e-mail discussion list or chat room.
When people get involved in your community they
will regularly return to communicate with others.
4. Write articles and submit them to e-zines, web
sites and magazines that accept article submissions.
Include your business information and web address
at the end of the article.
5. Give away an electronic freebie with your ad on
it. Allow your visitors to also give the freebie away.
This'll increase your ad exposure and attract people
to your web site at the same time.
6. Combine your products or services into one big
package deal with other businesses offerings. You
could share a web site and advertise the package
deal; which means double the traffic.
7. Submit your freebie to the online directories that
list your particular item or service for free. If you're
offering a free e-zine, submit it to all the free e-zine
directories on the internet.
8. Participate on message boards. Post answers to
other people's questions, ask questions and post
appropriate information. Include your signature file
at the end of all your postings.
9. Exchange classified or sponsor ads with other
free e-zine publishers. If there is a huge subscriber
difference between e-zines, one can run more ads
to make up for it.
10. Post your ad on free advertising areas on the
internet. You can post it on free classified ad sites,
free for all links sites, newsgroups that allow ads,
free yellow page directories, etc. Best website to build wealth I have found !!!
www.easystepsprofit.com

Insider Secrets to Internet Marketing

"The trick to developing a product that is guaranteed to sell like crazy is to offer a solution to a problem. If you can save people time, money, or hassle, they'll be willing to pay for your solution!" - Corey Rudl
If someone offered to help you make a million dollars, why would you say, "no?" This very thing goes on all the time to thousands of people all over the world. You may have never imagined you could make a six-seven figure income, yet it's happening all the time on the internet. This is the result of internet marketing. It is a viable business and has made many millionaires. Even 19-year-old billionaires!
On the internet, millions upon millions of transactions take place every day, every hour, every minute and every second. This was not possible fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, with access to the internet, you have the capability of reaching many thousands of potential customers at the touch of a button. And - you are only limited by your imagination.
Internet marketing sounds easy to do, yet most businesses that currently use the internet to market their business lose money. When marketing your business online, there are three important steps that will make you feel confident. They include:
1. Targeting your audience. 2. Automating your business, and 3. Testing and adjusting your offer.
Your target audience depends upon the type of service or product you are offering. A little homework is required here. If you wish to sell hair and beauty products, you wouldn't send your announcements to farmers. Find out where your customers are by searching the web. Track what they are interested in when they visit other websites. Find out by asking. Do market surveys. Send out questionnaires. Query friends, acquaintances, neighbors and find out what interests them.
You can easily find out what your customers want by testing your products and services. Then if it doesn't sell, you can make adjustments before spending lots of money on a product or service that the market won't support. Testing new products, ideas, or your advertising message on a small target audience first, saves you time, effort, and money. Doing a small test, first, also allows you time to make adjustments to your website or your advertisement to meet the needs of your customer. Automate your online business so that your valuable time and attention is directed to creating more products or services. There are now hundreds of web sources that offer business automation services. They can send out your advertisements, business cards, flyers, press releases, and post cards to thousands of potential buyers at a time. They can notify your customers when their order is ready to ship. They can do your bookkeeping and track of your customer's order.
Internet marketing can be as easy as you make it, and it can be fun. Thinking up products and services that meet the needs of customers and getting them to the customer in a manner that is convenient and appropriate is rewarding in itself. And when your product or service is something you love creating, and when it helps others save time, money, feel and look good, this is a great benefit. Three other benefits of selling your product or service online are:
1. You have access to a global market at the touch of a finger. 2. Your investment of time is small. 3. You can start an online business with little cost. Compared to the cost of offline marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV ads, and the cost of postage with direct mailing, you can set up a website at a low cost and start offering your product or service and even see the results in a matter of days. With internet marketing you can test your ads, sales offers, website design, and notify thousands of potential customers - and sometimes receive an order within hours - and almost at no cost.
The internet allows you to reach a global market and the cost is much less than using the traditional methods. You can quickly change your marketing plan and send out your marketing message multiple times. Whereas, with the old way of selecting the media and waiting for your ad to be scheduled, printed, and then distributed, the comparison in cost and in time is monumental.
For internet marketing to work for you, you must set your business to run on automatic so you can put your attention on developing more products and better services. You must target your advertising message, consistently get it out to as many potential buyers as possible, and be ready to test, test, and test again to make certain your offer is what your customers wish to buy. These key secrets are a small part of what makes for a successful online business. It's up to you to find your passion, your faith, and your will to increase your sales, and - to give back.

About the Author
Gerri D Smith publishes an inspirational newsletter for women business owners and individuals eager to improve, and willing to learn more. And it's Free! Well-written articles, business offers, and more for your business and personal image improvement. Go to: http://www.distinctivebusinesswomen.com

E-Commerce for Beginners

Like most average persons, I wanted some extra money to supplement my regular income. I had considered a part time second job at times, but hated that option because it would take me away from the family, make me more tired and probably just pay minimum wage. I also wanted to be able to work from home.

I had surfed the internet for years and had often considered the idea of participating in the internet revolution. I had read some statistics on the use of internet and the increasing numbers of homes with computers and the increasing percentage of Christmas shopping done over the internet. So I decided to jump in with both feet.

First what is ecommerce? The online world designates web sites devoted to retail sales as an e-commerce site. E-commerce sites sell either information or hard goods such as cameras or knifes. E-commerce sites also have Shopping Carts and Payment Gateways attached to them that non-sales web sites do not need.

Ok……so you want to develop an E-commerce site. You are now probably asking do I have enough skill, mental patience or aptitude to be successful?

Well if you have average intelligence, I believe that you and thousands of people just like you could have an E-commerce web site. All that is required is the willingness to learn a few things, patience, and the determination to apply yourself.

How? I am glad you asked.

Let’s begin. We first need to discuss the basics components you will need.

1. Computer 2. Internet connection 3. Site building software 4. Graphics Software 5. Web hosting company 6. Shopping cart 7. Payment gateway

The above elements are where most people stop when they think of what they will need when they want to start an ecommerce site. However, there are other elements that need to be considered, such as getting legal and product sourcing.

Items 1 and 2 above are pretty straight forward and most people can understand why they are necessary. The other items however are a little more complex. Site building software allows the beginner to construct a web site without knowing html programming code. What is Html programming Code?

Html is the programming language of the internet and stands for Hyper Text Mark Up Language. The two best software programs currently available to write Html are Microsoft’s FrontPage 2003 or Macromedia’s Dreamweaver. These programs are more correctly known as HTML Editors.

These two programs are the best ones available. I have them both but use FrontPage 2003 primarily. I think FrontPage 2003 is easier to use and does better tables then Dreamweaver. Most professional web site developers, however consider Dreamweaver the better of the two because some claim it has more features, but I find it is a little more complicated to use. I would recommend that you surf the internet and read the reviews on both of these programs and make you own choice.

Next you will need a good graphic program such as Adobe Photoshop 6. A graphics program allows you manipulate the size of images create images in different formats and create special effects. “PhotoShop 6” is the current version from Adobe and is the best software program for graphics. Adobe “Photoshop Elements” can also be used, but is a limited version of the full Photoshop software. The programs from Adobe are expensive so shop around for the best price.

Web hosting is very important and you need to comparison shop for features first, not on price. Web hosting and ecommerce are extremely related, and learned by personal experience the mistake trying to separate ecommerce from web hosting. The web host company is the company that rents room on their server for your web site, but they can much more. They can offer an integrated shopping cart.

The shopping cart is the heart of the ecommerce web site. The shopping cart for all intents and purposes runs your ecommerce web site so it is critical to get a good one. It contains and displays the products you intend to sell. It also does other neat administrative functions that will make your store easier to run. There are some stand alone shopping carts for sale but most come with web hosting service attached.

The "Payment Gateway" is the cashier in the store and is also known as a "Merchant Account." This is basically a business credit card account. The payment gateway allows your se store to accept credit cards and transfer money to you. Merchant Accounts are very important and you should also carefully review their services and prices. If you do not get a merchant account you are pretty much limited to papal. Search the web and check out the available shopping carts and payment gateways.

Now what are you going to sell, and where are you going to get it? You can look every where for the products you want to sell. How do you know what will sell well? You need to do some market research. Not everything sells well, including electronics. If you have no preference on what to sell, find some marketing software that will allow you to determine which products ell well online.

Next, you will need a source for those products. Assuming you are not making them yourself. The best way is to drop ship them. The trouble is finding a reliable drop ship source and avoiding the imposters.

Once you find you product source you need to open an account and stock your store and start selling. There munch more to an ecommerce store then can be explained in a brief article format. As someone who recently went from zero to an online store Cynscorion.com), I know first hand of the pit falls that await the beginning ecommerce site builder.

If you want to learn more about what to avoid in building an ecommerce site go to either: www.cynscorion.com and go to the bottom of the page and click on "Ecommerce Book For Beginners" ,or go to: http://cynscorion.com/store/cart.php?page=what_yofuture_release_of_a_very_unique_ecommerce_book This book is for people undecided on whether to start an ecommerce site and want to find one point of reference to assist them in making their decision.

Lastly, I wish you good luck and success in your ecommerce endeavors. If I can do it, so can you!

For additional assistance go to:
http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fHomepage=101573

The author created his own ecommerce web site going from knowing nothing to having a fully functional ecommerce site on the web, and wrote a book on the experience. The aptly titled "STEP 1: E-commerce for Beginners" explains to BEGINNERS what "STEP 1" is, and what they should be prepared for and makes recommedations to make the experience of building the 1st web site less stressful.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert__Corsair

The 10 Keys to Ecommerce Success

1. People tend to click more often when specifically told to do so.
CLICK HERE to download the secret to my success! No, really. Please... One day when talking to a friend of mine through removing some spyware from his computer, I asked how he thought he got it. "I don't know..." he quickly replied..."I guess I clicked on something that told me to click on it."... I do recall reading somewhere that 10% of us turn our brains off when we get online. If you want someone to buy something, don't just tell them to buy it, tell them exactly how to buy it.

2. Most people can't remember more than seven things at once
There is a reason US phone numbers are 7 digits long - 10 if you include the area code... Humans are pattern driven creatures. We like 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 4 weeks in a month, 12 months in a year... and so on. The more patterns we make as humans, the more our mind can relate different things. However, for the most of us, the patterns cannot be too complex. Don't confuse your customers. Give them details. Allow them to form the pattern in their mind. Then tell them to buy your product.

3. Research shows that web readers scan pages before they read anything, meaning they may leave your site if it doesn't grab their attention.
In the dial up days, I used to tell people they had 30 seconds to make an impression on a visitor. Now, it's a micro-fraction of that. The latest study indicated that a website had 3 seconds to deliver the content to the user, and that a user would make up their minds within 1 second. 1/2 second if that user was a female - seriously. It's what I call the "ummm". A site loads, a user says, "Ummm..." and that's followed by a "yes" or a "no". As soon as that scan is done with, the user knows if they feel comfortable on your site. If you use highlighting and bolding of keywords on your site - say about 7 of them per fold - and you tell the customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bolded words... your site has more of a chance of converting a visitor into a customer.

4. Most buyers complete their purchase-related search engine research two or more weeks before they buy.
Two weeks. 14 days. 2 sets of 7 days. If your site doesn't make a lasting impression with the user - even visually - they won't be back. And if they don't come back, you don't make the sale.

Not too long ago, I was doing some reasearch on a particular subject. I had found a very good source, and shared it with a colleague of mine. About two weeks later, we were discussing the subject again. I hadn't book marked the page, and couldn't recall the name of the site. What I did recall was the pattern of the layout. I remembered the red and blue colors, with the yellow highlighted price. When I again found that pattern, I recalled more information about that website.

Had that site not grabbed my attention, and given me a few key items to remember, they would have lost a sale. Needless to say, they got my business.

5. People are more likely to read a headline that is followed by a blurb
This week I was driving by a steak house. I thought, "yeah.. I might like a steak tonight... but, there are some other restraunts on this road..." As I got closer to the steak house, the smell of that wood burning grill assaulted my senses... "Wow, I gotta have a steak, right now!" Was my next thought.... What changed my mind? The blurb after the headline. The restraunt itself wasn't enough to get the sale - but those guys aren't fools - they know how to get a customer in the door. The same holds true for any attention grabbing headline - without any more information, it's just a headline. Without that smell, a steak is just a piece of dead cow.

6. The top five search terms of all time are: Pam Anderson, Dragonball, Pokemon, Britney Spears, and WWE
To me, knowing what people are looking for is key. It's how you found this site. It's why you're reading, or listening to me right now. It's why you'll purchase the products I endorse or produce for MLMEruption.com. But knowing those top 5 search terms also tells me that I'm going to have to be creative with my headlines, give my customers good, memorable information that doesn't overwhelm them, and give them clear instructions on what to do on my site.

7. The three-click rule states that any page in a site should be accessible in three clicks
You've heard me say it before - A confused mind always says "No". So does a bored one. We're living in the Information Management age. If you can't give your customers what they want in a quick and easy fashion, you won't have a customer to worry about. A few years back there was a big lawsuit between two major .com's about the concept of the "one click checkout"... why? Because they knew then what I am telling you now. You have to make it easy. Easy to use. Easy to attract. Easy to remember. Easy to understand. Easy.

8. The average user will click 12 times before leaving a site
We all want above average users on our websites, right? I know I do. If the average user clicks 12 times on a website, and any page should be no more than 3 clicks away, you can safely reason that a visitor will visit 3 or 4 pages of your website. Without your site being easy, attractive, memorable, and clear... you'll just lose that visitor. When you have some time, take the grocery store poll. It's a fun one. Go into several different grocery stores in your town. Make note of where the milk is located. Chances are, you'll find the milk in the back corner. Not the easiest place to get to. You have to walk past all that other stuff. Then you have to walk past all that stuff again on your way out. Chances are pretty high that you'll pick something up on the way to or from the milk before you check out. The exact same principle holds true for e-commerce. If you present your visitor with something to purchase on each page, chances are very high that those 12 clicks will lead to a sale.

9. Saturdays and Wednesdays are the most popular day of the week to surf the Web
These are the two days that you want your email to land in your newsreaders inbox. It's the two days you want to test market a new sales item. It's the two days you should do whatever it takes to double your daily e-commerce income. Not to say you can slack off the other days.... it's just important to know when the customers are out there. Your logs might indicate that you have higher traffic on other days, but generally speaking, Saturdays and Wednesdays are prime.

10. Twenty percent of Americans admit to buying products they learned about in E-Mail
Proper email marketing works. If you have the users permission to send them a commercially based email, and that email arrives in their inbox on a Wednesday or Saturday, with an attention grabbing headline followed by a well written blurb that doesn't confuse them, yet tells them exactly what to do - chances are high that you'll see a good return on that email.

Some time last year, an associate and I decided to publish a sales report. This report was the result of several months worth of work, and could have been considered a little edgy by some. Our e-mail blast went out on a Friday night, so that it would be sitting in peoples in-boxes on Saturday. The initial email was written quite well, and was a very honest, memorable, clear, and direct message. Sales of our report started Friday night. They did not end until six weeks later. In fact, I can ammend that date, as just two weeks ago we got another request for the report. Seems someone just got around to opening that email.

So, the 10 Keys to E-Commerce Success: Make it Direct. Make it Simple.Make it Grab their attention. Make it Memorable. Make it Meaningful. Make it Relative. Make is Easy. Make it Clear. Make it Timely. Make it Convenient. The one thing they all have in common: You have to make it.

For MLMEruption.com, this is Phil Foster - The Trusted Voice of MLM.

http://www.mlmeruption.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phil_Foster

Starting an Ecommerce Business

The development and expansion of the Internet has made business opportunities, once only available to the wealthy, available to nearly everyone. In the past, opening a business was a huge commitment in terms of finances and risk. Traditional business owners had to quit the their current jobs, obtain bank financing, and sign leases before they even made a penny. It’s easy to see why 95% of them failed within five years. Today, business opportunities are available to anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn about the world of e-commerce. Best of all, you can start an e-commerce business with minimal funds and very little risk. This guide will take you though the steps necessary to start your own e-commerce business.

Find Your Niche

The first step to creating your own e-commerce business is to find you niche. Examine your hobbies and interests for potential business ideas. If you love soccer, consider selling soccer supplies or team uniforms online. You may also consider opening a business that is similar to your current job. For example, as a nurse you may know a lot about medical supplies and how hospitals obtain them. You could start a medical supply business. Your contacts and industry knowledge could give you an advantage over a competitor who does not know the inner-workings of hospitals the way you do.

Research The Demand

Now that you have a few business ideas, it’s time to research the demand for your products or services. If you plan to sell to the general public, you’ll want to find out how many people are looking for your products or services. As a small business owner, you will not have the marketing funds to create a demand for a product. The products you sell, must already be in demand. A great way to determine product demand is to see how many people are searching for a specific product. Overture has a wonderful keyword tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) that displays the number of searches for specific keywords. It will give you a good idea of which products are popular and the specific keywords you should target when building your website.

Scope Out Your Soon-To-Be Competitors

Before settling on a business idea, scope out your would-be competitors. Visit their websites and compare the following:

· Professional Look & Feel

· Products and Services

· Search Engine Ranking

· Page Rank (Available on the Google Tool Bar)

· Keywords

· Back Links (how many sites link to them).

You’ll need to know your competitor’s websites inside and out. Spend some time exploring each one. This will give you an idea of what you’re up against. Keep in mind, that your website will need to be equally as professional or better than theirs. Don’t worry if you don’t think you have the technical skills necessary to create a professional website. The use of professional website templates will be explained later.

While you’re researching your competitors, check to see if the products you intend to sell are sold at large department stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon.com. It is very difficult for a small business to compete with these large companies because the profit margins are extremely low. You’ll need to sell products that are in demand, but aren’t sold by corporate giants.

Establish A Business Entity

In order to conduct business, you need to establish a business entity. Fortunately this can be as easy as filing a “Doing Business As” or “Fictitious Name” form with your local County Clerk’s office to become a sole proprietor. When you arrive at the County Clerk’s office, they will check their records to make sure your intended business name is not already in use. If it’s available, you will need to complete the appropriate forms and pay your filing fee. Each state has different requirements. Check with your state for requirements on becoming a sole proprietor.

You will also need a sales tax id. You will need to charge sales taxes in the state where your business resides. Contact your county office for details about sales tax ID’s and any other requirements they may have.

Open A Business Bank Account

Now that you are a legitimate business owner, it’s time to open a business bank account. Take your court documents to the bank and open a business checking account. Most banks offer a variety of business accounts. Choose the one the best meets your needs. It’s usually best to start with their least expensive account because it could be a while before you start earning revenue. You can always upgrade in the future.

Some banks require a business owner to wait specified amount of time, usually 90 days, after the court documents are filed before opening a business bank account. These rules are in place to help prevent fraud. Check with your bank to obtain waiting period information.

Choose A Domain Name

While you wait to open a bank account, you can start building your website. First, register a domain name. Names that end in “.com” are best. If possible your, domain name should include one or more of your target keywords. For example, if you are creating a yoga supply business, you’ll want to choose a name with the word yoga, such as yogacenter.com, yoga-supply.com, or yogastuff.com.

Create Your Website

One of the keys to successful e-commerce businesses is a professional website. Your website is the first and often the only impression your visitors will have of your business. A professional website can be the difference between your visitors viewing you as a home-based business operating out of your garage and a multi-million dollar business with hundreds of employees. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a web programmer to create a professional website. There are companies that sell professional website templates. You can get website templates for free, but it’s much better to pay for a highly professional template. To find these templates, simply search for “website templates”. You should expect to pay $50 – $150 for a good template with multiple pages and professional images.

Most website templates can be customized with common HTML editors and a simple graphics program. Templates can be edited without having to invest a lot of time and energy into learning how to code web pages.

You’ll want your website content to target specific keywords. This can be achieved by creating articles, product reviews, product comparisons and detailed description of your products. Avoid repeating the keywords so often that the text becomes difficult to read. There is a fine line between good copy text and spam text. Spam text is designed to increase your site’s listing in the search engines, but often backfires when penalties are issued and your website is dropped from the listing.

Host Your Website

Now that your website has been created, it’s time to find a company to host your website on their servers. You should be able to find a good hosting company for around $10 per month. This fee should include technical support and email accounts with your domain name. Domain name-specific email accounts are important for a professional image.

Your website files can be uploaded with a simple FTP program. The hosting company’s technical support personnel can walk you through the steps to upload your files and launch your website.

Implement A Shopping Cart

No e-commerce website is complete without a secure shopping cart. There are many shopping cart options. Many e-commerce business owners make the mistake of using Pay Pal to accept payments, which immediately tells visitors that their company is very small and not professional.

A good alternative to Pay Pal is a remotely hosted shopping cart. Remote shopping carts take the burden of maintaining security and credit card numbers off your shoulder and places the responsibility on another company. Remote shopping carts can usually be configured to look similar to your website. In fact, your customers may not realize that they have left your website to place an order. The remote shopping cart provider will give you the HTML to add to your website. When your potential customer clicks on the Buy Now button, he or she is taken to the remote shopping cart to enter the personal information and payment details.

Depending on your choice of a shopping cart, you may or may not need a merchant account to process transactions. Some shopping cart services allow you to use their merchant accounts for a slightly higher fee.

Stock Your Inventory

Now that your website has been created, it’s time to stock your inventory. The first step is to find the manufacturers of the products you wish to sell. You can find this information by reviewing your competitor’s websites. Some of them may list the manufacturer with the product name or description. Once you have the name, you can search for the manufacturer online.

Contact the manufacturer and tell them that you are interested in becoming a distributor. Ask for a wholesale price list and an application. The price list will help you determine if the profit margins are high enough to justify selling their product.

You’ll want to ask the manufacturer the following questions:

· What is the MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) for the item?

· Am I required to sell the item at MSRP?

· What is your minimum order quantity/amount?

Some manufacturers will not sell to e-commerce businesses that do not have a brick and mortar retail location. If this is the case, you’ll simply have to find a company that manufactures a similar product and is willing to sell to an e-commerce business.

Promote Your Business

Now that your website is live and you’re open for business, it’s time to promote your website. If no one knows that it exists, you will not receive any sales. Most website visitors originate from search engines. Before search engines can list your website, they have to know that it exists. You’ll need to submit your website to search engines and directories such as Yahoo!, DMOZ, Excite, and others. Search engine submission programs and services are available, but they not effective. Most good search engines require websites to be manually submitted. They enforce this by displaying an image with a series of letters or numbers that automated programs cannot read. The code embedded in the image is required to submit your website.

Search engine algorithms are extremely complex. The ranking of a website in their search results depends on a number of factors, including keywords, density, back links, page rank, and other factors. After submitting your website to the major directories and search engines, the next step is to establish back links. When search engines crawl the web and find a link to your site, they count the link as a vote for your site. The more votes you have, the higher your site will rank (assuming other criteria has also been met). You can acquire back links by sending emails to other website owners and offering to exchange links. It’s very difficult for new websites to acquire back links. Most people prefer to exchange links with established websites. In a way, it’s a catch-22, but it can be done and the results are worth it.

Starting your own e-commerce business is a lot of work. Making it successful is even more work, but the pay-offs can be rewarding. Thanks to the explosion of the Internet age, e-commerce business opportunities are now available to anyone with a computer, a few hundred dollars for start-up costs, some spare time and the desire to create a business.

Copyright 2004 ZIP Baby. All Rights Reserved.

About The Author

Danna Henderson started ZIP Baby in order to provide parents with comprehensive potty training information as well as a large selection of potty training products. For more information about potty training, or to browse the potty training store, visit the Toilet Time Targets for Potty Training.

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