eCommerce Tycoon

Originally Posted by Feydakin

Starting an online business is no different than starting another other business.. It's still a business.. So the very first thing you need to decide is, do you want to open, run, manage, and support, a business?? No matter what the books, or anyone else, says, to be truly self sufficient and earn enough to make a living it will take a lot of work..

Second, you need to pick something that you feel passionate about, or fills an unmet need.. Is your idea original?? Can you get it to market and stake out your territory before other people come flooding in and follow your example?? Or, is this something that you feel incredibly passionate about and would be willing to work hours on end for little or no pay just because you love it?? Or are you incredibly fortunate and have both of these things in the same model??

If the answer to all of this is, I still want to do this, then you need to research what you 'want' to do and find out what it will 'take' to do it right.. There are as many hosting and design options out there as there are ideas.. Starting down the wrong path and having to scrap it and start over will cost you time and money.. Do you have a plan?? Do you have a list of requirements for your website??

Then, do you want to 'do it yourself' or contract the work out?? If DIY, do you have the time and skill to learn what you need?? If you are going to contract it out, do you have the money to make it work??

As with any business, you must have a plan.. An idea is great, but an idea won't feed you.. A plan will.. Don't get in a rush to 'go live', take your time, do the research, make the plan.. Then go in to business for yourself..

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Lots and lots of things.

read the pinned thread in this forum http://www.webmaster-talk.com/ecomme...-business.html

Originally Posted by tomm123

Can I run the site by myself?

Originally Posted by tomm123

Good article. However, that is not what I am asking. I do not have any hands on skills with running websites. I do not build websites or have alot of computer technical skills. I need you to tell me technically the things I will need to know how to do in order to run a website. If you run an online business tell me everything you do everyday step by step.

Originally Posted by tomm123

Or will I need others help?

Originally Posted by witnesstheday

If you take the easy path, you'll only get to where lazy people are!



Ah, well in order to run a website you need:
to know how build websites and to have a lot of computer technical skills


I think you may be better off considering a different business, not on the internet, until you have had time to learn enough about the internet. It's wrong to write off the non-internet-business world as pointless. And for someone with no technical abilities you are much safer there. People like me, with decades experience, will blow you out the water and take your customers away! I mean that kindly. COMPETITION is fierce out here. If you don't have the know-how, you may as well go swimming in shark infested waters and make sure you cut yourself before hand so that you trail blood in the water!

Originally Posted by shopztar

Starting an online business isn't half as hard as it sounds. The first step that I think is crucial is making your first dollar any way you can on the internet so that you completely believe that it is possible to make money online.

There are many ways to go about making money online such as eBay, Affiliate Marketing, Amazon, Click Bank, etc. If you're interested in learning how to make money online then check out my article on squidoo.com.

<self promo link drop removed >

Let me know if it is helpful

Originally Posted by chrishirst

And how do you know that when you apparently have no idea how to run an online business?

Originally Posted by tomm123

No, I do not need to know how to build a website. I can pay someone to do that. I read a book about running an online business but have no hands on experience running an online business YET. Don't you get it? I am not worried about you at all because your not selling what I am selling. And if you were up against me you would lose.

Originally Posted by spyderwebtech

That is a pretty bold statement... especially for a noob.

Anyone can spend a few thousand dollars and have a site built with awesome features, and the latest technologies throw into every page. But at the end of the day, if people don't know about your site and don't find your site has a lot of value then you dead in the water.

The basic idea that you need to realize is "You don't know what you don't know"!

Many of us on this forum have experimented with a lot of different profit models (i.e. contextual ads, affiliate programs, building lists, membership fees, e-products, services, etc) and have made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot from them.

And now you want to take the easy way out and just suck our hard earned and sometime expensive "education" out for free... Grow up... Your education starts now, and it is going to cost you either some money or some sweat equity.

So either learn how to create websites, learn the available api's out there, learn SEO, and everything else you need to make your site successful, or at the very least educate yourself so you can sound intelligent when you hire people to do it. We all have better things to do then explain what an API is to you and how to use them.

Understand the profit model that you want to use and use conservative traffic estimates and conversion rates. Then get out there and figure this stuff out... after all business is business.