Ok so you want to start an online business. That’s awesome. But what are you supposed to do??

Of course you’ll need to do all of the annoying paperwork for setting up a business with the government, but we won’t get into that here. What’s next? You have an idea, you have product/service, and you’ve created your company and registered it with the government… but you need something else… A WEBSITE!

Now I realize create a website is a seemingly expensive, frustrating, and time-consuming ordeal. But that’s not true! Sure, you can hire a web developer (like me! email: dabonz413@gmail.com). Although I don’t charge much, if you choose the wrong developer it can cost thousands of dollars! But a start-up online business can’t usually afford that. There’s a better way: WordPress!

WordPress is an online content management system, that anyone can use! It provides a simple, clean, & user-friendly interface for creating your website. There is a learning curve since it’s a new system, but it can be learned and you never have to learn a programming language like HTML.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article, right here on internet-entrepreneurship.com!

I also post weekly here. Check out some of my other articles!

There are many ways to name a new company.

• Use the founder or inventor’s name (Hewlett-Packard)
• Describe what you do (Southwest Airlines)
• Describe an experience or image (Sprint)
• Take a word out of context (Apple)
• Make up a word (Google)

But, what should you be thinking about when deciding on a name?  The name of the business is crucial to its success.  It is what your customers will search online to find the company.  All other forms of advertising will be wasted if customers can’t find your website on Google.  One key aspect of naming that entrepreneurs often overlook is how the customers will find the business.  Most business schools will teach entrepreneurs to focus on how the name will influence the thoughts of the target market.  The only problem with this method is that they have to find the company before their perceptions can be changed.

Let’s look at how to make a good searchable business name.

Step 1:  Eliminate names that have similar abbreviations to well-known companies or organizations

What will people find online if they search my business name or an abbreviation of it?  Indigo Business Management Co. sounds like a great business name, right?  What do you find when you Google its abbreviation?  The trick for this step is to have a business name that won’t have to compete against an SEO giant when shortened.

Step 2:  Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find relevant words that have high search numbers with as little competition as possible.

The goal here is to find terms that people are searching but that few companies use.  Make a list of words that are relevant to your business.  Take out the ones that violate the first step.  Then use the Keyword Tool to narrow your list to the terms that are winnable.

Step 3:  Take your filtered & strained alphabet soup and brainstorm business names

After you have finished steps 1 and 2 you can continue with conventional business naming wisdom.  Your future SEO work will be much easier.  Now, people will be able to find your company website after they see your commercial on TV.  The IBM will have to do their own advertising.

If you have an online business then you probably have some form of customer support.  Often this appears as a “Contact Us” tab on the menu of your website.  From your experience as a customer, can you honestly say that you have ever been happy with a standard web form?  When you are trying to resolve an issue you usually want to talk to someone from the company that is courteous and really knows the product.

Traditional human tech support associates can be very unreliable and expensive.  There’s the lease on the building, salaries and training costs.  All of this might add up to several hundred thousand dollars and humans can be very unreliable.  What if there was a computer generated AI that could listen to customer questions and answer intelligently?

Sydney based MyCyberTwin is a company that attempts to fill the online customer service niche.  Their CGI customer service representative will answer almost any question quickly and intuitively.  The good news is that any company can afford this technology.  Prices range from $25/month to $15,000/month + a $300,000 startup fee for the super customized version.  You can ask her questions just as you would ask a human.  When you ask her “Do you have Twitter?” she will respond with the companies Twitter ID.

Unfortunately, as a technology professor at Grove City College says, computers are idiots.  They only do as their programming tells them.  They can’t improvise very well when faced with an unexpected question.  When this Virtual Human was asked “If I ordered a pair of shoes now, when do you think I can get them shipped to me?” she replied, “Things often look more complete when they are in a pair, less lonely perhaps. Would you agree?”.  Artificial Intelligence still has a long way to go before good old fashioned humans are obsolete.

Picking a theme for your website can be big deciding factor on whether your company takes off or miserably fails. I know it sounds harsh, but giving your website the right scent can attract or offend visitors. Giving your website the right scent can be simple.

It’s all about finding the theme/color scheme that goes along with your company’s niche. For example, a child care center’s website should be bright and full of warm colors. Having a black background with red text would scare parents away.

Another thing to think about is logo a brand recognition. Target’s website is a great example of this. All of the menu and side bars on the site are red, matching the bullseye logo. People walking by that glance at your screen will instantly know what site your just from the color scheme. This is huge for the corporation.

So, when choosing your background take into account the advice I gave you. Have someone imagine and describe to you what a website would look just given a company’s name and description. This can be a great way to see what the interests are of the demographic looking at your site.

On March 11, 2011, Japan was rocked by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0. The quake created several massive tsunamis that destroyed a large amount of Japan’s coastline. The pictures look surreal. It’s hard to believe they’re real.

The amazing thing about the whole situation is how the news has reached the world. Millions have read articles and seen pictures of the devastation. But thats not all thats available on the internet. Videos off the earthquake and the tsunamis are all over the web. Google Earth created an animation showing the locations of the quakes and the waves. Areas are marked off as to where there are dangerous levels of radiation.

One of the most important features on the web is the people finder. Anyone that is rescued or is in a shelter is registered online, and relatives/friends can search to see if they made it and find out their location.

Once again, the internet shows to the world what an amazing tool it is. Click on the link below to see more pictures of Japan.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japan-earthquake-the-struggle-to-recover/100026/

Keywords: they can make or break your site. Having accurate keywords can generate large mounts of traffic to your site. The way to find the best keywords is following these simple steps:

• First, get a full understanding of the site you are building or tuning up. Finding relevant keywords is crucial.
• Use programs such as Google’s Keyword Tool to find out the most searched keywords relevant to your site.
• Relevancy: very important!! Relevancy tests can be conducted very similar by having an unbiased panel look the specified website, and coming up with a description and a list of keywords. If their results match up with yours, then you are accurately categorizing the site.
• Also, look at your site analytics. They can help you determine what keywords and links are generating the most traffic to your site
• One more piece of advice is to check out the competition. Type in the keywords you are using for your site into Google and see what other sites come up. Check out those sites and see what they don’t have that your site does. Take advantage of this and add keywords or site descriptions that would attract people looking for that piece that other sites are missing.

I’m not an expert yet, but following the steps above will greatly benefit your website and your business.

5 ways to make money on eBay…

1. Choose wisely – You don’t need to know anything about antiques and collectibles to fulfill Collier’s requirements. One idea is to look for items unique to your region and sell them at a discount.

2. Keep your costs low - Nothing eats into your profits faster than high overhead expenses. That’s why experts agree that you should start off your eBay business by hawking stuff that you already own.

3. Perfect your title - If you do nothing else, make sure the title on your listing gets straight to the point.

4. Build trust - Gaining the trust of the eBay community is one of the biggest hurdles new sellers face. It’s critical for you to generate a high positive feedback score or else other users won’t even touch your auction.

5. Grab eyeballs – eBay is a numbers game. The more people who bid on your item, the higher the price it sells for. That means boosting the number of eyeballs that see your listing is crucial.