Starting an Online Business

I hope you read – “You Can Work From Home” before continuing on this page.

Let’s get to it… Starting an online business…

There are different ways to earn money online – freelancing, starting an e-commerce site, creating applications and tools – the list is endless.

The smartest and easiest point of entry into online business is without question – a Blog.

VishandAsia.com is a blog. Most sites nowadays are blogs. Unless a site is really old, custom scripted or built for a specialized purpose – 9 times out of 10 it’s some form of blog.

I’m going to explain how the money and profit comes into play in a moment. First I want to quickly explain how easy it is to setup a blog and get started online.

5 Steps to Starting an Online Business!

I go into a lot more detail in my Free ABR Ebook.

1. Figure out which industry, topic – or niche you would like to create your blog around. Are out passionate about this? Are you an expert? Do you want to learn more about a specific area of interest and share your experiences? Figure out your Niche. Remember – loving something doesn’t guarantee profits. You must target a niche or topic that has profit potential. This is done with smart keyword research.

2. Finalize a domain name for your blog. This is the name people type into the browser when surfing to access your blog. Example – YouSiteName.com – don’t wait to buy your first domain name cause it’s the first step in building your business. You’ll also need a domain for the next step.

3. Get a hosting account – we use and always recommend HostGator. Use the special coupon below to save. Hook up the Baby Plan which allows unlimited domains. This is where you setup your blog and go live. It’s REALLY easy! All it takes is a few clicks to get your domain name and blog up and running. I provide complete step-by-step setup on page 38 in ABR.

HostGator Coupon – “VishandAsia” – get 25% off!

4. Once you’re site is live you can start fine tuning. You can use a custom theme which is a design template. I recommend you use Thesis – it’s awesome and provides many side benefits. Activating a new Theme takes seconds. Then, you can spend as much or as little time you like getting your blog ready for prime time. The out-of-box design for any good theme, including Thesis is good enough to get started. Don’t waste too much time with design as you can keep working on that as you grow your content and target audience.

5. Fill your blog with content. Nobody’s going to visit an empty blog that has nothing to offer but good looks! Write your own or outsource content creation. It’s entirely up to you. The key with content is making sure its niche specific, quality and valuable to your readers. If you’ve build a blog about “teak furniture” – you better have some amazing relative articles, inspirations, even a guide on how to maintain and clean teak. Provide value, benefits and skip the fluff.

At first, it will take you a little time to get the hang of things. Don’t worry – you’ll learn the ropes very quickly. An experienced online marketer (like yours truly – ahem!) can have a new site – from niche selection to a few pages of content – live in less time than watching a film by Quentin Tarantino.

You’ll have your first blog online in less than a day if you follow the 5 easy steps above! Of course you have to follow that up with marketing and money-making. It’s amazing how many people don’t get past the 5 setup steps. Don’t worry about making everything perfect! Get your first blog up and running. This will be the foundation from which everything else happens.

3 Major Players in Online Business Profits

Content is the furniture in the house you build. Then there’s the traffic – which is the number of people that visit and surf your blog. Then there’s monetization – making cold hard cash with your traffic.

Your online business always relies on three major players:

1. Content
2. Traffic
3. Monetization

These three components are the basis for the “Trinity System Blueprint” in ABR. I extensively walk you through all three. If you STILL haven’t downloaded your copy – get it immediately.

Build a site with quality content. Then promote the site using SEO (search engine optimization) and other forms of online marketing. Slowly but surely, you’ll build an audience of targeted readers. The more hits to your site the better.

You’ll generate cash by monetizing your blog. This is done in different ways – selling advertising, selling your own products, selling other peoples products. Once you have targeted traffic, monetization options just open up.

Asia and I currently have more than 107 blogs and sites in 25 different niches. Some are authority and others are smaller targeted niche sites. We monetize in various ways using Affiliates Offers, AdSense, Advertising Sales and more… Once you build traffic, there’s no limit to the ways you can profit.

Here are 2 online strategies that work:

1. Authority Blog

An authority blog is typically content rich and established in a specific industry. Mostly based on a topic you’re genuinely passionate about or have personal interest in. This is the system covered in ABR. The topic should be researched and profitable. Search volume is substantial and depending on the niche, so is the competition. The goal is to build the site with killer content and grow an audience that values your information. You would build this into an online authority in your industry. This will result in long term profit stability, loyal customers and unlimited profit potential. I always recommend opening up one of these right of way to start with long term in mind. Get one of these in your arsenal immediately. Then continue with smaller niches sites that fall into #2…

Ex: FOKaL.com and HalleBalleDog.com are Authority Blogs.

2. Sniper Niche Blog

A sniper niche blog is a term I use for a very small blog – usually with a few pages of content. These are smaller niche sites built around targeted and very well researched long tail keywords. Using SEO (search engine optimization) strategies, you can quickly rank and monetize these blogs using AdSense, Clickbank and other forms of Affiliate marketing. The keywords are less competitive but have smaller search volume – which means low to modest profits at first. There’s also a hit and miss aspect to this model – but you can get better with time as you improve your keyword targeting. This can also lead to unlimited profits depending on how well you scale your business. A well ranked sniper blog can also become an authority blog over time.

Ex: DogGuardsforCars.net and QuickPropertySaleAdvice.com are what I like to call Sniper Niche Blogs.

Are you Ready to get Started?

I always recommend students start with ONE Authority Blog focused around a subject they love (or know something about) with long term expectations and goals. I also recommend adding on a few (3-5) Sniper Niche Blogs to get a taste for SEO and profit possibilities. This combination allows for accelerated learning, great pacing and exciting results. All this can be done under ONE hosting account.

Once you start seeing a few dollars – you can keep mixing it up! The fundamentals of blog creation, online marketing and making money are universal. Once you start your online business, you’ll keep discovering how to increase profits.

If you like our articles and would like learn more, sign up for Free V&A updates. We’ll send you a full copy of the “Authority Blog Revenue” eBook. It’s jam-packed with information. ABR will provide answers to most of the questions buzzing around in your head…

We’ll also email you our Free 7-Day Automatic Blog Startup Training and 3-Day SEO Crash Course along with other goodies…

Thanks for reading and Much Success!
- Vish