How To Start and Market a Profitable Online Business (Part 2)
In case you missed it we are in a series right now talking about how to start and market a profitable online business using the knowledge and experience you already have. If you haven’t, I would encourage you to go back and read the first post in the series which talks about the three type of experts and where you fall in that arena.
People are realizing that they are experts and that they can help many people with what they know. Some Examples:
Cover for my new book
Dan Black is an expert on leadership.
Josh Hinds is an expert on motivation.
Derek Halpern is an expert on marketing.
Kent Julian is an expert on public speaking.
Amanda Hocking is an expert on Self-Publishing.
I can’t tell you if all of these people went to school or had special training for these fields but I know that I go to them to learn about their topics. I also spend money to get more training from them, it’s my goal at least one time this year to go to Kent Julian’s “Speak It Forward Boot Camp“.
Just through your life experience of the things you know and are passionate about, you can and should share that knowledge and build a business from it. This business can give you a life of freedom to do the things that are important to you and value from helping others.
So now I want to move on and give you what you’ve been waiting for, the how to of all of this. I want to warn you upfront that I’m not a technical person at all, I have learned a lot of things along the way but I still defer to the experts when it comes to the harder stuff. Having said that our technology today makes it easy for even the non technical person like myself.
You have to start a website
You can’t have an online business without a website, right? I know that there are many options out there and certain people prefer certain things but I always recommend you start your website through WordPress. You can go to WordPress.com and have a website functioning in minutes.
WordPress just gives you so many options, widgets, and plugins and a lot of them are FREE. WordPress is an open source project which means people from all over the world contribute to making it function and prosper.
I had the honor this year to speak at nine WordCamp conferences which are all about WordPress and the many things you can do with it. Having been there and interacted with WordPress lovers worldwide, I see that this goes beyond a simple website structure. This is a community of people who are dedicated to so much more.
In WordPress you can choose a hosted or self-hosted option. Self-hosted is more for the person who has some technical expertise or someone who can hire someone to design their site.
Even though it’s more technical, anyone can learn. Michael Hyatt even has a video on how to set up a self-hosted WordPress website in 20 minutes, it’s good and I recommend you watch it. This website is self-hosted, but my family’s website is not self-hosted and I operate both of them.
I won’t spend anymore time here. You will have to do the research and figure out what’s the best option for you and what best fits your needs. One thing that I do want to say is that with whatever option you choose I highly suggest you buy the domain name for your website. It’s easier for people to remember and makes them more willing to check out your site if they don’t have to type kimanzi.something.com. If you look at any successful online business out there most own the domains.
The basic look of your website
Every website is different because we all have different tastes. My favorite color is blue, so that’s why you see a lot of blue in all that I do. You might hate the color blue but like some other color, my publisher made the cover of my book a certain color because it represented prosperity. (Pictured in this post)
The point isn’t so much what we like but what would appeal to your target audience, you have to do some research. More than the color though, there are a few key things to know and have:
Email subscription box: One of the most important things you need to do for a profitable online business is build your email list. Why? You hear a lot about your social media following and SEO but what happens if you lose a bunch of your following or for some reason your website gets delisted by Google? If you have built up your email list then no matter what happens in the world those people on that list will still get your latest post or you can email them explaining what happened, it always comes. Plus it’s kind of annoying to get emails, so if someone takes the step to sign up then you know they’re really interested and more than likely they’ll buy something of yours one day. You have to make this box front and center, people have to be clear what to do. Side Note: For those of you who want to have a book traditional published the first thing a publisher asks is how big is your email list. One of the best websites to learn the importance of this and learn how to do this right is Social Triggers.
Give away a freebie: In order to get someone to sign up for your email list, give them a free gift. If you subscribe to this blog you get a little manifesto I wrote as a prequel to my second book. I’m also working on a video training series that I’ll be giving away for an email subscription. You can take that knowledge you have and create a mini informational product (ebook, workbooks, audio guide) and upload it to a website that I’ll be telling you about a little later. This will be done and stored digitally and sent out automatically. This will be something that’s running 24/7 while you are doing other things, it’s like the phrase “making your money work for you”.
Popular post: You can install a widget that automatically displays your most popular post on your side bar or at the end of your post, I use this one on my site. You want new visitors to read your best work and that will make them want to sign up or buy more of your work.
Social media links and share buttons: You want people to connect with you outside of your website, it builds valuable relationships, and fosters engagement (wow, I sound like such an expert
. Have those buttons with links to all your social media profiles very visible and encourage people to connect. Mines are right at the top of this website. You also want people to share your content and website so have them very visible in the places you want them to share, ask for that. We’re trying to spread the word here! Again you can use a widget like this one but you have some options for this already in WordPress.Search: People may come to your website for whatever reason but once they’re here they might want to search for a certain topic. You can have a search box, you can have a “tag cloud” (like on my sidebar) or have the different categories on the side bar. The point is to give them options and make it as easy as possible to find what they’re looking for.
Video: Video is HUGE right now, sometimes people would rather watch then read, sometimes they just don’t have the time. I strongly encourage you to get a theme or design that lets you have a video somewhere. If you can’t, it’s easy enough to embed a video in some content. The key here is to give people something worth watching, create high quality videos and you will get massive exposure.
A website can and should have so much more, it has to have your own personal touch. I just wanted to give you some things that you must have to have the best chance for success. On Monday we will dive deeper and talk about getting this online business making money right away.
A Challenge for you:
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If you have been wanting more and thinking about starting something that could support a life of freedom and value, then I want to give you a little extra motivation. Here is the challenge:
You have to take some kind of action this weekend or soon. It could be buying a domain or getting a new website set up. It could be taking an existing website and doing something new specifically to further your dreams. The point is action, that first step forward.
When you do, I want you to share it on my Facebook page. I will then pick a few people and send them a copy of one of the above books from my publisher Sound Wisdom. This will be a little reward but the bigger reward will be you taking steps to change your life!
What has been your experience with your online business? Are you or have you started one? Any questions (even random ones)?
