Starting on a shoe string budget

by Robert Nixon

Is it still possible to start an online business without having 'deep pockets?', or what laymen call ' a shoe string budget'?

Of course it is but one must know that some investment MUST be made to insure a solid foundation for their business to grow upon. One must do their homework and research in order to find the best value, or what is called ROI, return on investment.

I would think that for the people that are entering this as a way to make supplemental income that a budget of one or two hundred dollars a month for the first couple of years hand in hand with a lot of off line work is required.

Your website must be 'hosted' somewhere. Many hosting companies offer promotional services and resources for their subscribers. They also offer programming, templates, and other basic items. Use them.

A promotional campaign

I have found that most people are very good with most of the basic items when starting an on line business but fall short when they get to the promotional campaign, which may be the most important of them all.

One of the best success stories of the 20th century was and is 'Amway'. I am not telling you to become a distributor for them but to look at how they became so successful.

The people that really make it there are those that first: USE WHAT THEY SELL TO SELL WHAT THEY USE.

There is an over abundance of 'marketers and promoters ' touting that the way to riches is simply by getting more marketers and promoters to market and promote. Do Not fall into this trap.

Using one or two cost effective tool type of programs, as I mentioned in my last article, is all you should be interested in for your search engine and your other BASIC traffic producing needs. http://www.cpucash.net/wepet.html

I also have some more listed at: http://www.cpucash.net/freestuff.html

Creating a 'lead capture' page for your product or service should also be very high on your agenda. This is often done by using the 'feedback' type of form with your website being the intro to it or you can create another new page for this. I have a couple of these on my main site page at: http://www.cpucash.net

The best option for those that do not have the expertise to do this is simply to pay for one. Once again, you must do your research before you invest.

The best word of advice I can give is to always use your common sense.

Do not let your desires outweigh your determinations. NEVER spend more than you can afford, but get what you can when you can as soon as you can.

HINTS:

Simply by changing the wording of your 'title' tag can effect your site being included in a search result. By having this reflect the page's content itself and not only your company or domain name is the key

Google has added a 'local' search, that will produce great traffic for your site when you address this.

Word of caution: Keep it short and do not confuse this with your 'description' tag

Go to my site and click on some of the links. Note what the title in your web browser looks like when you go from page to page.

When you have your Alexa toolbar active and you have the Alexa box on your site page, you will notice that on the toolbar you will your ranking change before it does so in the box. This is a good indicator of traffic results.

Robert Nixon http://www.cpucash.net

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