Netalot

In the previous posts we have looked at the vorious aspects of starting an online business. If you are going to use your blog as a small business, even if it is a tiny business, then treat it as a business. Consider what you would do if you started a small business in the offline world, that is the ‘real’ world.

What would you do to start off with? You would think of a name for your business. Good start. In the case of starting something on the Internet, your name is going to be totally dependent on what domain name you can buy.

Your domain name is your identity and it is your address at the same time. It acts like a post box or postal address. That’s where traffic will go to. When deciding on a name, only go with the name if you can get the domain name as well.

Furthermore, what is also important is to consider which domain extension you can get. It’s always advisable to go for a .com address. Of course if you live outside the USA and Europe you might consider your own country’s domain extension.

In general though, if you wish to grow your Internet business you should look to the USA and Europe as your primary markets. For this to work you may need to forego your country domain extension. If you live in Benin for instance don’t use bj. Try and get a .com domain name.

Then you will need to decide on what kind of hosting you want to go for. Of course the free Blogger or WordPress option looks very attractive. Free is always good. However, hosting and domain buying is so cheap now, it is really worth paying those few dollars a month or a year to get your own set up. It just makes you look more serious and credible. Besides that the search engines prefer it.

You have your name and your hosting sorted out. That’s your basic start up work. Your name is close to the niche you want to write and do business in. Your domain name, or web address, is an easy to remember word or set of words and you managed to get the .com extension.

Many people recommend that you get yourself a Google mail, or Gmail, account for your business. Do this before your next step which is to open a PayPal account. Setting up your payment and money receiving account could be considered to be a little premature.

It’s a good idea to prepare your financial processes right at the beginning. Besides your PayPal account do find yourself a friendly accountant and get some initial advice on how to deal with tax issues that you might face in the country you live in.

It might seem a little early to already count your dollars before they arrive. However, putting these processes in place is not going to cost you a lot of money and you might end up being very thankful that you spent the time to set up your little business properly.

In the offline world, if you were to start a business, you would have considered how you would set up the financial side of the business. The online world is no different.