Before hanging up your online shingle, first decide what type of small Internet business you want to start. Will it be a manufacturing, retail or service business? What type of product will you sell? A service business will mostly require communication with customers and the delivery of digital information, whereas a product-based business will involve shipping physical items. You can also buy an Internet business that is already in existence and take over operations.
Step 1
Decide how your business will be organized: it can be a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation (General, Close Corp, LLC, S Corp or C Corp). As a general rule, if you will be running the business on your own and don't mind taking responsibility for issues that may come up, a sole proprietorship will work. If this is a business run by you and another person (other than your spouse), then you may want to choose a partnership. If you want to protect your personal assets, organize your business as a corporation.
Step 2
Decide on the name of your online business. Once you narrow it down to three choices, do an Internet search on your state's corporation bureau website under "Fictitious Business Names" and also check the U.S. Patent and Trademark office (see Resources for link) to see if anyone else has chosen this name.
Once you've decided on a business name, you should pick a domain name for your Internet business. The domain name does not have to be the same as your business name, but it should project the purpose of your business to prospective web customers. Go to Whois (see Resources) to see if your desired domain name is available. If it is, purchase it immediately and get a web hosting account to go with it.
Step 3
File paperwork with your state's corporation bureau to become an official business. You can usually complete this process online at your state's website.
Step 4
Sign up for a business checking account, a PayPal account and an Employee Identification Number (see Resources). You will need all of these to get paid.
Step 5
Make arrangements with a distributor that carries the goods you want to sell to either ship your products directly to customers, or to ship products to your location so that you can handle personal shipments. If you are starting a service business, start hiring the people you need to provide this service on an ongoing basis.
Step 6
Hire a few people to help you establish your small business on the Internet with a website. Hire a web designer and programmer (sometimes the same person), a writer that specializes in the type of web copy you need and a web hosting company that has gotten good reviews on CNET. If you want a basic site, just go with a web designer who knows HTML. If you want a more complicated site, you need a web programmer who is well versed in C+, PHP, ASP, Flash and other programs used specifically for website development. Your web writer should know something about SEO techniques, which involve placing carefully chosen keywords throughout your site. Hire a search engine marketing company to help your site draw in traffic by optimizing your web pages or investigate pay per click advertising on Yahoo! And Google. Set up an email newsletter to keep your customers notified about your business offerings.
Skill: Moderate
Ingredients:
- Web hosting service
- Business plan
- Newsletter service
Tip: If you're starting a small online service business hire independent contractors rather than full-time employees as an Internet business takes some time to get off the ground.
Write a short business plan and detailed marketing plan for your new small business so that you have focused goals.
Check your site for errors on an ongoing basis once it is live (meaning up and running).
Warning: Don't expect your site to make millions, or even thousands, in the first few years. Many small businesses take as much as 3 years to turn a profit.
Keyword: start a small business on the internet, how to start a business, small internet business
