EBusiness Basics

There is a proven sequence of steps you can follow to guarantee your success when you're starting a small business online. I've seen thousands of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following: Find a need and fill it.Write copy that sells.Design and build an easy-to-use website.Use search engines to drive traffic to your site.Establish an expert reputation for yourself.Follow up with your customers and subscribers with e-mail.Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling. Anyone, from newbie to seasoned online entrepreneur, can benefit from this process in learning how to start a business online. Step 1: Find a need and fill it Most people who are just starting out make the mistake of looking for a product first, and a market second. To boost your chances of success, start with a market. Step 2: Write copy that sells Throughout your copy, you need to focus on how your product or service is uniquely able solve people's problems or make their lives better.

DotComPreneur Finding a Product Idea for Your Micro-ISV Summary: Eric describes a series of steps to help find a good product idea for starting a micro-ISV. Jump on the Micro-ISV Bandwagon! In the September edition of this column, I wrote about something I call a "micro-ISV", a software product company with just one person in it. I'm not saying that you're going to see the term "micro-ISV" on the cover of Newsweek anytime soon, but I'm still surprised at the amount of momentum I see. Letters. I get lots of e-mail from micro-ISV "wannabes". Good product ideas are a strange thing. This article is a "how-to" on finding a product idea for a micro-ISV. goal is to help you make this process as systematic as possible. The Algorithm for Finding an Idea Many entrepreneurs search for a product idea using an algorithm that looks something like this: Idea FindGoodProductIdea() { Idea candidateIdea = null; while (true) { candidateIdea = new Idea(); if ( candidateIdea.IsGood() ) { break; } } return candidateIdea; } It's inefficient. Build a List of Ideas

Business Idea Center - Entrepreneur.com Industry Interest Profession Startup Toolkit Once you've found the right idea, these guides can help you get started. Success Stories Get inspired by these entrepreneurs who have taken their idea and made it a success. More Success Stories microISV: a community for independent software developers Small Business Brief / Current News