But – let me just say establishing an internet business is a SLOW process – BUT IT IS DO-ABLE! Like any business – offline or online – the amount of HARD work you put in NOW – will be balanced with the money you make later on. There are two main points of Creating a Webpage:

• Get Your Domain Name
• Choose A Web Host

Getting your domain name is the first thing you need to think about getting. The domain name – is the address of your website. Most domain names – have an average cost of $10 to a domain registration company such as Go Daddy. Be aware that this does not YET get you your website – just the name. The companies that register the domain names – are called registrars. Geographically – it is more commonly used to choose a registrar in your country.

Choosing a Web Host – or also known a Host Company – is the second thing you need to get in creating a webpage. What is a hosting company?

Basically, a hosting company is a company that connects your website to the world web!~

Going back to the aspect of domain buying – you will most likely be offered hosting as well for your website. Prices vary for exactly – how long one would like hosting for their website. The most common price for hosting per month is around $10-$15.

Once you have your domain and web-hosting up and running – you will be ready to begin your creation journey!~

Get your FREE – SIMPLE beginners guide to creating a webpage – in non ‘techie’ language – Click DanielsGuide Now!~

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You’ve seen MySpace, you’ve heard of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and all the other ones. What do these websites share? They are very popular social networks. Would you like to give it a shot also? In that case, this article will point you in the correct direction.

What do you want to achieve by building a social networking website?

Think about this thoroughly. It is crucial that you comprehend your ambitions early on so you can avoid getting frustrated later. There are usually a couple of options:

- you are starting a social networking site for a real physical community you are a member of (e.g. your local soccerclub), with no financial ambitions.

- you are starting a niche community website for a group of people that you are perhaps a member of (or maybe not) with financial ambitions (you want to make some cash)

- you want to start a huge site, like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, with obvious financial ambitions.

Your ambitions and where you stands towards the community you are building a website for will determine your approach. In the following part, we will go over at the various options and the typical costs you can expect.

Starting a website for a a real physical community you are a member of

This is by far the most simple one, as a big chunk of the marketing will simply be word of mouth in your community. It’s sufficient to have a person with some influence in the community promote the website (perhaps yourself) and the rest of the group will join.

To start from zero, as with any social network website project, you’ll have to think about the needs of the community. Lets take an example. If you are starting a site for a soccerclub, the website will need things like groups, fan profiles, sharing of photos, event management calendar, etc.

Social networking sites are always built with the same basic principle: the goal it to provide online sharing and organisation tools for the members of the community. If you are starting a website for an existing community of which you are a part of, you should have a pretty good idea of what the people need.

Make a list of the functionalities you need, and compare this list to the features of social networking software packages like boonex, phpfox or Dzoic. These are complete out of the box social networking website scripts that you can upload on your website. If this seems complicated to you, you can often get help from the technicians at the customer service. If the service doesn’t include this, take a look at the many freelancers available on elance.com for example. The average cost of such software is around 350$.

That might look like a lot of money, but the advantage is that you fully own the site and that you have complete control. You won’t have any branding issues (your own logo and design will be on the website) either. If you are building a website for a community which really doesn’t require all of this, you can do it a lot cheaper by creating a network at Ning. This is a website that permits people to create social networks on their hosting platform. A basic social network can be started for free.

Remember that when you choose this option, you will be completely dependent on Ning. The name of your website will include Ning, the layout will have Ning all over it, and changing any of this will cost money. You’ll have very limited control over your network: it is hosted by Ning, implying that if Ning goes belly-up – so does your site.

So think about this thoroughly, check out Ning and check out some of the out of the box social networking software scripts if you want something more robust and reliable.

Starting a niche social networking site with financial ambitions

Excellent move! You have recognized that there is a huge stack of money out there waiting to be picked up. Niche social networking websites have been around since the dawn of the inet (remember yahoo groups? mIRC)? The difference is the fantastic technology we all have available now.

Facebook is excellent for superficial networking. LinkedIn is great for professional contacts. These sites however do not permit the users to be anonymous (that would be completely besides the point of these sites), implying that members can rarely express themselves fully. And there comes the need for niche networks where members can meet & share all they want without their real-life social networks ever finding out!

There are quite a few methods you can use to make this profitable. There is the obvious way of using AdSense on the networks, or affiliate links. There is off course is the huge e-mailing list you could acquire from having your own niche site. Put all this together, and a popular social network you own could be your new personal piggybank.

If this sounds exiting to you, you’ll need to thoroughly think about the following:

What does the community require?

Again, this is the basis for any successful social networking project. Go deep! Here is an example. If you are building a social network for people with insomnia problems, you could have the “what are you doing now” feature of most profiles customized to: “how many hours awake”.

Having nifty things like this will greatly enhance member experience. The members will feel like they are part of a community tailored to them, rather than being on a community website with features they don’t need.

You’ll have already understood that Ning is not an option here. You need full control over the website. If your budget is limited (e.g. below 500$), you’ll have to find a social networking script that meets your needs as much as possible to limit the cost of customization afterwards. These software packages are usually open source, implying that you can change whatever you desire. This means that if you do not have developing skills, you are going to need a developer to do it for you. To reduce your costs, get a script that meets your requirements already as much as possible. To find a developer, you can usually refer to the forum of the developers of the site – there are plenty of young programmers out there who are willing to help you out for a very reasonable amount of money. You can also try a freelancing website.

Before starting the site, you’ll have to think about how you will seduce members to join you. If you know people inside the community already, then that is a very good head start. You can speak to them and try to get them on board. You’ll need to hit existing forums, maybe place a Google ad, or write articles (like the one you are reading now), etc.

You want to create the next huge thing like Facebook, MySpace…

Ok, knowing that you have most likely typed something like “how to start a social networking site”, I am going to assume that you are not a developer. This implies that you will not be able to shake a social network out of your sleeve in the next couple of days.

All is not lost however. First of all, get help. Find a group of people who like the idea, and put your minds together. If you can get financing from somewhere, go for it. That’s what you’ll need to start developing a site that does exactly what you want it to do, with security, powerful servers and everything!

If you’ve got a great idea – try applying the same method as for niche networks – but think about getting financing as soon as possible. One you hit a hundred thousand users, your network will grow very quickly and you will pay huge amounts of money for the servers to host all of this!

If you are dreaming about the next big thing, experiment a bit beforehand – create some groups on Facebook and see what it takes to get people to join for example

Conclusion:

- small community websites can be created using Ning
– advanced, robust niche networks can be built using social networking scripts that come out of the box
– ideas for huge networks need financing early on to become a hit

Looking for social networking software to get you started? Below software review site will show you which one to pick:

http://www.TopCommunitySoftware.com

Anyone who designs websites, or uses the internet for making money has learned that the days of static HTML websites are numbered. The key to online presence these days are dynamic sites that are constantly being updated. Google likes fresh content, and more importantly so do your prospective customers.

Luckily, CMS platforms like WordPress make updating a website a breeze. How about setting a WordPress site up though…can this be tricky?

If you can live with some of the out of the box WordPress themes – it is very simple to set up a site. The problem is these themes (even the paid ones) are not really flexible on features and layout. With these normal themes, changing the layout of your site would take some sort of coding knowledge (a combo of HTML and PHP to be exact).

It is one thing to find the time to update a site, but finding the time to learn enough coding to get your site exactly like you want? That is a very daunting task. It took me a couple years of self education to get savvy and quick enough at WordPress customization to be worth it.

Then along came the Headway Theme – this theme is a savior to all online and offline entrepreneurs.

This theme gives you the ability to create your WordPress site using a visual editor. What does this mean? It means that you can create each page of your site by dragging and dropping elements right in your browser.

You want your sidebar on the right instead of the left? Drag it there. You need to add a rotating image gallery – just drag it where you want it and add the pics. Put your navigation on the top of the page, put it under your header, put it on the left of your page…all by dragging and dropping.

The visual editor gives you complete control over your sites colors, fonts and layout and so much more.

Essentially, if you can think of something you want on your WordPress site you can do it easily with Headway. No coding required unless you want to get very advanced. If you are an advanced coder, you will appreciate Headway’s flexibility even more.

The best way to explain this is to use a real world example. On my blog I wanted to have a static area on each page that had an opt in box – I didn’t want it in the sidebar since many of my pages didn’t have a sidebar. In the past I would have had to add the html code for the form into a couple PHP files and then altered the CSS file to make it look good. Not a lot of fun for someone with little coding knowledge.

With Headway I added a HTML box (in headway it is called a Leaf) exactly where I wanted the opt-in on each page and simply copied the opt in form HTML into that box…done. My opt-in rate almost tripled by the end of the week.

Headway also includes a great support forum and a burgeoning development community that assures you Headway will keep getting better and you will be able to find community created hacks and tips that will let you take your site to the very next level.

A lot of people buy WordPress themes, but why pay for a theme you can’t easily customize? Headway allows you to have the site you dreamt of, not the site that someone else envisioned and that anyone can buy and use. Be unique, and stick out from the pack.

I am very happy with Headway and think it is a must for any beginners out there that want to create their own site effectively and easy.

The headway theme is powerful and flexible. It is one of the cornerstones of Wp Biz Engine, an all in one solution for anyone who is interested in making money online or building a brand/customer trust utilizing the power of WordPress.

For more information:
WordPress For Business
http://wpbizengine.com

Make sure to use the sign up from on the left, to get some great free information!

The Internet has evolved into a living breathing multibillion-dollar industry.

Virtually every industry uses the internet as a medium for interacting, building relationships, and sales with their customers.

The good news is starting an internet business has never been easier.

The playing field is now level for both small and large-scale businesses. You can build your own highly profitable business low risk internet from scratch.

Let us debunk some myths about starting your business online:

• You do not have to think too hard, to market your website.
• You do not have to reinvent the wheel.

Here are some secrets to succeeding in starting your online business:

• You can replicate proven principles of direct marketing in starting your business-and succeed
• You can work with business models to systematize your business.

Bottom line is to use proven principles of direct marketing and use business models to systematize your business.

The three proven business models online are

• Agora model
• Waterfront model
• Catalogue model

Let us now talk about…

Catalogue model Website. Catalogue websites are the equivalent of storefronts online. These are mostly e-commerce sites- retail sites. These websites inform visitors and sell goods. You get to see a product review and the product itself on the site. The primary aim of the website is to make sales. A good example of a catalogue site is Amazon.com the online retailer. Most businesses selling physical goods use catalogue sites.

Waterfront website- A waterfront model website has a home page. The home page is tabloid style with lots of interesting tips, items and factoids. In addition, you have a product page. A waterfront website is therefore a combination of a sales page and content page. The key to success in designing waterfront website is to interest the visitors enough to buy. The waterfront model makes the visitors buying decision easier. Best buy.com is an example

I have not used any of the above models for designing my website but they are important especially for retailers.

However if you are starting out you want to know and use…

Agora Model Website

Agora publishing company developed the agora model. The model was developed as an experiment 10 years ago.The business model use the principles of direct response market to leverage business growth.

It proved successful creating a 300 million dollars internet juggernaut in the process. There flagship newsletter, ” the daily reckoning” has a over 500,000 subscribers

There are three aspects to the Agora Business Model:

• Driving traffic to your website
• Capture visitor information
• Follow up with email marketing and make sales.

Let’s look at the 3 aspects of this business model in detail….

The first step in the Agora model is to drive traffic to your website. You can drive traffic to your website by the following:

• Blogging
• Co registration
• Search engines
• Pop- unders
• Contextual advertising
• Affiliate deals
• Editorial mentions
• Solo promotional emails
• Pay per click Ads
• Banner Ads
• Premium for other offers
• Post Cards
• Free Ezines.
• Article marketing

Article marketing, blogging and free e-zines are free means of driving traffic to your website. Most of the other techniques will cost you money. However, you can track and test these channels to see their effectiveness.

The second step in the Agora Model is to capture your website visitor contact information and build your list in the process. You do so by persuading your visitors to sign up to your free ezine. Your free ezine could be a free tips sheet where you share valuable information relevant to your niche. You can also offer your visitors a free bonus report in exchange.

The key is to offer a high-perceived value product. You product should add value to your market. If you are able to do this, well your prospects trust you. You build a relationship when your prospects trust you. When your prospects trust you, they reward you by buying your products.

Bottom line for step two is to build relationship with your prospect.

The third step is to follow up your prospects.The second and third steps are mutual, because you need to capture your prospect contact details-before you can follow them up.

Here are useful tips to success

• your opt-in page must be on all your web pages
• Your bonus report should be easily downloadable.
• Write or outsource the copy for the landing page of your free report.

When you follow up your house list- by constantly sending them valuable information with your newsletters and ezines- you lower sales resistance. Your prospects become paying customers begin to trust you. Your subscribers now identify with your message; they want to know more about you. You can tap into your customers buying frenzy.

A Buying frenzy means -your customers want to buy from you- and will keep on buying from you- until their appetite or desire for your products peter out.

We have looked at the keys to long-term success in starting your online business.

These keys are

• use proven direct response marketing methods to promote your business
• In addition, systematize your business with proven business models.

We have looked at three of the most successful ones. The good news is you can replicate these models even if you are starting out today.

Now is the time to take advantage of the internet boom. You are lucky to be at the start of the next wave of prosperity that will ever hit our population. Think about this- the total world population is 6.5 billion -and the total numbers of internet users are less than 1 billion people.

If you are able to use these business models to grow build the foundation of your business-you set your business on the side of boom. You will ride the wave of prosperity, leave a legacy for the world, and create massive value in your niche market and for your customers.

Since the era of civilization there has never been a better time to start your own internet business. You can sidestep the trials and errors by focusing on the most important things to make make money online Get your free Report today at http://www.makingmoneyontheinternetsecrets.com

Amazon is probably the number one e-commerce site in the world and here is a little strategy that they use that you could use which could help you build a little bit more credibility;Using the term “reviews” and not “testimonials”

We have always been told that we need to get testimonials and then we put testimonials up on our website. If you got to Amazon.com and look at a product it will say “click here to see the reviews.” The reason why that is the term reviews is more volunteered but a testimonial is something you have acquired. It sounds like you have procured it versus reviews that are freely given. It is just terminology but it can help. If you don’t have testimonials on your site, you need to but we are going to call them reviews now.

Why is this Important?
The book by Robert Cialdini, The Psychology Influence of Persuasion, he talks about the six weapons of influence. Weapon of influence number 5 is liking;

• People are easily persuaded by other people that they like
• Cialdini cites the marketing of Tupperware works because you see other people that you know and like using the same stuff. That is what we have been talking about on viral marketing because it is getting passed on.
• You really see this on Amazon – If you want to buy something once you find one or two people that seem similar to you then you take that person’s word for it and hope they did their homework. We always get referrals and recommendations when we want things. When we can’t do it personally when people are online we go to the reviews.
• People were more likely to buy if they liked the person selling it to them.
• Some of the many biases favoring more attractive people are discussed.

This is what You have to do…

• Actively collect Testimonials. Collect them as testimonials and put them out as reviews.
• Get permission to use the person’s full name and city. That carries a lot more clout than the person’s initials because people may think that they were made up. If it is a real person name all the better (the more information the better).
• Create a “Reviews” page on your website. Every time you get a new one, add it to there.
• Ask your biggest fans to also add a review to your Local Business Center (Google Maps) listing. One way to get to the top is to add continuously to your Local business Centre. I have a tutorial on the website about that.
• Warning: We may be pushing the boundaries here, but you could have your staff write reviews on why they love working at the funeral home.

Borrow Amazon’s strategy of building credibility in your online community and you will see results for your time.

Robin Heppell, CFSP, combines his expertise in technology and pre-need, his formal business knowledge and his deep-rooted legacy in the funeral profession so that he can help funeral homes and cemeteries be more competitive, more profitable, and provide the best possible service for the families they serve. For more information on Funeral Futurist Websites >>> Visit http://www.FuneralFuturistWebsites.com