Every day hundreds of individuals turn to the internet in hopes of starting a free internet business or at least a business that requires little to no money to get started.
I have to be honest, if you are looking to start a full blown internet business that will allow you to replace your current income, doing it for free might be a stretch, however with a little perseverance you could actually get started for less than $20 and yes, even for free.
Your income will be small at first but if you keep at it and promote if faithfully your income will increase over time.
Let's take a look…
It all starts by doing a little research. This won't take long and it's not as grueling as you might think.
Start out by doing some online market research to help you figure out what you want to market online.
For example, what do you want to sell? Do you have your own product or do you want to sell other people's products? It doesn't matter what you decide as long as you sell things that will be profitable online, and your research will tell you that.
Business Models
If you will be selling products that are not your own, there are several business models that work quite well.
For example wholesale dropshipping is hugely popular online. Once you determine the products you want to sell, find a wholesale dropship supply company, build a site that collects the orders and coordinate the sale with your dropshipper who sends the products directly to your customer.
You buy wholesale and sell retail. Lots of potential there.
Affiliate Marketing is probably my favorite business models because it eliminates so much of the overhead that comes with running a business, there's no inventory, merchant accounts, dealing with customers, etc. you simply find products to promote and pull in a percentage or (commission) of the sales that you make.
The Super affiliate handbook will tell you everything, and then some, about how to make a great living online as an affiliate marketer. I can personally vouch for that!
EBay is another excellent place to find products to sell. You can certainly sell your own products on eBay but one of my favorite ways to get a piece of the billion dollar eBay’s sales is building your own niche store, but that's a lot of work that isn't really necessary.
There is a nifty product that will do all of the work for you called ‘Build a Niche Store'. I did a BANS review that you can take a look at, but basically BANS is a software product that builds a niche store for you with products from eBay that you choose.
BANS is based on the affiliate marketing model which means that every sale made from your BANS site brings you a commission.
The store is easy to create, easy to maintain and gives you the opportunity to take part in the billions of products and sales that eBay generates every day.
Create your own product
How about creating your own product? Information products are an ideal way to get started. You could write your own ebook, guide or 'how to' course. With the millions of people scouring the internet for 'how to' materials, this can be a goldmine for the right opportunity seeker.
Not everyone is a writer but if you have experience or knowledge in a field that others crave information for, you have the potential for building a very powerful business.
You don't even have to write the e-book yourself, there are plenty of hungry writers that will create it for you, with a little guidance from you of course, and they'll do it for a reasonable price, really!
Of course to sell something online it helps to have a website or blog. It's not absolutely a must as I point out here, but it's a good idea. To get started here's a fairly basic and simple way to build your site/blog for less than $20 and you could be up and running in a day or so.
You still have to do your market research but once you complete that, start by getting a domain name. This will cost you about 6.99 from Godaddy.
Then based on what you will be selling, choose the best keyword or keyword phrase that describes what your site is about. You will need a little help from a keyword tool such as Wordtracker, this will help you make sure your keyphrase is what people actually search on.
Next get a domain name that contains that keyword or keyword phrase. If your site is about 'wine cabinets' get a domain name that has the words 'wine cabinets' is part of your domain name.
Then find a reliable web host. I use HostGator and love them; I even have a Hostgator coupon code that will get your first month of hosting free.
Next go to Wordpress.org and download Wordpress blogging software. If your web host has Fantastico then the install is fairly simple, by the way, Hostgator has fantastico
.
Once your site has been created, start loading up it up with content and products. Add Google Adsense to start generating some income.
And there you have it. A domain name costs about $7, your host about $8 and Wordpress is free. If you keep you site updated with content about 3 times a week you'll begin to generate income from your Google Adwords account so it only gets better from there.
The Completely Free Option
You can still have a Wordpress site/blog without getting a domain name and hosting it yourself. Simply go to Wordpress.com (not Wordtracker.org), open a free account and start creating your site/blog, simply follow the directions. Don't forget to add your Google Adsense Ads.
Total cost is $0.
Whichever path you choose to take it may take a few days to get indexed by the search engines, but if you write a few articles and submit them to www.ezinearticles.com with your URL in the byline, you'll get indexed fast and attract visitors.
The point is to get started doing something, the sooner you get started, the sooner you can begin making money.
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