Lesson Objective:
To set up the necessary physical elements for operating a profitable online business.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
NOTE: We have a very busy day ahead of us -- so let’s not waste any time.
In today’s lesson you will:
· Register your domain name.
· Set up a hosting account for your website.
o Make sure you have a website statistics program set up so you can
measure your traffic and other “critical numbers”.
· Purchase an “Auto-responder” automatic email follow-up tool.
· Sign up for a credit card merchant account or find an alternative means to accept
online credit card payments from customers.
· Unless you will sell only one or two items delivered electronically, you will need
a shopping cart.
· Finally, you will need to set up an affiliate program so you can solicit other
website owners to sell your product or service in exchange for a commission.
Part 1 – Registering Your Domain Name
Registering a domain name has gotten very easy over the last few years.
When I bought my first domain about 4 years ago, it cost $70 to register a domain and
most hosting services tacked another $25 to $50 on top of that!
The process of registering a domain is simply a matter of knowing the name you want to
register (remember all the research we did yesterday), filling out an online form and
paying with your credit card.
In fact, most hosting services now make it even easier by allowing you to register your
domain name as part of the hosting sign up process.
You register your domain name with a “registrar” who then keeps your record so when
people type in your domain name they find your site.
You typically buy your registration for 1-10 years depending on the registrar and how
much you want to pay up front for the domain.
One CRITICAL note about your domain name and Yahoo! – Remember yesterday
when we looked at Yahoo and saw they list their sites by the company name?
Well one of the ways that Yahoo checks to see if that really is your company name (you
didn’t really expect they would just believe your business started with an “!” symbol did
you?) is by going to the registrar of your domain name to see who has registered it –
typically called the “registrant”.
Example: Let’s keep going with the antique cars.
I decided to name my domain and my business 1StopAntiqueCarSales.com.
When I register that domain I will put 1Stop Antique Car Sales as the name of the
business in the registrant section of the domain sign up.
That way, if the Yahoo category editor does check the domain name registrar, they will
see that the name of the business matches the domain name.
Yahoo explains all of this to you and I highly suggest you click here for more
information: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
One more Tip: Based on information obtained from our own results and advice from
recognized experts, right now, it really appears optional whether or not you should
separate your domain name’s keywords with a hyphen (-) in order to increase the chances
of scoring well. You can either do it or not… it doesn’t appear to make any difference,
though it may be useful in order to get a domain that works if the first one you want is
already taken.
Based on this information, the following domain names would work for the above
example:
1StopAntiqueCarSales.com
1StopAntique-CarSales.com
1Stop-AntiqueCar-Sales.com
1Stop-Antique-Car-Sales.com
So now it’s time to register your domain name.
Here are some domain name registrars we know provide reliable service at a fair price.
Sign up for your domain name now.
Domain Registration Services
Dotster – offers excellent domain name registration services at discount prices!
Domains Bot – Search for live expired, expiring soon and “on hold” domains.
Part 2 – Setting up a web hosting service
When I launched my first website way back in the “dark ages” of 1997 I was paying
almost $150 a month in hosting and data transfer charges.
That’s right – a hundred and fifty bucks a month!
My web host watched how many files I uploaded like a hawk and took fiendish glee in
sending me large invoices every single month.
Fortunately all that has changed for the better!
Many hosting services don’t charge “an arm and a leg” for hosting your site.
You can host your site for $10-50 per month depending on how much space you need and
how much bandwidth (data transfer) you plan to use.
Here are some important things to consider when you evaluate any hosting service:
Server space
You will need enough server space to host your site. Most basic websites only need about
one to two megabytes of web space for the entire site.
However, make sure you get at least 5 megabytes of space so you can expand without
worry.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer you get with the account.
Most hosting services now talk in terms of “gigabytes”. A gigabyte is 1000 megabytes of
data transfer.
Here’s what this means in real people terms:
Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred to visitors as they view your web site.
Your web hosting service includes a certain amount of data traffic with your package,
and fact is most web sites use far less than the allotted amount.
For example, let’s say you have a web page 40 kilobytes in size (including graphics)
going over the net.
Your hosting account allows you a 4000 MB (4 gigabyte).
This allowance equates to about 100,000 visitors downloading that particular page!!
This sounds like a lot – but let’s take it one step further.
Most hosting services have in their fine print a restriction on how much bandwidth you
can use at any time.
Let’s say you have an ebook that is 500kb in size and 10 people tried to download it at
the same time… that would most likely cause a “bargain” hosting company’s server to
“throttle” your bandwidth.
This means your service will slow way down during that peak usage period.
The moral of the story – a “bargain” doesn’t always mean a bargain.
If you plan to sell a lot of ebooks or other electronic products, make sure the hosting
company you hire can handle the load and is flexible enough not to shut you down right
in the middle of a peak usage period.
CGI scripts
The hosting company you hire must let you run cgi or perl scripts on your account. Most
do, but make sure before you sign up.
Cgi scripts run many of the interactive elements on your website, including: contact
forms, affiliate programs, shopping carts, click tracking, and more.
Website “stats”
Many hosting services provide you with a website statistics (stats) program. Make it
provides you with the following information:
· Unique Visitors – how many individual people have come to your website within
a specific period of time.
· Referrers – where do your website visitors come from? If they come from a
search engine, what keywords are they using to find your site? Any worthwhile
stats program includes this information.
· Page views – total page views gives you snapshot of the overall activity on your
website.
One note about “hits” – the term “hits” gets thrown around pretty loosely online and
nobody knows exactly what it means.
“My website gets a lot of hits.” is about the most useless statement you could make!
Hits can entail everything from page views to individual files loading on your site. One
page could be responsible for 10 “hits”!
Your main concern in monitoring your website stats is how many unique visitors are
coming to your site. In other words - How many people are showing up who can buy
from you!
Sign up for your hosting account now!
“Bargain” Hosting: Under $10 a month
Your Site - Offers a comprehensive hosting service for $5 a month.
Mid-Level Hosting
All Net Web Design And Hosting – Offers a special deal to “33 Days” purchasers – well
worth checking out. Personalized service and very responsive.
More “Robust” Hosting: $25 a month
Host 4 Profit – Offers a high quality, high speed hosting service at an incredible
price! Includes:
~ 300 MB of web space
~ 10 GB of Data transfer (That’s a LOT!)
~ Unlimited autoresponders
~ Website stats
~ NOTE: Each additional hosting account you set up is only
$5 a month… it’s a great deal!
If your hosting service doesn’t provide you with a good stats program then you will need
to set one up.
Here are some options for setting up a stats program on your website.
Web Trends Live - Very comprehensive website stats program – monthly fee.
A W Stats – basic online stats service – free!
With the advent of really inexpensive and reliable web hosting nobody has a valid excuse
for not getting their own website to promote their product, ebook or business.
Part 3 – Selecting and using an Autoresponder automatic follow up tool
What The Heck is an Email Autoresponder?
Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system.
Maybe you’ve seen the systems where you call from your fax machine and dial a certain
code and you’ll get back a document in your fax machine?
Well, an email autoresponder works the same way.
If you send an email to an autoresponder address you’ll get back a prewritten message.
Using A Sequential Email Autoresponder in your business
Until just recently, you could only do a one-time autoresponder with one message coming
back.
But now you can set up a whole sequence of autoresponder messages going out on any
day you choose.
For example:
· Message #1 might go out immediately
· Message #2 goes out 2 days later
· Message #3 goes out on day 5
· Day 8 comes another message, etc, etc.
Do you see the real beauty of this whole thing yet?
The best part about it - everything gets done automatically for you because it’s triggered
when a prospect submits their email address.
So that means you can simply set up your system once and it keeps working over and
over again like a tireless money-making robot making sure no prospect ever slips through
the cracks.
Because the vast majority of your customers WILL NOT buy on the first visit to your
site, it’s critical that you have an automated way to follow up with them several times to
entice them back to your site to make a purchase.
Sequential autoresponders give you that *automated* follow up without the tedious
headache of having to do it yourself manually.
Tom Kulzer of smart autoresponder provider AWeber Systems once wrote:
"Consistent follow-up gets results."
“Turbo-charge” your autoresponder with these “TOP 5” Tips:
1. Make “time sensitive” offers in your email follow up. Get your prospects to feel a
sense of urgency that “this offer won’t last forever”.
2. Reinforce that urgency with your follow up mailings. One technique is to have a
“countdown” of days remaining as each email arrives.
3. Build extra incentives into each follow up mailing until the prospect just “can’t
take it anymore” and has to buy from you. These “Bonuses” or incentives could
include:
a. Free Reports
b. Free ebooks
c. Freeware programs
d. Mini-Courses delivered via email
4. When using bonuses – don’t forget to remove clients from that particular
autoresponder follow up as they become a client! You want to avoid any
confusion or extra, unnecessary emails to that new client.
5. Include a “survey” as part of your autoresponder sequence. Use feedback from
your subscribers to help make your autoresponder results even better.
a. What do they like about your autoresponder?
b. What do they hate about it?
c. What other information do they want?
Suggestions for Putting Your Autoresponder To Work
Here are a few of the best ways to put a series of autoresponders to work for your site:
1. Follow up with prospects who download an excerpt from your product or sign-up
for a trial service.
- Encourage them to come back to your site for more information or to make their
first (or repeat) purchase.
2. Multi-part training courses.
- Teach people about a single part of the overall “picture” you are trying to sell
them. Demonstrate your knowledge by giving them something of value and you
will get value in return (their money).
A good example is giving away the first chapter of your ebook free to entice
people to buy the whole thing.
This technique is actually a universal principal - Tell people what they need to
do and then sell them how to do it.
3. Persuading hesitant prospects to become ecstatic buyers.
- Gently remind visitors why they came to your site in the first place and then give
them reasons to return
4. Deliver special reports that prove your company’s worth.
- You already probably have (or can gain access to) information or articles that
would make an excellent “Special Report” that proves you are an expert in your
field.
5. Provide an “evergreen” newsletter to prospects to maintain contact.
- Take elements of your business that never change and turn them into a timeless
newsletter. This means you teach people principles that never go out of date or
style.
6. Automatically follow-up with buyers to sell them even more and make sure they
stay happy!
- It’s much easier to sell an existing customer than it is to find a new one! Don’t
make the mistake of letting a one-time customer stay a one-time customer. Follow
up with your buyers to make sure they have what they need and always look for
new products you can sell them based on their interests.
Just think about how nice it will be to automatically and consistently follow up with
customers to increase sales!
Here is a list of autoresponders we feel comfortable recommending to you.
Research these companies and sign up for your own sequential autoresponder
system today.
A Weber – Highly Recommended! Very reliable autoresponder system used by many
of the web’s top marketers.
Get Response – Recommended! This is the system we use (along with a lot of other top
online marketers). Lots of great features, easy to use, reliable – what else can you say?
This is a great tool that will help you make money!
Auto Response Plus – A stand alone autoresponder system that eliminates the need to
pay monthly fees (other than website hosting). Does require some professional help to set
up on your hosting service but may be worth a serious look.
1 Shopping Cart – Fully integrated system of shopping cart, autoresponder, ad tracker,
credit card processor and more!
Part 4 – Merchant Accounts
A merchant account can represent one of the largest expenses in setting up your online
business.
But you can accept credit cards online without “breaking the bank”.
Since over 90% of all transactions on the Internet involve using a credit card, your
business will ultimately fail if you don’t allow your online customers to use “plastic”.
The problem for most small businesses and “micro-preneurs” involves the (sometimes)
high cost of setting up and maintaining a credit card merchant account.
Fortunately, a few companies have responded to this problem with unique solutions
enabling online merchants to accept credit cards without going broke in the process.
One in particular may be of special interest if you are selling information products such
as ebooks or software your customers download directly from the Internet…
ClickBank
For a $50 one-time fee ClickBank enables online ebook, software and other electronically
delivered product and service sellers to not only accept credit cards, but provide instant
delivery as well.
ClickBank allows any merchant to accept virtually every major credit card in the world.
The online merchant simply adds a purchase link to their site, the customer clicks the
link, fills in their payment information and the credit card gets authorized on the spot.
Once the card gets approved, ClickBank redirects the buyer to a page on the merchant’s
site that enables them to download the ebook, software, or other product they have just
purchased.
The buyer gets an email receipt from ClickBank with the details of the transaction.
The seller also gets an email from ClickBank letting them know a transaction has taken
place along with the buyer’s name, email address, state, and country.
ClickBank mails checks every two weeks for sales made through your account, minus a
$1 fee and 7.5% of each transaction.
ClickBank also charges a $2.50 fee for each check they send out, but sellers can pick the
minimum amount they want to make before a check gets issued.
ClickBank also makes it easy to recruit and pay others to help sell your products through
your own affiliate program.
ClickBank provides the tools for setting up affiliate links, tracking sales and takes care of
paying your affiliates every two weeks.
Overall ClickBank represents and excellent alternative for anyone who wants to test their
hand at selling online information without spending hundreds of dollars on credit card
processing for a product that may or may not sell.
ClickBank does, however, have some drawbacks:
1. They take a relatively hefty chunk out of your pocket compared to more
traditional credit card merchant accounts.
2. You have to wait about a month to get paid on your transactions because of the
way their accounting system is set up.
3. You cannot sell anything but electronic products and services – no physically
delivered products allowed.
4. The ClickBank system is “bare-bones” -- with no built-in autoresponders or
follow-up mechanisms of any kind. You get the purchaser’s name and email
address and that’s about all.
If you will sell anything other than electronic products or services, or if you want
something more robust than the ClickBank system, then you’ll need to get a more
traditional merchant account.
Here are some things to consider when looking at a merchant account and comparing
providers.
· Do they allow Internet sales? Many credit card processors still don’t allow
merchants to process Internet sales -- so you’re wasting your time trying to sign
up with them.
· How much do they charge up front in application fees? Many companies reselling
credit card services charge outrageous application fees -- so make sure you
compare costs!
· What monthly minimum charges apply? Whether you sell anything or not the
processing company will charge you a monthly fee.
· How long must you commit to their service? Some services make you sign up for
3 or 4 years.
· Do you have to buy any equipment? Equipment is another profit center for credit
card processing companies, especially the ones that make you lease software
programs or “terminals” for $50 a month.
· Do you get a “virtual terminal” where you can manually process transactions you
get over the phone or through the mail? You don’t want to have to buy expensive
equipment used to “swipe” cards.,
· How much do they charge as a “real-time” gateway fee?
o NOTE: A real-time gateway allows you to tie your credit card processing
in with your delivery system / shopping cart.
o This enables you to process people’s credit cards in “real-time” online…
without you having to input the numbers or swipe a card through a
machine.
o Also, you must make sure that the credit card processor you choose works
with the delivery system / shopping cart you choose.
Here’s a list of Merchant Account Providers you should check out. Many of them offer
additional services that can save you a lot of time and money.
Check out these credit card processing companies now to compare services
and pricing.
ClickBank – very good service for those just starting out selling information and
electronic products online.
Electronic Transfer – Internet-friendly credit card processing company. Can help even
if you have been declined elsewhere.
Marketer’s Choice Credit Cards – Integrates real time credit card processing and
shopping cart along with many additional features.
Part 5 – Setting up a shopping cart
Setting up shop on the Internet involves more than slapping together a website and
submitting your pages to the search engines.
Statistics tell us that over half of all cyber-shoppers never complete the purchase cycle
started in online shopping carts.
The shopping cart that displays your wares in cyberspace can mean the difference
between success and failure as consumers take that leap of faith and submit their credit
card information over the web.
All shopping cart software should enable consumers to select items and send payment
information over the Internet; however, individual cart packages vary significantly
between providers.
Some shopping carts require the merchant to obtain their own secure server, while others
allow the shop owner to fill out a form through their web browser, upload product
pictures, and set up a functional store in a matter of minutes.
Shopping cart solutions range from software packages costing thousands of dollars in up-
front and monthly charges to free online carts that capture credit card payments and even
send e-mail notification each time a new order arrives.
For most new merchants, credit card payment and processing create the most confusion
regarding shopping carts.
Processing orders online not only requires a secure shopping cart, but a merchant account
with a bank or credit card processing company as well.
The secure shopping cart enables the shop owner to accept payment information for
goods and services purchased online while the merchant account and real time payment
gateway enables them to actually process the customers’ payment.
Beyond the basic “secure-server” and “check out” features, many shopping carts provide
other services, including:
· payment processing
· sophisticated accounting and financial reporting
· customer tracking
· order tracking
· inventory control
· and much more!
Surprisingly, any business with less than a dozen items for sale will find a number of
low-cost shopping carts (some with very sophisticated capabilities) available on the web.
Unless you plan to take a course in website programming, a shopping cart created and
maintained through a web browser-based interface represents the best solution for the
vast majority for businesses large or small.
By logging onto the Internet, you can set up a store, download orders, and perform many
accounting and reporting functions right in the web browser.
Any carts requiring significant programming, software installation and extensive HTML
knowledge rarely warrant the extra effort.
Get excited! Here are some carts known for their user-friendly setup and powerful,
reliable features.
Check out these shopping carts, make a decision as to which one will meet your
needs, sign up for it.
ClickBank – excellent and simple way to go if you only have a handful of information
“e” only products to sell.
Marketer’s Choice Shopping Cart – Integrates real time credit card processing and
shopping cart along with many additional features.
Part 6 - Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs (also known as reseller programs, associate programs, etc.) are an
opportunity for you to get dozens, hundreds, even thousands of web sites all driving
traffic to your site and making sales for you…
And the best part is you don’t pay until they make the sale!
Amazon.com was one of the first companies to build an affiliate program and right now
they’ve got approximately 150,000 affiliates working for them, just sending them visitors
and customers. Their affiliates get paid every time someone clicks on their link and buys
a book.
There are two ways you can start your own affiliate program.
The first way is to have a service bureau take care of nearly everything for you.
They’ll handle recruiting (to an extent) and administrative functions like sending out
checks, tracking, reporting, etc. But normally, you’ll pay a much higher percentage than
if you did it yourself (which is the second way)
A good example of a service bureau is Commission Junction.
If you don’t think you can handle some of the administrative tasks of running a program
in-house then you should consider outsourcing.
Here is a description of the “ideal” affiliate program.
Keep in mind however, that this is the “sports car” model and your budget may require
you to start small and build.
Important Features Your Affiliate Software Should Contain:
· Real time stats for affiliates to check their sales and their commissions without
any interaction from you.
· Ability to export affiliate information into files for easy payment and
administrative work… unless you have hired a bureau to do it for you.
· The ability to credit affiliates for the sale months or even years later if their
referred visitor buys
· Can it handle a 2-Tier program? This means your affiliate program pays your
affiliates not only on their sales, but on the sales of affiliates they introduce to
you.
· Can it work on multiple web sites? Can you use the same affiliate program for
different products you sell or do you have to buy a new license every time you
start a new business or site?
· Can you pay different commissions to different affiliates? You’ll want to reward
your “heavy hitters” with higher commissions and you need to have that
flexibility on a case-by-case basis.
· How simple is it to get software support? Do you have a 1-800 number to call or
do you have to rely solely on the “help” file?
· Is installation and integration provided? Do you have to install it yourself, and if
so – how hard is it?
· Ability to email all affiliates announcements. You should have the ability to send
broadcast and individual announcements to your affiliates to motivate, retain and
get them going.
· Ability to automatically add affiliates and give referral ID#s. Your system must
allow affiliates to “serve themselves” in the sign-up process. You won’t have time
to sign up each individual once your business gets going.
· Email notification of sales for affiliates. Nothing motivates an affiliate more than
receiving an email notification they’ve made a sale and commission check is
coming!
· Full integration with your shopping cart/order processing system. You shouldn’t
manually track sales against your cart transactions and affiliate roster. What a
nightmare! Your processing should automatically track product sales / returns and
automatically adjust your affiliate commissions accordingly.
Other notes and tips on Affiliate Programs:
- Give your affiliates proven tools they can use to sell your products, including:
o Proven Sales Letters that sell really well;
o Endorsement letters they can send to their email lists;
o Banners they can put on their sites;
o Ezine articles they can run;
o Ezine ads that pull buyers.
- Don’t ask your affiliates to do anything you haven’t already done yourself when it
comes to running ads, using website copy or emailing their existing customers.
Nothing destroys your affiliate network faster than telling affiliates something
will work… and they find out it doesn’t!
- Stay in touch with your affiliates… they will sell the products freshest in their
minds.
- Pay your affiliates well and give them high commissions – the higher the better
because, after all is said and done, they’re doing it for the money!
- Never take anything away. Once you offer affiliates something you can’t take it
back… this includes reducing commissions or not paying on time.
If you know you will need an affiliate program, here are some excellent packages
to check out:
Synergyx – combines digital delivery, shopping cart and “bullet-proof” affiliate program.
We just recently upgraded to this software.
1Shopping Cart– Integrated affiliate program makes this shopping cart “must look” if
you want to really want to automate your business.
AssocTrac – One of the web’s most powerful and popular affiliate program software
packages. Used by many of the Internet’s most successful marketers.
ClickBank – Has a very simple affiliate program you can use if you are selling
information or electronic products.
Summary of Today’s Assignments:
1. Register your domain name.
2. Set up a hosting account for your website.
(Make sure you have a website statistics program set up so you can measure your
unique visitor counts and other “critical numbers”).
3. Purchase an “Auto-responder” automatic email follow-up tool.
4. Sign up for a credit card merchant account or find an alternative means to accept
credit card payments from people online.
5. Unless you are selling one or two items you deliver electronically, you will need
to sign up for a shopping cart.
6. Finally, if your shopping cart or other delivery method doesn’t have an affiliate
program built in, you will need to set up an affiliate program so you can solicit
other website owners to sell your product(s) or service(s).
Today’s Resources:
Domain Registration Services
Dotster – offers excellent domain name registration services at discount prices!
Domains Bot – Search for live expired, expiring soon and “onhold” domains.
Web Hosting Services
Your Site - Offers a comprehensive hosting service for $5 a month.
All Net Web Design And Hosting – Offers a special deal to “33 Days” purchasers – well
worth checking out. Personalized service and very responsive.
Host 4 Profit – Offers a high quality, high speed hosting service at an incredible
price!
Website Stats
Web Trends Live - Very comprehensive website stats program starting at $25 per
month.
Email AutoResponders
A Weber – Highly Recommended! Autoresponder system used by many of the web’s
top marketers.
Get Response –This is the system a lot of other top online marketers use. This is a great
tool that will make you money!
Auto Response Plus – A stand alone autoresponder system that eliminates the need to
pay monthly fees (except web hosting). Does require some professional help to set up on
your hosting service, but may be worth a hard look.
Marketer’s Choice – Fully integrated system of shopping cart, autoresponder, ad
tracker, credit card processor and more!
Merchant Accounts
ClickBank – very good service for those just starting out selling information and
electronic products online.
Electronic Transfer – Internet-friendly credit card processing company. Can help even
if you have been declined elsewhere.
Marketer’s Choice Credit Cards – Integrates real time credit card processing and
shopping cart along with many additional features.
Shopping carts
Marketer’s Choice Shopping Cart – Integrates real time credit card processing and
shopping cart along with many additional features.
Affiliate Programs
Synergyx – combines digital delivery, shopping cart and “bullet-proof” affiliate program.
We just recently upgraded to this software.
Marketer’s Choice – Integrated affiliate program makes this shopping cart “must look”
if you want to really want to automate your business.
AssocTrac – One of the web’s most powerful and popular affiliate program software
packages. Used by many of the Internet’s most successful marketers.
ClickBank – Has a very simple affiliate program you can use if you are selling
information or electronic products.
“Budget Cruncher”!
The “Budget Cruncher” sections highlight products and services
for people who just don’t have very much money to work with.
Keep in mind that these services usually come with the bare
minimum you need. and may not have the capacity to handle much
business.
Website Hosting
You can buy a domain name and get a year’s worth of hosting from www.doteasy.com
for $25 a year or www.name2host.com for $15-35 a year. Though it may sound like a
great deal, they don’t give you a whole lot of bandwidth, you don’t get cgi-bins (without
paying extra) or much of anything else. It’s about as bare-boned as you can get!
Website Stats
A W Stats – basic online stats service – free!
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