Providing a set of guidelines about how to go about building an online business from scratch can provide you with some insight about what actually is involved.  If you are a beginning marketer, here are some lessons for you to absorb. You may be excited about launching your lifelong product or invention to the millions of online users but have not given much thought to the mechanics of setting up an online presence.

If you are starting an online business from scratch, before you set up the mechanical infrastructure for your business, first utilize the critical thinking part of your brain by doing some research. On the other hand, don’t spend months and months researching this point.

Is your product or service something people need or want and not just you? Be very careful here. Just because you think Star Trek is the coolest sci-fi series ever conceived, does not mean you will sell millions and millions of “Mr. Spock” T-shirts and coffee mugs online.

Your idea or concept should be tested first by setting up a test website. You are testing to see how many people are out there who may be interested in your product or service.  Before you build a website that has lots of time and effort involved, build a simple one page website that is designed only to capture someone’s name and email.  This is known as a capture page or landing page.

In order to set up any website, whether it’s a permanent functional website with your products and other content or just a test site, you will need the following:

1)      Purchase a domain name.

2)      Hosting account where your domain name is hosted

3)      A website that is designed to capture your prospects name and email address tied to your domain name

4)      An autoresponder system (so that you can set up automatic deliver y of pre-written messages to prospects). Some hosting accounts have auto responder systems, but not all. You will need to find one that you can insert a lead capture form into your website so that the form captures names and stores them on the autoresponder system server.

Once you have these 4 components, you can test your product or concept by driving traffic to the website. First, you must get them to visit your website. Once there, they must find it compelling enough to give you their name and email. This is called a conversion. The point of the landing page is to get their name and email, no more, no less. Once you have their name, you can then begin your sales process which is set up via your autoresponder messages.

Getting visitors to your site AND submitting their email and names is the hardest part of the process.  Because you are starting your online business from scratch, you must market the existence of your site by using either free traffic sources such as article writing, video marketing, forums, Facebook, etc. or by paid traffic sources like PPC or Pay Per Click via Google Adwords, Yahoo or Microsoft advertising channels.

Paying for clicks by writing small ads targeting your audience and providing keywords that compel the searcher to click on your ad is how you can start to test your concept/product. Place a few test ads and monitor them over a period of days or at least to the point where you get 1000 clicks.

You can set a daily budget for your ads so that you control costs. Sometimes your ad will be so ineffective that you must raise your cost per click in order for the ad to show up enough to get clicks. A very low budget will take more time to reach 1000 clicks, but you can see how effective your ads perform this way.

Once you get at least 1000 clicks, how many submitted their name and email? You ideally want to expect a 1% – 5% conversion.  If you got a 10% conversion, just think how many names you could collect if your marketing yielded 1000 clicks per day or page views (coming from organic or natural search results). Paying for those clicks from an ad can add up and be costly to maintain over time, but if people ended up buying your product and your Return on Investment was good, you would probably maintain paying for traffic.

If nobody clicks on your ad, or enters their name on your website, you must look at the wording of the ad, the website design, layout and copy and of course, the product you are promoting. You could have professionally written copy boasting about the product, have slick graphics and all, but very few people interested. Your product may appeal only to a very small audience and just not enough to make the whole process worthwhile. This is what you must evaluate.

Tip: Don’t try to come up with the next “Pet Rock”, give people what they are already buying. Find something you know people want and need, or find a product that is already popular, but put your unique twist on it, and then test it. Once you do this once, you won’t be starting from scratch, you will have gained some insight and lessons to use in your next test.

Here we go…count down to #1 New Year’s Eve resolution, Lose Weight.

Get ‘er done, starting now.  Not a diet, diets don’t work, shots don’t work, see what does, 8 lbs, 4 % body fat in 3 weeks, seriously, no drugs, natural food product. Increases energy by burning the fat stored in your body and natural cleansing addresses elimination issues.  Just like nature intended.

This product also lowers LDL 31%, raises HDL 29%, lowers Trigycerides 40% and balances blood sugars in 8 week clinical studies.  Know anyone with the 3 major epidemics; Heart Disease, Diabetes or Obesity?  65,000 people died from those epidemics, yesterday!  This matters!  We also address the 4th epidemic, Fundsarelow.

www.mlmslimnow.com , take the tour, award-winning videos.  Email or call me after, we can brainstorm on how this can be you!  Today is a good day to start ;D

Warm regards, Lana     480.239.8049

How about starting with the ‘man’ in the mirror!  I love the fact that MLMs are at a fever pitch (my opin), as it means that the world is shifting…Ya think?  Many get in because they can’t find a job that pays enough, or they just lost a job, or in case they lose their job.  Doesn’t matter, people are getting in.  Busy Executives, Entrepreneurs, Clerks, to stay at home Moms, everyone is qualified.  How is that for leveling the field?  So why do some excel, succeed and some bomb miserably?  Maybe it’s belief, personality, maybe they were born with it, how about they just didn’t quit and they found a SYSTEM, using attraction marketing and magnetic sponsoring.

The successful mlmers develop a duplicatable SYSTEM, whereby they can plug new peeps in and go on to the next one.  AND to top it off, what if that SYSTEM can bring you qualified, profiled, interested, pre-screened peeps, looking for an opportunity and have already seen what you have and want to know more or get going?  Wow!  I AM talking about put-your-feet-here and walk-this-way.  What a game-changer.  Now, people can build a group, a residual income without having to stalk their friends and family.  No special training or tons of money are needed to get started.  Get all the leads you can handle over the internet in the comfort of their own home, for as much or as little time as you want to put in, for a reasonable monthly fee.  Those of us in the group are still pinching ourselves.  A system of this power is very refined and therefore only applies to the primary products we represent and is only available within our group. 

In Oct-Nov, I will be launching “Global Prosperity Foundation”, GPF, in conjunction with another women’s resource foundation in Phx, AZ.  My mission is to not only provide resources for women, but to provide a ways and means for women (and their families) to pick themselves up and re-build their life by providing a monetary vehicle to do it.  I don’t believe in giving someone a fish.  I believe in teaching them to fish and we will be able to provide a means for women to learn to use that fishing pole and fend for themselves with a residual income to build foundational wealth. 

We are changing the world, want in?  When the getting and having of money is no longer an issue, then it becomes, who can I assist to do the same?  Now we are truly talking about an economic stimulus package and being able to Stay Home, Make Money, Have Fun, Change the World.  The saying goes ‘A drowning man cannot save a drowning man.’  But a person in a great sea-worthy boat can pluck many out of the water, dry them off and then have assistance running the boat and plucking others up.  I don’t believe in charity, I don’t believe in focusing on the poor. 

As Wallace Wattles says, The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 10, “Further Use of Will: YOU cannot retain a true and clear vision of wealth if you are constantly turning your attention to opposing pictures, whether they be external or imaginary…Put poverty and all things that pertain to poverty completely behind you…No matter how horrible in seeming may be the conditions in certain countries, sections, or places; you waste your time and destroy your own chances by considering them.  You should interest yourself in the world’s becoming rich.  Think of the riches the world is coming into, instead of the poverty it is growing out of; and bear in mind that the only way in which you can assist the world in growing rich is by growing rich yourself through the creative method–not the competitive one. 

Give your attention wholly to riches; ignore poverty….It is the truth there is nothing as poverty; that there is only wealth.

Some people remain in poverty because they are ignorant of the fact that there is wealth for them; …and for these the very best thing you can do is to arouse their desire by showing them the happiness that comes from being rightly rich.”

If you have not downloaded it, I have The Science of Getting Rich, in pdf and mp3!  Chapter 17 is a summary, but don’t miss all the nuggets along the way.  Get plugged in.  If you would like either of these downloads email me, lana@lanaleslie.com, and I will email them out to you.

Be well, be rich,

Lana Dee

Getting started…why make a decision to develop a home-based business?  After having worked in corporate for 23 years, the 401K and IRA contributions have been real assets.  But is it enough to dedicate your prime work years to building someone else’s dream?  After getting my MBA I decided to quit corporate, couldn’t do it anymore.  And what was ‘it’?  Getting up everyday figuring out how to keep sales coming, so the workers at the factory had orders to build, so the company could produce something and sell it and the owners and share-holders could make a profit off other people’s efforts, using other people’s money, building other people’s ideas, hmm, where have I heard this before?  I made a decision to start building my own dream. 

We built up our own small landscape construction company while the economy was working against us ultimately forcing us to shut our doors to the employees, trucks, equipment, after a few years.  So, what are the differences in the two experiences?  It was up to me to make payroll, bills and taxes, AND develop the sales leads, AND run the company, AND if there was any money left over I could pay my personal bills, AND deal with nightly ‘board’ meetings at the kitchen island as I was in business with my husband.   What are the similarities?  I was miserable in both.  So shut the company we did. 

We had the opportunity to move into our home in Sedona where if you are not a Psychic, Artist or in the Tourist Trade, it is tough to find high enough paying jobs to support our life style…so, it became a necessity for us to find another way, a Plan C, at this point.  It was going to be the internet, home-based, and MLM, because I vowed to never pour my time and energy into something that didn’t build a residual income, again.  All my life the months started at $0, build up all month, to start at $0, again.  My paycheck one month did not enhance my paycheck the next month.  Every month I started over…it was 100% efforts of 1 person and not getting me any closer to foundational wealth.  So, build residual income, or nothing, I vowed. 

We made the decision to go internet and home-based.  We needed to learn how to develop a presence on the internet and what to sell or market.  “The fortune is in the list”, how many times do you hear that a day on the internet?  Great, how do you build a list?  We have found 2 list building programs which are great, one for online and one for offline.  Now that we found list-building, the hard part comes…driving traffic and doing what it takes.  Ultimately, the goal is to blog everyday and do a video every other day, plus articles, pay per click, all traffic driving activities.  You will want to get as close to that model as possible for maximum start-up.  Set up a schedule; develop discipline around these activities.  If no one is telling you what to do…will you do it?  Most of us are great working for someone else.  We know what is expected, we can show up, perform adequately enough to keep our position and our boss holds us accountable.  We are locked in to what has been agreed upon that our time is worth.  Maybe this is OK, but is it enough?  If not, don’t quit your day job just yet. 

The worst thing you could do is to put yourself in a place of panic by running out of money before you can comfortably transition into a residual paycheck and have to go back to getting a job, again.  This must be planned and it is more of a long-term goal than a get rich quick.  The good list-building, attraction marketing programs will have ‘funded proposals’ to address this, usually an affiliate marketing program.  Funded-proposals are activities that can make you money while you build a list.  So, then it becomes a SUPER discipline issue.  Think of building an online presence as a second job.  Set working hours, set activities that need to be accomplished that day, find answers to questions, what are the top priorities for the following day?  For the amount of money it is possible to make, be prepared to do commensurate dedicated activity…oh, and find a mentor.  Planning and executing is extremely important.  It doesn’t have to be perfect; you just have to get started.

The next questions we will address-product or service?  Does it matter?  The most important question “You, Inc.” vs Lead Generation System, which is more important?

Mistake #1 Not Having a Social Media Presence.

Social media sites including the top dogs Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and the other 160 others considered in the category are a must for participation by network marketers. If you have not created a presence yet, do so, but plan a strategy so you do it right.

You may already have a presence but on a personal level, which is great. Now you want to leverage that presence so that the time spent can help you get leads for your business. If you spend too much time socializing and not building your business, perhaps you are not serious about building your business? A network marketer that has not yet opened up accounts is in a good position to leverage them for added traffic generation to their primary business opportunities and other websites.

Mistake #2 Thinking that they are just prospects to recruit into your business.

You want to position yourself as someone who has a lot of value to offer. All your participation and contributions should be with a tone of helpfulness, usefulness, support and sincere desire to know the other people better. Give without any expectation to receive anything in return. The last thing you want to do before you develop any kind of “relationship” is to pitch them your business. You will never succeed doing this. This is akin to bugging your friends and family when you first started in MLM. Remember how successful you were?

Be careful because people can read between the lines and know when you are not being genuine. Honesty is the way to go. Don’t sabotage your efforts by faking to be someone you’re not. And certainly do not have someone else post messages pretending to be you.

Mistake #3 Failure to leverage the power of social media.

Social media is a trend happening right before our eyes. Consumers are no longer interested in being barked at by corporate advertisers. They want to be able to develop a dialogue with the business that they frequent or support if given the opportunity. Select only several of the top sites. Don’t feel you have to have accounts for dozens unless you can monitor and track your leads to see if it’s worth it. Avoid setting up accounts with nothing in your profiles. This is a big message that you don’t care, so don’t bother opening up an account if you’re not going to maintain it. Keep learning about the different features available on the various social media platforms and you will improve your efficiency and skill so that it is not as time consuming as when you first start out.
Mistake #4 Not Posting Frequently

Consistency is key to creating fresh content and keeping your followers engaged. Set up a practice and be disciplined with posting daily. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but try to respond to people as much as you post content on your sites. Add to your profile pages, making them more interactive for your visitors. Do something every day and mix it up. If you are pressed for time or want to be efficient, you can add content to your blog and then have it automatically posted to your social network sites automatically. check out www.ping.fm and www.yoono.com.

 Well, there is probably more than four mistakes mentioned above if you read closer. But here is the take away key point: Start now. Do it thoughtfully. Make it meaningful and provide value to others. Posting messages with the reader in mind is the proper mindset to have in the social media circles because in the end, it benefits both of you.

John Stuart Leslie

Manifesting24/7

Grow your network as you grow your self.