It is not east to start an internet marketing business – even if that is simply setting up an internet form of your existing business. There is more involved that just throwing up a website (if you know how) and advertising it with some PPC ads such as Google Adwords (and they can cost a fortune!).

Here are some of the factors you must take into consideration when deciding to sell your products or services online and start up your own online business:

The Website

The internet marketing business website is your online store. When people click to visit your website it is the same as when they enter your offline store. The same components should be present as are in your store, but you have the advantage of being able to offer a lot more online than you could in a mall or neighborhood store. In order to start a website you will need a web host: a firm that offers you the web space and filing system that allows you run a website.

There is a lot involved in a website, and for any functionality at all you will have to learn how to handle graphics, HTML and CSS text formatting, maintain databases, particularly MySQL databases and a lot more.

You will also need a domain name for your internet marketing business that suits the product, and believe me, the good ones are long gone and those that own them hold them like glue. In fact, you never own a domain name – you simply hire it on a yearly basis though you can pay for a number of years at a time. You then have to register the domain name through the DNS service so that everybody knows it is yours and cannot use it themselves.

Email Systems

Before you can start an internet marketing business you will also need an email system attached to your business. If your website is, for example, golfstores.com, you won’t look very professional with bob@hotmail.com or a Yahoo email address. You will need something like sales@golfstores.com and for that you will need a pop email attached to your website.

You will not want to spend all your time answering emails and taking orders sending invoices, receipts etc, so you will also require an autoresponder system. An autoresponder carries out all the routine emailing tasks, and can even be programmed to accept payments and provide receipts for online purchases of products that can be delivered online, such as software and eBooks.

Shopping Carts and Payment Processors

You won’t get far with your internet marketing business if your customers cannot choose products to buy and a means of paying for them. Shopping carts and merchant payment systems can be very expensive, although if you know where to look you can find those that are suitable for most online purposes without costing the earth. Many payment processors require a lump sum to set up the system for you, and that can range from a few dollars to several hundred.

Without extending this too far, it should be obvious now that in order to start an internet marketing business you need either a lot of knowhow or a lot of help. Few beginners have the knowledge to be successful with an online business which is 99% fail – the majority in the first few months. You need help, but more than that – you need the tools to enable you to run your website without it taking up all your time.

How would a regular business look if the boss spent all his or her time sending emails, writing receipts and managing the office? That is precisely what you could find yourself doing with an internet marketing business if you do not get properly organized. You don’t have the time to learn about websites, HTML and autoresponders. You don’t have the time to apply them even if you did know about them, so what is the answer?

Automation! If everything was automated so that even your website design was dome by templates and modules, then consider how easy it would be. Relative newcomers to online marketing could runs a successful internet marketing business with practically no training and knowledge to start with, and could be making money in a few short days.

Automation is the way to start an internet marketing business, and the way to continue to let it run itself. Automation and a module-based system is what you need, with text blocks, link blocks, graphics blocks and so on put together to produce a professional website without any coding knowledge whatsoever. Such systems are available online – they just take a bit of finding, but for those seeking to start an internet marketing business from scratch, then that approach is probable their best bet.

Author Bio: Further information on How to Start a Website and a free book on starting an automated internet marketing business is available on Pete’s site http://www.onlinenetincome.com/how-to-start-a-website.html

Category: Business
Keywords: Internet marketing business, how to start a web site internet marketing, start a website, online bus