{"id":1297,"date":"2019-10-02T02:34:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T06:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beingbobblog.com\/?p=1297"},"modified":"2019-11-12T21:27:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T01:27:22","slug":"start-an-online-business-without-breaking-the-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/start-an-online-business-without-breaking-the-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Start an Online Business without Breaking the Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"visible-desktop\">\n<h1 class=\"nolinks btitle-replacable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beingbobblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/start-an-online-business1-1024x682.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1298\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beingbobblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/start-an-online-business1-1024x682-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"start-an-online-business1-1024x682\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beingbobblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/start-an-online-business1-1024x682.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beingbobblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/start-an-online-business1-1024x682.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beingbobblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/start-an-online-business1-1024x682.jpg?resize=900%2C599&amp;ssl=1 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/h1>\n<p class=\"nolinks btitle-replacable\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deep down, you know you want this. You want to taste the freedom that other entrepreneurs have. You want to follow your passion and hopefully also make a living at it. You want to\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6start an online business.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But here\u2019s the thing: Instead of jumping on the bandwagon to start an online business, make sure you do\u00c2\u00a0your homework first. Most people launch a product and market it later. Big mistake!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You want to do the opposite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c study the market first, launch next. How? Since it\u2019s going to be an online business, start looking at online forums, comment sections of your competitor sites and what people are searching in Google (using Google Keyword Tool).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you pass stage one successfully, you can think about launching a website\/product\/service. That\u2019s where the real magic happens.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here\u2019s what comes next:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Writing content<\/li>\n<li>Starting a blog<\/li>\n<li>Having a presence on social media<\/li>\n<li>Establishing an expert status for yourself<\/li>\n<li>Email marketing<\/li>\n<li>Outsourcing tasks you don\u2019t have the time or inclination for<\/li>\n<li>Following influencers closely<\/li>\n<li>Launching a product or paid service<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The list is unending.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\u2019s easy to get burned out in the sea of tasks and strategies when starting an online business. Thankfully, there are tools available to help you get off the hamster wheel and launch a successful online business.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The best part? You don\u2019t have to spend a fortune on these tools. Here are eight tools to start an online business without breaking the bank:<strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">1. Hostt<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An online business needs a website domain name and space to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153host it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Hosting is an ongoing expense for your business and it usually incurs a monthly cost with an option to pay it upfront on a yearly basis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And that\u2019s where <a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hostt.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hostt.com<\/a> is revolutionizing the hosting world. What I love about Hostt is that it offers free hosting for all your websites. They also have a 24\/7 tech support and a cpanel that makes website management quick and painless.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is no catch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no ads. The hosting is 100% free. They only ask you to have one domain name with them (which costs $13.95 a year).<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">2. WordPress\/Shopify<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once your website is set up and hosted, you\u2019re ready to install a CMS or a platform on which your web pages and content will sit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">WordPress, originally a blogging platform, is the most popular solution in existence today. Most top bloggers use and recommend WordPress. The best part? It\u2019s free to use.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you have your website hosted (see #1 above), your hosting company\u2019s cpanel should let you install WordPress using the \u00e2\u20ac\u01531-click install\u00e2\u20ac\u009d functionality.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordPress<\/a> is great for any type of website; but, if you want to create mainly an e-commerce store (in other words, an online store with a checkout shopping cart), you have better options out there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although WordPress is pretty flexible and a full-blown CMS now, it was originally built for blogging, not for e-commerce purposes. If you predict having a large product catalog and lots of e-commerce relevant features, try a service such as <a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/www.shopify.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shopify<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most e-commerce experts will advise you against WordPress for an online store. Shopify is highly customizable, robust and affordable for a professional shopping cart. There are other alternatives available in the marker too, so make sure you do your research before launching a web-store.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">3. BuzzSumo<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you have a platform ready, you need content. And not just any content but good, solid content one that your readers find educative, interesting and engaging.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzsumo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BuzzSumo<\/a> is a neat little tool that analyzes what works for your readers. It helps you find content and topics that will do best for your type of audience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just open their webpage and enter your main keywords in the top search bar. You can also add a domain name to see what\u2019s working well for them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">BuzzSumo returns a list of articles with the number of shares (so you know what is popular and can get ideas from those topics for your own website).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Super-helpful from SEO perspective also. So go on, give it a try!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">4. MailChimp<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But you can\u2019t just stop after creating juicy content. The next step in line is to promote your content and one of the best ways to do it is email marketing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mailchimp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mailchimp<\/a> is an email newsletter service that is used by more than 7 million people. You can get started with their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free forever\u00e2\u20ac\u009d plan if you have fewer than 2,000 subscribers and send less than 12,000 emails per month (which is very likely when you\u2019re starting out).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To get add-ons such as autoresponders and delivery by time zones, you can upgrade for as little as $10 per month. I\u2019ve been using MailChimp for years now for my own websites and that of my clients, and have no regrets.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">5. Buffer<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from promoting content and educating your readers via email, you can also use social media to share and push your new posts out there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"https:\/\/bufferapp.com\/app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffer<\/a> is a nice little tool to schedule all your posts across different social media. The clean and easy to use interface is one of the reasons it\u2019s so popular. What I personally love is their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Suggestions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d tab on the dashboard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Buffer scours the web for best posts on other websites that you can instantly use to share with your own followers. When I\u2019m low on the shareable content reserve, this feature is super-handy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all I have to do is read the suggested article and (if I like it) click the link to share or schedule it for my own channels.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">6. ClickMeeting<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you are in a freelance\/service-provider business model like I am, you have a constant need to communicate with your clients or collaborate with your team all over the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clickmeeting.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ClickMeeting<\/a> is a platform to meet and record audio and video conferencing with your clients (for up to 25 participants). It\u2019s perfect for briefing and presentation purposes. You can also brand all your meetings and impress your clients like a pro. Plus, they have a translation service if you\u2019re exploring international markets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">They also offer a sister-product called ClickWebinar to conduct virtual trainings (for up to 1,000 participants) and webinars with your audience.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">7. FancyHands<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Let\u2019s face it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite all the tools in the world, you will still need external help. That\u2019s where services such as <a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fancyhands.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FancyHands<\/a> come into picture.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">FancyHands brings you a team of virtual assistants who can do a <em>lot<\/em> of things at less than $1 a day, if you\u2019re using their basic plan that costs $29.99\/mo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here are some services for which people have requested in the past (as per the company\u2019s website):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u00c2\u00a0My co-worker is in the hospital after a bad car accident. Can you call the gift shop there and ask them if they sell fun things to do to pass the time that they could send in a gift basket type of thing to him? Crossword puzzles, trashy magazines, stuff like that. I\u2019d like to spend about $50. If they don\u2019t do that sort of thing, please find a place that can.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Please make a lunch reservation at Barolo under my name for Friday at 1pm and call Jennifer Wilson\u2019s office and let her know that the meeting is confirmed. Please add it to my schedule as well.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Please fill me in on the top 5 trending topics on Twitter today, both worldwide and locally in Los Angeles.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A fun way to get your time back, right?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">8. Xoom<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I saved the best for last \u00e2\u20ac\u201c getting paid. <a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"https:\/\/www.xoom.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xoom<\/a> is a perfect alternative to Paypal. Where Paypal is notorious for charging hefty transaction fees (try\u00c2\u00a0<a class=\"tracker-binded\" href=\"http:\/\/ppfeecalc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this calculator<\/a> to find how much you\u2019re being charged), Xoom charges a flat fee of $4.99 for up to $2,999.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">With their 24\/7 customer support and faster money transfers, Xoom is one of the easiest ways to send money.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Your Turn<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Are you starting an online business? Which one of the above tools is your favorite? Would you like to add more? Tells us your thoughts in the comments below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><a class=\"addthis_button\" href=\"http:\/\/www.addthis.com\/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;username=xa-4bc9c938643e7c7d\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s7.addthis.com\/static\/btn\/v2\/lg-share-en.gif?resize=125%2C16\" alt=\"Bookmark and Share\" width=\"125\" height=\"16\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deep down, you know you want this. You want to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,12,976,8,9],"tags":[1740,1159,1512,1407,1741,1742,1743,1744,1745,1746,1747,1748,1749,1750,1180,1417,1751,1752,1753,1612,1196,886,863,1754,1682,1438,1755,1720,1756,1757,1758,1759,1224,1687,1453,1760,1227,1499,1617,1761,1762,1763,1764,1765,1766,1767,1768,1458,1769,1770,1528,316,593],"class_list":["post-1297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts-comments","category-events","category-life","category-stuff","category-technology","tag-across","tag-addthis","tag-advise","tag-article","tag-audio","tag-barolo","tag-basic","tag-basis","tag-basket","tag-below","tag-blown","tag-brand","tag-brings","tag-btitle","tag-built","tag-call","tag-cart","tag-catalog","tag-clean","tag-clients","tag-close","tag-cms","tag-comment","tag-conduct","tag-content","tag-cost","tag-cpanel","tag-despite","tag-domain","tag-email","tag-enter","tag-expense","tag-expert","tag-face","tag-faster","tag-feature","tag-fewer","tag-flat","tag-follow","tag-fortune","tag-forums","tag-freedom","tag-gift","tag-google","tag-hamster","tag-hanacek","tag-happens","tag-help","tag-helpful","tag-hostt","tag-ideas","tag-los-angeles","tag-seo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","chromenews-featured":"","chromenews-large":"","chromenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Being BOB","author_link":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/category\/all-posts-comments\/\" rel=\"category tag\">All Posts &amp; Comments<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/category\/stuff\/events\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Events<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/category\/life\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Life<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/category\/stuff\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Stuff<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/category\/technology\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Technology<\/a>","tag_info":"Technology","comment_count":"2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p822aG-kV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}