31
10
Starting up an internet business is definitely the new way to riches in the 21st Century. With a minimum of start-up costs, just about anyone with ample drive and know-how can do it. And so indeed, new website domains are registered every single day in their tens of thousands! It is an exciting time to have The Next Big Idea, because the power of the web means unprecedented scope and depth.
Although while having an internet business is fairly easy, truly making money will still be a struggle! It is less of a struggle, however, in most cases, since, even if you were the proverbial guy selling snowballs to eskimos, using the power of the internet you can now sell them to, say, the islanders of Tahiti instead. (of course, the logistics involved are probably considerable, even should demand prove profitable!)
Therefore the first thing to realize about an online business is that while it makes many things easier than before, everything is still hard to achieve. With millions of sites out there, people will have to be able to find yours. This means that search engines must rank you highly – within the top seven results, essentially, above “the fold,” where viewers don’t have to scroll down the page since the overwhelming majority of people simply do not. Actually, you can be on page one of Google and still barely make any business if you are not within the top seven!
It is actually even tougher than that – the majority of people don’t bother checking past the top five, really. Usability test after usability test confirms that people will just click the very first few results, typically two or three, before being captivated by something they see. So it is important to rank highly!
There’s so much involved in setting up shop on the web. As with any other decision of consequence in life, please make sure to exercise due diligence and do thorough research!