After spending the better part of the last year trying to figure out how to best share my feelings and thoughts, expanded my social presents, and igniting an online business plan, I have decided that I have an organized a relatively sound business strategy for implementing the infrastructure necessary to migrate a online hobby into an online business. 

While most of this is my spin on the approaches and tools, I can not take a lot of credit for inventing any of this.  This is through the had work of many of the Internet world’s most brilliant minds.

Following are the key components:

1. Domain Name

Choice a name that reflects your branding.  If you are luck enough to find a name that is relevant to your business all the better, however if you don’t, find a name that can represent your brand.  A short, catchy, easy to remember name is always a good idea.  Who would have thought that Go Daddy, Google, Yahoo, or Tweeter would be household names.  Check out the video below by Bob Parson’s of Go Daddy to help you locate an effective name

2. A Hosting Plan

Once you have selected a domain name you will need a place to present your message or implement your online business plan.   This requires a hosting plan.  There are several variation of plans.  Feel free to review these plans to find one that is right for you based on your experience level and business strategy:

• Website Tonight – A non-techno solution works well for lots of first time users or business professionals that don’t know a lot about website development or don’t have the developments tools necessary to create that professional site.  Website Tonight  is a template based solution that supplies the basic website framework and infrastructure to give you the ability to have your website up and running in a very short time without a lot of training or experience.

• A Shared Hosting Plan – This plan is idea for the user that has access to a web developer or has the experience to develop a web presents using your choose of a pre-configured Windows® or Linux® plan.  This plan allows the owner to develop a traditional website using dynamic content from a database or us a variety of tools such as Dreamweaver,  WordPress, CGI, Flash, Java, .Net, and many others.

• Virtual Dedicated Server – Virtual Dedicated Server offers affordable flexibility for site owners who need full control of their server space at a price that won’t break the bank. Get custom results by building your own server or choose a pre-configured Windows® or Linux® plan, each featuring Plesk® control panels, optional managed backup and more. There’s never any need to buy additional hardware — our elastic virtual server technology makes it easy to grow your server size as Web traffic increases.

• Dedicated Server – A Dedicated Server is perfect for eCommerce, multimedia, gaming and other sites that need advanced performance, reliability and control. Choose from pre-designed Windows 2008 and Linux plans featuring multi-core processors, enhanced options like managed backups and much more – or build your own server for customized results.

• Custom Website Design – If your budget permits a site developed by a professional web development service might be the your best bet.  This can get your business up and running quickly and reflect your professional brand. There are many service available but one of the best is The Dream Design Team  presented by Dossigan’s Domains.

3. Accessorize 

We all have seen that the critical part of any decor and fashion statement is how it is presented.  A great website name and 99.9% uptime means little if the content doesn’t deliver its intended message.  Here are a few critical components: 

• SSL Certificate – You will probably need a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to keep you customers information secure and to give you customers the confidence that you are a repeatable business.
• A Shopping cart, - there are many.  A few are Quick Shopping Cart (works well with Dossigan Domain’s hosting), Ecommerce (a WordPress plug-in), and Zen Cart (software provided with Dossigan Domain hosting).
• Merchant Account -  A Merchant account or PayPal relationship are channels of receiving online payments.  PayPal has the limit in that everyone that want to use it has to have a PayPal account, however it is a cost effective way to start you store front quickly.  A merchant account is a great solution and gives you store front a professional look and allows the customer to use there payment option of choice.  A Dossigan Domains Merchant Account makes e-business simple. Increase sales, cut paperwork and reduce risk – our partners authorize credit card purchases, process them and deposit the proceeds into your account. It’s simple!
• Social Media Tools – This accessories cross into the marketing arena as well.  It is extremely important to develop a relationship with your target market and customers.  People want to do business with people they identify with.  Social media tools have made this a reality over the past few years. 
  • One critical components of a social presents is a personal blog.  Dossigan has a couple of products; SmartSpace that incorporate a Social Dashboard Quick Blogcast and Website Tonight, integrates Twitter and Facebook; also you can implement Website Tonight and Quick Blogcast  ala-cart.  Another great solution is WordPress, one of the leading products for building your Blog.  WordPress has 100’s of templates and 1000’s of plug-ins to give you the power to present your image the way you want.
  • There are several social media websites that are critical in connecting with your customers or potential customers.  The top sites are  Facebook.com, Twitter.com, LinkedIn.com, and MySpace.com.
  • Google tools provide a variety of tools to help you market you site and gather relevant content, such as, Google Alerts, and Google AdWords

I will publish a separate blog to address Social media at a later time.  Stay tune. 

4. Marketing Tools

There are two sides to this story,

1) Strategy – this is a topic that needs it own space and discuss.  I will post a separate topic on this shortly. 

2) Marketing Tools – which I will cover now.

• Site Analysis – Web Site Analysis – This will give you the information and demographics to determine how your business is doing and how to develop you future strategy.  It gives you live statistics on who is visiting, were they are from, and what they find interesting about your site.   You can even use site analysis to track path analysis to see how your product presentation performs.
• Email Marketing – Face it: There’s a right way and a wrong way to do most everything. This is particularly true when it comes to email marketing. The last thing any law-abiding citizen ever wants is to be associated with spam.  Now you can enjoy all the benefits of email marketing – and steer clear of ever being considered a spammer. No one wants to receive marketing emails they didn’t request. That’s true! But there are many people who want to know about your products, company or organization. These people will welcome hearing from you and actually look forward to getting your emails.
• SEO – Search Engine Optimization – This is probably the most critical part of having a successful online business.  No matter how great your product or message is, if people can’t find you, you will not be heard.  The old saying "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it did it make a sound" is appropriate here.  Activity is the difference between hobby and business. 
  • 4 Steps to Success
    • Search Engine Visibility – robust analysis (including keyword usage, spiderability, and Robots.txt files and Robots Meta tags) of your site’s strengths and potential weaknesses helps you secure crucial search engine success.  Improved Site Spider increases the performance of the Site and Keyword Analysis tools so you get detailed, site-specific results faster than ever before.
    • Submission – Easily submit your Web page(s) to leading search engines. Around the world or region-specific, it’s up to you. Search Engine Visibility helps you submit your site to more than 200 search engines and directories in all!
      Target your local audience. Submit your site to local search engine programs like Google® Local, Yahoo!® Local, Live Search (MSN) and Local.com®. * For brick-and-mortar businesses only; not available to online-only businesses. Or use Search Engine Visibility to submit your blog to more than 75 blog search engines and directories.
    • Web Analysis – This will give you the information and demographics to determine how your business is doing and maybe how to develop you future strategy.  It give you live statistics on who is visiting, were from, and what they find interesting about your site.
    • Reporting  – No more wondering about results. Search Engine Visibility is loaded with reports that give you answers, including Link Popularity to gauge the crucial number of inbound links to your Web page; List Checking to verify that your Web page is listed with the Internet’s leading search engines and directories; Alexa®/Google® Rank to assess your page’s online performance; Competitor Rank to compare your site’s search engine ranking to that of your competitors; and Keyword Ranking to learn your current ranking on AltaVista®, HotBot®, Lycos®, and MSN®.

5.  Have a Business Plan

A friend told me once there are lots of ideas, but success is 25% idea and 75% implementation.  I believe now that is a conservative estimate.   You should have a professional brand that portrays your image.  If you need help with this check out “Brand Design Team” from Dossigan Domains.  A solid plan is absolutely imperative. 

Below are Bob Parsons’ 16 rules for success.  Rule # 1, "Get and stay out of your Comfort Zone" is one the rules that has had a huge impact on me personally.  I have tended in the past to try to avoid situations that were not natural for me, however i found attacking your weakness is the best way to eliminate that weakness.  You can go to Bob Parson’s Blob for a complete explanation of the rules and even purchase a poster for you wall as a reminder. 

In short here are the Bob’s 16 Rules:

1. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
2. Never Give Up.
3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
6. Take things a day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward.
8. Be quick to decide.
9. Measure everything of significance.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
12. Never let anybody push you around.
13. Never expect life to be fair.
14. Solve your own problems.
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
16. There’s always a reason to smile.

Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother.
He always reminds me: "We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time! – Bob Parsons"

These are 5 major components.  There are lots of specifics and lot to learn, but following these steps and components will be a great start to.  As Bob states “Never Give up” .