As the name of our blog is ‘start internet marketing online’ and certainly some of our visitors are and will be real ‘newbie’s’ sorry I hate that phase so I’ll use ‘newcomers’ instead, bit more dignified, I’m going to cover some of the real basics that everyone needs to do to get ‘online’,because for many its really confusing when you start out ….

Just the Basics Here & No Apologies

So sorry if some of this post might be a bit ‘basic’ for some of you, but this needs to be done. After all we all start somewhere and I used to get so frustrated when we first started out and the gurus at seminars and workshops simply assumed you knew how to buy a domain, use FTP, get an auto responder etc. And of course you’d sit there, people around you nodding so the last thing you wanted to do was stand up or shout ‘how do I buy a domain please?’ and make yourself look a fool – now I know there’ll be people reading this who know exactly what I mean, daft really but no one wants to look a fool, do they?

Ok so getting started, well seems obvious I know but before checking out domains you need to know & have done your research into whatever market and niche you plan on marketing to. But for this exercise we’ll assume you’ve done that and identified your niche

Searching for a Domain

So armed with that knowledge, a quick search in Google and you’ll find a ton of companies eager to sell you a domain. Now you don’t have to but for us we’ve used www.GoDaddy.com  since we started. They are one of the most established domain providers out there, offer a massive array of additional services and just so easy to deal with – and simple does it for me.

Some Points To Consider When Searching for Domains. There’s a ton of different types, .net, county specific i.e.: .co.uk etc but certainly I still think the considered advice is go for .com if at all possible. Likewise your domain should be niche specific if at all possible, as an example one of my sites was  www.bestsnoringhelp.com now it’s pretty obvious what that site is about. Try and avoid dashes and numbers if you can, you’ll be amazed by doing a bit of digging what is still available.

Hosting

Ok so well done you’ve found a great domain, now you need hosting, ie the servers where your site will sit. Now many domain providers also offer hosting, email etc certainly Go Daddy do. However my recommendation would be www.hostgator.com. When I first started out someone recommended them and I have to say I’ve been with them from the off, they are easy to deal with, not expensive and their support is great, especially the online chat facility – their support people in my opinion know their stuff & are really helpful.

Auto responders

A good auto responder service is vital to manage and communicate with your ‘list’. Now if you’re new to this, you may well have heard “the money is in the list” meaning once you have a client/customer many will not buy from you initially – it’s about building trust. To do that you probably offer an incentive to get their email address, free report, audio etc then you need to be communicating with them to build trust and sales. The more trust you build, the longer they’ll stay on your list, the more product they are likely to buy.

Auto responders enable you to email market to your list. By up loading a series of email messages that can then be drip-fed to your list. Now I can’t remember the first company I used but not a great experience, difficult and complicated to use – frustrating. Now I use and would recommend www.aweber.com. Great outfit, very easy to use, even for me as a technophobe, not expensive.

So there you are the three key areas sorted. Now the only other thing is having some kind of a blueprint to guide and advise you in the early stages.

.So that’s it so far, I’ll be covering more Essential Beginner Tips very soon, so until then get motivated and get started.

Tony