Overview: As a service or product provider, there are principally 3 ways to add value for your customer and make a profit for services rendered:

· Lower/Maintain their costs

· Increase their revenue

· Improve their efficiency- (The ratio of the effective or useful output to the total input in any system.

That said, your business idea must be geared towards one of those objectives. If you are looking for a get-rich scheme- you won’t find it here- so be sure to get started on the right path- perhaps improving efficiency for your customer.

Note: White space has been added for you to make your own comments.

The first thing you should keep in mind when starting a business on the internet is that your business is at the center of the internet. Yes, the internet should revolve around your site- not the other way around.

There are billions of pages on the internet, and yours is just another one of those. So it almost impossible to think you will ever be successful trying to get your site in the top rankings of search engines, or paying your way to the top- it just won’t work.

My approach is an ego-centric approach to making money on the internet- a bottoms-up approach.

Every step in the article is based upon this principal. You can start with no business plan- no marketing plan, and no financing.

Then how do I get started?

You start in the only area in which you have any influence- the people around you. Your list of contacts, e-mail buddies, co-workers, etc-those with whom you have a connection; this is the most logical place to start, because, business reduced to the lowest common denomination is about managing relationships- and that is where you should begin.

THE STEPS:

There is an easy way to remember the basic steps of business management and marketing by memorizing these steps: Target, Segment, Position, Advertise, Sell, Support, and Grow.

1. Download Dotnetnuke

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/

Dotnetnuke is an open source web application framework ideal for creating, deploying and managing interactive web, intranet and extranet sites.

This is the easy part- because once this is done-you have already completed most of the steps required for this task.

Although, you will need to create a Papal account so you can start receiving money for your services or products.

In addition, you may want to add some flare to your site by applying a new design or skin so it will attract business partners and customers.

2. Configure your E-commerce site.

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is required- bring your own or use ours- approx 10.95/month. Initially, your site will be configured by Kendallsoft support personnel. You will have the option to make changes from the admin panel.

3. Start with a Target Market

The right target market is created by selecting the most profitable group of customers and is the critical first step in developing an effective marketing strategy.

Doing so enables you to concentrate your firepower and limited resources on those prospects that will yield the greatest profit, and this is where your contacts come into play.

With your website in place, you can announce to your contacts that you are interested in a mutual relationship with them. This is a tit-for-tat approach on building trust with your contacts. *More on this later.

4. Select items to sell or services to deliver to your target market

Finding a niche or developing a unique selling proposition (USP) is the goal for this task. This may result from the interaction with your contacts. Let them help you define the area in which you can be the most efficient.

5. Build an e-mail list of customers (Once you have identified a niche)

The “R” word comes up a lot when talking about email marketing, and especially email newsletters.

That's R for Relationships. Although the word is much overused, I'm still a huge proponent of email and e-newsletters as a cost-effective means of supporting and developing relationships.

6. Start building a customer base

The number-one asset of a company is its customers, and a close second is the information about those customers gained through operational customer relationship management (CRM) systems. –

Your site tracks complete user information that can be used for future marketing campaigns.

7. Create an Advertising Campaign

Advertising is just one component, or subset, of marketing. Public relations, media planning, product pricing and distribution, sales strategy, customer support, market research and community involvement are all parts of comprehensive marketing efforts.

As you market your company and its products or services, keep in mind all the facets that work together to constitute marketing:

8. Create Product or Services for Sale Pages

Kendallsoft will show you how to create product pages in 3 easy steps.

If you can open your word processor of choice, you can create these pages.

9. Sell your products or services to your target market

10. Track your costs

See Expenses link above

11. Track your sales

See Paypal link above

12. Calculate Profit/Loss

See Expenses link above

13. Fill out IRS Schedule C at Tax time

See IRS Form above

14. Go to Number 3 and work the steps in order- continue to follow these steps for maximum results.

15. Continue to grow your business

When companies or individuals invest money in a new venture, they should be careful with their market positioning, because to make it worthwhile, you want be able to attract enough business by marketing to a specific niche or segment within your chosen market.

What this means is to keep your options open- get involved in as many money-making opportunities as you can handle, Drop the unfruitful relationships and add new ones to keep the momentum going.

*Tit-for-Tat relationship building is practiced with your contacts in a matter similar to this. Find a way to offer something of value to your contacts- it can be a very small value at first- And make it available to them.

If they reciprocate with their own offer, continue on this path making similar moves, as long as there is reciprocation. If your contact defects for any reason, you do the same.

This approach will allow you and your contacts to create ever-increasing trust relationships-and improve efficiency along the way. In special situations, it is permissible to forgive a defection and start the process all over again- but you will have to be the judge of this.

Summary

The above steps outline the fastest way of starting a business on the internet. Some will be more successful than others, but if you are persistent and follow the steps as closely as possible- you have a good chance of making some money.