A Step-By-Step Checklist For Starting And Building
Your On-line Business

Copyright 2003 by Willie Crawford

One of the things I've been asked for repeatedly is a
step-by-step, how-to checklist for starting an on-line
business. Here is one especially created for course
subscribers.

I spent 17 years flying C-130 cargo aircraft and learned
that some things had to be done step-by-step ... by the
checklist. That's how airplanes avoid landing with the
wheels up :-) This checklist should provide you with a
great start, and keep you from making a "gear up landing."

1. Decide what theme you want to build your business
around. Don't just throw up a site filled with links
and banners to affiliate products. It will be too
unfocused to attract much, if any, traffic. The traffic
it does attract generally won't buy anything because
the site will not give them a clear path to follow. A
website should guide a visitor to take the action that
you desire them to take. It should have only one main
action that you want them to take, and that should be
what your home page focuses on getting them to do.

I was taught, and now teach people, to look at their
hobbies, interests, past training and experiences when
looking for a topic to build a website around. If
you need some help brainstorming product ideas, I
highly recommend Jeff Smith's Ultimate Entrepreneur's
Success Package. It's all about coming up with ideas for
information products, and then turning those ideas into a
stream of information products. Jeff interviewed me
several years ago, and we've discussed product creation
at length several times since. Jeff can be found at:
http://williecrawford.com/jeffsmith/

2. Once you have chosen a product, choose a domain name
for the website you will be creating. This website will
be where you sell your product from, and also how you build
your mailing list to follow-up with prospects. The domain
name must be easy to remember and also indicate what the
site is about. This will help it rank better in the search
engines and help customers remember your url.

I recommend that you use a .com domain extension rather
than a .net, .org or, one of the lesser used extensions.
Most people, and many web browsers automatically "default"
to the .com extension. The only reason I can think of for a
business to use one of the other extensions is if the .com
you really wanted is owned and you can't buy it. That's why
you don't want to wait once you've decided upon a name.
Register it right away! The best second choice for a domain
name extension is .net

3. As you develop your product ideas and work on your
website, get feedback on your "masterpiece" from others
who've done the same thing. They will point out many of
the pitfalls to you and make suggestions for improvements.
I recommend that you join the Internet Marketing Warriors
for this. They have a members-only discussion forum that
is visited by thousand every day and they are the perfect
community. They (we) are there to help members build their
business, and to network with each other. I am a moderator
for this members-only forum. I've been a member since
1998 if I remember correctly :-)

Before you sign up though, read step 4.

Join the Warriors (network) at
http://williecrawford.com/warriors/

4. Register your domain name. When you register your
domain name, you want to make sure that you list yourself
as the administrative contact and everything else that
has to do with your website. The reason is that the admin
contact is the person who controls the website. When a
website is sold or any changes made to it's record, the
registrars will contact the admin contact for approval
before making the change. Without the approval of the
registered administrative contact, you can't make ownership
type changes to your domain!

Register your domain at a service I have set up for
you. It costs less than a third what many others will
charge you. Do this at:
http://williecrawford.com/domains/

The Warrior Pro Membership comes with a full-featured
hosting package that I highly recommend. It will cost you
$25 per month, and lets you do everything your website will
need to do. You will have enough disk space for thousands
of pages. When you sign up for the Warrior Membership
though, indicate in the domain registration form that you
will handle the registration yourself. You'd pay $30 to
register through the Warriors when you can do it through
me for from $8.75 per year (less than $8 per year when you
register the site for multiple years).

I did not recommend that you sign up for my web hosting,
for your first domain, because the Warrior membership is
such a value for your first few websites. As you register
new domains and build new websites, the hosting company I
work thought at: http://williecrawford.com/domains/
is a tremendous value. Just make sure you choose the
options offering CGI capability since this is essential
for your website to have any type of interactivity. CGI is
absolutely necessary for any type of business website.

You do have to re-register your domain name each year.
For convenience, my service allows you the option of
pre-registering for up to 10 consecutive years.
You will get an email notification well in advance of your
domain expiring from practically all registrars. If you
fail to renew your registration your domain name will
become available for others to purchase. You could have an
established site up and running, and somebody can literally
purchase the name of your site right out from under your
nose if you are not paying attention. Sadly this does
happen. The service at: http://williecrawford.com/domain/
sends you notices when your domain is approaching expiration
and then sends you several reminders.

5. Spend some time reading the material on how to properly
set up your website at The Warriors. The email that you
get from them explains a lot of things. Also, read the
on-line help files. This will save you time in the long-run.
You can post questions you have to the Warrior forum later,
but since most questions you will have have already been
asked before, read the documentation first :-)

6. Find a way to process credit cards. The majority of
people buying things on-line will want to use a credit
card. If you don't offer this capability, potential
customers won't take you seriously. Without offering this
capability you'll lose over 90% of your potential sales.
When you first start out, you can use a third party credit
card processor. Two of the most popular are Clickbank and
Paypal. Both of these allow you to integrate your website
with their system, they process your credit card transaction
and then forward the money on to you according to your
instructions. They charge fees for their service which are
higher than you would pay with you own merchant account.

You should plan on getting your own merchant account,
but this can be expensive to set up, and even difficult
to qualify for. That's why most new businesses that I
deal with use Paypal and/or Clickbank first. Then, when
they are earning several thousand dollars a month, they
go ahead and get their own merchant account. When you
are ready to get your own merchant account ask for
recommendations at the Warrior forum or at my discussion
forum. Or just email me asking for my recommendation.

Get information on Paypal at http://www.paypal.com
Get information on Clickbank at: http://www.clickbank.com

There are other third party credit card processors but
I have accounts at both of the above, and can therefore
recommend them from experience. Clickbank is only good
for products delivered over the internet. They cannot
be used for products that are physically shipped. Paypal
does not have this restriction. Read about both services
on their sites and then ask questions in the forums.

7. Begin building your website. The Warrior Pro
Membership comes with several template webpages you can
integrate into your website. These templates are for
products you can sell and keep all of the money. Since
there were over 30,000 Warriors at one time (as I
understood it) these products aren't that rare and you
should not plan on making these your primary offer.
The make nice lead generators or backend products.

Most computers come with webpage editors already
loaded. Microsoft Frontpage is often featured. This
webpage editor is very easy to use and does work
great. It's what many, many people use. However, I
prefer Dreamweaver MX. It's expensive though. I
bought my last copy on Ebay. If you can qualify
for the educational version (must be a valid student)
you can save hundreds on this product.

I won't go into webpage creating in this course.
There are already thousands of tutorials out there
on that topic. The important thing is to get
started. If you can afford it, I recommend getting a
professional designer to create a header for your
site and do a professional layout for you. This will
make your site look more professional and therefore
will result in more sales later on. You can have
the designer take your concept and create the entire
website, or you can have them just create a shell or
template for you, and then you can take over from
there.

8. Begin building a mailing list immediately. You
may spend a lot of time and effort attracting
traffic to your website. Most of these visitors will
only visit your website ONCE so it's critical that
you get them to voluntarily join your mailing list.
That's how you will contact them later to remind them
to come back to your site and to make them aware of
products or services you offer.

I recommend a sign-up box for your mailing list on
each page of your website. I also recommend an exit
popup or popunder inviting them to join your list.
This is a box that popups up as they leave your site
or a page that opens behind your main page and is
there when they close the main page. It invites them
to join your list and is your last chance to get that
visitor to sign-up.

List building is a science in itself, but the most
important thing is that you need to give people a
good reason for joining your list. I publish an ezine
(an electronic magazine) and think this is an excellent
type of list to build. With the ezine, you send them
weekly or bi-weekly issues and gradually build a
relationship with your subscribers and potential
customers. You provide them with valuable information
and also make them aware of your products for sale.

9. On your website, describe your product or
service and tell your visitors how to order. Also,
ask them to order. Writing good webcopy can be
difficult. Like most things, the best way to learn
is by doing. Go to the searchengines and look up
the top listed sites for products similar to yours.
Visit each of their sites and see what they are
doing and how they are wording their sites. Model
yours after theirs but do not copy theirs. You will
refine and revise your site many times over the
years. Just notice their layout and what items on
the page is working for your competitors.

10. Once your site is up and running, your next
concern is traffic. The quickest way to get
traffic is to buy it from pay-per-click search
engines. At the pay-per-clicks you pay for each
visitor that reads your listing there and clicks
through to your site. You bid at the various
pay-per-clicks and the highest bidder appears in
the listing first in the partner search engines.
Depending upon which pay-per-click search engine
you use, your traffic costs can start at 1 cents
per visitor.

The most popular pay-per-clicks are Overture
and Google Adwords. Google is at
http://google.com and Overture is at:
http://overture.com
The instructions for setting up an account
with them is on the sites. Their minimum bid
and traffic volume is higher than the smaller pay per
clicks.

There are a few key points you need to remember
as you set up these accounts. Those points are:

- Your listing is really an ad and as such it
needs to give the potential visitor a compelling
reason to visit your site. It also needs to tell
him exactly what he will find at your site in order
to attract only qualified leads.

- The webpage that you bring this pay-per-click
traffic into your site though, must be a page
set up to convert that traffic. It should be a
page that will get that visitor to take the one
action you had in mind when you set up the
pay-per-click listing.

All of the nuances of pay-per-clicks is beyond
the scope of this article. My pay per clicks
teleseminar transcripts are a good primer on
the topic. They are featured at:
http://masterthepayperclicks.com

11. Begin examining other sources of generating
website traffic. This is a long-term project
that should include some or all of the following:

- Getting listings in all of the (non pay-per -click)
searchengines and directories. You want to focus on
the top few at first .... many of the small search
engines use the databases from the larger ones.

The searchengines are constantly changing and it's
a full-time job keeping up with them. It's actually
not worth the time for most on-line businesses since
there are more productive things you can be doing
with your time. I stay abreast of the latest at
the searchengines by reading the monthly updates
to the book The Unfair Advantage Book On Winning The
Search Engine Wars. The authors of this book spend
a lot of time testing and researching what currently
works best at each of the search engines. They put
out a monthly update to their basic book. You can
get the book and updates at:
http://williecrawford.com/searchengines/

- Writing and submitting articles to ezines and
article directories. As your articles are run in
ezines the subscribers to the ezines get to know
your material (you) and visit your site for more.
The article directories help your material get into
the searchengines as well as reach publishers searching
for material to publish.

- Exchanging links with related website. Traffic to
any website is going to eventually leave so you may
as well trade links with other webmasters. That way
they send you their exiting traffic and you do the
same for them. It's a win-win, situation. Just make
sure you don't put the links to other sites on
your homepage or sales page. You don't want to
distract potential customers, just send them to your
partners when they are ready to leave your site.

12. Consider/begin planning an affiliate program.
This is where you pay others for referring sales to
you. On the site where you sell your product... once
you've created it, you have a link to a sign-up form
where people can register to help sell your product.
You pay them a percentage of each sale. This is
the best and cheapest traffic and advertising you
will find. With an affiliate program you only pay
for performance.... you only pay when the referral
makes a sale.

There are many different programs and systems
for setting up an affiliate program. Clickbank has
an affiliate program build right in. All Clickbank
members can sell your products and Clickbank will not
only handle the order processing, they also handle
the bookkeeping and paying your affiliates.

I currently use Autopilotriches to manage my database,
mailing lists, order processing and affiliate program.
They work flawlessly and can't be beat for the price.
I haven't found a solution better than their set-up
for less than several thousand dollars up-front cost.
Check out and sign up for a trial Autopilotriches
account at: http://williecrawford.com/autopilot/
You will see why I love them so.

13. At this point you are in business for yourself
and if you've applied the insights from the previous
lesson, you should have a steady monthly income.
Now begin looking for more ways to work with others
and set up joint ventures. This is how your business
will grow the fastest. Look for others who have lists
that would benefit from your product and find ways to
be of service/benefit to them. Suggest mutually
beneficial arrangements to them. If what you offer
is truely of benefit to them and they are not already
so busy they cannot take on another partnership, they
will work with you and help grown your business.

14. Read everything you can find on marketing on-line.
Make sure it's from someone who knows what they are
talking about though. Listen to tapes, CDs, MP3s and
watch videos of those doing what you want to do.
Totally immerse yourself in the learning process.

One thing you will probably notice is that many of
the most successful people don't have all of the
answers. You should also notice that they are
always learning and testing. They learn from each
other and are always seeking to improve their results.
You must adopt this process in order to continue
growing from this point. Keep the things that are
works and stop doing the things that don't work.

There you have it, a down a dirty checklist to
follow in building your on-line business. Some parts
need fleshing out a little, and you'll find much of
that in earlier course lessons. Anything not
adequately covered, you need to research and discuss
with trusted advisors and/or discussion forums. If
you seek help on the forums, always be mindful of
the experience level of the individual offering the
advice.

-------------------------
Excerpted from: Willie Crawford's 20 Lesson Internet
Business Success Course. Willie has been in business
marketing products over the internet since 1996 and
shares with you a wealth of experience and "lessons
learned." Sign up for the free course
http://williecrawford.com
===================================================

Subscribe to the rest of this free 20-part email course today using this box:

Privacy Policy: Your email address and information is never shared with anyone!

Here's an email from just one satisfied course subscriber:

Date sent: Sat, 24 May 2003 14:45:49 -0500
From: helen ball <----@sbcglobal.net>
To: willie@williecrawford.com
Subject: Please Don't Respond ...

Hi Willie -

I hope you don't cringe when you spot this return address! I know I'm sending along a lot of email to a man who is a virtual stranger (in more ways than one). Please don't feel obligated to respond! It falls in the category of "Ego Stroking 101."

It's about your one-to-one subject in the #11 newsletter. I've never given it much thought, but you really nailed it. That's why I've become so attached to you and your site (and your products, when I can
afford them). In fairness to Marlon Sanders ... Yanik Silver ... Joe Robson ... Ken Evoy ... Jim and Dallas Edwards ... Michael Southon ... Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale and all the other publishing moguls on the
Net, they all write great e-books. I've got all their products sitting right next to my desk.

But none of them has motivated me to get off my duff and DO SOMETHING as much as your taking the trouble to personally answer my first email. (I think I mentioned it actually moved me to tears.) You no longer have to "sell" me on anything you say, do, or offer for sale. I consider you a friend who wants to share, not a hustler who wants to sell.

I'm sure you've developed this rapport with hundreds of people, but somehow you make it seem as though you have a special relationship with each of us.

I'm especially impressed with your free newsletter. You're sure not the first vendor to say you want to "give back" something. But guess what? You're the first person I've ever known to actually do it. When I subscribed to your free newsletter, I expected to get the same thing I get from all the other free ones: fluff ... self promotion ... and generic material. When you said it was worth $197, I thought "sure."

But you're right ... it IS ... and for my vote, you're the #1 guy in keeping his word in this business. I don't think it's something you "do" because it's good for business; I think it's just YOU. And it really shows! If I was back in the days of endorsing Air Force OERs, you'd definitely be a "promote below the zone."

Till later - Helen

Here are just a few of the things you'll learn during this course:

• How to come up with product ideas

• How to find your "niche"

• How to develop a business plan

• How to write web and ad copy that's IRRESISTIBLE

• How to build a low maintenance website that generates sales galore

• How to DOUBLE your ezine subscription rates

• How to decrease your ezine unsubscribe rate

• Where to advertise for best results

• How to get thousands of dollars worth of free advertising

• How to SIGNIFICANTLY increase your search engine ranking

• Traps to avoid in building your online business

• How to spend LESS time running your business AND get better results at the same time

• The secrets of those earning hundreds of thousands of dollars annually online

• How to double your sales for any affiliate product

• How to triple the profits earned from each customer

• How to get tons of free off-line publicity

• How to really ramp up your website traffic

Grab this free online course today.  Just fill in the box below.  You will receive 2 lessons per week for the next 10 weeks.  You may cancel at any time.  However, I am sure that, instead you will:

- Look forward to each information packed lesson.

- Print out each lesson and highlight key points.

- Read these lessons over and over.

- Study and apply them, virtually guaranteeing your online success.

Sign up NOW and GET STARTED!

If you have any questions while studying these lessons feel free to contact me.  Since I maintain a fairly busy schedule, email is preferred.

The course is free, but I have had a few people ask me about assembling it into a book or a course. So we've decided to also make those available to you. There is a slight charge for these though.

To get the entire course delivered as an ebook will cost $9.97. Click here to order now.

To get the entire course delivered on CD will cost only $19.97. It comes with a bonus of:

- The Internet Marketer's Resource Toolbox. This is a CD containing the insider sources for anything and everything you will need in the Internet Marketing Industry. This is a $39.95 value.

To get the entire course delivered on CD click here. We will send it and the bonus to you via Priority Mail!

To get the entire course delivered as a printed course will cost $39.97. It comes in a 3 ring bind and included the following bonus:

- Some notes I've taken over the years at various conferences and workshops. These are my private notes and not available ANYWHERE else.

- The Internet Marketer's Resource Toolbox. This is a CD containing the insider sources for anything and everything you will need in the Internet Marketing Industry.

- A 30 Minute Product Creations Secrets Interview on CD. Jeff Smith of Info Product Creator, interviewed me for 30 minutes. There are a lot of seldom revealed insights in this interview.

Gary Knuckles', Internet Marketing 101 Teleseminar recording on 2 CDs. Gary did a teleseminar where Marty Foley, Dr.Bob Silber, Stephen Pierce, Gary, Willie Crawford, and Rick Beneteau discussed many aspects of internet marketing. We answered many questions submitted by the audience. This is a very insightful interview that sells for $27 from several websites.

Order the course today and I will rush the entire package to you via Priority Mail. The $39.97 includes the postage fee. To get the entire course in a 3-ring binder, along with the bonuses, sent to you via Priority Mail, Click Here.

Here are some things a few course subscribers had to say:

Willie -

I like your material a lot for the simple reason there is no hype (which is so, so common on the internet) and you bring in objective analysis.

While you may not appeal to the "make millions in 30 days" crowd - you do appeal to guys like myself who want pure information. 
Thank you.

Robert M. Campbell
www.RealEstateTiming.com
 

Hi Willie,
I think your course is excellent, the best I've come across so far. I'm sure you must anticipate your course series to be copied by many others in the near future. A refreshing change from the usual series of messages loaded with ads. 
Thanks for the follow-up, and keep it coming. I'm learning a lot.

Best
Vince Hoban
 

Mr. Crawford,
Thanks for the very educational lessons. I've subscribed to a few other course before and I must say you teach a lot more "insider information" than most.

Take care,
Shelly Burns-Jackson

Willie Crawford 
willie@williecrawford.com
P.O. Box 636
Valparaiso, Florida 32580-0636
Phone (850) 651-3594/3527

Member of the International Council Of Online Professionals 

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