Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies
7. Auflage
Erschienen am 20. August 2024
691 Seiten
978-1-394-27110-8 (ISBN)
Beschreibung
Establish a successful online business and grow your customer base
Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies is the compass you need to navigate the exciting world of e-commerce. You'll discover the latest web trends, learn the basics of designing a website, and get tips for creating a compelling online presence. Plus, the guidance inside helps you stretch your marketing muscles to boost your brand's visibility, from the basics to more advanced strategies. This updated edition also shows you how to build a print-on-demand business, generate opportunities with AI, and break into the international marketplace.
- Learn how to fund your online business idea
- Drive traffic to your website or social media page using search engine optimization
- Stand out from the competition with proven online business strategies
- Manage security risks and stay one step ahead of potential threats.
Perfect for aspiring online entrepreneurs and established business owners aiming to enhance their digital footprint, this book will take you all the way from start-up to success.
Weitere Details
Weitere Ausgaben
Personen
Shannon Belew leads the global go-to-market and e-commerce strategy for Bentley Systems. She is a speaker and recognized expert in online marketing and business strategy.
Joel Elad is the founder of Real Method Consulting. He is also the author of LinkedIn For Dummies.
Inhalt
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Book 1 Start-Up Essentials
- Chapter 1 Starting from Scratch
- Creating online businesses for today and tomorrow
- Finding a business that's your type
- Chapter 2 Turning Ideas into a Viable Internet Business
- Thinking Like an Online Entrepreneur
- Putting Your Business Idea under the Microscope
- Using informal research to verify your idea
- Applying a SWOT analysis to your idea
- Creating a feasibility study to validate an idea
- Identifying Your Market and Target Customer
- Classifying your customer
- Going to the source
- Competing to Win: Analyzing Your Competition
- Chapter 3 Getting Real: Creating a Usable Business Plan
- Understanding the Value of a Plan
- Recognizing That the Parts of the Plan Make a Whole
- Getting Help to Write the Plan
- Determining when to hire a professional
- Knowing what to expect from a business plan consultant
- Using a Business Plan Today, Tomorrow, and Always
- Chapter 4 Funding Your Online Business
- Bootstrapping the Low-Cost, No-Cost Site
- Making the leap to the bootstrapping lifestyle
- Saving money to make money
- Getting resourceful
- Looking at the pros and cons of bootstrapping
- Finding the Perfect Investor
- Turning to your friends and family
- Finding angels
- Venturing into the world of venture capital
- Checking Out Alternative Financing
- Taking a Shortcut: Purchasing an Existing Site
- Chapter 5 Creating Policies and Managing Compliance to Keep It Real
- Taking Care of Customers
- I pledge to you
- Put it in writing
- Delivering on Your Promises
- Putting Policies in Place
- Privacy policy
- User agreement or terms and conditions
- Shipping policy
- Return policy
- Safety for young users
- Other online policies
- Complying With the Law
- Let's talk about GDPR
- The importance of ADA
- Lesser known policies that could incur fines
- Book 2 Legal and Accounting
- Chapter 1 Minding the Law
- Keeping Your Business Legal
- Federal tax identification number
- Resale certificate
- Business bank account
- Employee forms
- Zoning for Business (at Home)
- Obtaining Business Licenses
- Chapter 2 Choosing the Right Foundation: From Partnerships to Corporations
- Strategizing for the Best Organization
- Operating Alone as a Sole Proprietor
- Fictitious name registration
- Marriage and the sole proprietorship
- Sharing the Load with a Partnership
- Limited Liability Company
- Making It Official with Incorporation
- Different flavors of corporations
- The choice to incorporate
- Changing Your Organization as It Grows
- Chapter 3 The Trademark-and- Copyright Two-Step
- Understanding Why Trademarks and Copyrights Matter
- Making Your (Trade)Mark
- Protecting Your Investment with Copyrights
- Establishing Registration Yourself
- Getting your trademark
- Filing for copyright
- Retaining Professional Assistance
- Chapter 4 Accounting for Taxes (and Then Some)
- The Tax Man Cometh - Again and Again
- Income tax
- Employment tax
- Sales tax
- By the Numbers: Accounting Basics
- Determining periods and methods
- And now, your balance sheet
- A quick glimpse: The P&L
- Choosing Software to Make Your Tasks Easy
- Going online?
- What size are you?
- How much do you want to pay?
- Do you need support?
- Hiring a Professional
- Recognizing that it takes all types
- Knowing what to expect from your tax professional
- Finding likely candidates
- Choosing the best person for you
- Following the Rules of Recordkeeping
- Dealing with all the paper
- Storing records: How long is long enough?
- Book 3 Website Functionality and Aesthetics
- Chapter 1 What's in a (Domain) Name?
- Basics of URL Structure and Why It Matters
- Approaching your domain name carefully
- Optimizing your domain name for SEO
- Registering the Perfect Name
- You have a choice: Domain registration options
- Let's make it official
- Finding Out What to Do When Somebody Gets There First
- Exploring your domain name options
- Negotiating what you want - at a price
- All the Good Ones Are (Not) Taken
- Varying the extension
- Getting creative
- Chapter 2 Designing for User Experience
- Mapping the Customer Experience
- Basic functionality
- Interactive functionality
- Enhanced functionality
- Maximizing Performance for Profitability
- Establishing Page Goals
- Mapping Your Route to a Successful Site
- Avoiding common holdups in developing a site plan
- Putting Your Best Site Forward
- Following design trends and UX principles
- Testing Your Design Assumptions
- Chapter 3 Serving Up Your Site
- Determining What Makes the Difference for High-Performance Hosting
- Putting Your Site in the Cloud
- Serving Yourself: Don't Overlook Other Server Options
- Keeping Your Customers and Your Site Secure
- Chapter 4 Developing Content That Satisfies Visitors and Search Engines
- Words Are Words - Right? Wrong!
- Words that are "key" to search
- Beyond keywords
- Getting Ready to Write for the Web
- Understanding buyer personas
- Tracking the buyer's journey
- Getting organized
- Mapping content where it counts
- Moved to Purchase: Turning Words into Action
- Chapter 5 Going Beyond Beta and Launching Your Site
- Some Things to Know Before You Start Uploading
- Taking the Compatibility Test: Testing Screen Resolutions, Browsers, and Platforms
- Checking it out
- Testing on Mac, Windows, or whatever
- Keeping people in mind
- Taking a Trial Run
- Three, Two, One - Takeoff!
- Book 4 Online and Operating
- Chapter 1 Determining Your Revenue Model
- Selling Tangible Products
- Projecting how you'll make a profit
- Manufacturing and selling your own goods
- Buying tangible goods and selling them online
- Finding your own merchandise
- Buying wholesale
- Going inventory-free: Drop-shipping
- Selling Your Professional Services
- Understanding the pros and cons
- Building credibility
- Selling Thought Leadership - Your Own Information Product
- Finding hot topics
- Researching the information
- Analyzing Opportunities
- Choosing an Affiliate Advertising Program
- Putting It All Together: Multiple Revenue Streams
- Chapter 2 Making Money with Affiliate Programs
- Looking at How Affiliate Programs Work
- Understanding some affiliate terms
- Types of affiliate payments
- Finding an affiliate program
- Avoiding Scams and Questionable Content
- Illegal affiliations
- Questionable affiliations
- Chapter 3 Paying with the Right Payment Options
- Accepting Credit Card Payments
- Securing a merchant account
- Choosing a payment gateway
- Reading the fine print: Fees
- Offering Alternative Payment Options
- Managing the Payment Process to Protect Your Income
- Chapter 4 Putting the (Shopping) Cart before the Horse
- Not All Carts Are Created Equal
- Back-end management
- Customer-centric elements
- Integration and maintenance
- Promotion and marketing
- Shopping Around for the Best Hosted Solution
- 1ShoppingCart
- Foxy
- Shopify
- Finding Stand-Alone Shopping-Cart Software
- Designing a Custom Cart
- Chapter 5 Taking Inventory
- Finding Out What's Popular
- Putting Together All Your Research
- Pricing Your Products
- Building Your Inventory
- Stocking up as a low-price leader
- Becoming all things to all people with trial-and-error inventory
- Specializing with limited inventory
- Chapter 6 Fulfilling Expectations and Orders
- Figuring Out the Logistics of Shipping
- Developing an In-House Fulfillment Model
- Deciding to Outsource Fulfillment
- Finding an outsourcing partner
- Establishing your outsourcing relationship
- Operating with an outsourced fulfillment house
- Assessing the quality of the fulfillment work
- Shaping Up and Shipping Out
- Giving your customers shipping options
- Creating online postage and labels
- Having items picked up for delivery
- Shipping international orders
- Maintaining the Backend
- Deciding on a database
- Using handheld scanners and bar codes
- Developing a shelving inventory system
- Feeding orders into the shipping department
- Book 5 Managing Security Risks
- Chapter 1 Understanding Security and Your Risks
- Legal Responsibility: The Merchant and the Customer
- Avoiding chargebacks
- Protecting privacy: GDPR and growing compliance concerns
- Keeping Your Website Secure
- Chapter 2 Developing a Plan: Security and Business Continuity
- Making a Plan
- Policies and procedures
- Inventory and skills assessments
- Risk analysis
- Existing security measures
- Action plan and backup alternatives
- People, resources, and follow-up communications
- Creating a Budget for Your Plan
- Finding Security Resources
- Chapter 3 Spotting and Thwarting Bad Actors, Hackers, and More
- Fending Off Attacks
- Deterring Bad Actors
- Avoiding Common Threats
- Keeping Your Domain Name Safe
- Staying Away from Scams
- Social engineering
- Phishing
- Smishing
- Pharming
- Vishing
- Scareware
- Extortion
- Insider threats
- Mobile Security Risks
- Understanding How a Wireless LAN Works
- Establishing Barriers
- Following your common sense
- Setting up a virtual private network
- Keeping an eye on your connection
- Chapter 4 Locking Down Your Site and Your Business
- Protecting against Personal Data Loss and Credit Card Fraud
- Minimizing your financial losses
- Protecting customers' privacy and financial data
- Backing Up Your Data
- Adding Firewalls
- Book 6 Online Marketing Basics
- Chapter 1 Jump-Starting Traffic and Driving Sales
- Defining Key Elements for Digital Marketing Success
- Getting to Know Your Buyers - Really Well
- Developing buyer personas
- Defining buying stages
- Calculating Your Site's Conversion Rate
- Figuring Out When You Get the Most Traffic
- Leading Customers to the Right Web Pages
- Enticing Customers to Convert
- Purchasing right now: The instant customer
- Nurturing the indecisive (or not-yet- ready to convert) site visitor
- Chapter 2 Influencing for Attention and Customers
- Writing Reviews
- Finding the best places to post reviews
- Writing the review, section by section
- Becoming an Online Influencer
- Speaking out with video
- Defining your specialty
- Establish consistent schedule, output, and technology
- Setting up your video channel
- Interact with your growing audience
- Chapter 3 Web Marketing at Work
- Developing a Marketing Strategy
- Devising your brand
- Working the brand
- Gaining a Following with Social Media
- Using social media properly
- Determine who will administer your social media accounts
- Create and maintain your social media activity calendar
- Reeling in Customers with Newsletters
- Decide what content belongs in your newsletter
- Decide on a design format for your newsletter
- Decide how to distribute your newsletter
- Decide the "call to action" of your newsletter
- Automating Routine Tasks
- Searching for Traffic with Search Engine Advertising
- Signing up for Google Ads
- Setting up a Google campaign
- Deciding when to use pay per click
- Chapter 4 Analyzing and Monitoring Your Customers
- Tracking Trends
- Measuring Website Traffic
- Defining the terms of traffic analysis
- Referring to your user acquisitions
- Examining viewer behavior
- Measuring traffic against activity
- Analyzing Your Traffic Analysis Software
- Basic analysis software
- Detailed analysis software
- Enterprise or big business
- Collecting the Correct Information
- Storing data using cookies
- Adding information to your links
- Studying the path analysis
- Getting to Know Your Customer
- Chapter 5 Mastering Search Engines, Optimization, and Rankings
- Navigating the Ins and Outs of Major Search Engines
- Getting Your Website Noticed by Search Engines
- Placing Keywords in Key Spots on Your Website
- Keywords that are invisible
- Creating META tags
- Adding ALT attributes
- Keywords that are visible
- Arranging Your Pages Strategically
- Watching Your Rankings
- Moving Up in the Rankings
- Knowing where you stand
- Seeing what your competition is doing
- Creating your own referrals
- Book 7 E-Commerce Fundamentals
- Chapter 1 Starting Up with E-Commerce Functionality
- Performance
- Product merchandizing and marketing
- Administration features
- Chapter 2 Web-ify Your Store with Shopify
- Why Open a Shopify Store?
- Setting Up Shop
- Managing Your Shopify Store
- Constructing your catalog
- Opening the doors
- Selecting a Plan
- Basic Shopify package: Starting out
- Shopify package: Moving up
- Advanced Shopify package: Building on solid ground
- Breaking Down the Fees
- Growing with Your New Business Partner
- Marketing programs
- Customer relationship management
- Sales reports
- Chapter 3 Making eBay THE Way
- Understanding How eBay Works
- Getting Started on eBay
- Setting Up an Item for Sale
- Maintaining your item listings
- Leaving feedback for your buyer
- Opening an eBay Store
- Setting up shop
- Managing your store
- Chapter 4 Posting Pictures for Profit
- Establishing Your Instagram Account
- Enticing Customers to Your Instagram Offering
- Publicizing your Instagram presence
- Displaying your online goods in your Instagram feed
- Providing Great Content and Community for Your Instagram Feed
- Focusing on pictures first
- Adding comments and hashtags
- Following the right people
- Harnessing the power of video
- Creating Instagram stories for your business
- Book 8 E-Commerce Trends and Market Opportunities
- Chapter 1 Discovering Niche Markets
- Deciding to Sell a Niche Product
- Finding Your Niche
- Chapter 2 Becoming a Social Influencer for Real Dollars
- Setting the Virtual Stage for Success
- Understanding How to Profit
- Revenue sources
- Legal obligations
- Developing Your Fan Base
- Choosing the Right Platform
- Creating Your Own Video Channel
- Vloggers and video gamers
- Instructional and premium content videos
- Gathering, Networking, and Promoting: Online Communities
- Chapter 3 Evaluating the SaaS Model: Selling Software and Apps
- Deciding to Deliver Online Services
- Putting the Software in the SaaS
- Understanding the SaaS Model for Making Money
- Creating Apps for the Mobile Customer
- Budgeting and building apps
- Uploading apps for sale
- Chapter 4 Generating Efficiencies and Opportunities with AI, ChatGPT, and More
- Understanding the Basics of the Technology
- Creating with Artificial Intelligence
- Using AI to simplify or advance your business
- Opportunities to earn with AI
- Legal considerations
- Using ChatGPT to Your Advantage
- Shortcuts enabled by ChatGPT
- Building apps and service opportunities
- Identifying What's Coming Next
- Chapter 5 Building a POD (Print-on- Demand) Business
- Avoiding the Inventory Trap (the Basics of POD)
- Choosing Customized Products
- Typical product offerings
- Product categories
- Design trends
- Sourcing design ideas
- Selecting a POD Partner
- Printify
- Printful
- Zazzle
- Gelato
- Amazon Merch
- Know Your (Cost) Margins
- Building a Customer Base
- Chapter 6 Growing Beyond Borders: The International Marketplace
- Understanding the Scope of a Global Opportunity
- Focusing on Target Countries
- Making Operational Decisions
- Translations
- Local payment options
- Shipping and handling
- Global partnerships
- Supply chains
- Resellers
- Social influencers
- Developing Cultural Awareness
- Book 9 E-Commerce Advanced
- Chapter 1 Mapping the Digital Buyer's Journey
- Deconstructing the Path of an Online Buyer
- Monitoring the Flipped and Fluid Digital Sales Funnel
- Putting It All Together: The Buyer, the Conversion, the Channel
- Modeling buyer behavior
- Mapping critical conversion points
- Triggering the social influencer
- Chapter 2 Getting Personal with Content Marketing
- Delivering the Goods with the Right Content Approach
- Developing Buyer Personas
- Creating Content for Storytelling and Consumption
- Content framework
- Content segments
- Content types
- Aligning content to intent
- Launching the Personalization Effort Online
- Integrating systems
- Categorization: One thing is not like the others
- Choosing personalization tools
- Chapter 3 Overhauling an Aging Online Business
- Paying Attention to the Signs
- Using VOC to Understand What Your Customer Really Thinks
- Types of customer feedback that matter
- Tools for collecting and analyzing VOC data
- Listening and Taking Action: Time to Redesign
- Qualifying for a Makeover from Lagging Sales
- Increasing the number of visitors to your site
- Converting more visitors to (repeat) buyers
- Reengaging Customers to Spend with You, Again
- A tailor-made offer
- A targeted offer
- Chapter 4 Expanding Products to Increase Stagnant Sales
- Figuring Out When to Expand Your Product Line
- Limited appeal products
- Limited-use products
- Technology-based products
- Product marketing
- Product positioning
- Price points
- Conversion rates
- Replacement or Expansion: The Art of Culling Your Inventory
- Replacing one product with another
- Expanding your product line
- Finding Alternatives to Spur Growth
- Chapter 5 Transitioning a Small Site into Big Business
- Seeking Out the Next Level of Your Business
- Expanding the business
- Acquiring other sites
- Going global
- Bringing in financial partners
- Create a succession plan and retire
- Selling your site
- Purposefully Making the Next Move
- Index
- EULA
