Let's start from the very beginning. These are the essential steps to take once you have
decided to launch your business:

1. Set up an email account : Even if you have an email address that you use to communicate
with friends and family, it is better to have a separate one that you can use just for business purposes.
There are plenty of free ones available. Two of the more popular web- based email programs are
Hotmail and Gmail. The benefit of these is the ability to still check your email, even if you are away
from your computer on vacation or at a conference.

2. Set up your own website : This is not a complete must-have, however, if you plan to market to the
global audience, it becomes more neccessary. The first step you need to take is to register a Domain
Name. The domain name is what comes after the “http://www.” in any internet address.
A domain can have lots of different extensions, such as “.com”, “.net”, “.org” and so on. When choosing
your domain name, try to get one that ends in “.com” AND ".org". Searchers usually will not remember the
extension and will just use “.com” as it is the most common one to use. So, if you had
www.YourDomain.org, and someone else had www.YourDomain.com, there is a good chance that they
could end up typing in the .com address and go to the other site rather than yours. This is NOT good!

Once you have your domain name, you need to ‘Host’ it somewhere. A hosting account is basically like
paying rent for your website. You probably don’t have a server to host a website, so you have to rent that
server space from a company. There are lots of different hosting companies on the web, some are free,
some are cheap (about $9.95 per month) but have very limited features, and there are very expensive
ones, right up to dedicated servers where you have a whole machine dedicated to running your site.
These cost up to $200 a month or more. If you are starting out, you definitely don’t need a dedicated
server, but you shouldn’t go for the cheapest one either. One of the best hosts I have found online is
Computers Don't Byte. More than just regular hosting, they actually give you an number of tools for you
to use, as well as a dedicated and easy to use control panel. I personally use this hosting company
and have never had any problems with them.

The great thing about them is that they don’t have a minimum contract so you only pay monthly, and
if you use the coupon found here, you will get 4 free months of hosting (a $32 savings)!!

3. Sell Products On Your Website : The next thing you need to do is to have something to sell on your
website. There are a few approaches you can use here. One is to create your own products (if you don't
have a physical product to sell), another is to sell other peoples products, and a third is to get private label
licenses to products so that you can brand them and put your own name on them (this is the most
profitable, but generally it is the most expensive).

In the next few articles, we will discuss three product options, as well as promoting and advertising
your business!