Starting an Online Business

Is starting an online business any different than starting a business in the real world?

When you start an online business, you have to think about keywords, search engine optimization, websites, website traffic and analytics.

In the real world, you don’t typically have to worry about those things, unless you decide to use the internet to get more people to your real world business – which you should do.

But, too many people forget that when they start an online business, it IS a real world business.

You might not have an office on Main Street and you might not even see or talk with your customers on a regular basis, but your business can only exist because of people in the real world.

When you sell an ebook, you sell it to a real person who’s interested in the topic of your book and wants to use that information to improve their life.

Even if you use advertising as your sole revenue model, it’s people who visit your website and click on the ads.  People generally click on ads because they’re curious about the subject matter or they’re interested in the topic.

Whether your business is online or offline, the more you know about the people in your target market and what they want, need and desire, the easier it will be for your business to succeed.

The online world and the offline world are converging.  I haven’t bought a music CD in years – I buy all of my music in digital format.

I don’t rent DVD’s anymore – I rent movies in digital format through Apple TV.

I have a Nook, so if I want to buy a book, I can download it and start reading it in 30 seconds (as long as it’s available in digital format).

If I buy a new electronic gadget, 99% of the time, I buy it online.

I don’t watch the news on TV, I read the news online because I can select what I want to read, when I want to read it.

If I want to research a subject, I don’t go the library, I use the internet for my research.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if formal educational institutions are the next victims of the digital frontier.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think colleges and universities will disappear because of the cultural, social and human factors involved, but there are major problems with the way our conventional system works.

Getting a formal education can cost a fortune.  A four-year college education is typically in the range of $30,000 to $50,000.  Obviously, this varies a lot depending on what school you choose.  If you want to attend the best in the U.S., it’ll cost you even more.

If you ignore the social benefits of college and focus on the quality of the education, I think that universities are missing that practical element.  If you graduate, you have a degree, but what do you really learn in college that’s gonna help you in the real world?  Some fields may be better than others, but college doesn’t prepare you for a job, it gives you a little bit of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects.

Okay, I could go on and on about learning online versus paying for a formal education, but here’s my point – the internet is a great resource for learning and conducting business and that’s why I started the Interwebs Institute.

The Interwebs Institute is a place to learn about online businesses.  My first course is called Internet Marketing Simplified and it’s a course on how to start an online business.  It teaches you the fundamentals of internet marketing and the basic principles for building a successful online business.

My goal is to constantly improve the course with the best practical information available, based on experience and actual case studies.  No hype.  No BS.  Just practical information that will help people build their own profitable online business.

I’ll also be adding new courses as time goes on.  The courses will be focused on specific topics related to online business.  Some courses will be for people just starting out online and some will be for people that already have established online businesses.  Our goal is to create awesome courses that will help people build profitable online businesses.  Period.

You can check it out here – http://interwebsinstitute.com