You have been feeling stress and feeling the heat about your finances lately. You find that your expanses are increasing and there is no end to it as you want to reward and pamper yourself after a hard day's work. You find that sooner or later you will reach a stage whereby you will have to think carefully before spending your hard earned money. So you think about increasing your income through different sources. So you start searching for additional income streams. You heard from your friends or colleagues about the potential of the internet and what it can offer you. So you tell yourself 'Hmnn since virtually everyone is praising about how useful the internet is in maximising incomes', you then decided to hop on the bandwagon like what everyone else is doing and ride the wave. After spending your time researching the internet for ideas on generating additional income streams, you decided that you want to start a online business. Ok thats fine but you have totally no idea on how to start a business.

But this article will touch on the basics and help you kickstart your online business. First off i have to tell you that it is never easy starting a business much so an online business. Many people today have really no clue about how to start a online business. They just blindly jump into the fray and start without proper planning and learning how the internet actually works for online businesses. In the end they get burnt by it just like speculating in stocks without the knowledge of speculating in stocks! Many think that it is easy money to be made in the internet. I have to agree on that. But one also has to realise that not everything works the same way and some ways may work for some but others don't. Ok enough of talking already, i'm sure that you must be anxious to learn and start your online business straight away so i'll now head on to the first step on starting a online business.

1. Choosing an industry that you are comfortable with and strong at. Now why do i say that? To start a business you need to have an understanding of the industry that your business is targetting. You can't head blindly into an industry that you are unfamiliar with as most likely you will struggle alot and ultimately fail. Although you can head into an industry without past experiences and succeed, you have to do alot of research and groundwork before you can start. Researching takes up alot of time and wasting too much time researching may actually put off most people into starting a business or if u intend to start a business during your leisure time-take it as part time, you wouldn't have that much time to spend now would you? So the best way to start a online business is that you find an industry that you are good at. This makes your job easier as you know what to expect and if problems arises, you know how to solve it.

2. Having a sound business and marketing plan. To start off a business you need to have a sound business plan so that you know what direction you are headed and what your business is all about. With a sound business plan, you need not worry about what you plan to do and achieve in a period of time along with your aims and targets. But having a business plan is not enough if you don't have customers! So here comes the marketing plan. Having a marketing plan to complement your business plan is a must. The marketing plan outlines your business strategies and operations and includes details of how to market your business to prospective customers/patrons and also to grow your business. Without both plans, it is virtually impossible to start a business much less maintaining it and being successful.

Ok thats about the basic stuffs one needs to start a online business. Now i will go in depth on the technical areas. So you have a business and marketing plan done and also the industry that you are targetting, so what's the next step you might ask? You decided that you need a website to start with. Ok fine, but you realise that there are tonnes of website designers. Note when i say tonnes i literally mean tonnes of website designers offering their services for a fee. As there is too many, you do not know who is the best and whether they are trustworthy. You are afraid of being conned into paying for a lousy service. Ok fine u said. Why not i create my own website from scratch? But you need to know that creating a website from scratch is never easy as you need to know the coding of a website or using a software such as dreamweaver that is catered for developing and creating websites. But learning the software takes a bit of effort and time from the user in order to master the software and create a decent looking website.

So let me help you a little on this aspect. If you decide to create your own website. By all means go ahead. You have to make sure that you have the patience and effort to start from the basics as it is a rather tedious affair to start with. I recommend that you use reference books to aid you in your learning process. You can also use the internet forums to help you learn and understand better. Google the internet on forums that discuss and teaches one how to start a website from scratch. Another helpful tool would be online tutorials. Ok that's about it regarding to starting your website from scratch.

Ok so you have decided to engage the services of website designers. You can choose to approach well-known and established companies or just pick someone from the tonnes of designers out there. You should keep in mind how much you are willing to pay for a website as this affects your choice. If you are low on cash and on a budget, you should consider picking someone from the tonnes of designers out there. I can assure you that there are actually a bunch of talented designers who actually don't have a web design company or a employee of it. Most are actually freelance professionals who accept jobs out of their own free time. Meaning that they use their own free time to help people create websites for a fee. Some just treat of it as a hobby or a way to generate extra cash for their needs. You can find most of them in online forums offering their services. You can email them and enquire about their services. Most of the time you tell them what you want your website to be and they will get it done for you. Usually this is done within a day or a few days which is considered fast. After finishing the website that you requested, they will send to you an image of the website and if you like it, you pay them and they will send you the files.

Part 2 on Tips on starting online business will be released soon.