3 Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online

Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.

There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.

What are these three tactics?

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more. 

Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing. 

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch. 

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word free because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that is focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day. 

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic. 

The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part. 

Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do. 

Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving

Work at Home Successfully

So, you've decided to start a home based business. Congratulations! and welcome to the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it. The thrill of growing your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business.

Now that you've decided to start your business, you might be wondering "How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?" These seven tips will help:

1) Set up a separate working space in your home. It doesn't matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room. The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream.

2) Stock your working space with materials. This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy, too.

3) Speaking of time management, your third step is to define the parameters of your business. What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all of this straight?

4) Balance action with planning. One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning. Stated another way, this means that you confuse "being busy" with "working on important projects." The best approach is to plan your next couple of goals and then work backwards to create step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it's time to take the action.

5) Network like crazy. One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people can't buy if they don't know you're selling.

6) Present a professional image. If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with.

7) Automate your business as much as possible. Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details. This might work for now, but won't work into the future as you get busier and busier. It's best to set up automatic systems and processes right from the start to free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities.

These seven tips will get your home business started (and growing) in the right direction.

Having a home business career has become a real possibility with the dawn of the Internet. This brought about the beginning of a new way of life for many people. Instead of struggling to make ends meet with a low paying job, now you can have a business career at home by operating your own Internet business. This is not a difficult task and the cost of getting everything set up is not at all high. You can stay at home, work when you like and dress how you like with a home business career.

Many people shy away from the idea of a home business career because they feel it means door-to-door selling or managing home parties to sell products. With the advances in technology, you can have your own turnkey Internet business with just the click of your mouse. Getting started with this type of Internet home business does mean you have to do a little research to find out what it is that consumers want to buy.

Online shopping makes it possible for you to have an Internet home business career that you operate from home. With the convenience of the online retailers being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, more and more consumers shop for just about everything they need through the Internet. An online pharmacy, for example, is a very profitable type of turnkey Internet business as is selling hard to find products, such as plus size clothing.

The wealth of information available on the Internet about various turnkey businesses and how you can get started right away is overwhelming. You do need to find a home business career in something that you really love, whether it is jewelry, address labels, or hot tubs. Anything and everything is sold on the Internet and setting up your own website is the first step involved in having your own home business career. You can write articles to lead in to each product and link to another company if you wish to become an affiliate and make money this way. Either way, a turnkey Internet business is profitable. 

You do have to be patient because success with a turnkey Internet business does not happen overnight. You do have to build up the website in the search engine rankings so that people looking for the product you sell will find it. In addition to setting up your own home business career with an Internet site, you can have Google ads that pay you every time someone clicks through on one of them. Having a home business career is an excellent way to have more leisure time, but you do have to put in time getting it started. 

So if you want a home business career an internet home business is a very viable alternative.

Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Internet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merging you will need another word. Traffic. Every article you will find about making your site or company successful would always include the importance of generating traffic.

So, we all know that in the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company's internal organization well taken core of, it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, generating traffic. 

If you already have a site and you want think that you're not getting the traffic that you're supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider. If you are contending in these very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday. 

Timing is essential, that's an old adage known to everyone. But with generating traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google's Adwords and Yahoo's Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase your traffic. 

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo's advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing 

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company's name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people. 

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters. 

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic. 

Considering an MLM home based business?

Considering an MLM home based business? 

 

If so, it could be a very lucrative home based business option for you. But you should also know exactly whether or not what you are getting into is truly an MLM home based business or something else.  It may be a scam waiting to pounce on you. 

Plus, you need to weigh out the positives and negatives of an MLM home based business before you decide that if it is the right business for you.

Making sure you are actually getting involved in a legitimate MLM home based business is important to save yourself some difficulties later on. 

An MLM home based business involves the direct selling of products or services through the recommendations or endorsements of independent representatives. 

If you are the representative, you receive a commission on any sales that came from your endorsements.  

Understand that most products sold through an MLM home-based business are not necessarily advertised through mainstream media or in stores.  

The confusing part of determining if your MLM home based business is genuine can be quite difficult because of there are a number of pyramid schemes out there that are dangerously similar to a legitimate MLM home based business concepts. 

Remember, a pyramid scheme is illegal, and getting involved in one can cause you more trouble than you can possibly imagine. 

 

You will need to do your research into the MLM home based business that you are considering so that you are sure that the kind of MLM home based business you are going to run is valid and legal.  

Usually if your investment is proportioned to the product or service you are selling, your MLM home based business is valid.

There are a number of advantages to having an MLM home based business.  

First of all, you will be working from home where you can virtually set your own hours, which is probably why you are considering an MLM home based business in the first place.  

Also, you will not have to manufacture any products, because you are usually selling things that are already made. The MLM home based business will usually come with a pre-determined marketing plan. 

Many people suffer through the process of determining the most effective methods for marketing their products, but with an MLM home based business, you are relieved of that stress.

The disadvantage of having your own MLM home based business, though, depends on your personality. 

If you have good leadership skills and is a self-starter, then an MLM home based business will pose a little hardship to you.  

However, if recruiting and selling gives you hives, then starting and maintaining an MLM home based business may be more of a challenge, since your success depends on your ability to create a downline of recruits.  

But then, having your own MLM home based business means that you can live out your dream of being your own boss and having flexibility in your work schedule. 

You do not need any prior experience, and you can rely on your personality to recruit and maintain your downline.  You only have to hard working and consistent in getting downlines.

Do your research to make sure your MLM home based business is a legal business. This way, you can truly enjoy the freedom and the profits that the MLM home based business offers.

Running A Home Business Tips

The failure or success of a business often relies on the most fundamental operations-the ones that often get overlooked as a tipping point process in the daily business cycle. Fortunately, one of the leading business sites, offers advice and solutions that help businesses succeed. These 10 easy-to-follow steps will help your home-based business become a success.

1. Plan ahead. Take the time to make plans for every eventuality that may arise. From natural disasters to unexpected financial problems, you will need a plan that you can readily access to get you through a difficult time.

2. Put money aside. Don't begin your business with delusions of overnight success. You'll need funds to tide you over while your business grows. Put some money aside to tide you over until you do start earning revenue.

3. Organize your time. Being a responsible business owner means managing your time wisely. Initially you will need to spend extra time making your vision a reality.

4. Organize your space. You can't run a business effectively if you are wasting time looking for an important receipt under reams of loose paper. Take time to organize your home office and make sure you can function efficiently.

5. Stay focused. Family responsibilities, chores, TV and the warmth of your own bed can all distract you from the task at hand. Remove as many distractions as you can from your home office and stay focused.

6. Figure out tax laws now, before it is too late. Do your research now so you will be prepared come tax time.

7. Advertise. You can't afford to wait for your customers to come to you-you need to go out and get them. Advertising is an investment, and spending money now to market your business effectively can pay big dividends.

8. Get the proper equipment. Office equipment is an extra expense, but you need the hardware to run your business correctly. To compare features and prices

9. Cover your assets. Don't wait for a natural disaster to destroy your entire inventory-now is the time to purchase the insurance you need.

10. Don't get discouraged. Success does not come overnight. It will require dedication, hard work and a lot of extra effort to make it a reality. This is your dream; do all you can to keep it alive.

Home Business Should be for Family

If you own a home business, does your family participate or do you work alone?

I've heard tales, and for a short while lived them, about how a spouse will eagerly start a home based business of one sort or another and before they can even get their feet wet in the business - - BAM the other spouse starts belittling and generally putting a damper on the once enthusiastic entrepreneur's ambitions.

Luckily for me, my husband saw that I don't just talk about something that I intend to do, I do it - - so he's since changed his tune; especially now that I make as much from my home businesses as I did from my prior job, and we don't pay child care. Ha!

Anyway, it's been over 2 years since all that mess transpired, and I've seen and heard just about every story imaginable on the subject of home business start-ups/failures. I've also learned that most spouses, family members and 'friends' react in such damaging ways out of either fear or ignorance. I suppose some are just plain mean, but well, that's another issue we'll leave for Dr. Phil or Oprah.

For lucky business builders who have encouraging families, the work at home life is good, very good. My 14 year old daughter is my part-time Assistant, and her small salary is tax deductible too, so there's another plus in starting a business.

Creating a better future for the family is probably the most recurring 'Why' that I hear from new business owners. With such a strong reason driving the decision to work from home, then why shouldn't the entire family be involved? It's for them after all.

Find a way that even the littlest member can take part in the family business. Remember too that helping with chores, running errands, baby-sitting for younger sibs, taking turns with dinner etc. are all just as important as being able to do home office work, if not 'more' important in the long run.

If you're currently suffering with a spouse or partner who just doesn't 'get' what you're doing - please don't give up. Keep on building and trying and help them 'get' it through concrete results. Usually, with some home businesses, positive results that a 'non-biz' type can wrap their minds around, does take time. Unfortunately cash talks, however, and they may not take you seriously until you can show them your first check; and with persistence and consistency - - You will.

Do We Really Need A Home Based Business?

In strategic planning they always tell you that you must always have a contingency plan. This means that you must create different probable scenarios of what could happen during the process of your original plan, and create a plan for each probable scenario.

Of course a plan is made because we need to reach a certain objective. Our objective in this case is to generate an income that would enable us live a kind of life that we aspire to live.

Since we do not have any money to start a business on our own and generate that kind of income we revert to the usual plan which is to find a job and then find our way up the organizational hierarchy of the corporate structure. Let us see what probable scenarios can come up here:

1)    We are very successful and at the top of our game. We are moving up the corporate ladder and our income is nearing our goals and could very soon surpass it.

This is the most dangerous of all scenarios. It is very hard to cross our mind to take a moment and think what if something went wrong and all this success was taken away.

We all know that corporate life is never safe and anything can happen at any time. Even if we succeeded and were able to become at the top level of an organization, one day will come that we will have to retire and stay home. What are we going to do then?

2)    We are working very hard but for some reason we do not seem to be progressing. What usually happens here is that we start looking for another job that would satisfy our needs and our growth expectations and plans.

We always think that the other job is greener and our chances there for development are greater. When we finally make the move, we realize that we have ran away from the previous problems with the old job, just to realize that we are facing a completely new set of problems with this new job.

3)    We feel that our work is not appreciated and there is danger at any time that we might lose the job that is generating an income for us, and we say "an income" because we are still far away from what we aspire to achieve.

The above are not all the life scenarios that exist; as you may have your own established and successful own business which is not home based or online. Still we would say that diversification into Home Based and specifically Online Business is essential. I would only take the factor of the explosion of the internet and the abundant opportunity that exists there and stop the conversation there.

You can think of all the above scenarios either as separate examples or phases of one person's life cycle. So we need a plan "B," a contingency plan for these scenarios. Of course we can complicate things further by creating a different set of solution plans for each scenario, but that means that we will have to run into writing a long report of about 100 pages.

So let us look at the different probable solutions we have at hand:

1)    Investment Options such as stocks and other similar options: This could be a good option for the first scenario, but it is also highly risky. This solution will not cater for the retirement part which involves not having anything to do after you leave work. Still no one can deny that this option could turn out to be extremely rewarding.

2)    Always keep yourself in the market so that you can switch jobs at any time. This tactic has many medium and long term disadvantages. But top of mind disadvantages include:

a.    Not going anywhere in any organization because you are not giving it enough time.

b.    Your chances of finding the next job could gradually diminish as your CV will show the unsteady behavior.

c.    You will not concentrate on the job at hand since you are always looking for the better job.

d.    And many more disadvantages


3)    Have your own business: This option seems very good, but if we are looking at it in terms of investing a lot of money and borrowing from the bank to be able to operate the business, then this stops being a plan "B." This means that you are already changing lanes without even signaling. Although it can be rewarding, but again we have to stress that this is not a contingency plan. This means you are changing your plan.

4)    Home Based Business: Now this option is similar to the previous one but with a twist. Because home based business does not require a large investment and does not require your total attention and devotion for it to succeed, you can for sure call it a plan "B" since you are still working at your job. Advantages of this solution:

a.    Low and in many cases extremely low initial investment

b.    You do not have to work full time

c.    Does not require you full attention

d.    You can work at your own set hours

e.    If anything goes wrong with your original work, then you can shift gears very quickly and you will be able to absorb the shock without any panic.

f.    And many more..

All the above advantages could become disadvantages if you don't take your home business seriously. If you keep postponing things you need to do and making it the least of your priorities then this business will not see the light of day.

A home business is a wonderful thing to have working for you especially when you don't need it. Because then you will be working relaxed and enjoying what you are building for your future. You will not be stressed out and wanting it to succeed in one month.

With a home based business you have to be patient and consistent and eventually you will achieve your dreams.

Business Opportunities for the Home Worker

Call me a homemaker. Call me a domestic engineer. At the core of it all, I'm a stay-at-home mom. Some say that stay-at-home moms have the hardest job in the world. This may or may not be true, but one thing is: the job doesn't pay (at least in a financial sense). That's why I decided that, once all of my kids were old enough to go to school, I would go from a homemaker to a home worker.

Once I made the decision to become a home based worker, it was time to find the right home based business opportunity. It wasn't as though someone was standing on a street corner with a sign that said, "Money for Moms." And I wasn't going to go around with a sign that said, "Mom Need Money." Instead, I booted up my computer and went online in search of the right home based business.

I was surprised by what I found in the way of business opportunities for a home worker. There seemed to be something for everyone, but I had a hard time figuring out which were legitimate and which were scams. Luckily, I found a website that had done much of the groundwork for me and provided a number of pre-screened opportunities for the home worker. With those resources, I was able to get started.

At first, I started small. I wanted to make my own hours and be there for my kids when they got home from school. So, I decided to start taking online surveys from home. I signed up with a company and began to make between five and seventy-five dollars per survey. Each survey took between five minutes and a half hour to complete, and the money would show up in my PayPal account between two and six weeks after I completed a survey.

Once I dangled my toes in the water, I wanted to add to my income, so I decided to learn how to write Google AdWords ads. Google AdWords are those little text ads that you see on the right side of search results pages and on some websites. I discovered that I had a knack for it, and started to make decent money.

Before long, it dawned on me that in order to ensure I had a steady income stream, I had to diversify my sources of revenue. So, while I continued to take surveys and write AdWords ads, I also launched my own websites so I could do affiliate marketing and sell products. I know this sounds hard - especially for the home worker who doesn't know the first thing about building a website - but it was actually quite easy. I found that, if you hook up with the right companies, they will actually build and host your websites for you. They will even train you and give you marketing tips in order to drive traffic to your websites.

Today, I feel like I have the best of both worlds. As a home worker, I can choose my own hours and be there for my kids, but I can also earn a good income to help support my family.

How To Write A Startup Business Plan

Why Do I Need A Business Plan?

Why do you need to write a business plan? There are a number of reasons. Writing a plan dramatically increases your chances of success as an entrepreneur.

Here are just a few reasons why you would want to write a business plan.

1. Evaluating initial startup costs.
2. Determining what it will take to make a profit.
3. Analyzing your competition and it's success and failures (which you can capitalize on)
4. Well defined rolls of all people involved in the company.
5. Investigating your market and developing a strategy.
6. Anticipating problems before they occur.
7. Defining a clear goal and exit strategy for your business.
8. Convincing investors to fund your business

Some may scoff at all of the parts of a business plan, but remember that you are undertaking this endeavor to make money, not to just produce a product or service. Most businesses fail because they are hit by unforeseen expenses -- or situations -- that they should have anticipated ahead of times.

To give yourself the best chance of success, do your homework ahead of time and you'll be way ahead of most people.

Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan

A business plan is not a document set in stone and you will probably change it in the future as your business develops. When you are stuck on an issue refer back to your business plan and remember what your initial goals were and whether the situation has changed significantly enough that the plan needs to be reworked.

Planning your work is when you write your plan, but you can't just stop there. You must work the plan and stick to it as you move forward in order to meet your exit strategy or other goals for the company.

Step 1: Defining Your Product Or Service

The first step to writing your business plan is defining exactly what your product or service is. This is what you will approach a potential customer with.

How would you explain your product or service to a potential client?

What would you tell them about it?

How would your product or service relate to other businesses?

Describing your product or service should fit within 1 paragraph with supporting paragraphs underneath it. Most people, when dealing with something innovative or something that is identical to a competitor, try to cop out of this and say "it's just too complex for my product to be described". That's hogwash.

Every product or service can be defined. If your product or service is so innovative that it can't be defined then the chance of it succeeding is very low.

Here are a few examples.

* Google was simply "a better search engine that works"
* Apple was simply "a computer that can fit on a desk"
* Microsoft was "an operating system that can be mass distributed"
* Amazon.com was "a mail order bookstore with an online front end"

Describing your product is not a hard thing to do. Implementing a strategy to sell, distribute or market your product in the long run has the most impact on whether your business will succeed.

Step 2: Who Are Your Customers?

Defining your target market may be a little difficult if you think your product can be used by anyone, but it can be done. Simply putting "everyone on Earth" is not a practical target market.

Whether your product or service can be used by everyone is not the key, it's who can afford and needs your product.

Is it small businesses? Does it fit the consumer market that cooks a lot? Is it Internet users who are looking for dolls?

Defining your exact target market is key to setting up a proper marketing strategy. Without knowing who your potential customers are you will be casting your line into a vast ocean rather than a stocked pond.

Another part of this is determining if your target market can afford your product and will they purchase it from you.

If your product can only be used by boys age 14-18 and the price of your product is $1000 your market will probably be very small.

This is all part of the plan, don't be discouraged if you find that upon doing research your product or service doesn't make sense. It's better to evaluate things now and scrap the whole thing than to accept money from investors and finding out later that your business doesn't stand a chance.

Step 3: Market Strategy

Who is your competition? How will you reach your target customer or client? These are all questions that need to be defined.

Find two or three competitors and evaluate them. Where are they successful? Where is their main revenue coming from? What things have they tried and failed? What things do they lack that you will provide?

Analyzing the competitive landscape is an important part of determining if you can succeed. You may even realize other areas that your product or service needs to focus on to have a chance of succeeding.

How are you going to reach your customer? Will it be through catalogs? Advertising in the local paper? Word of Mouth? Direct sales?

Investigate the costs of implementing a strategy of reaching your customer and client base.

If you are selling a product how much will it cost to get your products on shelves or to set up a e-commerce website?

What are the costs involved to place advertisements?

Simply having a product or service and not having people even knowing that it exists is a certain road to failure from the start.

Step 4: Financing And Capital

What are your initial expenses for starting your business?

You need to analyze all costs for beginning your business and how much capital you will need to keep the business running. If there is payroll involved you will need to factor in payroll taxes as well as salaries. You need to know how much in legal costs you will incur incorporating and for lawyer and accounting services.

If you are providing a product what is the cost of having it produced and an inventory for it?

Letterheads, logo's, business equipment, software and business cards all fit in this category.

There is no hard and fast rule for how much capital you will initially need in terms of months in advance. Most businesses underestimate how much initial expenses and ongoing monthly expenses they have.

How will you fulfill orders? If via mail you will need to factor in packaging and shipping expenses.

If you are stocking a store with your item you will need to factor in delivery charges and expenses.

Once you have determined both your ongoing monthly expenses and initial expenses then you can evaluate how much initial capital you will need and where you intend to get it.

Will your financing come in the form of angel investors, venture capital, self financed or friends and family? Securing this financing could have expenses you have not counted on, be sure to include these expenses as well.

Step 5: Operations

You need to define the operations of your business and how your product or service will reach a customer from development all the way to end user. If you are providing a product you will need to define the whole flow.

Here's a few questions for a product based company.

How will the product be produced?

How will it be stored?

How will it be delivered?

How will customers place an order?

How will an order be processed?

How will a customer get a receipt?

Where will fulfillment take place?

How will money change hands?

When will the customer receive their product?

How will customer service be handled?

For a service based company most of the above questions have their equivalent.

These questions need to be answered. It shows that you have thought ahead on how your business will operate.

Step 6: Putting It All Together

Once you have analyzed your product, your customers, your competition, market strategy and financing it's time to put it all together in a document known as a business plan.

There is no single format for writing a business plan. The best way to write a business plan is to study business plans. You can find some business plans on the web to study.

Here is a basic overview of the things you should provide in a business plan.

1. Cover Sheet
2. Statement of Purpose
I. Part 1: Business Analysis
a. Description of the Business
b. Marketing Strategy
c. Competitive Landscape
d. Operating Flow
e. Management and Personnel
f. Exit Strategy
g.Insurance Information
II. Part 2: Financial Information
a. Equipment, Supply List and Assets
b. Balance Sheet
c. Break-even Analysis
d. Pro-forma Projections Including
i. 3 year summary
ii. Detailed projection by month of the first year
iii.Detailed quarterly projects for year 2 and 3
iv.Assumptions or how you reached your projections
e. Pro-forma Cash Flow
III. Part 3: Supporting Documentation
a. Tax returns of the principals involved in the business for the last 3 years
b. Franchise contracts, proposed leases and purchase agreements
c. Any licenses or legal documents the business needs
d. Resumes of all the principals involved in the business
e. Letters of intent from suppliers and other services

Remember that not all of these things need to be included right off the bat. If you are not going to have proposed leases at this time while you are starting your plan, it can go on your task list of things to do.

The most important part is getting started on your business plan so that you can spot the things you need to get done to complete it.

Most investors are not going to just hand you money without a pretty solid business plan though, so if you're not too good at doing the financials you better get to work on learning how to project pro-forma cash flow and projections.

Once you have your business plan you are well on your way to creating a successful startup!