One of the most frequent questions I get goes something like this: "I don't have a lot of money. How can I start an online business or expose my existing online business to the world without spending a fortune to do it?" Basically, people want to know how they can exploit the power of the Internet to grow their businesses with the least amount of time, energy, effort and money. My answer: Ride the coattails of the huge websites who've done all the trailblazing you'll ever need to kick-start your online business. According to Alexa.com, the following websites rank among the Top 10 sites on the Internet out of the billions and billions of websites available today. As I list them, pay attention to how they can help any "bootstrapping" business, no matter what size. 1. Yahoo.com - This perennial search giant not only helps you research online, but can help get traffic to your site. Most notably their advertising subsidiary, Overture.com, can attract visitors to your site starting as low as a dime per click. 2. MSN.com - Microsoft's portal site can lead you to free email accounts (Hotmail.com) and free instant messaging (Messenger.MSN.com) to make online communication free and easy. 3. Google.com - Currently the Web's most popular search engine and all-around media powerhouse, Google can help you, among other things, buy clicks starting at about a dime (AdWords.Google.com) and expose your full-length, full- motion videos to the world free of charge (Video.Google.com). 4. eBay.com - The Web's #1 online auction site, eBay.com gets millions of visitors daily, all of whom want to spend money on something. You can spend less than a dollar to put up some used, damaged, or older merchandise from your business to gain exposure to new customers and create a new revenue stream. 5. Passport.net - Passport.net is related to MSN.com and should get grouped with #2. 6. Amazon.com - The Web's largest bookseller is also one of the largest online retailers of consumer goods. You can grow your business by targeting Amazon's millions of visitors with your own books, CDs, DVDs and more for surprisingly little cost. Also, the Amazon Marketplace makes it easy for you to sell new and used merchandise directly through Amazon. 7. MySpace.com - Allows you to create a website that's part blog, part chat room and part networking space. MySpace.com provides a fast way to post and share information with associates online. 8. Microsoft.com - Besides providing the vast majority of PC operating systems in the world, Microsoft.com also boasts one of the largest available clipart and photo collections on the Web. You can quickly find and use these professional images in Web sites, brochures and more. 9. Google.co.uk - The popularity of Google's United Kingdom site demonstrates that if you sell anything online, figure out a way to sell it to people in England too! You can automatically advertise on this site through Google's AdWords program (see #3). 10. AOL.com - America Online's portal site enables you to get an email box with 2 GB of storage along with their classic AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) to facilitate all your online communications. Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards |
