5 Essential Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning I receive commissions for purchases made through those links, at no cost to you. You can read my disclosure policy for more info.
Prefer to listen? Click the player button!
Just like in any other profession, having the right tools to run your online business is essential. Working online is a great way to earn a living, but you must have the right tools before starting your home-based business.
The following tools will help you get started.
Domain Name
A domain name plays the role of a web address that your clients can use to find you online.
While looking for a domain name, it is essential that you choose a name that represents your business and which people can easily remember.
Domain name registrars sell domain names.
One of the most popular domain name registrars are is Namecheap.
(I buy all my domain there.)
Domain registrars will tell you if the name you want is taken already.
If a domain is available, the registrar will tell you if it's new or already registered in the past.
Once you find a domain name of your choice, all you need to do is open an account on the domain registry site and purchase your domain.
When purchasing a domain name, aim for a .com extension. Customers are more likely to visit your website if it is hosted on a top-level domain (.com), so avoid using other extensions or hyphenating your domain name.
While the type of extension you choose has no impact on your website performance, you could miss out on clients who fail to find your website online.
Web Hosting
The first step to establishing your online business is to have a website. This is where your website will be located on the internet.
Web hosting is where you will store your website so customers can access your business resources online.
With hundreds of web hosting solutions out there, it's vital that you choose the right hosting for your online business.
Choosing the wrong web hosting company could lead to a lot of problems and slow down your website.
On the other hand, a good web hosting solution should have enough storage space, bandwidth, and other essentials necessary to run your website.
A good web hosting service also ensures that your website is stable and secure so that you can focus on running your business rather than fixing technical glitches or addressing security concerns.
Typically, a great web hosting company should have features such as
- 99% uptime
- Fast loading speeds (typically 2 seconds or less)
- 24/7 customer support
- Safety features such as firewalls, SSL certificates
- Scalable bandwidth and storage
While purchasing your web hosting services, you should also consider the hosting environment options available.
Shared hosting is the least expensive solution for your website, but it comes with trade-offs. Your website is hosted with other websites on a common server, and you share space and hosting resources.
Virtual private server hosting is an environment that hosts multiple websites on the same server but dedicates a portion of the server to your website. Your website is safer with VPS hosting, and you have more control over your hosting.
A dedicated hosting environment is where you have a single server running your website only. All server resources are allocated to you, and you can control its usage fully.
This option is best if you run multiple websites and have the technical capacity to manage a server on your own.
Namecheap has great hosting offers too, check it out here.
Autoresponder
Autoresponders are automated email services that let you build an email contact list and send emails to the contacts automatically.
An autoresponder is an important tool in your online business as you can automate your email marketing. They save you time and help you share information and offers in your marketing campaigns.
Autoresponders are also useful as they enable you to segment your contact list into segments based on your audience's interest. Segmenting makes it easy to customize your marketing campaigns based on interest, demographics, and other types of data.
Some typical email service providers include Aweber, GetResponse, and the all-in-one marketing platform Systeme.
Page Builder
Every website needs pages for its different components. But designing these pages can take long hours, whether you're doing it yourself or hiring a web designer.
Hiring designers can be expensive, and if you want to design your page, you need to learn design skills.
This is why page builders are essential tools that every website owner should have. Page builders help you build pages easily, without any coding or design experience required.
While there are multiple landing pages out there at your disposal, most online business owners have found massive success in creating landing pages using ClickFunnels and Leadpages but, if you are just starting out and looking for a more affordable option, you can build your fully functional website with Systeme.
Keyword Research Tools
Keywords are relevant phrases that potential customers type into search engines when they're looking for products and services like yours.
Getting your website to rank higher in search engines like Google and Bing is vital for your online business.
This process is called search engine optimization or SEO.
This can be complicated at first, but you'll find that the process becomes much easier when you use keyword research tools. There are many free and paid keyword research tools available these days.
Conclusion
In summary, a domain name, web hosting, autoresponder, page builder, and keyword research tools are some of the essential tools you need to start your online business.
These tools are a great starting point to help grow your online business, whether you're blogging or selling products online.
Start building your own online business today with my FREE blueprint!
You Might Also Like:
Check Out These FREE Offers & Resources:
Start Building Your Online Business Today!
And Do It Easily, Without Spending A Dime On Expensive Tools, Subscription Services, Hiring Outsourcers, Getting Bogged Down In Complicated Tech...
GET YOUR FREE GUIDE!
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links provided on this website are affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Your support helps me continue to create free content like this. Thank you!
Copyright © 2024-2025. LISTmaximalist.com by Silver Moon Ventures Ltd. Created with © systeme.io