[PCWorld]

Post your comments for How to Start an Online Business for $100 here

[jestep]

I don't really recommend Yahoo for a online store. While they are an easy way to get started, you'll quickly find that their ongoing fees are eating into your revenue. Go for something like Zen Cart or OsCommerce and a low cost host like hostgator or godaddy. There's thousands of articles on how to customize these, and thousands of people that can do it for you.

[Adama]

Agreed. I wouldn't recommend Yahoo for anything, because of their new spamming ads.

I've been very upset with them with their new email spamming practices.

[mellcomm]

New sellers may want to test market their product at a free store like www.bonanzle.com rather than pay the higher fees of eBay. Once a product is proven larger investments make sense.
I agree that Zen Cart & OS Commerce are easy to setup and maintain for new shops if you're going straight for a website.

[hmccorkle]

Although Zen Cart and OSCommerce are great because they're free, their out of the box templates are a joke. Money saved from implementing an open source eCommerce solution such as these may be better spent hiring a designer to eliminate that Zen Cart and OSCommerce "look."
For businesses looking for a more robust and advanced open source eCommerce solution, Magento may be just that.
Magento is very heavy duty, boasts a swell inventory management system, as well as invoicing, extensions/modules, and every type of payment gateway under the sun. Not to mention a handful of well-designed templates.
The only drawback: this script is a mammoth. Consider a dedicated or VPS hosting solution-- Magento will run much smoother.
Magento is available at magentocommerce.com
As for selling AdSense space on your site -- this is a major eCommerce no-no. You want to capture and retain customers, not send them away!

[rgoya]

The advice against incorporating is extremely dangerous.

I discussed my plans to start a business recently at a small networking breakfast, and an attorney advised me that without incorporation I would be personally liable and any lawsuit could force me into bankruptcy - food for thought...

[MikeHersh]

Great article! I personally think that if you want to make it online, you need a serious product and/or service.

The reason I'm saying that is because for years I've been struggling online, and the main reason for this was because I was trying to go for cheap.

Sometimes it's just more realistic and affordable to invest a one time fee to build a real business & product that you can sell online.

You can use services like product creation gurus dot com to build your first product, and then when you get into profit, go on to your next product and so on.

Don't forget to invest in a powerful sales copy, I can't stress this enough. If you want people to actually buy your new product make sure to invest in a Copywriter that knows what he's doing, don't ever write your sales copy for any of your products by yourself.

I hope that this comment can help some people who are looking for real and honest help in their journey to having their own profitable online business.

I don't want to mention the site I'm using for Copywriting because I don't want this comment to be considered as spam whatsoever.

[anshit]

starting in $100 is pretty cool

[newme]

Hello everyone...I'm currently unemployed and don't want to do 9-5 dig. I want to start my own online business. I know what product to sell but I don't know where to start as far as business set-up goes. So if there is anyone who has suggestion I will appreciate it. By the way I live in Seattle,WA.

[leverage]

Hi Newme,

I really hope you already got some answers to your concern. But just in case, here is a solution: http://www.GVOBuz.com
Check this site out, subscribe to their business newsletter. You will receive your first letter within minutes, as far as I remember. Read through the letter, click on the link they provide for you, and just follow the steps. Then you will have everything you need under one roof: your own site, ready to take orders, your own ezine, your own autoresponder, ad tracker, mentoring program, tons of support... These people really know their way around. Also, big time support? Hear this! You live in Seattle. But I am way too far from US, my friend. I am 9 hours ahead of time, but still they called me to guide me through the optimization of my site for SEO purposes. And that's not all. This guy, Stone, he even told me that it's not a problem at all when I apologized that I kept him awake at night. And he also said that if this is the best time for me, he would call at exactly that time.
You will have a lot of fun. Go ahead give them a try. Oh, and one more thing. You will see that $100 is a little too much to start your home business, but it's good. Well, the more you have, the better, right? We all know that.

Good luck, my friend!

[PeterMichael]

This is a good article but unfortunately, it makes a lot of assumptions. It assumes that the person can navigate many parts on their own. In over 12 years working with even savvy business people online, I have found that it's harder than you think to put all the pieces together and hosting is just one piece.

You may start at under $100 if you're doing a lot of work yourself. I've seen online veterans who struggled doing all the pieces on their own and so, a person who is new to all this will really struggle with putting all the necessary pieces together. My advice ... seek out competent help.

You may end up spending a little more but better to spend $200 and start making money than to go "on the cheap" and never make a dime.

[stevo1712]

Quote

The advice against incorporating is extremely dangerous. I discussed my plans to start a business recently at a small networking breakfast, and an attorney advised me that without incorporation I would be personally liable and any lawsuit could force me into bankruptcy - food for thought...

[stevo1712]

I definitely agree with this comment. As well as bankruptcy you don't want to be personally liable if possible, especially if your business involves selling products that customers ingest or put on their bodies.