Here’s another in the question and answer series of Ask Laura regarding Getting Started. This gentleman wrote me because he wanted to start a side business online and return to a rural lifestyle away from the city. However, he couldn’t think of an idea for his online business! Although this email is quite old (2004) and has focus on info-products and ebay selling (two areas which are harder to make money at now), the premise still stands. You must have a passion and an interest in your business to really make it online. ‘Making it online’ could be making money, making a...

Making IT Online is not as easy as it was just a few years ago. When I first began, back in 1996, you could just slap up a website, throw some traffic at it and start making sales. Of course it was also a lot more expensive to get started back then as well. Domain names were $35/year and hosting costs were out of this world. Back then I traded my website designer hours in exchange for hosting fees. Today however you can start your online business for less than $13! An $8 domain name and a $5/month hosting account and you’re set to go, get some content up and start selling! But with the lower...

Some would tell you that online promotion and marketing is easy, common sense, or that a successful online business can be established overnight. Others will tell you to buy their ebook or home study course where in 2 days, 3 audio files and 40 pages you can begin raking in big fat world wide web checks. Learn to Market and Promote in 40 Pages or Less – Ask Laura (July 20/06) “Ha!,” I say! Internet marketing, website promotion, online business building is indeed very easy – to those that know the game or have already established a presence. But to the un-initiated, the un-taught,...

Clients, friends, subscribers and online readers are regularly sending me notices about new marketing products, tools, software, and automated website builders. Sometimes the creators or developers send me pre-launch products to assess as well. (If you’re a developer or programmer you can contact me for this service via the contact form.) This post in no way is meant to say these tools aren’t useful or helpful to your online business. Except when you are buying tools left and right, solutions and products in the hundreds of dollars monthly, and you haven’t made your first cent...

As you likely can tell, this site is still in infancy. I’ll be compiling segments for each learning module individually and releasing them as such. This all begins with a few interactive quiz segments, some surveys and reader polls. Your interaction assists me to serve you. The outcome is that both of us will fully understand where you currently stand in your business or marketing strategy. Course modules will be developed and released based on the majority rule. The most urgent needs from user feedback and participation will be addressed first. While all this is being prepared and created...