the power of the internetHave you got a good Internet business idea? This is great because the power of the Internet enables you to reach  every corner of the world cheaply.

So, how do you know if you’re business idea is viable?

Will your business will succeed? Unfortunately, many companies barely make it two years prior to failing. This can happen for many reasons, but start off right and you’re much more likely to be successful.

You really need to do your research before  rushing into an starting an online business..

However, once the research is done,  you can start to run an online business with a small budget.

Understand How the Web Makes You Money

You need to see if your business idea can fit one of the web models that’s proven to make money: Shoe stores are good brick-and-mortar businesses, everyone wears shoes! However shoes don’t necessarily sell as well on the web because most people like to try a shoe on to check for fit. So think about how you or members of your family would shop for certain products.

Check to see if your idea fits into any of the following criteria:

– Selling information
– Selling online services
– Reselling another business’s items (retail and drop ship).
– Referring individuals to make a purchase somewhere else and getting a commission (affiliate marketing).
– Selling your very own products online (for shipping or download).

If  There Is a Viable Market Online

Check to see if there is somebody already offering product and services similar to your business idea. Now, you might believe that this is a bad thing, but the opposite holds true. If it’s already being offered, you know there’s a market for it.

Have a dig around and see if these businesses are investing cash on advertising and marketing. A business that understands exactly what it’s doing won’t waste money on advertising. If you see a continued advertising campaign it shows that a company is generating income with the items or services it is advertising.

This is usually a good indication that your business idea is a good one. Don’t worry about competition, there are over 3 billion people using the Internet, plenty of room for everyone!

Do Smart Keyword Research.

We’ve already written an article on keyword research, and choosing a niche, but briefly:

Type “purchase ____ online” and “online ____ company” into Google.

Use other variations of keywords and expressions related to your business idea. Again, if you see lot’s of businesses with ads related to your idea then this is good.

Work Out Your Costs.

It goes without saying that you need to figure out your start- up costs, relating to your business idea. However,  many people forget this in the excitement of all.

How much does it cost to build a site? How are you going to get traffic, through free or paid channels? Are you going to need to do any outsourcing.

Not many successful businesses will have started out without a realistic budget, the ones that have got lucky!

Do You Have Time?

Finally, one the most overlooked aspects of running an Internet based business is the time it takes. If you have a full time job and can’t afford to give it up you need to think carefully about the time aspect. The reality is it takes time to set things up and keep things ticking over.

If you’ve never done this before then not only is there the time it take to set things up, there’s the research involved beforehand. For newcomers it can be a steep learning curve.

The main reason we started this site is to help with that learning curve and make things easy to understand.

If you have a very small budget then much of the work you’ll need to do yourself. This time needs to be balanced with other areas of your life, if you have a young family for example.

Time management is perhaps the most important thing when starting out, making sure you get this right will be key to your success.

Sarah Staar has an excellent product available for time management when running an online business, very inexpensive too, perfect for tight budgets! Click here to learn about 14 Days To Time Control

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