What follows is an account of how it is possible to build a successful website that can generate a reliable second income without ever having any prior knowledge of search engines, website building tools, domain registrations, etc.

A recent Harris poll indicated that 72% of adult Americans are thinking about starting a home-based business. Surely having your own home based business - irrespective of whether this is to serve as your primary revenue source, or as a second income stream - offers many opportunities. But the problem for many is - they don't know from where to start.

Yet there is a simple answer! All you have to do is to look within yourself - find an interest, a hobby, preferrably a passion, and transform that into an online business activity.

The real challenge here is not to build a simple website - this cannot be the type of ordinary site that you would build to have something to show to friends and relatives, but one that would possibly enable you to monetize on your knowledge and passion in order to build a reliable income stream by working online from the comfort of your home.

Maybe you think that this is easier said than done, yet this is something truly achievable. Thanks to the use of the right website building tools and equally important, the right e-commerce solution, it is even possible to build a successful online business without having any prior knowledge of web design, search engine optimization techniques, domain registrations, etc.

A Journey to Online Success

It is important to realize here that the key to a successful online activity is not by going out to learn SE techniques, HTML, or by designing a flashy website, rather, the whole key issue is the ability to develop effective netwriting skills. In essence, it all boils down to four simple steps...

1. Content (C): People are not searching for you or your website BUT for information. Write to deliver unbiased information people are looking for. Write also to win the Search Engine game - no SE tricks here - just deliver solid content that is in line with your audience and the SE.

2. Traffic (T): Build traffic (through content) and use effective site promotion.

3. Presell (P): Build confidence in your prospective customers.

4. Monetize (M): Convert traffic to dollars - sell - whatever that may be.

Obviously, the use of a web solution package that would leave you totally free to concentrate on this Content/Traffic/Pre-sell/Monetization concept is extremely important if you want to maximize on your content building efforts.

And if you do not have any prior knowledge in this area, the use of the right e-commerce solution would become a critical requirement if you want to succeed online.

These solution packages do exist and need not be very expensive - in reality, it is possible to get away with less than a dollar a day!

Of course, you have to put in the necessary effort and commitment - including the necessary level of website promotion. But with the right e-commerce solution, it is possible to turn an interest or a hobby into a successful online business activity without there being the need for any prior knowledge in web design or SE techniques.

A word of caution here: Be very careful when selecting the web solution package for your needs - a more expensive solution is not necessarily better. In fact, you can spend even up to $100/month in a web solution, without getting all you really need to build a website that can transform your interest into a successful online business activity. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of packages out there that - once you built the site, you are left out on your own for everything else that is necessary to get things up and running.


(c) 2004/2005 www.practical-home-theater-guide.com. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Andrew Ghigo - Editor and publisher of http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com.

This article is an extract from a detailed account appearing on the same site at http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/how-i-built-this-site.html, and that gives full information on how the author has made use of the same principles discussed in this article to transform a passion into a successful online business activity.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Web Design... Building a Free or Low Cost Website Is it impossible to build a really cheap website? Most definitely not! I am maintaining a very low cost website at the moment, in fact the site (http://www.echogecko.co.uk) cost a mere £8.00. So, even if you don’t think you can afford to make a website, if you have a bit of change in your pocket, that will be all you need. Domain Names If you are going to register a domain name then I suggest you shop around registrars for prices. I used 123-reg.co.uk, a UK based registrar who I found most helpful. If you are inexperienced with domain names, I suggest you read up on them, otherwise you may run into some head-scratchers. Think of a catchy name for your domain, so people will remember it. Then register it. The domain may take 24 hours to be registered but in that time you can be finding a web host. Web Hosting Unless you have a fast computer and are always connected to the internet, you will want to find a web host, who will keep your files on a big server, and to find a...

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