Where to Start - Finding a Venue

You have a great product or service and you’ve decided to start an internet business. Great! Now, how do you get your business off the ground and bring in those customers through the internet? Marketing on the internet also means knowing what type of format to use for your product or service. There are many formats available which one can use with its own advantages and disadvantages, two recommended ways to start are blogs and/or a website.


Blogs
A blog is like a mini website where entries are done in a journalist style. Entries are commonly done in a reverse chronological order with regular entries of thoughts, description of events, pictures or videos. A very common and obvious pro to a blog is that it is perfect for beginners, it is also easy to edit since it requires little to no skill in HTML or CSS coding. On the other hand, by being so easy to update and maintain, they are usually less customizable than a website. The ability to write articles on many topics means you can use search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing blogging techniques.


Website
An accumulation of web pages, images and videos hosted on a web server with its own domain name. One can also place ads on your website to bring in revenue. A website is far more customizable than a blog and has more options as far as layout and styles. However, that ease of customization has its price. In order to take full advantage of the options a website offers, you need know the coding language of HTML or CSS. One can learn the language by looking online or taking a course for it, but it is time consuming. The better option is to hire a web designer, it would spare you a lot of headache!

Something to keep in mind as you consider the options is what you are planning to sell online. Depending on the venue used, some products or services would sell better than the other. For example, selling a commodity will work better on a website as you can show and describe each item. If it is a service that you are selling, a blog is a better bet as you can write and share articles related to your area of expertise.


Another option is to have a website and supplement it with a blog to share information about your product and to manage and receive feedback. You may also consider creating a social media account in order to further generate traffic to your site. Social networking sites gather people who share similar interests or activities that can tie into your marketing strategy. Combining all these elements would position your product or service to reach a larger audience, which is part of what makes a successful internet marketing business.