What Does it Take to Succeed in Online Business?

There is, or maybe was, a generally accepted idea by the public that succeeding at an online business is easier than a traditional bricks and mortar type – standalone business with a storefront.

Over time though the online world has become very competitive. Where it used to be almost easy to get ranked in the top 10 of Google results for any keywords, now even moderately high trafficked keywords are highly competitive in many cases.

How does one succeed at online business if s(he) doesn’t have the skills to do it?

Two ways really.

1. Pay an SEO – Web Development specialist to create a successful online business website for you.
2. Learn as much as you can over the course of the next few months and years and in time your online business will pick up steam as you dedicate all your efforts to figuring out the best ways to structure and market your online business.

The first option is going to cost you a lot of money. It will be done right, and you’ll be thrilled with the results, but not everyone has a lot of money to pay web developers and SEO experts to get them ranked at the top of the search engines. If you do have the money – the best way is #1 obviously because you’re going to save a lot of time, and, you can learn on your own while your business is successful – not while it’s struggling.

Option two is the one that most entrepreneurs go for out of necessity. If you want to figure out the process on your own you’ll spend a couple thousand hours trying various things to see what works and what doesn’t. There are a vast number of skills and e-knowledge bits needed to start your own ebusiness – and to start a successful ebusiness is probably beyond your grasp if you can’t sit down right now and write up all the steps needed to get “there”.

There’s a second way to go about option number two. Of course you must learn the process. However, up until recently we’ve not seen even one intensive all-inclusive online training course that was designed to give you ALL the tools you needed to get up and running with your own ebusiness.

Now there is such a course – well, it’s nearing completion so we thought we’d tell you about it now.

IncAnswers.com’s “Vern” has created an online ebusiness learning course that will take you from start to finish across all the hurdles you need to clear in order to start your online business and get it up and running, and headed toward profitability.

The course is the “34 Lesson Ebusiness Primer” online learning course and will be available at a discount for all incorporators who use one of our State Incorporation sites to process their incorporation. That means if you use StartOregonBusiness.com to process your incorporation you’ll get a substantial discount off this elearning course, and any of the PRO ebusiness courses offered at IncAnswers.com.

Once you purchase the course you’ll have three days to request a full 100% refund in case you don’t enjoy the first few lessons. That will likely not happen as you have access to a couple of lessons for free as a sample before you sign up for the full 34 lesson course. Just the same, you can get a refund if you choose.

For one year you can have free updates to the course material as it’s revised, to keep it up to date. If you purchase the 34 lesson Ebusiness primer you’ll also receive another discount for the eBusiness PRO course which consists of 10 advanced ebusiness topics you’ll be ready to learn after the initial 34 lessons.

You’ll also receive email access to ask any questions about the course that you’d like, as well as membership in the restricted access ebusiness forum.

Here is an outline of the ebusiness lessons that are covered.

What does it take to succeed in online business?

A lot of knowledge. Specialized knowledge.

Hands on “doing”.

Marketing. Marketing. Marketing…

You’ll get all of these in great quantities as you go through this ebusiness course. If your business will involve the internet to any substantial degree, you must learn everything in this course to become successful.

Give it a try, it’s 100% refundable if you find it’s not for you!

Choosing Business Names and Domain Names

If you’re registering a business with us today you’re going to need to choose a business name that isn’t similar to someone else’s business name in the state of Oregon – but really, to be safe – not similar to anyone’s business in the country.

These are some generally accepted truths about choosing a business and domain name that will help you go about it.

You’ll want to have a business name and domain name that match, ideally.

The best place to start your search to see if your chosen name is taken is “Google” and “Yahoo” search engines. The reason you search them is that your local state database of registered companies and corporations will not list those in other states. You must do a thorough search because you want to avoid having to change your name – or avoid a lawsuit in the future if you refuse to change your business name when it conflicts directly with another company’s name.

So, let’s say you want to name your company “McDonald’s Hamburgers”. A quick search in Google or Yahoo will show you that there is already a McDonalds – and there are probably 48 million pages found with the word McDonald’s that is referring to the successful chain. McdDonald’s makes hamburgers so if you chose that as your name you’ll soon receive a “cease and desist” letter from a McDonald’s lawyer asking you to consider changing your name or you’ll be in court shortly. Better not to pick that name.

What about Rover’s McDonalds? Has a negative connotation doesn’t it? Rover is a dog… Dog hamburgers are not going to be all the rage anytime soon. Better not choose that name.

What about “Mick’s Hamburgers”? Is there one in Google? Probably. Maybe it’s in Florida and you’re in Oregon – is it OK to choose that name? It’s OK, but, in the future if one or both of your businesses expands and start to conflict with customers not understanding who is who – one of you will need to change your name. The business with a longer history of using the “Mick’s hamburgers” as a business name will likely prevail in the court of law. So, you shouldn’t choose that name.

What about “Roger Restive’s Hamburgers”? Can’t find any incidences in Google when you search with the phrase in quotes? That’s good.

Is this a catchy business name? Memorable? Maybe. Maybe it’s OK.

Not so fast. Check it in Yahoo. Find any businesses with that name? No?

Ok, so far, so good.

Type it in your address bar in your browser:

www.rogerrestiveshamburgers.com

try .org, .net, .tv, etc.

No results?

Go to www.Godaddy.com and choose their “domains” link, and in the dropdown will be a “Bulk Register” feature. Choose that and enter as many similar iterations of the name as you can – plural and not. With dashes between the words – and not. With .com, .net, .tv, .org, every extension they offer.

All of those names available?

Not so fast.

Now go to the Patent and Trademark office. Names are trademarkable to protect the owner from infringement – causing a loss to the owner of the trademark.

The word, “Fark” is trademarked. Nobody can use the word Fark except the owner of that trademark. In reality – many still do – but, if Fark.com owner wanted to start prosecuting those with Fark in their business name, commercial products, domain names or other – they’d be legally justified in doing so.

Check to see if “Roger Restive”  is trademarked. Check “Restive Hamburgers”. Check unplural and plurals. No need to check common words by themselves – like hamburger, comb, fan, car, bottle, etc – because common words and phrases are not trademarkable. You can read more about the legally trademarkable words at the official site.

So far so good?

Probably you’re OK to go with this business name.

For each name you consider – you’ll have to check these resources to make sure someone doesn’t already have a business named similarly to yours.

Oh, one other tip… if someone has a business named “Donny’s Disks” and you wanted to name your company the same, you might be able to. If the other company is selling Flying Frisbee type toys and your disks are custom made DVD’s – there is no conflict between the companies because they are qualitatively different, though the name is the same. There are proably other businesses named, “McDonalds” that have nothing to do with hamburgers and fries.

Ready to choose your business name now?

Once you choose your business name, make sure that you can get the .com, .org, and .net names – and the plurals as domain names too. It’s a good idea to register all of those names to protect the image of your business in case someone wants to ride your wave of success by choosing a domain very similar to yours. It happens.

Disclaimer:

When you give us a business name to check with Oregon state we are checking the name against businesses registered in Oregon at the state of Oregon database only. It is up to you to check the other sources for whether the name is acceptable.

Please read our full disclaimer here.

Business Loan Mistakes

You may feel like you’re entitled to a business loan if you have a strong business idea and are ready to jump into it by incorporating and making it legal.

However, there are very strict criteria at all financial institutions for giving business loans. Traditionally speaking a business loan is not a good investment most of the time. Most businesses fail. Sometimes when businesses fail the owner can’t pay back the loans. That’s the harsh reality. So, it’s not a walk in the park to get a business loan.

Here are probably the top 10 mistakes you might make while trying to get a loan for your Oregon business. Avoid these mistakes at all costs!

1. Credit Rating Uncertainty. Become informed by requesting your credit report from the major credit bureaus. If your credit rating is not great – you’ll likely not get a loan from any banking institution, and many individual lenders.

2. Terms and Conditions. The loan terms and conditions are not optional reading. If you’re not good with legal notices have someone read it for you that you trust – a lawyer for instance. Have them tell you the important points so you’re not under any false assumptions about the terms.

3. Locking in Rates. Lending rates change all the time. If you have a decent rate you’d better grab it because the rate might go up. Choose a loan at a rate that’s fair and be happy with it.

4. Not Justifying Loan Amount. Lenders want to see exactly what you plan on spending the loan on. If they don’t believe you’ve researched it well enough you won’t get the loan at all. Justify the amount to yourself and make sure there are no unanswered questions about where the money is going.

5. Not Maintaining Stability. Even within your organization you want to make sure that you don’t make any major employee changes or changes to the structure of your business just prior to asking for a loan. Lenders want to lend to stable people, stable businesses. Make sure you are one.

6. Not Researching All Options. Don’t go straight to your bank that you’ve used since you saved money as a teenager. Sure it’s convenient, but what about competitive rates? Shop around and find the best deal. It might take a lot of effort, but that can be effort well spent. Don’t miss the SBA Small Business Administration and their program of guaranteeing loans for small businesses.

7. Paperwork / Financials Not Current. Don’t get caught behind in a loan payment and trying to apply for a new loan to fund your business growth. That’s not what any lender or individual wants to see before handing over money to you. Make sure your financial history is rock solid – or as good as it’s going to get before applying for a business loan.

8. No Equity in Your Business. If you don’t have any personal investment in the business… meaning money or assets that you can lose if you default on the loan than you might not get the loan at all. If you’re not personally invested in the business itself, the lender will not be likely to take on such a risk of loaning you capital for the business.

9. No Collateral. Banks, and anyone else that loans you money will want to see some collateral they can have if you default on the loan. This way you have a vested in terest in staying current on your debt.

10. No Business Plan. Don’t go to a lender without a business plan. With friends – sure, you could have an informal writeup and analysis of what you’ll do with the money, where the business is going. Banks only want to see a business plan or they think you’re not serious about the business and the loan.