Thread: Why You Want to Start an Online Business in 2009

Source -- Rank Above Yourself Why You Want to Start an Online Business in 2009

While the rest of the business world is in shambles the online business world is doing well. According to the Department of Commerce U.S. Retail E-commerce sales numbers are up all around. The 2nd Quarter of 2008 saw $34.6 billion in sales which was a 2.9% increase from the 1st quarter and a 9.5% increase from the second quarter of 2007. Just recently on “Cyber Monday” (the online world’s “black Friday”) the online world saw another positive sign, consumers spent $846 billion on cyber Monday which was an increase of 15% over 2007’s cyber Monday.

So, why is e-commerce increasing in such tough times?

The Increasing e-commerce Today

Consumer spending is low, layoffs have started to happen and will continue to happen throughout the first quarter of 2009, so consumers have obviously realized it’s time to start saving. It is widely known that you are able to get the best deals online for any type of item you want. The reason for this is that online businesses are easier to maintain and cost less to run. These savings translate into better deals for consumers.




The other positives about shopping online include not having to fight traffic or wake up early, you spend less money on gas, etc. All this has combined to make for a rather good money-making holiday season for online retailers in a down economy. With the economy not expected to rebound until late 2009 to early 2010, consumers will continue to deal hunt and those hunts will lead them to online retailers and businesses.




The online business environment is easy to get into, too, which works to your benefit! An online business could be retail, blogging, copywriting, marketing, etc. That being said, it is not as easy to succeed in online business, because there is a lot of competition. However, there are things you can do to set you ahead.




Marketing online is all about the mix and measurability. A survey by Hearst Electronics Group and Goldstein Group of business to business marketers showed that the “migration of communications budgets from traditional media to online has accelerated to the point where nearly half of all spending, 47 percent, is spent on online marketing techniques today.” This is being done because online advertising methods are easily measured. In a time when budgets are being cut back and cash is strapped it is important that you know where to get the most bang for your buck. You can use free programs like Google analytics to measure your marketing efforts. This program will show you everything you need to know about how users are coming to your site, where they’re going on your site, and when and where they are leaving from your site. This amount of measurability allows you to spend less money and make more of it.




The ways of advertising your site online are free or cheap as well. Methods of advertising like social networking, article marketing, blog reviews, and forum posting are all free methods of advertising that can get your site noticed. Search engine optimization is also a key part. You can either pay a company to do that for you or you can do that yourself and make it free. Video advertising is another important way to advertise your site and that is free (after you buy the program to make the videos).





You cannot forget about Pay-per-click marketing as well. Google Adwords is the premiere service for this type of advertising. These advertisements show up on the right side of the screen when you search for something on Google. This is an important method because you only pay when someone clicks on the ad and goes to your site, which makes it a relatively cheap way to get visitors to your site and it is targeted to certain keywords so the people coming to your site are already looking for what you are selling.




As you can see there are plenty of reasons to start an online business in 2009. The ease of entry, the cheap advertising, the multiple types of business you could create are all great reasons to get started now. Online business is not going away and while it isn’t recession-proof, the numbers are showing that online is one of the fastest growing segments of business in terms of sales revenue. It hasn’t stopped in a sluggish economy and it will only increase when the economy recovers. The year 2009 is your year to start an online business and be successful at it!

nice read. its good seeing those positive numbers. more time passes, I think online would even bloom more.

Yea the internet is becoming the center of everything now.