(ARA) – If you’ve got a hobby, or even just a vision, it doesn’t take much to turn your dream into an online business that can provide extra income or even a backup plan in the event of a job loss.

In fact, LegalZoom.com, the nation’s leading online legal document and filing service, saw a 19 percent jump in customers forming limited liability companies (LLCs) in the fourth quarter of 2008 (compared to the year before), even while the economy as a whole shrank 3.8 percent. Celebrities are even joining the trend.

When Kim Kardashian, one of the most stylish celebrities in Hollywood, started ShoeDazzle.com, she turned to LegalZoom.com to help her take her passion for fashion and turn it into a thriving online business.

According to Kardashian, some of the most important steps to turning your own passion into starting your business include:

* Find your passion first.
Needless to say, passion is not the only thing you need to be successful in starting a business. You will also need lots of motivation and patience. But passion is essential as it will help you stay focused and keep moving without giving up easily.

* Make sure there is a demand for the business.
Do research to determine the demand for products or services from comparable businesses. You will find it helpful to see how quickly related businesses have been able to grow.

* Learn from others.
Check with similar companies and speak to other professionals who have experience in the industry. Most entrepreneurs are open to sharing their experiences and advice with those who won’t directly compete with them. This is a crucial initial step in determining your own likelihood of success.

“LegalZoom.com makes it easy and affordable for entrepreneurs like Kim to start a business,” says Brian Liu, co-founder and chairman of LegalZoom. “Whether it’s forming a corporation, LLC, or even filing a DBA, LegalZoom.com offers entrepreneurs the best online resource for learning about different business structures and then starting the business online.”

For more information and to find the necessary legal forms to start your business, visit LegalZoom.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Nearly everyone uses search engines to find a product or service, so having your business show up in a Google search is far more important than an advertisement in the phone book. In fact, according to a 2008 eMarketer study, only 2 percent of advertisers believe they receive a worthwhile return on investment with a Yellow Pages placement, compared to more than 50 percent who engage in online marketing and advertising. Small, strategic investments in online marketing can make your business Web site much more visible, and grow your revenues.

Get Found by Search Engines
Search engines scan Web sites for keywords to determine what the site is about, and then rank the sites in order of relevance. To get your Web site listed in these natural (also called organic) listings, many businesses engage in search engine optimization (SEO). SEO incorporates specific key phrases into the content and programming code, so that a search engine is more likely to reward your site with higher rankings. SEO also includes building up a Web site’s popularity by getting links to it from other Web sites.

According to a report from iProspect and Jupiter Research, 62 percent of searchers click on a link within the first page of results. Using SEO is a great way to increase your site’s natural search rankings and drive more traffic to your Web site (and more revenue to you).

TIP: For the best results in SEO, start early. If you can incorporate optimization into the structure of your Web site as you build it, you’ll already be ahead of the curve. Consult an SEO expert about ways to get your site maximum exposure on search engines. Although SEO is an ongoing process, getting your site designed with SEO in mind can save a lot of time and effort down the road.

Turn Visitors into Customers
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is a cost-effective way to drive traffic through your doors, increase online orders, grow your list of contacts and get visitors to take action on your Web site. PPC is an advertising method in which ads are displayed on a search engine result page like Google or Yahoo!. These advertisements, or sponsored links, appear at the top or on the right side of a search results page. An advertiser only pays for an ad when a visitor clicks on it and is taken to the advertiser’s Web site.

“Unlike traditional advertising, only consumers that are already searching for products and services you offer will see your PPC ads,” says Harry Brooks, director of search marketing for Network Solutions. “This can lead to a friendlier user experience for shoppers, less wasted ad costs for you, and a higher conversion rate for your ad campaigns all around.”

Whether a customer is shopping for the product you create or the consulting service you provide, PPC ads can reach the right customers at the right time — when they are ready to buy. A recent study by Piper Jaffray & Co. found that the average cost per acquisition for search engine advertising was $8.50 versus $20 for advertising in the phone book.

FACT: According to a study by iProspect, when a user encounters a PPC ad and an organic SEO listing on the same search result page, there is:
* a 45 percent increase in orders.
* a 45 percent increase in actions taken on the Web site
* a 43 percent increase in page views
* 39 percent more time spent on the site

Get the Word Out
Online Media Marketing is another way to market and advertise your business online. Through press releases and e-mail campaigns, customers learn about your business and can find your products and services more easily. If you’ve got exciting news about your company — sales are up, you have a new product or you’ve recently appeared at an industry event — an online press release can build your site’s popularity and boost your search engine rankings even more. Targeted e-mail campaigns go the extra mile to reach out to your customers through newsletters and announcements.

On the Internet, it is all about driving customers to your Web site, so the more you distribute information about your business electronically, the better.

TIP: In addition to distributing press releases online, posting releases onto a “news” section of your Web site is a great way to keep your site’s content fresh, which in turn helps with SEO rankings.

For more information and more tips on how to get your Web site noticed, visit http://education.networksolutions.com

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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