Let’s get started on your website…

If you are going to brand yourself or you are your own company, the very first step is to purchase your domain and hosting.  If you are part of network marketing, you want to set up your capture page and start building a list. Either way, you need to know what a domain is and how to get it hosted on the internet.

What Is A Domain?

The video below, “What is a Domain?” will help you understand what a domain is and why you need hosting but stated simply, a domain is a name and a way to be recognized.

TUTORIAL VIDEO: What Is A Domain?

At the time of this writing, the best place to get a domain (your internet name) is GoDaddy and the recommended hosting (your home on the internet) is GVOHosting. You will also need an autoresponder.   I recommend AWeber for that but if you are part of our complete marketing package, you have an email response system and everything else you need right there in GVO.  I am an affiliate of GVO but that is because of this good reason – they have proven to me to be the easiest, most complete yet economical marketing package on the internet.

What is a Marketing Campaign?

A marketing campaign is a strategy for moving a service or product from the supplier to the consumer. The internet makes it possible to do business internationally, on automatic. This impersonal way of doing business has advantages and disadvantages. It can be so impersonal that the business never gets off the ground. It also opens the door for unscrupulous people to launch scams.  But on the plus side, the rapid communication and instant delivery features allow a true business to market internationally.  What makes the difference for the business person and the customer is the email campaign feature.

ICANN and the FTC have regulations that set apart the scams from the true business.  If you are a true business, you want to set up a series of communications that are sent out by a reputable company such as Aweber.  In your emails, you need to provide links and other references to your potential customers which allow them to check you out.

The first barrier an internet marketer has to overcome is the idea that it cannot be learned. It may look like there are so many features and facets that it is too complicated for the average person.  Not only can it be learned, but it can be simplified down to just a few concepts. We’ll take the concepts up one at a time.

A Domain and Hosting

DOMAINS: A domain name is your “address.”  The domain name of this site is cherylcurrie.com.  The full address would be http (HyperText Transfer Protocol) which is the name of the information system used by the World Wide Web and the www for World Wide Web.  This is just like having an address like 1234 Main St and it not doing you any good unless you add the city/state/province and country.  It doesn’t matter if you buy .org, .com, .net, .info, etc., except for the impression it gives.  For example, .org is usually associated with large company sites.  The .com is the most common one and is used mainly for presentations and public websites.  Others such as .net or .info cost less and can be used for linked websites that give more information on a particular subject.  You should check to see if that same domain name is available in a .com before you purchase a .net or .info as people often type in .com out of habit.

Buying a domain is the first step toward having a place on the internet.  Have you ever driven by an empty lot and seen a sign that says “Coming Soon” and the name of a store or housing project or some other company?  Someone bought that address but they have not built anything there yet.  That is what buying a domain name is like.  Until you link the domain name to a page and get hosting there is no “building” there. A more complete explanation of this concept can be found on the video tutorial or pdf download called “What Is a Domain?”

HOSTING: Hosting is your “permit” or license to build.  A domain name will not appear on the internet unless it is hosted by a server.  An analogy might be this:  World Wide Web owns the “land” and a land developer buys the right to a section of it and then subleases a smaller section of it to you as “hosting.”   The space you need could be as small as a single page or as large as Facebook.  The cost of hosting is usually based on the amount of space you need (measured in megabytes, gigabytes, etc.) and the type and amount of traffic that your site or sites will be getting. This is very similar to the different zoning and licensing laws for buildings.   The more you need, the more it involves and the higher the costs go.

Many hosting companies are “resellers” in that they paid for a large amount of space and are now selling smaller chunks to you.  Some of these companies oversell with the bad effect of your website “going down” for hours or even days at a time.  One way to tell if the company is large enough to ensure this doesn’t happen is to see if they offer “dedicated hosting” or any hosting larger than just unlimited.

WEBSITES and PAGES: You can’t have a building without an address or an address without a building and expect people to find you.  If you bought your domain from Godaddy like I recommended, then you got 90 subdomains, a free email address and several options for hosting.  You have, basically, 91 addresses.  Most people don’t realize how many options they have with the purchase of a single domain name.

That is why I recommend that you use your name or your own personal business name for a website.  Sales pages and other sites can be a different name and link back to your main website.  Subdomains can be used for single page advertising, for forwarding to recommended locations, etc.  You will learn more about this as you play around with your 90-unit building!

PDF Version of “What Is A Domain?” — Download Here

The Sales Funnel

Now that you have a website or page, you can set up your sales funnel to direct traffic to it.  For more detailed information on a “Sales Funnel,” go to Lesson Two A

1. The purpose of the “sales funnel” is:

A. Offer something that will capture the names and addresses of those who are interested in your product or service

B. Build a relationship with those customers

C. Increase the sales volume with offers they will likely buy.

2. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP: Memberships, newsletters, forums, social networks and more all require that you talk to a large number of people. Successful marketers use what’s known as an “autoresponder.” Below is a video demonstration of how this works done by internet marketing master, Kevin Hokoana.

PDF Version of “What Is An Autoresponder?” — Download Here

1. Once you have a domain name and hosting, the next thing you need for a “sales funnel” is an “Autoresponder.” You cannot expand your business if you spend the entire time talking to your customers. Whatever you would say to one customer, you would most likely say to them all. So a list of emails that goes out automatically, a newsletter, advertising and/or a catalog need to go out automatically to your entire list at the push of a button. That is an “autoresponder.”
2. Inside an “Autoresponder” you can set up your first “campaign.” A campaign is a single sales funnel. It is one path along which your customers will find you. It has a name and is completely set up to capture a target public’s attention, walk them down the path to subscription, membership or being a consumer.

The “opt-in” form has an “html code” that includes the name of your “campaign” so that that name and email goes straight to a mailing list. The emails assigned to that campaign start going out right away. Therefore, the next step is obviously to name the campaign and set up the emails.

Which takes us back to:

Lesson Two B: Email Campaigns