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Don't know how to start and grow an online business? Here are 8 tips that can help attract visitors to your site and guarantee your success

Step 1: Find a need and fill it.

Most marketers make the mistake of finding a product before they have a market. But unless people are actively searching for your product online, you'll never make a sale. The trick is to find a group of people with a common problem they're trying to solve and then solve it.

Thankfully, the internet makes market research easy. Here are some easy steps for researching your market:

Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.

Figure out which keywords a lot of people are searching but not many sites are competing for.

Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill demand.

After you've done this, use what you’ve learned to create a product for a market that already exists--and do it better than your competitors.

Step 2: Write sales copy that sells.

On a website, your copy has to do the selling for you. There’s a proven formula for writing sales copy that'll take visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive:

Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
Describe the problem your product can solve.
Show them why you can be trusted to solve the problem.
Add testimonials from people who've used the product.
Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
Make an offer or a guarantee.
Create urgency.
Ask for the sale.

Throughout your sales copy, focus on how your product or service is uniquely able solve people's problems or make their lives better. Think like a customer and ask, what's in it for me?

Step 3: Design and build your website.

Once you’ve got your market and product and you’ve nailed down your selling process, you’re ready to build your site.

Remember to keep it simple. Your website is your online storefront, so be sure to make it customer friendly. You have less than 10 seconds to grab a visitor's attention before they're gone. Some important tips to keep in mind:

Use a plain, sans-serif font, like Arial, on a white background.
Make your navigation clear and simple and keep it consistent throughout your site.
Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.

Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.

How do you get traffic to a brand-new site? Pay-per-click advertising, which has two advantages:

The ads show up on search pages immediately.

They allow you to test different keywords, headlines, prices and selling approaches.

Not only do you get traffic immediately, but once you've figured out what keywords are working best, you can use them throughout your copy and code, which will help your rankings in organic search results.

Home: http://blog.tootoo.com

The best way to protect yourself against customers who can't pay is to thoroughly investigate foreign customers and high-risk companies. A sure way to reduce your overall risk is to purchase insurance that will protect you in case you do get stuck. There are several types of policies available:

Tootoo.com is the business-to-business (“B2B”) search and service website under Ninetowns Internet Technology Group Company Ltd., which was established in 1995 and was listed on NASDAQ in December of 2004 (NASDAQ: NINE).