{"id":3059,"date":"2016-05-09T11:06:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/?p=3059"},"modified":"2016-10-18T01:35:27","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T05:35:27","slug":"first-thing-starting-online-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/first-thing-starting-online-business\/","title":{"rendered":"M2M Episode 2: The First Thing To Do When Starting An Online Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin: 0px auto; text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GJUtFiSx078?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding: 10px; display: inline-block; max-width: 300px; border-radius: 5px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px -1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px inset, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px; background: #c0392b;\" href=\"https:\/\/smohzie.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/14628c6f3f72a2%3A12873401d346dc\/5735905604141056\/\" target=\"_blank\">Get New Marketing Videos<\/a> <a style=\"color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding: 10px; display: inline-block; max-width: 300px; border-radius: 5px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px -1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px inset, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px; background: #16A085;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/ask?utm_campaign=m2m&amp;utm_source=episode\" target=\"_blank\">Ask a question<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m Sam Oh, the founder of Money Journal and welcome to episode 2 of Marketing in Two Minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s question comes in from Derek Dilland from New York City. Derek said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I just got laid off and am starting a clothing line. Where should I focus my efforts when starting a business online?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of places you can start Derek. But I\u2019ll tell you where I think any new business owner should start straight from the start.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n<p>There are a lot of marketing tactics out there. One person will tell you to start a Facebook page, the other will tell you to put money into Facebook ads, and the next person will tell you to focus on SEO.<\/p>\n<p>I disagree with all of the above as a <strong>first step<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing any new online business owner should do is build an email list.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it for a second.<\/p>\n<p>Hubspot claims that approximately 96% of visitors that come to your website aren\u2019t ready to buy. There is ZERO trust relationship. They\u2019ve never heard of you, so why would they open up their wallets?<\/p>\n<p>Build an email list, continually give your best value to them and then sell when they are ready.<\/p>\n<p>With an email list, you can get traffic to new articles, send new products and ask questions for product validation by literally clicking the send button.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/seo-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\">marketing tactics like SEO<\/a>, it takes time to rank for keywords.<\/p>\n<p>With Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, people will only see your site for as long as you\u2019re paying.<\/p>\n<p>And again\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>There is ZERO trust relationship.<\/p>\n<p>The very first thing you want to do is build an email list.<\/p>\n<p>Contact your friends who are interested in your niche. Get them to invite their friends who might be interested. Give practical value through your list that people will benefit from.<\/p>\n<p>Focus on giving before you ask.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t need to start with a product. With an email list, you can ask questions like:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hey, I\u2019m creating my first product and would appreciate feedback from you since you are a [insert your niche here] enthusiast too. I was thinking something like\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An eBook on [ABC]<\/li>\n<li>An video course on [XYZ]<\/li>\n<li>Or a revolutionary product that lets you do [THIS].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Which one interests you the most and would you buy it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Take that information and then use it as validation to sell what THEY want. Not what you THINK they want.<\/p>\n<p>Focus on building your email list first. Don\u2019t ignore me. Just do it.<\/p>\n<h2>Question of the day<\/h2>\n<p><em>Which email marketing tool\u00a0are you using?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #ff9; clear: both; margin-bottom: 18px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid #e5e597; padding: 10px; margin-top: 18px; text-align: center;\">Follow\u00a0or a contribute. Either way, I look forward to serving your online marketing needs.<br \/>\n<a style=\"color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding: 10px; display: inline-block; max-width: 300px; border-radius: 5px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px -1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px inset, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px; background: #c0392b;\" href=\"https:\/\/smohzie.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/14628c6f3f72a2%3A12873401d346dc\/5735905604141056\/\" target=\"_blank\">Follow M2M<\/a> <a style=\"color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding: 10px; display: inline-block; max-width: 300px; border-radius: 5px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px -1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px inset, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) 0px 1px 3px; background: #16A085;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/ask?utm_campaign=m2m&amp;utm_source=episode\" target=\"_blank\">Contribute a Question<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some people say to focus on SEO. Others say to go all-in on paid advertising. I disagree with all of these as a first step. The first thing you should do is focus on building an email list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The First Crucial Step When Starting An Online Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is one definitive thing you should do when starting an online business. This 2 minute video will explain why you should do it and how to get started.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/first-thing-starting-online-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Step When Starting An Online Business | M2M Episode 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is one definitive thing you should do when starting an online business. 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