How to Start an Online Business in Canada - What to Know, What to Avoid
First of all, why am I writing an article specifically about how to start an online business in Canada? Because I live in Canada and it just happens to be where I built my online success. Yes, being successful online is rapidly becoming more and more possible. But it's important to know what you need, what you need to know, and particularly what you should avoid.
Your Product/Service
From the start you should decide if you want to create your own product, offer a service, or market someone elses product(s). The nice part about the internet is that you have choice.
Hosting
Finding a web host is very easy, they're everywhere. However, finding a good web host is something else. When you're thinking about how to start an online business in Canada, it's important to remember that Google Canada shows up a lot of websites with the word "Canada" in their name. I know from experience that these are not always the best options. Do your research and try to get a package with a good amount of bandwidth (over 7.5GB) and storage (over 2GB). Often success online comes in little steps at first and then giant leaps later on, have a package that offers unlimited Addon Domains so that you can create as many web sites as necessary.
Multiple Websites
Depending on what you are trying to sell or how you intend to make money online, having multiple websites (with carefully chosen keywords and content) that link to one another can be a handy tool for bringing in traffic. For affiliate marketers, having unlimited Addon domains means unlimited landing pages and unlimited products.
Keywords
One particular phrase you will run across a lot is "SEO". SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is exactly that; the process of optimizing your website to target specific keywords and show up higher in search engine results. This is an important aspect to success online, targeting keywords with too much competition will get you nowhere and targeting keywords with too little traffic will do the same. You can research keywords, how many searches they get, and how much ad competition each of them has with Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
Pay particular attention to getting your keywords into your websites content in plain text, header 1 - 3, and in bold. Keyword saturation is another point to keep in mind; the point where a search engine decides that you have included the keyword in your website too many times and have no real relevant content. When I was first trying to figure out how to start an online business in Canada I spent a good deal of time researching keywords that had to do with my city, province, or even Canada. (Example Rather than target "learn guitar", I targeted "learn guitar Ottawa" which yielded fewer hits but more genuine interest).
Domain Name
Getting a good domain name is important. With your new knowledge of keyword research, do a domain registration search (your web host should have one) and see if there are domains available with your main keyword (or secondary keywords). If so, you're golden. Buy it.
Setting up a website
Most people looking to start an online business are not fluent with HTML, CSS, or other coding languages that are required to design a website from scratch. For this reason, it is important to have a host that has 1-button installations for Web Applications like WordPress, Joomla, Ruby, or others. My personal preference is WordPress. If your host has Fantastico, you should be fine. These Applications will install a base website framework for you. From there you can log in, change your settings, write content, and reply to comments. Most of them come with free "themes", though you can purchase a theme from a third party website or learn to design your own (it's not that hard if you know how).
Know-How
When I first started trying to figure out how to start an online business in Canada I spent the little money I had on ebooks and tutorials that I found on the internet. I ran across a lot of programs that offered to make me rich quick or "Show me the secret" but most of them offered little actual information and I was left with less money and no new knowledge. Do not fall into this trap. Don't fall for the single page website that offers to teach you how they made millions online. True, you may learn something valuable, but you'll waste a good deal of money in the meantime.
If at all possible, find a website that offers a large database of information (covering all aspects of online business). Making money online is a game of skill. The more skill you have, the more you understand, the more money you can make online. Find a program that teaches you everything from the technical end (CPanel, WordPress, FTP, Email Setup, etc) to the Marketing end (SEO, Affiliate sales, PPC, article marketing, etc). Try to get the best value for your dollar that you can; you need those dollars for your business.
Understanding Canada
One thing that you will find is that Canadian internet business have vastly different resources available to them than U.S. businesses. For example, having Electronics and some other choice items shipped to Canada by Amazon is not possible. You'll have to keep these things in mind. Look around to see if major Canadian outlets have a reseller or affiliate program if you're looking for specific items. Remember that Canada has a different mentality that our neighbor to the south and your business should take that into account. Also, be sure to get down to the local registry and register your home business. It's not expensive and can benefit you a great deal later on.
Getting Help
Probably one of the most important things to remember is that it is okay to ask for help while you try to figure out how to start an online business in Canada. You should participate in online business forums, facebook groups, and even find some groups of like interest on sites like meetup(com). Doing this allows you to learn from other peoples mistakes and triumphs. You would be surprised how many problems you can avoid by listening to others. Participating in your local Chamber of Commerce meetings and events would be a good idea as well.
Where do you start?
First things first. Decide what you want to do, what you want to sell, and who you want to sell it to. Find a good domain name and a quality host. Find as large of am information library as you can on the subject of Internet Marketing or Online Business (try to save your money on this one, it can be expensive). Install WordPress/Joomla/etc and start entering your content, images, and videos onto the website. After that it's just a matter of tweaking your design and finding the right places to be online. Particularly in Canada, putting advertisements in the local newspapers and taking advantage of the "flyer force" can be particularly beneficial. Take little steps and do not get impatient. Keep going forward and you will succeed.
Conclusion
I wish I could tell you more about how to start an online business in Canada but this article is getting very long. There are infinite possibilities online and you need to do your research to find the one that is right for you. Find a host, a domain, and as much information as you can (without spending too much)..
Good luck! I know you can do it...I did. Just keep going.
