How Women Make Money Online: Getting Started

Today we’re starting a new series here on Blonde & Balanced that will help all the ambitious women out their achieve their career goals.  We’ll be featuring self made women who make money online.

They’ll be sharing their secrets on how to get clients, how to grow their business and how to successfully run a full time or part time career from the comfort of their own home…or the comfort of where ever they want to because when you work online you can work from anywhere.

Today we’re talking all about how to get started.  As you know I run a social media and content consulting business and today I’m sharing the steps I took to get started.

Create a website

This should be your first step.  If you want to make money online then you need to be online.  A website is a way to showcase your expertise and experience as well as give details (including prices) about your services offered and let your audience get to know you.

If you’ve never created a website before you may need to pay a professional to help you get started.  Just remember that you don’t need to spend a fortune on your first website because it will be ever changing.  The odds of you loving your website from the get go are very small and the online world is always changing.  You can also get started yourself with a free WordPress website. With the way the net is now, going on Youtube or another video site can be a great place to find tutorials on how to improve a wordpress site, use a search term such as “WordPress hosting videos” for the best results.

Make sure there’s a need

Sometimes a great idea is just an idea if there is no demand for your product or service.  Test your market and try to find impartial people.  Asking your family and friends is a good place to start, but  not if they’re going to tell you that it’s a great idea just because you’re family.

If you’re going to invest your time and money into something then make sure the return is going to be worth it.  Of course you won’t make money right out of the gate, but over time as you build credibility you will make money if there’s a need for your product or service.

Use your offline connections

Interacting online can be uncomfortable for some people when they first get started, but if you want to make money online you’ll have to get used to it.   Until you build up that courage start looking for clients in your offline life.  You can also use the connections you’ve made in getting your business up and running as referrals.

If you had a web designer create your website, ask them for referrals.  If you had a graphic artist make your logo then ask them for business.  If you always eat at the same restaurants then ask them for business.  There are over a billion people in the world and they’re all at your fingertips when you run an online business.

Trust me, customers are out there.  You just need to know where to find them.