Setting up a business online is beginning to look like a more solid investment than setting up a high-street store. A recent survey suggested that four in ten businesses make at least 90 per cent of their revenue online.

Experts have predicted that recruitment within e-commerce is set to double within the next four years indicating that there is plenty of room for entrepreneurs to set themselves up online.

However, many are put off by this because they are unaware what is required to start up an online business. This article outlines some of the steps that need to be taken in order to launch a business online.

Domain and hosting

In order to launch a website, users need to register a URL and pay for a company to host their website on that domain. A basic address with a .com or .co.uk suffix, might set users back around £10 per a year.The price of hosting will vary depending on the amount of bandwidth needed but owners shouldn’t expect to pay more than £10 a month for this service.

Online merchant accounts

Online merchant accounts allow business to collect money from customer’s credit or debit cards online. It is crucial to get one of these if you want your business to make money.

Marketing

There are tens of billions of websites on the internet so owners shouldn’t expect people to find theirs without some extensive marketing. Pay per click advertising (PPC) is a great way to get people to notice your website.

PPC allows text adverts for your website to appear when people are searching for pages related to your product. One of the main benefits of this marketing tactic is that businesses only need to pay out when a consumer is led to their website.

Other search marketing tactics can consist of search engine optimisation or content marketing.

By following these steps, anyone can create the basis for a successful online business.