Funding Your Internet Business

Some people will tell you that you need to invest thousands of pounds in a website. Others will tell you that you then have to spend hundreds of pounds on advertising. And of course there are products and a myriad of other things you need to think about as well.

So what is the magic figure? How much money should you put aside to start off your brand new internet business?

The answer really depends on a number of factors. For starters it depends on what kind of business you are setting up. If you have skills to sell – perhaps you want to make money from writing for example – then you don’t need to worry about investing in stock. You have the skills you need already to create the work once people order it.

It also depends on what you are capable of doing to reduce the costs involved with setting up your own business. For example if you know enough to set up your own website you won’t have to pay someone else to do it for you. It might take you a bit longer but you may see this as a price worth paying , in order to save some actual expenditure to someone else. In addition to this there are some small business services online which offer either a discounted website or a free one to get you started. Microsoft does this with its small business arm.

Time is an important factor in many cases. For example you may well be able to set up your own website on your own. But how long will it take you? If the answer is several months then you may be better off paying someone else if it will get you the website you need in a week or two instead. Just think of all the sales you could make in the time it takes you to complete the same job.

As you can see it isn’t as easy as you might think to figure out how much to invest in your internet business. For example you might want to indulge in some paid advertising such as Google Adwords to help you find new clients and customers. On the other hand you may be happy to use all manner of free advertising methods to help you spread the word about your new business. A lot depends on how fast you want to get results.

This is why many new internet businesses are started alongside a regular job. Not only does this mean there may be some cash available to help pave the way if necessary, it also means there is no time pressure to make money quickly. An internet business built up like this can grow gradually and thus develop into something really worthwhile in the long run.

So you see there is no magic sum of money that will get an internet business off to a flying start. Instead you need to work out what you want to achieve and when you want to get there.