We live in an age where anyone can build a successful business from their home, anywhere in the world. With the evolution of the internet, websites, and online services – endless opportunities emerged for talented people willing to put in the hard work to create a source of passive income online.
In this article, I’m going to tell you about what I consider to be the best way to start your own online business – creating a website. Before we dive into it, it’s important to understand that this is not a get rich quick scheme. Just like any other successful activity, creating an online business will require a lot of hard work and determination from your side. I will not try to sell you a course that’ll promise to make you a millionaire in a week, rather give you an overview of how I started and the opportunities you can take advantage of for free.
Who am I?
My name is Eric Mitchell Porat and I’m a successful online entrepreneur, co-founder of three companies (one of which raised $11.5 mln in funding), and a website investor. I started my journey back in 2005 by simply creating my own website, learning from mistakes, and eventually selling it after a couple of years. Since then, I’ve been investing in websites and currently have a portfolio of more than 20+ profitable sites.
Where to start?
The simple answer is – start by learning a skill and getting really good at it. This is the truth that none of the “gurus” trying to sell their courses will tell you. The reality is that the internet has gotten hyper-competitive over the last two decades, and you can’t possibly compete if you haven’t mastered at least one skill. It can be Digital Marketing (SEO, SMM, PPC, Email), development (front-end, backend, AI, ML, data science), analytics – anything that will give you an edge over your future competition. I am a big supporter of learning by doing, and that’s why I think that the best way to start is to create your own website.
How do I start a website if I don’t know anything about this?
We all started there, but instead of giving up before you even started, you should commit to the idea that in a year you will have a website that at least pays for itself. The goal here is not to make money, in fact, you will most likely not make a single dollar out of it. You will still have profited even if you haven’t earned a single dollar. Why? Because you’ve learned skills worth thousands of dollars.
By committing yourself to the idea, I mean to make the first step, both mentally and financially. Think about something you are genuinely interested in, pick a domain name and buy it, as well as a hosting for your future website. What to do next? Google and watch videos, create your website step-by-step, and learn important skills.
Once you’ve set up the website, learn about creating content. Once you got enough content, go out and learn how to drive traffic to your content. Once you start getting some traffic, look into ways to monetize this traffic. This is way easier said than done, but this is the way I started and it was the decision I’ve ever made.
Keep learning and experimenting, don’t think about money yet – the skills you are learning are far more valuable.