1. Email account(s)
The first thing a person needs to do business online is an email account.
If you have an ISP (Internet Service Provider) they probably provide you with one or more email accounts, however as the internet changes and time passes odds are very high that you will change ISPs and therefore have to change your email, unless you select an online provider.
The more permanent your email, the more effective your marketing efforts will be, and the less you will have to redo with as changes occur. You may need only one account or several depending on the model you choose to follow for generating income. More about this further down.
Over the years I have used many, many free online email services and hands down Google mail (www.mail.google.com)blows all the rest out of the water.
I have had an account with them for several years. I virtually never experience spam, yet I have not had any problems with people or businesses that I want to have contact me succeeding, and they can handle whatever load may be placed on them, and they are as permanent a service as you can hope to find online. I use gmail as my primary provider, with a backup account at Yahoo.com, so if I were to forget my password, get hacked or have some other type of problem, I can recover quickly.
Selecting a name may be a little tricky, as millions of names have already been taken, but after a few minutes of trial and error you will find one that isn't taken that you can live with. The shorter the better, and making it easy to remember is advantageous but not absolutely necessary.
2. Paypal.
There are several online payment handling companies available. Frankly I have had only the most limited experience with most of them, mainly because Paypal has remained the pre-eminant funds management service since it's inception. They pay decent interest and in my experience are very like a bank that is designed for doing business online. I suggest you start with a personal account (as business accounts don't pay interest). You can always upgrade if you need to. They provide you with a wide range of services such as banners for your website, acceptance of major credit cards, echecks and other forms of payment. Their fees are very reasonable, and kick in mainly only when you receive money.
You will want to advance through their "verification" process as rapidly as possible, linking your Paypal account to your bank account and credit card so that you can easily transfer your funds in and out of your Paypal account.
3. Fulfillment
When someone orders something from you online someone has to take the order, pick and pack it, ship it, collect the funds and so forth. If you are focusing on a niche market you may be able to handle the entire process personally, however the internet is a world wide marketplace and if your advertising is effective and your product becomes popular, you could experience receiving hundreds or even thousands of orders per day, far more than one or even a dozen people could handle effectively.
If the name of the game for you is automated residual income you will need to carefully select a company or service to perform fulfillment for you or choose something that requires the least amount of effort possible to achieve fulfillment. Selling ebooks is a good example of a low fulfillment requirement business.
As Fulfillment companies go online, Amazon.com seems to be head and shoulders above the others I have seen. They have an excellent system for enabling you to effectively market just about anything and have exceptional fulfillment services available.
4. Presence
One of the more subtle aspects to success online is knowing how to build a web presence. It will be important for you to have at the very least; a MySpace profile, a Facebook profile, and a Twitter account. Use the same name and information for all and cross link them. To see what I mean go to my MySpace profile and follow the links to my other web presence pages.
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