It is no secret that having your own internet business can be very profitable. The world wide web, can explode your business traffic and sales, seemingly overnight, and you might find yourself wondering how you ever did it before. Although some people have successful businesses offline, they sometimes do not have the know how to be successful online. This usually has nothing to do with the product or service they are offering. Most of the time this is just due to a lack of experience, because trust me the online world is a lot different. Here are the top ten things that your online business will need in order to become successful.

10. Great Domain Name
Although things like bookmarks, and search have made domain names a little more dynamic and less crucial, they are still very important. You want your domain to be something recognizable, and something that is easily remembered. Do not try to overdo it by making it too long, and if the domain name you want is for sale at a reasonable price, buy it. Domains are like homes, their value is more likely to go up.

9. Experienced Web Designers
When it comes to web design you want everything to be perfect. This is especially true now a days since their are so many devices to browse the internet with, and so many different browsers. You want everything to be compatible, so talented web designers are a must. Web design has grown to be a very affordable thing, and you can even use templates to cut your costs. Just beware or using templates, because many people will most likely have the same exact layout as you.

8. Social Presence
Social media is such a huge part of business in today’s world. Prepare to be social, or prepare to fail. Getting a social media presence is a great way to attract customers, as well as form a legitimacy behind your product.

7. Creativity
The one thing that the online business world has grown into is a very competitive platform. Nine times out of ten, there are already a number of businesses in your niche. This means you have to be creative to differentiate yourself from the rest of your competition.

6. Blog
There are over 150 million blogs out there in the world wide web. Having a blog is the simplest, and most proven effective, way to generate some user feedback. This is extremely important, and is a great way to start having some regular visitors. Pushing blog posts through your social media outlets is also a great way to get your business off the ground.

5. Advertisement
While the internet is great for getting natural advertising, you still cannot beat the power of effective old school marketing. Creating simplistic designs for banner ads is a great way to start seeing some clicks, and get some traffic. You can do this a number of ways. The most common are Google, and Facebook ads.

4. Relationships
It is important to start building relationships with other online webmasters. You can do this through blogging, and sharing topics through websites in the same niche, or sharing with media websites that cover topics your business may be involved in. This is a great way to get noticed, and if you have something to say thats good you might just find some more visitors to your site.

3. Portfolio
This can mean a number of different things. Either you have testimonials of happy clients, or you show examples of work that you have performed in the past. Without this you can lack credibility and your business may suffer because of it. If you do not have a great long list of work, show off your best. Start small, and make sure you perform your best on each project that you take on. That is how you start becoming a reputable business.

2. SEO
Search Engine Optimization is extremely valuable, and often overlooked by websites. Quite frankly, if you are not ranking at least on the first page of the SERP’s (search engine results pages) then you are not being seen. This can be detrimental to your business. It would also be unfortunate if the keywords searchers are typing in are exactly what you have to offer. When it comes to search engine optimization there are a number of services that you can have performed. Some of the most important aspects are correctly coding your website, and then using some white hat SEO services to help give your website some more page authority.

1. Brand Presence
Brand presence is the most important thing, but do not think of it as your classic brands like Nike, or Coca Cola. Brand presence online can be quite different when starting out. Obviously you are going to want this to be something recognizable, but its more than that. You want to put a face on your business. The number one problem with the internet is that you do not know who you are doing business with. Just as Facebook took care of the problem that MySpace made, by requiring real people to join with a college email account, you need to put some legitimacy on your brand. Maybe this means putting an about page with a few of the top faces. Maybe this means that you hold conference calls, or Vlog so people can recognize a face with a product. Every great brand has a great face behind it. Legitimize your business with a legitimate charismatic person behind it. If you don’t have one, hire one.

This article was written by Ben Anderson. Ben works to help online business owners maximize their potential through many different Montly SEO services.