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1. • CommentAuthoryoungscientist
   • CommentTimeJan 11th 2007

    
   What are all the good available tools (free and paid) needed by an internet marketer to launch and create a successful product?
2. •  
     CommentAuthorvishen
   • CommentTimeJan 11th 2007

    
   It really depends on what it is that you're trying to sell. let's say you're just trying to sell an information product.
   
   You would need:
   
   1. Webhosting (we use LiquidWeb.com)
   
   2. Some software to actually build the site. A nice one is Mini Site Creator (http://www.minisitecreator.com/)
   
   3. Optional - a content management tool like a Blog or Discussion Forum. You can get these free. We use Wordpress and Vanilla. Google them to find download links.
   
   4. An autoresponder system. We recommend GetResponse.com. Cheap and great hand-holding for beginners.
   
   Now comes the hard part. Making it all work in sync. Get a good book on ecommerce or buy a comprehensive course (such as the one we offer) and study, study, study. Also be active in a community such as this where people are willing and ready to help you.
   
   Here is an extract from a blog post where I explained how I got started and some of the tools I used:
   
   One for the beauties of starting an ecommerce business is that it doesn’t take much to run.
   
   Fixed costs such as setting up the site and hiring a web designer are usually a few hundred dollars. The variable costs such as advertising are what you need to be concerned about.
   Let me answer your questions with a personal example.
   
   My first foray into ecommerce started on a shoe-string budget. Through a friend, I found an interesting product. I spent a few weekends preparing some rough pieces of copy to describe the product and it’s benefits.
   
   Now I incurred the fixed costs of setting up the site:
   
   First, I got on elance.com and posted an ad looking for a web-developer. I found one in Asia who had a fine reputation and could get my site up in 2 weeks for a mere $500. (now, prices have dropped further and $200 is possible).
   
   So I had my site and my copy written. The next costs incurred were webhosting ($30/month) and purchasing licensed images to use on the site ($1 each from iStockPhoto.com). Next I opened a Paypal account so I could collect payment (Paypal is free and claims just a small percentage of each transaction as a fee).
   
   That really was it. I had my site running for under $600 in initial fixed costs. But of course, just having a site is not enough. You need traffic. So my next expense was opening a Google Adwords account and buying PPC ads. I budgeted $500/month for my first few ads.
   
   The Variable Costs
   
   In my first month, I spent $568 on Google ads. My income was $195 and I had made a lost of $373. Darn!
   
   But this first month also thought me a lot about what made my site work. I adjusted the copy, improved the landing pages and by Month 2, I made my first profit of $83. Okay, not much. But this grew - rapidly.
   
   In month 3, I earned enough to cover by initial fixed costs and my first month’s losses. By month 4 - everything come in was pure profit.
   
   A mere 2 years after starting the site, I was making $18,000 a month.
3. •  
     CommentAuthormike
   • CommentTimeJan 11th 2007

    
   I would also recommend www.wordtracker.com for your PPC keyword research. Yes, they cost money but they save you so much time it is worth it because you can get everything done in one day if you prepare ahead of time on how to do your keyword research and one day access is very cheap.
4. •  
     CommentAuthordantheman
   • CommentTimeNov 8th 2007

    
   i am building website directly on blogger.com
   
   big problem is that you cannot currently utilize adwords conversion tracking on new blogger. but they are working on it, i hope.