library / lib66655b1400577dc0
Starting an Online Business and Internet Marketing 2021
S. K. Holder · 2021
In a sentence
A practical end-to-end guide to building, optimizing, and marketing an e-commerce website so a small business or solo entrepreneur can generate relevant traffic, conversions, and revenue.
Starting an Online Business and Internet Marketing is a hands-on manual for small businesses, start-ups, and individual entrepreneurs who want to run their own online store without paying agencies for every step. It walks the reader through choosing an e-commerce business model (dropshipping, print-on-demand, white label, wholesale, digital products, and passive income via affiliates and AdSense), setting up a domain, hosting, and CMS, designing for usability, and configuring products, categories, and pages for Google SEO. It then layers on a complete digital marketing playbook—content marketing, social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit), email marketing, lead generation, pay-per-click advertising, and measurement with Google Search Console and Analytics. The promise is that by understanding what is 'under the hood' and tracking performance, the reader stops wasting money on random tactics and instead builds a website and marketing system that drives qualified traffic and sales.
The four lenses
- Science
- Statistics
- Systems
- Strategy
The model
A causal framework linking website setup and optimization design levers and content/marketing actions to user psychological and behavioral states (trust, engagement) and downstream outcomes of relevant traffic, conversions, and revenue, moderated by content quality and channel fit.
Technical Site Setup and Optimizationdesign lever
The configuration of domain, hosting/CMS, page speed, security (SSL), mobile responsiveness, structured data, and SEO-friendly URLs and metadata that make a website fast, secure, and properly indexable by search engines.
Keyword and On-Page SEO Optimizationdesign lever
The selection and deployment of relevant long-tail keywords across titles, descriptions, headings, URLs, and images, along with on-page optimization practices that increase a site's visibility and ranking in search engine results pages.
Content Quality and Uniquenessdesign lever
The degree to which website and marketing content is unique, rich, valuable, well written, natural-sounding, and free of duplication and keyword stuffing, including blogs, product descriptions, and media that engage and inform users.
User Experience and Designdesign lever
The consistency, navigability, visual appeal, and ease of use of the website across desktop and mobile, designed for the user to find products quickly and complete tasks with minimal friction.
Sales Funnel Structuredesign lever
The deliberate arrangement of content and conversion funnels—pages, articles, calls-to-action, and checkout/capture flows—that filter visitors, demonstrate value, and move interested prospects toward a conversion.
Marketing Channel Activitydesign lever
The volume and consistency of promotional activity across owned and paid channels including social media, email, content distribution, PPC, and influencer outreach used to reach and attract target audiences.
Audience Targeting and Relevancedesign lever
The accuracy with which marketing and content reach the intended customer persona—matching age, interests, platform, buyer stage, and intent—so that attracted visitors are relevant rather than merely numerous.
Customer Trust and Credibilitypsychological state
The visitor's perception that the business is credible and safe to buy from, built through reviews, testimonials, secure connections, transparent policies, and professional presentation that reduce purchase risk.
Visitor Engagementbehavioral pattern
The behavioral involvement of visitors with the site and content—pages viewed, time on site, content shares, chat interactions, follows, and low bounce—reflecting interest and stickiness prior to conversion.
Relevant Web Trafficoutcome metric
The volume of qualified visitors arriving via organic search, social, email, and paid channels who match the target audience and have intent aligned with the site's products or services.
Conversionsoutcome metric
The completion of desired actions such as purchases, sign-ups, or lead captures, reflecting the rate at which engaged, relevant visitors take the primary goal action while minimizing cart abandonment.
Customer Retention and Loyaltyoutcome metric
The degree to which existing customers return and remain engaged through sticky content, reviews, newsletters, reward points, and follow-up, contributing to repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.
Revenue and Profitoutcome metric
The financial outcome of the online business—sales revenue and resulting profit after costs—representing the ultimate success metric the book ties all setup, optimization, and marketing efforts to.
How they connect
- technical site setup → predicts relevant web traffic
- keyword seo optimization → predicts relevant web traffic
- content quality → moderates keyword seo optimization
- content quality → predicts visitor engagement
- user experience design → predicts visitor engagement
- user experience design → influences customer trust
- technical site setup → influences customer trust
- sales funnel structure → predicts conversions
- customer trust → predicts conversions
- visitor engagement → predicts conversions
- marketing channel activity → predicts relevant web traffic
- audience targeting → moderates marketing channel activity
- relevant web traffic → predicts conversions
- conversions → predicts revenue profit
- customer retention → predicts revenue profit
- visitor engagement → predicts customer retention
A candidate measure
Starting an Online Business and Internet Marketing 2021 — derived measurement candidates
Technical Site Setup and Optimization
PageSpeed score; SSL/https status; index coverage count; mobile usability error count; 404/500 error counts
self-report suitability: low
Keyword and On-Page SEO Optimization
SERP ranking position; Search Console impressions/clicks; on-page keyword audit pass rate; CPC of targeted keywords
self-report suitability: low
Content Quality and Uniqueness
duplicate-content score; word count; thin-content/manual action flags; editorial quality rating
self-report suitability: low
User Experience and Design
bounce rate; pages per session; user testing scores; mobile usability flags
self-report suitability: medium
Sales Funnel Structure
funnel step drop-off rate; checkout behavior completion rate; split-test conversion lift
self-report suitability: low
Marketing Channel Activity
posts/sends per period; ad spend; reach/impressions; number of active channels
self-report suitability: medium
Audience Targeting and Relevance
conversion rate by segment; audience insight overlap; ad relevance/quality score
self-report suitability: medium
Customer Trust and Credibility
review counts and ratings; survey-reported trust; SSL presence; abandonment attributed to trust
self-report suitability: high
Visitor Engagement
pages per session; average session duration; social share counts; bounce rate
self-report suitability: low
Relevant Web Traffic
sessions by source/medium; new vs returning users; conversion rate by source
self-report suitability: none
Conversions
conversion rate; goal completions; cart abandonment rate; checkout funnel completion
self-report suitability: none
Customer Retention and Loyalty
repeat customer rate; customer lifetime value; newsletter open/click rates; reward redemptions
self-report suitability: medium
Revenue and Profit
total revenue; profit per order; ROI; passive income earnings
self-report suitability: none
The story
The reader A small business owner, start-up founder, or solo entrepreneur who wants to run a profitable online store on their own terms.
External problem
They cannot build, optimize, and market an e-commerce website that attracts relevant traffic and converts it into sales.
Internal problem
They feel overwhelmed and ignorant about what is 'under the hood,' afraid they are wasting time and money on tactics that do not work.
Philosophical problem
It is wrong for entrepreneurs to be kept dependent on expensive agencies and guesswork when the fundamentals are learnable.
The plan
- Decide what to sell and to whom, and choose a business model and passive income streams.
- Set up your domain, hosting, CMS, theme, logo, and core pages.
- Configure categories, products, and content for SEO and a strong user experience.
- Drive relevant traffic through SEO, social media, email, content, and paid advertising.
- Measure performance with Search Console and Analytics, then improve what works.
Success
- A profitable, well-optimized online store that ranks on Google and converts relevant traffic.
- Confidence in managing your CMS, marketing channels, and analytics without wasting money.
- Loyal, retained customers and diversified income including passive streams.
At stake
- Wasted time and money on random, untracked marketing that yields no results.
- A site buried by competitors, penalized for thin or duplicate content, and ignored by search engines.
- Lost customers, high bounce and cart abandonment, and a failing online business.
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