Stage 1 - the idea

KABLOOEY

Good morning folks, I've been giving the idea of starting a business a lot of thought lately & have decided today I may as well give it a shot. The purpose of the experiment is probably more self-educational than looking to make a profit. I have limited experience in web design and know the basics of hosting etc. and seeing as the business will be solely online I don't think I'm diving in too deep... I'm currently a marketing student and want to use this to give me an edge on other graduates when the time comes to job hunt!

The business idea is basic and something I have an interest in so I should stay motivated to see it completed. Basically I'm hoping to use this thread to get a few simple questions answered. These are probably the most novice business questions that get asked but you have to start somewhere so off the top of my head if someone could help me with the following I would greatly appreciate it:

- If you're setting up a website that is basically solely information (ie. there will be purchasing on-site or off-site) do you need to register the website as a company? E.g. I'm looking to build a database for Irish service providers that is easily navigated and has links to the people of that profession in your area "www.housecleanersireland.ie" for example - would House Cleaners Ireland need to be registered to use this URL?
- What sort of measures should be taken, if any, to repel someone basically stealing the database I have built up and incorporating it into a more functional site considering I will be doing this on a shoe-string budget?
- The only income that I can see this site generating is from Google Ads - is this something that I should look into before building the site or after? I have the blueprint for the site done & have Google Analytics set up on it but have no experience with Ads.

The income from ads isn't too important. The main thing is to do this by the rules so I can say I have experience in the area. I look forward to any responses!

The Apprentice

1. No u dont - We can all have hobbies
2. Im not fully understanding of this question - You can set your geographic area in webmaster tools, if thats what u mean. So you can have .co.uk .us .com etc even if you target ireland but this could misinterpret where your targeting. I would suggest .ie if you never have any interest in choosing Uk markets or further.
3. Absolutely nothing - U cannot patent an idea
4. Well no you dont need to have experience in this, google will take care of the rest for you. Just cut and paste the code and the content on your site will determine what adds consumers will see on your site. Alhtough u can change the adds u prefer to see, its newbie friendly to the extent that you can get rocking in minutes.

Just a further point on 4. There are lots of ways to monotize a website with traffic, but i dont think we need to confuse the situation thus far because your only starting out. Get some niche traffic and come back online and we can help u out then.

KABLOOEY

I actually went down a different path with the website. It's still just an info site & should have it cleaned up in coming days. I'm going to use this website to try to pick up some things on SEO & become more familiar with it. Same can be said of Google Analytics. Just have one quick question if it's ok to ask here. How do you set up your site to display other companies' ads on it?

KABLOOEY

Also are there any tools that can aid your SEO campaign and show you weak areas or what's working?