Rock Valley College Continuing Education

Building a Successful Business Using the Internet

My counseling practice involves a great deal of educational work with perpatrators of domestic violence, victims of domestic violence, and court ordered anger management clients.

One of the things I see far too often is that bright people are left behind economically when they, for any number of reasons, fail to succeed academically.

I have thought many times about mentoring my clients in the business of website building. This kind of business would be an excellent fit for many of my clients, perhaps a work-at-home-mom, or a stay-at-home-dad, or an excellent supplemental retirement income.

And with the help of Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois, we are going to make the class available to everyone in the Rock River Valley.

Can you imagine what might happen in a family where husband and wife, while underemployed or unemployed in the traditional marketplace, build an online business together?

Very definitely we would elimate one of the stressors leading to Family Violence. For more information, call Mike Logan at 815-484-0946, or go to www.rockvalleycollege.edu/cpe, or call Rock Valley College at 815-921-3900. See you there!

Course Outline

This course uses theory and proven practices to handhold students through all the steps of starting and operating an online business.

By the end of the course, using the tools and materials included, students will have an operating Internet business.

They will be able to nurture this business by applying the lessons learned during the course, and through the assistance of its professional after-course mentoring.

Using smart tools that do not require technical knowledge, the course takes students step-bystep through all the stages of developing an online business.

Prerequisite: Ability to write simple text equivalent to an inter-office memo; burning desire to launch a home or small business online, or to strengthen an existing one.

Computers: The College provides computer-equipped classrooms. Students need a personal computer and Internet connection for homework assignments. Duration: There are 10 classes of 3 hours for a total of 30 hours.

Students participate in the development of an online business case study, which becomes a hands-on example to guide their own business-building efforts.

Workload: Students are expected to attend every class and dedicate a minimum of eight hours per week practicing and implementing what they’ve learned.

Content:

1. Understand “preselling” versus “selling” – the C-T-P-M (Content-Traffic-PREsell-Monetize) concept; success examples; entrepreneurship; accessing online resources

2. Brainstorm business ideas – types of online businesses; entrepreneur/infopreneur; building on passion/hobby/experience

3. Conduct precise online market research – lateral and vertical brainstorming; analyzing supply and demand

4. Select an effective domain name – unifying business concept; searching available names; registering

5. Choose an appropriate site look and feel – using standard and custom templates; starting and upgrading

6. Develop original site content – outlining like a book; using online resources; studying competition; writing for site visitors

7. Create search-engine-friendly pages – analyzing page content; incorporating keywords; organizing content in tiers

8. Incorporate PREselling techniques – using email giveaways; offering downloadable ebooks; offering free online courses

9. Promote the business in multiple ways – free search engine traffic plus directories; blogging; advertising; ezines; relationships; joint ventures

10. Implement proven money-generating techniques – incorporating content-based ads; being an affiliate for other merchants’ products/services.

Included Materials: The course includes: (1) a full set of integrated software tools, (2) complete online and downloadable reference materials, and (3) several hours of instructional videos. The student uses all these materials during the course, for homework assignments and afterwards to create and operate an online business.