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Building a Global Internet
Website Using Virtual
Resources
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Myfitbrain
Go or No Go
Getting Started
Education
Hosting & Development
Free Software Tools
Communication Tools
Marketing
20/20 Hindsight
Agenda
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Career has been in IT
Inspired by my mom
Help people improve their brains
as they age
Competitors charge hundreds to
thousands of dollars
Free to everyone
Product placement in the interactive
part of the games
Monitor their progress
Educational articles
Myfitbrain
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Buy and use similar products
Differentiator
Search Patent Database
Google Keywords Similar Companies
Provisional Patent ($165 + $75)
1 Year
Patent Pending
Discuss Idea with Strangers – Networking Groups
$20 per meeting
Estimate Budget – Double It
GO!
Go or No Go
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Vision statement
What is in your heart
Threads through everything
Name, Logo, Legal
Domain name
GoDaddy – tools to help pick names
Easy to remember
No funny/unique spellings
Buy several and ask others for comments
$40 – 5 years registration
.com sufficient
Getting Started
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Logo – CrowdSpring
$300 or more
Vision important here - memorable
Iterative process
Google email with your domain
Google Apps for sharing documents $50
Business Cards – Overnight Prints
Message on the back
Room to write on the back
Back should not be glossy
$40 - 500 cards
Getting Started - Early Marketing
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Type of Company
LLC more expensive more flexible ($500 initial)
Lawyer not needed initially
Trademark Name ($275)
Bank Account
Make sure can wire funds internationally
Credit Card(s)
Separate from personal, personally liable
PayPal
Easy was to transfer small funds electronically
Getting Started - Legal & Banks
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
DePaul – Coleman - $500
Other people not at similar stage
Speakers been there done that were good
Cash flow issues biggest take away
ITDA – Kaufman Foundation - $500
Partner attended this one
Lots of examples of forms and templates
Myfitbrain farther along in process
Education
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Development Company
Most important skill
Similar sites
NDA
Communication
References
Fixed Price in some form
U.S. & Canada – Large down payments
China – Harder to communicate
Eastern Europe – Not well organized
India – Used to working with U.S.
Hosting and Development
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Hosting Company
Price
Brand
Reliability
Infrastructure, Scalability
EcoSystem
Tried GoDaddy first
Unexplained outages no assistance
Settled on Amazon ($75 - $65 now)
Branding, Worldwide, EcoSystem
Early adopter - $1,000 for consultants
to build scalable infrastructure
Hosting and Development
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
WordPress
Most widely used blog tool
Very Google friendly
Many free tools to customize
Utilized India developers
Website Grader
Hubspot.com
How to improve Google ranking
Website code reviewer validator.w3.org
www.situatedresearch.com
Free - Software Tools
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Gmail using your domain name
Google Apps for sharing docs $50 per user per year
Google Voice – FREE
Phone number for website
Forward to any phone
Text message of voice mail
Skype - FREE International calls – India free
Vonage
Inexpensive ($33) – used before Google Voice
Emails voice mail to 1 or multiple email accounts
Free trials – GoToMeeting ($50/month)
Communication Tools
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Email marketing
Outlook/MS Word mail merge
Free if own the tools already
Harder to track
Multiple email accounts into one Outlook (hotmail, gmail, etc…)
Amazon’s cloud IP range blocked as Spam (Authsmtp.com)
SurveyMonkey, Instant Contact, ConstantContact …
Campaign Monitor – experienced developers required
Press Release
PRWeb - $200 with important goodies
Many similar services – who are you trying to hit?
Banners - $50
Marketing
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Facebook Ads
Targeted to particular demographics
$0.25 – $0.75 per click through
Google Ads
Not as targeted
Broader audience
$0.25 – $0.50 per click through
Google Tracking - FREE
Locations – Countries, States, etc…
Page on your website
New or returning user
Bounce rate
Marketing
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Using Social Networks
Tie it to your domain name, blog etc..
Update once & feed Twitter & LinkedIn
Separate from personal
Join many related groups
Ask for opinions
Send out similar information multiple times spread out
Marketing
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Joined too many networking organizations
Most meetings to sell their services
Make clear bootstrapping no extra money
Time, time, time
Legal
Go without lawyer as much as possible
Change later when needed
Patents attorneys are expensive even to explore
Requires a second person with different skills
Listen closely to questions asked early on
What is your background?
20/20 Hindsight
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
Classes best taken before you start the company
Cash flow can cause successful business to fail
Government grants are very hard unless connected
Tried for SBIR grant
State of Illinois paid to assist in writing grant
Advertising companies control advertising $$$ not
client themselves
Even in this economy, no commission only sales
people
20/20 Hindsight
Copyright 2010 Myfitbrain
