Need help getting an online business started?

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What you need will depend on what type of business you want. Some businesses sell goods (ecommerce) and for that you need mechanisms to accept and process orders. Some businesses simply write content and articles and earn from their business though advertising.

Your first step is to figure out what you want and need to do. Here are the main ways you can earn money on the Web:

1. Sell products on the Web - Big boys like Amazon or Lillian Vernon online catalog or smaller businesses like BigKidsVideo.com or Candle4Less.com all sell products on the Web.

You can either sell: (a) through your own storefront through your own website or applications such as Yahoo Stores; or (b) sell through online auctions like eBay

http://www.ebay.com
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
http://www.amazon.com
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
http://www.liquidation.com
http://www.ubid.com

2. Information Delivery. Others such as About.com or EuropeforVisitors.com create content and monetize their content in a number of ways:

a. Advertising - there are several ways you can earn money from advertising:

1. Join an advertising network. Advertising networks are organizations that aggregate Web sites that offer advertising space, and sell banner ads (and other advertising options) across them. Traffic requirement is often a minimum of 5,000 monthly impressions, although many do not accept sites hosted by free page services.

Burst Media http://www.burstmedia.com
Fastclick (ValueClick). http://www.fastclick.com
Advertising.com. http://www.advertising.com
Tribal Fusion http://www.tribalfusion.com

2. Participate in contextual advertising networks. Contextual advertising are text ads delivered based on the content of the web page using an automated system.

Google Adsense https://www.google.com/adsense/
Yahoo! Publishing Network (currently in beta and available to US publishers only) http://publisher.yahoo.com/
Intellixt http://vibrantmedia.com/site/web_01a5.htm
Quigo Adsonar http://www.quigo.com/adsonarexchange.htm
IndustryBrains http://www.industrybrains.com
Commission Junction Evolution http://www.cj.com
Kanoodle Brightads http://www.kanoodle.com
Clicksor http://www.clicksor.com
Contextweb http://www.contextweb.com/
Bidclix http://www.bidclix.com/
Bidvertiser http://www.bidvertiser.com

3. Sell advertising for your site directly. This is admittedly a more difficult route for a small business site wanting to earn advertising revenues. But hey, as they say: "no pain, no gain!"

b. Affiliate Programs - you sell other people's products that your audience may be interested in; and you get a certain commission after the desired action was done (whether a sale, a lead, subscription to email newsletter, or however this is defined)

As for EIN, generally, businesses need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or federal tax identification number. The EIN is used to identify a business entity such as a corporation, LLC, or partnership. Sole proprietorships that need to pay federal excise of employment taxes are required to get an EIN. On the other hand, sole proprietors with no employees are not required to get an EIN, and can instead use their Social Security numbers. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) web site at http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/businesses/sm...50,00.html contains all the information you need about EIN and how to apply for an EIN electronically.