Just like in any other business or industry, may it be starting a corporate business, staging a war against a nation or any kind of strategy game like paintball (maybe not the best examples), you need to have a BASE. A base in this context simply means a piece of space or property on your chosen field/industry, where you will initiate your activities to start/promote a campaign  and in our case, your GDI business. In the online world, that would be your website or blog. We will go to the details of making blogs in future postings but for now, we’ll just limit this article to the general steps in setting up your  GDI business. Also for our purpose, we will use the term blog for websites simply because, this website format is more dynamic, interactive, and indexed faster by “search engine crawlers” (also classified under the web 2.0 class) than the old web 1.0 style.

But before going any further, we need to have a reliable “web host provider” that will house your blog . You really need to find a dependable web hosting company since all your activities will be focused mostly on, or coming from your base. Find a provider that you can easily contact and have quick technical support on a 24/7 basis. You do not want any of your base facility to malfunction in the middle of any online transaction. That will definitely spell disaster to future transactions and will hurt your client/customer subscriptions.

In getting a domain name (or website name; also called URL), I suggest you study and pick the  most appropriate name that will describe your business (click HERE to see the article on “How to Choose Domain Names“). This is one of the key ingredients if you want the search engines and clients to easily find your business and later rank in the organic searches.  Also, in case you will use pay per click (PPC) campaigns in the future, you will realize that domain names play a very vital role in advertising.

It is important that your blog should do the following functions for your business:

• Information and learning function
• Rendezvous point
• Hiring center, lead capture, Pre-sell and/or sales center
• Communication center
• Service after sales center
• Repair center
• Up-sell, discount center
• Recreational center (optional)

Therefore your design, format and content should at least answer or cater to these key information.

I also recommend that you set up your autoresponder/emailing system while making your blog or at least just after you finish your site to establish your information highway.

Autoresponders/mailing systems are now becoming a necessity in constructing blogs. It provides the initial point of interaction (as in welcome letters) in a web 2.0 environment enhancing  client relationship in your site. This is also your avenue in doing follow ups, product promotions,  announcements, broadcasts, newsletters, downloads and other forms of  serialized documents that simply cements your relationship with your loyal (and would be loyal)  clients. There are tons of free and paid emailing/autoresponder services our there in the internet so we will just focus on what you really need.

In choosing an autoresponder, you need the type that provides these basic features:

• Dependable – has been in the industry for quite a while with proven track record. You really do not want a service provider that is there now and gone a month after.
• Good industry reputation – No privacy leak, has a solid built-in anti-spam system
• Extent/Degree of automation – do at least the basic opt-ins, double entry cancellations,  and redirects
• Accepted forms of media in the mailing system – should accept text (plain or html format), audio, video, etc.
• System integration – ability to combine messaging system with popular web 2.0 sites (example: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.)
• Trackers and stats – analytic and graphic tools which will aide subscriber in decision making

In summary, what you basically need to set-up your GDI business are:

1. Web hosting provider
2. Domain name/URL/website name
3. Blog with relevant content to your business
4. Autoresponder

In the next article, we will be discussing the model and flow of lead traffic in your GDI business in relation to your blog, that will very much improve your CTR and Conversion Rates or sign up rate (SUR).