There’s no disputing that the Internet has enabled hundreds of thousands of people to launch their own home based business. And, with the economy on the brink of recession, more people than ever before are looking for ways to supplement their existing income, to recover from a job loss, or to hedge against uncertain times. An Internet home based business offers a multitude of benefits. You can make your own hours, so you can work while the kids are in school or after they’ve gone to bed at night. You can avoid the time wasted by a daily commute and don’t have to pour money into your gas tank going to and from work everyday. Best of all, you don’t have to answer to a boss, because you are the boss!
Because the amount of money consumers spend online is at an all-time high, one of the best businesses you can launch is an online shopping mall. While this seems counterintuitive – after all, where are you going to store all of the inventory? – many people are finding extraordinary success in selling online.
What’s the secret? It’s actually pretty simple. You just need to find a supplier who will give you access to products that you can sell online, and then who will do the shipping for you. In other words, you don’t have to stock inventory, you don’t have to deal with packaging and shipping; you just need to sell the products. Ideally, the company you partner with should have 200,000 or more products from which you can choose. When you have access to that kind of inventory, you can become an eBay power seller or a star Amazon trader in no time at all.
When you’re looking for a company with which to partner, find one that has at least three different plans. One might be an auction plan, with a one-time set up charge and no monthly fees. You should have access to low wholesale prices and all of the company’s products, with no minimum order.
Another option might be a website plan where you get your own website pre-loaded with all of the products, where you can customize your website, and where no merchant account is required. A third option might be a website and auction plan where you can have the best of both worlds, and where you get a free domain and a free email account.
Beyond the plan options, you should look for a company with no monthly fees, that offers free order fulfillment, and that will dropship every product you sell directly to your customer. In other words, you should be able to have a turnkey shopping mall that you can administer from home. All you need is a computer.
As for the types of products you sell, there are virtually no limits. The best partnering companies offer hundreds of thousands of products in categories like apparel, computers, electronics, health and beauty, home and garden, jewelry, toys and games, and so forth. Typically, an online shopping mall that offers a wide variety of products is more successful than one that offers a small selection.
Starting a home based business can be incredibly satisfying, as well as financially rewarding. The secret lies in partnering with the right company.
The work from home revolution on the Internet is in full swing. There has never been a better time or opportunity to make money online working at home in front of your computer. The number of money making opportunities are endless.
With technology today it is quite possible to run your entire business online from anywhere in the world using your laptop computer. You no longer need to leave your house to make a living for your family. It can be done from the comfort of your own home. No commute required. No travel time with reduced fuel consumption and maintenance on your vehicles. Best of all you are your own boss.
The amount of people using the internet worldwide continues to increase almost monthly. This bodes well for internet business entrepreneurs and anyone wishing to take advantage of the internet work from home business industry. Global Internet Statistics shows over 800 million people worldwide are now using the internet.
Just do a search for internet business opportunities on Google or your favorite search engine. You’ll find websites promoting several top Internet home based business products and services from paid surveys online to network marketing and MLM businesses. If you already have your own website you can even sign up with Google ad sense and make money displaying Google ad words ads on your site. In fact, everywhere you look on the net almost every single site you go to is making money from some form of advertising or work from home business opportunity.
The internet is forever changing the global job scene and the world economy with new internet opportunities arriving on the internet every day even as you read this. We can only hope that this will make the world cleaner and a better place to live with less pollution from automobiles. This in turn could create a backlash on the economy but it has yet to be seen. We all know the reasons behind why we are still using oil and gas rather than clean energy. Internet business could be just as threatening as electric cars.
We are indeed in a revolution. The last revolution was called the industrial revolution. This one is called the information revolution. Or how I like to think of it, the work from home revolution.
This won’t make you rich, but it can pay the bills.
Basically, you’re going to hire two outsourcers and then sell the websites they build for you. This has been done by at least one marketer that I know personally, and I’m sure many others have found similar success with this business model.
Here are the details:
Hire two outsourcers, possibly from the Philippines or anywhere you can get excellent full time help for about $500 each per month.
One outsourcer should be versed in all phases of website building and PhotoShop. Things they will need to do: Install WordPress sites, install plugins, install autoresponder forms, use Photoshop to create website graphics as needed, etc.
The second outsourcer is a good writer, preferably a VERY good writer, able to research and write about most any topic.
This is your team.
One thing to know – work expands to fill the time allotted. So if you give your team two weeks to build a site, that’s how long it will take. Instead, see if they can do it in 2 days. For what you want done, it should only take 2 days. In fact, for the website builder it should only take one day, and two days for the writing.
Now then, the first site your team is going to build will be for you. It should be an authority blog, containing several posts and an embedded YouTube video or two.
You choose the domain name, let them know what you’re looking for, then let them sort out everything else.
This is going to be your example website. Of course, you can continue to build this site out over time, making it a true authority site. And you can use the outsourcers to do this for you. But first and foremost, you want to treat it as your example website.
Now you launch an offer to build authority websites for other people in the niches of their choosing. You can start by notifying your list of your new service, place an ad on Warrior and branch out to Facebook after that.
Charge whatever you like – $300 is a good price but it’s up to you.
The website will be a unique authority blog in whatever niche they choose, with perhaps 5 posts already written, all the plugins in place, basic SEO, a domain of its own… you get the idea.
You’re paying your team $1000 a month, so you need to make 4 sales to be in profit.
But realistically your team can build 10 sites a month, spending 2 days on each site and working 5 days a week.
10 sales at $300 is $3,000, minus the $1,000 you pay your team leaves you with a $2,000 profit.
Of course, you can charge more, offer different packages and so forth.
For example, your deluxe package might contain 15 posts and cost $700, depending on how good your team is and how well you do at selling the sites.
If you find your team has downtime between orders, you can have them create a product for you, or build sites which you then sell premade.
There is some work in getting the sales and communicating the desires of the client to your workers. But it shouldn’t take you more than an hour a day to accomplish this.
And once your other ventures are making enough money that you don’t want to be bothered with this endeavor anymore, you can always sell it as a turnkey business.
Home-based businesses are cropping up everywhere you look. People have decided that being their own boss is the way to go. There are thousands of advertisements, junk mail, and email saying you should start your own home business today!
But should you really start your own home business? Should you be your own boss? What are the risks to operating your own home business? What are the rewards? How many people are successful at operating their own home business? How do I get started? Should I be answering all those ads that say I am missing the opportunity of a lifetime?
These are some of the questions you may be asking yourself every time you see an ad about starting a business from home. In this article, I will try to help you answer them
Let’s start with that first question, Should I start my own home business? The answer to that question is different for everyone. If you hate working nine to five and hate working to make other people rich, then owning your own business might be your answer.
If you have some business skill, it helps, however, you do not need to know more than the basics about running your own business. You have to keep several things in mind. Depending on the type of home business you will be operating, do you have the room for it at your house?
Do you have a separate space where you can do your work without the normal everyday distractions of being at home. The children, your spouse, the TV, the yard that needs mowing and other things are all distractions that can cut into your workday. Also, understand you will still have to work every day. That doesn’t change just because you now have a home business.
The bottom line is you need to plan before you make the move to owning your own home business. Make sure it is what you really want and that you are ready to do what it takes to be a success.
The second question is much like the first, Do I really want to be my own boss? If you are self-motivated, if you are the type of person who learns fast. if you are a confident type of person, then the answer is yes. If you lack those qualities, then your answer may be no.
Again, that question is something only you can decide and it also depends on the type of business you choose to run. If it is a service oriented business you might have an easier time than with a sales-based home business if you are not the outgoing confident type of person.
Self-motivation is the one quality you can’t do without if you plan to start your own business, whether it will be a home-based business or something else. You will be the one that has to get you out of bed every day and you will be the one that has to tell you to get to work.
What are the risks to operating your own home business? They are several. You should not start your own home business right AFTER quitting your day job. Until your home business starts making money, you are likely going to have to keep your current job while building your home business.
Again, though, the risks are greater for some people than for others. What are your finances? How much is your monthly overhead? Is your income already stretched to the limits? A single person has a head start. A spouse who is not already working also has an advantage over the main breadwinner in starting a home business.
If you are currently working part-time and it costs you almost as much to go to work as you are making, then you may as well take a shot at owning your own business. It isn’t likely to be worse than continuing to pursue a dead-end job.
What are the rewards? The rewards of owning your own home business are many. If you have a family, even though you still have to work, knowing you are home and close by is a comfort to them. Not having to commute back and forth to work is another plus. The gas and vehicle maintenance you save should be considered your first profits in your new home business.
The freedom of being your own boss is another reward. Knowing that it is you who will be making the decisions, who will be responsible for its success, and that it is you who decides everything is reward in itself. Too many times when working for others, we see a better way to do things, but no one listens and you don’t have the power to make it happen. In your own home business, you will be making those decisions.
The money is the other reward. Why I say, other, is that it isn’t as important as the others. Of course you want your business to be successful and it has to make money to be a success, however, if money is your only motivation, I would still say you have less chance of succeeding than many others who are not solely money-motivated.
Choose something you truly like or love to do for your home business. Do it because it is what you want to do. Don’t choose the type of home business with the amount of income it will generate as the only or most important factor to consider.
If you choose something you love to do, it will be easier to motivate yourself and you will obviously enjoy it so much more. When you combine that with the other rewards, such as being close to your family, then the money becomes secondary. At the very same time, you will also find that is the path to making more money. Because you chose something you like to do, you worked harder at it, and now you are making more money. That is how it works.
The last question is, How many people succeed in their own home business? My answer is, Exactly the same number of people who chose to do something they enjoy.
I hope this article has helped answer some questions you may have had about starting your own home business. I enjoy what I do and really hope that if nothing else, you remember to choose something you enjoy.
You are out shopping for healthy, designer food. You visit two health food stores. The first one is bright and cheerful: Its products are displayed pleasingly and its staff, with crisp, starched aprons on, are slim, friendly and helpful with smiles that twinkle. There is another health food store just across the road: Similar products. A fat, greasy-haired sweaty man, breath redolent of whisky, garlic and fermented cheese, egg stains on the front of his crumpled shirt, the middle of which strains to stay closed struggling to keeping its charge – a protruding belly – within, tired buttons at the ready to pop…comes to serve you.
You are your website: It is a reflection of who you are, your product, your service. Portray yourself as a trained, seasoned professional. Your website is the only contact your customers, potential and current, have with you. You must create an atmosphere that is pleasing to your buyers to make them want to stay and buy, and more importantly, to want to come back again and again. You want to aim for repeat business. The long and short of it is this: Your website can make or break your sales…and your business.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE What secrets can you apply in the design of your website?
1. Surfability Do your research by visiting several websites. Note what make them appealing, attractive or the opposite. Always remember that visitors to your site have one goal in mind: They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Your goal is to give them what they want without their having to search for it. It is a cardinal rule to make your site easy to navigate. Ensure that all the information is relevant to your product/service. Convince visitors that they absolutely need your product to solve their problem(s).
2. The First Impression Lingers…The Importance of your Main Page The main page has a very specific purpose: It is the store front of your website where your visitor lands and from where she/he will shop. Therefore, this page must load very quickly and be easy to view. This is the first contact with your customer: First impressions can either close a deal or…lose this same deal which has exactly the same potential.
Make things simple: Ensure that links are easily viewable by your visitors and that these links will navigate your visitors to where they wish to go. Very often, a great choice is the use of tables when deciding how to design the main page of your site. If your page takes more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, your visitor will click away, through impatience, or to save time, seeking information or products elsewhere. To speed up the loading of your main page, it is advisable to avoid large, or excessive, graphics. Too many banners or special effects often also cause a page to load slowly.
3. Make your Website Appealing to, and Easy for, the Eyes * Colours Mild colors are your best bet. If your site is a content site where your visitor will be doing a lot of reading, it is a good idea to keep to black and white. You can add color when using tables as a means to brighen up the page. However, always remember to keep the overall look of the page professional and appealing to your target audience that will be visiting more often.
* Screen Resolutions These vary among monitors. It is, therefore, good counsel to set the pixels to a standard 800×600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes.
* Browsers Bear in mind that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you. Therefore, make sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does on your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page.
Be aware that the overall look of your website is to make it attractive to visitors, which in turn appeals to emotions and, therefore, lead to sales and to make money for you. The appearance of your site, if properly designed, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your product/service.
Even if you’re not selling video-based products, you should be using video to market your business. That’s because different customers respond better to video than they do to text. When you use both text and video, you’re reaching a wider audience.
Here then are 10 tips and tricks for using video to market your business…
Keep ‘em short.
Whether you’re loading videos on YouTube or you’re using them to pre-sell products on your blog, keep them short (around five minutes or so)… especially if your audience includes people who don’t know you. If needed, break a long video into multiple smaller videos.
Post videos on your sales pages.
You can use video sales letters to highlight the main points of your regular sales letter. You can also use videos to demonstrate the product. You may also get your satisfied customers to give you video testimonials.
Choose your keywords carefully.
If you’re loading your videos onto YouTube, choose keywords that your market is currently using to find information in your niche. You may also choose keywords that match those being used alongside other popular videos in your niche.
Know your purpose before you start.
Before you film, choose one purpose for your video. Is it to get subscribers? Send traffic to your blog? Pre-sell a product? Whatever the reason, base your entire video around that singular goal. Don’t confuse your viewer by giving more than one option.
Create a call to action.
You should create at least one call to action in your video, where you tell people exactly what you want them to do and why (e.g., “Go to www.yourdomain.com to grab Part 2 of this video – but hurry, you can only get it free for a limited time!”)
Encourage comments.
If you’re posting your video on YouTube, on your blog or other social sites, encourage comments (even controversial ones). The more people talk about your video, the more your visitors will return to your page to see what’s new in the discussion.
Use other social sites to jumpstart the viral effect.
If you want your video to go viral, you need to advertise it. One way to do that is to link to or embed your video on your other social media site pages, like Twitter or Facebook.
Blog about your video.
Another way to advertise your video is to blog about it. If you embed your video on your blog, then encourage your visitors to bookmark it using Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com or similar.
Ask your JV partners to share your video with their prospects and customers.
Yet another away to advertise your video is by asking your JV partners to mention it in their newsletters, blog about it and share it with their social media contacts.
Put a video on a CD/DVD and give it away for free.
You can build a physical mailing list by putting your video on a CD or DVD and giving it away for free to those who give you a mailing address. Be sure to include an upsell at the end of your video!
In sum: You can use videos to pre-sell products, demonstrate products, teach your prospects, drive traffic to your sites and grow your mailing list. Start applying these tips today – you’ll be amazed at what video marketing can do for you.
Short and sweet: Are you going wide instead of deep?
For example, if you’re in online marketing, are you trying to reach every new marketer out there?
If your niche is gardening, are you trying to reach every vegetable gardener on the planet?
And if your niche is dating, are you targeting every single male – period?
Then you’re going too wide.
By appealing to everyone, you appeal to no one.
I once coached a woman who wanted to start a newsletter for parents.
All parents.
Of every age of child, 0-18.
Who lived anywhere on the planet.
I spent half the coaching session trying to talk her out of this strategy, or rather, lack of strategy.
She could not be dissuaded.
And I never heard from her or her newsletter again. My guess is she’s still stuck working the 9-5 job she was trying so hard to leave.
What should she have done?
Targeted brand new first time parents, or parents of 0-2 year old children, or middle class working parents of annoying teenagers, or adoptive parents, or frustrated foster parents, or…
Choosing a domain name for your Internet marketing business is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Whether you’re creating a flagship blog for your business or registering a domain for your niche site, you need to take some time to find the right domain.
Look at these following guidelines to help you find an ideal domain name for your site.
Purpose – First you’ll need to figure out the purpose of your website. Is it to establish yourself in a niche? If so, you’ll need to do some keyword research to figure out which phrases would naturally attract traffic. Are you buying a domain to sell a product? If so, your product name or a variation of the product name should be your domain name. Ideally, your website’s domain should either describe what the website is about (Membernaire.com is about building membership sites) or it should include keywords related to your domain (FatLossHelp.com is about losing weight, and it includes a popular keyword phrase). Determining the purpose of you website will help you decide what phrases to use.
Presence – How important is it to you to have an exact keyword phrase in your domain? For some websites, you may be able to use another similar phrase. But for others you may need that exact phrase. In the second case, you can try adding hyphens, prefixes or suffixes to your domain name if your exact phrase is taken. This way you’ll still be able to use the phrase and establish yourself in the niche. A general rule of thumb is to use no more than two hyphens in a domain name.
Potential – How big is your website going to grow in the coming months and years? Are you buying a domain name to build a niche mini-site that acts as a feeder site to your sales page? Are you looking to build an authority site in your niche? Your domain name choice should be determined by how much growth you are expecting for your website. A niche mini-site domain name can be a lot more specific and long tail than an authority site. For example, beginnersheirloomtomatotips.com is a very niche specific domain whereas heirloomgrowing.com has enough leeway for you to build an authority site.
Price – You can get virtually any domain name you want, if you’re willing to pay for it. In most cases though, you’ll want to register an unused domain name. These domain names cost anywhere between $7 and $12 depending on what company you’re registering them through (I recommend ______). However, if you have a very specific business name and want to lock in a domain that has been registered, but isn’t being used, you can try contacting the domain owner. Look up the domain name owner’s information in the WhoIs directory and try making a deal.
All of these factors will come into play when you are choosing a domain name for your website.
Make sure to carefully consider how your domain name will be used before you buy.
You have to admit – the online world is CROWDED with marketing messages.
It’s hard to start out and get noticed, and it’s become more difficult every day.
Ironically, some of the older methods have once again become more effective. As everyone else vies for attention online, consider doing something old school, such as…
1: Sending Postcards
When you send an email, it’s easily ignored or deleted. A message on social media carries even less weight.
But a real life, physical piece of mail that lands in their mailbox is something they will take notice of. And postcards are cheaper to mail than letters.
Here’s what to do: Decide on the goal of your postcard – do you want them to join your list? Attend your webinar event? Go to a sales page?
Once you have your goal, use testing to find just the right slant for your offer. A postcard is a relatively small space, so every word and every image has got to pull its own weight. But once you find the magic mailing piece, you can continue to mail it out for months and even years, as long as it remains effective.
Know the lifetime value of your customer. This will help you determine what kind of conversion rate you need with your postcard mailers to be in profit.
Send the postcards yourself, or use a postcard mailing service. Simply Google “postcard mailing service” and you’ll find a company to match your needs.
2: Sending Lumpy Mail
What’s the best way to get your mailing piece to stand out? Make it lumpy.
If you’ve ever received a non-profit solicitation for a donation, you probably know what we’re talking about. They send pennies, pens, calendars, packs of greeting cards and all sorts of things to get you to open their envelope. And of course once you have their free gift, the law of reciprocity kicks in and you want to send them something back.
For our purposes, think of something unusual and cost effective, such as…
A pebble (because of the rocky time they’ve had, or the rocky time ahead if they don’t get your product)
Seed packets (to ‘grow’ their business, grow their profits, etc.)
A compass (so they can find their way)
A thumb drive loaded with your promotional materials
Worry stones (because they’re up at night, worrying about their business or how to pay the bills)
Poker chips (because they shouldn’t gamble on other products or providers)
Aspirin in a packet to ease their pain
A paper wallet because you’ll show them how to fill it with money
A sand timer for when they’re running out of time
And so forth.
Again, there are services to help you accomplish this. For example, http://lumpymail.com is a good starting point.
3: Print Ads
The trick here is to make your ad look like an article in the magazine or newspaper you’re advertising in. Let’s say you’re advertising in a magazine – get an issue and see how their articles are formatted. Two columns? Three? What font do they use? What about picture placement?
Write your ad as more of an advertorial than a regular ad. You might have to put the words, “Paid advertisement” at the top of your ad, but it will still convert better than if your ad looks like an ad.
Have a great headline and use lots of subheadlines to keep the reader on the page.
Have a strong call to action for an irresistible offer. The offer should be so good people simply cannot resist it, whatever it is.
4: Get a local column
This is an excellent technique for local business consultants. If you live in a small to medium sized city, your local newspaper might be thrilled if you would volunteer your services to write them a column each week on a topic that interests their readers.
If not, you might consider taking out a weekly ad and making it look like a column. In some respects, this is actually preferable to writing the column for free, since you’ll have more control over your topics.
Be very helpful in what you write. Only the last line or two should promote your business. The bulk of your column should be helpful information that people can use.
This will set you up as the authority and the person people turn to when they need your services.
5: Birthday cards
Here’s something that used to be common and no longer is, which is why it will make you stand out from the crowd of marketers like a beacon on a hill. Send REAL birthday cards through the mail to your best customers.
You might collect their birthday (Month and day, not year) when they check out. You might even tell them WHY you’re collecting it. Let them know it’s optional, but you’d really like to remember them on their birthday.
Most people will be eager to share their birth date with you. Or you can hop on Facebook and discover their birthday there if they have it listed.
If you don’t want to send the cards yourself, use a service such as sendoutcards.com .
Now then – a person might interact with a few hundred people and companies online over the course of a year. But odds are you will be the only one who remembers their birthday. That makes you pretty special.
You might include an offer of a free birthday gift in your card, too. Perhaps a video you recorded for their birthday (you can use the same one for everyone) and a download link for a free product.
Guaranteed they will be opening your emails and following you closely on social media after that.
How to send a birthday card on Facebook – okay, this is obviously online, but I wanted to include it because many of our readers won’t want to send actual cards (although we HIGHLY recommend it!)
Here’s how to send an electronic card through Facebook:
Go to the Birthday Card Maker app on Facebook by typing in “birthday card app” on the search bar.
Click “Okay” for the app to access your basic profile information.
You’ll see a calendar with pictures of your friends and dates of their birthdays. Choose which friend to send a card to.
Click “send a birthday card.”
Pick out the theme of your card.
Post the card to your friend’s wall by clicking the “Send this Card” link on the card itself.
Note: If you have a lot of Facebook fans, you might want to outsource this task.
When it comes to things like investing and marketing, doing the opposite of what most people are doing is often the winning course. Now that everyone else is online, be sure to look for offline opportunities to win the hearts, minds and wallets of your customers.
The vast majority of your prospects aren’t all that passionate about your offer.
Truth is, they’re kind of lukewarm. They’re interested, but they’re not taking their credit card out. Instead of making a buying decision, they decide to “think about it.”
Of course you know what happens: They forget about your offer. They don’t return to your store or sales page. Some of them may even make the conscious decision to NOT buy your product.
So what can you do to get your prospects to get excited and take action NOW?
Simple: Offer them an incentive if they order now. Do it right, and you’re virtually guaranteed to make more sales!
Generally, an incentive can take two forms:
You offer a discount. One idea is the straightforward discount, such as offering a percent-off. Another ideas is to offer a discount on the overall package, such as by offering free shipping.
Tip: You can even make it a limited-time discount so that your prospects feel a sense of urgency.
You offer one or more bonus products. Again, you can even make the bonus offer limited to increase the sense of urgency.
Offering a discount is a pretty straightforward incentive. So let’s talk about how to offer a bonus as a buying incentive.
Here then are the seven keys to offering bonuses that generate extra sales:
Make sure the bonus is desirable. Point is, if your prospects don’t care about the bonus product, then it won’t help you generate any sales. So make sure it’s something that your prospects already want. Something that gets them excited!
Create a valuable bonus. Just because you’re giving the product away for free with a purchase doesn’t mean this bonus should be worth little to no money. Quite the contrary – it should have a high perceived value in the prospect’s mind.
Choose bonuses that are easy to deliver. This is particularly true if you’re selling downloadable products online, such as software or information. Point is, you want to be able to deliver the bonus instantly – right alongside the main product – without you having to manually deliver the bonus.
Supply an exclusive bonus, whenever possible. If the prospect can get the bonus somewhere else, he might just do that. So try to offer exclusive bonuses to help make the buying decision easy.
Offer a bonus that compliments the main product. For example, let’s say you’re selling a book about retirement planning. Offering retirement-planning worksheets and software as a bonus would be a great incentive.
Sell the bonus. If you’re selling via a sales page, don’t just list the bonus. Instead, sell it just the way you’re selling the main product, meaning you should list the benefits of this bonus product or service.
Remember that you can offer products OR services. Let’s say you’re selling exterior landscaping supplies and information. As a bonus you can offer a free consultation where you provide specific landscaping ideas for buyers. Or if you’re selling a copywriting product, you can offer a sales letter critique.
Conclusion
Offering an incentive is a simple, yet highly effective way to generate more sales and grow your business.
