In order to be truly interactive, we really should have put this post out long ago.  So we are doing it now with a call for comments and questions.  What kind of help do you need?  We are prepared to tailor special sections, articles, video, or what ever it takes to get your questions answered and get you moving on your way.  To help you with this please refer to the following sections and include that in your reply or comment.

E-commerce

• Product Ideas
• Store front platforms
• Building the site
• Hosting the site
• Finding products after I get selling my own
• How to produce my own product locally

Importing

• Where to find product
• More information
• Where to find a sourcing agent
• Importing and selling on Ebay
• How to deal with customs.

Blogging

• What topic to blog about
• Where to set up my site
• Costs
• How can I make money at blogging?
• Differences between services
• How fast can I start

Ebay

• How to get started
• Where to host pictures
• Paypal

Information Products

• Where to get them made
• What topics do I pick
• I can’t write, now what?

So now comes the fun part, if you have signed up for our newsletter, take it a step further and ask us a question.  You can email us directly at our email address.  We are all about helping you get going, especially in today’s economy.  It really helps your state of mind when you know you have something going and can constantly work on it.

If you are thinking about getting started with an online or home based business.  You can easily get overloaded with a ton of responses from all sorts of people in the business.  Most will say that their business is the best or most profitable.  A lot of time that is because they think its the best because it is the field they are in.  This is similar to someone saying the pizza is best from their home town just because its what they know and what they like.

What you need is the basic facts to get started, a place to learn the basics.  When you have those basics, then you can go on and start to sift out the gems from the rocks.  There are a lot of rocks out there.  We have found a site that is a video site and it teaches you how to get started in your home based business.  It gives you the basic dynamics of what to look for and explains some very important facts.

Buy a business on Ebay?

If you think a good idea is to buy a premade or existing business for sale on Ebay, then you really need to look at this site too since they really focus on it.  There is a lot of garbage out there and if you do not know what to look for, you will get separated from your hard earned cash.  The site includes a membership and you can easily get through all the material without having to sign up for another month.  The best part is the checklist that you can take with you (print) and use a valuable reference in whatever site you choose to buy (or create).

You can find all this information plus a bunch of free stuff in their guest section.

http://www.internetbusinessnavigator.com

This one I highly recommend.

This is an excerpt from a forum post, but I do believe that it holds a nice little snippet of information, which is the name of the game.

Answer 1

“i would say , that their are so maney ” networks marketers ” that the supply is greater then the demand.”

Answer 2

“The lack of marketing due to cost can be an issue. I suggest the advertising system I am using with great results to promote my own business. It is called The Online Ad Network and you can run as many ads as you like without having to worry about spamming.  (link omitted) You can have your new advertising account up and running within minutes.

You can also build a fantastic residual income referring other advertisers!!!!  It’s simple. And it truly pays to advertise!”

Answer 3

“The main reason is that network marketing takes WORK. Most of the time people talk to their friends and family and then do not commit to finding new contacts for there product. The second reason is that the products are not products that people use or reuse daily. The product needs to be something that will stand on its own, so it can be sold at retail for a profit. The fact is that people would rather work 8 hours a day to make other people money instead of spending a few hour a day building their own business.”

My answer

In my humble opinion it is a combination of things. One being that the programs that exist are over saturated and cheesy. They may be profitable in the very beginning but quickly fade out. There is not longevity to their programs. I think people are drawn to “easy” or “fast” or “automated” when real business is none of these concepts. When they find out how much work it takes, they lose interest. I am more the proponent of building something tangible and real, something that can be controlled, built and sold when your ready. But like I said, that is my opinion, I am sure many will disagree.

Ken

Time management

• So when your product ships from overseas you basically do not touch them or handle them at all when you use fulfillment.  You pay a monthly fee per pallet that covers the storage and a freight charge for shipping the product out.  Most fulfillment businesses ship a lot of packages and are willing to pass some of the savings on to you.
• So basically you do not handle your product at all from the time it leaves the manufacturer to the time it arrives to the customer.  This in itself is much better for most business owners in the long run.
• You have to individually crunch your own numbers to see if it will work for you.  You also need to take into account that your product needs to be a complete unit for the fulfillment scenario to work best.  If you have to combine products or do any type of assembly, it takes away from the profit scenario and increases costs.
• Typical storage charges can be from $8 per pallet to $20 per pallet, depending on where they are stored.

Shipping costs

Another factor is shipping costs.  You do not want to pay full retail shipping to your fulfillment company that is just wrong.  A 20% discount to new customers is not unheard of with a decent volume of shipping.  If you have a fulfillment center centrally located in the country, then you can ship to either the west coast or the east cost with reasonable costs.  If your center is on either cost, you have higher costs when sending to the opposite coast.  For example, if your fulfillment is in California, and you ship to New York, then that is going to cost you more to send a box than it would to Arizona.  Having an office centrally located is a good advantage over time.

Summary

Personally I have done both types of shipping discussed in this article.  I may have switched to fulfillment sooner, had I known some of the details discussed here.  Depending on what type of ecommerce store you run, it may be necessary to use a combination of both types.  Larger operations use more than one fulfillment center to handle shipments.  Usually they have one on each coast to take advantage of the shipping cost savings.  Finding the right system for you involves a bit of homework and some brainstorming.  This is a small price to pay for not being held hostage to all the details of shipping your product to your customer.

Ecommerce Shipping and Fulfillment Part 1

Ecommerce Shipping and Fulfillment Part 2

Paying bills is no fun. Juggling costs for a start up business is not picnic either. If you are starting out on a shoe string, you know that it can be a challenge to pay everything on time. Again being organized is key. I do some key planning on the white board before starting the business. This can help in the lean months.

1. Set up a company bank account
2. Set up a company credit card linked to the bank account
3. Set up a credit line linked to the bank account.

Pick a bank you like and set up a separate account that has nothing to do with your home account. Most banks will be more than happy to set up the credit card at the same time as well as the line of credit if you qualify. I always try to pick a credit card that has some bonus point’s perks. Today’s marketplace is competitive. If the economy is slow, banks need to come up with ways to bring in more business.

The perks are for you. Use the card for all of your expenses and build up some points. Put every expense that relates to your business on it and watch it add up. You might as well enjoy an extra gift card or airline miles if it is available. Many of the awards are useful for your business such as gift cards to Office Depot or Staples. You can use these cards to save money on the things you need for the business anyway, or you can treat yourself for being smart.

Sometimes things come up in business that you did not plan. Occasionally you will be strapped for cash and you can use your card to take up the slack. It used to be considered evil to use a credit card to start a business or finance parts of a business. However times are changing and the use of the card in a responsible way is more accepted and encouraged.

Using line of credits in some instances is gaining more credibility as well. One of the main advantages of this and the credit card route is that you can do it on your own schedule. Banks are notorious for not giving loans to new businesses. That can make it very hard to get your business going. If you are responsible and can manage budgeting the card payments, this can give you some needed flexibility. A year or two later you have a track record as a business and you will be much more likely to get a loan.

Technorati Profile

This is probably the $64,000 question that I get asked frequently. So we have made a video to help you answer this question. It really does take research and some creativity to figure out what you would like to venture into. Get a pen and some paper and write down all your ideas after watching this video. The video has some key points in it and will help you to determine in which direction to go next. We will also list some references that you can check to get the job done. Don’t forget, there is a lot of reference material here on this site. It’s not all about manufacturing a product but more about manufacturing yourself as a business. That is whether you sell product, sell a service or sell knowledge. It all starts here.

Click To Play

Click To Play

Blog reference in the video

Forums

http://www.smallbusinessforums.org/

http://www.homebusinessonline.com/community/forum/

http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/index.jspa

Article

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Kind-of-Business-Should-I-Start?&id=57316

I do a lot of reading in forums lately. My favorite (this week) is a small business forum that attracts a lot of people looking for start up information. I notice that many people want to get start up business ideas, but do not really care about what type of business that it is. As long as it makes money seems to be the general thought pattern. That may be a thought pattern that could come back to haunt you later on down the line. For example my good friend Blanche joined an well known MLM program with the lure of making big money. When I asked her how it was going, she told me that it was a lot of work. It seems like you have to work your rear end off and everyone ends up fighting over a quarter. When it is all said and done, you really do not own anything of value.

I myself run several sites, one being a very busy ecommerce site. While I am happy my hard work is paying off, it also is a lot of work. However I am building a real and sellable business in the asset. It is important to know that when you are involved in the customer service part of business, it can be somewhat draining, depending on your product. The reason why is customers. The bottom line is, some customers are painful to deal with. It would seem that there will always be a small amount of people that make the most trouble. This brings me to my mental health outlook. If you are going to start a new business, or look for business ideas, why not choose something that causes the least amount of mental havoc? If you do not have thick skin, you may not want to be involved with the general public on a sales basis. The reason is, no matter how good your product is, there will be that one idiot that you cannot make happy for all the money in the world. If you are not use to that, it can stress you out and cause you to lose sleep.

So what do you choose?

There are several online ventures that can keep your blood pressure down. Blogs are a good example since you are creating most of the content yourself and the interaction with most readers is civil. If you sell products on your site, they would be mostly affiliate products in which the manufacture would have to deal with returns and other issues.

Information sites rely on people clicking ads to generate revenue and can be very profitable and satisfying. Information products are also very good and good for your mental health. If you are good at something, writing a course or Ebook can be profitable as well. Video is all the rage on the Internet today and making them and marketing them can help you stay sane in your quest for alternative income.

So why the sanity buzz?

Chances are that most people that are starting an online business are either unsatisfied with their current job, or they have recently become unemployed. Some want to have a good alternative plan for worst case scenarios. I think that is a good idea since no one should have to rely on someone else to make sure they have enough income for retirement. If you pick something that you may be doing for a while, it might as well be something that does not stress you out. We are finding out how important stress plays a role in our lives every day. Do yourself a favor, look ahead five years when you are thinking about an online business. Knowing what your weaknesses are now will certainly save you some grief and aggravation later.

Forum

http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/index.jspa

A loss leader is a product that you sell that either breaks even or loses a small amount of money.

So why would you do such a thing?

There are many advantages to loss leaders. For new sites they can be very effective.

A loss leader is a product that is designed to create some action. If your site is new, then getting some traffic and some word of mouth is vital. When you create the loss leader you do it with the hope of the repeat customer. Customers that feel like they got a great deal are more prone to come back and buy from you again. They are happy, and happy customers buy more product. Customers that feel like they got a good deal also are prone to buy other products that you offer on your site.

We will look at the blue widget example and show you how this can help you.

Blue widget purchase price is $25

Blue widget selling price is $25

Cost to promote the blue widget campaign is $100 per month

Essentially you take a 100 loss every month promoting and selling the blue widget. The real value is when that customer tells their friends about the blue widget and when they themselves come back to buy from you again. Marketing losses are taken every day in business; it’s a part of life. Any good bookkeeper will tell you that these losses in moderation do not raise any red flags with the IRS. Think of it as a 100% deduction to offset your sales revenue each month.

Added Value

The up side is that you spent $100 to get more traffic to your site and attract buyers that are specifically looking for your type of product. This is only a good thing.

So how does a losing product give you value that you can take to the bank if it loses money? Great question. When you build a business you should always build your businesses with an exit strategy. Getting attached to a business, especially online, is not the best idea. For one reason the more you are in business, the more business opportunities will come your way. You should always build the business with a strategy to get out. When you have this in mind, a sale is a sale is a sale.

Increased sales add to a bigger number at the sale date. You can show that you can expect a certain amount of revenue. A new owner may think they can figure out how to improve the profit margin themselves. Everyone runs business differently thus changing profit margin ratios. While this won’t make a huge impact on your bottom line, it certainly will not hurt you which are the common thinking about selling a profit losing product.

Other examples

The other benefit of a loss leader is the sale of a related item. Many shopping carts allow you to cross sell similar products. This can be a great way to use your loss leader and generate a sale of a product that has a higher profit margin. Cross selling similar items can for some sites generate 40% more business. You need to make sure that you have the ability to cross sell. One of the best examples of a loss leader is in the shaver industry. Many times you will see the major manufacturers come out with new razors that promise the smoothest shave you have ever had. The real draw is not in selling a lot of razors but in selling the blades over time. You cannot use the razor without the blades and the blades only stay sharp for so long. This is a great way for the manufacturer to sell more blades over time if the customer feels like they got a great deal on the shaver itself.

Video game manufacturers sell their consoles at a discount with the idea that you are going to buy the latest and greatest full price games. The games stay at full price while they are hot and then very slowly go down in price. In this way they can gain the maximum revenue from a game as it comes out and stays over time. This in turn lowers the loss leader margin and helps the company sell more products.

Strategy

If you have already set up your store, think through the product line and look for something that you can offer as a loss leader. It may not be something like the video game example, but it may be something that can get your customers to come to your site. If you have done your homework and made it a little bit better than your competitors, you will gain some conversion. Be careful not to do this too early in your business model so that it does not cause a hardship. You must be able to sacrifice some product in order to increase your conversion. If you are riding on the edge of your business plan, switch to another tactic and come back to the loss leader strategy later.

Another good article on Startup Online business

This is a great question.  I think a lot of people do not understand the importance of Pay per click verses organic search results.  I will try to keep it brief since its a 2 week conversation.  You use PPC to get going and build revenue until your organic listings start to rank.  Ranking organically is key since its free.  So how do you do that?  Here is a short list, keep in mind that these are long term oriented.  I do this for my sites so that I can rank on page one of Google and stay there.  So far I have had excellent results, but none of it is easy short cuts.

1.  Do your keyword research.  You have to know exactly what people are typing into Google to look for your product.  This is the single most important thing.  If you do not know the exact terms you will go nowhere.  When you find out those terms, incorporate them into your sales pages.  Make sure those keywords are present in your tags and in your content.
2.  Promote those keywords through articles and videos.  Write an article about your industry and at the end include an anchor text link of one of your kewords that link to that page in your site.  Do NOT write a sales page about your product, but rather write about something that is related and people would want to read.
3.  Take this article and submit it to Ezine articles, people will then take your article and post it on their sites or blogs.  This will give you links to your site and improve your rankings naturally.
4.  Set a Google alert for the title of the article, then you will know when the article gets posted somewhere.  When it does, bookmark it using your favorite social site.
5.  Start making short comments about your Industry, not your product on twitter.
6.  Write articles for hubpages and link them to your site.
7.  Rinse and repeat like as many times as you can.  Don’t stop.  If you cant write, hire a writer and pay them ten bucks instead of Google’s PPC.

I hope this helps.  It’s just the tip of the iceberg.