This post is not a question but more of a tip or technique you can use.  How were your ecommerce sales this holiday?  I had the highest sales ever and here is how I killed it.  You must have a indexed site that is established, I also recommend using an email marketing campaign along with this.  You have read about this concept but its worth repeating because its very effective….Give your customer value.  Here is how I did it.

1. Choose the item(s) you want to promote and make sure you have enough inventory and a good a good shipping system in place.
2. Create (yep) some sort of accessory kit or bonus bundle that does not suck.  I say this because there are so many sites or retail storefronts that say, buy this thing and get this really cheap whatever it is, for free.  It’s highly unmotivating.  Blow their mind, its tax deductable.  I shop for bonus bundles when I am ordering from my vendors whether its in the US or I am importing.  Find several items that you can put together that are inexpensive to buy in bulk (importing is great for this) then combine them as a kit.  For example I bought a bundle of stuff that cost me $13 but actually had a retail value of $103.  Take pictures of this cool kit and make decent graphics.  Now think of this, If I just lowered the price of my product by $13, it would have been a snoozer (regular price item is $179 to $229) but if you give them $100 worth of stuff its instant buzz.
3. Create your coupon codes to program your shopping cart.
4. Make a home page graphic to get the most attention.
5. Feature this promotion in your email marketing campaign.
6. Blog it on your blogs (yes more than one)
7. I also run the ad right next to some sort of newsletter sign up box or giveaway, build build build the list.
8. Next write 10 to 20 different variations of tweets about your promotion, Give this to your SEO person.  My guy has over 200 accounts (which is somewhat low) and have them start tweeting. Use good twitter manners and dont spam .   If you dont have someone with that many twitter accounts, find one.
9. Go to every relevant social site and forum and tell the world about the special.  If you can make a video about it, do it, then upload it to all video sites.  My particular product does not do super well on video.
10. I then also blogged the special on my blog matrix, not one blog but many blogs, all theme relevant.

Be organized, make your plan, tape it to the wall and tweak the heck out of it.  This promotion yielded a 98% increase in sales over Dec of 2008.  It will inspire you to have some sort of whopper promotion going every month.  Build one for each month and figure out your own road map.  Of course you will get more of a bump over the holidays, but I make it work much more consistently so that it is now a matter of tweaking.  Good luck!

by Tim Bryce

“Manage more, supervise less.”
- Bryce’s Law

When I got into the work force back in the mid-1970′s it seemed
everyone dressed in a suit and tie, drank black coffee, smoked
their brains out, and worked their butts off. Today, golf shirts
have replaced suits, herbal tea and bottled water have replaced
coffee, nobody is allowed to smoke, and rarely does anyone work
beyond 5:00pm. More importantly, we used to care about the work we
produced; there was a sense of craftsmanship, regardless of the job.

My Brother-in-law in Cincinnati conducted me on a tour of his company’s
machine-tool shop years ago and showed me how he could take a block of
aluminum and convert it into a high-precision machine tool. It was a
pleasure to watch him work, as it is to watch anyone who knows
what they are doing, be it a waitress, a programmer, a laborer or
a clerk.

Quality and service used to be considered paramount in this
country. If it wasn’t just right, you were expected to do it over
again until you got it right. We cared about what we produced
because it was a reflection of our personal character and
integrity. But somewhere along the line we lost our way and
craftsmanship has fallen by the wayside. Why? Probably because
we no longer care.

In today’s litigious society, employees are acutely aware that it is
difficult to be fired due to poor performance. They know they will
still get paid and receive benefits, regardless of the amount of effort
they put forth. Consequently, there is little to encourage people
to perform better. Money isn’t a motivating factor anymore. People
now expect bonuses, raises and other perks to be paid out regardless
of how well they perform during the year.

We’ve also become a nation content with doing small things. America
used to be known as a powerhouse that could tackle large projects,
such as building skyscrapers, designing innovative bridges and tunnels
spanning substantial bodies of water, engineering transcontinental
railroads and highway systems, conquering air and space travel, and
defending freedom not just once but in two world wars. If you really
wanted something done, you talked to the Americans and no one else. Now
we get excited over iPods, cell phones, and other electronic trinkets.

Many believe Craftsmanship is in decline due to the general apathy found
in today’s society. Maybe. I tend to believe it is due to an erosion
of our moral values. Let me give you an example. Having a child in college,
my interest was piqued recently by an article describing the pervasiveness of
cheating and plagiarism in our schools. It is not my intent to make a
political statement here but many of the students mentioned in the article
rationalized their cheating on the fact that one of our past Presidents
cheated and lied under oath, and got away with it. They figured if it is
okay for the Commander-in-Chief to act this way, it was an acceptable form
of behavior.

Arnold Toynbee, the famed English historian, observed, “Civilizations
die from suicide, not by murder.” If the moral fabric of our society
dies, our story is told as evidenced by other great civilizations that
long preceded us. Our perspective needs to be realigned: Our personal
and professional lives must be viewed as one. As Toynbee remarked,
“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” By
doing so, we identify more closely with our work and assume a greater
pride in workmanship. We do not need to hear this from our boss, but
rather from within. As strange as it may sound, I see Craftsmanship as
being patriotic in nature; doing a good quality job is part of leading
a good and honorable life and builds on the individual’s esteem, the
company he works for, and the country he lives in.

The biggest problem though is that we have forgotten how to manage
people. The manager’s primary goal is to create the proper work
environment for employees to produce the desired work products. This
is different than a supervisory capacity that directs how each person
performs the various tasks of a job. In fact, I encourage managers to
manage more and supervise less. I cringe when I see a manager try to
“micromanage” either a Fortune 500 company or a non-profit organization.

Yes, people need to be trained in order to properly
perform their work but following this, employees should be mature
enough to supervise themselves. In the old days, management stressed
discipline, accountability, and structure; three ugly words in today’s
workplace.

Understanding Craftsmanship

Some might say craftsmanship is a simple concept that we should
intuitively know. Not true; most people today have no comprehension as
to what makes up a good craftsman; they have either forgotten or it has
simply passed them by. Craftsmanship can be found in any field of endeavor
imaginable, be it in the product sector or service industry. Craftsmanship,
therefore, is universally applicable to any line of work.

Craftsmanship is not “workmanship”, nor is it synonymous with quality,
although the three concepts are closely related. Let’s begin by
giving “Craftsmanship” a definition: “The production and delivery
of quality goods or services from highly skilled workmen.”

Quality relates to the absence of errors or defects in the finished
product or service. In other words, finished goods operate
according to their specifications (customers get precisely what
they ordered). Such products are normally durable and require minimal
maintenance. Craftsmanship produces quality products. In the absence
of craftsmen, a rigorous methodology or assembly line process is
required to produce quality goods using workers without the expertise
of craftsmen. Such processes detail “Who” is to perform “What” work,
“When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How” (5W+H), thereby assuring a quality
product or service is produced. Such is the underlying rationale of
the ISO 9000 certification as used by many companies today. The point
is, quality is not the exclusive domain of the craftsman.

Craftsmanship is also a human trait. Some might argue a computer or
industrial robot can produce quality products and are, therefore,
craftsmen. However, we must remember these devices are programmed by
human beings in accordance with the rules of the craftsman. As such,
they are an extension or tool of the craftsman.

Craftsmanship can be found in either the overall work process or
a section of it. For example, there are craftsmen who are intimate
with all facets of building furniture, such as a table, a chair or
desk, and can implement the product from start to finish. However,
as products grow in complexity, it becomes difficult to find people
suitably qualified to build them from the womb to the tomb. Consider
military weapons alone, such as the complicated ships, tanks, and
airplanes we now use, with thousands or millions of parts to
assemble. Such complexity makes it impossible for a single person
to have the expertise to build the whole product. The same is true
in the service sector where different types of expertise and
capabilities may be required. In other words, craftsmen have a
specific scope of work. The scope of work may relate to other
types of craftsmen through a chain of work dependencies, e.g.,
Craftsmen A, B and C concentrate on separate sub-assemblies which
are eventually joined into a single product.

Attributes

So, what are the attributes of a craftsman? What makes a craftsman a
craftsman? There are three basic attributes described herein:

1. Possesses the necessary knowledge and skills to perform the work.

The craftsman is an expert in his field of endeavor; so much so that
he could easily serve as an instructor in the subject matter. But the
craftsman is also smart enough to know that education is not a one
time thing, that his world and field evolve as new tools and techniques
are introduced. As such, the craftsman is a student of his profession
and is constantly looking to improve himself. This is exercised through
such things as continued education, routine certification, studying books
and trade publications, and industrial groups. The craftsman willingly
participates in trade groups, often at his own expense, in order to network
with his peers.

It is Important to note that the craftsman does not need to be told
he needs periodic training to sharpen his skills. Instead, he takes the
personal initiative to stay on top of his game. Further, the craftsman
has no problem with a periodic job review; in fact, he welcomes it for
it might bring out a weakness in a skill he needs to sharpen.

2. Attention to detail.

The craftsman understands and respects the process of building/delivering
a product or service and is acutely aware of the penalties for cutting
corners. Earlier we discussed the need for a methodology that specifies
5W+H. The craftsman is intimate with all details of his scope of work,
so much so, he could probably write the methodology himself. Further,
his intimacy of the work process means he can produce a reliable estimate
of time and costs to perform the work.

Although many of the craftsman’s tasks may be repetitive, it doesn’t
mean he easily falls into a rut. Instead, he is constantly looking
for new tools and techniques to improve the work process. As such,
he plays the role of Industrial Engineer who is normally charged
with such a task.

The craftsman’s attention to detail also means that he demonstrates
patience in his work effort. Again, wary of cutting corners, the
craftsman must possess such patience in order to produce the product
the right way.

3. Views professional life as an extension of his personal life.

The craftsman identifies with the end product which is where
pride in workmanship comes from. In his mind, the craftsman has
been charged with the responsibility of producing something, and
wanting to satisfy the customer, puts forth his best effort to
produce it. In other words, craftsmen take their work
personally. This is a difficult trait to teach particularly in
today’s society where the focus is more on financial compensation
than on the work product itself. It may sound naive, but the
craftsman believes he will be suitably compensated for
producing superior results.

Years ago, Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears (NFL) confounded sports
writers who could never understand why Butkus played as hard as he
did year after year for a losing football team. True, Dick loved the
game, but beyond that, the sports writers didn’t understand one thing
about the seven time All-Pro linebacker: Butkus took his job
personally. It was important to him that his opponents know that
they had been tackled by the best player; as he said, “When they
get up from the ground I want them to say ‘it must have been Butkus
that got me’.” Dick Butkus was a craftsman.

The craftsman has a burning desire to produce a superior product/service
because he sees it as a reflection of himself. As such, the lines delineating
their personal life and professional life are blurred. This is a significant
characteristic that clearly separates a craftsman from the average worker. The
craftsman’s work is his life. He does not shirk responsibility, but rather
embraces it with confidence and embosses his name on the finished product.
Conversely, making a work related mistake of any kind pains a true craftsman.

Job titles are normally inconsequential to the craftsman who is more
interested in delivering a quality product/service enjoyed by the
customer. Instead, the craftsman takes pleasure in being touted as
the best in his craft. He appreciates recognition; when someone
makes a compliment about a product, the craftsman views it as a
personal compliment. This too runs contrary to today’s corporate
world where people desperately seek recognition through simple
job titles. Want someone with an inflated ego? Give them a title.
Want something done right? Call a craftsman.

Productivity

“Dependable”, “professional”, and “resourceful” are adjectives that
aptly describe the craftsman. He is not one who fabricates excuses but,
rather, always finds a way to get the job done. The craftsman is typically
your most productive employee. He is mindful of the concept of productivity
that we have touted for years:

Productivity = Effectiveness X Efficiency

Most people fallaciously equate productivity with efficiency, which simply
gauges how fast we can perform a given task. Effectiveness, on the other hand,
validates the necessity of the task itself. There is nothing more unproductive
than to do something efficiently that should not have been done at all. An
industrial robot, for example, can efficiently perform such tasks as welding. But
if you are welding the wrong thing, then it is counterproductive. Going back to
our description of a methodology, effectiveness defines “Who/What/When/Where/Why”,
efficiency defines “How.” The craftsman is well aware of the difference
between the two and knows how to apply both. As such, the craftsman is in tune
with his work environment and corporate culture.

So how do we make craftsmen?

Not easily. Because of the human dynamics involved with the craftsman,
you will need to be a pretty intuitive manager or industrial
psychologist to make it happen. Selecting suitable candidates is the
logical first step. Devise an aptitude test to determine the candidate’s
suitability to become a craftsman. After all, “you cannot make a silk
purse from a sow’s ear.” Aside from specific knowledge and experience
in a given field (e.g., programming, woodworking, construction, accounting,
etc.), here are some other important traits to look for:

• Fertility of mind – judge his ability to learn, to adapt to changing
  conditions, and to look beyond his scope of work. Evaluate his
  professional curiosity.
• Confidence – judge how well the candidate knows himself,
  particularly how well he knows his own limitations. He
  should admit his deficiencies and not fabricate excuses.
• Dedication – judge his loyalty and determination to
  accomplish something. What is his attendance record?
  What outside clubs and organizations does he belong
  to and how active is he in them?
• Entrepreneurial spirit – judge his personal initiative.
  Is he driven to succeed (but not to the point of reckless
  abandon)? Does he have a problem with accountability?
  This says a lot about assuming responsibility.
• Attention to detail – judge his ability to focus on a subject.
  Does he have a problem with discipline or organization? A person’s
  dress, mannerisms, and speech says a lot about a person.
• Reliability – judge his ability to assume responsibility and
  carry a task through to completion.
• Resourcefulness – judge his ability to adapt to changing
  conditions and persevere to see a task through to completion.
  The candidate cannot be inflexible; he must be able to find
  solutions to solve problems.
• Socialization skills – does he work better alone or as a team
  player? His position may depend on his answer.

When you have selected suitable candidates, here are three areas to
concentrate on:

1. Develop their skills and knowledge by allowing such things as:
   participation in trade groups, outside certification and on-going
   training, subscriptions to trade journals, continued education,
   etc. Some companies even go as far as to develop an in-house
   school to teach the company’s way of doing things. If the in-house
   school is good, it will promote confidence through consistency. Even
   if people leave the company, they will recommend your company because
   they know the quality of the work produced. Supporting the education
   needs of our workers is not only smart, it is good business.
2. Teach them the need for producing quality work; they should
   become intimate with all aspects of their work process (5W+H).
   Further, instill discipline and patience in their work effort.
3. Change their attitude towards development so they become more
   focused on delivering a quality end-product. This is perhaps
   the most difficult element to teach. However, it can be realized
   by having them become intimate with the needs of the customer
   (have them visit or work with a customer for awhile – “let them
   walk in the customer’s shoes”). It may also be necessary to
   change their form of remuneration by going to a reward system
   for work produced (as opposed to guaranteed income regardless
   of what is produced). Changing the mode of financial compensation
   is highly controversial in today’s business world. But, as an
   example, can you imagine the change of attitude of today’s professional
   athletes if they were paid based on their accomplishments (e.g., runs
   or points scored, hits, rebounds, etc.) rather than having a
   guaranteed income? Their motivation and attitude towards
   their profession and team would change radically.

   Candidates must learn to respect their institution, the process
   by which they work, fellow human beings, and themselves. They must
   also learn not to be afraid to TRY; that they must put their best
   foot forward, win or lose. Bottom-line: they must learn that their
   work has meaning and worth. If they don’t enjoy their work, they
   shouldn’t be doing it.

“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first,
that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no
use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do
something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the
things you set out to do.”
- President Theodore Roosevelt
Talk to schoolchildren in Oyster Bay, Christmas-time 1898

Certification

Teaching the elements listed above probably cannot be done in one
fell swoop. Further, companies simply don’t have the time or money to
wait for the craftsman to be produced. Instead, they must understand
the human spirit needs to be cultivated and be allowed to grow over
time. Because of this, it is strongly recommended that an in-house
certification program be devised specifying what the candidate should
know and what skills and talents he should demonstrate. This should be
divided into classes of progressive expertise; e.g., apprentice, intermediary,
and craftsman. The ancient builders in Egypt, Rome, and Greece understood
this concept and devised such classes of workmen. Other disciplines and
schools follow similar tactics (the various degrees or belts in martial
arts for example). Each degree is based on specific prerequisites to
master before moving on to the next level.

An in-house certification program has the added nuance of making
people feel special which greatly enhances their self esteem. If
they are made to feel like a vital part of the company, regardless if
their work of a large magnitude or trivial, they will strive to do
what is best for the company overall, not just themselves. Consequently,
their work adds meaning to their life.

There is one pitfall to all of this; today’s “go-go” management
style fails to see how craftsmanship adds value to the company. In
fact, there were companies back in the 1980′s that shut down such
programs simply to reduce costs. As a result, quality suffered,
repeat business was lost, products were more in need of repair,
absenteeism on the job escalated, etc. Want value? How does
a loyal customer base who has confidence in your products or
services sound? And what effect would employee harmony have,
particularly if they believed in the work they were producing? It
would be mind-boggling, all because we had faith in the human
spirit to produce superior results.

A final note: craftsmanship is not a one time thing. After it has
been instilled in people, it has to be cultivated and perpetuated. If
a manager slips even for a moment, it will go right out the window and
it will take time to bring it back to life. As for me, I like to post
motivational reminders kind of like the one recently spotted in the
Hickey Freeman manufacturing facility in New York,
“Excellence is Tolerated.”

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA)
of Palm Harbor, Florida and has 30 years of experience in the field.
He is available for training and consulting on an international basis.
He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com

Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Bryce
http://EzineArticles.com/?Craftsmanship:-the-Meaning-of-Life&id=210848

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.

Fulfillment

So how do you touch your items less and spend less money?  Fulfillment is a different way of looking at the physical process of moving your items and touching them less

Here is a break down of things you do NOT do, but still gets done by someone else.

• Items unloaded from ship, trucked to warehouse near port
• Shipping container stripped out (unloaded) and put on pallets
• Items labeled and shipped to your customers when ordered.

So how do you save money?  Most of the money you save is in time.  Most online business owners today get sucked into a vortex of time wasting activities, not realizing how much time they give away working “in” their businesses when they should be working “on” their businesses.  Here is a sample breakdown of how the fulfillment process can save you money.  Substitute your own money amounts into the examples.

• Unloading the truck and moving into warehouse.  Most likely a full day’s work plus hiring or employing some help.  Generally you can figure 3 people to unload the typical twenty foot container.  (the reason you need help is that typical trucking vendors allow you two hours to unload, you cannot unload this all by yourself in two hours)
• You will need a forklift and pallet jack unless you have a loading bay. (most do not)
• Items will have to be stacked in some particular order according to stock numbers to keep the inventory organized.  This can take a good chunk of time depending on what you are receiving.  Personally we remove all the items from the truck and spread them out before we move them inside.  When overseas manufacturers load your containers, they do not do it with any particular order, so things can be mixed and matched to load maximum volume into the container.
• Product may need to be reboxed or combined for final product assembly.
• Product then needs to be “picked” or selected, when the customer orders it.  The shipping label, packing invoices are printed and then it somehow makes it way to UPS or Fed Ex for shipping.  All of this takes time.  If you hire someone or employ someone, this can be many hours of their job functions.

If your are looking for Part 1 of Ecommerce Shipping and Fulfillment

If you inventory products for your ecommerce site finding a good solution for shipping and storing your products can always be challenging.  Most warehouse the items yourself and spend lots of time “touching” your products.  So what is “touching” and how does it cost you money?

The typical scenario

You bring in goods from overseas and they get off a boat and are trucked to your location.  You (the receiver) unload and move them into a warehouse.  Generally you will spend some time inspecting your inventory and organizing it so that you can pick your items and ship in an effective manner.  Sometimes if the packaging is not complete, you many find yourself repacking or re boxing items for final shipping.  So here is how the “touching” is applied

• Unloading it off the truck, you have to do this
• Into the warehouse
• Organizing in the warehouse
• Possible repacking
• Final pick for shipment to the customer who ordered it

This is five times that the item is touched, moved, processed or handled.  If you are smart, you most likely have an employee do this work, which means you pay the employee and manage the process.  Not counted here is the managing of the items coming from port and getting to your ware house that is a separate discussion.  The warehouse cost is also not included in the cost at this particular point.

Every year credit card theft increases.  Every year online fraud increases as well.  If you sell any type of product online, chances are pretty high that there will be some sort of fraudulent activity that you are going to have to deal with.  So why does this keep increasing?  The answer is simple, fraud pays, and people know it. The problem is simple to figure out, people are not afraid anymore because they know the system cannot or will not handle it.

Last month a customer made a purchase on my site using a stolen credit card.  A couple of days later a real nice lady that owned the credit card called me and told me that someone stole her card.  I told her I would be happy to help her and give the police everything they needed to catch the guy.  I had the name, address, phone number and email address of the cheater.  An open and shut case, right?  Wrong, the authorities could do nothing, not because they lacked information, but because they are overloaded.  So I with my wild imagination came up with the perfect solution.

I will take the time to now warn you, this solution can be considered unethical, so if you get jammed up about that, you might want to go read some other article about something else.  My solution actually solves problems creates jobs and creates a better place to live.  You also might get a laugh out of it which is a bonus.

New Business Opportunities

The best idea of the year is called Product recovery.  Here is the theory behind it and an explanation of how it works.

Theory

Product Recovery is kind of a conglomeration of the Police, The Repo man, The Better Business Bureau and a Bounty hunter.  It also has a strong technical background (geeks) and a great accounting program.

Product Recovery might bend some rules and laws but they are highly effective in their techniques.  In some ways, not all but some, it resembles the old version of the Mafia.  I do not agree with the techniques that they employed, but you know that no one messed with them whatsoever.  For some reason everyone understands a crack in the teeth, it would seem to be the only real answer to this growing problem.  But that is not the theme, this is theory.  Here is how it works.

• Joe knucklehead uses stolen credit card on website
• Website owner ships product and afterwards finds out about the fraud, he calls Product Recovery.
• PR takes the facts and retrieves said product back from “alleged customer” using their own “collection technique”
• Website owner pays PR half the value of the item and gets his property back.

By Jeff Smith

Are you wrestling with the type of business you will operate online?

You may have your goals, even have a market in mind but confused
about the online business model you can use to earn both short-term
dollars as well grow future profits?

It’s true, you have the opportunity to:

- Create Your Own Products

- License Products

- Market a service

- Earn commissions through affiliate marketing

In fact, you could combine one or more of these to reach your goals.

FIRST – GOALS BEYOND DOLLARS

In my mind, you should set some goals in your life that go beyond just
money – then figure out how much you would need to achieve to reach
those goals.

For instance, if you want to experience the freedom of giving up your
current job – that’s your goal, and to fulfill that goal, you may
want to earn 80% of current income within X months.

In my case, I wanted to replace a six-figure corporate income and
did that a couple of years ago.

If you have ever worked for a large company, you’ll appreciate it
when I say that I never wanted to be spending more time in meetings
than producing results again.

Having a reason, deep within you, gives earning your financial
goals meaning resulting in an inexplicable, often magic ability to
achieve the unimagineable.

So, you have your purpose, now is it product, service or affiliate
marketing that will get you there?

THERE’S ONLY ONE RULE THAT COUNTS

In my case, it was a mix of products, services and affiliate
marketing, but…

It all started with the product.

I know many successful online business owners who use different
combinations of products, services and affiliate marketing.

Let’s not pretend that there is any set formula for mixing each of
these EXCEPT…leading with your own products is the single best
way to ensure you get the highest return for the least effort in
all 3 business models.

Here’s the important thing…

1. Having your own products will draw far more business options TO you
instead of you having to chase service or affiliate business.

2. Having your own product increases your credibility and perceived
value to your market (assuming your product is relevant and is good),
which allows you to get more for your services and get better
conversions on your affiliate marketing.

3. Creating or licensing a product gives you leveraged income. In
other words, you create (or license) once and it generates passive
revenue for you for months (even years) to come. My own income split
started at approx 1/3 for each of product, service and affiliate
marketing – now is much more like 65% product, 25% affiliate marketing
and 10% services (I have purposefuly limited them)

Think about it, you spend a few weeks developing your own information
product, another week or two in your launch while you continue to
build sales as long as you continue to expose it to your market.

Even your marketing can be fully automated by building your own
army of affiliates and joint venture partners. With a few months
work launching and marketing your product, you can literally sit
back and collect a check for years.

With your own book, ebook, report, course, workshop, audio or video
products out on the market, you’re business will grow fast. Of
course,
you need to make sure your product tackles a real challenge in your
market and presents you as the ultimate solution.

If you get the feeling that your business is stuck in rush hour
traffic, it’s taking far too much time and effort to squeak out an
inch of progress, then it’s time to clear a certain path toward
success by leading with your own product.

Become A High Paid Information Publising Entrepreneur Using the
System That Experts Agree, Will Put You On the Fast-Track To
Releasing and Profiting From High-Demand Infoproducts. Find it here:
http://www.infoproductcreator.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?Monster-Online-Business-Model-That-Really-Pays-Off&id=96641

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.