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Work From Home Job Or Start Your Own Online Business – Which One For You?

This is the definitive guide to understanding whether working at home for a company or owning your own online business is right for you.

Many people are on the search for real work from home businesses and the exact how to steps to get to work from home. It actually has two components. Some people want to work from home but work for someone else. Other people want to work from home but start their own company. Let’s explore both career paths to help you decide which one is right for you.

People who want to work at home but work for a company are looking more for an assured paycheck or set income. They find that they are not ready to take on the risk of starting their own company and feel better at knowing that once they start working they will instantly be making money. The opportunities range from working in customer service to light assembly or manufacturing work.

People who want to start their own work at home business are looking to break free from working for someone else. You would be striving to build a constant monthly income source where you call the shots and at the end of the day the company is your own. You would have to be comfortable with risk and understand that your positive cash flow from your business will not be overnight.

Take this quick quiz below to see which setting is right for you.

1. Can you wait to make money or do you need immediate cash flow?

2. What is your tolerance to business risk?

3. How much money do you have saved to start a company or can wait before it has to make money?

4. Do you prefer to work for someone else or do you want to start your own company?

5. What do you like to do?

6. Do you have any obligations that could prevent you from starting your company?

7. Are the people around you with you in starting a company or against it? Would they prefer you to work for someone else?

8. Do you need a steady paycheck or amount per hour that must count on?

Being honest with the quiz will let you know which work at home situation fits you best. There are many business opportunities and jobs that you can do that are home based. After you have decided which one works for you then you are on your way to uncovering the best suitable work at home career. Starting an online business is easier than one thinks. It is for anyone that has an internet connection and can write at least an email. It doesn’t take a technical background to make good residual income from a home based business.

Starting a company can be very stressful but then so is working for someone else. Just know that the pressures and stresses are different but very real. Be honest with your answers and you will know whether you should work for someone or start your own work from home business.

Tips For Starting and Running a Work From Home Online Business

Who wouldn’t want to start and run their own work from home online business? You could work at your own schedule and your own pace, and pick and choose what you do with that business and how you run it. If you want to add different services or products, you could do that. If you want to take away some choices, you could do that as well. Many people appreciate being in charge of their own success and appreciate seeing the fruits of their own labor. But starting a running a work from home online business isn’t as simple as some think, but it’s also not so complicated that you should be hesitant about it. Working on the internet and running a website is something that many people do today and they have a lot of success with it. So let’s look at how you can start and run a work from home online business, and what your options are with this type of endeavor.

If you’re going to sell something through your work from home online business, you may need a tax I.D. number or sales license you get through your state. This is your way of collecting sales tax for sales in your own state. These are very easy to get and usually just cost a few dollars. The state website or clerk’s office where you get this paperwork also explains how you need to collect and report that tax. Many who start and run a work from home online business get this license and it’s very easy to do and keep track of. Of course if you’re not selling a product you may not need such a license.

Some find that a freelance work from home online business is good for them, if they can provide a service to clients. You may be able to become a virtual assistant, which is someone that provides clerical services to clients. This might include data entry, bookkeeping, proofreading, letter writing, scheduling, and so on. There are those who make their own work from home online business in this regard and do very well. Your website should state your rates and the services you perform. Clients need a good way to contact you so of course email is good, and you may want to get a dedicated phone line as well.

Whatever your work from home online business, be sure that you do actually work it. When you sell a product online you need to continue to market that product and promote your site. This means getting links to your site, contacting past clients and customers to entice them back, and adding new products and articles for site content. Many find that multi level marketing is a good work from home online business because it means two streams of income – the sales you generate and the sales generated by those you recruit to work under you. In any event, you can make a good income from home if you work at it!

Why Your Work From Home Online Business Will Fail

Developing a legitimate home based business online involves more than getting a website online and then waiting for countless numbers of customers to come and buy from it. Many internet home business opportunities don’t get any website visitors, deliver any value and ultimately do not make any money. So why is this?

1. Poor Website Content.

If your website does not focus on providing value your online home business won’t be around for long. Ensure that your website content material is high quality and relevant to your products and service. Your website needs good search engine optimization, marketing and design but it’s the quality of your website content that is the key factor which will make the difference between success and failure of your online home based business.

2. Trying To Get Quick Results.

A legitimate home based business takes time to build and become profitable. People who try and build a profitable website in a few weeks are usually the ones who get frustrated and give up when things don’t happen quick enough. Building a reputation, building website rankings and building a customer base takes time and commitment. When you start your online home business, plan for it to start paying off in about 6 to 8 months and really gain momentum in about 12 months. If you’re looking for quick profits, you won’t find them online.

3. You Don’t Update Your Website Regularly.

Websites that upload new information on a frequent basis typically get a lot more traffic than those who don’t. Website traffic is vital for any work from home online business. This is where a blog can help because you can update your website with new blog posts, articles, comments, and discussions. A blog will help to improve your website rankings and create more recognition for your services and products.

4. You Don’t Know What Your Customers Want.

You cannot just assume you know what your audience wants. The best way to improve the information and the products and services offered by your online home business is to ask your customers what they want. Ask your audience what their problems are, what they like and what they don’t like. The more you can adapt your website to your audience’s wants and needs, the better.

5. There Are No Solutions To Your Customer’s Problems.

Some people visit websites to be entertained but the majority of people go to websites because they are looking for a solution to their fears, needs, desires and wants. If your website does clearly show that you understand your audience, it will fail. Make sure you have an understanding of your marketplace and provide for what needs that have not been met yet.

Monster Amazon Crocs – Why Creative Brand Names Work Best

The most common company naming trap is this – creating a new business name that’s accurate and descriptive, but utterly forgettable. And it’s easy to see how it happens. Unlike real life application, naming is usually done in a vacuum — with no context, no accompanying logo, web site or brochure copy. A group of key decision makers sit in a boardroom and toss names around in the air. And with no supporting cast, no background, no props, the good names often seem disconnected and even ridiculous. It’s at this stage the mind wants to make sense of the names and without context, without supporting elements, it defaults to free associations from the past. This is what kills off many a great brand name.

Imagine a committee looking for a brand name for a new computer company. Someone suggests the word “apple.”

“Apple?” the group reacts in shock and bewilderment.

“That makes me think of my mother saying ‘One bad apple spoils the whole bunch,'” one committee member protests.

“It sounds like something fruity to me,” claims another. “We can’t be perceived as a fruity company!”

“And what about worms that get into the apples,” a third member agrees. “And the way they rot, and how the juice gets sticky, and how…”

“All right!” the suggestee apologizes, curling up in a near fetal position, vowing she’ll never venture another idea.

And so the group comes to absolute agreement that the name must convey what the company does. So the next set of suggestions seem right on target…

“United Computer Manufacturers”

“General Computer Systems”

“Quality Computer Corporation”

“Superior Computer Builders”

“Global Computer Worldwide”

The closer the committee comes to describing the “what” of the company, the more they become homogenized and blend right into the rest of their industry. They sound more like a business description than a brand name, and in doing so they obscure the very identity they are trying to create. They don’t realize that the new company name will exist in a setting that helps define it, so that the name is free to evoke feeling and emotion. An apple is fresh, approachable, healthy, and invigorating. And so a company can borrow on the attributes inherent in a completely unrelated item to convey the way they approach its business.

So if creative company names are so much more memorable and effective than descriptive names, why is it that so many businesses make this basic mistake? In large part it’s because we conditioned from childhood to conform, to be like others, and to follow the leader. As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us would rather follow an established trail than to blaze a new one. One of the first questions I ask potential clients is whether they want their new company name to blend in, or to stand out. Most adamantly say they want to stand out, but when stand out names are presented, the red flag goes up.

“I’m not sure,” they might say. “These names are unique, but they’re so different from anything in our industry.”

And so it goes. The names continue to blend in until someone names an airline Virgin instead of Southwest. Or an online job site Monster instead of CareerBuilder. Or a massive online store Amazon instead of Books-a-Million.

Not only are descriptive names less impactful, they are more difficult to visualize. I can picture a Monster, but I have trouble picturing a Career Builder. When it comes to beach shoes, I can imagine a pair of Crocs, but not a pair of Keens. These vivid mental pictures provide yet another way to anchor the brand name in the customer’s mind for easier recall.

Creatives names are also less restrictive. If you have a purely descriptive name, what happens if your company’s core products or services being to change? How much additional advertising does it require for Burlington Coat Factory to convince customers they sell more than just coats?

Are highly memorable names the only way to go? No. Some small businesses don’t have the luxury of a marketing budget and resort to literal names out of short term necessity. And there are other viable naming strategies that work well. But for those looking to build a brand name that will set them apart, and reserve more space in the customer’s mind, then an evocative, memorable name is the way to go. Seth Godin makes a convincing case for memorable company names in his New York Times bestseller, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable.

So whether you name company after a river, a fruit, a dessert, a reptile, or even an odd color bovine, chances are you will, on a minimum, make a name for yourself. And once potential customers notice and remember your company, the rest is up to you. If you do your job well, you’ll have a company that’s not only memorable, but one that’s unforgettable.

A Guide to Building Websites That Work

Caution:

If you are looking for “Get-Rich-Quick,” close this page. You are at the wrong place. Common sense dictates that is impossible. If you intend to build a major online corporation, you need a Webmaster and programmers.

But if you are willing to work to build a genuine small business with long-term value and profits, read on. You have come to the right place, the only place, where the average small business person can indeed build a profitable online business.

We all have different reasons for building businesses online.

It depends on who you are, from raw “newbie” to marketing expert.

It depends on what you want out of business and life…

* Freedom and self-reliance?

* Increased revenues from an existing business.

* Growth and independence?

* Living life with passion.

* Recognition and support?

* Community and belonging.

* The right skills and control?

* Additional family income & time.

No matter your reason, you surely want to succeed. But the bitter truth is that only a few people have or know what it takes. Your Web site either makes the sale, or it doesn’t. Ninety-nine out of a hundred sites still don’t get the order.

We blame that on suspicious, scared Web-consumers.

Wrong.

No matter what you offer on the Web, your site must SELL! Are you selling digital goods like software, video games, or info-products? Do you sell freezers to Eskimos (to store the ice you sold them), or other hard-good widgets?

Got a store with dozens, hundreds, even thousands of items to sell?

Think there’s no way you could sell hamburgers on the Web? Why not use your site to sell visitors on registering for digital discount coupons for your special of the month?! Just print and present one to the restaurant nearest you!

Maybe you’re looking to expand regional sales into global distribution? Or do you want to generate leads for your OEM business? Are you considering adding an online profit-center to take advantage of your existing offline store’s infrastructure (1-800 number, warehouse, inventory, database, etc.)? A no-brainer… if you do it right!

Or… has your own profitable Web site just been a dream until now? Well, everyone’s an expert on something!

So…

Think! Brainstorm a little. Can you offer…

* world-class consulting services on your special area of expertise?

* special travel services, like bike tours through the Andes?

* unique info-products, based on knowledge from your job or hobby?

* Multi-national corporation? Entrepreneur with an idea?

It doesn’t matter. Here’s the bottom line.. you can make our site sell.

Just last week my family(extended) had a get together, something small. Like most of such occasions everyone wants to know what everyone is up to and we all make jokes about the little things. I am a natural, I usually get everyone’s attention for being outspoken, sort of a Bilbo in the Baggins family.

During dinner we had hardly eaten a chunk or two when my little niece turned to me and said,” Can you help me make my site sell?

I was taken aback because before now I had no idea she had a website or was trying any making ventures online. The truth is that she had secretly spent all her pocket cash for six months on paying for hosting, and a domain. She had installed a shopping cart, tweaked it in every possible way. But after 8 months she had received just 18 unique visitors and made no sales of her art works even though they cost just 20 dollars.

I decided to help, of course I had no choice.

I took her through a 3 week class. I am going to try to summarize the process in this article, cos I found out that there a lot of out there struggling with building a website and fail miserably talk less of making money from it.

So many people out there even go a step further buying resale rights products, books etc.

These are not wrong in themselves as I have personally written some myself. But if you do not understand the fundamental principles about businesses on online you will fail and loose your hard earned cash too.

But first lets out line the problems my niece was having. She mentioned so many things but here is a summary

1. No traffic

2. No sales

3. Domain Name irrelevance

Everything we build in life should be anchored a good foundation, this also goes for building websites for profit. In our case here’s the foundation. . .

C-T-P-M

Content Traffic Presell Monetize

Step 1 – Understand the difference between “PREselling” and “Selling.”

Content -Traffic – PREsell – Monetize.

What’s it all about? Where’s the magic?

No magic. And it’s all about your “pre-customer,” about the hundreds of millions of people who surf the Net every day…

People use the Web as a searching tool. They search for credible high-value information or solutions, anything that can fulfill a wish that they hold dearly or solve a troublesome problem that they are experiencing.

Success on the Net all begins with a critical mindset shift. This means replacing that well-known offline strategy of “location, location, location” with…

“Information, information, information.”

In the online world, no one just happens to walk past, see your business and enter your Web site. Surfers on the Net are not looking for you or your business. People search for information, for solutions. After all, if they knew you existed, they would not be searching. They would already be customers.

Online, you must generate your own traffic to thrive and be profitable. Therefore, your primary task, well before you make your first sale or recommendation to a customer (often well before that person is even aware that s/he is shopping!), is to provide the information (i.e., content) that people are searching for, in a way that Search Engines like. In other words…

Give them what they want.

A Theme-Based Content Site contains information based upon a main subject. Each page focuses upon a single topic that is related to that theme. The net sum of all the information on all your pages forms the Content of your site.

These specific “topical pages” are called “Keyword-Focused Content Pages.” They rank well with the Search Engines (SEs), attracting lots of targeted Traffic.

The high-value content “warms up” (i.e., PREsells) visitors by OVERdelivering what they came for… information.

Visitors start to like and trust you (based on what you write about on your site). Your content-rich site builds trust and credibility… “PREselling!” The visitor begins to like and respect you… you are a knowledgeable expert.

This credibility creates an open-to-buy or open-to-hire mindset. You are now a mere click away from Monetizing (converting PREsold traffic into dollars)… affiliate links, order pages, contact forms, Google ads, your own store, eBay auctions, or any other way to monetize — they are now just one friendly click away!

This proven, results-generating process…

CONTENT -TRAFFIC -PRESELL – MONETIZE

… works. No matter how you plan to monetize…

* merchant-partner sites that you represent as an affiliate

* an order page on your site where a prospect can buy your own products (hard or digital goods)

* a contact form which visitors can use to follow-up with you for more details about your professional services or Network marketing business opportunity

* your own online store

* a site that sells a related, non-competitive service or product, in return for a referral fee

* your established sales site (become your own best affiliate!)

* an ad from Google’s AdSense program

* any combination of the above or others!

PREsold visitors convert more easily and more frequently into paying customers… which is exactly the result that your online business wants and needs in order to grow. That is the winning advantage of a “Theme-Based Content Site.”

Contrast that to a visitor who arrives at a sales site… no inspiring, relevant, editorial content. Selling merely tries to get the sale. If you do not have a brand (and most of us do not), if you have not built a relationship with your visitor, your chances of selling are near-zero.

Why? Well, which person would YOU respond to? A stranger with a sales pitch or a knowledgeable friend/expert making a recommendation? Become that knowledgeable friend/expert.

Great content encourages your visitor to think about you as a “friend/expert” rather than a stranger. And if you create a truly info-rich site, you’ll actually become a trusted expert, sharing your wealth of information. You basically create your own brand… your “brand of one.”

People “buy” from those they know and like. They resist sales efforts from everyone else.

And that is why 99% of small businesses fail online.

Selling is not your site’s first priority. (In fact, you may decide not to sell anything and become an “infopreneur” instead!) Your #1 priority is to PREsell through the delivery of the information that visitors seek.

You “monetize” (i.e., convert visitors into money) later.

Step 2 — Act upon the “PREselling Reality.”

As just mentioned, the reality of PREselling is that it works… if YOU work it! Thousands of ordinary, everyday business people have done exactly that.

The reality is that it is all under your control, far more so than in the risky, offline business world.

What about building traffic, ranking highly at the Search Engines? Do you think that only professionals (called Search Engine Optimizers or “SEOers”) can do that? No, in fact you have the huge advantage.

Search Engines are in the business of delivering relevant and high-quality results.

No need for luck. No need for SEO expertise. Simply follow and trust the C – T – P – M process.

It’s through the Search Engines (SEs) that you will reach your visitors. Most surfers won’t scroll past the first 10-20 listings on a Search Engine’s search results pages. That is where you will be.

And second, the description about your site will have to be interesting and credible. So you will “get the click.”

When a visitor finds you through a Search Engine like Google (or Yahoo! Search or Windows Live), think of how smart s/he feels. After all, s/he found you. You didn’t advertise (actually, once you build traffic, you can sell advertising!). All that remains is for you to OVERdeliver — PREsell!

Once you realize the logic and power of C – T – P – M, then you know that success really is DO-able. It is indeed “yours to be had.” And if you don’t succeed immediately, keep trying until you find the right approach.

You only fail when you quit. Patience and persistence ultimately rule the day. Or, to quote Calvin Coolidge…

Persistence wins. Keep pushing it… the business you build will take on its own momentum. It will fulfill all your objectives, if you put in the BAM (“Brain and Motivation”), the time and persistence that are required to grow anything that is worth achieving.

Bottom line…

You understand C – T – P – M. More importantly, you are ready to invest (and “invest” is the perfect word!) time to build C – T – P before you Monetize. Once you do, converting PREsold visitors into money is the easiest (and most fun!) part of your online business

Step 3 — Monetize! Maximize Conversion Rate and profits.

Monetizing PREsold visitors is easier than falling off the proverbial log. DAY 4 discusses the wide variety of ways you can monetize. We’ll cover this topic at that time.

The key point for now is… You are not your monetization model. Do not think about “being an affiliate” or “selling an e-good.” As a matter of fact, do not decide upon any one monetization method.

First and foremost, you are in the “Content Delivery Business.” Then you monetize.

And… Diversify. Have several strong streams of income. For example…

One of your pages may feature Google AdSense ads and affiliate links. You might choose to add an e-commerce store to sell hard goods. And you sell some e-books via ClickBank, too.

However you monetize, do not push your visitors. Let the content pull them through to your revenue-generating locations rather than stopping them in their track.

This could be a link to a sales page for your product or service, to your merchant-partner’s site or to a click on a Google AdSense ad, for example.

Instead of pushing them, make them want to click. It makes all the difference if your visitors feel that it’s their idea to deliver your “Most Wanted Response” (“MWR”).

Once you have PREsold traffic, monetizing is limited only by your imagination!

So let’s not worry about that now. Instead, let’s talk about the broader concept of profits…

There is an easy business equation to follow in order to maximize profit. It’s the same equation, whether you are working online or off…

INCOME minus EXPENSES equals PROFIT.

It’s not a complicated equation, true! But people tend to forget about it.

If you can increase the amount of money that is coming into your business, and lower the amount of money that is going out of your business, you will have more money staying with your business.

So let’s start shifting that profit equation in your favor (and your bank account’s!) by improving the first part of the equation…

Income

There are two major ways to increase income (i.e., the amount of money you make through your products, services, and/or other monetization efforts). You need to…

1) Expose more visitors to your monetization models…

This means that you need to attract more targeted traffic, people who are specifically interested in your theme and your topics (related to that theme) on your Web site. High-value content is the key factor behind traffic volume and your ability to increase and sustain it. And here’s the good news…

If you get the keywords “right” on your page and if you have great content, you will have substantial, evergrowing traffic! And here’s the best news…

Lets move on

* Offline, it’s all about “location, location, location.” You put your business where crowds go. Passerby traffic!

-AND-

* Online, millions search for “information, information, information.” But they do it solo. There is NO such thing as “passerby traffic.”

You are really ready if you understand that the M is the easiest part of C – T – P – M . And speaking of C…

To succeed online, you must start where your “pre-customers” start…

People search for information, look for solutions. They are not looking for you. Give them what they want by converting your knowledge into high-quality, in-demand CONTENT.

Before you can do that, you must figure out…

* what they seek

* how often they search for it

* how badly they want it

* what competitors already provide, and how they do it

* what Content you will deliver, and how

Your next goal is to find your best Site Concept.

The rest of your business rides on your choice of Site Concept.

Let’s talk a bit about site concept.

Here is how you will get to your Best Site Concept…

1) Create a list of potential Site Concepts and choose your top 3.

* Everyone Knows Something About Something

* Three Site Concepts? Why Three?

* Do Some Quick Research.

2) Use tools like wordtracker dotcom and Google AdWords reserach tool to research Site Concept(s). Research keywords for each of your top 3 Site Concepts.To arrange and research your keywords even further,I recommend you use keywordresearchlab dot com/

3) Evaluate the following factors for each Site Concept…

* Number of Keywords

* Profitability

* Knowledge

* Passion

* Theme “Sexiness”

* Monetization Potential

What Is a Site Concept?

It is the central theme, the niche, upon which you will base all of your site’s Content (hence the term “Theme-Based Content Site”). Every page that you write will be about a topic that is related to your Site Concept. Each one of those topical pages focuses on a Specific Keyword, which is why I also call these pages “Keyword-Focused Content Pages (“KFCPs”).

Now to finding your Site Concept… your theme… your niche that you CAN master.

There is plenty of room for more than one Web site in any niche. Don’t worry when you find competitors. You have a huge advantage, — remember that 99% of small business sites fail, even the most gorgeous ones that cost $20,000 to build! So…

How to Recognize Your Best Site Concept

Bottom line on choosing your Site Concept?…

It takes just as much time to build a low-potential business as a high-potential one. So invest the time now, get the Site Concept right, and you will maximize your returns later, earning far more income per hour invested down the road.

The Plan… How to Develop Your Best Site Concept

Most people fail in any business because they don’t plan adequately. If you pick the wrong concept for your site, if you develop the wrong topics for your Web pages… you’ll get the wrong results…

No traffic = No income.

This will not be your fate. So get to work on your Best Site Concept Plan… Step 1 – Create a list of potential Site Concepts and choose your top 3.

Write down ideas for good “Site Concepts” as they hit you — make your list as long as you can. What do you know and love? What have you learned “on the job?” As you read the daily newspaper, or watch a talk show on TV, or chat with friends/colleagues, or browse a book store, keep your antennae up for new ideas.

Think… you may know so much about something that you overlook it

Everyone Knows Something About Something

What’s under your nose?

Use Common Sense

What is “too broad?” It’s any idea where the market is too big. For example, “travel” was an extreme example. “Italy” is too broad. Choose “Sicily” instead (if you know it.) And “New York” is too broad. Instead, try “Tribeca”… or go with “New York Pizzas” instead (if you love them!).

“Too n-” is the opposite. There just aren’t enough people interested in Caltanissetta, a city in Sicily. Sicily is “just right.”

“But how do I know whether it’s too n- or too broad if I’m just starting out?”

Good question! Use your common sense and knowledge of each niche, of course. And there is one good technique that helps, too!

So what are the key factors and their guidelines?

#1) Number of Keywords

A Site Concept that delivers more keywords is better. It offers the ability to create more Content. So, everything else being equal, choose the Site Concept with 300 pruned keywords over the one for which only 100 “made your cut.”

#2) Overall Profitability

The more keywords that have higher Demand, lower Supply and higher Profitability (Value Demand/Real Supply ratio), the better. Again, this is not an absolute, just an indication. Use your judgment.

Compare the overall Profitability of one Site Concept to another. How many solidly profitable keywords does each have? (Remember… the Profitability numbers are useful, but use your judgment to make the final decisions.)

#3) Knowledge

Think about each keyword as the topic for a future Web page (that is what it will become). Do you already know what you could write for those words? Obviously, lean towards the Site Concept that you know the best.

#4) Passion

Just as important… which Site Concept excites you the most? Choose a less profitable Site Concept if the thought of building a site about it excites you much more! It will be fun to create interesting Web pages about the subject area and to do the necessary research to stay current. It’s not work if it’s fun.

#5) Theme “Sexiness”

It’s not just your excitement that counts. Some Site Concepts are more apt to excite visitors. Trust your gut feel about which would excite visitors the most . It’s easy to PREsell your way to a strong “Brand Of One” with a fun, exciting theme.

#6) Monetization Potential

Look for a Site Concept that offers the potential for you to build multiple streams of income. C T P is useless if there is no M potential!

You must be able to Monetize your PREsold traffic. And the more ways to do that, the merrier. How many of the following could you (eventually) implement on each Site Concept, and with what kind of financial potential?…

* Represent the products/services of related, non-competing online businesses (i.e., affiliate income).

* Partner with an offline business, sending them customers, on a pay-per-click, per-lead, per-sale, or per-month basis

* Sell your hard good or e-book.

o Earn income by placing advertising on your site, such as Google AdSense, or by selling advertising directly. (Guess what? As your site grows, advertisers will approach you!)

o Sell your services (ex., develop clients for your copywriting or java-programming business).

o Supplement/build your local offline business.

o Attract more bidders for your eBay auctions.

o Build warm leads for your Network Marketing (“MLM”) venture.

o Rent — anything from heavy equipment to extras for movies to your own Cayman Island villa.

o Traffic — send traffic to your own e-commerce business (ex., your Yahoo! store or e-commerce site).

Finalize your Site Concept and get a good Domain name.

Visitors know great content when they read it. Winning, PREselling content “works” at several levels…

1. It has a “been there… done that” voice and flair.

2. It has specific, “zing knowledge” that comes from real experience.

3. It is supported by a depth of useful information. This is where good reference material plays an important part.

4. It is consistent, from page to page, from e-zine issue to issue, from week to month to year.

5. It is for the customer, absolutely.

Step 4 – Ready? Name that domain!

A good domain…

* is short and sharp

* is meaningful — conveys a clear message

* is easy to spell

* is easy to remember

* is unique, descriptive, and “you”

* is solid, classic, not hokey

* contains your VPP for human visitors

* contains your Site Concept keyword for spider visitors

* is attractive to humans (ex., “cayman-island-beaches dot com” “cayman island” is there for the engines and “beaches” is there for humans)

* ends in the classy ” dot com,” ” dot net” or ” dot org” (by far, the best regarded by surfers).

When do you use dashes in your domain name?

If both versions of a 3-or-more-word domain are available, use dashes because they make the word breaks more obvious to the eye. Also, the engines usually treat a dash as a space. So it may be more likely to “see” the entire string as separate words.

Dashes are less important if your domain name has only two words in it. See how netpricing dot com and cyberpricing dot com don’t really need the help of a dash?

Use dashes (even if the domain only has two words) if the non-dash version is already being used by someone else. But be sure that you are not violating anyone’s trademark (details on this below).

Note: If your business is 99%+ online, the offline issues of dealing with dashes are not so important (i.e., telling people how to spell it, people forgetting to put the dash after reading your print ad, etc.).

Here’s the bottom line…

Domain names are so cheap that it’s a good idea to take both versions (with and without the dash), just to make sure that a competitor does not take names that could be confused with yours. You can always make one domain point to the main one.

Offline vs. Online, and Branding

If you already have an offline business, it may be important to use your business name as your domain name rather than create a new domain name for it. On the other hand, you could give the site a name that uses your VPP, then use a domain redirector in your hosting to park and redirect your business name to your site. This works particularly well with business cards and other forms of offline, local marketing.

If you want to brand your site, you’ll want to get really creative and come up with a one word domain name. For example, if you wanted to brand a site about credit cards, you might use the name “creditopia dot com” or “crediteria dot com” (sorry, they’re both taken!). Easy to remember, and have a VPP (“credit utopia” or “credit cafeteria”).

Or you may find a domain name by simply adding a letter or two as a prefix or suffix to your site concept keyword (ex., icallcard dot com).

You’ll have to be more creative to come up with a short domain name that’s still available, but a little extra time spent now could pay big dividends later.

Why most people fail

Why did most people fail? I think the reason was that the whole process of running an online business is just too complicated for most people. There are lots of ways to screw it up. It pained me to visit some of those sites and notice a dozen glaring mistakes within the first few seconds – blogs that didn’t enable permalinks, cutesy headlines with no keywords in them, bad choice of topics, page titles that still used the WordPress default format, hideously suboptimal ad layouts, hidden or missing contact info, etc. Any one of those mistakes could cripple a site’s results. More than one is a practically a death sentence. Such mistakes cause problems both for human visitors and search engines.

But at the same time, there were teenagers humming along just fine, generating four figures in monthly income after working on their sites for 6-12 months. They didn’t necessarily get everything right, but they were Internet savvy enough to fix the big problems early.

What bothered me most about this was that people were too often failing because of the technology. Many of them had great ideas and very good content. It was a shame to read some of their articles and think to myself, This is great stuff… too bad no one will ever see it.

The cruel and unfair part of online business is that if you aren’t very Internet savvy, you’ll make mistakes on the technical side that you’re totally oblivious to. You may get the content side right, but the technology will bite you and cripple your results.

But it’s still a pretty unfair situation. There are people who can write great content who really deserve to be getting a lot of readers, but because they don’t understand permalinks, RSS feeds, pinging, or other technologies, they’re doomed before they start.

Once I saw this happening, I basically decided I’d better shut up about encouraging people to run an online business. People kept asking me for new articles on the subject, but I didn’t think it was a good idea. I was concerned I’d be doing more harm than good.

A new solution

Recently I came across a vastly superior solution to this problem – a way for people to build a successful online business that doesn’t require them to become technology gurus.

What I recommend is a service called Site Build It! – it’s an all-in-one solution for creating and building an online business. You pay an annual fee for the service, and they provide you with all the tools you need to build an income-generating web site. They host the site for you, they help you register your domain name, and they provide integrated tools like point-and-click page generators, built-in blogging, form builders, RSS feeds, and lots more. Many of these details will be handled for you, so you don’t have to worry about them.

You still create your own content, and you use their tools (or your own familiar tools) to create a site based on your unique ideas. You focus on the content side. They help you with the technical implementation side.

I don’t recommend this solution for everyone. If you’ve already built a successful website that generates thousands of dollars a month for you, you won’t need this. I don’t need it myself. But if you’re one of those people that have been held back by the technical complexity, then this is definitely something you should look at. This is the kind of solution I’d recommend in a heartbeat for my non-programmer friends who want to get something going online but quickly become lost in a sea of jargon.

There’s a lot to explain about this service and why I think it’s a great idea for most people interested in building a successful online business. So I wrote a whole separate article about that here

Site Build It is a suite of tools for building a website. Site Build It! (Site Build It!) the only all-in-one site-building, site-hosting, and site-marketing product that makes it easy to build a professional, popular, and profitable business.

they follow all the techniques I have listed here and even add more to ensure success.

I’m probably turning into a bit of a salesperson for Site Build It! because I really believe this is a great deal for a lot of people. Not only will building your own online business give you a quantum leap in your own personal development, but it can also provide income to fuel your ongoing growth.

I wish you all the very best.

Ideas to Create Own Work At Home Online Business Product

The voice you heard by the majority of people in the Net is true, the real true money generating machine is to offer your own product or service where you can keep 100% of the profits.

Before you even start creating or introduce your own product or service, you should do some research to check the target market size, competitors and the available pricing methods available for the type of product or service that you intend to offer.

The most common product that people develop are ebook or what is commonly known as info product. It is based on the experience that you have accumulated over the years either through your jobs or hobbies and convert them into writings.

Everyone of us have a special skills and things that we do better than the rest. You can further expand your knowledge database via further education or self-education in order to create the business.

Many new business are created not by developing new products or services but by improving something that already exists. The initial innovators of products might received lots of recognition for their innovation might not know how to make the product appeal to the mass consumers and sell like hot cakes. Subsequent bright businessmen or women succeeded in relaunching the same product after some improvement as they are able to saw the mistakes that have been made and was able to capitalized on it.

The movies industry is the best example, many movies are just about repackaging to appeal to the movies consumers. Why develop new super heroes when you can make good money from old familiar heroes like Spiderman. Many movies goers grows up watching Spiderman cartoon and although they maybe adults now,

they still enjoy it like when they was young. It is so familiar with them.

Therefore, time spend trying to find brand new idea should instead be spend on improving existing idea. The most important criteria is to try and find a NEED which you can filled.

For improving your business success rate, try not to go into a hot industries that are already overcrowded with suppliers unless you can offer something cheaper and better than them and still make a profit. Finding a niche market is a better strategy as an unique product or service will increase your chances of success.

Starting a Work At Home Online Business means that you should look for product or service that can be sold online and delivered to people living around the world. It should be cheaper or more convenience to order online rather than offline.

The most famous successful niche finder is Amazon.com. The books they sold already exist offline and by bringing it online and pricing its books competitively, they slowly build up their niche market and have now become the world largest online books sellers.

Therefore, open your eyes wide and start looking at things around you and think of ways to improve them.

Mompreneurs: Stay-At-Home Moms Work From Home And Find Second Careers

Is it any wonder that “Mompreneurs” are seeing so much success in both their personal and professional lives? Women have the innate ability to juggle many tasks, which is why so many women and stay-at-home moms are starting up their own small businesses and developing “second careers.” Small businesses and industrious women go hand-in-hand and Mompreneurs are on the rise in 2011. According to Entrepreneur.com, a mompreneur is a “female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur.” Sounds like a second career to me!

According to Entrepreneur.com, a mompreneur is a “female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur.” No small feat, as any mother with children will tell you! And yet, moms still keep coming up with the time and innovations needed to keep them on the cutting edge of the business world.

The current economic downturn has opened the door to a second career for many enterprising women. In fact, small women-owned home-based businesses skyrocketed in the past couple of years. Women are starting small businesses at twice the rate of men. Moms have a great pulse on needs and wants of society. Some successful mompreneurs emerge because of a niche that needs filling and some mompreneurs are created because they have a great and timely product or idea. Most small work-from-home businesses can be started with a fairly small initial cash outlay. This is appealing for a number of reasons, but generally speaking, the smaller the investment, the more willing a woman will be to assume the inherent risk associated with starting any business.

Social media sites for women and by women are rapidly becoming great business models. Women are nurturers, they talk, they connect, they offer support. Setting up a successful website with loyal followers can lead to a great opportunity for you to make money. If your site is popular enough, you can solicit advertisers and make money by charging them to advertise on your website.

All it takes to be the next successful mompreneur in 2011 is a great idea or product, and your ability to promote it. Great ad campaigns target moms! Can you imagine Tide laundry detergent being the successful product it is if moms weren’t the ones doing the laundry? If you have a great idea or product you want to promote, there are websites designed specifically by women for networking, and these sites can assist with the launching of ideas of women who want to start their own companies. The whole business of women in business is growing exponentially, thanks to the impact of mompreneurs of the business world.

The future of small home-based business is in the hands of the woman who wants to develop her second career, work from home and balance home and family with the ability to earn some money. The work from home business model has been successful for years, and it appears that this phenomenon is on the rise. Women want to earn extra cash, work from home, develop secondary incomes, and stay at home with their kids and families, and they are doing it and doing it well!

Work From Home Business – Finding Your Niche As A Virtual Assistant

According to entrepreneurial experts Paul and Sarah Edwards, and a long list of other publications and experts, home based virtual assistance is a booming business. Wikipedia defines a virtual assistant as an independent contractor providing virtual assistance in the form of administrative, technical, and sometimes creative services to clients, usually to other independent entrepreneurs and solo and small business practices, such as that of a lawyer or realtor. Virtual assistants work from their own office at home which is why it has become a fairly popular, growing profession. Today there is about 5,000-8,000 virtual assistants worldwide. Common modes of communication and data delivery include the Internet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and fax machine. In other words, it is very similar to an assistant that is telecommuting or teleworking.

There are many reasons why business owners, especially those who work from a home office or telecommute, are hiring virtual assistants. In a home based business, what do you do when you need help? After all, you just can’t do everything when you work from home. You could hire someone as an employee. However, you probably don’t have a place to put them in your home office. Also, having an employee means needing health insurance coverage, payroll taxes, legal obligations, and not to mention higher utility bills. A virtual assistant will take care of all of these problems because the virtual assistants are probably also working from their home! Some virtual assistants’ make as much as $38,000 per year working full time. In the working world, this would be good pay for an administrative assistant or even an executive assistant, especially if you factor in savings on transportation and day care.

So what are some successful virtual assistant careers? What jobs exactly do employers need from a virtual assistant? They are: bill paying, data processing and management, transcription services, bookkeeping, proof reading and editing.

Bill Paying

There are two types of bill paying businesses. The first is a virtual personal assistant. In this instance the client has all bills mailed to a post office box near you as his virtual personal assistant. You then set up a checking account with payment authorization for both the client and you. As the bills are prepared for payment, you notify the client how much money to deposit into the account. The bills are then paid. Also, if available from the client’s bank, it is possible to use on-line bill payment services. A virtual accounts payable assistant will provide the same type of service to businesses. A small company will outsource the payment of bills to you and you will insure that the client maintains a good credit rating by paying all their bills on time. Often, it is possible to combine accounts payable with accounts receivable. In this situation, the virtual assistant is not only responsible for paying bills, but also for depositing checks into the client’s bank account and sometimes even calling on past-due accounts.

Data Processing and Data Management

Several things can be included in data processing and data management. The following are a few examples where this would be useful. After collecting business cards all month long, they are mailed to you as a virtual assistant. You then enter the data into the client’s database and return as an email attachment. This would also work if your client sent you emails of new prospect leads and you entered the information into a contact database. An insurance agent can fax new policy owner information to you. You would then enter the information into the client’s database, zip the file, and send the database to the client as an email attachment. As a virtual assistant you would also prepare and mail a standard confirmation letter to the policy owner. You track the annual expiration date of the policy and upon the due date, sends a reminder email to the insurance agent. Another possibility is to help a client who is preparing a direct mailing and needs to verify the legitimacy of his database. The database is sent to the virtual assistant via email attachment. You then telephone each name and verify that the name, spelling, title and address are correct. Sometimes, clients actually need you to compile a database by researching names and contact information within a pre-specified criteria.

Transcription Services

Transcription is the process of converting voice-recorded reports into text. Many clients can use a virtual assistant for this. One example could be a lawyer sending a micro-cassette overnighted to you to transcribe. You would then type the report and send it back to the lawyer as an email. As a virtual assistant transcription service you may also receive a telephone conversation that needs to be recorded and then typed up and sent out to everyone that participated. A client can dictate letters and memos on cassette, CD, or MP3 format and send to you to put it in writing. Authors sometime use this kind of service to get a type-written copy of their work.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording of all financial transactions undertaken by an individual or organization. The organization may be a business, a charitable organization or even a local sports club. Bookkeeping can be keeping records of what is bought, sold, owed, and owned; what money comes in, what goes out, and what is left. Although this position follows the rules of basic accounting, you do not need to be an accountant or have an accounting background. As a virtual assistant bookkeeper you could be responsible for writing up the daybooks, which would consist of purchase, sales, receipts and payments. The bookkeeper is responsible for ensuring that all transactions are recorded in the correct daybook, suppliers ledger, customer ledger and general ledger. Typically, a company scans its business documents and uploads them to a secure location or into an online bookkeeping application on a regular basis. This allows the bookkeeper to work remotely with these documents to update the books.

Proof Reading and Editing

Proof reading traditionally means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound for presentation through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. These are other sources of income for a virtual assistant. A client could be preparing a marketing flyer or website and needs assistance with the copies. So you would then proof read and edit any marketing literature. A client could be a writer and has prepared a manual that needs to be edited. A virtual assistant can format, proofread, edit, and grammar check documents, then return them to the client via email as an attachment.

Now that you have an idea of what are some popular work from home business opportunities as a virtual assistant, how about some help? There are work at home business opportunity kits available to you to help you start your own virtual assistant business. Remember, working as a virtual assistant has so many other benefits besides getting earn money from home.

So go ahead and quit your day job sooner than expected! Become that entrepreneur you know you can be! Will it be easy money? No. Will you be able to earn a living while taking control of your own future? Yes. Critical information about the Virtual Assistance industry is available to you right now. Don’t spend any more time twisting your brain over what to do next, look into a work at home business guide.

Small Scale Business Ideas That Work Perfectly for Affiliate Marketing

If you are running a small scale affiliate marketing promotion, you will benefit the most from small scale business ideas. When budget is one of your ultimate concerns, then you have to find as many free methods as possible to promote your affiliate products. You don’t have to worry as there are several free ways that can help you bring in more sales.

One of the small scale business ideas that doesn’t require you any cost is article writing. This is an effective marketing strategy that brings potential buyers to your promoting website. What you need to do is to write quality articles that are integrated with specific keywords or key-phrases. Keep in mind that you need to write a huge batch of articles before your website can rank well in leading search engines. Writing articles alone is not enough, and you also need to post them in article directories. The purpose of posting articles in these directories is to leave your link in their web pages. All in all, this is one of the best business ideas where you will get a chance to rank your affiliate websites in top pages of search engines.

Among the small scale business ideas, participating in online forums is one of the most popular affiliate marketing strategies. Up till now, there are varieties of forums available in the internet. Some of these forums might be related to the affiliate products that you are promoting. The best way to participate in online forums is by offering a solution to other members’ problems. You may post your answers with the inclusion of your link. Don’t ever spam these forums as you may likely be kicked out from the site, and your membership may be terminated. Take note that your main intention should be to connect with the forum members and build a good rapport with them.

From all the small scale business ideas, you might want to try using Google Plus (Google+) to promote your affiliate products. With Google Plus, you will get connected to everyone who has been included in your friends, family or acquaintance lists in Facebook, LinkedIn and you can also invite contacts from Yahoo! and Hotmail. Apart from that, you can also benefit from joining Yahoo Answers since you can browse around to look for people asking about issues related to your affiliate products. Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful small scale business ideas by which you can get potential buyers from people who are really planning to buy your products.

7 Home Business Ideas For Women That Work

More and more women are choosing to work from home. This gives them the flexibility required to raise children, manage the house and take care of other such tasks. There are many home business ideas for women. Many times, a hobby becomes a base for your business. Here are some interesting business ideas that should be considered.

1: Craft

Crafts have enormous potential. People are constantly looking for innovative products as gifts for their loved ones. It may be wedding gifts, party favors and more. You can come up with some nice items and promote them among friends and family in the beginning. If the news spreads and if your products are good, your small business will have a lot of orders.

2: Child Care

If you have something for children and the necessary space in your home, you might consider establishing a small business of child care. Of course, you must obtain the necessary permits and licenses. But if your locality lacks a good facility, this business opportunity will work for you.

3: Pet care

Just as people appreciate good childcare, there are others who would like to have a good Pet Care Service. This is especially true if they are frequent travelers with pets. You can consider using your place for this work. Once the business starts doing well, you can delegate tasks to people who are interested.

4: Using your culinary skills

A good business opportunity that many women can cash on is their cooking. This can be baking snacks and other refreshments. You can take on full board and work with fixed menus for various functions. Art of cooking can be changed according to any catering needs. If people like what you do, you can make good money here.

5: Tutoring

Tutoring can be an essential activity for children who are weak in their studies. Depending on your core knowledge, you can choose to educate on a particular topic. Remember, people pay to those who can make their children pass with good marks. If you are sure that you have what it takes, it can provide a substantial income on monthly basis. This is among good home business ideas for women.

6: Interior designers

Business Ideas for Women can be creative as well. You can try your skills in design and put them to good use by advising people on how to modernize the interior of their homes. You can help people make the right purchase, depending on their requirements. Rich housewives can pay you a good amount if you can earn their trust. This turns out to be another lucrative business you can begin with.

7: eBay

eBay sellers make good money too, and when you get the right kind of products online, you can be sure that many people will choose to buy from you. The income potential here is unlimited; all you need is right mentoring. This can be among some of the best home business ideas for women.

There are great possibilities out there for ladies who want to work from home. Think of the ideas above and choose the one that suits you best. Remember, you can only gain by this knowledge by taking decisive actions.