Finding a Top Online Business Opportunity

In this economic downturn and with limited funds available and looking for a top on line business opportunity or changing from the one presently in to enable you maximize your investment returns is something to be done with caution. We are mostly confused and intimidated by the large information available to us on the Internet and do not know how to get round to making the right choice, so this article will attempt to guide you to making the right choice.

In my journey into on line business, I ran into the same problem and fell into the trap of believing everything advertised not only did I loose money, I ended up been more confused than I started out with in the first place.

Some of the programs or opportunities promoters did not understand what they were marketing for when you ask the support staffs any question, the answer you get beats your imagination. The only thing they know is to tell you to buy another product. They are there to make sales for their bosses and not to assist you. I must at this junction warn that "Not All That Glitters That Is Gold".

Below are the things to look out for in an on line business opportunity:

 The Marketing System: You might want to ask "What is the Marketing System? Or What Do We Mean By Marketing System?" This refers to the system put in place to market the business opportunity. The top on line business opportunities have moved away from the "Old School" philosophy of the "3 Foot Rule", "Chasing Families and Friends, Prospecting Strangers in Shopping Malls, Buying Leads & Cold Calling Trying to Convince People to Join Your Business....to the "New School" Philosophy of Building Your Business Online, through showing your prospects how to get into positive cash flow quickly through provision of valuable information using the principles of "Attraction Marketing".

It teaches you how to learn and apply Attraction Marketing and List Building principles; make upfront cash flow through the training programs and tools you provide through affiliate programs to your prospects; building of trust and respect with your prospects by offering them value; building of long term residual income without pitching and convincing people, the greatest is promoting yourself. This is because; this is your business and not the site that you are promoting.

This are among the many things you should find in a good top on line business opportunity system. If your marketing consists mainly of promoting your business opportunity, through a replicated business opportunity site, you will join the 95% of all Network Marketing reps who spend more money on their business than they actually make.

The Compensation Plan: A top on line business opportunity, that promotes the same compensation plan opportunity for both the old entrant and the new, is what you should seek. Do not look for those that offer a higher compensation plan structure to the old entrant and a lower one to the new bies. Do not look for those who practice the pyramid system. Be careful, Read between the lines.

How to Setup Your Own Ecommerce Business

There are a lot of risks that you need to take when you set up a business these days. This is the exact reason why we see wholesale gifts sold on ecommerce business sites instead of regular retail stores. Low maintenance and low risk for an investor, this is a smart move if you are looking into a business opportunity with a potential large payout. The reason for this is the fact that anyone all over the world could become your customer. This means that you have a larger audience that is not limited by your location. Drop shipping is most commonly involved when it comes to wholesale gifts and ecommerce sites since it lowers the overall cost of each item giving room for more discounts and attractive prices for the buyers.

How to Set Up Your Ecommerce Business?

But how do you really set up an ecommerce business online? Does it always need to have a product? What every individual should know is that you don't need to be a web savvy individual to be able to have a good ecommerce business. You can hire experts through LinkedIN and other freelancer sites. You also don't shouldn't be limited to gift items. There are instances when you can offer services online. Here are easy to follow steps you could follow to make a successful ecommerce website.

First Step: What to Sell

The first step is to determine what you are going to sell. Any business should have something that has a demand. Whether it is a small or a large demand, every business should be able to determine what it is. It could be a product or it could be a service. There could also be some challenges producing these commodities that you are planning to sell to your target market. All of these things should be taken into consideration.

Also, it is important to have a case study of the competition that is surrounding you. You want to know the price plus the quality of the similar product or service offered by other companies both online and offline.

Step Two: Find a Host

It is typically important to reduce the cost of operating an ecommerce site. It is common for businessmen to increase the price of their items because there is an additional cost for operating an ecommerce site. One of the best options that you can go for is Big Cartel. Big Cartel is offering free hosting plus it could give users a chance to have an inventory option for a minimal $9/month.

Step Three: Find a Good Web Designer and Developer

This is the most crucial part of building your own website. When it involves people's credit card information, here is when a security conscious team of web designer and developer could play a crucial role. They can cut the probability of stolen identities for your buyers especially when they are well versed with SSL and other security measures needed by sites.

The Power of Online Business Directories and How to Get Started Fast

More and more small businesses today are using online business directories to their benefit. If you run a small business, you likely spend a great deal of your time thinking about your marketing plan. online business directories can be a great addition to your current small business marketing strategy. Those sites can help your small business expand its website traffic, increase the likelihood that your website will be found by interested visitors and increase your bottom line. If you haven't taken a look at those directories and considered how your small business could use them to increase its market presence, then now is the time to start!

What Are Online Business Directories?

There are many different types of online business directories available on the Internet. Each of these sites serves a specific purpose and can be used by your small business in specific ways.

An online business directory is a website submission service that allows your small business' website to be added to a specific category where it can be searched for by interested visitors. Listing your small business on an online business directory increases your website's visibility on the web and helps to create inbound links to your business' website. This places make it easy for people to find what they are looking for. These directories can be accessed from just about anywhere that has an internet connection. This means that people could find your business' website from their home, office or even while traveling.

Every website that is submitted to an online business directory is placed in a specific category. These categories can range in how they are organized. Some are organized by business-related categories, some are organized according to personal preferences and others are organized by subject. Each category consists of several websites relating to a specific topic. Each website listing features the name of the website, a direct link to the website and a short description of the website. Interested Internet visitors will be able to browse through the various categories in the directory and locate websites like yours that they may be interested in visiting. Essentially, those places make it easier for any visitor to find your business' website.

How Do Online Business Directories Work?

The concept of online business directories is actually a pretty simple one. These webistes are very similar to the Yellow Pages in the real world, only these listings are only online. (Actually Yellow Pages.com is now one of the largest online directories as well.) A directory is just a listing place for a number of websites. Any type of website could be listed in an online business directory. Some directories are huge and cover every topic that someone could create a website for, while others are very small and specific to a specific niche.

Let's use an example. Say you are a model airplane enthusiast and you want to find some websites that cater to your specific interest. You could look through a huge online business directory such as Google My Business and find several dozen websites that are related to model airplanes. Or you could look for an online business directory that is niche-specific, which means that the entire online business directory would be based on hobbies such as model airplanes. With a niche-specific directory you may find even more websites that are based on your specific interest than what you could find on the larger directories.

Work From Home Stuffing Envelopes

Is working from home Stuffing Envelopes a good idea let's take a closer look. I see a lot of advertisements in the newspaper with advertisements like this "Work At Home make up to $1500/week assembling products and stuffing envelopes no experience needed". At first glance stuffing envelopes seems more like job but I'm here to tell you that it is not, it's actually a business.

Now there are businesses that handle other business mail, but as most of us are aware these companies usually hire employees and do not charge them fees to get leads. When ever a company requests that you pay them a fee by mail this company is going to provide you with leads for companies that use work from envelope stuffers.

What you don't know will be used against you, if you have seen ads saying you can make $1500.00 a week working from home stuffing envelopes what this actually means is, if you have like 10 companies that want you to stuff envelopes for them this may equal $1500.00 a week. One independent company is not going to pay you $1500.00 a week stuffing envelopes.

Now if you want to get into the envelope stuffing business what you should be aware of is that like any other business there is going to be slow periods, and another thing your going to have to learn to do is sell your business, No company is just going to trust any business to handle their mail, and sometimes certain companies want work from home envelope stuffers to provide there own supplies examples would be stamps, boxes, envelopes it all depends. Companies use stay at home worker to save both money and time. So when they hire someone to handle their mail or assemble their products they are actually looking at as a way for them to save themselves money.

Look at it in terms instead of the company hiring someone and paying them $10 per hour for a week and spending close to $1600 dollars on supplies and training an employee they can go to a work from home worker and pay them $300, because the stay at home envelope stuffer should have all the supplies necessary to complete the job. I use this example a lot when it comes to stay at home jobs, I compare it to starting a staffing agency, majority of times it's hard to get into this business because a lot of people have been doing this sort of thing for years so they already established a good reputation and are referred too by other companies.

Starting a New Business - Tips For All New Entrepreneurs

You have decided on starting a new business to fulfill a long cherished dream.

You wish to be Your own Boss and make your own decisions and earn more money. By starting a new business you hope to get a sense of accomplishment and pride which would not be possible when you work for a Boss. This is great but to fulfill your dream there are certain very essential steps you should take and if done systematically, you will certainly reap the rewards for your efforts.

Self Confidence:

The main foundation for success is self-confidence. People with self confidence achieve success much faster than others. They also inspire confidence in their colleagues, subordinates and their customers. Self confident entrepreneurs are willing to take risks and go the extra mile to break new ground or achieve success. You must be confident that you will succeed and that failure is not an option. Build your self-confidence.

Choosing the Right Business:

What is the nature of the business you propose to start? You have to identify the products for which there is a need and which you will be happy with. It does not matter even if there is a similar business in town but what you have to find out before starting a new business is whether there is space for additional business. A market survey will help you make the correct decision.

Location:

Location is another important factor you must consider when starting a new business. Even with the right products a new business cannot survive unless it is located in the right place with easy access and parking facilities. A new business has to survive, beat the competition and succeed in a competitive environment.

Goals:

Once you have decided to start a business your first step is to set your goals on running a successful business. The nature of the business you wish to do. The amount of money you can invest and the returns you hope to get. Will your spouse be participating in the business or working in regular employment. Set you goal so that they are attainable.

Business Plan:

Prepare a Plan as to what strategies you propose to adopt to achieve your goals. If you are not capable of preparing a plan, obtain the services of a consultant or a friend who is running a successful business. This should include cash flow and break even analysis. Unless you have a proper plan before starting you are bound to loose your way somewhere down the line and adopt survival strategies such as obtaining loans on higher interests or mortgaging your business.

Knowledge and Skills:

When starting a new business it is certainly advantageous to possess some knowledge about your new business or some working experience in a similar business. If you do not possess sufficient knowledge and skills, you can always employ someone who has these skills but this should not deter you from starting your business. With determination and effort you can always learn as you go along.

Promote Your Business:

Many new entrepreneurs spend substantial amounts of money to start a business but hesitate to spend money in advertising and promoting their business. People should be made aware that a new business has opened in town. Advertisements in the local newspapers and the distribution of flyers and brochures will create awareness and bring in customers. A website that is constantly updated will certainly be very helpful.

7 Golden Rules of Starting a New Business

What are the golden rules of starting a new business? Or rather, the golden rules of succeeding with a new business?

Anyone who is planning to start a new business - be it startups or business owners who are planning to exit a business and start a new one, go through the same dilemma. What business to venture into? How to choose the right investment? What are the chances of success...?

There is no hard and fast rulebook for starting and succeeding in a new business or everyone who started a new business would have succeeded in it. Every business has its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. But there are some fundamental principles that help you lay a strong foundation for a new business and help it grow into a flourishing venture.

Do what suits you best

If you are a start up, choose a business venture that excites you; something which you love doing. Never choose a venture only by its financial possibilities. There is no fun in building up something which you don't enjoy. If you don't like what you are doing and do it only because you think it offers better possibilities of growth, then success, even if it comes your way, will be temporary or unfulfilled.

If you are a business owner and you are looking to diversify, choose a venture that synergies with your current one. This will not only help you be in a stronger position with better business knowledge of your industry, you will also enjoy your new venture as a fresh area of growth. For instance, if your business deals with supplying food materials, you can explore areas in processed foods or food products.

Fulfill a need

Fulfilling an existing demand is always safer than creating a new demand. It is one golden rule that always works for new businesses that do not have the financial muscle to start a farm fresh new concept and convince prospects that they do need what you want to sell to them. It is safer to venture into a business which produces products and services that fulfills a need which customers know they have.

But remember to identify the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your product/service to make it stand out from the crowd of competitors. Once you yourself are convinced about your product/service, you will be able to convince your customers to buy from as opposed to your competitors.

Are the margins healthy?

The growth possibilities are always better in businesses where you can have a healthy gross profit margin. If the difference between your cost price and selling price is narrow, you will not have much left to plan expansion, hire more people, promote your business or save for reserves. Therefore, choose a business that offers a better possibility of profits.

Give the right picture

One golden rule that many start ups and new businesses give short consideration to is promising more than what they can deliver. Don't oversell your products or services by promising to your customers something you can't deliver. It is always better to beat expectations by providing a better-than-expected product than handling disappointed customers who expected more than what they received. Be truthful about your products and true to your buyers.