Thursday, January 1, 2009

Starting A Business Online: The 6 Essentials Every Internet Business Owner Must Possess

Starting a business online is easy. Just buy a package or sign up for a prepacked system and you can be an internet billionaire next month with nothing to do but run to the bank and cash your checks.

I do not know why people who are normally full of common-sense and who are wary of hyped-up sales pitches fall for these online hucksters. The old adage states: "If it looks too good to be true it probably is" holds even more true for internet get-rich-quick schemes than anything else.

The truth is that there is a lot of money to be made on the internet and that will continue to hold true for many years to come. The opportunity to become an internet millionaire or billionaire has not passed you by. BUT no one got rich overnight on the internet and no one got rich without doing some work.

There are many different methods and formulas for making money on the internet and there are even more ways to lose money on the internet, but before you spend a lot of your money take time to study and learn so you can better judge those opportunities that come your way.

All you need to really start your own business online are these six qualities:

Time is the most important ingredient for your success. If you are looking to get rich quick or for overnight success then starting a business from scratch is not the way to go. Once you know what you are doing then you can often leverage your existing customer base or traffic into a quick income whenever you choose but it takes time to build something of worth. It will take months before your new web site or blog is even listed in most search engines and likely it will take you longer to build up a list of interested potential customers. Money and knowledge can cut down the wait time but remember it will take time to build up your knowledge.

Money is the second most important ingredient for your internet business success. While you do not need a big budget and I offer a free tutorial about how to start an internet business on a shoestring (see end of article), you will need some money to get started effectively.

Patience is another key ingredient for business success. As I mentioned before, it takes time to learn what you need to know (and after seven years in this business there is still a lot I have to learn) and then it takes time to put those strategies into effect. Even more than that, it takes time for your new strategies to begin to work for you. While most of us come to expect immediate results on the internet it does take time for search engines and visitors alike to notice when you make a change to a web site or blog. Many internet entrepreneurs lose patience just when they are on the cusp of success. Most people who fail at an internet business simply did not possess enough time and patience. Most people who succeed at online business did so by sticking it out.

Passion is an often overlooked element of success. One of the ways people work through the early learning and tough times is that they are passionate about their business. This is why so many gurus suggest you start with a niche that already interests you. Not only do you not have as much to learn about that area but you will be able to be real when you begin promoting your business. You do not have to fake your enthusiasm and passion will carry you far.

Creativity is another must-have for the budding entrepreneur. Think outside the box and beyond what is immediately available in your niche. Creativity can help you start, build, grow and promote your business in terms of products and publicity and partners.

Finally, you quite simply need brainpower. You do not need to be the sharpest crayon in the box but you do need to be open to new ideas and willing (in fact eager) to learn. Never assume you know everything or that you cannot learn. Once you fall into either of those traps you are doomed.

If you possess these six key qualities: time, money (just a little), patience, passion, creativity, and brainpower then you can make a success of an internet business.

By: Deanna Mascle

Business Cash Advance – The Method Of Choice For Small Business Finance

Business cash advance is one of the easiest ways to maintain a healthy cash flow and meet the necessary cash availability for the day-to-day business activities. It is a relatively new method of financing your short-term cash needs compared to business loans, however it is much safer and easier on the purse from a borrower’s perspective.

While many people are quite apprehensive about business cash advance companies and have a pre-conceived notion that they are just the same old loan sharks in a new disguise, the fact is that business cash advance and business loans are totally different.

With business loans comes the liability of repaying back according to predetermined schedule, there is always a risk of defaulting and the fear of loosing your credit score. However, business cash advance is a much easier process and the repayment is done through Visa or Master card sales receipts. Payments received through Visa and Master cards are accounted for repaying the cash advance amount and no other sales proceeds are involved. This helps the borrower to repay the business cash advance easily while maintaining a steady income through other sales receipts.

Not just repayment is easy with business cash advance but it is also easier to get a business cash advance compared to a small business loan. While to get a business loan the borrower would have to go through a lot of documentation and will also probably require some suitable collateral, getting a business cash advance is much easier. The paperwork is comparatively less and the cash advances are approved comparatively faster. Also, while some companies would ask for collateral most companies would not require any collateral to offer a business cash advance.

The biggest advantage that business cash advance has over a traditional business loan is that the borrower is not personally liable to repay a cash advance. In case of a business loan the borrower is personally liable and if the borrower is unable to repay the loans there is always a risk of losing personal assets that are often being used as a collateral. For business cash advance the repayment is done through credit card sales receipt and the borrower’s personal assets remain untouched.

Business cash advance has gained acceptance among small business entrepreneurs and is trend shows an increasing popularity over the last few years. This is further more expedited by the continuous advertisements done by the cash advance companies through all possible media. Given the host of advantages and the aggressive marketing technique of the cash advance companies it can be safely said that business cash advance is going to be financing method of choice for most small business entrepreneurs in the years to come.

By: Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury

Internet Home Business: 5 Tips To Make Your Web Site Grow Your Business

Your website can help you succeed with your internet home business, or it can cause you to fail if it is not optimally set up. In order for your internet home business to be successful, your website must well set up so that it attracts the traffic you need, and so that the visitors who will come to your website will make you some money. What hints must you heed in order to make sure that your website will effectively promote your products or services and encourage visitors to actually buy from you?

A tidy and professional looking website is very important if you want your internet home business to succeed. Your website is your store front, and you need to create very good first impressions, otherwise you lose potential customers.

Whatever your internet home business, you have a lot of competitors; there are thousands of other businesses and websites from which customers can choose from. Website surfers and customers expect an efficient and easy to navigate website where they can easily get what they are looking for. It is therefore important that you have a website which is easy navigate. This means that your website must clearly show what you are selling; information and images of the products you are offering must be easy to find in your shopping section of your website; and they must be very clear to view. It is also important that your pages load quickly. Various customers prefer various options for completing an order form and paying for the products or services; so it is important that you offer these options of your website for your customers, otherwise you will lose customers and potential sales.

Your website is there to make you money, so use various techniques that encourage visitors to buy. It is therefore important that you present your website in such a way that every visitor or customer is presented with an opportunity to browse your site and to buy more. More sales means your internet home business will succeed.

One way to entice visitors to buy is to include product reviews or satisfied customers’ feedback on your products, which tends to encourage visitors to buy. It is also important that you draw attention to the products’ key benefits. If you sell a wide range of products, next to any main product, include some other complementary products which the buyer may need. This will encourage your visitors to buy more that one product from your website, which means your internet home business will make your more money.

Customers need to feel secure while they do online business transactions or purchases. It is therefore important to have your contact details on your website if you want your internet home business to succeed. After-purchase service is very important, especially for online transactions. It is therefore critical that customers know who you are and how to contact you after they've made a purchase, or if they need further information about your product or service before they decide to purchase. Your contact information should be clearly visible on your site. The success of your internet home business depends on your credibility – and the first step in building your credibility is to be easily available for your customers.

It is also critical that you check your website’s emails regularly in case there is a customer needing some help. You will need to be available as needed so that you keep your business running smoothly and your customers satisfied, which potentially creates repeat business for you.

For your internet home business to be successful, it is important that you constantly improve your website or products/services, and you can achieve this by having a feedback form on your website. For your internet home business to succeed in the long term, you must be constantly improving your service and products, and stay in tune with your customers’ needs. By making sure that your website has the 5 features outlined above, your internet home business will be successful and profitable.

By: Brice Mattson

Technology & Business Expansion: Matching Your Data Systems To The Business Growth Needs Of Tomorrow

Fueling the high growth rate for Retailers, Manufacturers and Distributors is a flurry of mergers and acquisitions. In today’s world of mergers and acquisitions, and heavy usage of the Web, companies are facing a new reality. Software that meets the company’s needs now will not be effective after a new acquisition takes place, or if sales substantially increase as a result of using the Web.

While meeting with a prospective client -- a CEO of a large cleaning supply company -- about purchasing new software, he told me that he was planning to grow his business by end of the year from 300 million to 500 million dollars by acquiring competitors he was negotiating with. When I asked him how he planned to integrate his company’s software with the new companies he was planning to acquire, his response was: “You hit the nail on its head. The software we are using cannot support our future acquisition plans. We will have to let the companies we plan to acquire keep using their current software until we find software that can meet our new needs. Not having the right software will result in a substantial increase of our operating cost. The unfortunate part is that we did not have the foresight to think ahead of the fact that our current software would not be able to support our acquisition plans. Nobody expected that we would grow at this rate and now we have to pay the price.”

Here are 4 unforeseen business disruptions that are likely to happen when your business environment changes:

1. Quite often companies engaged in e-commerce, experience an unexpectedly high volume of sales’ transactions that the current software cannot handle efficiently, resulting in the need for additional labor and excessive operating costs.

2. Frequently, the current software cannot provide the desired analytical information needed, resulting in the downloading of large amounts of data to spread sheets and more complex data manipulation to get the needed reports.

3. When mergers and acquisitions take place, the number of users along with the transaction volume will substantially increase, resulting in the possibility that the current computer system will not be able to handle this sudden change.

4. The acquired company might not have the same business practices as the company doing the takeover, resulting in the possibility that the current software may not be able to handle the new business demands. This can result in multiple software platforms being used creating higher operating costs and additional complexities in the computer infrastructure.

When planning future expansion, steps should be taken to ensure smooth business growth.

Software effectiveness evaluations should be performed the same way as evaluating old equipment in a factory. When evaluating the current software functions, the focus should not be on how well the software meets the business needs today, but whether it can meet the business growth of tomorrow when the company moves to the “next level.” In today’s business reality, which is changing at lighting speed, lack of planning can be a very costly proposition.

Nobody likes change, but not facing the fact that a company’s current software is outdated can result in substantial business disruptions and expenses down the road. The question that should always be asked is: “if the business reality changes drastically resulting in an unexpectedly large amount of new users or volume of data transactions, could the current software be able handle it?”

By: Dan Kaplan