Information to assist you in getting started, developing, and operating your home based business.
Building A Business Website
Posted by Sandra in Uncategorized
By: Obinna Heche
As you work on your home business and on making your business the best that it can be, the idea of having a website is probably something you have come to realize is very important. Even if the majority of your business is local, a website is still something that most people have come to rely on and if you do not have one you run the risk of falling behind others when it comes to your business and to your customers. This means that you have to take hold of your website needs and make sure that they are filled as easily as possible.
Websites
Websites are going to be the basis of your company, especially if most of your customers find you online. This means that you have to take charge and you have to make sure you have a good website. This probably means that you want to at least think about hiring someone to build your website. Hiring someone is going to take money and it is going to take time. However, if you want to have the best website possible and if you want to attract the most customers to your website, you have to have one that is spectacular. There are a lot of neat things that can be done with websites today and so you have to be sure that you are having a good one. If you do not have any website knowledge, you have to hire someone.
Things To Think About
As you hire someone to do your website, there are several things that you have to think about so that you know your website is going to meet your needs. First of all, you have to remember that while these people do this for a living, it is still your business. This means that you have to hire someone who is willing to take your ideas into consideration when designing your website and who is willing to help you create a website that is going to get you the most business.
You also have to remember that websites are not going to be permanent. As times change, you have to be able to change your website, whether it is to reflect a change in prices or items or anything else. This means that either your web site creator has to teach you how to update the site or there has to be something in the contract that says that they will update the site when you need it to be updated. Either one of these has to happen, because you have to be able to change your it as the need arises. A good working relationship is going to be very important when it comes to your web site.
Author Resource:-> Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California
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SBI! Special Gift for Mom
Posted by Sandra in Uncategorized
One of the most popular end-to-end online opportunities for creating a website to showcase your products or services is SiteSell. The company offers guidance and tutorials on how to start your online business, discover your niche, create your website, and pre-sell to build a mailing list.
There are a number of manuals available. The forum is very helpful with thousands of SiteSell users willing to help with any questions you may have.
SiteSell is offering a Mother’s Day Special: Purchase the hosting and website package for the regular price and add another site for $100.
If you have considered a home business or your Mom or someone you know has expressed the desire to start their own home based business, check out the special today.
Look at what successful SiteSell Members have done.
Record Keeping for your Home Based Business
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business, Uncategorized
Record keeping is an important administrative task for the home based business owner. You have to establish a system up-front so that you will always know how your business is doing. And even more important, you have to pay your taxes.
Most home based businesses use the end of the year, December 31st, as their fiscal year. I know it is only October, but you should start making sure you have everything in order. If you use an accountant to audit your books and/or prepare your tax returns, you don’t want to be in the position of having to look for receipts and invoices when it is time to turn your records over to them.
You can keep your books manually or you can use a software program. A software program will keep your accounts accurately and will be complete when you need them. You can retrieve the information whenever you need it. We use Quicken for both our personal and business accounting needs. It only takes a few minutes to input the entries.
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Ninety Day Challenge
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business
The owners of PLRPro, Daniel Turner and Marc Lindsay, sponsor a Ninety Day Challenge in which participants create niche Web sites using Wordpress. The purpose of the challenge is to give people who want to start an Internet business a blueprint for starting and operating a niche business. The blueprint is a step-by-step plan for 90 days. They show you what you should accomplish each day. It is detailed and specific.
The manual is huge but worth printing so that you read and absorb the material. The Web site has a forum and list resources you can use along the way such as directory listings and article directories.
This is not a “get rich quick” scheme.” It is a step-by-step plan that can be applied to any Web site you want to set-up. I use the plan. I do not use Wordpress for the sites, but I do use the blueprint.
The Ninety Day Challenge is open to anyone who wants to participate. There is a prize. You can read the rules on the Web site.
Daniel and Marc also have a membership site for Private Label Rights Content. The service they provide is outstanding. Each month you get articles for a niche site along with keywords and affiliates for that niche. They just added a PLR ebook offering.
If you are looking for a step-by-step plan to start earning money on the Internet, check out the Ninety Day Challenge. And, by the way, I am not an affiliate. The information is free and it is good.
Home Based Businesses are Here to Stay
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business, Uncategorized
More and more home based businesses are starting everyday. Some are involved in Internet marketing and others are services to the world via shopping outlets and various types of services.
There was a time, about 20 years ago, when a person worked for a company and thought that would be their life work. In recent years, with companies downsizing, that security is lost. Many people are looking for a way to earn income just in case it happens to them. A home based business is a good way to start part-time and supplement your income while building a long-term business.
The key is that you have to have a plan and you have to stick to it. There are a number of books and web sites that promote “become a millionaire in 30 days” or “make thousands of dollars in a month.” And it is true that some of them have done that. But, realistically they put in a lot of work to make the money. It isn’t that easy.
Be diligent. Be cautious. There are a number of good books about starting a home based business as well as web sites that will help you get started. But it doesn’t happen overnight.
The number of home based businesses continue to grow. If you work hard and stay focused, your home based business will have a chance for success and provide you with the means to secure your future.
Is It Hype? And I’m Not That Dumb
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business
I read a blog entry about customers who order digital products and after a few days would request their money back. It seems this was happening frequently. If you sell digital download products through a third party, there are customer satisfaction guarantees that have to be adhered to.
I have purchased a lot of ebooks. Most of them have been about Internet marketing. Sometimes I find a really good one. Others have been a rehash and don’t live up to the hype. I have never returned any of them. Lately, I have been reviewing them and found in some a nugget of information I didn’t see at first read. But overall, the price was still too high. I’m on a lot of e-mail lists and most are Internet marketing. I receive information every day about a digital download.
When we set up our home based business, we would read through the material, write down a new piece of information and add it to our plan. We are still building our business so I figure a review every once in a while may give us a new idea.
No affiliate links here - just honest. I have found material by Matt Callen, Brad Callen, Mark Joyner, Joel Comm, Liz Tomey, Matt Smith and Shawn Casey, Daniel Turner and Marc Lindsay, Cody Moya, Doug Chamipgny, Roseanne D’Ausilio, Jean-Philippe Schoeffel (he lives in a country I love to visit), Eric Giguere, Mike Steup, Dan Lok, Bob Bly, Mike Filsaime, Michael Cheney and more. I’ll mention others in another blog and also tell you about the newsletters I receive. Wish I could afford to buy more of their products. The products I’ve purchased from these sources and the e-courses they provide have been outstanding.
I know I can sign up as an affiliate and promote their products. The reason I was thinking about this today was because I’ve been receiving a lot of spam for this blog. One thing I’ve learned from these sources is that your online reputation is very important. I’m a newbie, but I’m not so dumb that I know I need to review comments before they are posted.
That’s another post. I need to review my material about stopping spam.
Have a prosperous day!
Looking at Home Business Opportunities
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business
If you do a search on the Internet, you will receive over a million results for home business opportunities. Be cautious! There are a number of scams on the market. Some will ask for your name and e-mail address. Others will ask for more detailed information including your social security number. I am always suspicious of any home based business opportunity that asks for my social security number before giving me any information about the business.
One way to find out if the business opportunity is legitimate is to check with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under the Consumer Protection tab, you will find alerts on scams in the business categories. One such alert is about the pre-selling of domain names. The FTC has a comprehensive list of over 51,000 scams listed.
5 Home Business Tips
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business
Developing your home based business requires you to focus on your goals. Here are 5 tips to assist you.
Study Online Businesses
Do a Google or Yahoo! search to find businesses that fit the idea you have. Study the Web sites. Don’t copy their site. Gather ideas to make your business different. Ask yourself questions about the business concept. Are all of your questions answered? If not, can you provide something different or unique? You can use similar steps and strategies to build your business but you cannot use their copyrighted material.
Plan Your Business
What are your short-term goals? What are your long-term goals? Write them down. What happens if you don’t attain one of those goals? Do you have a back-up plan?
Finance Your Business
There are some businesses that can be started with as little as $500. It takes a minimum of two to five years to grow a business. You should have some back-up capital if you don’t intend to apply for a business loan.
Establish a Daily Routine
Working for yourself means you don’t have to set the alarm clock. You can dress as casual as you like if you are not seeing clients. Remember you are still working. Make a list of the activities you need to do each day. Check off each item. At the end of your workday, create your to-do list for the next day. Place it in the middle of your desk. Look at it first when you sit down at your desk. After a couple of weeks, your daily tasks will be routine.
There are some activities that may be done weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. You can plan for these by using an online calendar such as with Microsoft Outlook. You can also use blank calendar pages and create file folders which you will check. Create a system that works for you.
Stay Focused
Developing a successful, profitable home based business doesn’t happen overnight. You will have to test your marketing strategies. I may take 2 to 3 months or more to get all of your pages spidered by Google. You may need to tweak the pages for better search engine optimization. You have to write content to keep your web site fresh. You will need to find relevant sites for link exchanges. This is all part of building your business. It takes time and you will need to stay focused on your goals.
We wish you success!
The Back-up Plan
Posted by Sandra in Uncategorized
When you are thinking about starting a home based business, experts will tell you that the business plan is important. I agree!
But there are times when the plan gets put aside and you try to develop an instant cash flow. If your home based business is a full-time endeavor and is the source of your income, you have to have a back-up plan. The instant cash flow won’t come overnight. You may need multiple streams of income.
My husband is an independent contractor. He has developed a great innovative low-cost solution for helping businesses to convert their printed, legacy documents to online help. This is our main home based business. Now, that our economy appears to be headed into a recession, businesses are cutting back in their budgets. The contracts are not forthcoming. We had included multiple streams of income into our plan but they take time to develop and to start creating a cash flow.
Depending on the type of home business you have developed or are thinking about, you have to be sure that you look at all the possibilities. What happens if I don’t have a contract for a month or maybe three months? Did you put money aside to be able to pay the mortgage and the utilties? It’s very important that you consider how the economy will affect your business. When we in good times, it is easy to forget that the economy can change and affect what has been a profitable business.
My point is don’t throw out the plan. Review it and tweak it so that when difficult times come up, you’ll have a back-up plan.
Got to Pay the Bills!
Posted by Sandra in Home Based Business
You want to start your own home based business. You have looked at your budget and worked out what you (and your family) will need to live on while you are starting the business. At this point you are considering if this should be a full-time or part-time endeavor.
You can start your home business part-time. By continuing to work your full-time job, you will continue to earn a salary and get the benefits you need such as medical insurance.
You do have to take into account the time you need to spend developing your business. It may require you to work in the evenings and on weekends. Whatever decision you make will have an impact on your family. You should discuss the options with them. You may have to miss out on some family activities. How will they feel about this? Will they support your efforts?
At some point you will have to make a decision whether to continue part-time or work at your new home business full-time. If you have your family’s support, you’ll know which decision works best for you.
Having your family’s support is important but is also important point to keep in mind not to neglect them. Spend as much time as you can with them. Let them know what you are doing and why. It will make it easier for you to get your business off and running.