The bad guys that have this debit card data are not going to attack online merchants for goods that they will have to convert to cash. They have been walking straight to the ATMs for the green dollar.
The impact on merchants in the CNP world will be minimal; certainly no more than a few numbers of credit cards but probably less. I do not think the CP merchants will feel it much either. Consumers, on the other hand, are going to take a huge hit. As you probably know, credit card holder's liability is limited to $50 under FTC regulations but I do not think there is any such limit for debit cards. The card holder is responsible for keeping the PIN private and shame on him if it gets out and he does not report the card stolen.
And yes the banks will almost certainly do what they can to keep their card holding customers happy, particularly if the cleaned out account can be traced to a compromised PIN by whoever it shakes out is accountable. Will that responsibility always be traceable? I do not know. But even if the banks in the end cover those losses, the cardholder has to deal with his account being cleaned out and all that goes with it.
Fraud Protection on the long term
The big concern for the merchant, on line and off, is if the consumer confidence disappear. We already have confirmation that confidence in online transactions has been falling a bit. This first debit/PIN compromise by itself is survivable, but if it turns out that it was not a one-time thing and we have all of a sudden discovered that PIN transactions are not as safe as we thought. Well, then on line merchants are in trouble and brick & mortar could be in trouble as well.
And I wonder how long the banks are able to calm down their debit card holders. When will they begin to pass the losses to the cardholders like they already pass them on to the online merchants now? It could become a matter of continued existence.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
An Organic Herbal Tea Blend
With US$5 billion market in the United States alone in 2003, a 500% increase in 10 years, tea is a well established industry that is quickly growing. Tea bags, loose teas, tea shops, and gourmet teas are only a few examples of the outlets for this ever increasing number. Though sales have been mainly rooted in the standard teas stemming from the Camelia sinensis plant (Green tea, Oolong tea, and Black tea), a vast increase in herbal and natural medicines in the western world has brought upon a virtual explosion of Organic Herbal Tea Blend, releasing any confinements there may have previously been.
Now it is not only Big Business that is apart of this industry as the infinite number of herbal tea blends are combing with the free commerce of the internet. This conception is creating new life in an industry that had been patiently waiting. New companies are forming, new mixtures are being created, and now even new tea bags are being designed.
The machine manufactured tea bags are still standard in market where cost is being put before quality. A metal staple is used to close a bag filled with low quality tea dust, which is known to have very low health benefits and give a more bitter taste than its whole leaf loose tea counterpart. Due to the manufacturing techniques used by these production factories, tea dust is the only filler able to be injected with the machines used to mass produce these bags. As the general size of each organic herbal tea blend is larger, they are unable to be used with these processed bags.
Second in popularity is a relatively new pyramid shaped tea bag. A more spacious bag allows for a free floating of the loose tea that is inside. Though higher in quality than the stapled standard, problems of this style include a large shape and size that makes bulk packaging difficult. Also, most bags are filled with green and oolong loose teas, as opposed to organic herbal tea.
With the combined short falls of these two bags, the ever increasing number of organic herbal tea blends and home based companies are in desperate need for a tea bag to match their unique nature. Fortunately as the number of companies is increasing, and more money is entering into the market, handmade gourmet tea bags are being created, better matching the ingenuity behind each organic herbal tea blend. It is very possible that as the number organic blends increase in popularity, raising the desire for organic products and higher health benefits, consumers will be more willing to pay slightly higher prices to receive significantly higher in quality tea bags. With this in mind, it very well could be that a unique organic herbal tea blend could be your gateway to differentiation in a busy tea industry.
Now it is not only Big Business that is apart of this industry as the infinite number of herbal tea blends are combing with the free commerce of the internet. This conception is creating new life in an industry that had been patiently waiting. New companies are forming, new mixtures are being created, and now even new tea bags are being designed.
The machine manufactured tea bags are still standard in market where cost is being put before quality. A metal staple is used to close a bag filled with low quality tea dust, which is known to have very low health benefits and give a more bitter taste than its whole leaf loose tea counterpart. Due to the manufacturing techniques used by these production factories, tea dust is the only filler able to be injected with the machines used to mass produce these bags. As the general size of each organic herbal tea blend is larger, they are unable to be used with these processed bags.
Second in popularity is a relatively new pyramid shaped tea bag. A more spacious bag allows for a free floating of the loose tea that is inside. Though higher in quality than the stapled standard, problems of this style include a large shape and size that makes bulk packaging difficult. Also, most bags are filled with green and oolong loose teas, as opposed to organic herbal tea.
With the combined short falls of these two bags, the ever increasing number of organic herbal tea blends and home based companies are in desperate need for a tea bag to match their unique nature. Fortunately as the number of companies is increasing, and more money is entering into the market, handmade gourmet tea bags are being created, better matching the ingenuity behind each organic herbal tea blend. It is very possible that as the number organic blends increase in popularity, raising the desire for organic products and higher health benefits, consumers will be more willing to pay slightly higher prices to receive significantly higher in quality tea bags. With this in mind, it very well could be that a unique organic herbal tea blend could be your gateway to differentiation in a busy tea industry.
How Can a Drug Store Founded in 1838 Survive in The 21st.Century?
When my daughter and I meet for lunch in Greenwich Village, we always pass by Bigelow's Apothecary. I asked her if she shopped there, and she remarked that their Alchemy mascara is the best ever. (I had to take her word for it.)
I spoke with Bigelow´s current proprietor, Ian Ginsberg, and the Bigelow's story is both a fascinating piece of New York nostalgia, and a demonstration of the importance of change in business.
C. O. Bigelow Apothecaries has been a familiar sight in New York's Greenwich Village for over 160 years. Founded in 1838 by Dr. Galen Hunter as the Village Apothecary Shop, it was bought and renamed in 1920 by Clarence Otis Bigelow.
The original store was located a couple doors down from the current address, but in 1902, the ambitious Bigelow built a new building for himself which has housed the pharmacy for the last hundred years.
The Sixth Avenue drugstore still looks very much the way it did in the nineteenth century, and the business philosophy - integrating innovative change with unparalleled customer service - has remained a constant as well.
Pharmacist and businessman Ian Ginsberg now heads up the landmark shop, which came to him through his father. His family first became involved in the store when his grandfather took the helm a full century after its doors first opened.
He is just as much of a mover and shaker as C.O. Bigelow, and he has helped usher the business into the 21st century.
To keep the business moving forward, he took it on the Internet. Bigelow Chemists now has two e-commerce sites, one for their well-known house brand of cosmetics and skincare products.
They are two separate companies offering two separate but related brands. Ian decided to keep the sites separate (although Alchemy Cosmetics can be purchased from the Bigelow site) because he didn't want to dilute either brand.
Being in the catalog business prepared them well for the addition of e-commerce. They had the manpower and facilities to process and package orders and manage the remote sales. Their web sales, most of which come from outside New York, have surpassed their catalog sales:
"It's like a catalog that can go into anyone's home, and we can manage the content on a daily basis. It is a great thing."
Ian saw the potential of the Internet as a business building tool and went on to create a site and online store for the shop. A sound decision, he feels, and one that no business owner today can afford not to make.
"With the cost of building web sites today falling so low, with the way you can do this really inexpensively and still retain control of your branding, you've got to be crazy not to at least have some sort of representation online."
"Who opens the Yellow Pages anymore? For the cost of a little yellow and black ad in the book, you can have ten pages online in full color, describing everything you do."
"The first question people ask you these days is `What is your email address?´ That means that they're checking their email every day. And if they're checking their email every day that means that they've got a browser window open every day. So think about the guy who is checking his email, has a browser open right in front of his face, but doesn't have a website for his own business. It doesn't make sense!"
Ian finds that the web site speeds every aspect of the transaction, from a customer's product selection, to the placing of the order, to the packing and delivery.
Our biggest source of referrals has come from the press. We get a substantial amount of PR, and we always include the web address or our toll-free number so we can get names that way, but most of our catalog requests come directly through the website."
I spoke with Bigelow´s current proprietor, Ian Ginsberg, and the Bigelow's story is both a fascinating piece of New York nostalgia, and a demonstration of the importance of change in business.
C. O. Bigelow Apothecaries has been a familiar sight in New York's Greenwich Village for over 160 years. Founded in 1838 by Dr. Galen Hunter as the Village Apothecary Shop, it was bought and renamed in 1920 by Clarence Otis Bigelow.
The original store was located a couple doors down from the current address, but in 1902, the ambitious Bigelow built a new building for himself which has housed the pharmacy for the last hundred years.
The Sixth Avenue drugstore still looks very much the way it did in the nineteenth century, and the business philosophy - integrating innovative change with unparalleled customer service - has remained a constant as well.
Pharmacist and businessman Ian Ginsberg now heads up the landmark shop, which came to him through his father. His family first became involved in the store when his grandfather took the helm a full century after its doors first opened.
He is just as much of a mover and shaker as C.O. Bigelow, and he has helped usher the business into the 21st century.
To keep the business moving forward, he took it on the Internet. Bigelow Chemists now has two e-commerce sites, one for their well-known house brand of cosmetics and skincare products.
They are two separate companies offering two separate but related brands. Ian decided to keep the sites separate (although Alchemy Cosmetics can be purchased from the Bigelow site) because he didn't want to dilute either brand.
Being in the catalog business prepared them well for the addition of e-commerce. They had the manpower and facilities to process and package orders and manage the remote sales. Their web sales, most of which come from outside New York, have surpassed their catalog sales:
"It's like a catalog that can go into anyone's home, and we can manage the content on a daily basis. It is a great thing."
Ian saw the potential of the Internet as a business building tool and went on to create a site and online store for the shop. A sound decision, he feels, and one that no business owner today can afford not to make.
"With the cost of building web sites today falling so low, with the way you can do this really inexpensively and still retain control of your branding, you've got to be crazy not to at least have some sort of representation online."
"Who opens the Yellow Pages anymore? For the cost of a little yellow and black ad in the book, you can have ten pages online in full color, describing everything you do."
"The first question people ask you these days is `What is your email address?´ That means that they're checking their email every day. And if they're checking their email every day that means that they've got a browser window open every day. So think about the guy who is checking his email, has a browser open right in front of his face, but doesn't have a website for his own business. It doesn't make sense!"
Ian finds that the web site speeds every aspect of the transaction, from a customer's product selection, to the placing of the order, to the packing and delivery.
Our biggest source of referrals has come from the press. We get a substantial amount of PR, and we always include the web address or our toll-free number so we can get names that way, but most of our catalog requests come directly through the website."
Monday, December 25, 2006
Selling on Web? You Can Do It
“Sell on web”, the dapper man in striped suit was saying, “it’s easy.” Robin knew he heard that before. To him the question was not ‘if’, but ‘how’. He always thought selling on web is a hallowed precinct belonging to only a few. Could he be one of them, he wasn’t sure.
Back home early, Robin crouched before his desktop and started shooting queries at Google. Soon enough, he zeroed on what he wanted. “Phew”, he exclaimed, “what a gem!” He was looking at SBI!’s website.
Robin was orthodox. He believed in the adage “whatever comes on a platter isn’t worth it”. He found solace in SBI!’s firm advice to work hard at it. But wasn’t it that SBI! gave all that one needed to succeed on web? Robin decided to take note of all that SBI! offered.
Own A Website
The basics first. Did SBI! offer domain name, building website, web hosting, unlimited pages, page templates, unlimited email accounts, or for that matter, unlimited data transfer and unlimited hosting space?
Yes, SBI! offered all these and more. Robin knew old-styled hosting providers would never provide unlimited hosting space and unlimited data transfer. Not SBI!. That meant when he owned a website in SBI!, he owned from the head to tail of it. Nothing less.
Ecommerce Now
You named it, you had it. Robin was eager that he must have catalog-display of his products, a fully-featured shopping cart and credit card processing as well. He wasn’t disappointed. To be true, SBI! overwhelmed him. Literally. Robin could either use SBI!’s Store-Build-It feature or plug-n-play with leading 3rd parties that delivered ‘pre-sold visitors’.
The icing on the cake was that SBI! included affiliate program too as part of ecommerce package. Was that an error he saw? Nope! He rubbed eyes and confirmed again.
Search Engine Optimization
Robin now leaned back and thought. He would require search engine optimization for his website. Unless he did that - he had recently learnt in a seminar – there was no way his site would ever appear in top search results. But wasn’t search engine optimization an expert job? He tried to figure out what help he must have if he wanted to do himself.
Keyword research tool for sure (he always thought ‘keyword research’ was better than plain old ‘keyword selection’). What else? He must know what the logfiles said. He must have click tracking option and their proper analysis. Search engine ranking report for various keywords was another help as also link exchange program.
Here he paused awhile and thought hard. Did he need any more help? Well, if he could have website analysis for search engine compatibility, nothing like it. And above all, why not ability to track search engine spiders and search engine listing report?
Well, he must be insane to ask all that! To his utter amazement, Robin found SBI! gave all these help! For the first time he started feeling he would never want anything else, but SBI!.
Back home early, Robin crouched before his desktop and started shooting queries at Google. Soon enough, he zeroed on what he wanted. “Phew”, he exclaimed, “what a gem!” He was looking at SBI!’s website.
Robin was orthodox. He believed in the adage “whatever comes on a platter isn’t worth it”. He found solace in SBI!’s firm advice to work hard at it. But wasn’t it that SBI! gave all that one needed to succeed on web? Robin decided to take note of all that SBI! offered.
Own A Website
The basics first. Did SBI! offer domain name, building website, web hosting, unlimited pages, page templates, unlimited email accounts, or for that matter, unlimited data transfer and unlimited hosting space?
Yes, SBI! offered all these and more. Robin knew old-styled hosting providers would never provide unlimited hosting space and unlimited data transfer. Not SBI!. That meant when he owned a website in SBI!, he owned from the head to tail of it. Nothing less.
Ecommerce Now
You named it, you had it. Robin was eager that he must have catalog-display of his products, a fully-featured shopping cart and credit card processing as well. He wasn’t disappointed. To be true, SBI! overwhelmed him. Literally. Robin could either use SBI!’s Store-Build-It feature or plug-n-play with leading 3rd parties that delivered ‘pre-sold visitors’.
The icing on the cake was that SBI! included affiliate program too as part of ecommerce package. Was that an error he saw? Nope! He rubbed eyes and confirmed again.
Search Engine Optimization
Robin now leaned back and thought. He would require search engine optimization for his website. Unless he did that - he had recently learnt in a seminar – there was no way his site would ever appear in top search results. But wasn’t search engine optimization an expert job? He tried to figure out what help he must have if he wanted to do himself.
Keyword research tool for sure (he always thought ‘keyword research’ was better than plain old ‘keyword selection’). What else? He must know what the logfiles said. He must have click tracking option and their proper analysis. Search engine ranking report for various keywords was another help as also link exchange program.
Here he paused awhile and thought hard. Did he need any more help? Well, if he could have website analysis for search engine compatibility, nothing like it. And above all, why not ability to track search engine spiders and search engine listing report?
Well, he must be insane to ask all that! To his utter amazement, Robin found SBI! gave all these help! For the first time he started feeling he would never want anything else, but SBI!.
E-Commerce and Drinking Water
Safety, Convenience and Customer Service Combine for Customer Satisfaction
E-Commerce is coming of age with millions of new customers from internet sales for a wide variety of products. Advances in web site design, payment mechanisms and delivery systems have met the increased demand for online ordering.
With the advent of on-line ordering firms like Amazon and E-Bay, what started out as a small business has morphed into a multi-billion dollar industry. The key to success in the field of E Commerce is the offering of high quality products coupled with state of the art technology to ensure ease of ordering and secure payment mechanisms.
The bottled water industry is an ideal beneficiary of e-commerce technology because of the large number of customers served and the frequency of transactions and purchases.
E-commerce Defined
E-commerce is similar to other forms of commerce except that it involves the buying and selling of goods over the Internet. E-commerce sites range from a simple web page highlighting a single item to dynamic fully developed on-line catalogs featuring thousands of products. The common theme and benefit in e-commerce sites is instant purchase, instant payment (if desired) and instant gratification for the customer.
Over the years, the e-commerce web has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry yearly, with significant growth projected over the next 5 years. A defining characteristic is that all ecommerce web sites accept a type of online payment, whether through a third party or directly with a merchant account..
E-commerce: The Wave of the Future
The internet is changing world view of shoppers. Instant gratification is a reality Utilizing e-commerce allows customers the ability to quickly take delivery of the goods they require and desire. In addition, the Internet is perhaps the best sales tool ever invented as it allows customers to browse endlessly in privacy. They can return and order again and again without ever leaving their home.
Most experts agree that it is only a matter of time before all sales-oriented companies will have some sort of e-commerce presence in order to remain competitive and the development of software and tools to improve the productivity of e-commerce sites remains strong. As more and better technology is developed, e-commerce will greatly expand.
Secure Payment and SSL(Secure Socket Layer): The Heart of the System
SSL(Secure Socket Layer) has been the de facto standard and heart of the system for e-commerce transaction security, and it's likely to remain so well into the future.
SSL is based on encryption. SSL encrypts data, like credit cards numbers (as well other personally identifiable information), which prevents unauthorized use. An SSL protected page is identified when the address begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon at the bottom of the page.
SSL Certificates
The SSL certificate resides on a secure server and is used to encrypt the data and to identify the Web site. The SSL certificate also helps to prove the site belongs to who it says it belongs to and contains information about the certificate holder, the domain that the certificate was issued to, the name of the Certificate Authority who issued the certificate, the root and the country it was issued in.
In general, e-commerce users are urged to avoid sites that fail to use and display proof of SSL Ceritifcates.
The Bottled Water Industry and E-commerce
The bottled water business is actually two lines of business: Local delivery water and private labeled water and each is an important subset of the total business.
Local delivery water is defined geographically and usually comprises rental or sales of coolers and delivery of 5-gallon and small package (12, 16.5 and 20 oz.) bottles to customers located within a limited distance from the water source. This business includes a customer base of consumers and businesses in the defined geographic area who take periodic delivery of water. The key to success in this line of business is the production and efficient delivery of the highest quality pure water.
Private labeled water involves the development and production of high quality custom labels with a clear branding message. This line of business is national in scope and includes a strong element of branding and advertising. The key to success in this line of business is the design and production of a label of the highest quality with a clear branding message.
E-Commerce is coming of age with millions of new customers from internet sales for a wide variety of products. Advances in web site design, payment mechanisms and delivery systems have met the increased demand for online ordering.
With the advent of on-line ordering firms like Amazon and E-Bay, what started out as a small business has morphed into a multi-billion dollar industry. The key to success in the field of E Commerce is the offering of high quality products coupled with state of the art technology to ensure ease of ordering and secure payment mechanisms.
The bottled water industry is an ideal beneficiary of e-commerce technology because of the large number of customers served and the frequency of transactions and purchases.
E-commerce Defined
E-commerce is similar to other forms of commerce except that it involves the buying and selling of goods over the Internet. E-commerce sites range from a simple web page highlighting a single item to dynamic fully developed on-line catalogs featuring thousands of products. The common theme and benefit in e-commerce sites is instant purchase, instant payment (if desired) and instant gratification for the customer.
Over the years, the e-commerce web has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry yearly, with significant growth projected over the next 5 years. A defining characteristic is that all ecommerce web sites accept a type of online payment, whether through a third party or directly with a merchant account..
E-commerce: The Wave of the Future
The internet is changing world view of shoppers. Instant gratification is a reality Utilizing e-commerce allows customers the ability to quickly take delivery of the goods they require and desire. In addition, the Internet is perhaps the best sales tool ever invented as it allows customers to browse endlessly in privacy. They can return and order again and again without ever leaving their home.
Most experts agree that it is only a matter of time before all sales-oriented companies will have some sort of e-commerce presence in order to remain competitive and the development of software and tools to improve the productivity of e-commerce sites remains strong. As more and better technology is developed, e-commerce will greatly expand.
Secure Payment and SSL(Secure Socket Layer): The Heart of the System
SSL(Secure Socket Layer) has been the de facto standard and heart of the system for e-commerce transaction security, and it's likely to remain so well into the future.
SSL is based on encryption. SSL encrypts data, like credit cards numbers (as well other personally identifiable information), which prevents unauthorized use. An SSL protected page is identified when the address begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon at the bottom of the page.
SSL Certificates
The SSL certificate resides on a secure server and is used to encrypt the data and to identify the Web site. The SSL certificate also helps to prove the site belongs to who it says it belongs to and contains information about the certificate holder, the domain that the certificate was issued to, the name of the Certificate Authority who issued the certificate, the root and the country it was issued in.
In general, e-commerce users are urged to avoid sites that fail to use and display proof of SSL Ceritifcates.
The Bottled Water Industry and E-commerce
The bottled water business is actually two lines of business: Local delivery water and private labeled water and each is an important subset of the total business.
Local delivery water is defined geographically and usually comprises rental or sales of coolers and delivery of 5-gallon and small package (12, 16.5 and 20 oz.) bottles to customers located within a limited distance from the water source. This business includes a customer base of consumers and businesses in the defined geographic area who take periodic delivery of water. The key to success in this line of business is the production and efficient delivery of the highest quality pure water.
Private labeled water involves the development and production of high quality custom labels with a clear branding message. This line of business is national in scope and includes a strong element of branding and advertising. The key to success in this line of business is the design and production of a label of the highest quality with a clear branding message.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
$10-$15k Per Month On Ebay? The Changing Face Of Online Selling
Dropshipping is a means by which a company or individual can obtain wholesale prices on a large variety of products without the hassle or having to warehouse or ship anything. Basically, you are a selling agent for a larger company, and you are making the difference between what they sell the item for, and what you sell the item for.
The Benefits of Dropshipping.
• Large product lines.
• Professional worry free shipping.
• No upfront costs.
• No inventory management issues.
• No warehousing.
How Dropshipping Works.
Working with a dropshipper is much easier than it sounds. After you have found a dropshipper, or shippers, you wish to work with, it is as simple as deciding which products to sell, and finding a platform to sell them on.
An example of a dropshipping strategy follows:
Dropshipper XYZ offers a wide range of flatscreen TVs at wholesale prices. After deciding which flatscreens you wish to offer, you list them at a price higher than what the dropshipper is selling them to you at.
Example:
42 inch Sony HD flatscreen plasma TV available from the dropshipper at $1400. Shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 states is fixed at $25.
As the seller, or middleman, you offer the TV at price above the wholesale price offered to you, say $1600. Additionally, you mark up the shipping to $40.
The difference between the wholesale price plus shipping, and your price plus shipping is $215. This is your profit margin.
Important Considerations.
While a $215 profit for virtually no work seems too easy to be true, this is exactly how dropshipping works.
However, there are several factors that you must consider before finding a product line that you can make a profit on. Use the following check list to see exactly what kind of profit margin a product has built into it.
• What is the difference between the wholesaler’s price plus shipping, and the retail price of the product?
Never trust the wholesaler’s suggested retail price. This price may in fact be substantially higher than the actual retail price of the product. Using our example above; if the TV is available to you at a wholesale price of $1400, but Wal-Mart offers the same TV for $1350, then the dropshippers price does not offer any incentive for a buyer.
• Is the market flooded with sellers offering the same product?
Competition is a good thing for buyers, but not for sellers. You want as close to a monopoly as you can get. Stay away from crowded areas.
• Can you get in front of a trend?
If you are the first person to market with a hot new product, you can command higher prices, and achieve greater sales. Knowing how to identify trends is one of the most important aspects of selling merchandise online.
• Will the platform fees you incur leave you any profit after the sale has gone through?
If your platform is Ebay, what will your profit margin look like after your listing fee, final valuation fee, and paypal fees? If your profit margin is $30, and your fees total $35, you are actually losing money.
• What is the dropshippers current inventory on the item you are looking to sell?
If the dropshipper only has 2-3 items available, you should give real consideration to passing on the product. Dropshippers work on a first come, first serve basis. If you sell the item, and later learn that it has gone out of stock, you now have to refund the buyer potentially creating bad will, and possible incurring auction fees.
The Benefits of Dropshipping.
• Large product lines.
• Professional worry free shipping.
• No upfront costs.
• No inventory management issues.
• No warehousing.
How Dropshipping Works.
Working with a dropshipper is much easier than it sounds. After you have found a dropshipper, or shippers, you wish to work with, it is as simple as deciding which products to sell, and finding a platform to sell them on.
An example of a dropshipping strategy follows:
Dropshipper XYZ offers a wide range of flatscreen TVs at wholesale prices. After deciding which flatscreens you wish to offer, you list them at a price higher than what the dropshipper is selling them to you at.
Example:
42 inch Sony HD flatscreen plasma TV available from the dropshipper at $1400. Shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 states is fixed at $25.
As the seller, or middleman, you offer the TV at price above the wholesale price offered to you, say $1600. Additionally, you mark up the shipping to $40.
The difference between the wholesale price plus shipping, and your price plus shipping is $215. This is your profit margin.
Important Considerations.
While a $215 profit for virtually no work seems too easy to be true, this is exactly how dropshipping works.
However, there are several factors that you must consider before finding a product line that you can make a profit on. Use the following check list to see exactly what kind of profit margin a product has built into it.
• What is the difference between the wholesaler’s price plus shipping, and the retail price of the product?
Never trust the wholesaler’s suggested retail price. This price may in fact be substantially higher than the actual retail price of the product. Using our example above; if the TV is available to you at a wholesale price of $1400, but Wal-Mart offers the same TV for $1350, then the dropshippers price does not offer any incentive for a buyer.
• Is the market flooded with sellers offering the same product?
Competition is a good thing for buyers, but not for sellers. You want as close to a monopoly as you can get. Stay away from crowded areas.
• Can you get in front of a trend?
If you are the first person to market with a hot new product, you can command higher prices, and achieve greater sales. Knowing how to identify trends is one of the most important aspects of selling merchandise online.
• Will the platform fees you incur leave you any profit after the sale has gone through?
If your platform is Ebay, what will your profit margin look like after your listing fee, final valuation fee, and paypal fees? If your profit margin is $30, and your fees total $35, you are actually losing money.
• What is the dropshippers current inventory on the item you are looking to sell?
If the dropshipper only has 2-3 items available, you should give real consideration to passing on the product. Dropshippers work on a first come, first serve basis. If you sell the item, and later learn that it has gone out of stock, you now have to refund the buyer potentially creating bad will, and possible incurring auction fees.
E-currency Exchanging and the DXinOne: A Revolution in Internet Commerce and Home Based Business
The world of commerce is bracing itself for a global financial transformation. Much like the industrial age had its revolution our information age is facing that time now. A new way of conducting business transactions is being used and perfected by individuals and companies throughout the world. What I’m talking about is electronic currency.
The introduction of electronic currency into the market place has facilitated web based purchases and a variety of sales transactions to take place faster and safer than ever before. This growingly preferred method of payment is taking the world of commerce by storm.
As with any new commodity there is a rush to copy and improve it, a phenomenon which breeds competition. In the case of e-currency the market place is now filled with a variety of e-currencies readily available at the disposal of private and corporate users.
Any national currency’s history will show that they came about as a unifying force to eliminate issues that rise with a multitude of currencies in one market place such as exchange rates and conversion hold ups.
An example of this would be the Euro which revolutionized commerce between European countries by providing a powerful standard for the multitude of currencies to abide by. Today this element is missing from the many e-currencies being currently used in the global market.
Thus a company called GDT (Global Digital Transactions) is leading the way in the e-currency unification process by creating the DXinOne. Their market place is based on the DXG which is used to describe a unit of e-currency’s value in relation to Gold at the following current conversion rate, 1.00 DXG = 1.00 USD. A unit of DXG is known as a “digot” and is transferable between DXinOne users and can be used for all services provided by the DXinOne.
Why should you care about digots and e-currency? The answer is because you can make a serious profit by becoming an e-merchant. A position that will entail providing liquidity for e-Currency exchanges that take place, hundreds to thousands of times, in the online market place.
Essentially, a firm grasp of the inner workings of the DXinOne system will allow you to successfully develop your DXPortoflio. Your portfolio will be the life line to your profits and if it is well managed then there is no stop to how much you can make. With gains between .2 -2% compounded daily and a start up cost of as low as $50, your profits will quickly add up based on how much money and time you work with.
Furthermore, due to the growth of the DXinOne’s popularity many experts in the field have begun selling training courses that provide step by step instructions on how to successfully navigate the system. Some of these can be a great resource in getting you started quickly but others fall short in their promises.
The introduction of electronic currency into the market place has facilitated web based purchases and a variety of sales transactions to take place faster and safer than ever before. This growingly preferred method of payment is taking the world of commerce by storm.
As with any new commodity there is a rush to copy and improve it, a phenomenon which breeds competition. In the case of e-currency the market place is now filled with a variety of e-currencies readily available at the disposal of private and corporate users.
Any national currency’s history will show that they came about as a unifying force to eliminate issues that rise with a multitude of currencies in one market place such as exchange rates and conversion hold ups.
An example of this would be the Euro which revolutionized commerce between European countries by providing a powerful standard for the multitude of currencies to abide by. Today this element is missing from the many e-currencies being currently used in the global market.
Thus a company called GDT (Global Digital Transactions) is leading the way in the e-currency unification process by creating the DXinOne. Their market place is based on the DXG which is used to describe a unit of e-currency’s value in relation to Gold at the following current conversion rate, 1.00 DXG = 1.00 USD. A unit of DXG is known as a “digot” and is transferable between DXinOne users and can be used for all services provided by the DXinOne.
Why should you care about digots and e-currency? The answer is because you can make a serious profit by becoming an e-merchant. A position that will entail providing liquidity for e-Currency exchanges that take place, hundreds to thousands of times, in the online market place.
Essentially, a firm grasp of the inner workings of the DXinOne system will allow you to successfully develop your DXPortoflio. Your portfolio will be the life line to your profits and if it is well managed then there is no stop to how much you can make. With gains between .2 -2% compounded daily and a start up cost of as low as $50, your profits will quickly add up based on how much money and time you work with.
Furthermore, due to the growth of the DXinOne’s popularity many experts in the field have begun selling training courses that provide step by step instructions on how to successfully navigate the system. Some of these can be a great resource in getting you started quickly but others fall short in their promises.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
eCommerce and Multi-Channel Marketing
As eCommerce purchasing trends have matured over the last four years, it has become abundantly clear that consumers leverage multiple channels when making a purchase decision. To meet continuously rising consumer expectations, retailers of all shapes and sizes need to understand and embrace the power of delivering a consistent and integrated multi-channel experience. Any retailer that utilizes more than one channel to sell merchandise - be it a catalog, brick and mortar store, or eCommerce store, can gain tremendous business benefits by effectively executing multi-channel initiatives.
In a nutshell, the term “multi-channel” is primarily used within two concepts in retail:
• Multi-Channel Marketing
• Multi-Channel Integration
This article is meant to be an introduction to the overall topic, with a focus this month on multi-channel marketing. Next month, I will follow with content related to multi-channel integration and how it can also be leveraged.
Multi-Channel Marketing
Multi-channel marketing is the tactic of reinforcing your brand messaging by utilizing multiple sales channels to communicate with customers. It’s been proven in numerous studies that when retailers facilitate the behavior of consumers to shop via multiple channels, they become more valuable from the standpoint of lifetime value. Look what JC Penney discovered when they starting testing and measuring multi-channel behavior a few years back.
• The company found that internet only shoppers spent $121 per year, retail only spent $194 per year, catalog only spent $242 per year, and a customer who shopped all three spent over $1000 per year (source: ebusinessiq.com)
• “We want to go out and aggressively introduce J.C. Penney.com to our catalog and retail customers and get them to shop online because we know it is going to increase their purchases across all channels” (JC Penney eCommerce Executive)
Why do these incremental gains happen? It’s not always an easy question to answer, but in my opinion, it is primarily because the consumer now has the capability to purchase in the channel which best suits their needs (ie. most convenient), while still receiving messaging from the other complimentary channels. A real life look makes it more simplistic.
Let’s take for example that you are a high-end electronics retailer. You operate 12 physical stores, send out a catalog four times a year, and operate an eCommerce store. The key to multi-channel success is to leverage the strengths of each sales channel by coordinating messages and driving customers to all three sales outlets. Each of the channels is different – and your multi-channel strategy should capitalize on the strengths of each channel to best represent your brand.
The catalog serves as a great tool for browsing but is not the most effective when it comes to comparing products. Its tangible nature makes it readily available for shopping (judged by the number of catalogs my wife has on our dining room table), but its space constraints within the pages make it limited from a product information standpoint.
Retailers should leverage the catalog to create initial interest, but encourage shoppers to go to the web to learn more and ultimately purchase. One standard tactic to achieve this is by heavily promoting the URL within every page and by providing unique “catalog quick shop” numbers for each product. A retailer can also message the customer about “web only” specials, or closeout products that are not available in the catalog, but are only available from the website.
When a consumer then comes to the website and types the provided product number in the “catalog quick search” box, a retailer then has the option to either send the visitor directly to the product page, or send directly to the shopping cart with the product pre-populated in the cart. Both options have their pros and cons – with the latter option being a more direct and aggressive approach to convert a visitor by reducing the number of clicks to purchase.
The potential negative consequence about sending traffic directly to the shopping cart from the catalog quick search is that consumers may still be in “shopping” mode and may be turned off to such a direct approach of merchandising. Monitor your analytics to see which path is more effective from a conversion perspective.
In a nutshell, the term “multi-channel” is primarily used within two concepts in retail:
• Multi-Channel Marketing
• Multi-Channel Integration
This article is meant to be an introduction to the overall topic, with a focus this month on multi-channel marketing. Next month, I will follow with content related to multi-channel integration and how it can also be leveraged.
Multi-Channel Marketing
Multi-channel marketing is the tactic of reinforcing your brand messaging by utilizing multiple sales channels to communicate with customers. It’s been proven in numerous studies that when retailers facilitate the behavior of consumers to shop via multiple channels, they become more valuable from the standpoint of lifetime value. Look what JC Penney discovered when they starting testing and measuring multi-channel behavior a few years back.
• The company found that internet only shoppers spent $121 per year, retail only spent $194 per year, catalog only spent $242 per year, and a customer who shopped all three spent over $1000 per year (source: ebusinessiq.com)
• “We want to go out and aggressively introduce J.C. Penney.com to our catalog and retail customers and get them to shop online because we know it is going to increase their purchases across all channels” (JC Penney eCommerce Executive)
Why do these incremental gains happen? It’s not always an easy question to answer, but in my opinion, it is primarily because the consumer now has the capability to purchase in the channel which best suits their needs (ie. most convenient), while still receiving messaging from the other complimentary channels. A real life look makes it more simplistic.
Let’s take for example that you are a high-end electronics retailer. You operate 12 physical stores, send out a catalog four times a year, and operate an eCommerce store. The key to multi-channel success is to leverage the strengths of each sales channel by coordinating messages and driving customers to all three sales outlets. Each of the channels is different – and your multi-channel strategy should capitalize on the strengths of each channel to best represent your brand.
The catalog serves as a great tool for browsing but is not the most effective when it comes to comparing products. Its tangible nature makes it readily available for shopping (judged by the number of catalogs my wife has on our dining room table), but its space constraints within the pages make it limited from a product information standpoint.
Retailers should leverage the catalog to create initial interest, but encourage shoppers to go to the web to learn more and ultimately purchase. One standard tactic to achieve this is by heavily promoting the URL within every page and by providing unique “catalog quick shop” numbers for each product. A retailer can also message the customer about “web only” specials, or closeout products that are not available in the catalog, but are only available from the website.
When a consumer then comes to the website and types the provided product number in the “catalog quick search” box, a retailer then has the option to either send the visitor directly to the product page, or send directly to the shopping cart with the product pre-populated in the cart. Both options have their pros and cons – with the latter option being a more direct and aggressive approach to convert a visitor by reducing the number of clicks to purchase.
The potential negative consequence about sending traffic directly to the shopping cart from the catalog quick search is that consumers may still be in “shopping” mode and may be turned off to such a direct approach of merchandising. Monitor your analytics to see which path is more effective from a conversion perspective.
Is A Professional Site Design On Your Shopping Cart Important?
An online store is a 24 hour active revenue machine, it should accurately display and describe your products and services in a professional manner to give you the best opportunity for each and every sale. Your success depends on this.
Now, don't get the wrong idea, a site design does not need to be full flash, loads of custom images and special entry pages, look at Google, they have a nice logo and a clean understandable landing page. Depending on your target market, you may only need text to make your sales, but the text still needs to be clearly layed out and understandable. It's always best to carefully study and consider the designer for your website. Make sure he/she is prepared to show you many examples and ask many questions about your needs. They should ask for example sites that you like and work to your budget, not up-sell you special Flash graphics. If you are working with an ecommerce website shopping cart then it's advisable that you keep all design services and software technology within the one company as it's important for the designer to know the capabilities of the shopping cart software they need to work on.
Design layout.
Layout of a website is extremely important to the ease of navigation for your customers. Their product of choice should only be within 3 clicks from the home page. Be sure to to have an easy to use category menu and obvious product titles with good descriptions directly below. Always aim to cross sell in your product pages with thumbnails of related items.
If you are using custom graphics or flash design, make sure this is kelp to a minimum in a shopping cart and only serves as a quick impressive display of professionalism rather than showing off how much money you have. Your design needs to look professional for one important reason. If your site looks like it was built yesterday and could easily be taken down today because you obviously don't care about the look of your business, then why would your customers be comfortable in spending money with you. Trust level is a big reason for customers parting with their hard earned money.
Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If a visitor comes to your site and doesn't like what they see, their gone and there's a good chance they'll never come back
Now, don't get the wrong idea, a site design does not need to be full flash, loads of custom images and special entry pages, look at Google, they have a nice logo and a clean understandable landing page. Depending on your target market, you may only need text to make your sales, but the text still needs to be clearly layed out and understandable. It's always best to carefully study and consider the designer for your website. Make sure he/she is prepared to show you many examples and ask many questions about your needs. They should ask for example sites that you like and work to your budget, not up-sell you special Flash graphics. If you are working with an ecommerce website shopping cart then it's advisable that you keep all design services and software technology within the one company as it's important for the designer to know the capabilities of the shopping cart software they need to work on.
Design layout.
Layout of a website is extremely important to the ease of navigation for your customers. Their product of choice should only be within 3 clicks from the home page. Be sure to to have an easy to use category menu and obvious product titles with good descriptions directly below. Always aim to cross sell in your product pages with thumbnails of related items.
If you are using custom graphics or flash design, make sure this is kelp to a minimum in a shopping cart and only serves as a quick impressive display of professionalism rather than showing off how much money you have. Your design needs to look professional for one important reason. If your site looks like it was built yesterday and could easily be taken down today because you obviously don't care about the look of your business, then why would your customers be comfortable in spending money with you. Trust level is a big reason for customers parting with their hard earned money.
Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If a visitor comes to your site and doesn't like what they see, their gone and there's a good chance they'll never come back
Friday, December 22, 2006
Online Entreprenuer
How many ways are there to make money online?
Geez, where can I start ? Lets see, Google Adsense comes to mind, get a website, write a ton of good content, do search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site. But there is so much more to it. The ads need to blend into the site, be placed in the correct area, the goal here is to get a good click thru rate. How many websites? My goal is to get as many websites out there on the net to start making additional revenue streams.
E-Books, I will eventually write an E-book about the Pay Per Click industry with tips and tricks or possibly a home computer security book. All that is need is some software, a domain name, some great web design and graphic design for the book. I don’t want to publish a boring and non-informative book. I want my clients to get solid information for a great price. Maybe Ill will write about software to keep kids from viewing websites, they shouldn’t and how parents can monitor their activities without their knowledge. Because most kids nowadays know more about technology than their parents.
Amazon, I use Amazon currently to sell books. I do well. I would make more if I put more time into it, but that's the problem time. Amazon is simple to use, but I do make frequent trips to the post office. The solution? http://www.stamps.com.
E-bay, I have hundred of beanie babies that I need to get online. Anyone interested. That was a joke. With E-Bay you can sell almost anything. Just create a account, set up billing information and take a photo. Sounds simple, it is. But there are many advanced selling strategies that can be found out thru E-bay.
Online business, you can advertise your services online or create your own website, to offer good that you might have. Anything you want to sell does not need to go thru E-bay, they just make it easier for you, but there are fees to pay.
Yahoo Stores, Nowadays you can even purchase pre-built online stores, with drop shippers ready to ship products you don’t even need inventory. This is pretty sweet although customer service can be a nightmare for your customers though.
Geez, where can I start ? Lets see, Google Adsense comes to mind, get a website, write a ton of good content, do search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site. But there is so much more to it. The ads need to blend into the site, be placed in the correct area, the goal here is to get a good click thru rate. How many websites? My goal is to get as many websites out there on the net to start making additional revenue streams.
E-Books, I will eventually write an E-book about the Pay Per Click industry with tips and tricks or possibly a home computer security book. All that is need is some software, a domain name, some great web design and graphic design for the book. I don’t want to publish a boring and non-informative book. I want my clients to get solid information for a great price. Maybe Ill will write about software to keep kids from viewing websites, they shouldn’t and how parents can monitor their activities without their knowledge. Because most kids nowadays know more about technology than their parents.
Amazon, I use Amazon currently to sell books. I do well. I would make more if I put more time into it, but that's the problem time. Amazon is simple to use, but I do make frequent trips to the post office. The solution? http://www.stamps.com.
E-bay, I have hundred of beanie babies that I need to get online. Anyone interested. That was a joke. With E-Bay you can sell almost anything. Just create a account, set up billing information and take a photo. Sounds simple, it is. But there are many advanced selling strategies that can be found out thru E-bay.
Online business, you can advertise your services online or create your own website, to offer good that you might have. Anything you want to sell does not need to go thru E-bay, they just make it easier for you, but there are fees to pay.
Yahoo Stores, Nowadays you can even purchase pre-built online stores, with drop shippers ready to ship products you don’t even need inventory. This is pretty sweet although customer service can be a nightmare for your customers though.
Insider Secrets to Internet Marketing
“The trick to developing a product that is guaranteed to sell like crazy is to offer a solution to a problem. If you can save people time, money, or hassle, they’ll be willing to pay for your solution!” - Corey Rudl
If someone offered to help you make a million dollars, why would you say, “no?” This very thing goes on all the time to thousands of people all over the world. You may have never imagined you could make a six-seven figure income, yet it’s happening all the time on the internet. This is the result of internet marketing. It is a viable business and has made many millionaires. Even 19-year-old billionaires!
On the internet, millions upon millions of transactions take place every day, every hour, every minute and every second. This was not possible fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, with access to the internet, you have the capability of reaching many thousands of potential customers at the touch of a button. And - you are only limited by your imagination.
Internet marketing sounds easy to do, yet most businesses that currently use the internet to market their business lose money. When marketing your business online, there are three important steps that will make you feel confident. They include:
1. Targeting your audience.
2. Automating your business, and
3. Testing and adjusting your offer.
Your target audience depends upon the type of service or product you are offering. A little homework is required here. If you wish to sell hair and beauty products, you wouldn’t send your announcements to farmers. Find out where your customers are by searching the web. Track what they are interested in when they visit other websites. Find out by asking. Do market surveys. Send out questionnaires. Query friends, acquaintances, neighbors and find out what interests them.
You can easily find out what your customers want by testing your products and services. Then if it doesn’t sell, you can make adjustments before spending lots of money on a product or service that the market won’t support. Testing new products, ideas, or your advertising message on a small target audience first, saves you time, effort, and money. Doing a small test, first, also allows you time to make adjustments to your website or your advertisement to meet the needs of your customer.
Automate your online business so that your valuable time and attention is directed to creating more products or services. There are now hundreds of web sources that offer business automation services. They can send out your advertisements, business cards, flyers, press releases, and post cards to thousands of potential buyers at a time. They can notify your customers when their order is ready to ship. They can do your bookkeeping and track of your customer’s order.
Internet marketing can be as easy as you make it, and it can be fun. Thinking up products and services that meet the needs of customers and getting them to the customer in a manner that is convenient and appropriate is rewarding in itself. And when your product or service is something you love creating, and when it helps others save time, money, feel and look good, this is a great benefit.
Three other benefits of selling your product or service online are:
1. You have access to a global market at the touch of a finger.
2. Your investment of time is small.
3. You can start an online business with little cost.
Compared to the cost of offline marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV ads, and the cost of postage with direct mailing, you can set up a website at a low cost and start offering your product or service and even see the results in a matter of days. With internet marketing you can test your ads, sales offers, website design, and notify thousands of potential customers - and sometimes receive an order within hours - and almost at no cost.
The internet allows you to reach a global market and the cost is much less than using the traditional methods. You can quickly change your marketing plan and send out your marketing message multiple times. Whereas, with the old way of selecting the media and waiting for your ad to be scheduled, printed, and then distributed, the comparison in cost and in time is monumental.
For internet marketing to work for you, you must set your business to run on automatic so you can put your attention on developing more products and better services. You must target your advertising message, consistently get it out to as many potential buyers as possible, and be ready to test, test, and test again to make certain your offer is what your customers wish to buy. These key secrets are a small part of what makes for a successful online business. It’s up to you to find your passion, your faith, and your will to increase your sales, and - to give back.
If someone offered to help you make a million dollars, why would you say, “no?” This very thing goes on all the time to thousands of people all over the world. You may have never imagined you could make a six-seven figure income, yet it’s happening all the time on the internet. This is the result of internet marketing. It is a viable business and has made many millionaires. Even 19-year-old billionaires!
On the internet, millions upon millions of transactions take place every day, every hour, every minute and every second. This was not possible fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, with access to the internet, you have the capability of reaching many thousands of potential customers at the touch of a button. And - you are only limited by your imagination.
Internet marketing sounds easy to do, yet most businesses that currently use the internet to market their business lose money. When marketing your business online, there are three important steps that will make you feel confident. They include:
1. Targeting your audience.
2. Automating your business, and
3. Testing and adjusting your offer.
Your target audience depends upon the type of service or product you are offering. A little homework is required here. If you wish to sell hair and beauty products, you wouldn’t send your announcements to farmers. Find out where your customers are by searching the web. Track what they are interested in when they visit other websites. Find out by asking. Do market surveys. Send out questionnaires. Query friends, acquaintances, neighbors and find out what interests them.
You can easily find out what your customers want by testing your products and services. Then if it doesn’t sell, you can make adjustments before spending lots of money on a product or service that the market won’t support. Testing new products, ideas, or your advertising message on a small target audience first, saves you time, effort, and money. Doing a small test, first, also allows you time to make adjustments to your website or your advertisement to meet the needs of your customer.
Automate your online business so that your valuable time and attention is directed to creating more products or services. There are now hundreds of web sources that offer business automation services. They can send out your advertisements, business cards, flyers, press releases, and post cards to thousands of potential buyers at a time. They can notify your customers when their order is ready to ship. They can do your bookkeeping and track of your customer’s order.
Internet marketing can be as easy as you make it, and it can be fun. Thinking up products and services that meet the needs of customers and getting them to the customer in a manner that is convenient and appropriate is rewarding in itself. And when your product or service is something you love creating, and when it helps others save time, money, feel and look good, this is a great benefit.
Three other benefits of selling your product or service online are:
1. You have access to a global market at the touch of a finger.
2. Your investment of time is small.
3. You can start an online business with little cost.
Compared to the cost of offline marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV ads, and the cost of postage with direct mailing, you can set up a website at a low cost and start offering your product or service and even see the results in a matter of days. With internet marketing you can test your ads, sales offers, website design, and notify thousands of potential customers - and sometimes receive an order within hours - and almost at no cost.
The internet allows you to reach a global market and the cost is much less than using the traditional methods. You can quickly change your marketing plan and send out your marketing message multiple times. Whereas, with the old way of selecting the media and waiting for your ad to be scheduled, printed, and then distributed, the comparison in cost and in time is monumental.
For internet marketing to work for you, you must set your business to run on automatic so you can put your attention on developing more products and better services. You must target your advertising message, consistently get it out to as many potential buyers as possible, and be ready to test, test, and test again to make certain your offer is what your customers wish to buy. These key secrets are a small part of what makes for a successful online business. It’s up to you to find your passion, your faith, and your will to increase your sales, and - to give back.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Making Money Online: Persistence is the Key
Establishing a profitable E-commerce site is a tough job nowadays. Thousands of companies are struggling against each other to get more and more profit out of the internet. You should use each and every scheme and method you can find to augment your sales.
Most of us are into doing online business to make money and not to lose it. Would never waste our time and effort just beating about the bush. Most of us do not have the patience to wait forever to see profits. While there are a few who takes things lightly, there are always hundreds of others who would accept nothing less than profit everyday.
It is a known fact that any business depends on customers. In the internet, the potential customers come in form of traffic. Traffic represents all the people who visits your website and sees what you have to offer. The more the people seeing your products, the more is the chance of selling them.
None would put up an E-commerce site that runs in loss. We have to regain our initial investment. With a consistent flow of traffic, we at least have a chance of doing that. Monetizing your traffic increases your chance of making your business a success greatly.
The best method to earn profit out of traffic on the internet is to use advertising. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there on the internet looking for something or the other. Many of them might be looking for something which your company has to offer. You can use the power of advertising to tap that potential and earn great profit.
The yore days of internet when it was deemed useless for finding information that you want is gone. Now, internet has proved itself to be a very reliable source of information as well as products. It has shrunken the whole world into a global village. It has broken all geographic barriers and has united the world. No matter where you live, you can always have the internet and do business with the other side of the globe.
Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to work on a large number of ideas and take the help of a large number of services to generate a good amount of traffic. But if you are willing to sacrifice the time and energy needed to do this, you could end up opening a large number of possibilities.
So, getting to the root of it, the more traffic you have flowing into your site, the more is your chances of getting good profit. Generally speaking, traffic is directly proportional to profit. And to generate traffic, you should take advertising to your benefit. With some research and use of advertising schemes, you could end up in huge profits.
Having traffic means having potential customers. They can buy products from you and result in your profit. Else, they could also be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you in exchange of traffic that you send to them. This system is often called the “pay-per-click” scheme. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. Thus, the more traffic that you have, the more is the chance that they would click on an advertised link, thus increasing your profit.
Affiliate Programs
Another very good and proven method of monetizing your traffic is by using affiliate programs. In these programs, you can link up with big sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a fraction of sales generated by traffic sent from your site.
One of the other benefits is that traffic from your site may go to another site that could offer a product that you do not carry. Most programs keep track of and make records of transactions that were made possible because of site linkage and on the basis, pay you. Thus, affiliate programs give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.
These are some of the many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The best that can happen is that you would augment your profit and the worst that could happen is that you might lose a little time and perhaps a little money. But, it happens rarely that someone can’t make any profit out of proper work and planning. Thus, monetizing your traffic is something worth trying.
Most of us are into doing online business to make money and not to lose it. Would never waste our time and effort just beating about the bush. Most of us do not have the patience to wait forever to see profits. While there are a few who takes things lightly, there are always hundreds of others who would accept nothing less than profit everyday.
It is a known fact that any business depends on customers. In the internet, the potential customers come in form of traffic. Traffic represents all the people who visits your website and sees what you have to offer. The more the people seeing your products, the more is the chance of selling them.
None would put up an E-commerce site that runs in loss. We have to regain our initial investment. With a consistent flow of traffic, we at least have a chance of doing that. Monetizing your traffic increases your chance of making your business a success greatly.
The best method to earn profit out of traffic on the internet is to use advertising. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there on the internet looking for something or the other. Many of them might be looking for something which your company has to offer. You can use the power of advertising to tap that potential and earn great profit.
The yore days of internet when it was deemed useless for finding information that you want is gone. Now, internet has proved itself to be a very reliable source of information as well as products. It has shrunken the whole world into a global village. It has broken all geographic barriers and has united the world. No matter where you live, you can always have the internet and do business with the other side of the globe.
Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to work on a large number of ideas and take the help of a large number of services to generate a good amount of traffic. But if you are willing to sacrifice the time and energy needed to do this, you could end up opening a large number of possibilities.
So, getting to the root of it, the more traffic you have flowing into your site, the more is your chances of getting good profit. Generally speaking, traffic is directly proportional to profit. And to generate traffic, you should take advertising to your benefit. With some research and use of advertising schemes, you could end up in huge profits.
Having traffic means having potential customers. They can buy products from you and result in your profit. Else, they could also be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you in exchange of traffic that you send to them. This system is often called the “pay-per-click” scheme. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. Thus, the more traffic that you have, the more is the chance that they would click on an advertised link, thus increasing your profit.
Affiliate Programs
Another very good and proven method of monetizing your traffic is by using affiliate programs. In these programs, you can link up with big sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a fraction of sales generated by traffic sent from your site.
One of the other benefits is that traffic from your site may go to another site that could offer a product that you do not carry. Most programs keep track of and make records of transactions that were made possible because of site linkage and on the basis, pay you. Thus, affiliate programs give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.
These are some of the many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The best that can happen is that you would augment your profit and the worst that could happen is that you might lose a little time and perhaps a little money. But, it happens rarely that someone can’t make any profit out of proper work and planning. Thus, monetizing your traffic is something worth trying.
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tax Tips for New Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
New ecommerce entrepreneurs can find them confused and confounded by the tax and accounting requirements of their venture. And that’s a shame: If someone’s spotted a great new category and successfully built a web presence, heck, that someone shouldn’t find themselves bogged down with the accounting minutia. The entrepreneur should focus on increasing traffic, expanding margins, and growing cash profits.
With that in mind, I offer up the following tax and accounting tips:
Tip #1: Don’t Incorporate
A true corporation—whether a C corporation or an S corporation—saddles your business with more complicated tax accounting and a bunch of state filing requirements. You don’t want to deal with this redtape—or at least not until you’re profitable.
Instead, operate your business as a sole proprietorship. If you’re concerned about legal liability protection, note that you can setup a one-owner limited liability company, or LLC. A one owner LLC is treated as a sole proprietorship for income tax purposes.
Tip #2: Start Your Business Before Making Investments
Expenditures you make before you’re actually in business-in other words, before you’ve got a business license and before you’re selling or trying to sell your stuff—aren’t very deductible.
Specifically, you can probably deduct the first $5,000 of these expenses. But any amounts in excess of the $5,000 must be amortized over the next fifteen years.
What this means is that you want to start your business before you start spending money on advertising, training, web development, accountants and lawyers and so on.
Tip #3: Automate Your Bookkeeping & Accounting
By law—and some people don’t know this—you’re required to maintain an accounting system that lets you clearly measure your income. As a practical matter, this means you need to use a product like Quicken or QuickBooks.
But you ought to go one better than simply using desktop accounting software. Make sure that you’re taking advantage of online banking and bill payment features which integrate your accounting system with your banking. As much as is possible, for example, you want to be able to move money from PayPal to your bank to QuickBooks simply by typing a few keys or clicking your mouse a few times.
Tip #4: Hire a Payroll Service Before Hiring Employees
Many successful ecommerce business owners can run their operations without employees. And if that’s true for you, hey, congratulations. If and when you do need employees, however, don’t try to handle the payroll yourself. Oursource the payroll to one of the large payroll service bureaus like ADP, Payroll, or QuickBooks.
These services are expensive. Figure $1000 to $2000 per year. But the services let you avoid the bookkeeping nightmare called payroll and prevent you from getting into payroll tax trouble.
Tip #5: Consider S Corporation Status After You’re Profitable
I’ve written and talked much about how S corporations save taxpayers money and how the right way to set up an S corporation is first create a limited liability company and then ask the IRS to treat the LLC as an S corporation for tax purposes.
Let me review the basics here again, however. Suppose that you’re making $90,000 a year off your web site. If you just treat your business as a sole proprietorship—or an LLC treated as a sole proprietorship—you might pay $12,000 in income taxes on the $90,000 and then another 15.3% self-employment tax, or roughly $13,500 on the $90,000.
If you set up an LLC and have the LLC treated as an S corporation, you’ll still pay the same $12,000 in income taxes. But you’ll only pay the 15.3% self-employment tax on that portion of the profit that you categorize as wages. If you categorize, say, $50,000 of the profits as wages, you’ll pay $7,500 in self-employment taxes. (The other $40,000 in remaining profits, by the way, gets paid out as a dividend-like “distribution
With that in mind, I offer up the following tax and accounting tips:
Tip #1: Don’t Incorporate
A true corporation—whether a C corporation or an S corporation—saddles your business with more complicated tax accounting and a bunch of state filing requirements. You don’t want to deal with this redtape—or at least not until you’re profitable.
Instead, operate your business as a sole proprietorship. If you’re concerned about legal liability protection, note that you can setup a one-owner limited liability company, or LLC. A one owner LLC is treated as a sole proprietorship for income tax purposes.
Tip #2: Start Your Business Before Making Investments
Expenditures you make before you’re actually in business-in other words, before you’ve got a business license and before you’re selling or trying to sell your stuff—aren’t very deductible.
Specifically, you can probably deduct the first $5,000 of these expenses. But any amounts in excess of the $5,000 must be amortized over the next fifteen years.
What this means is that you want to start your business before you start spending money on advertising, training, web development, accountants and lawyers and so on.
Tip #3: Automate Your Bookkeeping & Accounting
By law—and some people don’t know this—you’re required to maintain an accounting system that lets you clearly measure your income. As a practical matter, this means you need to use a product like Quicken or QuickBooks.
But you ought to go one better than simply using desktop accounting software. Make sure that you’re taking advantage of online banking and bill payment features which integrate your accounting system with your banking. As much as is possible, for example, you want to be able to move money from PayPal to your bank to QuickBooks simply by typing a few keys or clicking your mouse a few times.
Tip #4: Hire a Payroll Service Before Hiring Employees
Many successful ecommerce business owners can run their operations without employees. And if that’s true for you, hey, congratulations. If and when you do need employees, however, don’t try to handle the payroll yourself. Oursource the payroll to one of the large payroll service bureaus like ADP, Payroll, or QuickBooks.
These services are expensive. Figure $1000 to $2000 per year. But the services let you avoid the bookkeeping nightmare called payroll and prevent you from getting into payroll tax trouble.
Tip #5: Consider S Corporation Status After You’re Profitable
I’ve written and talked much about how S corporations save taxpayers money and how the right way to set up an S corporation is first create a limited liability company and then ask the IRS to treat the LLC as an S corporation for tax purposes.
Let me review the basics here again, however. Suppose that you’re making $90,000 a year off your web site. If you just treat your business as a sole proprietorship—or an LLC treated as a sole proprietorship—you might pay $12,000 in income taxes on the $90,000 and then another 15.3% self-employment tax, or roughly $13,500 on the $90,000.
If you set up an LLC and have the LLC treated as an S corporation, you’ll still pay the same $12,000 in income taxes. But you’ll only pay the 15.3% self-employment tax on that portion of the profit that you categorize as wages. If you categorize, say, $50,000 of the profits as wages, you’ll pay $7,500 in self-employment taxes. (The other $40,000 in remaining profits, by the way, gets paid out as a dividend-like “distribution
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
3 Top Tips on Making Profit Through Your Website
To avoid missing out on substantial new business through your website, make sure it's:
1. Easily found & accessible
If your target market doesn’t know about your site’s existence, or simply can't find it, what’s the point in investing in it in the first place? It’s vital you have a programme of web promotion and search engine marketing. Take measures also to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible and that it meets statutory requirements for accessibility.
2. User-friendly & visually appealing
People’s attention spans are short. Even if your website is easy to find, if it’s even slightly frustrating to use, your users will abandon your site and take their business elsewhere. You can however prevent most abandonment through usability testing and making the resulting improvements to your site. In order to pull in new business, it’s also important to evaluate your web users’ ‘browsing statistics’ on an on-going basis to make sure that you’re delivering exactly what your users expect.
3. Useful, engaging & up-to-date
Content must meet your visitors’ expectations by being genuinely captivating and useful. What seems interesting to you is not necessarily what your customers want to hear. Invest in professional search engine optimised copy and plan your site’s content with direct input from your target market. Monitoring your website statistics will enable you to gauge which pages are pulling in traffic, and a programme of ongoing web maintenance will ensure that (i) your content is fresh enough to encourage visitors back again and again, and (ii) a good search engine ranking is maintained.
David Crowther is the director of NerveCentral, whose mission is simple: to maximise its clients business and profit through the web. We have provided web solutions for many organisations and small companies, including well-known corporates such as Thomson Travel Group, Q8, Edding, GlaxoSmithKline, Galderma,
1. Easily found & accessible
If your target market doesn’t know about your site’s existence, or simply can't find it, what’s the point in investing in it in the first place? It’s vital you have a programme of web promotion and search engine marketing. Take measures also to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible and that it meets statutory requirements for accessibility.
2. User-friendly & visually appealing
People’s attention spans are short. Even if your website is easy to find, if it’s even slightly frustrating to use, your users will abandon your site and take their business elsewhere. You can however prevent most abandonment through usability testing and making the resulting improvements to your site. In order to pull in new business, it’s also important to evaluate your web users’ ‘browsing statistics’ on an on-going basis to make sure that you’re delivering exactly what your users expect.
3. Useful, engaging & up-to-date
Content must meet your visitors’ expectations by being genuinely captivating and useful. What seems interesting to you is not necessarily what your customers want to hear. Invest in professional search engine optimised copy and plan your site’s content with direct input from your target market. Monitoring your website statistics will enable you to gauge which pages are pulling in traffic, and a programme of ongoing web maintenance will ensure that (i) your content is fresh enough to encourage visitors back again and again, and (ii) a good search engine ranking is maintained.
David Crowther is the director of NerveCentral, whose mission is simple: to maximise its clients business and profit through the web. We have provided web solutions for many organisations and small companies, including well-known corporates such as Thomson Travel Group, Q8, Edding, GlaxoSmithKline, Galderma,
Monday, December 18, 2006
Options of E-commerce Order Fulfillment
With the Internet boom, e-commerce is a top-notch activity requiring more often a fulfillment service. If you take online orders, an order fulfillment service can help you enormously, saving you from the tedious packing and shipping process that is probably not your core competency, as you probably have not had the experience of a fulfillment company you can partner with.
By means of drop shipping, a form of blind shipping of merchandise from the manufacturer to the end-user, fulfillment companies are the helpful hand saving your time. Otherwise, you would have to forward to the end-user the merchandise and the lack of experience on this process may increase your costs and cause delay.
Because time can make the difference between a successful e-commerce business and another closing sooner than you expected time, the choice of your fulfillment company is an important decision that you must analyze. Starting with the advantage of having your inventory stored off-site, order fulfillment enables the small e-commerce owner to store a larger quantity and variety of inventory.
The fulfillment service will be in charge to receive and organize your inventory in its land-based storage service, while you will be able to log in through the fulfillment company's web-based interface to check your current inventory and the drop shipping history of each item. Many online e-commerce sites and small retailers use drop shipment to close their deals, as an example, eBay sellers.
Order fulfillment can be tracked online and even automated, accepting shipping requests via your web-based application, emailing the invoices generated directly to the fulfillment company's storage center, from where the shipping request is received, and the items ordered are automatically packaged and shipped to the customer, in fact, a drop shipping process.
Outsourcing your order fulfillment is convenient, even if you are just an individual running a small e-commerce website. A fulfillment company for small commerce sites, independent vendors and individuals willing to start an e-commerce activity, will be pleased to reply to all your enquires related to order fulfillment and drop shipping, as well as its overall fulfillment service.
A few factors to consider when selecting a drop shipping and fulfillment company is the location of the fulfillment service, size of the storage facilities, shipping options provided, turn-around time, order fulfillment, communication between the company, the distributor and customer service, error rate managed by the company as well as the gross costs of the service.
More than storage, shipping costs are the highest item within e-commerce order fulfillment, so make sure to find a fulfillment company offering you a savings in delivery, and depending on your e-commerce approach, verify if the company provides domestic and international shipping, returns processing, secure payment gateway, electronic support, online ordering, reporting and tracking, as well as a customer service call center.
9 Tips to Make Your Product Photos Sizzle
If you are selling products online, be it your own online store or in an auction site, good photos are a must!
Here are 9 tips if you want to ensure your product photos stand out!
1. Snap a shot of a portion of the product. It could be half or three-quarter of the product. You don't need to show the whole product. Use a thumbnail of the partial product to attract customers to click for a larger photo.
2. Angle the product. Must all photos be shot from the front and flat straight? No. Angle your camera so it shoots... well... from an angle.
3. If your product is combined from a number of parts, have a separate photo showing the separate bobs and bits. This allows the customer know how it all fits together and what they'll be getting when they buy it. And describe the parts.
4. If the product you sell is tiny or elaborate, show off the incredible detailing of this tiny product. Shoot close-ups of the product and get more of the intricate details.
5. Show how it is used. If the product is best shown being used, shoot the photo with a model using the product especially if it is new or complicated. For instance, having one or two darling children fiddling/using/wearing your products (if they're meant for children) always helps.
6. If you are selling clothes, get someone to model them. If your model is shy, tell him or her to turn their face sideways. Or better, just focus the camera on their bodies. Many people love to see how clothes drape and fit the actual body!
7. If you have the same product in different colours, why not arrange them in a circle and shoot? It's always attractive and at the same time, shows your customers the range of colours available.
8. If you are selling photo frames, why not insert a photo into the frame to make it look lively? Inanimate objects always look better when they're shown used.
9. If you're completely lost for ideas, pick up great catalogues and brochures (my favourites are those by IKEA). Study how products are featured and how they are arranged.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Online Credit Card Merchant Accounts
A recent survey indicates that when you accept credit cards online, you can expect your sales to increase by an astounding 50 to 400%. If experts are to be believed, in this fast-paced world you simply can't compete if you don't accept credit cards. For the online web entrepreneur, the most important factor in credit card processing is how many products you think you can realistically sell in a month.
Business firms are often forced to extend credit to increase sales. In some businesses, the entire sale takes place on credit, cash sales being negligible. In certain other businesses, hire purchase and installment payments are the normal practices. Even in those cases where the sales to consumers are on a cash basis, credit is extended to the distribution channels. It is essential for any business firm to evolve a clear policy on credit and exercise proper control of it.
The firm must ensure that customers and channels do not exploit the credit policy of the firm. Credit transactions should not turn into bad debts. Credit has two cost dimensions: the interest on the money involved in the credit transaction, and the risk of bad debts. Bad debts must be seen and understood as an important part of the cost of credit. They erode the profits of the firm.
All credit transactions have the potential of becoming a bad debt. And even if they are sound, credit transactions always have another serious implication-- of affecting the liquidity of the firm. An analysis of outstandings and overdues will highlight the corrective action to be taken. Some firms offer cash rebates to customers in lieu of credit, with a view to reducing credit transactions and accelerating recoveries. Proper credit rating of the client is the fundamental step in credit control. Credit rating ensures that the credit worthiness of the client is assessed objectively before the firm proceeds with the risk of extending credit facility to him.
How the Internet Changes the Competitive Battleground
HUB AND SPOKES AS A NEW BUSINESS STRUCTURE
Natural market forces that lead to consolidation and the law of twos happen even faster on the Internet. The "best" products are anointed, information is rapidly distributed, and customers (who face no geographic limits) seek out these "hot" places. Moreover, as brands become familiar, consumers increasingly seek them out because they have credibility.
Unique to the Web is something which may be called a "hub-and-spoke strategy" . This also facilitates the law of twos: A hub-and-spoke strategy is the increasingly common arrangement where a major retailer establishes relationships with other Web sites, promising them a percentage of any sales (generally 5 to 15 percent) that result from any traffic sent to the retailer by these "affiliates." It's not uncommon for a major affiliate program to have over 10,000 participating members, all of whom refer traffic to the central site. What's even more interesting is the extent to which this type of business model is proliferating: Refer-it is a site that lists credible affiliate programs for prospective members. As we go to press, it is approaching 500 distinct plans.
The Internet is already taking its place as a central tool in everyday business life. Each aspect of commerce is changing in light of the new capabilities available. The coming changes are so powerful that it is both terrifying and exciting. The first phase of Internet business has principally focused on the creation of new types of businesses: The next phase will involve the impact of these developments on brick-and-mortar businesses and on the economy as a whole.
The new capabilities that the Internet makes available for business-to-business commerce and for business-to-consumer sales will transform many industries from top to bottom. Winning companies will understand that in the emerging era success now requires new rules for action and the mastery by the organization of different types of skills.
Questions may arise on what the future will look like: "Will my business be helped or hurt?" "What should I do to survive?" Until recently, the pace of change has been so great that attempts at answering these questions were often unsatisfying.
Elements that will play a central role in how the Internet economy evolves. These elements have the potential to greatly harm our economy or to power us into prosperity for the twenty-first century. The best way to discuss these ideas is to provide two contrasting visions of the future: The Potential Downside of Internet Growth More than any other aspect of the Internet, shopping "bots," software that searches the entire Internet for products and services based on predefined criteria (price being the most popular), have the capacity to offer great benefit to consumers while potentially bringing great harm to businesses. Today the major Internet portals, include Google , Yahoo and MSN , all have shopping initiatives with participating retailers that are, at least in part, powered by bots (also called "intelligent software shopping agents"/ will reveal that there are already over many easy-to-use bots that are available for businesses and consumers. Each bot typically has a specialized function, ranging from financial bots that perform stock-related functions to news-gathering bots to auction-related bots.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Common Forms Of Online Payments
Paypal has quickly and easily become one of the most common used forms of online payments on the internet today. Paypal is a website that allow consumers, businesses, and sellers to unite and make it an easier method of payment for a variety of services, products, and memberships. Paypal has over 100 million accounts with their service and there must be a reason why.
Paypal makes everything just a little easier when it comes to selling your products or services online. For example, many online gaming portals such as POGO or Spogg have opted to include paypal as a form of payment for their gaming communities. This saves a lot of time and hassle for a variety of people. One specific advantage to Paypal is the fact that your customers will not have to enter their credit card numbers over and over again along with all of their information. Paypal conveniently and safely stores all this information, which means your customers will only have to choose the Paypal option, log in and approve the amount you are charging.
Other advantages for sellers is the fact they have free tools for use with eBay, accepting credit cards, merchant solutions and gateways, simplified shipping and tracking, sellers protection, and low and affordable fees. For your customers, Paypal allows them to send money from 55 countries throughout the world in many different types of currencies. Speaking of currencies Paypal allows those purchasing items from the another country to convert their currency into that of the sellers, making things much easier on both ends.
Paypal offers four different solutions for merchants using their services. These solutions include:
• Standard Payments
• Pro Payments (Available in the USA only)
• Email Payments
• Addition payments
Standard Payments
The standard payment option allows you to accept payments from your website with Paypal, even if your customers do not have an account. With this option there is no approval needed, shopping cart is not required, no commitment, no fees regarding startup, cancellation, or monthly. Additionally, you also have the option of accepting credit cards over the phone, fax, or in person for an additionally monthly fee.
Payments Pro
This option is an all-in-one feature, which allows you, for a low cost to get the features that merchant accounts and gateways offer, your customers have the ability to pay for items purchased from you right on your website, and your customers have the ability to pay you by way of fax, mail, in person, or telephone. Paypal offers a shopping cart that you can use with their services for free.
Be Your Own Guide When Deciding on What to Sell Online
What I always tell people is, "Use yourself as the measure." If you won't buy it, why do you think others will? OK, so you might catch a few intellectually-challenged people but the adage is true that you can skin a sheep once but you can shear it many times. So ideally, you should choose a business model that will last.
Have you ever paid for a date or friendship? Will you buy used clothing even offline? Oh, but it worked in the States! Well, in the States, there are over 203 million people online so it is especially true for them that there is a buyer for everything. You, however, would need a lot of time, patience and deep pockets to be internationally promoting and funding an e-commerce site while waiting to find a buyer for something that you wouldn't buy yourself. Of course, if your target market is the States, then pack your wallets and go brave.
If you would buy it yourself, ask a couple of other people who are likely to be part of your target market and find out if they would buy it online or better still if they're buying it offline now. If your answers are for the most part positive, you might be on to something. If not, maybe you can start small with a simple website that just takes orders online but processes payment offline. That way, you wouldn'be be out of beer money too early.
Friday, December 15, 2006
The Perfect Niche Marketplace
In a previous article I wrote about a guy selling swords online. Who wants to buy a sword? Would it be safe to say not most people? However there is a small market for it. Now when I say small, I mean as a percentage of the world Internet population, that could be a couple hundred thousand, which isn't bad for a small business. The Internet has become the perfect place for 'narrowcasting' - the new opposite of broadcasting.
So if it is indeed true that there is a buyer for everything, there is no better place to set up your niche store than on the Internet. It's international, open 24 hours a day and is effectively reaching the highly coveted niche markets. The Internet has the power to convert your backyard organic mushroom farm into a million-dollar business.
I am told that there are people out there to buy even dried coconut husks. They may not be anywhere near you but the Internet allows you to reach people around the globe.
Just look at the kinds of things mankind has been trained to buy that we never thought of buying before: water, coals, manure. All of a sudden the air you breathe isn't clean enough. Air purifiers are successfully marketed on and offline.
So think about what you want to sell and how you're going to market it to the world because that's where your customers are going to be from.
Aleem Khan, a senior partner at Breaking News, is one of the few people in the world with a four letter domain name bn.gs. He is an accredited Agent of the International Internet Authority who speaks Spanish, French and English.
So if it is indeed true that there is a buyer for everything, there is no better place to set up your niche store than on the Internet. It's international, open 24 hours a day and is effectively reaching the highly coveted niche markets. The Internet has the power to convert your backyard organic mushroom farm into a million-dollar business.
I am told that there are people out there to buy even dried coconut husks. They may not be anywhere near you but the Internet allows you to reach people around the globe.
Just look at the kinds of things mankind has been trained to buy that we never thought of buying before: water, coals, manure. All of a sudden the air you breathe isn't clean enough. Air purifiers are successfully marketed on and offline.
So think about what you want to sell and how you're going to market it to the world because that's where your customers are going to be from.
Aleem Khan, a senior partner at Breaking News, is one of the few people in the world with a four letter domain name bn.gs. He is an accredited Agent of the International Internet Authority who speaks Spanish, French and English.
What You Should Know About Shopping Online
If 299,999 planes land safely that's not news. It takes just one to crash and that becomes news around the world and flying is seen as unsafe. Over 100 countries are at peace but the few that are fighting wars make the news. Understandably, a newscaster is not likely to think it's a lead story to say, "Well, everything went well today. People went to work, returned home, showered, ate and slept. They are expected to get up next morning and do the same thing." Media has become entertainment. We need to give the people information to excite them or at least to pull at their heartstrings.
The same happens with the Internet. As I watched the news last night, I saw a story about some attempt to defraud clients of a bank online. So some quack decided to "try a thing." He/she of course got international media attention. The $8 billion that was spent safely on the Internet over the Christmas holidays, however, didn't get the same kind of attention. So there is a news bias and we need to be aware of it.
It's important to be alert but there's no need to panic. The Internet is probably one of the safest places to do business because there is usually very little, if any, human intervention. A credit card is charged, a secure server sends the money to a bank account and the seller in most cases never even sees the number. You can tempt a man but you can't tempt a computer. It would just do what it is programmed to do. This, of course, means that computers can be programmed to do fraud. This is why it's important to be on the look out and make sure you're not the one out of 300,000.
Here are the basics to keep in mind when shopping online:
# Look for the "https:" which is also known as the Security Certificate (SSL).
# Search for reviews on the company. Do your homework.
# If there's a phone number on the website, call to check if there are real people at the other end.
# Don't buy from any merchant who tries to hide his/her identity.
# Keep a print record of your transaction.
# Report any fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities of the country from which you bought right away.
# Beware of businesses from countries with weak fraud laws. Again, research will pay off.
The International Internet Authority has a list of countries whose businesses will not get 'High Assurance SSL Certificates.' Personally I find the list looks more political than anything else. So I wouldn't use it as a guide to tell me where to buy from or not. What I would use the list for is to check the honesty of the merchants. If the website says it has a 'High Assurance SSL' then I would know for sure that it is being less than honest.
However, in today's world with 'skyboxes' and Internet telephony, it is easy to fake an address and pretend to be from the U.S.A. for example. In fact the few people I know who have been "burnt" online were defrauded by apparent US-based merchants. Just so you're aware, I'll actually tell you about the one I remember: Brooke Distributors out of Miami. Again, just for your knowledge, here's the list of countries from the IIA: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, and Syria.
Hey, if in doubt about a company from whatever country, just don't buy.
Some people have also opted to get a special low-limit credit card solely for Internet transactions. That's smart too. What I know will be a big hit here is when we get an authorise-per-transaction system. So there's another Internet Opportunity for you. Talk to your bank and suggest the creation of a credit card that can only be used on an authorise-per-transaction basis. The cardholder would be able to log into his/her account on the Internet and specify, for example, "I am going to buy from X website and I authorise X amount." So if anything goes wrong, you don't lose much, but remember the news bias. Out of the 1 million transactions that go well, you'll only hear about the one that didn't.
In this regard, as website owners, it is important that you see things from the other side of the fence as well. What has made you buy online in the past is very much the same that will make others buy from you. In another issue of Internet Opportunities, we'll go further into details about online shopping for the benefit of merchants
The same happens with the Internet. As I watched the news last night, I saw a story about some attempt to defraud clients of a bank online. So some quack decided to "try a thing." He/she of course got international media attention. The $8 billion that was spent safely on the Internet over the Christmas holidays, however, didn't get the same kind of attention. So there is a news bias and we need to be aware of it.
It's important to be alert but there's no need to panic. The Internet is probably one of the safest places to do business because there is usually very little, if any, human intervention. A credit card is charged, a secure server sends the money to a bank account and the seller in most cases never even sees the number. You can tempt a man but you can't tempt a computer. It would just do what it is programmed to do. This, of course, means that computers can be programmed to do fraud. This is why it's important to be on the look out and make sure you're not the one out of 300,000.
Here are the basics to keep in mind when shopping online:
# Look for the "https:" which is also known as the Security Certificate (SSL).
# Search for reviews on the company. Do your homework.
# If there's a phone number on the website, call to check if there are real people at the other end.
# Don't buy from any merchant who tries to hide his/her identity.
# Keep a print record of your transaction.
# Report any fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities of the country from which you bought right away.
# Beware of businesses from countries with weak fraud laws. Again, research will pay off.
The International Internet Authority has a list of countries whose businesses will not get 'High Assurance SSL Certificates.' Personally I find the list looks more political than anything else. So I wouldn't use it as a guide to tell me where to buy from or not. What I would use the list for is to check the honesty of the merchants. If the website says it has a 'High Assurance SSL' then I would know for sure that it is being less than honest.
However, in today's world with 'skyboxes' and Internet telephony, it is easy to fake an address and pretend to be from the U.S.A. for example. In fact the few people I know who have been "burnt" online were defrauded by apparent US-based merchants. Just so you're aware, I'll actually tell you about the one I remember: Brooke Distributors out of Miami. Again, just for your knowledge, here's the list of countries from the IIA: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, and Syria.
Hey, if in doubt about a company from whatever country, just don't buy.
Some people have also opted to get a special low-limit credit card solely for Internet transactions. That's smart too. What I know will be a big hit here is when we get an authorise-per-transaction system. So there's another Internet Opportunity for you. Talk to your bank and suggest the creation of a credit card that can only be used on an authorise-per-transaction basis. The cardholder would be able to log into his/her account on the Internet and specify, for example, "I am going to buy from X website and I authorise X amount." So if anything goes wrong, you don't lose much, but remember the news bias. Out of the 1 million transactions that go well, you'll only hear about the one that didn't.
In this regard, as website owners, it is important that you see things from the other side of the fence as well. What has made you buy online in the past is very much the same that will make others buy from you. In another issue of Internet Opportunities, we'll go further into details about online shopping for the benefit of merchants
Amazon.com - You've Got To Be Kidding
I have been in contact with Amazon.com over the past couple of weeks discussing an issue that I want to share with you. The issue is the "Reader's Review" section on each author's page with Amazon.com.
I contacted Amazon.com asking them why they do not have a better moderation system in place for the Reader Review section of each author's page. What this often turns into is a forum, not a review of the author's book, for a member of the public to vent all manner of things. When John Gibson of Foxnews announced the pending release of his new book on Christmas, before the book was even available for sale on Amazon--it was just listed--Gibson's book had hundreds of "Reader's Reviews". Do not miss the point, it wasn't even available for sale and there were reader's reviews.
Other authors have this happen too. If someone does not like what the author represents, or his or her views, or whatever, the reader review becomes the forum for this person's rage. Why is this? Does Amazon.com really have no choice in this matter?
I also publish with LuLu Press. They allow authors to disable all or accept all reader's reviews. If the author enables reader's reviews, then the book, through some sort of computer programming magic, has to have been purchased through LuLu Press for a reader to post a comment. In other words, if LuLu Press can do this so can Amazon.com! They can figure out how to program their system so that if someone wants to leave a review of the book in question, then he would have to have purchased the book on Amazon.com.
If you didn't buy the book on Amazon, then you do not get to post a reader's review on Amazon's pages!
I have told this to Amazon in two emails but I get what seems to be a combination of a form letter with a few "live" comments. But, they seem not to comprehend what it is I am saying. They are unyielding!
A good example of this is what I found on our book's site today(THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO). You can see this in the Reader's Review section of our book's site on Amazon. Just go to Amazon.com, type in The PLain Truth about Living in Mexico, scroll down a bit, and you will see it:
This person reacted to something I posted on the "Customer's Discussion" forum at the bottom of each author's page concerning the Harvard author, Kaavya Viswanathan. I took issue with so-called readers who posted their gripes and complaints in the Reader's Review. The majority of the so-called readers indicated that they had not even read this girl's book. As in the case with the book by Foxnews' John Gibson, they were using the reader review section as a discussion forum when they hadn't read the book.
The reader's review section is for someone who has read the book in question and wants to comment on the book. It is not a discussion forum. Amazon knows this. Amazon also knows, because I have told them so, that the technology exists that would enable only those who bought the book on Amazon to be able to post a review on the author's pages on Amazon. This is a no-brainer!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Earn an Income from a Worldwide Market Using Your PC
Do you find there are not enough hours in a day to earn the sort of income you think you deserve? Have you reached an income ceiling and feel there is little chance of developing further in your current job? You may be good at what you do but there is still too much month at the end of the money. Think about it!
When a colleague of mine mentioned she was going to set up an internet business I was intrigued but wasn’t tempted myself. I didn’t have the expertise and wouldn’t know the first thing about creating and setting up a website let alone the business side of it. However, when after a few months she started to earn some serious money my attitude changed.
After doing a bit of investigation I purchased a product that would do most of the technical stuff for me and set about deciding how I could earn an income from my PC. It really wasn’t quite so difficult as I had imagined it to be. This is not to say it doesn’t involve a lot of work. It does! But for me it quickly become almost like a hobby and doesn’t feel like work at all. If you want to get rich quick this isn’t the way to do it – but let’s face it, that isn’t how things work.
Yet, if you want to build your passive income then this is the way. You will have to buy a few products to set you up but if you do your research properly this will be money well spent – it should pay back many, many times over.
Now you may ask - what expertise do I have that could earn an income? This is the big question and a pretty important one to! Sit down with a pencil and paper and write down all the options you have, these could be
Your expertise in your current job. You may be a fitness coach who has a skill of bringing out the best in your clients, you could create an ebook with your own specialized routines and motivational tips. You could be responsible for the computers at your workplace and have picked up some useful ways to optimise PCs, which software is best for certain tasks or where to get a good deal. We spend many hours a week working and can learn some very useful information that others would be prepared to pay for.
Your hobby Everyone has a hobby so why not take it further. Earning an income from your hobby is a great idea. Imagine if you could earn enough to live on! Do you enjoy messing about with motorbikes? Building model aeroplanes? Keeping pet rabbits? You get the idea. People want to know things about this sort of thing. Where do most people go for information these days – the internet! When my son wanted to make a paper mache Roman helmet I didn’t have a clue. I typed it in on Google and guess what? Sites that will tell you just exactly how to do it!
All you need to do is to recommend places to buy a rabbit, specialist motorcycle parts or the best models (so long as the provider has an affiliate scheme) and you could be earning commission from your knowledge gained from your hobby.
A special area of interest Perhaps like me you are fascinated by military history and visit battlefields or go on tours. Why not write about a particular period of history, the battles and the soldiers. You could recommend books, model soldiers and the best tour companies to use and again earn a commission. A popular topic for an ecommerce website is travel. Do you have a favourite holiday destination you visit on a regular basis? Do you know of great places to visit that a casual visitor would miss? Travel reviews written by ‘real’ people who have been there are very popular. Potential visitors want to know the real story behind the glossy brochures. You can tell it how it is, recommend the places to visit and the places to avoid. You set up a program with the hotels, villas and resorts and earn a commission!
An unusual/ interesting past time Okay this could be included under hobby but it gives me another subheading. Are you a member of an historic society who dresses up and re-enacts the lives of our ancestors? What a wealth of information and interesting stories you would have to share. Do you work in a wildlife sanctuary as a volunteer? Restore vintage cars? A part-time DJ or children’s party clown? Your knowledge and experience could be of interest to other people. This makes you the expert and they will listen to what you have to say AND your recommendations with commission involved of course. There are plenty of opportunities to exploit your knowledge and experience to make money. Choose a topic you have a passion for and it won’t seem like work at all!
When a colleague of mine mentioned she was going to set up an internet business I was intrigued but wasn’t tempted myself. I didn’t have the expertise and wouldn’t know the first thing about creating and setting up a website let alone the business side of it. However, when after a few months she started to earn some serious money my attitude changed.
After doing a bit of investigation I purchased a product that would do most of the technical stuff for me and set about deciding how I could earn an income from my PC. It really wasn’t quite so difficult as I had imagined it to be. This is not to say it doesn’t involve a lot of work. It does! But for me it quickly become almost like a hobby and doesn’t feel like work at all. If you want to get rich quick this isn’t the way to do it – but let’s face it, that isn’t how things work.
Yet, if you want to build your passive income then this is the way. You will have to buy a few products to set you up but if you do your research properly this will be money well spent – it should pay back many, many times over.
Now you may ask - what expertise do I have that could earn an income? This is the big question and a pretty important one to! Sit down with a pencil and paper and write down all the options you have, these could be
Your expertise in your current job. You may be a fitness coach who has a skill of bringing out the best in your clients, you could create an ebook with your own specialized routines and motivational tips. You could be responsible for the computers at your workplace and have picked up some useful ways to optimise PCs, which software is best for certain tasks or where to get a good deal. We spend many hours a week working and can learn some very useful information that others would be prepared to pay for.
Your hobby Everyone has a hobby so why not take it further. Earning an income from your hobby is a great idea. Imagine if you could earn enough to live on! Do you enjoy messing about with motorbikes? Building model aeroplanes? Keeping pet rabbits? You get the idea. People want to know things about this sort of thing. Where do most people go for information these days – the internet! When my son wanted to make a paper mache Roman helmet I didn’t have a clue. I typed it in on Google and guess what? Sites that will tell you just exactly how to do it!
All you need to do is to recommend places to buy a rabbit, specialist motorcycle parts or the best models (so long as the provider has an affiliate scheme) and you could be earning commission from your knowledge gained from your hobby.
A special area of interest Perhaps like me you are fascinated by military history and visit battlefields or go on tours. Why not write about a particular period of history, the battles and the soldiers. You could recommend books, model soldiers and the best tour companies to use and again earn a commission. A popular topic for an ecommerce website is travel. Do you have a favourite holiday destination you visit on a regular basis? Do you know of great places to visit that a casual visitor would miss? Travel reviews written by ‘real’ people who have been there are very popular. Potential visitors want to know the real story behind the glossy brochures. You can tell it how it is, recommend the places to visit and the places to avoid. You set up a program with the hotels, villas and resorts and earn a commission!
An unusual/ interesting past time Okay this could be included under hobby but it gives me another subheading. Are you a member of an historic society who dresses up and re-enacts the lives of our ancestors? What a wealth of information and interesting stories you would have to share. Do you work in a wildlife sanctuary as a volunteer? Restore vintage cars? A part-time DJ or children’s party clown? Your knowledge and experience could be of interest to other people. This makes you the expert and they will listen to what you have to say AND your recommendations with commission involved of course. There are plenty of opportunities to exploit your knowledge and experience to make money. Choose a topic you have a passion for and it won’t seem like work at all!
SSL Certificates - Secure Server Certificates
Before getting your own SSL certificate, you will need to do some reading on what your chosen Certificate Authority requires for a secure certificate, and you'll also need to come up with some documentation. There are several steps to buying a secure server certificate, once you have decided on a vendor.
This is an overview, not written in stone. Each CA is different, so make sure you read their documentation and what they require. Here is an idea of what they want:
All documentation that is requested must match *exactly*. Secure certificate authorities will verify that your organization actually exists, so they know they are issuing to the correct company. You will need to prove that the Organization Name and the Domain name are in fact yours to use.
Steps you'll be taking:
* Gather required documentation
* Have your host generate a CSR
* Complete certificate authority online application
* Certificate authority will process your request
* Pickup and install your SSL certificate (usually an URL is emailed to you to download the secure server certificate)
* Depending on the vendor, it can take a few hours to a few days.
* Send secure certificate to host for installation. (Send in plain text)
Once your web hosting provider receives this information; they will generate the CSR and send it back to you in plain text. You then send it on to Verisign or Thawte, or whoever you have chosen as your secure certificate authority. They will then generate a SSL certificate for you which you will send back to your host for installation. Your web host may charge a fee for installation in addition to what your SSL certificate vendor charges.
Something to think about:
If you've decided to purchase your own SSL certificate, you will need to decide how you want your URL to be called. If you, as a rule, call your domain name in your coding as then make sure you indicate this to your host when you request a CSR from them. If you don't, and you get the certificate for yourdomainname.com (without the www), this will cause browser errors, making the certificate seem insecure, and you will need to change your coding.
Always use yourself or your company as technical contact.
How to tell if a site is secure?
After you've browsed to a site securely; using https:// in the URL, look on the lower right hand side of your browser. You should see a closed lock. This will tell you the site is secure.
This is an overview, not written in stone. Each CA is different, so make sure you read their documentation and what they require. Here is an idea of what they want:
All documentation that is requested must match *exactly*. Secure certificate authorities will verify that your organization actually exists, so they know they are issuing to the correct company. You will need to prove that the Organization Name and the Domain name are in fact yours to use.
Steps you'll be taking:
* Gather required documentation
* Have your host generate a CSR
* Complete certificate authority online application
* Certificate authority will process your request
* Pickup and install your SSL certificate (usually an URL is emailed to you to download the secure server certificate)
* Depending on the vendor, it can take a few hours to a few days.
* Send secure certificate to host for installation. (Send in plain text)
Once your web hosting provider receives this information; they will generate the CSR and send it back to you in plain text. You then send it on to Verisign or Thawte, or whoever you have chosen as your secure certificate authority. They will then generate a SSL certificate for you which you will send back to your host for installation. Your web host may charge a fee for installation in addition to what your SSL certificate vendor charges.
Something to think about:
If you've decided to purchase your own SSL certificate, you will need to decide how you want your URL to be called. If you, as a rule, call your domain name in your coding as then make sure you indicate this to your host when you request a CSR from them. If you don't, and you get the certificate for yourdomainname.com (without the www), this will cause browser errors, making the certificate seem insecure, and you will need to change your coding.
Always use yourself or your company as technical contact.
How to tell if a site is secure?
After you've browsed to a site securely; using https:// in the URL, look on the lower right hand side of your browser. You should see a closed lock. This will tell you the site is secure.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Online Shopping - It's A Small World
With all the online shopping sites today, it's amazing that you can stumble across someone in your own home town running an online business, and who would have ever guessed.
So no matter how big you think the online world is, and it really is big, it's still a small world. One of our friends was shopping online and wanted to ask the merchant a question so she called. When the girl that answered the phone asked for our friend's phone number she realized it was from her own hometown.
Even though it is a small world, there is a growing fascination and even compulsion to buy online. And why not? You can access more sites and products in such a small amount of time and never crank the car, let alone having to fight traffic.
It's nothing new but it is very much here to stay. So if you are thinking about entering the online world and starting your own business, the most important thing you can do is to do your homework. Research first and save yourself lots of time and money.
Where do you start? Online of course. The main thing you need to do is act. You can think, look, study and talk all you want, but until you act it will never happen.
So no matter how big you think the online world is, and it really is big, it's still a small world. One of our friends was shopping online and wanted to ask the merchant a question so she called. When the girl that answered the phone asked for our friend's phone number she realized it was from her own hometown.
Even though it is a small world, there is a growing fascination and even compulsion to buy online. And why not? You can access more sites and products in such a small amount of time and never crank the car, let alone having to fight traffic.
It's nothing new but it is very much here to stay. So if you are thinking about entering the online world and starting your own business, the most important thing you can do is to do your homework. Research first and save yourself lots of time and money.
Where do you start? Online of course. The main thing you need to do is act. You can think, look, study and talk all you want, but until you act it will never happen.
How to Avoid Negative Feedback on eBay
If you are a regular eBay user then I am sure you will have seen someone with a negative feedback comment in their profile. Negative feedback is usually posted when a buyer and seller have a difference in opinion about a certain product, or one of the parties fails to fulfil their part of the transaction.
If you are a seller on eBay, your feedback profile is the most important part of your business. One negative comment from an unscrupulous buyer could damage your reputation and more importantly damage your sales and profits! As a seller on eBay you want to avoid getting negative feedback comments at all costs, let me show you how to do this.
To begin with ALWAYS make sure you are polite to your customers, I shouldn't need to write this because all good sellers know that it is vital to be polite with your buyers. If you are polite with them in all correspondence then you should be able to work out any problems that you are having. No matter how rude the buyer is when corresponding with you, always keep a cool head and reply to them with a courteous email. If the buyer is a reasonable person then you will be able to resolve your differences without risking a negative feedback.
What if that doesn't work I hear you cry! Well don't worry, even if the buyer leaves you a negative comment after your polite emails there is still a way to get the feedback withdrawn. I'm sure you will have heard of the term "Mutual Feedback Withdrawal". This is where both parties (the buyer and seller) agree that the feedback comment is no longer justified and decide to remove the comments. You can apply for a negative feedback withdrawal via an on-line form on the eBay website, once you have submitted the form the other party must accept the request within 30 days, if they accept the request then your feedback will be removed, it will still be displayed to the public but the negative score will have been removed from your profile.
Before requesting a mutual feedback withdrawal you should contact the other party again via email and tell them (politely of course!) that you would like the matter to be resolved. Discuss the problem with them and try to find some level ground, do your best to solve the problem for them, you could even offer them a full refund or ask them to return the item to you if they are not happy with it. Once you have resolved the dispute ask them if they would be willing to withdraw the negative feedback, when they reply simply fill out the on-line form on eBay and as long as they accept the request your feedback will be removed.
If your trading partner rejects your polite emails and your mutual withdrawal request then unfortunately you are stuck with the feedback. However there is still time for some damage limitation! You can respond to all feedback comments that you have left and received via the eBay feedback forum. You can find this part of eBay by going to your feedback profile, then look at the top of the page and you will see some links that say - Home > Community > Feedback Forum > Member Profile. Click on the link that says "Feedback Forum", you will then see links to the pages you are looking for. Click on the link that says "Reply to feedback received" and you will be able to reply to your negative feedback comment. You should then leave a brief (polite!) reply stating the problem you had with the other party. Although replying to your comment wont remove it, it will show other potential buyers that you tried to resolve the situation and that you do care about your customers and your feedback profile.
If you are a seller on eBay, your feedback profile is the most important part of your business. One negative comment from an unscrupulous buyer could damage your reputation and more importantly damage your sales and profits! As a seller on eBay you want to avoid getting negative feedback comments at all costs, let me show you how to do this.
To begin with ALWAYS make sure you are polite to your customers, I shouldn't need to write this because all good sellers know that it is vital to be polite with your buyers. If you are polite with them in all correspondence then you should be able to work out any problems that you are having. No matter how rude the buyer is when corresponding with you, always keep a cool head and reply to them with a courteous email. If the buyer is a reasonable person then you will be able to resolve your differences without risking a negative feedback.
What if that doesn't work I hear you cry! Well don't worry, even if the buyer leaves you a negative comment after your polite emails there is still a way to get the feedback withdrawn. I'm sure you will have heard of the term "Mutual Feedback Withdrawal". This is where both parties (the buyer and seller) agree that the feedback comment is no longer justified and decide to remove the comments. You can apply for a negative feedback withdrawal via an on-line form on the eBay website, once you have submitted the form the other party must accept the request within 30 days, if they accept the request then your feedback will be removed, it will still be displayed to the public but the negative score will have been removed from your profile.
Before requesting a mutual feedback withdrawal you should contact the other party again via email and tell them (politely of course!) that you would like the matter to be resolved. Discuss the problem with them and try to find some level ground, do your best to solve the problem for them, you could even offer them a full refund or ask them to return the item to you if they are not happy with it. Once you have resolved the dispute ask them if they would be willing to withdraw the negative feedback, when they reply simply fill out the on-line form on eBay and as long as they accept the request your feedback will be removed.
If your trading partner rejects your polite emails and your mutual withdrawal request then unfortunately you are stuck with the feedback. However there is still time for some damage limitation! You can respond to all feedback comments that you have left and received via the eBay feedback forum. You can find this part of eBay by going to your feedback profile, then look at the top of the page and you will see some links that say - Home > Community > Feedback Forum > Member Profile. Click on the link that says "Feedback Forum", you will then see links to the pages you are looking for. Click on the link that says "Reply to feedback received" and you will be able to reply to your negative feedback comment. You should then leave a brief (polite!) reply stating the problem you had with the other party. Although replying to your comment wont remove it, it will show other potential buyers that you tried to resolve the situation and that you do care about your customers and your feedback profile.
Guidelines to Effective Marketing Testing
Several fifth wheel trailers and RV's have laundry rooms. It isn't involved but these come equipped with hook-ups for stackable washer and dryers or with the appliances already installed. This is an important feature for winter use.
Many destinations still allow parking but have closed park buildings. Yet other locations allow RV's but don't have developed areas at all so the traveler may be left many miles from civilization with tons of laundry to catch up. Many people spend time parked in a relative's driveway, store parking lot, roadside rest stop or fairgrounds. These may be cheap but the laundry facilities are not convenient. You'll end up dragging your laundry around town or else annoying a relative because you're taking up all the hot water with the washer.
When looking at that end of season sales at the local RV center consider that laundry option. Depending on how rigorous the vacation plans there may be lots of mud, sand or grunge. But the two camper types that come equipped for washer and dryers are very different.
The bus style RV's might not be suitable for all routes. They are ill advised or completely banned on some of the country's most scenic vistas and even on level land when precipitation makes steering or braking difficult.
The fifth wheel is made to be hauled with a heavy duty pick-up. That's the main selling point. Buy a fifth wheel and there's a built-in excused to purchase a new truck. That spells romance for a lot of couples. One is happy with the presence of the washer and dryer the other is enthralled with that new V-8.
Here's a harmonious winter vacation destination: Arizona. Park the fifth wheel and jump in the new pick-up and explore the beautiful Arizona highways. Then at day's end enjoy the azure skies and lemon drop stars while a load of laundry hums in the background.
Many destinations still allow parking but have closed park buildings. Yet other locations allow RV's but don't have developed areas at all so the traveler may be left many miles from civilization with tons of laundry to catch up. Many people spend time parked in a relative's driveway, store parking lot, roadside rest stop or fairgrounds. These may be cheap but the laundry facilities are not convenient. You'll end up dragging your laundry around town or else annoying a relative because you're taking up all the hot water with the washer.
When looking at that end of season sales at the local RV center consider that laundry option. Depending on how rigorous the vacation plans there may be lots of mud, sand or grunge. But the two camper types that come equipped for washer and dryers are very different.
The bus style RV's might not be suitable for all routes. They are ill advised or completely banned on some of the country's most scenic vistas and even on level land when precipitation makes steering or braking difficult.
The fifth wheel is made to be hauled with a heavy duty pick-up. That's the main selling point. Buy a fifth wheel and there's a built-in excused to purchase a new truck. That spells romance for a lot of couples. One is happy with the presence of the washer and dryer the other is enthralled with that new V-8.
Here's a harmonious winter vacation destination: Arizona. Park the fifth wheel and jump in the new pick-up and explore the beautiful Arizona highways. Then at day's end enjoy the azure skies and lemon drop stars while a load of laundry hums in the background.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Brainstorming on Demand
Technical feasibility is usually based on verified data and should contain sufficient information so that the evaluation may be made into financial statements. In other words, technical feasibility tends to review existing technology in well known conditions. Sometimes, we need to make a decision about future functions of a product or possible environment, which is not always obvious. Guessing may help, the only question is "how?"
What do we normally do when we have no information about something? We begin by thinking, this may be with a group of people. In a technical world it is also called Joint Application Development or a JAD session, that sometimes resemble brainstorming. There is nothing wrong with this creativity boosting method, the only problem brainstorming has no sign where to go next on the "idea crossroad."
The alternative is TRIZ, also known as Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, that is based on a strict algorithmic approach. TRIZ was created about 60 years ago and originally aimed to solve engineering tasks. Among other algorithms, TRIZ contains so called "thinking inertia overcome methods." Those methods, where "reduction - extension" is one of them and explained below, were specifically created to overview a problem from different angles. Real usage adopts about ten of these methods, and it is possible and even recommended to mix them all when observing a system.
Before we continue, let us review couple of examples:
Two Mars rovers have been working for a second year now instead of 90 days as it was planned before. Several on-board software updates have happened during these years. "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are sending red planet's landscape photos, so we can also consider rovers as remote image editors with the extremely slow connection speed with end-users.
The Microsoft Office family initially was created initially as single user software. Historically, authors wrote the content first and then show it to an editor. No one expected that the new computer era would allow text to be revised by several people simultaneously. Today we can. We are also able to share our desktop within a group, use more than one monitor at the time and send our application to a remote workstation.
What do we normally do when we have no information about something? We begin by thinking, this may be with a group of people. In a technical world it is also called Joint Application Development or a JAD session, that sometimes resemble brainstorming. There is nothing wrong with this creativity boosting method, the only problem brainstorming has no sign where to go next on the "idea crossroad."
The alternative is TRIZ, also known as Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, that is based on a strict algorithmic approach. TRIZ was created about 60 years ago and originally aimed to solve engineering tasks. Among other algorithms, TRIZ contains so called "thinking inertia overcome methods." Those methods, where "reduction - extension" is one of them and explained below, were specifically created to overview a problem from different angles. Real usage adopts about ten of these methods, and it is possible and even recommended to mix them all when observing a system.
Before we continue, let us review couple of examples:
Two Mars rovers have been working for a second year now instead of 90 days as it was planned before. Several on-board software updates have happened during these years. "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are sending red planet's landscape photos, so we can also consider rovers as remote image editors with the extremely slow connection speed with end-users.
The Microsoft Office family initially was created initially as single user software. Historically, authors wrote the content first and then show it to an editor. No one expected that the new computer era would allow text to be revised by several people simultaneously. Today we can. We are also able to share our desktop within a group, use more than one monitor at the time and send our application to a remote workstation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)