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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Fundamentals of E-commerce Success

Many retail business owners are being pressured into setting up shop online. But is this a realistic expectation or is it an exercise in futility. There are some very important key questions that have to be answered before considering the move to online sales.

1.Are your products conducive to mail, phone or online sales?
You might think that every product can be sold online and, to some degree, you would be correct. However, should every product be sold online? The answer is no. Many products just don't sell well online because they are not conducive to impulse purchases, the demand is low, or the product itself has a long sales cycle. Given that most people will be making purchases online using a credit card, the products or combination of products should be easily purchased with a credit card that has a limit of $1,000 to $5,000.

2.Are you prepared to sell your products online?
This may seem like a very basic, but it will validate your motivation to succeed online. If your motivation to sell online is driven by a belief that “everyone else is doing it and so should I” , then you should serious consider the implications of selling online. Once you have made the mental decision to sell online, you can begin to formulate your strategy for doing so.

3.Do you have the resources to sell online?
Are you prepared to handle five, ten, a hundred, five hundred orders a day? Do you have the staff to fulfill orders, manage online customer service, and make updates to the website. Do you plan on doing this work yourself? If so, have you considered the impact this decision will have on the rest of your business? Create a plan that sets definitive goals for your online storefront, as you would for any business opportunity. Remember, managing a successful e-commerce website is a full-time job.

4.Who will build your site?
One of the biggest myths about e-commerce is that anybody can build and run an online store. The truth of the matter is that anyone can build and run a store online, but only a select few can do it well. There are many online store builders, shopping cart programs, and hosted applications that let you build a site and start selling your products online, but realistically you get what you pay for with most of these services. Consider hiring a company who specializes in developing online commerce sites for you. The result will be superior to a home grown site and will ultimately result in increased credibility and sales.

5.What is your budget?
Get quotes from a variety of vendors. You will find that the quotes you get back will range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. A reasonable amount to budget for your new website is around $10,000 for a full build out including custom web design and software, and ongoing server and maintenance fees of about $300 to $500 per month. When you consider your budget, take into account that the more you spend upfront, the less likely you will be to change the site. On the Internet, keeping your website fresh and updated is crucial to your credibility.

The eVolution Of The iNternet Family Online Shopping Mall

Do you remember how great great grandfather did the family shopping? He would hook up his team of horses to the big wagon put in the family and trudge off across the prairie for a day or so to get to the nearest ‘general store’. Once there it was a great outing for the family. The store had everything needed from children’s store bought candy to mother’s ready made dress. If the store did not have that certain special item there was always the option of the catalog.

After the turn of the century (1900 not 2000) a couple of remarkable changes occurred that begin to alter family shopping. America began to grow up and out – at least to the oceans. And the automobile made its auspicious entrance. Now the family could get to the general store much faster. Mother loved that, she could make more trips is a shorter time.

There was, however, an embryo of change being observed in the stores themselves. The increase in populations made for more stores and a wider variety of markets. The general store began to break up. ‘Specialty’ stores began to emerge. Dress shops, drug stores, movie theaters etc. A whole group of cottage industries began to make an entrance. It is true the big boys were still ever present and getting bigger. Sears Roebuck and Co, J. C. Penny, and others were still on top, still selling through the ever present catalogs.

As our country grew through World War II it became more sophisticated. The little village grew into a city. This resulted in the concept of a ‘town square’. The big stores were usually on opposite sides of the square with the little specialty shops filling in the gaps. Usually these types of cities were the county seat so you would have a court house and a government office building. There was something else of importance that came into prominence through this period. Access to information began to grow with the appearance of the County Library.

As we moved into the 1960s the automobile presented a nightmare problem to family shopping that was totally unexpected. Traffic and Parking began to choke the city square concept. It is certain everyone still wanted to shop, but usually at the same time. It was near impossible to find a parking meter on the down town streets in the town square.

American ingenuity, as usual, prevailed. We made parking the priority item and called it all a ‘suburban shopping mall’. Now there were acres of free parking with the shops in the middle. The next major evolution was to air condition the whole shopping mall. What’s not to like? The big guys where still at opposite ends of the shopping mall. Now there was unlimited space for expansion of the specialty shops. Even better, it was all accessible on foot. Only thing left was the food court. Now family shopping had moved to heaven.

We refined and sharpen this concept to an art form over the next few decades. Some where during that period of time the government slipped in a not understood or utilized system which took the handle of the ‘internet’. So what? Nothing happened for a long time. Then the next stunning invention occurred. The mouse (computer) began to wiggle around. Do you not understand that without the mouse the computer is a black box? Put them together and we have the Personal Computer.

Somewhere in the eternal scheme of things the infinite minds of the computer geeks and nerds began to squeak and rumble. A marriage of the internet and personal computer took place. While that is a worthwhile discourse in its own right far too large for our purposes we would be remiss to pass it by without comment. It was only a few years back, in the mid 1990s that this even occurred. This is important to understand to be able to focus of the rapidity of current events, speaking of the internet online shopping. It was about 1994/95 time period that a company called Netscape came along with their commercial internet browser. It started an absolute revolution. It is not until about 1996 that Microsoft finally figured it out and came roaring down the road with their internet explorer. The race was on.

The other side of the story was the functional software development on the internet. In the beginning the only thing we could figure out for the internet was file transfer (FTP). Then it dawned on someone that if we could read from the internet why not write to the internet. Incredible concept! Websites began popping up all over the place.

We began to see a true information highway. Any company could advertise it presence throughout the world with minimal effort. The internet browser now could interact with a company’s data base. Of course, it was just a heart beat away until the website could actually sell products. The impact of this was absolutely profound. Shopping was changing course. It was now being called internet online shopping. Family online shopping was born.

Internet online shopping is now moving so fast it is near impossible to keep up from day to day. However, what goes around comes around; we are right back to the 1950s, electronically speaking. The big boys still have their big websites. But now the little specialty ishops are filling in the blanks. They can compete directly with the big companies-almost. There are online shopping malls all over the internet. Home shopping online, even discount shopping online is growing non-linearly everyday

There are now, as there always are, another set of complications that have risen with need to be addressed. There are literally millions of websites on the internet to be found or in most cases NOT to be found. This has caused the mushrooming of another incredibly fast most moving cottage industry in the form of Internet Marketing. Search engines, Pay Per Click (PPC), Website Content etc. are all now very critical to a website.

When you search during an online shopping spree, for our purposes a shopping search, it is not uncommon to get back several thousand websites. In order to truly shop you must go through one website at a time until you can find that for which you are looking. This gives rise to the word surfing.

The solutions for these problems are emerging in the form of holistic online shopping mall websites that provide categories from discount shopping online to online clothes shopping to surf through. The website bears the burden and responsibility of filtering and selecting appropriate merchants based on the subject of the website.

The next cutting edge development emerging is the ‘internet online shopping specialty ishops’. That is where a very narrow subject is the focus of a ‘mini website’. For example, a ‘Women’s Plus Size Clothing Specialty iShop’ or a ‘Family Scrapbooking Specialty iShop’. The list for online shopping specialty ishops will soon be endless. The important factor here is this type of website contains only merchants for that very specific specialty. That places all the major merchants plus many of the competitive smaller online shopping website within one click of the customer. It greatly curtails the endless surfing through each merchant website.

One last point, much like the shopping mall of old the specialty online shopping website will have the library, i.e., information highway, news links, ebooks, fresh content articles and what ever else is required to maintain a holistic family shopping environment at you finger tips.

Then the next step in family online shopping will be …

Mikey Miller is a single father of a 12 year old daughter who has worked for the same company since he was 16 years old. At 36 Mikey realized that his future was a dead end.

He began looking to the internet as the last frontier where a young man could earn his own destiney. After a couple of years of self education the result has been the Family iMall .

You Work Hard For Traffic - Get It To Convert

Anyone can build an ecommerce site. Getting traffic is going to be the first hurdle, but doing so will only matter if you can convert it.

You Work Hard For Traffic – Get It To Convert

Getting your traffic to convert first requires that you understand a few parameters. To have a clue regarding how you are doing, you need to understand server statistics and conversion ratios.

I am continually amazed at the number of sites that do not look at their server statistics. Your server stats are incredibly important because they tell you how many people are coming to your site, where they are coming from, how they found you, how many are turning into customers and, if not, what pages they are leaving from. Without this information, you are just guessing at how well your convert traffic. Don’t!

Once you start looking at server stats, you need to determine your conversion ratio. The conversion ratio is the number of sales you get per visitor to the site. Importantly, it is not the number of sales per hit. A visitor may generate multiple hits, so just focus on visitor statistics. Some stats programs refer to visitors as “sessions.” Regardless, conversion ratios vary by product or service. Some may be as low as 1 in 25 visitors while others will be much higher. If you convert at anything over 1 in 500, the site probably needs some serious tweaks unless you are in an extremely competitive or general market.

Making your convert is all about providing a convenient solution for your prospects. You should review your site from this perspective. Is it easy to find and buy a product or do you have to click through four or five pages? Make it as simple as possible.

Advertising links can cause poor sales. Many people make the mistake of having their advertising link to their home page. If your advertising refers to a specific service or product on your site, the advertising should click through directly to that page. Never make your prospects hunt for what they are looking for on the site. Many of them will not do it.

As strange as it may sound, the load time of your site can kill your sales. Remember, 40 percent of Internet users are still on dial-up modems. While your site might load quickly when you look at it on your cable, T1 or DSL connection, how does it do on a 56k modem? Don’t guess. Go find one and try to load your site. If you have a lot of graphics, you are going to be in for a shock!

Even if your site loads quickly, most ecommerce sites have time glitches on the order page. This glitch occurs when the customer fills out the order information and clicks the processing button. Sites can grind to a halt as they convert to the secure credit card processing system. This is such a prevalent problem that a majority of ecommerce sites will lose up to 40 percent of their sales on the order page. Make sure your site loads quickly, particularly the order page.

Improving your conversion rates is all about understanding how your site performs. If you can focus on your subject and get the site to load quickly, you should see dramatic improvement.

E-Commerce Concepts

Ecommerce means online processing developing,marketing,selling,delivering,servicing and paying for products and services transacted on internet worked with the help of world wide networks of business partners.

E-commerce uses a wide range of technologies like Electronic Data Interchange(EDI),Electronic Mail, Electronic Funds Transfer.(EFT). The Ecommerce process includes the following business activities.

• Pre sales and Post sales support
• Internal Email and messaging
• Online publishing of corporate documents and forms
• Advertising and promotion of products and services

The Ecommerce has 3 broad categories:
• Business to Consumer(B2C)
• Business to Business(B2B)
• Consumer to Consumer(C2C)

Business to Consumer:

B2C is a popular form of e-commerce. There is a virtual storefront for customer in it through which he can browse and order goods. In such environment the consumer thinks himself in a real world shopping experience. One of the B2C example include

Business to Business:
If someone asks catalyst for the extranet then B2B comes first because B2B involves Electronic Business places and direct market links among businesses. An example of B2B is a company that uses a network for ordering to its suppliers, receiving invoices and payments.

Consumer to Consumer:
This category is in fact a strategy used by huge companies to sell goods through auctioning. The familiar example is e-bay.

Problems in Ecommerce Business:
There are so many confusions and problems in Ecommerce but the most important is security or privacy issue. Fear of corporate disrupt, theft of personal identities have lead to cautious approach in e-commerce business. The emerging services and security technologies such as Advance Encryption techniques certification and digital signatures are producing a significant impact on ecommerce and user confident.

Today’s topic of Ecommerce:
The most important of today’s topic of E-commerce include Globalization and Quality Assurance.

Globalization:
The important question that arises in mind of business community today is how do companies in different continents become aware of their existence and the products that are offered? How can company gain business traditions and conventions of some country on the opposite side of the globe?

Quality Assurance:
In any business uncertainty regarding the quality of product can lead to the collapse of the market. Consumers usually prefer to inspect goods before buying rather seeing pictures or reading the description.

Web Optimization Services: Are They Worth It?

If you have a website for business purposes or even a personal endeavor of some other kind, you might want to look into Web Optimization Services. These types of industry services can help web-based businesses increase their sales. They offer tracking services with a variety of features which will enable you to see how many hits your site is receiving and also where your site is appearing in search engine results. Web Optimization Services can also give you advice on how to improve your website in those areas, if necessary.

Keywords are words and phrases that specifically relate to the subject matter and purpose of your website. They define your website and play a huge part in search engine results. It is imperative that you incorporate keywords into your web pages so that when someone does an internet search, your website will appear on the pages of the resulting links. If your business deals with remodeling, for example, be sure to incorporate the words and phrases that relate to that subject into your website, as many times as you can.

Web Optimization Services will offer you an analysis of your website and advise you which areas need enhancements. They will not only show you how to make sure that your website is found with the use of keywords and phrases, but also how to ensure that it ranks high on all of the search results pages.

Seedegy.com offers a free ranking report. Click on the Free Ranking Report link in the Services area on their home page and then fill out the electronic form. They will, in turn, let you know how your website ranks based on the information you have supplied for free. They also offer other utilities such as Keyword Research and Individual Page Development. Seedegy.com even offers a Web Design service. Use their electronic form to let them know what the goals of your website are, who your target audience is and what kind of budget you are working with. They will send you a free quote for their web development service within 1 day! Their website is very user friendly with easy to understand explanations of all of their web optimization services.

Utilizing a Web Optimization Service such as Seedegy.com can greatly increase traffic to your website. Let’s face it, not everyone is savvy in the marketing area, which is one of the most important undertakings when developing and publishing your website. You’ve got to get your ‘name’ out there and visible on those search results pages so that you can benefit from the success of your business. A Web Optimization Service is a great way to assist you in accomplishing that goal.

E-Commerce - How To Prevent Download Theft

If you sell digital products online, you are probably already familiar with the growing problem of your e-books, etc. being stolen. This is how it works and how you can prevent it.

A visitor to your site buys your product; for example an e-book. Soon after downloading her purchase, she visits a forum and supplies the link to the page containing your download information to all the members. Before you know it, thousands of people are downloading your e-book! These people are stealing from you and you are unaware of your loss!

Many of these would have bought your e-book, so you could have lost hundreds of dollars!

Or take another case. You set up your sales page using PayPal. Now your simple PayPal button script is visible on your sales page if someone bothers to "View Source". They can see where to download from and bypass the Payment page. Now PayPal will let you encrypt the button so only gobbledygook shows up in the source. But I have found a problem in that you cannot include redirect and thankyou pages inside that script, so you can force people to pay you, but then the supply of their goods is messy and involves email back and forth and so on.

In another case I have seen, the PayPal page was encrypted to prevent access to a download page, but the payment amount could be changed, so an expensive item could be purchased for 1 cent!

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent this download theft. The simplest method which I have come across recently involves using a third party that provides an encrypted script that secures your PayPal or other payment links and download information that you copy onto your website.

All your downloads are managed using a secure and automated process, There is no need to confirm orders and send download links to customers in email manually. On top of this, the system will send you a confirmation email each time a successful buyer downloads your products. This is excellent for your record keeping; you will know how many people actually downloaded your products. Your confirmed customers can download the product within minutes of ordering it! They don't have to wait for you to send them emails to receive a download link or go to page after page to confirm their order. Just 1 step for them!

There are two such systems which I have investigated, but I am not affiliated with either. One is provided by businessbazee.com This system is free to use and easy to set up. What they will do is give you an ID and a successful payment page URL which your customers will see when they have paid for your products at PayPal. This is a specially designed page that has the potential to check who is on the page and then display content accordingly.

If someone just arrives at your payment page without paying, it will display in one way If someone just paid at PayPal for something you are selling, it displays something else. Then it confirms the order and sends the appropriate download information to the buyer and a notification email to you that this particular person just downloaded your product. Best part it's all free. Get complete details at businessbazee.com.

The other is a more comprehensive service provided by Sam Stephens called DLGuard. This is a powerful, script that you simply upload to your website.

DLGuard supports the three types, or methods, of sale on the internet: single item sales (including bonus products), multiple item sales and membership websites It also has the advantage of being fully integrated with PayPal, ClickBank, 2Checkout, Stormpay, PayDotCom, Ebay, EA Script and even tracks your free product downloads.

This service protects your products from the most common forms of theft:

1. Prevents download link sharing, as in our forum example referred to earlier. Each download link can have a expiring time limit as well as a maximum number of download attempts. This means that you can give your customer, for example, 2 hours to download your product with a maximum of 3 download attempts. Even if your customer posted their own real download link on a public forum, the link would become useless before real damage is done. If your real customer doesn't have time to download their product within this time frame then you can easily reset their timer or download count. You can make your security as tight or as loose as you see fit for your customers.

2. Ignores insecure thankyou/download pages: A common form of "hacking" is by simply searching for insecure download pages via popular search engines. The term hacking is used loosely, as there is no skill in searching for insecure download pages, but the effect can still be devastating. You could lose thousands of dollars. Google includes PDF files in its search results.

If your download page or e-book is not secure, then people could be actually READING your e-book without even realising they're stealing your product. With the download guard in place, even if the whole world knows the URL of your thankyou page, they won't be able to download your products. The system checks to make sure a successful payment has been made before allowing access to the download area.

Marketing tests and successful business owners tell us time and again that to maximise profits you need to create a loyal customer list. This can be difficult or uneconomical by using customer signup forms as a large percentage of your customers won't signup. First you need to convince them to buy your product and then you need to convince them to signup to your mailing list As part of the download guard, they automatically add your customers to your mailing list after a sale is made and keep tracking records and file reports for you on who has downloaded your product. The DLGuard services is not free, but is affordable and well supported if the users forum is any indication.

What are your alternatives?

* Keep changing the location of the files every month or so, as part of your website maintenance.

* Keep renaming your download page frequently.

* Provide download from a different domain.

* Use encrypted pages that prevent right clicks and drop-down menus from revealing source code

* Do not link to your download pages from any other page and manually provide the site to your paying customer.

* Keep your download page more than 3 levels down in your web space. (Like domain/directory1/directory2/directory3/file). This may prevent search engines from reaching your files as they mostly scan only 2 levels down.

* Send your e-books with Acrobat pdf

If deciding to use .pdf files, you could make all of your material data image files which are called into the file from a protected web location. I am aware that Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Pro has collaboration features available, which can be used in conjunction with document encryption and password-locked features. Using the collaboration features, you could maintain an access log, sort of like a check-in/check-out process for the file(s). Remember if using any of the "product protectors" available on the market for wrapping the pdf file(s), you are in effect making them non-MAC friendly, as they become .exe files.

Remember you may not prevent theft entirely; you cannot prevent anyone from sending your product to a friend or reselling it on their own site illegally, though most people will not go that far and there are remedies you can take with their web hosting service and legal action.

The Wellness Industry & E-Commerce – A Match Made In Wealth Heaven!

There are four main trends occurring in the world today:

1. Baby boomers are maturing: For 18 years straight (between 1946 – 1964) 50,000 babies were born each day worldwide. Every day now, 50,000 baby boomers are turning 50 and are growing increasingly concerned about their financial security and health. Being the largest consumer group in the world today, baby boomers are driving a worldwide trend towards natural healing.

2. A shift in mind-set from prescribed medicines to natural approaches towards good health: Over 75% of deaths are related to stroke, heart disease or cancer and 50% of these are linked to poor diet. Obesity is a global epidemic and research has proven that 70% of people want to lose at least 5kgs/10lbs. 600 million people globally are medically obese – that’s double what it was 20 years ago. For the first time in history, it’s possible we will outlive our children.

No wonder the wellness industry is a $200BN+ industry and predicted to increase to $1TN by 2010! In its short 20 year history the Wellness industry is already generating annual sales worth half of the entire automobile industry – that’s a 500% growth! Not bad for an industry in its infancy!

3. The desire to work from home: The way we earn a living these days has changed and large corporate organizations are increasingly turning to downsizing as a means to decrease expenditure.

We rely more on computers than people and the wonder of technology allows many people to work from the comfort of their own home – wherever in the world that may happen to be.

The price of petrol, lack of time, lack of money, safety fears, poor quality of life and the fact that 80% of people employed in full-time work hate their jobs are just some of the reasons why people are looking to work from home.

Home-based business in the US employing over 50% of the workforce and this is set to explode as people realize that working from home is the key to financial freedom that working in JOB for SOMEONE ELSE does not offer.

4. E-commerce (internet marketing): People and businesses continue to seek better ways of conducting business and transacting on the internet and the internet allows individuals/small business owners to have the same store front as any of the biggest Fortune 500 companies. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that e-commerce is predicted to impact the economy even greater than the industrial revolution.

If these amazing statistics don’t inspire you to pursue an opportunity in the wellness & e-commerce industry, then please check your pulse!

In the 20th Century our lives were revolutionized by the Personal Computer (PC) and the transport industry (automobile and aeroplane).

A similar revolution is now happening with the wellness industry in the 21st century. Breakthroughs in biology and chemistry mean that one day technology may also leave its mark on one of the few remaining mysteries of human existence (age and vitality) which is so far almost untouched by its developments.

If you’re a part of the wellness industry, offering any of the varied products and services available, then you have the opportunity right now to ride the wave to financial freedom.

If you’re interested in finding out more about this fantastic industry, a MUST READ is “The Wellness Revolution’ by World Renowned Economist Paul Zane Pilzer who made his first 10M by the age of 30 when he recognized the Personal Computer revolution.

Online Merchant Account Application

Opening an online merchant account is not difficult. As a matter of fact it’s quite easy, but you will need to follow several steps in order to pull it off. The main step involved in opening an online merchant account is the proper filling of online merchant account application. Before that you have to fill out a merchant account pre-application. Usually, the information in this form is held securely, and no data is sent or stored in an unsecured way by the companies offering you the online merchant account.

This pre-application form is not very long. After the submission of this form, the company normally contacts you the next business day, clearly stating their response on account of your application. It’s up to their discretion to declare you as eligible for opening an online account, or rejecting your application. All this process is a free service given by the company concerned, and there is no cost or obligation attached with it.

Online merchant account pre-application consists of your business information: business name, business address, business phone/ fax, Website address and, most importantly, the type of business you are doing. There are a number of categories of business: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation and merger. A merger is a combination of two or more firms into one firm. A merger may involve absorption or consolidation. In absorption, one firm acquires one or more other firms. In a consolidation, two or more firms combine to form a new entity.

A few necessary details, like business start date and the products you deal with, are also required for the online merchant account pre-application. Also you have to answer questions like: Do you currently process credit cards? They also ask about your anticipated cost per item or service, anticipated monthly card sales volumes, card present and swiped through a terminal, and Internet orders through a website.

Information Systems and Technology

Today, most organizations in all sectors of industry, commerce and government are fundamentally dependent on their information systems. In industries such as telecommunications, media, entertainment and financial services, where the product is already or is being increasingly digitized, the existence of an organization critically depends on the effective application of information technology (IT).

Information System
An information system is comprised of all the components that collect, manipulate, and propagate data or information. It usually includes hardware, software, people, communications systems, and the data itself. The activities involved include inputting data, processing of data into information, storage of data and information, and the production of outputs such as management reports.

Support Role:
Information systems support business processes and operations by:
# recording and storing sales data, purchase data, investment data, payroll data and other accounting records.
# recording and storing inventory data, work in process data, equipment repair and maintenance data, supply chain data and other production/operations records.
# recording and storing market data, customer profiles, customer purchase histories, marketing research data, advertising data, and other marketing records.
# to implement, control, and monitor plans, strategies, tactics, new products, new business models or new business ventures.

Information systems often support and occasionally constitute competitive advantages. Information systems, like business environmental scanning systems, support almost all sustainable competitive advantages. Occasionally, the information system itself is the competitive advantage. One example is Wal-Mart. They used an extranet to integrate their whole supply chain.

Information Technology
IT refers specifically to technology, basically hardware, software and telecommunications networks. It is thus both concrete (e.g. with servers, PCs, routers and network cables) and subtle (e.g. with software of all types).

IT facilitates the attainment, processing, storing, delivery and sharing of information and other digital content.

Effectiveness of IS/IT
A number of important forces affect the pace and effectiveness of progress in using IS/IT and in delivering business benefits. The relative weighting of each factor varies over time, and will also vary from one organization to another. These factors include:
• the capabilities of the technology
• the economics of deploying the technology
• the applications that are feasible
• the skills and abilities available, either in-house or from external sources, to develop the applications
• the skills and abilities within the organization to use the applications
• the pressures on the particular organization or its industry to improve performance.

Implementation of Technology via E-commerce and E- business
E-commerce can be viewed as the conduct of business commercial communications and management by using Internet technologies and through electronic methods, such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and automated data-collection systems. It may also involve the electronic transfer of information between businesses (EDI). E-business, on the other hand, has come to refer to the automation of an organization’s internal business processes using Internet and browser technologies.

In using the Internet, many organizations have looked to add more value to the tangible products they sell by providing additional ‘information-based’ services. These can include online support, order tracking, order history, etc. Many of these initiatives focus on deepening the relationship with customers and suppliers. Others have moved their trading platform either partially or entirely onto the Internet.

Success Factors
Several factors have a role in the success of any e-commerce venture. They may include:
• Providing value to customers. Vendors can achieve this by offering a product or product-line that attracts potential customers at a competitive price, as in non-electronic commerce.
• Providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship, defined as ensuring that all employees, suppliers, and partners have a complete view, and the same view, of the customer.
• Providing an incentive for customers to buy and to return. Sales promotions to this end can involve coupons, special offers, and discounts. Cross-linked websites and advertising affiliate programs can also help.

Hindrance in Acceptance
• Concerns about security. Many people will not use credit cards over the Internet due to concerns about theft and fraud.
• The problem of access to web commerce, particularly for poor households and for developing countries. Low penetration rates of Internet access in some sectors greatly reduce the potential for e-commerce.

Applications of IS/IT and Competitive Advantage

Dell Computers
Some information systems are totally automated by IT. For example, Dell Computers has a system where no human intervention is required, from taking customer orders, to delivery of components to the Dell factory for assembly, to shipment to customers. With this build-to-order model, perfect information and tight linkage match supply and demand in real time. The company can receive an order for a personal computer (PC) directly from a customer via its own website (www.dell.com).

Ryanair
Ryanair is one of the world’s most successful ‘low fares’ airlines. Its online booking facility was launched in 1999, migrating customers away from the more expensive travel agent and call-centre channels. Customers can now search for flights online and book them with a credit or debit card. As a ticketless airline, the customers are supplied with a reference number which is given to staff at check in. Over 90% of ticket sales are now taken on the website, which is also available in a number of languages including French, German, Swedish and Norwegian.

Amazon.com
Amazon.com is an Internet venture that was launched in July 1995, and has probably become the most famous site in cyberspace. It initially started out with a mission to use the Internet to transform book buying into the fastest, easiest and most enjoyable experience possible.

Unlike traditional bookstores, there are no bookshelves to browse at Amazon.com. From the website, customers can search for a specific book, topic or author, or they can browse their way through the book catalogue and then complete the sale by entering their credit card information. Orders are processed immediately and books in stock, generally bestsellers, are shipped the same day. Customers are contacted by email when their order has been dispatched. All contact with the company is done either through their World Wide Website or by email. The company has also branched out into electronic auctions. It has also pioneered technologies such as customer profiling and ‘1-click’ shopping. The profiling technology has enabled Amazon to recommend books based on previous purchasing history and what other customers who have bought similar books are also reading. Even today, the company strives to maintain their founding commitment to customer satisfaction and the delivery of an educational and inspiring shopping experience.

Otis Elevators
In the 1980s, Otis Elevators, the US manufacturer of elevators, identified that one of the aspects of its service that would give its customers most satisfaction was a prompt lift repair service. So, it built an automated system, called Otisline, to dispatch repairmen. Where something started to go wrong with Otis’ lifts, they automatically called in their complaint to a computer—without human intervention. Otis’ rivals suddenly had to compete on quality of service as well as the price and quality of lifts themselves.

Of Web Shops And Clicking

With the influx of modern technology into our lives, more services are made easier. New gadgets, tools, and modes of transportation make essential human functions like communication and transportation a breeze. Of these developments, none has made as much impact as the Internet. Communication, access to government service, and even business transactions are made possible through its use. And with the rise of internet merchants and online payment processors, the most basic human function of consumerist ethos (a.k.a. shopping) is clicks away.

What are internet merchants and online payment processors? Internet merchants are simply business people who sell their products or services through the internet. Internet merchant sites function as virtual shops wherein online shoppers can browse through pages of products or catalogs. These sites usually feature the prices of each service or product, sales promos, virtual shopping carts, and most importantly, several payment schemes. These payment schemes are modes of online payment processors. Online payment processors are institutions who offer companies or businesses a system to accept and process debit and credit cards minus the hassle of dealing with the different banks or issuers directly. They basically work as a middle-man between the card holder and the `Net merchants. The merchants pass credit card details to the processing website, or the merchant page could jump directly to the processor's site. The processors then validate the card details and account. After validation, card details are sent back through `Net merchants' page for confirmation or rejection. If confirmed, the purchase is done and the shopper only needs to wait for the delivery.

Despite the efficiency of internet merchants and online payment processors, the pros and cons still needs to be clarified. Customer convenience, added sales channels, automated authorization, and a streamlined payment system count as the advantages of availing the services of internet merchants and online payment processors. However, there are still risks in using the system. Charge or fees for online purchases are usually higher. Security risks are also issues. Unless you are sure of the security measures provided by the merchant and processing sites, this risk is real. Sensitive information like account information can be hacked into, altered, or stolen.

To avoid or minimize these risks and to fully enjoy the services of internet merchants and online payment processors, vigilance and information is key. Read the fine print on the account and conditions set by the `Net merchants. You may miss other conditions or extra charges if you just read the top half or click the Agree button. It'll also help to check the integrity or status of the processing site the `Net merchant uses. After all, it's your money that's at risk. If you're finally sure then, click on and enjoy shopping. A reminder though, you may need to exercise serious self-control.

Discount Electronic Equipment

If you are a smart customer then you must have discovered by now that purchasing discount electronic equipment online has several major advantages. There are hundreds of online electronics shops competing with each other to give the best possible deals and it is you, the customer, who is the winner. With online shopping, you can excuse yourself from the tedious task of visiting store after store to get the perfect equipment you are looking for. On the contrary, you can simply visit the website of the store and view the entire product line, view product specifications, reviews, and know of new products. Online electronic stores are running twenty-four hours a day and you can log on whenever you are free to do so.

The most important benefit of online shopping is discounts. Online shops are always competing with each other and are offering lucrative discounts most of the time. You can find many good deals on electronic equipment from the comfort of your home.

In case you have decided to opt for online shopping next time you buy an electronic item, be sure to start a market survey once you have planned. Check out for online discount coupons. A number of online stores offer discount coupons on their website that you might have to download and print. On the other hand, there are a number of websites exclusively dealing with online discount coupons. Check out InsidersCoupons. InsidersCoupons has affiliations with major online stores and offers discount coupons for use. Other that online discount coupons there are an array of offers on orders, shipments, and money back policies offered by InsidersCoupons.

E-Commerce Law: Website Terms of Use

From a legal standpoint, the most important page of any website may be its Terms of Use page, which describes the terms and conditions which govern the relationship between the user of the website and its publisher. Properly drafted Terms of Use can be an invaluable tool in protecting e-commerce businesses from frivolous lawsuits and crippling legal exposure.

Though the Terms of Use used by many websites are similar they are not a "one-size fits all" solution. Each e-commerce business has a unique relationship with its customers which must be reflected in its Terms of Use. Moreover, Internet contract law differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and changes over time, as more courts are called upon to interpret and enforce these agreements.

In addition to terms and conditions addressing the specific website content at issue, most Terms of Use contain clauses addressing one or more of the following issues:

Choice of Forum. Choice of Forum provisions permit the parties to a contract to select, with certain limitations, the jurisdiction in which any disputes pertaining to their relationship are resolved. In many instances, a website’s Terms of Use purports to require any legal action pertaining to the website to be brought in the jurisdiction in which the publisher is located, which may be quite inconvenient for a distant user of the site.

Choice of Law. Choice of Law provisions permit the parties to a contract to select, with certain limitations, which jurisdiction’s laws will be applicable to their relationship. Generally, a website’s Terms of Use will apply the law of: (1) the jurisdiction whose laws are most favorable to the publisher; (2) the jurisdiction in which the publisher is physically located; or (3) the jurisdiction whose laws are most familiar to the attorney who drafted the contract.

Limitation of Liability. These provisions permit one or both parties to place certain limitations on their liability for breaching the agreement of the parties. Properly written, Limitation of Liability provisions can cap a party’s legal exposure for certain conduct.

Indemnification. Indemnification provisions permit a party to shift the burden associated with an anticipated loss to the other party. In many instances, a website’s Terms of Use require the user of a website to indemnify the website’s publisher against any losses associated with the use of the website’s content.

Attorneys’ Fees and Costs. In the American judicial system, a party is generally required to pay his or her own legal fees and expenses, win or lose. However, parties to a contract may, with certain limitations, require that a party who loses in a legal action brought pursuant to the agreement pay the attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by the prevailing party.

As in the drafting of any other written contract, businesses should seek competent advice from a properly licensed attorney. The failure to do so may result in Terms of Use that provide no protection to the e-commerce business or, worst yet, may create legal exposure where none previously existed.

This article first appeared in "Common Issues Faced by E-Commerce Businesses," a seven-part series appearing each Tuesday afternoon on the author's E-Commerce Law blog. Readers are reminded that all of the information in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel. No one should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included on this site but should instead seek the appropriate legal advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a properly licensed attorney.

Online Shopping Carts; Keeping Customers Happy

Online shopping carts, those wonderful little programs that every successful website that sells something needs. However, if the program is insufficient then it may result in decrease in a website’s productivity. Customers want to deal with programs that are easy and time saving. This most certainly includes online shopping carts.

When a customer goes shopping they want to have a shopping cart that is easily accessible. When a customer views a product the option to buy it is right there no turning the page. It is extremely easy. Also the ability to view what is in the shopping cart at any given time is always a plus with customers. A program that can give them an estimated total that includes shipping helps them gauge how much more to spend on a website. Easy access into the online shopping cart program will make a customer happy and to make a customer happy means more money for the business.

Another more innovative addition to the online shopping cart programs is the one click purchase option. With this a customer can just click on an item and it is purchased and on it’s. way to their doorstep. Making their lives so much easier.

Don’t forget to add in the last minute marketing pitch. Just before a customer is ready to check out be sure to advertise other products. The most effective way to do this is to say something to the effect of “other customers who purchased this product also purchased…” Having a list of other products by the customer’s newly chosen product may help them with that last minute impulse buy. Much like the last minute impulse buys at check out lines that include candy or magazines.

To keep customers happy there should be a way that they can correct any mistakes that they had made in their online shopping cart. Even after they have placed an order there should be a way that they can easily correct their mistakes to update the order. This can include adding an item, removing an item or changing their shipping option.

Not all items purchased go directly to the customer placing the order. Many times online shoppers prefer to do their last minute gift shopping online and may also find it easier to order a present for a loved family member vi an online website. Having an option in the online shopping cart that allows for an order to be sent to another person with out the customer having to change their home address on the website. To even take it a step further some successful online shopping cart programs offer to keep a database of people a customer has shipped to in the past. This way when they need to ship to them again it is as easy as a click of the mouse.

Advantages Of Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is ‘a type of retailing where the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead passes the customer's order and shipment details to the wholesaler, who then dispatches the goods to the customer directly.’ [Source: Wikipedia] The retailer then keeps the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price. If you’re planning to start an online retail business, drop shipping may be just the option for you.

Let’s review the process of drop shipping, and analyze the advantages that the drop shipping business model has over the others.

No Upfront Payment

First of all, you do not need to pay upfront for a stock of products before you can start selling. With drop shipping, you can simply get into business by displaying the products you want to sell on your website, before you’ve actually purchased any of the goods. After you’ve received your order via the internet, you can then forward the order to the drop shipper, usually through email, who will then deliver the products to your customer(s).

In essence, this is the reverse process of normal retailers. You actually ‘sell high’ first before ‘buying low’. Since you’re not making a huge upfront down-payment for your products, you’re not bearing any risk at all. There isn’t a risk of purchasing thousands of units of a product, and realizing that you’re not able to sell them because the consumer demand is insufficient.

Thus, by not needing to make an upfront payment to stock products, you’re benefiting in two ways. One, the drop shipper bears all the risk for you. If the products are not in-demand, it’s the drop shipper who is potentially making a loss, not you. Second, your startup costs are extremely low. All you need to invest in your drop shipping business is an initial deposit or down-payment, to demonstrate your commitment to the drop shipper, and also ongoing web hosting fees and advertising fees. This is a huge difference from retailers who have to invest on a fortune to purchase huge stocks of goods to get into business.

Product Delivery Taken Care Of

The second feature of drop shippers is that they take care of the products delivery and shipment for you. This is highly advantageous if you’re just starting out in business because you can focus all your time and efforts on marketing your business, instead of worrying about order fulfillment or delivery.

Order fulfillment can be a very tedious and time-consuming process if your monthly orders number in the hundreds or thousands. You need to spend tremendous amounts of time keeping track of your inventory, packaging the products and shipping them to your customers individually. On the other hand, if a drop shipper takes care of product fulfillment for you, you’re automating the process of shipping the products, and you can focus on your core competency – marketing your business to bring in more customers. This is another great advantage of using drop shipping as your business model.

No Need For Warehousing

Since you do not need to purchase a huge inventory of stocks from the drop shipper, there’s no need for warehousing costs as well.

This is highly advantageous if you consider this opposite scenario: If you rely on the usual wholesaling business model instead of drop shipping, you need a location to store your products after purchasing your initial stock. Depending on the space you need, your monthly warehouse rental costs can cut into your profit margin significantly. You may even be operating your business at a loss. Why not let the drop shipper stock the products at their warehouse until your customer makes a purchase instead?

Flexibility Of Product Catalogue

With drop shipping, you have the choice of promoting any number of products you want on your website catalogue. Since you do not need to make upfront capital investments, you have the flexibility of promoting as many products as you want, as long as the products are all related to the category of products you sell.

However, it’s essential to strike a balance between the range of products you have, and the ‘product focus’ of your business. Your business should focus on a single category of products – you cannot be a supplier of everything to everyone, like Wal-Mart. Be sure to include only the products you think are related to your core ‘product focus’, and avoid promoting too many unrelated products on your web catalogue.

No Minimum Quantity Restriction

The last advantage of drop shipping is that most drop shippers do not impose a minimum quantity order. When your customers place orders at your website, you can forward your orders to your drop shipper one-by-one. Most drop shippers do not have a problem with that. Thus, drop shipping is very beneficial for your business because it offers the greatest flexibility.

In conclusion, drop shipping is definitely an option you want to consider if you’re planning to start an online retail business without all the hassles of inventory and product delivery. If you evaluate the above advantages carefully, you’ll realize that drop shipping is undoubtedly a viable option for the small-business retailer. Large retailers, on the other hand, will have enough resources like capital to use the wholesaling model for their business.

Important Considerations For Drop Shipping

When selecting your drop shipper, there are also several important considerations you need to pay attention to. Such issues can determine the success of your business in the long term.

Wholesale Prices

The first issue to consider is the wholesale prices of the products. Ideally, the drop shipper should offer prices low enough that you can make a substantial profit when selling at the retail price.

Although the pricing points would not vary a lot for drop shippers of similar products, some drop shippers do offer a slightly lower wholesale price than other suppliers for the same product quality. Your business can benefit tremendously if you first scout around for wholesalers offering lower prices, as you can make a bigger profit margin for each sale.

Alternatively, you can also negotiate the pricing points with several of the drop shippers first, as some of them allow greater room for negotiation than others. If your drop shipping business can sell larger quantities of products, you should be able to secure a lower price for the products, similar to the discount given for bulk purchases.

Shipping Costs

The next issue you need to consider is the shipping costs. If your drop shipper is based in the same country of your target market, then you only need to pay for local delivery services. On the other hand, if your target market is located in a different country from your drop shipper, you may incur high shipping costs because of international shipping. It is thus better to select a drop shipper located in the same country as your customer base.

Having a drop shipper in the same country as your market also eliminates the hassles of international shipping, like security checks and slow delivery time. A lower shipping cost also encourages more purchases from your customers, increasing your profits.

Some drop shippers may also charge an additional handling fee for delivering the products to your customers. You should pay close attention to additional costs like this, as they may cut into your profit margin. Be sure to settle on a particular drop shipper after you’ve carefully analyzed all the costs.

Credit And Billing

The next issue you need to consider is credit and billing. Before starting your business, you need to clarify your method of payment. Does the drop shipper send you a monthly bill for all the products for each month? Or can they automatically deduct from your credit card each time a purchase is made?

This is very important for the cash-flow situation of your drop shipping business – the longer you can keep ‘liquid’ credit with your business, the healthier your cash-flow situation. Some businesses have inevitably collapsed due to poor cash-flow management.

Product Returns

Also, you need to take into account whether your drop shipper entertains product refunds and returns. Of course, a drop shipper that has product refund offers is beneficial. In the case that your customer receives a defective or unsatisfactory product, the customer can then return the product to the drop shipper for a new one, giving your business a much better reputation of satisfying the customer’s needs.

Usually, the drop shipper sends your products labeled with your company name, logo and address. Hence, if your customer contacts you for a product return, you should then provide them with the address of the drop shipper.

Credibility

The last point you need to consider when choosing your drop shipper is the credibility. Always choose a drop shipper that has a better reputation and that has been around for a longer period of time. Also consider the customer service of the drop shipper. If the drop shipper does not respond to your information requests professionally, then you should be wary of doing business with them.

Real DropShipping Secrets and How to Avoid Getting Scammed by DropShippers

What is DropShipping?
First of all dropshipping is a very easy way to earn extra money without having to spend a lot of time working at it. With dropshipping, people can sell products online with their website or most popular on eBay without having to carry any inventory or ship any products. Dropshipping allows people to simply place ads and pictures copied from the dropshipper on their website or ebay and collect money from the buyer before they purchase the product from the dropshipper. There's nothing to hassle with carrying the inventory, packing the product, or shipping anything.

How to Make Money with DropShipping
Since dropshipping is so easy, it has grown to be a big business over the last couple of years. However, this opens the door for more people to be scammed by fake dropshippers or middlemen. The only way to make a profit on the products are to buy them at wholesale and sell them for retail. This requires you to purchase them directly from a true wholesaler that will dropship for you. There are many people that claim to be dropshippers when they are really middlemen buying from the wholesaler and turning around and selling directly to you for more, thus decreasing your profit.

Beware of Middlemen
As mentioned above, there are many people claiming to be dropshippers, but they simply buy directly from the wholesaler that may not dropship their products, but the middleman will purchase them in bulk and then dropship for you. So how can you tell if someone is a middleman? It may be difficult to figure this out, but most true dropshippers will not advertise themselves on the Internet. The true wholesalers don't need to advertise anywhere because they already have an established business with many big and repeat customers that they rely on. The dropshippers or sites that you see advertised on the Internet are most likely the middlemen trying to get you to purchase products at inflated wholesale prices.

DropShipping Secrets & How to Find Real Sources
This can be a challenging task of trying to find legitimate wholesale dropshippers and once you find a good one, you won't want to share this with anyone. That's why so many people who make money with dropshipping succeed, because the sources don't advertise and they will not give their information to anyone. The secrets to dropshipping are that most true wholesalers will dropship their products, but may add an extra service fee to do so. This fee is usually minimal of anywhere from 50 cents to 2 dollars, but is worth the money to not have to worry about carrying the inventory or shipping the product yourself. Usually wholesalers are very big companies and have thousands and thousands of products so they will most likely be able to dropship their products for you. Stay away from dropshippers that only have less than 100 products as these are either start up companies that probably don't have purchasing power to give you good prices or are simply middlemen buying certain products from wholesalers.

The key to finding the real sources is by doing research on and offline. It can take you weeks or even months to find some good sources, however once you obtain them, the profits will be rewarding. A real good source at finding some sources and if they are legit is by going to dropshipping forums and interact with other individuals that may have tips on good dropshippers and ones to avoid. There are also services that have spent all the time and money for you in finding quality wholesale dropshippers. Finally, going to trade shows can hook you up with some real suppliers that offer wholesale pricing. The downside is that many may not dropship for you.

Ecommerce - Safe and Secure?

One of the most attractive aspects of ecommerce from a buyer’s perspective is that of convenience; total armchair shopping with little or no stress involved and the majority of online payment transactions processed quickly, efficiently and generally trouble free. The phenomenal growth rate of online purchasing has seen website shopping carts become as familiar to buyers as their favourite pair of old slippers.

However, there is a universally recognised rule that for every pro there is usually a con, and the world of ecommerce is not exempt from that rule. Any type of online process or system that is capable of taking payment via credit card is open to abuse by the more unscrupulous and devious elements that haunt the Internet. It is also important to remember that it’s not only credit card transactions that are under threat. Hacking into programmes that hold personal information such as bank account numbers, names and addresses etc, is another area that has a vast income potential for those who would use the information illegally.

Ecommerce security is more a case of prevention rather than cure, and to this end designers are constantly developing new and innovative anti-intrusion solutions into their ecommerce programmes. The use of highly sophisticated encryption software and secure servers are just a couple of the numerous methods employed to keep the uninvited out. And although it’s true to say that at present no system can be guaranteed to be one hundred percent secure or fool proof, today’s rapid advances in software and technology certainly seems to be heading in the right direction.

Despite the occasional horror story about Internet scams and deceptions, online transactions generally remain quite safe, and with many credit card suppliers and major banks now offering to underwrite any financial losses suffered by a buyer as a result of online fraud, an enormous boost of confidence has spread through the ecommerce sector because of what businesses and buyers now see as a win-win situation. However, it shouldn’t mean that the issue of online security has suddenly become a lower priority, and both groups should be very careful of becoming complacent.

Ecommerce is here to stay, and for many it’s already second nature when it comes to shopping. Others may need some more convincing that their money and personal details will remain safe should they ever decide to buy something online. It’s a reasonable and understandable fear, and because of the business world’s ever growing demand for shopping cart capabilities, it’s perhaps the designers themselves that more than most are aware that if their systems instil user-confidence, ecommerce will continue to grow successfully and safely.

Three Top Resources To Keep Your Web Knowledge Present

You're never going to be a total success at what you do until you make a commitment to become excellent at it.

Although I've tried to include as much relevant information in my e-book as possible, I might have missed out something really important! Even if I haven't at the time of writing, things move on so quickly in the Internet world that unless you keep up-to-date with the latest happenings, search engine optimization news and technological developments on a weekly basis, you'll be aiming an old product at an old audience. It'll only take you twenty minutes a week, but it may arm you with the knowledge and awareness to amend a significant part of your business strategy.

Three of the top resources that I regularly refer to are:

WebmasterWorld.com

Webmaster World is dedicated to helping website administrators do business on the Internet. It's basically a massive forum for members to share and gain knowledge of operating and promoting a website. The great thing about the site is that it's maintained by voluntary subscription and not advertising. This means that it's completely independent. Posters aren't even allowed to discuss specific URL's (which doesn't make it as difficult as you may think once you get used to it). Webmaster World describes itself as 'part of your extended site development and process team'.

SiteProNews.com

Site Pro News is en excellent RSS feed, email newsletter and resource site aimed at webmasters. In their own words: 'We are dedicated to meeting the needs of novice and professional webmasters by providing the best collection of software tools, general resources and expert articles available on the Web today. Our mission is to make SPN a one-stop repository of practical information and useful applications for webmasters who are looking to enhance their web sites and/or their understanding of Web business trends.'

WebmasterRadio.fm

Webmaster Radio does exactly as the domain name suggests... brings the Webmaster business community together through an interactive, Internet based radio network. As well as offering streaming audio aimed at website business developers, they are putting together an excellent archive of previous shows. Regular shows streamed and available for download include 'Affiliate Marketing Today' by Commission Junction and 'Power Source' hosted by Yahoo Search.

The importance of keeping your ear to the ground

In addition you need to keep your ear to the ground to become aware of any other new essential sources of cutting edge web news. Be prepared to continually reconsider your business model and test new methods on a regular basis. You may have to invest in cutting edge products like Adsense Videos by Michael Cheney and the Insider Internet Marketing Secrets by Derek Gehl to stay ahead of the rest of the pack.

David Bain is founder of the independent business articles resource, http://www.BuildYourOwnBusiness.biz. BuildYourOwnBusiness offers the latest business news & management advice on how best to build your own business - business articles on Strategy, eBusiness, Change Management & much, much more.

Ecommerce Stores

The Internet opens up so many opportunities for a company to exist and to expand their operations worldwide. It opens up a global marketplace in which people from all over the world can buy and sell goods and services from the comforts of their own homes. The Internet opens up so much opportunity that more and more conventional stores are becoming e-tailors. Everyday more and more ecommerce stores are appearing on the Internet in all countries. If everyone is doing it, then why aren’t you?

Discount Domains is well known in the field of domains and web hosting and we now offer discount web design services. We offer services for static ecommerce stores as well as the dynamic ones. Ecommerce is the process of shopping for what you want to buy and paying for it on the Internet and an ecommerce store allows customers to do just that. An ecommerce store costs less then the average person might think it would, it can run as little as ₤1k to get up and running depending upon the features that are needed. It reduces the cost of operations in many ways.

First off, it reduces some paperwork because the customer enters everything themselves. Instead of an employee writing down or typing the customer’s basic information, the customer enters all of the details themselves. Secondly, it saves on time. An ecommerce store provides convenience for the company and the customer. It can provide a customer with everything they need in front of them to shop around and to make the purchase including whether or not the item they want is in stock. A customer can do this anytime of the day without needing an employee to show them around the store. Thirdly, an ecommerce store could save on overhead. If a company has an ecommerce store instead of an actual physical location then the company can save on things such as rent, inventory costs, some telephone services, electric, and heating services. The company can manage their store from anywhere in the world.

Most people today are using the Internet and having an ecommerce store will take your products and services right into their homes and businesses. An ecommerce store will save many expenses. This savings can be put towards other things that your company needs. Your store will also act as advertisement for new products and services that you want to offer in the future. Based upon the orders that you receive on your ecommerce store, you can decide which products and services to discontinue based upon sales or lack of sales. Your store will help you process orders using credit cards, pay pal, and other payment methods. Your ecommerce store will also bring you new customers you may not have reached with your traditional physical store. The possibilities with an ecommerce store are endless.

We want everyone to find your store so we will design it with this in mind. Discount Domains understands search engines and we build sites that are search engine friendly. We have many designs to choose from and your store will be an original design. We build sites and ecommerce stores that are user friendly as well. Your store will be easy to navigate so that your customers will keep coming back to buy more products and services. We want your customers to go through your store with little or no problems. We will design you a professional ecommerce store according to your wants and needs. Your customers will be able to find you when they need to find you at anytime of the day or night because you will be open 24 hours a day. Your store will never sleep

eCommerce for Import Export Companies

This year, according to eMarketer, one billion people worldwide will have Internet access and nearly 250 million households will have broadband. Although, Asia accounts for 56 percent of world population, but only 10 percent has access to the Internet at present. With the rapid economic development of Asian countries this figure will increase dramatically in the coming years. This ubiquitous presence of the Internet is forcing companies to embrace the Internet as a marketing and sales channel aggressively. Many companies have adopted Internet based technologies to streamline their crucial business processes and benefiting enormously from it.

Import Export companies are no difference! Most export import companies are using the Internet to augment customer base, tap into new markets, research competitors, find new products and evaluate country opportunities. However, many of these same companies are still slow in implementing eBusiness features in their daily business activities and, as a result, fail to garner true value from the use of the Internet. Trading companies – those which are still not doing online business transactions – should follow the examples of their retail counterparts and adopt eCommerce strategies.

According to a recent study conducted by Forrester Research, retail sales are expected to rise 20 percent to US$ 211.4 billion – a two fold increase from only three years ago. Whether you are in exporting or importing business it does not make any difference, by using eCommerce and adding some of the basic eBusiness functions to your website you can also profit from this trend.

Electronic commerce is the process of selling products through the Internet. There are two distinct segments of eCommerce – Business to Business and Business to Consumers. Retailers are mostly involved in B2C and import export traders are often more in the B2B sector. That’s why you need to realize that the components of eCommerce you may need in your website will be based on your business specifics. In general, all eCommerce sites are a combination of some of the following business functionalities:

* An eCatalog so that buyers can browse through the products you have to offer

* Product specification that gives detailed technical and delivery information

* A feature that allows sending request for quote online (RFQ)

* A product order placing system – normally a shopping cart

* Ability to view order status

* Sending a notification if a new product added to the catalogue which was requested by a prospective buyer

* At least one payment method. For small orders you should have a merchant account.

* Purchase order sending ability. Buyers should be able to send PO for the products readily available or the contracts already negotiated with you.

* Billing system should generate invoices automatically

Once you implemented these features there is virtually no geographic restriction on where you can sell your products. If you are an export company you may consider translating your eCommerce site to the language of your targeted market.

This gives you an extra ability to leverage your sales endeavour.

Benefits of eCommerce

Increase revenue: By implementing eCommerce you are opening a new sales channel.

Study shows, a well prepared eCommerce strategy can increase sales from mere 10 percent to several times within the first six month of implementation. There is a possibility that order size per customer will also increase thanks to some eCommerce functionalities like advanced eCatalog, Notification service, order status viewing system and ability to offer related products.

Expand client base: Depending on the exposure of your site, you can acquire customers from every corner of the world. You are no longer confined to any geographic area.

Reach niche market segments: You can market your eCommerce site by pin pointing a specific market segment with the help of the Internet.

Lower operating costs: Your eCommerce site will eliminate or reduce workloads of sales and support force. Marketing on the Internet is significantly cheaper than in offline world. You will also benefit from lower telecommunication costs, losses incurred from document errors, inventory and sales management costs. This will have direct impact on your company bottom line.

Better customer service: The ability to provide decisive information, real time interaction with customers and customer relationship management functionalities allow you to serve your customers better and help increase customer retention.

Enhance your company image: A well-managed, robust and user-friendly eCommerce site enhances positive image of a company.

Are you ready for eCommerce?

Before you implement an eCommerce plan, you need to figure out as an exporter or importer how viable it is for you right now? Are you going to receive the benefits mentioned above? Will the customers from different geographical locations benefit from your new service channel? How critical is a well-described product specification for your customers?

Any company how small or big it is from an eCommerce site no doubt it will benefit immensely. But the question is, are you ready to commit enough time and money to make your new venture successful?

Developing your eCommerce site

Depending on the type of eCommerce site you are planning to build it might take somewhere from three months to over a year.

There are several ways of starting an eCommerce site.

Building in house: You should consider developing your eCommerce site in house only if you have significant experience in this field. In order to build a successful eCommerce site you will need a team of experts in programming, designing, copy writing, and, most importantly, a project manager with the knowledge of your business model, enough technical proficiency and experience so that the system gets developed on time with expected business functionalities.

Outsourcing: There is no doubt that outsourcing is more cost effective and less time consuming for most of the companies. The only thing is you have to choose the organization which will build your site carefully and professionally.

Using web stores: If you are constrained by time or would like to take advantage of eCommerce immediately you can also get eCommerce site from online service providers. These web stores have all the needed functionalities for a true eCommerce site. Some of them are also capable of providing supply chain management and other key business automation abilities. Check out sites like Rusbiz.com

While implementing eCommerce strategy you need to remember that eCommerce just enhances and complements your present business model but the fundamentals of your business remain the same. However, eCommerce with it’s innate flexible nature may open new business horizons for you with all the risk and reward implications

Creating Your Brand Online

A few years ago, ecommerce and the apparel industry may not have seemed like a great match. How could an industry so dependent on the look and feel of its products be profitable selling online? Turns out, the majority of analysts who predicted slow consumer adoption to online apparel shopping were entirely wrong.

In 2005, online apparel sales growth rates exceeded 40 percent according to ZD Net Research, and the industry is arguably the hottest in ecommerce. By executing various tactics in interactive marketing, apparel executives are growing their online stores with more tenacity than ever.

Remember the days when the online portion of your apparel enterprise was an afterthought? That was before businesses realized the importance of the Internet within the apparel purchase process, and prior to the inception of today’s sophisticated ecommerce destinations.

Internet a “must have” advertising vehicle

In just three years, things have changed dramatically. Many of the fastest growing ecommerce businesses are based in the apparel industry, and apparel leaders are gaining customers through innovation and customer interactivity.

Because mainstream apparel consumers are immersed in electronic media on a daily basis, the Internet has established itself as a “must have” from an advertising standpoint, and the statistics show no slowdown in web spending anytime soon.

As such, the “Annual Ad Spending Study: Where and Why Advertisers are Moving Online,” released by Outsell Inc., reported that 80 percent of advertisers include the Internet in their marketing mix. This percentage is expected to increase to 90 percent by 2008.

This year, online marketing spending is expected to increase by 19 percent, which is eight times the 2.4 percent increase expected in TV and radio advertising, and six times that of print adverstising’s expected 3.3 percent increase.

Safa Rashtchy, a senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, also sees blue skies ahead for brand spending online, and says he believes that online media currently receives about 5 percent of total marketing spending, which is up from three percent two years ago. However, he says that online media spending is on its way to a 10 percent share much faster than anticipated.

Rashtchy estimates that online advertising will exceed $55 billion globally by 2010, equaling a 27 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Reeling in online consumers

So where do you market online to reach the widest mainstream apparel audience? The most logical place to start is with search engines. Aim to rank well for bothbrand and product type searches in both natural listings (free traffic achieved by search engine optimization) or paid listings (Google AdWords).

In optimizing your site for natural search, make sure to include descriptive words within static URL strings, for example, www.yoursite.com/mens/blazer/blue/girgino-234.html, as this helps better index your site pages in Google or Yahoo. When sites are better indexed, they typically rank higher in consumer searches. To improve your site, talk to your IT team about changing title tags on pages, including ‘Alt’ tags on images, and raising your keyword density to levels of 7 percent to 12 percent.

It is also important to add new content as frequently as possible, such as seasonal buyers’ guides. By adding new keyword-rich content to your ecommerce store, search engines “see” you as offering a higher level of content quality, and their algorithms will reward you with higher rankings.

Mastering paid search also is a critical aspect of success. Your online marketing team needs to cast a wider net through extensive keyword research. By bidding on terms that consumers are searching for, but on which your competitors are not bidding, your company establishes a competitive advantage.

Also, because the majority of consumers type keyword phrases of three to five words to search for products, it is just as important to bid on “casual blue business sportcoat” as it is to bid on “blue sportcoat.” Executing this strategy will lower your overall cost-per-click averages, and increase the amount of targeted traffic to your ecommerce store.

Tailor and test for optimum results

The level of persuasion and messaging contained within the initial page visited from a paid search listing is a crucial component of the effectiveness of your paid search campaign. These pages are called “landing pages” and need to be constructed with compelling promotions and clear calls to action for the consumer.

The number of poor landing pages that exist in search engines today is astounding. Apparel retailers sometimes pay upwards of 50 cents per click to send someone to a company homepage after someone has searched for, say, “snake skin boots.” Sending a customer to the surface when he or she is drilling down is counterproductive — and a missed merchandising opportunity.

The goal is to make Internet shopping easier for the customer. Construct a landing page to take a consumer to the exact product listing or category page for which he or she searched. If you want to be really aggressive, take them straight to your online shopping cart, pre-populated with the product, complete with pictures, descriptions and related up- and cross-sell items. Test different promotions within different campaigns, and try alternating your advertising copy to gauge which versions provide better CTRs (click-through rates).

To get the most useable feedback from your data, closely monitor your web analytics packages and identify which words are converting more and less frequently and which terms are producing great returns on advertising spend (ROAS). Also, observe your interactive marketing campaigns to determine how they are impacting consumer interaction. By observing trends and behavior, your business can better optimize marketing spending within channels that make better economic sense.

Your online marketing campaigns and your ecommerce store should be vital components of your overall branding and marketing strategy. With a targeted effort to improve both of these areas, not only will your online store generate more sales, but the overall enterprise will benefit by facilitating multi-channel consumer interactions.