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What is a Niche Market
What is a niche product? Well, it is defined as a select segment of a larger market. This is a very simple explanation however it is important that you understand it. How can you find a niche product to sell if you do not fully understand what a niche is?
We have listed an example below to help illustrate what a niche is exactly: Market: Skateboards Niche: Skateboard wheels
Seems simple right? Well you are in luck, it is. This is one of the simplest concepts when choosing a product however it is often overlooked.
In addition to a niche market you may hear people talk about a micro-niche market. As you may have already guessed this is just an even smaller segment of the niche market. Again, we have listed an example below to illustrate this point:
Market: Skateboards Niche: Skateboard wheels Micro-niche: Skateboard wheel bearings It's as simple as that.
The benefit to focusing on a niche market rather than an entire market is to be able to focus your time, money and energy on one item rather than several which in turn streamlines your business and will make you more successful faster.
While we are not saying you should only focus on a single niche it is a good idea to start with one and then expand from there.
Writing Listing Descriptions
Writing you listing descriptions is a sort of art form. It takes some research, technique and a certain level of salesmanship. Listings should follow a few guidelines that we have listed below. Each listing will be different based on the needs of the item being listed and your target audience but, for the most part, these guidelines should help you create a listing that sells.
•1. Keep it Clean: Do not clutter your listing up. It is important that the customer can focus
on the item being sold and the important benefits and features you are trying to convey. If
you clutter the listing with complicated patterns, irritating colors or complex layouts you
will most likely create a listing that people will not read and in turn leave to find a more
pleasing listing. Standard colors should apply. Nothing too shocking. Keep the text black
on a white background if possible. This is the preferred color combination for websites
that are heavy with text and should be utilized when creating your listing.
•2. Photo Formatting: The format of your photo can make a difference if they are far too
big or far too small. Try to keep the size just large enough that you can see what the item
is as well as the condition of the item but no so large that it encompasses the entire screen
or takes forever to load. Keep the number of photos down as much as possible but make
sure you have enough to show any details that are needed.
•3. Text Formatting: The text within a listing should be formatted in keeping with the
standard set of guidelines for text. You need to remember that it is important for buyers
to be able to read and comprehend the info you are putting in the listing. For this to
happen you should avoid "special" text formats for paragraphs such as all caps, all bold,
massive fonts, all italics, crazy font colors, multiple font colors, centered text, or any
other formats that are intended for titles and to bring out bits of text. These are not
intended for paragraphs or large portions of text. Keep it formatted as if it were in a
magazine or newspaper.
•4. Text quality: The text in your listing should be written to the highest standard your
ability allows. Do not have typos, misspellings, or inaccurate information. Keeps the
information organized and relevant to the item being listed? Keep the descriptions short
and sweet. Give them the heart of the description not all the extra information that has no
bearing on the item as well (package size, date of purchase, etc.). If the information does
not promote the benefits or the features it is not needed. Eliminate it and you will have a
much sleeker listing.
In short it is good to create a listing that is short, well written, pleasing to the eye, and easily understood. The listing page is your salesperson. It is the face of your company so make it the best face possible.
Choosing A Business Name
Why establish a business name
Having a registered business name allows you to take advantage of many tax deductions associated with a home-based business. Many of those tax deductions are mentioned in the Accounting & Taxes Curriculum section that we will cover a little bit later.
Most manufacturers and dropship companies will require you to be a registered business with a Tax ID before they will work with you.
Choosing a business name
When selecting a business name, consider choosing one that is non-specific (e.g, "Jones Marketing"). A general name will allow you to operate multiple online businesses under that one "umbrella" name. Keep in mind that your registered business name does not have to be your domain name. Your individual sites will have their own specific domain names that don't necessarily need to match your business name. It doesn't hurt if they do match, but it is not mandatory.
Before you register your business name, check to see if the name is available. Check with your local county clerk's office, state department of commerce, or the state tax commission office.
Remember, as part of registering your business, you'll need to have chosen a legal structure for your business, as we already discussed in the previous Choosing A Type section.
What is a DBA & a State Tax ID number?
DBA stands for "Doing Business As." A DBA is also known as a Fictitious Business Name. If you plan to operate under a name other than your own main business name you will want to register it as a DBA.
In addition to registering a business name, you will most likely need a State Tax ID number for your business. Some states allow you to use your Social Security number for your Tax ID number. Check with your local government to find out what is required in your state.
Where to register
Generally, you can register your business name and get your State Tax ID number at your local county clerk's office or the state tax commission.
For a state by state list of web sites where you can register a tax ID number, click here.
At http://www.sba.gov you can find where to register your business for your individual state. Go directly to this list by clicking here.
Assignments
Register a business name with your local county/state and get a State Tax ID number.
Making Sense of Bookkeeping, Accounting, & Taxes
Taxes
Because tax laws can be very complex, we recommend that you work with a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) for handling your home-based business taxes. Many of our clients have also used the services of The Web Tax Center. This Company is made up of a group of accountants who specialize in helping our clients maximize their small business tax savings. They can also set up your business as a corporation if you decide you could benefit from the additional protection and tax benefits that a corporation offers. For more information, visit their site at www.webtaxcenter.com.
Otherwise, check your local listings for a CPA in your area.
Keeping track of your accounting and tax info
One essential step in setting up and running a business is doing the bookkeeping. Knowing your sales revenue and expenses are essential to your success. For example, if you spend $100 on a specific marketing technique in a given month, you will want to track whether that technique was effective in increasing sales. Proper accounting will help you become more profitable.
How to do your bookkeeping
In order to properly keep track of your accounting records, you will definitely want some type of method of doing your bookkeeping. Whether it be through keeping a notebook full of expenses and revenues by hand, or purchasing a program like Quickbooks to assist you, it doesn't matter, just as long as you have some type of accounting procedure. (Check out www.MyFinancialSoftware.com for a great, inexpensive bookkeeping software.)
What to know about doing your own taxes
One date everyone's familiar with is April 15th--"Tax Day". If you decide to file your own business taxes, you will need to file them by that date. In order to take advantage of all the tax write-offs you are entitled to you must have set up your business legally. Refer back to that section if necessary for instructions on how to setup your business legally.
When filing your business taxes make sure you have the proper tax forms. Visit www.irs.gov for more information. Each business structure will have different forms that need to be filed. We recommend that you consult with a tax accountant to assist you in filing taxes for your business. Your local county clerk's office will usually be able to assist you in knowing which forms to fill out as well.
Tax breaks to know about
Saving money with a home business involves learning what tax deductions are available to you. You can learn what deductions are available by contacting the IRS at 1-800-tax-form or online at www.irs.gov. There are also two tax guides that can assist you: #334 and #530. These are home/small business tax guides that you may want to become familiar with.
There are many different tax deductions that you, as a business owner, can take advantage of. Some of those deductions are listed below:
Home business write-offs (e.g., a percentage of your mortgage, phone bills, and utilities).
Your computer equipment or software that you've purchased for business use is also tax deductible.
The money you spent on being a part of the Internet Success Team is also a business expense that is tax deductible.
Assignments
Make sure you've got some type of accounting method that you are utilizing.
Find an accountant that specializes in working with small businesses.
How To Start & Setup Your Business
Welcome to the Business Setup section. Here you'll learn everything you need to know about getting your business foundation in place so that you can achieve maximum results on the Internet. Be sure to review all the information contained in this section so that you can make sure you're utilizing all the tools available to maximize your online success.
The first, and often times most skipped, step to making loads of money will be to get your business setup properly with your local government. This step is extremely important for lots of reasons, but most importantly it will help when tax time rolls around and when legitimizing your business to partners, affiliates, investors, etc.
In this Business section, you'll learn about the different types of business types available so that you can make an educated decision on choosing your own business structure. We'll also discuss coming up with a business name which you will need to have in order to become a legal entity. You'll also need to get together with an accountant to go over tax issues to make sure your business is being properly accounted for financially. Lastly, as your business grows, obtaining additional financing may be an avenue that you'll want to go down to take your business to the next level. In order to get any financing, whether it be from a bank or a venture capitalist, you'll need an effective business plan. So, we'll go over the different elements of a business plan as well.
The last step in this section will be to review our Checklist to make sure that you have not missed anything along the way. So let's get started!
What Is Viral Traffic?
Generating viral traffic is when you do something once, then sit back and watch the fruits of your labor spread throughout the internet like a virus.
Viral traffic is generated from your digital media being "passed on" throughout the net. At least that's the type of viral traffic we're talking about in this book. Traffic from media you create.
Media such as:
- PDF eBooks and Reports
- MP3 Audios
- AVI and Flash Videos
- EXE Software Here's the idea...
You create a PDF, MP3, AVI, or EXE file with some of your best information included. Then you give it away to other marketers along with Giveaway and Resell Rights for them to circulate it.
Tips:
- Make sure the information is in demand by using market research methods. For example, go to ClickBank and find the most popular product in your niche. Take a look at the sales page. Then create digital media based on the same type of information.
- The media you create is going to have a link back to your website or a message that drives visitors to your website or to a page on your website.
- Not all media goes viral, so choose carefully.
Types of Websites
The last thing I want to discuss in this section, is websites. There are three main types of websites available to you for using in an online business. The first is a billboard website or more commonly called a FREE website. These can be found with any major web provider. Basically, you just use their software to build your own insecure site on their server space. I don't suggest using one of these unless it is only used as a way to market and advertise business, driving potential customers to your main site. (Hence the name "billboard" site.)
The second type of website on the Internet, and one of the most popular, is called an e-commerce sales website. This is the type of website you see all the time when you visit a company's online site. This website is designed to offer the company's product or service online, tell the customers about it, and make it easy for them to purchase that product or service directly from the site as opposed to having to call in or order from a magazine or other source. An excellent example of this is the popular company called Omaha Steaks. Omaha Steaks has been around for a long time, and yet, they only sold their steaks through a mail order business. At the beginning of 1999, they set up their own e-commerce website and instantly, that same year, doubled their sales. Why? Because they opened their business up to a huge potential customer base on the Internet - millions of steak lovers across the world.
You can do this as well. You can put up a site to give your customers the option to buy from you, or you can offer free information that will draw them to another site where they can then find out about your core products or services. This is the most straight forward type of website, and one that most people are familiar with.
The third type of site you can utilize online is a portal web site. This type of site is an online "community" of sorts. Think about Yahoo and Alta Vista. These sites are designed to draw people to the site and keep them there for all their online needs such as weather, stocks, maps, traffic, shopping, etc. A portal offers information to its "citizens". A broad "horizontal" portal offers a large range of topics and information catering to "everyone". A narrow "vertical" portal caters to a narrow segment of the market, with specialized information that would be of interest to a smaller range of the population.
As you read on about portal sites, remember that this is not a quick cash generating business. It can take a lot of investment in time and money to get one up and running. However, the potential payoff down the road can be huge. So if a portal site is of interest to you, keep reading. If you are more interested in putting up your sales website and getting cash flowing in the door, move on the next section where I will discuss creating your successful online presence.
WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM IN A PORTAL SITE?
A portal website can be a money maker for you, even if you don't necessarily have a product to sell. The reason for this is that once you have sufficient traffic visiting your site, advertisers to your narrow market segment will pay you to advertise at your portal.
A portal site can also help you become recognized as an industry expert, increasing sales to
an already
established business venture. For example, suppose you are an online business selling scrap-booking supplies. You have a reasonable amount of traffic to your site, but let's face it; there are a lot of scrapbook suppliers out there.
You decide that you would like to create a scrap booking portal site. You can become THE online resource for all the crafters out there that are into scrap booking. You can create forums to
allow people to share their ideas and even images of their finished pages. You can add links to other websites and suppliers, you can include daily, weekly or monthly articles and ideas. You can allow your "citizens" to provide the information for articles and tips.
Think about it. Once you have established your portal site as an industry standard, people will be willing to visit YOUR online store to purchase their products since you are so helpful and knowledgeable about the industry.
And here's the best part, once you have a lot of traffic to your site, advertisers will pay you to advertise to those crafters that are visiting your site every day! By constantly adding information and ideas, you will encourage repeat visitors and establish an "online community" where people who scrapbook can visit often.
So we've talked about how a portal can drive potential customers to your core sales site to increase product sales. What if you don't have a product?
Use your portal site to refer your visitors to the products or services of others. And get a referral fee for doing it! You don't have to take credit cards, ship products, or maintain inventory - simply tell the customers who see you as an expert what is the best "widget" to buy and send them to that site. Then collect the referral fee from the company you just referred them to.
sections you have, the more money you are collecting in advertising revenues each month!
So how do you go about developing a portal site? You have the knowledge and want to move forward to establishing yourself as an industry expert, so what now?
The first thing I would recommend is move NOW. Don't wait. There are people out there that know as much as you do about your industry. You want to move in quickly and establish yourself before someone else does.
Another important element is that to be an industry expert, you can't just rely on the stuff you already
know. Do research! Read and increase your knowledge.
Communicate with people in your industry. Continue to learn as you
enrich your site for others.
Along the same lines of your continuing education about your industry, make sure that your site grows along with your knowledge. Keep your visitors coming back by maintaining a well-designed site with compelling and informative content. This is very important. Your main purpose on the Internet is running your business. So make sure to automate it, and make it as "hands off as possible. This creates and maintains a strong residual income for you.
You can do this in some very easy ways, but you must put the time in now to make this so. Keep your site looking "fresh". Change it often, daily if possible, to keep them returning to learn more. Stay focused and keep your target market in mind
when you publish content. Communicate with your visitors through email campaigns or online surveys to find out what they would like to see added or changed, then do it and make sure to let them know it has been done. If you don't tell them that you made the changes they wanted, they won't come back and take a look. Customers need a little friendly reminder on occasion.
Diversify your income on the portal site by developing products or services that will appeal to the huge base of potential customers that are visiting your site all the time. By doing so, you will have a "built-in" client base for your product or service, AND you will already be seen by them as the industry expert.
So, whether you are building a billboard site, an e-commerce sales site, or a portal catering to a niche in
the market, you still have to do one thing. Build the site! You've heard that cliche statement from the
movie "Field of
Dreams" - "If you build it, they will come." Get started with something! Remember your business plan can
change monthly if needed, but taking action is what will start the flow of success. Now move on to the next
section, where I will discuss the basics of creating that successful online presence through your website.
Some sites create an elaborate graphic as their "navigator" and their visitors must dick on parts of the picture to surf to the various parts of the website. This will only slow your site, and the novelty of it will not outweigh the slow speed.
Above all, make the site consistent. Keep the background color the same for all pages. Choose link and text colors, but don't over do it. You want to keep a feeling of consistency throughout your site, so that your customers will instinctively know that they are still on YOUR site and haven't navigated off to someplace else.
DON'T OVERDO THE COLORS!
Remember you want your website to look professional and appealing. It is not a contest to see how many colors or fonts you can use on your site. Use color to emphasize key concepts or points. Use a specific color to denote your hyperlinks, and perhaps only one or two other colors as highlighting devices. Don't overdo it!
HOME OFFICE
START TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU WILL NEED A WORK PAD AND A COMPUTER
Start your ideal for your business from your ideals and write theam down on your 8X10 scrach pad, Draw your images as you would like theam to appear on your Advertisement, Web Page, or flyer. You do not have to be an artis to get the main ideal!
PRINTER
You will need a printer with a scanner and fax machine ( Fax machine optional) www.LEXMARK.com
BUSINESS CARDS
You will need to order Business cards and a stamp pad with your business information on it, if you would like to have your P.O.Box number on your busisness cards you will have to perchase it before you order cards also, your bussiness phone number and adress should be set up before you order your cards. http://www.vistaprint.com/
P.O.BOX NUMBER
You will need a P.O.box to receive large amounts of mail.
TRANSPORTATION
If you are going to do business deals in your city and state you will need transportation to get to place to place, if you are to pass out flyers or advertisements .
DISTRIBUTION
If you are to do door to door advertisment or street both work.
BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER
You will need a business line in your home office.
STAMP WITH BUSINESS When you order your business cards and your P.O.box
INFORMATION have this information put on a ink stamp so when you have to do a large mailing you will not have to write you information down over and over.
TAX NUMBER
You will need to go to city Hall to get a tax number or check with your city goverment to see where to go.
TWO Dital CAMERAS
You will need a camera to take pictures to download to your web site,also a back up camra in case of camera failer
WEB SITE YOU will need to Go to www.Mysite and get you a Free website to start working on your web, Also they have banner free websites at low prices.
Stapler , file boxes, Rubberbans, index cards , 500 enevelopes, Find you a kinkos or resonable print shop to do print jobs you do not want to do, also the libary has printers that the public can use at 10. a copy.
Writing an Effective Business Plan
What business plans are
A business plan is an outline of the basic idea and direction of a business. It is a process of evaluating a potential business opportunity and then outlining how that opportunity will be pursued.
A business plan brings together the different elements of a business including marketing, operations, human resources, accounting, etc., under a single roof so that all elements can work as a single unit.
A normal, full-fledged business plan that you might present to investors if you needed capital to start your business would be between 20-30 pages long. For your purpose, a 2-5.html minibusiness plan should be sufficient. You don't want to spend 10 weeks putting together a business plan and never get into designing and marketing your web site. The minibusiness plan that you'll want to create will be more like the executive summary portion of a normal business plan; therefore, we will call our minibusiness plan an Executive Summary Business Plan.
Why business plans are important
Business plans are a very important aspect of starting and running a successful business. Is it essential for you to put together a full 20.html business plan in order for you to be successful? No, but an outline of the key business aspects is a very good idea. Some of the major reasons for formulating a business plan are listed below.
1. To give overall direction to your company. - A business plan enables individuals from all areas of a company to come together under a single purpose and function. It is a communicating tool that merges ideas, concepts, goals, and vision. It forces you to define your main purpose and competitive advantage. Without a clear direction that is communicated throughout all areas of a company, failure is imminent. A business plan gets management, investors, and employees all on the same page.
2. To establish goals and checkpoints for your business that keep you going in the right direction. - The reason most start-up businesses fail before the end of the first year is because they are running a business on a dream or an idea. Their goals are to be financially independent, to have some retirement or travel money, etc. Without specific, measurable goals, and checkpoints for those goals, failure is likely. A business plan provides such goals and checkpoints that can keep an organization, whether large or small, moving forward.
3. To force you to do your homework instead of just guessing blindly - Homework--meaning market research, product research, etc. There are millions of businesses out there, how do you plan on competing? Knowing the size of your target market, their characteristics, and their needs, are important questions that a business plan forces you to ask.
4. Business plans are essential if you plan on receiving any type of financing - The first question any potential investor will ask is "What is your plan?" In other words, "Let me see your business plan!" Without a clear and concise business plan, obtaining any type of financing, whether it be from venture capitalists, the SBA, a bank, etc., is impossible. You may get some money out of a wealthy family member or friend without a business plan, but you shouldn't count on it. If you are not seeking financing at this time, an Executive Summary Business Plan should be sufficient.
Outline of an Executive Summary Business Plan
I. Purpose of the plan - Is it to attract capital from investors, act as a guide for the management? Establish goals and checkpoints for your business or some other purpose?
II. Business Description - - What is your business?
What is your mission/vision statement?
What is your product line?
Is it focussed enough? What needs will you satisfy?
How will you compete in the market place? In other words, what's your competitive advantage?
A competitive advantage is what sets you apart from your competition. For example, do you have free shipping, secure ordering, free info that you send out, etc.?
Research your competition in order to determine what their competitive advantages are and then develop your own. Part of your site will be based around your competitive advantages.
III. Market Analysis - What are the current market trends?
What are the specific demographics of your target market?
What characteristics do they possess? How old are they? Are they male or female? Do they have children? What other web sites would they visit and shop at? Who are your competitors?
IV. Development and Production - How will you fulfill your objectives?
How will your web site be built and who will build it?
Who will manage, make changes and updates to your web site?
Who will manufacture and ship your products?
Who will cover shipping costs? How long will it take for the products to arrive in the hands of the customers?
Who will handle returns? How will customer service issues be resolved?
V. Marketing Activities - What's the overall marketing strategy? How will you target and market to your customers?
This is where you will outline the specific marketing tactics you plan on using for promotion of your business. (We'll cover over, You may also want to include a timeline for applying those marketing strategies. Additionally, you may include your sales projections. In other words, how much traffic and sales revenue do you expect during the first year on a month-to-month basis? What will happen in the second and third years?
VI. Management Team - Who are the key owners and managers? What are their credentials?
As your business grows, will you need to hire employees to fill certain positions? What are those positions and what credentials will you be looking for?
What is the legal structure of your business? Will you form an LLC, a corporation, or will it be a partnership or sole proprietorship?
What support services will you be outsourcing? (accountants for taxes, Internet Success Team, Internet Coaching Hotline, etc.)?
VII. Financial Data - What are the costs of starting your business? What will the future costs be? For example, did you buy or will you buy a new computer?
Are you paying for web site design and advertising (Internet Success Team costs?) What are the future financial projections and how did you come up with them? (This information will be helpful when you go to do your taxes. You may want to put together an Income Statement that shows all the expenses and future financial projections.)
VIII. Final Objective and Risks - What's the long-term goal of the business? Do you plan on going public, will you grow it and then sell it? Will you expand into other businesses? Explain your future plans with your business here.
The main keys to a successful business plans
Specific keys to an effective business plan are outlined above. In summary, though, be sure to remember these 2 important keys to a successful business plan:
Develop clear competitive advantages and know who your target market is.
Outline a specific marketing plan with details such as timelines and when each strategy will be implemented.
Articles with great business plan information
AmericanExpress.com's Small Business section has one of the best business plan outlines on the Internet. Go to http://www.americaexpress.com/ and click on Small Business. You'll find the outline in the section labeled Create an Effective Business Plan. To go there directly, click here. AllBusiness.com has some great information and articles that explain how to develop a business plan. Browse their website by clicking here. The Small Business Association also has a good business plan section. Go to the business plan section of www.sba.gov by clicking here.
Hot business plan products and software
Business Plan Pro is a great software program that will take you step-by-step through building your business plan. It costs $99.95 and can be found at http://www.paloalto.com/ or at www.businessplanpro.com. BizPlanBuilder is also a great software program that will assist you in putting together a business plan. It also costs $99.95 and can be found at http://www.jian.com/ Click here and then on BizPlanBuilder to read more about it. Nolo.com has a lot of great information and software for small business owners. Their Business Plan Pro, at $99.99, is a great software program for developing a business plan. Visit www.nolo.com and under Software click on Business Plan Pro.
CHOOSE YOUR BACKGROUND WISELY
Not all computers "see" color in the same way. What may look great on your computer, may not even be readable on someone else's. Brightly colored backgrounds may drown out the text making it nearly impossible to read. Some people may have the colors on their computer set to a lower setting than you do, so make sure to use simple colors if you are going to use a colored background. This way, you will get the proper results on the greatest number of computers.
MAKE SURE YOUR FILE NAMES MAKE SENSE
The file names for your website pages will show up in Search Engines, bookmarks, and browsers. Make sure that the names you choose for your pages are description and make sense. You dont want someone to bookmark your page and then wonder later what www.abc.com/pagel was and why they book marked it in the first place. Use a description that will explain what the page is.
Suggest that your visitors bookmark your site. This increases repeat visits. Do this at the beginning of your sales message or site, and then again later on. Making this suggestion, will remind people to visit again.
YOU DON'T NEED FRILLS
Your sales copy will be what sells your product, not spinning logos or elaborate Java script. Use these "fancy" features wisely. They increase your site's download time and can be distracting to the customer. The information on your site is going to be what will influence the customer, not flashy graphics.