Article Contributed by Paul Brooks

Starting an online business is easy. Starting one that is successful and wildly profitable is difficult. Yes there are those inspiring rags to riches stories about entrepreneurs who seem to hit it big over night but they are the exception, not the rule. Making money online is one of the most highly searched topics on the internet today and has been for years.

1. Designing Your Website and Communication Platform

After you have spent the necessary time and energy putting together your business plan and securing the necessary funding for your start up, you are going to need to build a website. (or have someone build it for you) Design the website as if you are the customer. Make the site user friendly with a simple navigation process that is easy to use, fun and unintimidating. Provide a positive online experience backed with excellent customer service. This will convert customers into long term fans and evangelists for you.

Use your site to capture information about past, future and potential customers. Your contact list will become an important and lucrative intellectual asset. One way to do this is to offer an opt-in newsletter. After you get established and have generated a significant list you will use it to generate an obscene amount of revenue from repeat business through ongoing email promotions.

2. Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Naturally you are going to need to engage a web hosting company to provide a server to store your web content. There are lots of multi-solution web hosting companies that provide storage space and even domain name registration, etc. The size and type of web hosting package you choose will be largely determined by the type of online business you are starting. Be sure to do your due diligence before choosing the vender you will use.

You may want to consider engaging the services of a local webhost since they may be able to get your web pages loaded faster than being routed from an international server. Be sure to get references and make sure they are a reliable web host. Verify that they have been providing dependable service for similar types of online businesses as the one you are starting. 

3. Offering Online Payment Methods

Accepting payments on your website is the lifeblood of an online business. Consider offering as many payment options as you possibly can. Your shopping cart needs to be easy to use, hassle free and secure. Again, do your due diligence before choosing your payment processing provider. They need to be dependable and experienced in the kind of business you will be involved in. To enable payments to be made directly on your site, you will need to apply for your own merchant account with a merchant account services provider or you may opt to use a 3rd party payment services provider such as Paypal. 

4. Preparing Your Backend System

If you are using a virtual store, it is crucial that you have a robust backend software system. It will be used to track all of the key information to aid you in making business decisions. These backend operations can include inventory management, reporting systems and credit card processing. There are numerous singular and all-in-one providers that have the ability to provide you with custom-made solutions depending on your needs. Be sure to acquire backend software that provides you with accurate and real-time information. A good solid and reliable backend system enables you to make informed decisions that will help you guide the business as it grows. 

5. Marketing Your Online Store

Frankly, marketing is in some respects the most important aspect of your new venture. It will largely determine whether your venture is a success or not. Without effective marketing you don’t get sales. Without sales, nothing else matters. Many first time online marketers assume that if they have a great product or service and a great website, that they are going to sit back and generate sales. That just isn’t how it works.

• Optimize your website - Using your website to generate interest and to be a proactive part of your marketing campaign requires a high ranking on Google, Bing and other major search engines. That does not happen automatically. The ability to drive visitors to your site through organic search queries virtually always requires search engine optimization (SEO).

• Don’t just rely on search engines to drive sales – The second hard fact of online marketing is that your website will seldom be the main marketing vehicle that generates viewers through organic search. Unless your site is ranked high on the first page of Google and other search engines, you cannot count on your website as a major proactive method of marketing your services.

• Consider affiliate marketing – Affiliate programs can be extremely effective if they are a good fit for your business model and you have profit margins that can support them. An affiliate program pays other online marketers a commission for driving new customers to your website.

Hopefully this information has given you a little food for thought. An online business can be fun and exciting. It also takes some serious planning. Good luck in making your first online fortune.

About the Author

Paul Brooks is a representative of virtual office, virtual number, and enterprise.

To succeed in today’s economic environment, check your ego at the door and embrace a new way of doing business that is about more than what you can control and manipulate.  That’s your ego talking.

The Ego Economy is dead.

Welcome to the We Economy.

This rising tide of the We Economy can lift all of our companies on thrilling waves of positive profits or capsize and drown us in red ink. We choose.

How do you navigate the change and positively succeed at work?

Here are three positive business conversation transformations to have today that say “good bye” to the Ego Economy and “hello” to the We Economy so you will positively profit.

“I did it” becomes “We did it.”

In the Ego Economy, you could afford to get by on what you alone could do. The We Economy requires the creation of partner relationships with your employees, customers/clients, vendors/suppliers and more to generate a profit built on what “We” can do.

How?

Ask your employees, “How would you build a better business?” They are on the front-line of interaction daily. Listen deeply and tap their wisdom. Act to implement.

Ask your customers/clients, “What can we do better?” They bring you their hard-earned money in exchange for your services and products. Listen deeply for themes and respond immediately.

Ask your vendors/suppliers, “What are some best practices you see out there?” Take notes about the one that makes sense for your business and ask your employees what they think and how they would implement it.

In the We Economy, we succeed as we create partner relationships with everyone who touches the business. We do it, not I.

“I already know that” becomes “Please show me how.”

In the Ego Economy, you stayed on top of the change-of-information trickle with little effort. “I already know that” was a reflection of the predictable growth of knowledge.

In today’s We Economy, the info flow is more like a fire hose than a trickle. You as a business owner or leader simply can’t drink from it alone. “Please show me how” replaces “I already know that” to generate more profits. Be teachable.

Your business is your tuition ticket to matriculate in Biz U. You hire people smarter than you in certain areas and learn from them. You cultivate an “always on the learn” environment in which results are shared, graded, and evaluated for next time and do-over’s.

Keep saying, “Please show me how” until it rolls with delight because you’re about to learn something that makes your company more profitable.

“I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps” becomes “We wear loafers.”

In the Ego Economy, we all wore boots and bragged about pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. As self-made men and women, we created it all.

In the We Economy, we wear loafers. In a boot-wearing market, loafers are innovative—more comfortable, easier to pull on and off, with no socks. In the We Economy, you’re comfortable in responding to the changing demands of your partners and learning as you go. You’re pulled onto and off of teams according to project needs, not siloed departments. And who needs socks?

Relating with all who interact with your business and creating new learning generates creative innovation which takes your company to greater profits and higher margins. In an economy of boot-wearing, ego-driven, know-it-all’s, innovators who are loafer-sporting, team-focused, and learning-as-you-do-it have more to say about success than anyone.

Avoid talking about “I” because the Ego Economy is dead.

Instead, start a positive work conversation about “us.”

Welcome to the “We” Economy.

(Wear your loafers.)

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

IKEA Cardboard Camera

Earlier this week a photograph of a mysterious IKEA digital camera crafted out of cardboard took the web by storm. It will be called KNÄPPA, and was designed in collaboration with Stockholm’s Teenage Engineering. Billed as “the world’s cheapest digital camera”, the KNÄPPA …

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Article Contributed by Kavin Matthews

The essence of entrepreneurship is the ability of individuals to take risks of trying something new. Now, if it is with regards to business entrepreneurship, it will have to be those individuals who are trying to establish a new business with some new ideas. Though entrepreneurship is related mainly with business, there is a major difference in being a businessman and an entrepreneur. Usually, an entrepreneur is more of an innovative person who manages a business much better than a businessman.

Importance of entrepreneurship in business

In order to succeed as a business, having entrepreneurship skills is extremely important. So, who actually is an entrepreneur and what are the basic skills that are required of him/her?

Entrepreneurs are bold and more project oriented and believes in innovation. An entrepreneur creates a business out of his own idea unlike the businessmen who in general inherit a business. In case of the entrepreneur, it is the business that works for him.

Entrepreneurship is not only important for the development of a business but is also a vital part of the economy as a whole. They and their work are vital to the growth of the economy and helps in constant up gradation of our living standards. Thus, it is quite obvious that the entrepreneurs help in bettering the business in the process.

Thus, the main idea is that entrepreneurs provide the needed new beginning to the new industries. It helps in development of fresh and new sectors. There are three main roles of entrepreneurs with regards to businesses and these are:

• Planning the business development - Planning the business includes the main architecture of the business. An entrepreneur is that person who envisions and externalizes the structure of the business – the planning. He/she is the one who writes up the whole business plan. The entrepreneur sets the goal the plans that are designed during the start up of a business and this is an extremely crucial point for any business. This also includes the right option through which the business should be financed.

• Researching business prospective and capturing the mass - Entrepreneurs are required to constantly research on how the business is going to evolve and what are the steps associated with it. Just like a sales man, in order to establish the business in the right way and to bring in profits, the entrepreneur is constantly required to research on anything and everything required for the business. These can include recruitment of new employees with high working abilities and skills, raising funds for the developments in the business and so on. The entrepreneurs may choose to hire those individuals who are technically more important for bringing in the development in the business. The entrepreneurs shape and design the business and the marketing strategies in such a way so as to capture the mass.

• Executing what is needed for the business development - The entrepreneurs are not only required to plan and research on the business development. They are also required to execute certain tasks. So, the entrepreneurs are also required to bring in a set of rules and principles so that the functions with regards to the business are carried out in the right way.

So, these are the three main things that an entrepreneur does and this help in development of a proper and successful business. The entrepreneurs fill up the gap between the wants and the needs of the business and also the customers at the same time. Setting up a new business is not at all an easy task. Considering this fact, it can be said that the entrepreneurs are the ones who makes all of these possible.

About the Author

Kavin Matthews is a finance based writer associated with the Debt Consolidation care Community. He has written numerous articles for different finance based websites like on debt, credit, business and debt and so on. For more details you can refer to http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/.

Article Contributed by Suzen Pettit

Not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to join a BNI (Business Networking International) group in my neighborhood, other than the idea of a networking group based solely on the idea of giving and receiving referrals, with none of the froo- froo attached to it, none of the dancing around….seemed so appealing. If you read my last post about my networking group challenges you’ll get what I’m talking about. So when my “Computer Troubleshooter” Rick Van Akin suggested that if I wanted to grow my business I should come to his BNI meeting just to “check it out” I thought, why not?

Little did I know at the time, or perhaps I just wasn’t listening, that the meetings began at 7 AM. AM? I thought he’d said PM. AM??? AM it was, and when I emailed the president to see just how formally attired I needed to be at 7 AM I was bummed out to hear that yoga pants were really not an option, unless of course I was a yoga instructor. I briefly considered switching careers. So I’d be lying if I said that I was ecstatic about attending my first meeting. Grumbling under my breath, I made it to the first meeting with seconds to spare, leaving my daughter to figure out how to get herself dressed, fed and to the school  bus on her own. Third graders can do that in this country, can’t they? Kidding, she’s 11.  Kidding again- she’s a teenager. Much more dangerous than a third grader.

That being said, and much to my surprise, I was blown away by the meeting. Seriously. I filled out an application and interviewed for the group, after my second visit.  You’re only allowed 2 visits before having to decide, and even then there’s an application process.

Here’s my top 6 reasons why I joined the Super 7 BNI and you should join one too:

1. They mean business. And I mean business. They aren’t kidding about giving and receiving referrals. At the end of each meeting members are expected to go around the tables and with everyone witnessing, either offer a testimonial, a referral or a thank you to at least 1 person in the group. No slouchers allowed. Our eyes are all upon you.
2. You are held accountable- In a good way! Members are expected to make it to most of the weekly meetings- only 3 absences are allowed within a 6 month period without obtaining a substitute. It’s a structured group (although we do manage to have fun…). Commitment is expected of the group, and it pays off. If you are perceived as being serious about giving and receiving business referrals, and about satisfying customers that have been referred to you, business leads follow. Performing quality work is an expectation. After all, you need to look at these people in the eye at 7 AM each and every week. Therefore the weeding is taken care of, and a good group will end up with quality professionals who they can feel confident referring to their network. And parents.
3. The motto, originated by BNI founder Ivan Misner is that “Givers Gain”. Who doesn’t love that? Instead of the typical networking and “salesy” philosophy of  “what can you do for me today”, in BNI we switch things up to a much more Buddhist way of thinking, in that if you are always thinking of ways, and of people to “give” business to,  eventually it will come around. And 9 out of 10 times it does. Truly. Try doing it in your own life outside of a BNI and you will prove this to yourself. Give selflessly. It’s Karma, baby.
4. We get to hone our presentation skills: At every meeting folks get an opportunity to give a 60 second elevator speech (hate that term) about what a good lead would be for them that day, and at each meeting the members rotate an opportunity to give a “marketing minute” and a 10 minute presentation where they really get to present their “thang”. Why should someone hire this person? You’ll find out at the 10 minute presentation, and you’ll have a chance to really hone your delivery. Great presentation skill building. Who needs Toastmasters?
5. Only one professional of each profession allowed per group. If you’re admitted into the group, you are the sole financial advisor, life insurance agent, realtor, etc., which obviously encourages referrals.  It’s easy to form strategic alliances and spheres of influences this way. Again, accountability is key however. We’re all counting on quality work being performed as it reflects back on us.
6. We’re out by 8:30 AM with the day in front of us. The funny thing is, most of us have a lot to talk about after the meeting and don’t want to go. If you’re lucky you’ll get into a great group like ours, who really enjoy one another’s company and use the power of BNI to grow our businesses both on site and off.

I’m really happy this great group of professionals allowed me to grace them with my presence. I’ve never looked back,  gladly pay the dues, and in the one short year that I’ve been a member it has helped grow my business exponentially. Who couldn’t use that?

About the Author

Suzen Pettit blogs at http://omaginarium.com/blog/, a site that guides small businesses through the maze of technology to help them grow their online presence with successful SEO.

Article Contributed by OnlineBusinessDegree.org

Just what kind of business are you in that you want to model your professional actions after the greatest cinematic mob story of all time? Well, no matter. The Godfather is chock full of great advice, and there’s lots to learn from the themes of this classic film. Check out the nine best business lessons that we’ve learned from The Godfather, or you might be (metaphorically) sleeping with the fishes sooner than you thought.

Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse

Obviously. One of the best ways to get what you want in business is to tailor your product to your customer’s needs. And this works for managers, too. If you want to incentivize your employees, there’s often a way that you can make your request primarily beneficial to them and the company both. Barring using horse-headed death threats as a strategy, make sure that when you want a certain result, you make the incentive good enough to warrant it.

Trust No One

Whether you’re a bona fide wise guy or not, it’s wise to watch who you trust. That’s not to say that you should be suspicious of everyone all the time, it’s that the only person whose decisions and actions that you can safely rely on are your own. Even being in business with people for years doesn’t mean that you can trust them, but you can trust them to be themselves. And whether you’re running the underground or just the office, that’s another key lesson to learn.

Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

Well, maybe not your enemies. More like your competitors. It’s important to have a good idea the landscape of your market competition, both larger and smaller than you. And when there’s an industry-wide issue that could improve your field, do yourself a favor and be the one to lead the charge to unity. You’ll stand out among your competitors while also improving things for all involved when you’re the one to get a group to band together faster than you can say “five families.”

Patience is a Virtue

Don’t expect for things to blow up for you overnight — it takes time to build a mafia empire strong business. And this advice goes for both rookies and veterans: quality comes from patience, planning, and having a great product.

Always Have A Plan

When you’re running an international crime syndicate, you’ve simply got to have a plan. It’s not profitable to do things willy-nilly, with no discussion or lack of a business model. It’s probably best to avoid a business plan that involves gunning people down in the street, but appropriate foresight, planning, and action can lead to, ahem, legitimate business success.

Learn from Your Failures

Failure happens. Even to mafiosos. Let this fact lead you, and give yourself permission to fail. But also let yourself learn from your missteps, as it’s possible to turn any short-term failure into long-time success. If you lose some guys in a gun battle, or lose money from a dirty double cross, you know how crucial it can be to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, regroup, and move forward. Also, what kind of job did you say you had, again?

Loyalty Matters

One of the most important lessons to take from the Don is that loyalty is key. In this day and age, economic security is a spectre — but it’s paramount to remember never to bite the hand that feeds you. Whether you have a boss or have to deal with distributors, it’s always best to be loyal to your higher-ups and those who depend on you. It’s as simple as this: the better everyone does, the better everyone does.

Respect Must Be Earned

While loyalty is important, respect must be earned. Make sure that you’re commanding respect, and not just because of your great work product. If you act with dignity and put integrity first on your value list, you’ll see how easy it can be to build up mutual respect with co-workers, superiors, and those in other areas with whom you have to work. Additionally, take caution to respect respect: it’s easy to build up, takes time to cement, and can be gone forever in a flash.

Business Is Personal

Tom, don’t let anyone kid you. It’s all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of sh-t every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it’s personal as hell.And there you have it. Michael Corleone said it best, and it’s the honest truth: business is made up of people. People who care, people who create, people who perform, and everything in between. The great thing about a business is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but its parts are people — and those are pretty great, too.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there are more events out there then you can shake a stick at. And every time you turn around, even more events pop up.

For the most part, I’m glad there are so many events because there are many good reasons to attend them. The networking, the learning, the “getting out of your rut and exploring new ideas” and more. But the problem is, how do you decide which events are worth you spending your hard-earned money (not to mention your time) attending and which are the ones you should skip?

Well, I’ve put together 3 keys to helping you determine the right event for you.

1. First — ask yourself why you want to attend this event (or any event for that matter) in the first place. What do you hope to get out of it? Are you looking for business? Joint venture opportunities? To learn a new skill or strategy? To brainstorm some new ideas for your business? To just get away from your office and talk to people who “get it?”

Be very clear and very specific on what you want. Don’t be vague — if you’re vague you’re not going to have enough information to actually make the right decision.

2. Now, take a look at the event. If you’re looking for clients or joint venture partners, are those the people who will be attending? Will it be too small (or too big) for you to be able to do they type of networking you enjoy? If you want brainstorming or masterminding, will the right folks be there for that?

If you’re looking for education, is the event promise a good fit? Do you think you’ll actually walk away with the information you’re looking for?

3. Okay, so if you’ve gotten this far and the event appears to be a good fit, now I want you to take one final look to make sure attending this event is absolutely the right way to go.

If you’re looking just for information and have no big interest in the networking (or you don’t much like to network) is there a simulcast option or a home study course you could get instead? (You can also do quite a bit of networking on simulcast as well.) If you are interested in the networking, is this the absolute best event you should attend or if there a better option? And if this is the best option, should you simply be an attendee or would it be worth your while to upgrade your visibility to a sponsor package?

I’m not trying to talk you out of your decision with this third step, but what I AM trying to do is make sure you’ve thought this through so you aren’t disappointed. There’s nothing worse then spending all that time and money to show up at an event and realize either it’s not what you were looking for OR you should have made a different choice (for instance — you should have chosen a sponsorship option or a simulcast option).

So take a few extra minutes and just make sure this is the right decision for you.

And lastly (but probably most importantly) once you DO decide this is the right event for you, go buy your ticket and make your travel arrangements NOW. Don’t wait — get it done and move on to your next decision.

I received something in the mail the other day that simply made me shake my head. I couldn’t believe just how self-centered this piece of copy was. It was literally all about the company. Why bother sending something like that? Follow me as I transform this all-about-me copy into communication that truly speaks the customer’s language.

Think about the last time you bought a product or service online, that had a substantial positive impact on your work or life in some way. If you were spending a good chunk of change (and perhaps investing a good bit of your time) on that purchase, chances are you did some research first: reading online forums and reviews to see what others had to say about them; contacting them directly with questions and observing how quick and helpful (and polite) their response was; maybe even buying a smaller product or service from them first. All to determine if you could trust this online business to deliver what they promise.

Your potential online clients are no different! They are going to want to know if they can trust you to deliver, too. Here are three specific ways you can work on building trust relationships online, and how each will help your business:

1.     Get to know your customers. 

This helps you more deeply understand what it is they need – making it a lot easier to tell them how what you are selling is going to meet their needs. Find out where they “hang” out, on discussion forums, social networks, etc., and get involved. Don’t just schmooze or try to sell your product right then and there — instead, add value to the conversation. If you are doing it right, you’ll be doing a whole lot more listening than talking.

2.     Connect with your customer on a personal level. 

Let them see you as a person, one who has some things in common with them. People will trust you, and ultimately buy from you, if they feel you are like them. This means being sincere and transparent – not pretending or making something up. If you can’t make that trust connection with one particular person, don’t force it – move on to someone else.

3.     Keep up the trust relationship. 

The relationship doesn’t stop after the sale! Clients who know and like you, and have benefited from what you have sold them, will tell others about you! It will be easy for them to recommend you because they are recommending a trusted vendor, not an impersonal business or product. If you’ve done a good job of providing them with something that makes their job or life easier, they won’t be able to wait to tell someone else!