small business management

Can you build an online home business without a monetary investment?

You see it all the time: Ads such as, “FREE HOME BUSINESS”, “MAKE A PROFIT WITH NO COST TO YOU”, etc. You see these claims in emails and on websites all over the Internet. You see them in your local newspaper and in magazines. Are all these ads just a bunch of lies, or can you really build a home business without a monetary investment? I believe the answer to this depends on a couple of different factors. 1) Is the person seriously trying to build the business and, 2) What are the resources being used to build it.

Let’s look at the first factor – YOU! (No, I am not picking on you.) What type of person can build a business without investing any money? He will have to be a self-starter. There will be no boss looking over his shoulder to make sure the job is being done. He also must be dedicated and have a strong commitment to succeed. Trying to build a business this way is going to take much time and patience. There may be many hours of sitting in front of a computer submitting websites or placing ads in his immediate future. He must have “stickability”. He must decide what he is going to try to build and stick with it. He can’t be jumping from one “sure thing” to another.

The second factor we should look at is the resources being used. Building an online business using free resources can be a very time consuming experience. I have read several testimonials from people who have done it, so I know it is possible. Success mainly boils down to this: having the time to do the research on the many free online resources, and then doing the necessary work required in putting them to good use. Let’s take a look at a few of these free resources and see if they really work.

The Internet offers a wide variety of free resources available to a person trying to build an online business. From free web hosting & html tutorials, to free affiliate programs & advice (some good and some bad).

1) Websites:
a) If you are going to have on online business, you are going to need a website. Various companies offer free web hosting. Normally in exchange for this service, you will have to agree to some type of advertising on your site. Many of these sites will also have certain restrictions of what you can and cannot do with your site.
b) Many of these same free web-hosting companies will also offer a website builder. These WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are easy to use but are limited in what you can do with them. They do allow you to get a website up and running without learning html.
c) HTML: Learning HTML at first will seem almost impossible. What did you think the first time you looked at the source for a webpage? My first thought was “You’ve got to be kidding!!” Actually, there are many sites on the Internet that offer free tutorials that are perfect for the beginner.
d) Drawbacks: Many free websites are very plain and to be truthful, most people don’t take them serious for a business. Look at it this way: You are given two choices of locations to go out for dinner. The first one is a nice but affordable, sit down restaurant while the other is a guy cooking on a hotplate on a street corner where the only seat is the nearest fire hydrant – which one is going to look more professional to you?

2) Products:
a) If you are planning to sell some type of product on your site, you are going to have to find a place to get these products. There are a lot of companies that will “drop ship” their products for you. It’s really simple: You sell their product on your site, you collect the money from your customer, you place the order for this product from your supplier and they package and ship the product straight to your customer. Most of them will even show your company name as the return address. You pay your supplier the wholesale cost of products sold and you keep the difference between the retail prices you charged your customers.
b) Affiliate programs go beyond the drop ship companies. You promote their products, the customer clicks on your link to purchase the product and the affiliate company will handle the payment, ship the order, and send you a commission check.
c) Drawbacks: Making sure your supplier has the product readily available when your customer is ready to purchase.

3) Advertising:
a) There are tons of places online that you can place free classified ads. Simply do a search on your favorite search engine and you can spend days submitting ads all over the Internet for your product or service.
b) Search engines: Getting your site listed in the major search engines is a must. But once you get them listed, will anyone know you’re there? Think about your own search habits. When was the last time you searched through more than a few pages of results to find what you were looking for? Optimizing your website to get high search engine rankings can be a VERY time consuming affair. There are many resources available to help, but it still requires a lot of time.
c) Traffic Exchanges: You can join one or more of many different free traffic exchange programs. Simply put, you click on other websites to earn credits. When you earn credits, you site is listed on the site and some one else will click on your site to get their credits.
d) Drawbacks: Free advertising can and does work but it will cost you a lot of time in the process.

In conclusion, I would say that yes, a person can indeed build an online business without a monetary investment. But going into it with some foreknowledge of the necessary personal characteristics, process and time investments can aid you in being successful. Be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time. Search out many free programs and make decisions wisely. Even though the program may not cost you money, it will cost you time.

One last recommendation if you are considering trying this method: when you begin to see a profit, immediately invest a percentage of that money back into your business. You’ll soon start to realize that many of the necessary business-building routes become shorter when you buy resources rather than rely solely on the free ones. Your business will still have not cost you anything “out of your own pocket”, as you’ll be utilizing your first profits made from your time investments.

About the Author

Craig Binkley – husband, father and home
business owner assisting in the restoration
of the “traditional” family.
http://www.bornagainbargains.com

More Cheap Tricks for Promoting Your Business

In a recent article, I shared five of my top 10 favorite tricks for promoting your business without spending much (or any) money. Several readers wrote and said they enjoyed the first five tips, so I’m hoping the next five will be just as helpful.

There’s nothing like getting valuable exposure and new clients for your business without spending a dime (or perhaps spending just a few). Here are five more of my favorite tips for doing just that.

1. Submit an article to a business magazine or newsletter. Chances are there are lots of publications out there that are geared to your target audience. For instance, I receive numerous publications about marketing, communications, and running a business. These types of business publications are almost always looking for articles and information that will be valuable to their readers. And most of them welcome articles that are submitted by experts in the field (i.e., people like you). If you’re not already, familiarize yourself with the publications that your target audience reads, such as those published by trade associations or your local business newspaper (many are found at www.bizjournals.com). Then start pitching articles — not only will you get exposure in front of those who read the publication, but you can send copies of your article to clients and prospects. (For specific tips about how to write publishable business articles, see the August 2004 issue of my newsletter, “Marketing Tips from The WriteShop.” It’s available at www.writeshoponline.com/newsletter_writeshop.shtml.)

2. Advertise in local, low-cost venues. If your business is local or focused in a specific community, don’t waste your time and money with advertising that reaches audiences much larger than your target. For instance, advertising in a large metropolitan newspaper is unnecessary if your target audience is actually located in two or three suburbs of the metropolis. Instead, consider low-cost advertising venues, such as high school football programs, alternative newspapers or community newsletters. They’ll be more tailored to your target audience and will be much easier on your budget.

3. Keep in touch with customers via e-mail. Convenient, easy and virtually fr*e, e-mail offers powerful marketing opportunities. If you don’t already, start collecting customers’ e-mail addresses (with their permission, of course). Sending e-mails too frequently can annoy your customers and be counterproductive, so don’t take advantage of the medium — but using it wisely can be an effective, inexpensive way to keep in touch. Clients will usually be glad to hear from you, especially if you’re using e-mail to send information that is valuable to them, such as announcements of special events, discount offers, helpful newsletters, or articles that interest them.

4. Network, network, network. We’ve all heard that it’s not what you know that matters; it’s who you know. Simply getting to know people is possibly the least expensive and most valuable activity you can undertake to help promote your business. If your business is local, attend networking events in your community, many of which are cheap or even fr*e. (Check your newspaper’s business section for listings.) And don’t be stingy with your network — when you have two acquaintances who could do business together, introduce them to each other. When you share your contacts, you simply broaden your network and others will be more likely to introduce their own contacts to you.

5. Ask for referrals. We all love to get referrals, because they often bring business — or at least interested prospects — with little, if any, effort from us. But referrals are few and far between if you simply wait around for them. Instead, those who really want to succeed in building word-of-mouth business must develop a referral system. When you’ve pleased a client, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. You’ll get more success if you explain clearly what type of clients you’re looking for. And when clients refer you to their friends or contacts, be sure to thank them appropriately. For instance, one of my clients, a carpet cleaning company, asks every customer to refer their friends and neighbors. When those friends turn out to be clients, the company sends the referrer a coupon, which is redeemable for cleaning services or cash. That way, everybody wins — the new customer, the old customer, and of course, the carpet cleaning company.

About The Author

Nancy Jackson of The WriteShop helps companies better market their products and services with powerful communications including newsletters, articles, Web content, brochures and custom publications. Subscribe to her free monthly newsletter at www.writeshoponline.com or e-mail info@writeshoponline.com for a free quote for marketing communications services.

Filed Under: Marketing Advertising Tagged With: small business, small business management, Web hosting Management

Crazy Ads? Maybe You’re Just Out of The Demo!

My father called me to complain, again. He’s 82 and he’s angry. “Son, I know you’re in advertising and all that”, he usually starts off, “but the ads I see today I wouldn’t give you two cents for. They’re stupid and they don’t even tell you what they’re selling!”

I explained it to him as best as I could. “Dad, it’s OK, you’re just out of the demo.” “I’m out of the what?” “The demographics Dad, The key target audience for who they’re trying to reach.” “Well then who in the heck are they trying to reach?” He yells. “Must be boneheads cause those ads make no sense to any sane person.”

Whether it’s a beer commercial trying too hard to be funny, or like a recent FedEX commercial where Burt Reynolds sparred with a grizzly bear, I gotta admit that sometimes, Dad is right. I’ve been in the ad business for quite awhile now and know that in today’s world, it takes a lot to get a business noticed. However I can’t help laughing to myself when watching these ads, imagining the initial pitch to the client.

Secretary: Boss, those ad agency guys are here. Boss: What? Are they on the calendar? (disgusted) Oh all right, send them in. Young ad guy #1: Hello sir, and how are you today? Wow! That tie is whacked! Boss: It’s what? Never mind. What have you got for our new ad campaign? Young ad guy #2: Oh this is so cool! Check out these story boards. Boss: (looks at the story boards puzzled, eyebrows creased in confusion). Young ad guy #1: OK there’s no voice over at all! You just see a guy waking up in bed. Next, he rolls over and he realizes that he’s in bed with the Burger King! Boss: He’s what?? Young ad guy #2: Yeah! And then the Burger King, who’s really this actor wearing the Burger King costume and a big plastic face with a frozen smile, reaches around and produces a Double Breakfast Crosandwich and hands it to the man who takes a big bite of it. Boss: (Now his eyebrows look like one unibrow as his cheeks glow red.) Young ad guy #1: Then they both share a laugh, pat each other on the back, and we fade to logo! Is that wild or what? It’s going to generate huge numbers man! Boss: (Stunned then angry) I thought I told you guys to quit putting crack in the water dispenser!

See the problem facing advertisers today is the pressure to relate to the 18-34, 25-44 demos they so desperately need to reach, so they try anything they think will accomplish this and as a result, many people out of those key demos, don’t get it. However, it dawned on me after my most recent birthday that sadly, I too have joined those ranks. So now when I watch an ad that even from my experienced perspective seems to make no sense at all, I just remind myself it’s nothing personal. I’m just out of the demo.

Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, voice over talent and producer, as well as owner of The Eisenberg Agency, a full service advertising agency specializing in creative ads that get results. You can visit his web site http://www.eisenbergagency.com. Contact Hal at halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

Filed Under: Marketing Advertising Tagged With: small business, small business management, Web hosting Management

Business Events to Increase Profits

Business events can help small businesses to generate additional income. Besides the fact that an event requires a lot of planning and organizing as well as the business has to invest money without knowing how much of that investment will make it back into its bank account.

So is having a business event really worth all that effort? The answer is very simple. Yes, events are a good way to further increase business profits.

A business event offers a great opportunity to get clients and potential clients together. The real benefit of this approach is that your marketing message gets for sure delivered and that you can even talk to customers in person to explain your products functionality and to answer instant questions. If you do regular marketing you will not have this advantage. You do not even know if people read your marketing message. With an event you are much more in control.

You can also present yourself as an expert in your field as a speaker or get somebody that you know would be of interest for your clients. Imagine Donald Trump showing up on your real estate investment workshop to hold a speech. I know, this is probably too expensive to become real but you get the idea.

If you think big, you might turn your event into something that people think they have to attend and that they will miss out on something really important. Create the need to attend and you can even charge for admission. Motivational Speaker events with 5 or 6 celebrities speaking are those kinds of events.

Holding an event might not work for every business, but it is certainly a very powerful tool to attract new clients and to help turning customers into return-buyers.

An event does not have to be for large audiences only. A small event catering your best customers can be important for your business/customer relationship. Imagine the exclusive remote hotel in the mountains as the location for your event. The customers will feel special about the treatment they receive and where shall they go besides your event meetings? The customers will spend the day at your seminar giving you the opportunity to build better relationships with them. Better business relationships with customers will mean increased profits in the long run.

About the Author

Christoph Puetz is a successful entrepreneur and international book author. Christoph lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Filed Under: Marketing Advertising Tagged With: small business, small business management, Web hosting Management

Article Marketing still a good way to gain links and exposure?

Writing articles and publishing them on different article websites like Ezinearticles.com or GoArticles.com was a great way to build back links to your websites. However, it seemed like that Google is putting the foot down on this way to promote your website. It made the impression that this is no longer a good way to get the word out about your website. I did do some research on keywords one of my website is being found for and to my surprise the #1 spot in Google belonged to an article published on EzineArticles.com. My website was found further down – ranking #5 for a similar article (unique content). I reviewed the EzineArticles article and it was available on several other websites. So, Ezinearticles.com still seems to carry to some valuable power and if you are trying to promote your website it might still be worth doing so with article writing.

However, the one thing I would recommend – write your articles specifically for the article websites. Don’t publish it on your own websites. Give EzineArticles.com and the other article websites a unique version and with a little luck you might have a #1 spot in Google and from there get a good link back to your website and receive good, targeted traffic as well.

What is article marketing at all? Article marketing establishes yourself as an author. You write articles and publish them on the Internet in different ways. Goal can be to either become an authority in your field or to allow others to re-publish your articles with the idea that they also have to link to your website. This would be considered SEO or search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is done to rank your website well in search engines and to gain natural traffic for your website.

Filed Under: Marketing Advertising Tagged With: small business management, small business marketing, starting a small business