Archive for November, 2008

Low Cost Methods For Creating An Online Presence

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Are you running a small business that needs to setup a website? Maybe you own a toy store, an insurance brokerage, or work as a freelance photographer from home? Irrespective of the type of business that you have, if you have been wondering how you can use the Internet to augment your business presence and attract more clients, then read this article prior to going out and spending money on a web design company to put together a site for you.

Whilst it may not be your core business, it pays to educate yourself a little bit first before you spend any money. This article will provide you with a foundation of web marketing before you go out and hire someone to put together a website for your business so that you aren’t uninformed. It will also coach you about a number of things you can do yourself, which you may take the option to do by yourself and save you the cost of hiring someone else.

Blogs As An Alternative to Websites

If you have the inclination to provide regular news and updates relating to your business, you might consider establishing a blog instead of a website. A blog functions like a diary, and each entry is time and date stamped. Here is a blog about finance as an example. See how each post is dated and note the optional peel away ad in the top right hand corner of the page. You don’t need to have any knowledge of html or programming to use a blog. Once installed, you just login to a control panel interface, write out what you want to say into an entry field, and click “Publish”.

Blogs are also very easy to setup. You might even try your hand at creating one yourself. You can get very cheap cPanel webhosting these days beginning at $4.95 p/mth. cPanel hosting comes with a system called Fantastico, which allows you to install a blog with just a handful of mouse clicks. A decent hosting provider should be able to assist you to install your blog as well, even if you have very limited knowledge. After all, they want your business.

Web 2.0 Content Sites

An alternative method to get the word out about your business without the need to create a website, is to put together a free page on one of the numerous Web 2.0 content sites such as Hubpages.com and Squidoo.com. The following is an example Squidoo lens reviewing Success University. These are even easier to setup than a blog as they require no technical knowledge whatsoever, leaving you to concentrate on your content and saying what you want to say to your target audience. Pages on Web 2.0 content sites also frequently appear very high in the search engine results, enhancing even further the means by which more people can discover your business and what you have to offer.

Social Networking Sites

MySpace, Linked In and Facebook are amongst the three most trafficked social networking sites. As with the Web 2.0 websites, social networking sites are also based on pre-coded templates and styles, removing the need to have any knowledge of html and allowing you to save the funds you might have otherwise invested with a web design company and invest that somewhere else.

Search Engine Optimization

Having now installed either a blog, or setup a Social Networking or Web2.0 page, the next thing is to make sure that your page obtains a high profile in search engine results, and therefore sending greater traffic and increasing the number of people who become aware of your business. This is where Search Engine Optimization, comes in. Don’t be daunted. You can learn about SEO by taking a loan of a book from your local public library or investing a little time researching it online. There are a tonne of free websites containing information on SEO, in addition to paid membership websites like Portal Feeder that will allocate you a mentor to assist you with your SEO knowledge and website creation efforts. There are some really basic steps that you can take that will boost the presence of your site and send visitors to it.

Make Money Spending Time with Your Daughter

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Make Money Spending Time with Your Daughter

Joan loves spending time with her three daughters especially since she is a single mom. She hates going to work each day and being so tired at the end of the day. It often makes her short with them. The money she makes at her job is minimal and hardly seems worth it. Especially around the Christmas season!

One evening she was watching her daughters play with their favorite fashion dolls and knew what their presents this year could be - doll clothes. The next day on her lunch hour, she went to a local store and picked up a few material remnants and took them home. After the girls went to bed that night, she spent the next couple of hours making doll clothes. She had so much fun doing it because of all the memories that it brought back of her childhood. The next day, she went back and bought more remnants. She spent two hours each evening after the girls went to bed making clothes. At the end of the week, she has a nice collection of fashionable clothes for each girl’s doll.

She didn’t think about it again until after Christmas when her girls had their friends over to play. They had brought their fashion dolls too. All of the little girls wanted to use some of the clothes she had created for her daughters even they had gotten new clothes for their dolls!

Now Joan spends her time at home with her daughters instead of working. Together they create new designs and spend their weekends going to the local flea markets. While her daughters sit and play with dressing up their dolls, she takes care of the customers. She no longer has to work a job outside her home!

–You Can Do This Too!

This is one of the most economical ways to stay at home and make money since the startup costs are very minimal especially if you already own a sewing machine. Fabric remnants make the perfect material for fashion doll clothes. Because they are remnants, they are also very cheap even for the finest of fabrics! Since dolls don’t go out into public, you can also get as creative as you want with the costumes!

Other things you might need are small snaps for closures, threads to match your materials and a couple of patterns. One good free source of patterns is on the Internet. Many Web sites offer free fashion doll patterns.

You do not need to limit yourself to just sewing. Fashion doll clothes can be done in crochet and knitting too! You will find lots of free patterns on the Internet. Just make sure that you do not use copyrighted material for your sales unless the owner of the pattern gives you permission. That does not mean that you cannot alter the pattern making it into your own pattern. Let your creativity flow and make some changes. It will end up being something completely different from the pattern that you borrowed!

–Ways To Market Your Products

Flea markets offer a great outlet for your fashion doll clothes. Setting up a table can cost as little as $25 for the day. If all goes well, you should make your investment back in a few hours.

Another way to sell your doll clothes is by placing a small ad in your local newspaper. These ads are usually very cheap (sometimes only $5 or $6). Some smaller papers also offer free ads so look into all of your newspaper options.

Make up some business cards if you have a computer. Some office supply stores carry business card stock that you can put through your printer. Include your name and phone number and email if you have it so people can contact you easily. Give one to everyone you come in contact with.

If you have kids, tell them what you do. You can be sure they will go home and tell their mom. Before you know it, you may be making a special gift for a little girl’s birthday or Christmas.

Also if your kids go to a girl’s birthday party, make an outfit for them to use as their gift. Include your business card with the gift.

Resources

–Free Sewing Patterns for Fashion Dolls–

http://www.perestroika.ca/html2/free_patterns.php

http://dollmakersjourney.com/free.html

http://chip-smitley.tripod.com/historyofthedoll3.htm

Make Cash With Master Resell Rights - Three Ideas For You

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

When you purchase a product with Master Resell Rights you get the right to sell the products to your customer. Resell Rights (ie. Without the word “Master”) have limited rights. There is much more power in having Master Resell Rights. I am listing 3 ways that you can make money with Master Resell Rights.

Method #1 - Sell the product as it is

You can simply sell the product as you normally would without any resell rights. This allows you to keep the market for the product under your control. You will be sure there is not a huge group of people out there selling the same product as you. This allows you to get a good hold on the market. You may decide later to go ahead and try another method where you start selling the resell rights as well.

Method #2 - Sell the resell rights to the product

Instead of just selling the product you can sell the resell rights. This method will get you more profit. You can charge more because the person buying the product will now also be able to make money off of the product. If it has resell rights, people are usually willing to pay a higher price.

Method #3 - Offer package with Master Resell Rights

You can also package a group of products and sell them as a package with Master Resell Rights. You can sell the right to resell the product along with the Master Resell Rights. People will be willing to pay quite a bit for a package deal like this. You will see a great response for this item, so be prepared to make some amazing sales.

Master Resell Rights allow you to try out many different sales methods. Always find out if Master Resell Rights works for your product or not. You may even find that you want to try all the methods and that is fine. The bottom line is that you should have no problem selling the product and the resell rights because there is a great market out there for products like this.

This should be included with the sales invoice or receipt so that there is no confusion about the usage rights the customer has purchased.

Drop Shipping - What Is It?

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

For any newbie or any person wishing to get started making money online, drop shipping is the best way to go. Mainly because of the very little upfront capital that is required and the fast response you have to generating income.

Once you have found your Drop Shipper and you are ready to start, usually the next step is to sell the items on eBay .

Electronics Drop Shipper

In relation to what you need to sell when starting out as a drop shipper there are three different thoughts around this.
• The first option is to research the industry and determine what is selling, find a high demand item and then locate a drop shipper that sells the item.
• The second option is to sell something that you are familiar with . If you are familiar with what you are selling you’re more likely to do whatever it takes to be successful.
• The last option is to sell whatever is going to make you money; this is something that we are all striving for .

No matter which scenario you chose, when you start looking for a Drop Shipper, you should look for a company that drop ships exclusively or a drop shipper that has a members area which requires you to join before gaining access to their wholesale prices.

The reason for this is if anyone has access to the wholesale prices then the Drop Shipper is going to be saturated with competition that you don’t want.

Drop Shipper
It is suggested to start out with a item to sell that is easily sold.

You want to know how many competitors you have and what techniques they’re using. Selling products on the internet is quite easy, especially with auction sites such as eBay. Anyone can go and list an item.

If there is any difficult part to this business model it is getting the merchandise delivered – so make sure that you test out your Drop Shipper before using them for business . You want a good shipping rate and delivery time frames etc.

Always remember that you are a online retailer and you should not just sell merchandise but also add value to your online business. Offer product reviews, have industry articles that relate to your products etc. A customer will respect you if it seems that you have a strong understanding of the products that you are selling.

Drop shipping is simply just an arrangement between you and your supplier in which you sell the products and the supplier ships them to you customers.

Video Game Drop Shipper

Make Money Saving People Time

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Make Money Saving People Time

With the current economy, most families have both the father and mother working in order to maintain their household. Time is at a premium and there is never enough of it to accomplish all they need to. Bachelors often work long hours just to maintain a certain lifestyle.

This way of life requires skipping on little chores that don’t matter so much or putting them off until the last minute. That’s where you can come in especially if you are a stay-at-home mom!

You already have to do your families’ laundry, why not capitalize on it by helping others get their laundry done? The main investment for this type of business will be your time and the returns you will see in profit and people’s happiness can be great.

-How to Get Started

The best way to get started with your Laundry Pick-Up And Delivery Service is by creating some bright colored flyers. This can be done on your home computer with MS Word, Publisher or a similar program. Some of these programs will even add the little tabs for people to pull off to stick in their wallet or purse. Print some of the flyers on your home printer (or take them to a printing service which is a little more expensive) and take them around to places like the local gym, grocery stores, beauty salon or barber, local convenience stores, etc.. Make sure the flyer indicates that you pick up dirty laundry from people’s homes, and deliver it cleaned and pressed. Add your phone number and other contact information to make it easy for them to reach you. You may want to have an answering machine or similar service to take calls when you are not available, but make sure you call people back right away!

-The Little Details

You do not have to wash all of the clothes yourself, although you may want to do so in the beginning to maximize profits. After your business is established, you can pick up the clothes to be washed, and take them to a commercial laundry (who will do the actual work). You can then make the delivery to the customer once the clothes are cleaned and pressed.

-Pricing Your Services

Figuring your fee is fairly simple. If you call a local laundry and see what they charge for drop-off service, you will know the approximate beginning cost. Should you decide to do the laundry yourself, you will need to add in a small fee for your supplies (detergent, fabric softener, fabric spray or starch for ironing). You will also want to add a dollar or two for gas for the pickup and delivery service.

Once your price is set, only give discounts for steady customers or individual who have you do large amounts of laundry (and then only allow a 10-15% discount).

Once word gets around about your great new service, you may not need to advertise anymore. You may have more customers than you can handle!

Helpful Resources:

http://www.sba.gov/

http://www.businesstown.com/gettingstarted/index.asp

Make Big Money Installing Custom Putting Greens

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Make Big Money Installing Custom Putting Greens

Golf is a big game. With big names in the sport over the years making names for themselves, everyone wants to play. It’s a game of skill, demanding that the player uses the right club, and hits the ball correctly, depending on variable conditions such as the weather, the landscape and what deal he is trying to break.

The moneymen and women of America play golf weekly, some even daily and the golf course has been for many years an extension of the boardroom. For those new executives who don’t play golf, however, there’s a lot of practice to be put in to the ‘putting’.

Advances in technology however have provided the golf training aid market with the ultimate in affordable semi-portable synthetic putting greens. This is one of the fastest growing segments of the golf industry - a $5.9 Billion industry. Although in the past sand-filled polypropylene greens have been used, they are difficult and costly to install. Hi-tech greens are made from nylon, which has the advantage of “memory”. The fibers of this synthetic grass will “remember” where they were before being swept at or trodden on. Maintenance is minimal with the nylon putting green.

Different sized greens naturally command different prices; these are tailored for the buyers available space and budget. Starting price is around $300, and suppliers of putting greens have opportunities for dealers and installers across the country. For instance the ‘All Pro Putting Greens’ suggest that a daily net income of $400-$1,000 PER DAY is possible simply by selling and installing their kits. You can visit their site at the link above to register with them. Meanwhile, if you are more interested in investing in a distribution deal, visit Synthetic Turf International whose Distributorship investments begin at $7500. This company will supply you with a wealth of promotional material and demonstration equipment, as well as potential customers in your area.

Remember, this is a market teeming with money. Taking advantage of the greens simple installation procedure will increase your income in this field. Simply describing the greens as “requiring installation” will encourage your buyers to pay you extra to install them. Your Middle American customer base wants to improve their golf and meet their colleagues and superiors on the golf course - and need this product to get them there.

Installation isn’t by any means complicated. However if the user has a garden installation in mind, some rudimentary garden landscaping knowledge will be necessary. However, it should not be too difficult to hire someone with this knowledge to work with you until you are comfortable installing the greens single-handed.

It is an exciting opportunity - now is the time to get involved and profit. Remember to research your market and your product before committing, however, and learn about the game to enable you to engage with your customers. If they see that you know the game, they will be more likely to buy from you than from a competitor.

Resources:

http://www.residential-putting-green-magazine.com/

http://www.allprogreens.com/greeninfo-qanda.htm

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/os_sports/article/0,2033,DIY_14151_2271197,00.html

Useful Hints - Flipping Domains For Fast Profits

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Flipping Domains For Fast Profits - What To Do

When it comes to you earning an income online there are plenty of things you can do. You can build your own website where the ads shown on it provide an income to you. Or you can earn commission or the full amount by selling a particular product. One other way in which you could also earn an online income is by flipping domains. In this article we look at the ways you can start flipping domains for fast profits.

Method 1 - Register A New Domain Name

When it comes to registering a new domain name that you have come up with it is very easy to do as well as being inexpensive However, it is important that you create ones that are unique and will add value to the purchasers business. After you have registered the domain name you can now place it up for sale either by putting it onto an auction site or using a broker.

However, don’t limit yourself to domain names that end in .com, .info, .net or .org but go for the more popular “twitter ” or “Squidoo” ones instead. You may not realize it but the domain name that you have recently registered could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Go The Expired Domain Name Route

You will soon discover there are plenty of expired domain names available for purchase. Many of these will be on old websites that search engines like Google value very highly. Plus often these domains will have links already to the search engines so that they have a place ranking already on them. On occasions these domains will still have traffic being directed towards them and this makes them even more desirable. If you know the right kinds of expired domains to select then you could soon be on your way to flipping it for a quick profit Yourself Domain Names On Established Websites

Websites are constantly being sold for one reason or another. It may be because the owner does not have the time to work on it, or because they are bored of it or because it isn’t making them any money. However if you spend some time developing and then marketing it you can help to improve the revenue lines for. A site with good revenue levels will increase in value and so you then have the opportunity to sell it on for a profit.

Above we have looked at some ways to start flipping domains for fast profits. But what you need to remember that it may take some time before you actually begin to see the right kinds of results. In fact it could take you weeks even months before you can easily recognize those domain names which if you purchase and then flip will make a profit for you.

Read more about web domain names and register domain name issues.

Improve your online profits with capture video on screen skills.