9 Headache-free Tips on How to Start Online Business

Posted by admin in online business on Jul 18th, 2010 | 0 comments

9 Headache-Free Tips on How to Start Online Business

 

For many people, knowing what they wish to sell online is the easy part. It’s setting up the business, and knowing how and where to start that’s difficult. Here are some surefire tips on how to finally make your online business dreams come true without suffering a mountain of headaches.

 

Tip #1 Choosing a provocative name for your business. Something catchy is best, but it’s ideal if your business name could also explain what it’s all about. It should be something easy to spell as well so that people won’t have a hard time searching for it in the Internet. Take the time to pick your name, there is no rush and it’s better to get it right then to change after you’ve spend a fortune on printing and advertising.

 

Tip #2 Register your business. Even if it’s an online company, it still earns money the way other businesses do and because of that, you’re obliged to pay taxes as well. As requirements vary depending on the type of business, the best thing to do is make your inquiries with your local government body or IRS. If you live in any resident community, you should also speak with them and see if they have stipulations regarding residents setting up online businesses.

 

Tip #3 Spend several days to a week diligently researching about search engine optimization or SEO. This is the lifeblood of the e-commerce, and it would cost less if you do the SEO for your online business yourself. You should look at keywords for your industry, then research the competition and then create your products and business model.

 

Tip #4 Build your website while keeping SEO in mind. If your budget allows it, you should pay for your own web space so that you get to choose exactly what kind of ads would appear in your website and where. A good online business website is one that’s not only visually attractive but also offers excellent content that relates to the target market or customer. Provide complete information regarding products, ordering and payment processes, promotions, and customer service. Always offer a brief company background. People only buy from people they know like and trust.

 

Tip #5 Register accounts with the necessary online payment handlers. Although you can still accept payment by cash, check, or money order, it’s still better if you also accept payments by credit cards and from online banks as these are more convenient for your customers. Depending on your product you should expect around 90% of your transactions to be done online and younger people are generally more comfortable about it and increasing numbers of them jumping online it makes sense to do it.

 

Tip #6 Be a member of creditable websites or communities. If you sell anything online it pays to use services such as Honest E Online to provide better assurance of a safe and secure shopping experience for your customers. If you’re new to internet business, this can be one of the quickest ways to instill trust into your customers.

 

Tip #7 It’s time to start advertising. Your first sales and marketing promotion should consist of offering free advice. Hire a copywriter if you truly believe you don’t have the writing skills to create marketing content. Make sure you issue an invitation to join your free newsletter with each article.

 

Tip #8 Collect the email addresses of people who have signed up for your newsletter. Your first issue should again include original, unique, and valuable tips related to your online business. Start with that then follow it up with product or service updates.

 

Tip #9 Find more ways to advertise. Create a blog and start blogging about your online business. Get RSS feeds for your online business. Create podcasts and make sure to insert brief advertisements about your online business in the middle.

 

Only when free methods of advertising don’t work should you finally use paid advertising methods for your online business. Give it two months and if it doesn’t work then that’s time you should go for the big guns. As a general guideline paid advertising and free methods can work well, but to master the free methods you will need to pay money to the experts to find out how to best use them. So in reality, if you leave it to your own devices and don’t pay for expert advice or resources then it would be best to assume that free advertising will only account for 10% of your overall traffic figure, it is therefore safe to assume that if you where to pay money for advertising there is a potential 90% more effective traffic generation techniques.

 

Online Money Tree provides tips and resources on how to make money online.  New and aspiring internet entrepreneurs can find some great ideas and advice on how to start a small internet business from home.

 

For more information visit www.online-money-tree.com

Is The Recession Hurting Your Customer Service ?

Posted by admin in Customer Service on Jul 18th, 2010 | 0 comments

I took a phone call at my office the other day from a pleasant sounding young man representing the national office supply store I have a reward card with. He spent a minute of my time reading from a script about the current deals the company had and then asked me if I would place an order and receive an additional 10% discount. I was very impressed at this point with the telemarketing campaign this company was undertaking to boost sales in this difficult financial period. As all small business people do several times a day, I wished I had thought of this marketing strategy and assisted my clients in implementing it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t need 3 cases of copy paper or a new desk chair so I told the young man that I could not take advantage of the program at this time. I expected to hear him say, “Thanks for your time and we look forward to serving you when you need future office supplies.” Unfortunately, the next words out of his mouth were – “I need you to place an order today because I have a quota and will be fired if I don’t meet my quota this week.” Very little in the business world shocks me anymore but this did. I immediately asked him if I could speak to his supervisor and he uttered some expletive as he quickly disconnected our phone call.

I wish I could say this is an anomaly in the business world but it has become more and more common place over the last year. As our sales slow and our profits turn to losses, all companies are reducing personnel and asking our remaining employees to do more until the recession ends. Many small and medium businesses are currently staffed with 50% to 75% of their normal employee level. We all recognize that while sales are down from last year, there is only so long that we can stretch our people until they become as frustrated as the telemarketer from the national office supply company.

Due to my work as a consultant, I am much more tolerant than most customers and will continue to use the national office supply company but how many individuals would simply tear up that rewards card and switch to a different office supply company? I have to believe that young man will run off many customers before he gets fired by the company and the company will have no idea why several of their customers are not returning. I suspect the young man was hired just over the past several months after he was fired from another firm and was hired because he was cheap and had experience. His training definitely was not very good and his supervision is not good at all.

Small and medium sized business must pay very close attention to their customer service attitude at all times since this is the primary element separating you from your competitors. The internet and our new global business environment insure that having a unique product is no longer the only acceptable piece of a company’s sales strategy. Better products are showing up in the marketplace daily so a good business uses great customer service to keep customers from trying different products and companies. It is ironic that your company must pay more attention to customer service when sales drop yet you cannot afford customer service employees. It is, however, a fact of business life.

Great companies make sure all their employees are involved in customer service. Are your employees trained and a part of your customer service strategy? The Accounts Payable clerk, the warehouseman, your delivery personnel, and even your janitor must all be trained and understand the company’s customer strategy and how they fit into it. If this has not been the case in the past, take the time right now to start. This cannot be a onetime all employee meeting. This must be several meetings every month and must continue forever !!

Customer Service must be in your Mission Statement. It must be a part of your interview process with potential employees. It must be in your training for all employees. It must be a part of your incentive package. It must be a chapter in your employee manual. It must be talked about daily in staff meetings, employee gatherings, etc. The bottom line is that it must be the primary attitude in your business and it must be communicated and discussed daily. You, as a business owner or senior manager, must embrace customer service and demonstrate good customer service at all times.

Most employees see customer service only as a way of treating individuals who buy your products or service. As a business owner or manager, you must help everyone understand that Customer Service is an attitude that governs how we deal with everyone including fellow employees and suppliers.

Now that you have established a great customer service attitude in your company, you must make sure the training and follow up with all employees is in place; even in a financial downturn.

There are many great resources on the internet and many good consultants who can get your company up and running quickly and assist you in making sure that training continues in a positive and efficient manner.

There are also numerous hardware and software products on the market that allow you to record and listen in on your employee’s phone conversation. This is a great training and follow up tool for every business. I personally like the various software products that record these conversations directly to your network computer server and can be reviewed directly on your PC in your office. Some of your employees may initially see this as an invasion of their privacy but you must explain this is your way to provide positive feedback and customer service training. Your employee manual should already have a statement outlining that all activity on company assets such as phones and computers can be reviewed by management at any time. Your outside legal advisor should assist you with your state requirements but this is not a major issue in any state.

If that young man from the office supply store was being reviewed with phone recording software, he would already be unemployed and I would have received a personal letter from the company’s president apologizing for that call and offering me an amazing deal to keep me as a customer. Since I have not received that letter, I have to assume his only review comes from a list of the purchase orders his calls have generated.

I have used this software in the past as an initial as well as a continuing training tool to ensure a company knows and controls the exact message it is sending to its customers and potential customers.

Another great and inexpensive customer feedback tool is your own company website. Make sure you have something listed on your home page that makes it easy and simple for a customer to get information to you. You can make this as sophisticated as you wish but do not burden your customer with having to know the serial number, date purchased, color of the cashier’s hair, etc. Start out simple and…

How To Come Up With Good Business Ideas

Posted by admin in Business Ideas on Jul 18th, 2010 | 0 comments

Almost all business all over the world started with good business ideas either coming from the entrepreneur himself, his creative team or even some of his friends or family members. Good business ideas are just around the corner but it takes a business-minded person to recognize them as good business ideas.

Good business ideas have given birth to most successful businesses. However the people behind the business surely did not stop with just having the business ideas but they proceeded from there. There is a lot of hard work that stems from good business ideas including planning, development of the business as well as marketing campaign.

Some people come up with good business ideas with nary an inspiration. It seems like they stumbled on their business ideas as a matter of luck with no hard work at all. However, most people have read every book and magazine available, visited lots of business interests and brainstormed with as many people as possible just to come up with good business ideas.

A person who is very creative and who has a lot of stored knowledge can produce the most if not the best business ideas. Some people regularly attend trade shows and business gatherings and seminars not only to come up with good business ideas but to develop the ideas they already have.

Attending trade events and exhibits can be very good for a person who is looking for business ideas. The already existing businesses that are on display can give him an idea of what kind of business to go into given his already existing resources as well as his financial capability. He can also come up with innovations or improvement of already-existing businesses.

Most entrepreneurs who have discovered good business ideas usually think out of the box. This means they do not limit themselves to what is already there and what is already being seen by the naked eye. They think creative and sometimes they even think silly.

Some entrepreneurs consider the special events which people make as an excuse to spend like Christmas, Valentines, birthdays, Easter, Halloween and the likes. Some people proceed from there are find their business niche in relation to these occasions.

Valentines Day is always spending day for majority of the people all over the world no matter what they say that it is not about money. It is all about money no matter what they say. Most people spend little or spend too much. The point is they really spend for this event and a person who can come up with good business ideas for such an event can cash in on the money.

A person who knows how to bake or cook can come up with a home business during special occasions. He can accept order for heart-shaped cakes and design the product with a personalized touch to be more competitive. Another good business idea for this occasion is flower delivery or flower arrangement. Both business ideas can be done at home without need of investing much capital for rentals.

There are a lot of good business ideas that have never been tapped. Some have already been tried and tested but they may have failed for lack of some ingredients which a creative mind can improve upon.