How To Effectively Start An Online Business

Within this article today on how to effectively start an online business, we are giving you the different ways of starting an online business which we feel to be very easy for you to follow.

On the internet, you may find many different online businesses that you can start with, but most of them come down to three broad categories which are: retailing products or services to customers, selling on eBay, and business-to-business selling online business.

When you are planning at creating and starting an online business, you must first find out what your specialty. Then, select one of these three broad categories.

If you decide to sell to retail customers, you will have to find a way to sell your products or services in a different manner. You must have a strategy that is different from many of the other retail websites out there doing online business.

If you decide that you want to sell on eBay, you must look for a wholesale distributor of products where you can buy your products at a great discount.

If you already work within the business-to-business online business forum, this will be an easy transition for you.

Each of these three categories can be broken into sub-categories, but you must decide upon which of the three online business categories you will focus.

Most people are very eager to start an online business but have no idea where they should focus their efforts on. By selecting on one of these three categories, you'll know where to start and in which direction.

If you decide to start with eBay for your online business, look for a reliable wholesale distributor to supply you with products with great discount. This is very effective for many start up, like you.

To find some wholesale distributors for you, look at the following website: http://www.worldwidebrands.com.

If you decide to sell products or services to online business retail customers, look for a niche that is underserved by your Internet competitors. Finding your online business niche is the key to creating and starting an online retail business because this is an area where there is little competition. This gives you vast opportunity to dominate the market with your online business.

To find some of these underserved niches, visit the following website: http://www.findhotniches.com.

Finally, if you decide to do business to business selling, think of how you can provide benefit to the particular market. Many people are working online as freelance writers. And you may be able to do this and potentially grow, like most of the freelance writers. But differ yourself from the competition if you market to one particular niche.

Business-to-business online business is closely related to the retail strategy in which you want to focus upon a niche and try and dominate that online business niche.

Hopefully gives you an idea on which of the three areas you would like to focus.

Oopps! Before I end, I add one more proven strategy to effectively start your online business. This is very easy and cost-effective. You can even do it without having a website.

This proven and effective strategy, which was hidden by most writers or is written in a separate and different topic, is the same strategy that made the likes of Shawn Casey, Mack Michaels, Jeff Steup, among others, become millionaires.

This is called affiliate marketing. It is an online business strategy of promoting other people’s products or services. No products of your own to sell. That means no inventory. No minimum quota or requirement.

The three persons mentioned above is sharing their experiences on online business to other people like you who would like to earn by starting an effective online business. They provide step-by-step guide on how to do it effectively, which means profitably.

FOLLOW THEM AND DO IT!

Is Affiliate Marketing A Viable Business Model?

Most popular "how to" courses, bootcamps, teleseminars and webinars are made around affiliate marketing as a viable work from home business model for success.

If you make a search on the Internet, you'll find thousands of home study courses, E-books, and affiliate marketing products for sale.

Can you really build a work at home business by selling other people's products?

Yes and no.

The truth is, there is a precise formula that can lead you to success if you decide to base your work at home business by selling affiliate products. This is called Affiliate Marketing.

But if you do it the wrong way, you may never make more than enough money to pay for your Internet connection and telephone bills each month.

Why is there such a big discrepancy between the really successful affiliate marketers (those who earn several thousand dollars every month) and those who are hardly making out a living?

Like any other business, it goes down to creating good systems that are quantifiable and can be duplicated to bring income to you from as many different sources on the internet as possible. This makes affiliate marketing a viable business model.

Here are some things you need to observe and follow when getting started:

Start with one single product. Make a research. Look for a market with a product that people need and are buying. Set up a system for promoting that product. This is called affiliate marketing campaign strategy.

Consider article writing, white papers, product reviews, case studies, workbooks, e-books, etc... Look for additional and complimentary products or services that you can sell after you make a profit with the first one.

Create a squeeze page where you can build a list of people who want to find out more about the affiliate product or niche product.

Send traffic to your Squeeze Page and offer them value-rich information in exchange for their contact information so that you can build a list to where you send your affiliate marketing campaign.

Find a way to keep in touch with the people on your list, and consistently promote the affiliate product and the additional products to them over time – but make sure that you're offering good and value-rich information to them as well, to help build your credibility and maintain their loyalty.

When you've got your first affiliate product selling very well, it's time to go into cross selling and upselling. This may take you from a few weeks to several months – but like any other business, it's important that you are willing to spend the time, money and energy necessary to build your affiliate marketing business.

When you've got the first product and cross selling is operating at a profit, you can now expand. You could go into another complimentary product or niche. Or, If you want something more advanced go into competition with yourself. This is a trick used by some of the Internet Marketing gurus in different niches.

That may sound foolish – but think of it like this: by competing against yourself – especially if you're able to place yourself onto the two of the top five positions – you're actually just giving yourself a bigger slice of the pie!

When you're the type of a person who gets bored easily, or is always seeking for a new challenge, you might want to go into a totally different and new niche. Look for something that doesn't have any connection with your first niche.

Whatever you want to do, just make sure that you follow the proven formula for success. Build each product or niche until it becomes profitable before moving on to the next one.

After following the proven formula for success, you can just "soak, rinse, dry, iron, wear and repeat" to your heart's satisfaction – and you'll be able to watch your bank account grow higher!

FOLLOW THIS AND DO IT NOW!

How To Use Viral Marketing Effectively

Before we get into the topics of how you can use viral marketing effectively to help make a buzz going about your small work from home business, let's begin with a definition of what "viral marketing" really means.

According to the Wikipedia, "Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use preexisting social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.

It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.

Viral marketing promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, images, or even text messages."

If you've ever had a G-mail, hotmail, or yahoo account, you've involved yourself in a viral marketing campaign every time you send an email to somebody, because all of the company inserted a small, and more often than not discreet advertisement, at the bottom of all of your outgoing emails.

This is done to invite the people you were communicating with to receive their own free email account and an offer for upgrading is also included.

So how can you set up a viral marketing campaign for your own business? – and more importantly, ask yourself: Do you even need to have a viral marketing campaign?

YES! You definitely need to take the time to come up with your own viral marketing campaign – even if you don't envision to be as big as G-mail, hotmail, or yahoo.

Why? Because a recent survey done by Forrester Research reveled that people are almost 65% more likely to believe and trust a review posted by a peer or even a complete stranger than they are to believe and trust the marketing or sales information made by the company.

Don't you believe me? Check out I-tunes and http://Amazon.com. Why should you do it? Because as consumers we have a tendency to think that the average "Joe" has less of a personal plan when posting his review and comment about the latest "Peter Pets" album and so we give it more value.

And, incidentally, this is a normal reaction – it's closely connected into all of us. People always share the things they like – or hate – with their friends, relatives and family members.

Back in the 50's and 60's, our grandparents used to converse to their neighbors over the "back fence," call each other on the phone or tell their friends during lunch or dinner. Nowadays, we use the Internet and cell phones.

What's more interesting though, is that with the reputation of the Internet, our trust - and believe in "social testimony" – has become even more powerful in viral marketing campaign.

By making your own viral marketing campaign, you'll be making more than spreading a word out about your new affiliate product. You'll be gathering social testimony that will help your sales to go up.

So, how do you set up your own viral marketing campaign? The first and foremost thing to do is to get back to the basics.

Here's the real "secret" to making a huge amount of money with affiliate products. Have the right mindset, have the right product, with the right message to tell the right people at the right time.

So, start with your affiliate product. Make sure that there's an eager audience for whatever product you're selling.

Then make sure that you're spreading out the right message – and in the right way.

If you're marketing a particular product to teens, you'll want to make sure that the product is something they want – and you'll have to know and reach them where they're hanging out. That might be on twitter, MySpace, Multiply or even Friendster.

What's the right message? Possibly it's a special and unique report. But it could just as easily be an audio mp3 file. Or a video. Match your message to your audience.

And finally, make sure that you're getting your message across at the right time – when your audience has the money and is ready to buy it, don't stop doing your viral marketing campaign.

Make your viral marketing campaign be noticeable from the crowd – because that's how to get passed through and around and become viral.

By understanding the basics – who your audience is, what they want, how they want to get your product and when they want to have it – all you have to do next is to make something that your audience really loves – or hates – or finds interesting enough – to pass through and around to their friends.

And because your product appears with an implied endorsement – social testimony – those people will pass it through and around to other people –and the buzz goes on…and on…and on… and on… and on…and you'll start hearing the "ka-chinnng!" of your cash register a lot more often.

And this is because of an effective viral marketing campaign!

FOLLOW THIS AND DO IT NOW!

Free is Not Good Enough

Why Nothing in Life is FREE

“Nothing in life is free.” That old saying rings true when it comes to offering online freebies. Even when you offer something FREE to consumers, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a “cost” behind that freebie.

Everyone is shaking up the Internet with freebies – sign up for this spectacular newsletter and receive a FREE SPECIAL report, whitepapers, or the latest and greatest trial sample.

Freebies don’t necessarily equate to “high value.” Have you ever tried a free sample and thought “Aw, no wonder they gave away that product for FREE!” It just wasn’t THAT great! You don’t want to be that kind of online marketer!

Sometimes the “buck stops there” – literally! Companies think they can blast out their freebies and consumers will automatically jump all over these freebies.

The Art of Persuasion

What makes YOUR freebie better than your competitors? With all the free offers floating around on cyberspace, you need to give people a GOOD REASON to sign up for your freebies.

How many times have you unsubscribed to newsletters because they were boring and didn’t offer relevant information? The last thing you want is to send worthless content to your subscribers.

“Time is money” and your visitors/customers don’t have a lot of free time on their hands. Monetary costs are just one aspect for consumers– what about the time it takes to READ your free content and marketing campaigns?

What can you do to PERSUADE people to actually WANT to read your content and actually USE your free samples?

It comes down to sales persuasion tactics!

Persuasion gives people the choice to make an informed decision – persuasion is not about manipulation or hype.

However, persuasion will only get you so far. Reel them in with free stuff BUT give people want they actually want. VALUABLE content is what makes people come back for MORE…and WHY people will buy your products and services!

•INCORPORATE POWERFUL CALLS TO ACTION

o HOW will your free content SOLVE crucial problems for people?

o What VALUE do you offer them to make them WANT free information?

oHow will it CHANGE THEIR LIVES on a positive, long-term basis?

o Add URGENCY to your call to action – they NEED to read/try your content or product NOW. Give them every reason to take action immediately!

• SOCIAL PROOF – People will “jump on the bandwagon” and copy other people’s action (especially if they like and trust them). Use testimonials and endorsements. SHOW benefits that other people have experienced as a result of signing up for your free newsletter or report.

• VISUAL ELEMENTS – Use photos, music and videos as part of your freebie offers. People are visual creatures and you are more likely to really CAPTURE their attention through visual elements.

• SHOWCASE YOUR AUTHORITY/EXPERTISE – Show you’re an authority/expert in your field. Link to third party sites to back up your facts when offering free information (people will trust you even MORE!) Reference figures of authority (i.e. government/political officials, health leaders, etc.)

If you liked this article, please tell your friends about it. If you really liked it, feel free to publish it on your blog or website (please don't forget to mention www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog as the original source).

What is the Top Plan For Bear Market Investing?

The past was a horrible time for the market as decline fears scared away all the buyers. The Institute of Supply Management published a crucial index viewing that non-manufacturing concern interest fell Hugely. The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed suit, down 370 points or almost 3%. It was nasty and lots of people were losing profits.

I hope you listened to our alert.

The 200-day moving average had just bowed negative. When this last occurred, we Had a two-year recession in the market. We warned of rough era ahead.. . Who thought we would be correct so fast?

Looking at the full market, not a single sector was up. Conjecture who hurt the worst? That's right; the economic services industry posted a loss of 4.6%. They were outdone only by the construction & supplies industry which lost 4.8%.

I'll say it again. Stay away from the fiscal and construction industries for now. I know they are dealing at multi-year lows and appear to offer desirable dividend yields, but they are classic estimate traps. The bad news continues to filter in, losses are mounting and you won't make money being premature on this trade.

How can you profit in a bear market?

The secret to making money on the long side right now is short-term trades. Don't kid yourself. We're in a bear market, and the rallies will be short lived. Positioning your portfolio for a bear market is not difficult. Take a few moments and do it today.

One of the best ways to hedge a portfolio and profit from downside movement is through Inverse ETFs. The Proshares Short S&P 500 (SH) ETF is one of the best. As a matter of fact, you could have purchased this inverse ETF on Friday for $64. On Tuesday it traded for more than $66. That's a quick 3% on your money in just a few days.

I honestly like Inverse ETFs. They allow you to "short" the whole market in a single transaction. You don't need a margin account to place the trade. And, unlike open-end mutual funds, you can enter and exit your trades at any time during the trading day.

Although Inverse ETFs are relatively new to the markets, they have become widely used. For example, the Proshares Short S&P 500 (SH) was established in June 2006. Average trading volumes, however, are in excess of 563,000 shares a day. This liquidity makes the Bid/Ask spread tighter which helps us minimize our trading costs.

One word of Warning. These funds are collected of many underlying stocks. The estimate tends to fluctuate more than normal at the open and close of the market. Sometimes, these ETFs start trading as much as 15 minutes after the market opens. As a general rule, I suggest placing orders at least an hour after the open or an hour before the close.

Remember, we can manufacture money in a bear market. We just need to be suitably positioned. Inverse ETFs are a great way to accomplish this.

Make Money Online With Video Training

When you look into the many different online marketing programs, there is one aspect that really separates the good from the bad. That aspect is the video training course. The reason that this is the aspect for which you really want to look for in a program is because it can make or break your chances at succeeding in your online business venture. There are programs out there that do not even have any training at all for you and they still expect you to succeed. Obviously, those are not the right choice for you. You want to be successful and the best way to get on the right course is with this training.

One of the main reasons why a video training course is so vital to your success chances in online marketing is because it is so personal. Since it is a video, it almost is if the training is being done in person. Of course that never would be able to happen with an online program, so it makes sense to go with the next best thing. You actually will be able to see what you are to be doing with your program because the video training will be step by step.

Another reason why you want to look for a program that has a video training course is because it will seem as if the training video was made specifically for you. It will be as if the instructor is talking directly to you and no one else. In addition, most people learn better when they see someone else doing it compared to when you have to read a training pamphlet. With that, you will have no idea whether you are doing everything correctly because there are no pictures showing you the right way. In the video, you will see every step to getting your business up and running.

In addition to the actual learning aspect of the video training course, another reason why it is important to choose a marketing program that uses one is because you will see the program working for your own eyes. You will see how easy it is to get started. With programs that use document instructions, you will have no idea whether it will work or not because you are not seeing it for yourself.

Let me tell you something about myself. I have owned my own business for 30 years. It was a small photography studio with 8 full time employees. I love photography and I honestly lived my dream for 30 years doing what I loved to do.

Then digital photography and the recession hit. What was once a flourishing business was now almost gone. I knew I needed to do something fast to keep income coming in for my family but I had to ask myself who was going to hire a 56 year old in today’s economy. Well, after much searching I came upon a unbelievable online marketing business that I could work from home and also dramatically increase my income more than I ever dreamed possible.

Finally there is a new way to learn all about online marketing ideas in video format that anyone can understand. Imagine what it would be like to see behind the curtain of one of the most successful online marketers in the business and clone his success.

Did you find this article helpful? Are you ready to work from home and change your life? If so, then take a look at the awesome step by step video tutorials I found, tried and loved…I think you will to!

The 7 Components of Successful Landing Pages

Are your conversion rates nothing to write home about? Do you feel like the copy and design of your landing page needs a big makeover? Give your post-click marketing a boost by evaluating your approach and ensuring that your landing pages implement these 7 important components.

1. Match Your Advertising with Your Landing Pages

Does the pre-click content match the post-click content? Make sure that there is continuity between your advertising and landing page. If you have several different types of ads targeting a variety of keywords but you are leading people to the same few landing pages, the continuity is most likely not as tight as it could be. In order to match messages well, you must connect all of the dots for your site visitors and make sure that your advertising meets its promises. Make your landing pages as specific as possible.

2. Measure the Value of Your Landing Page Content

Does your landing page content provide visitors with value or is it full of superficial fluff? Landing pages full of keyword stuffed content and marketing-speak won’t get you anywhere. Provide users with useful, entertaining, and relevant information that is tailored to whatever they were searching for.

3. Visuals

Landing pages are a beauty contest and your chance to make a great first impression when building your brand. Make sure your landing pages are up to par by hiring a qualified graphic designer to spruce them up for you. If your landing pages are attractive, it says a lot about your brand.

4. Make it Interactive

Landing pages today should contain a lot more than just flat text and images. Flash, widgets, video, and social networking applications that reinforce your message rather than distract from it can go a long way in helping you connect better with users. The key to success with creating interactive landing pages is to ensure that these extras are well incorporated into the overall design and message of your landing page. Don’t slap things on as an afterthought.

5. Derive Value from Non-Converting Visitors

If approximately 20% of visitors to your landing pages convert, that doesn’t mean the other 80% should be forgotten. You can provide non-converting visitors with value because they may potentially convert in the future. For example, you can point them to another page on your website that they perhaps might be interested in and convert them there.
You should always deliver useful content on your landing pages to ensure that people derive value from it and leave feeling like they had a positive experience/interaction with your website. You can also analyze what non-converting visitors do by providing them with different options on multi-step landing pages. Measure what people click and when to determine what kind of targeted improvements you can make.

6. Keep it Fresh

Revisit your landing pages frequently to update them and keep them from becoming stale. Check your content regularly to be sure that it is current, along with any offers you are making. Nothing will turn site visitors off more than an expired offer. You also have to keep the design of your page up to date. The look and feel of your landing pages tells visitors whether or not you are on top of things.

7. Push the Envelope

Are your landing pages bold and unique or painfully commonplace? Don’t be afraid to be creative when you are creating content for your landing pages. Try standing out from the crowd rather than sticking with the well-worn messages you have used time and time again. Landing pages offer an unmatched opportunity for you to experiment with your message because they only receive a relatively small portion of your overall traffic. You can use metrics to measure your results and alter your methods if they are not panning out as hoped.

Discover 8 Secret Tips To Getting To The Top Of The Search Engines Rankings

Getting found by the search engines can be a frustrating experience if you are not sure what you are doing. There is nothing to be afraid of though, this article will help you get started on your way to much higher search engine rankings. So let’s get started:

1. Keep your old domain name and do not purchase a new domain name unless you absolutely have to. The search engines like domains that have been around for a while. You could also redirect your old domain to your new one in order not to go down in the ranking. If you're redesigning your site or building a new site and have to use a new domain, you can expect at least somewhat of a loss in search engine traffic. It could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months or longer to get back where you were.

2. Don’t optimize your website for the search engines. Make sure you are optimizing for your target market. The search engines are looking for pages that best fit the keyword phrase someone types into the search engines search box. If these people are typing in search words that relate to what your website offers, then they are most likely part of your target market. Good keywords and keyword phrases, found through research, are crucial in getting high search engine rankings.

3. Design your website around your keywords. Don’t even start writing copy until you have found your keywords and then you will want to sprinkle your keywords all over your site and your pages. Also, make use of long tail keywords or phrases. These really help to qualify your target market and leads to higher quality leads. They know exactly what they are looking for and when they are led to your site they will be more likely ready to buy.

4. Make sure you make your site friendly to the search engine spiders. Search engines can’t interpret graphics, fill out forms and can’t read Java Script links and menus. You still want to use them, but make sure that the search engine spiders can navigate your site and can find the other pages on your site. The search engine spiders will never find a drop down menu and will never know about your other pages.

5. Label your internal text links and clickable images (alt tags) as clearly and descriptively as you possible can. Your site visitors and the search engines look at the clickable portion of your links (the anchor text) to help them understand what they're going to find once they click through. Don't make them guess what's at the other end with links that say "click here" or other non-descriptive words. Be as descriptive as possible with every text and graphical link on your site. Important hint, use your keywords and key phrases to describe.

6. Write copy for your website that uses your keyword phrases, but make sure your copy is compelling to you target market. This is so important for a successful website. The search engines want to read keyword rich copy on your pages so they know how to classify your site. Don’t hide your copy in graphics or in flash. Write your copy using your most relevant keyword phrases while you are giving your visitors the information they have been looking for.

7. Title tags are given a lot of weight by the search engines. What ever keyword phrase you have written about in your copy, should be used in your title tag. The information that you place in this tag is what will show up as the clickable link to your site at the search engines. Make sure that it accurately reflects the content of the page it is on, while also using the keyword phrases people might be using at a search engine to find your site.

8. Make sure that other sites can link with your site. The ability for other sites to link to your site is extremely important for successful search engine optimization, because all the major search engines place more emphasis on your sites link popularity. You also want to be very careful not to link to a crappy site. Both your customers and the search engines will frown on you and will hurt you search engine ranking.

If you have done the above 8 things correctly, you should start to see an increase in targeted search engine visitors to your site fairly quickly. Forget about where you rank for any specific keyword phrase and instead measure your results in increased traffic, sales, and conversions. Using free Google Analytics, you can track and measure the things you want to know. It is also a good idea to add new content every once in awhile. All of these steps taken together will go a long way in helping you with your search engine optimization and search engine ranking.