Guess What? I’m actually dropshipping on eBay and making money doing it! Never ever thought I would be this far ahead in my internet career in this short of a time span. As Controller for a manufacturing company I make a decent living, but selling on eBay pays me almost as much…not quite, but I’m getting there! Too awesome!

All the so called “internet guru’s” sell stuff on eBay…at least that is what I’ve learned so far in my search for internet riches. They all want to give you their “one-on-one” eBay training for a few thousand dollars as well. Don’t fall for it…it’s just another way to put a few thousand dollars more into their pockets. Anyone can sell stuff on eBay and you don’t need to pay someone a few thousand dollars to tell you how to do it. They became internet guru’s by suckering some poor fools into paying them a bunch money to tell them their “secret techniques”, which you can find out for free if you search on the internet long enough.

I’m not an “internet guru” or expert, but I can still tell you how to make money on eBay. It’s called “dropshipping” and there is money to be made if you just try it. There are many dropship sites on the internet. Finding them can take time, but it is worth the time it takes to find the right ones.

For newbies that don’t know what a dropshipper is, here is a perfect explanation:

Let’s say you ran across a product on a dropshipping site for $20.00. You would sell that product for a price you would determine, let’s use $50.00 plus $4.95 postage and handling for an example. After you collect the payment of $54.95 from the customer and their mailing address, you would forward the $20.00 plus $4.95 postage costs to the supplier, and keep the $30.00 as profit, never having to touch or store the Product, as the supplier sends it out to the customer. This type of arrangement is extremely beneficial to both yourself, and the supplier. The supplier does not have to open a storefront, or hire sales people to sell their products, as that is the role of the dropshipper. You, as the dropshipper, have a way to earn some spare money, having no start-up costs, no overhead, no packaging costs or headaches, and can create an extremely useful relationship with the supplier. Dropshipping is a great way to run a business without carrying stock.

Using the above method, you can start your own online store and never have to carry any merchandise. This is how the internet works and it’s great for those who know how to create their own websites and can keep up with their dropshippers product and price changes. That alone can be a challenge, but if you can contribute a few hours a day to your website, dropshipping is an excellent way to make extra money.

Dropshipping is awesome IF you know how to market your site. Without traffic, you have no customers. NO customers means NO sales…NO sales means NO money. But, that is a great subject for my next article. So..until next time, here’s to your success online,

Teri Trantanella

www.toyoursuccessonline.com

www.gtcenterprise.com

www.newveracitynow.com

Teri Trantanella
http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/dropship-on-ebay-who-me-98549.html

Many marketing methods are open to large corporations with deep advertising budgets.  However, small business owners need to be more creative.  There are methods available to companies of any size that will prove economical and effective.

One avenue probably a few yards from you as you read this is your storefront window.  This is valuable marketing space and you already pay for it.  You should fully utilize your window display and keep it updated to reflect current sales or promotions.  A lot of traffic passes by only a few steps away from becoming a customer.

Direct mail is an excellent avenue for reaching a niche market.  Catalog printing has become quite economical.  For those companies with a small product line there is booklet printing as an alternative.  A properly identified underserved niche market is prime advertising grounds.  A diluted mass marketing effort often translates to the squandering of advertising resources.

Another traditional, yet effective, method is advertising in newspapers or magazines.  It is important to know your audience and decipher which section of the newspaper they are most likely to read.  Color is important to catch the eye of the reader.  Brevity while not sacrificing critical information is a necessary art for writing newspaper advertising copy.

Poster printing is another good advertising avenue.  When properly placed a poster gets a lot of eyeballs and attention from target clients for just a relatively small cost.  The cost of color poster printing is quite reasonable even for large runs.  Meanwhile, there are a host of other analogous avenues, like billboards and flyers.  If they are strategically positioned – that is, placed near your business these choices of analogous advertising can steer customers right into your front door.

Radio and television advertising are now within the reach of small businesses.  There are services which offer last minute unfilled air time for deeply discounted rates.  A search online will reveal these services.  Again it is necessary to know your market and devote resources to advertising on shows which they are most likely to watch.

Of course, the interactive world is the most popular route today.  There are many ways to advertise online.  This can range from banner ads to affiliate programs.  There are many good tutorials one can find providing in depth education and guidance surrounding online advertising.  Many business owners focus exclusively on online advertising today to their detriment.  All of the techniques as described above still provide excellent ROI on your ad budget.

Small business owners must be creative in both marketing and operations to stretch every dollar.  There are many choices for your ad dollars.  Smart owners test several routes and track the effectiveness of each.  Armed with this information they are then in the best position to deploy the balance of the advertising budget.  A properly targeted niche market using the above techniques will translate to sales success.

Katie Marcus
http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/methods-of-marketing-741126.html

Also how much do you think I’ll need to paint a cavalier?

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

Probably cheaper if you get it locally.

Starting a business for the first time can be a very daunting and overwhelming task that be simplified by presenting a clear and detailed business plan to your lending institution. Many individuals find that they need to secure a first time business loan. Securing such a loan can be a very difficult process that involves lots of paperwork, exhaustive meetings, and stiff questions.

However, you can limit the frustration and increase the likelihood of a successful loan application by creating and presenting a detailed and comprehensive business plan. This plan should detail as much as possible the ins and outs of your business idea and should include realistic earnings projections, full lists of anticipated costs, potential real estate acquisitions, amount of inventory needed, and a synopsis of how you intend to carve a successful niche for yourself in a competitive and sometimes saturated marketplace.

When presenting a business model to an investor or banking institution always remember that you are trying to sell them on you and your idea. Speak in clear concise words, and always appear confident, knowledgeable, and up-beat.  All successful business models begin with a clear idea – the simpler, the better. In a brief page or two describe what it is you are trying to sell or market, why you feel that you will be successful, and any related experience you or your partners may have in the field. For example, if you are opening a dry cleaner’s store, then mentioning the fact that you worked as a dry cleaner for ten years would be beneficial.

Next, you should present a realistic earning projection. This is a document that delineates who much money you believe you can make through your business idea. This can sometimes be a difficult number to decide upon. However, by analyzing the comparative businesses in the area you can come up with a relative number. Take into account and list the typical cost to the consumer of your products or services. Again check out similar stores or businesses that provide or sell services or products similar to yours. The internet is great way to research average prices. Also include an estimate as to how many people would both visit and ultimately purchase your products or services. In this manner you can produce a relatively realistic earnings analysis.

Oftentimes the most important part of a successful first time business loan application is a detailed and all inclusive list of estimated costs. After all, it does not matter how many people visit your store or buy your products if your rent for your storefront is astronomical. This list should obviously include such things as rent, lending costs associated with your business loan, and monthly bills such as water, gas, and electricity. However, it should also include such things as labor costs (are you going to have two employees or ten employees), inventory costs (does you business idea require large stockpiles of products), and taxes (city, county, state, and federal taxes can add up every year).

Ultimately, the decision to grant a first time business loan is in the hands of the financial institution. You have to make them believe that your idea will ultimately make both you and them more money. They are, in essence, investing in you. By putting together a detailed, confident, and realistic business model, you can illustrate exactly how you plan to be successful, thus helping to secure the business loan.

William Acosta
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/first-time-business-loan-a-clear-and-detailed-business-model-740557.html

Check them out here:
www.forefronton-linemarketingsolutions.bigcommerce.com/

and read this post on 10 Easy steps to set an online store:
http://www.shoppingcartsforwebsites.com/general/set-up-your-online-store-in-10-easy-steps/

Good luck and let me know if you would like some extra help, I would be glad to point you in the right direction.

-Daniel

When opening a home business or a small business outside the home there are several choices to make regarding marketing. You can use different methods such as Mail Order Marketing, Conventional Marketing, Direct Marketing and MultiLevel Marketing. Each one has its pros and cons and can get you and your business on its way to making money and being successful. The type you choose depends on such factors as your product type, your business type and your overall goals as a small/home business owner.

Take a look at each of these marketing plans and see which one you think would work best for your situation and goals.

1. Mail Order Marketing – At some point pretty much all of us have open the mailbox to find a catalog from a company such as Victoria Secrets or REI or one of a thousand other companies that use mail order marketing. Smaller companies might send out something smaller such as a flyer or brochure, but the intent is the same. They are hoping you will be excited about the products they are offering and that the catalog or flyer will entice you to buy something.

This type of marketing can be successful if you happen to get the right person at the right time. The best way to do that is to send it to pretty much everyone or at least find a “list” that groups people according to their interests so you only send your information to people who might use it. The success rate usually is less than 5% so you will need to send out a lot of information in order to be successful.

This is a very hard way for the average person to start a business. Especially if you consider this is just the marketing part of the business, you still have to worry about getting a product, making the catalog, taking orders and finally shipping. A lot of work and a lot of initial expense.

2. Conventional Marketing – Everywhere you go you are bombard with advertisements trying to show you how wonderful some product is and how you can’t live without it. This is the primary marketing plan of many traditional businesses. Coke, Pepsi, Nike and many others spend millions of dollars to get you to purchase their brand.

As a small business you would also be trying to get people to use your product and service. Local radio and TV stations, billboards and newspaper ads are all good ways to get your name out to the public. As with any business and advertising, eventually a word or mouth campaign can also help with your business promotion.

Again this is a money intensive way to get the word out. You still have all the other problems of having a store front or place people can go to get your product or service. You quite often will have employees and all the work and expense that go along with them. Once again, this type of business takes a lot of money to get started.

3. Direct Marketing – Remember the door to door salesman? It was something done in the past much more than today but most of us can remember the Kirby vacuum salesman or maybe the Fuller brush man. Today, there are still those direct sales companies but they do less of the door to door sales and have converted over to things like “home parties” and other venues like home and trade shows. Examples of this type of business are Mary Kay, Tupperware and even Avon.

The advantage of this marketing system to a small business or home business person is there is no need to have a storefront and the expense that goes with it. There is also no product to produce; the parent company has already taken care of that. It also does a lot of the work as far as brand recognition and warehousing and shipping of your product. You might be required to keep a certain amount of inventory on hand but it can quite often be kept in a closet or spare room within your house.

With less initial startup cost, very little advertising cost (you and word of mouth are your advertising), and no employee or storefront expense this is a much better option for the average person looking to start a home based business.

4. MultiLevel Marketing – MLM and direct marketing are similar in many respects. An MLM company uses its money to motivate its distributors and not towards the national public through advertising campaigns. When looking into MLM, you may have heard of companies such as Shaklee or Scent-sations. The biggest difference between Direct Marketing and MLM is that Multilevel Marketing is concerned with selling product but adds the team building aspect.

You, as a network marketer, would help others create their own home based business and give them training on how to build it stronger and in turn help even more people. This is called your downline. You get paid not only on what product you sell but the product they sell as well. Therefore it is in your best interest to help your downline become successful, just as it is important for your upline to help you be successful.

The parent company uses the money it saves from advertising to pay you. They also spend it on improving the product, creating more products for you to promote, creating new tools for you to be successful, giving education classes, and offering other bonuses such as money, trips, cars and other incentives.

They take care of all the production costs, the warehousing, the handling of payments and the shipping. Most of the good MLM companies don’t require you to keep inventory on hand but they do require that you purchase and use their product. Each company has a different requirement on how much you are required to purchase each month in order to be a distributor.

Like direct marketing this plan is a great starting place for a majority of people looking to start a home business. It has very little startup cost and very little risk. You can work this business while keeping your “real job”. It can be used as a way to make just a little extra each month or if it is your goal, you can use it to replace your current income.

Whatever you choose make sure it fits your goals and aspirations. It is good to go through and create a vision map of what you are trying to accomplish and where you see you and your business in the future.

Find a mentor, friend or coach who has been there and discuss the options of whatever plan you decide on. Starting a home business or small business is a big decision and one that you should research before just jumping in with both feet.

Think about it!

Michael Tomberlin
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/mlm-versus-other-marketing-stratagies-740984.html

I need books to post on the site, but I do not know where to get them and who to contact.

I am having someone create the site for me, so I am basically looking for a ecommerce coach. Can someone help me?

You would need to find the publishing companies that own the copy right to the books and negotiate fees for allowing you to distribute.
You’d also have to safeguard against unknowingly distributing an ebook where copyright belonged to another party your not aware of.
You’d also need access to a corporate lawyer to ensure you don’t breach any laws such as intellectual copyright or material with export restrictions.

You want to run a website about e-commerce yet don’t know anything about it ?
You cant realistically expect to find a full explanation of requirements from a few replies in yahoo can you ?

I would suggest you do some proper research and then take time to decide if you have sufficient knowledge and ability before spending money on web developers and web hosting.
Inexperience could land you in big trouble with huge legal fees if you break laws you didn’t know about.

Back up is a bread and butter question, put simply if you don’t back up you could end up out of business. Yet many people choose to ignore it, despite understanding the risk of losing everything, because it’s easy to do so.

Even a good backup policy is no good if it is forgotten or not properly carried out.

Yet no-one forgets to lock the office door or close the windows. When you’re working with any kind of technology things do go wrong, break down and important data can get lost, which is why online backup offers a realistic alternative.

When looking at online backup most businesses would see extra costs. That’s undeniable but there is a much higher cost to data loss. What’s more, they argue, traditional backup options are just as good and at a more manageable cost. Agreed but there are associated risks; tapes can wear out, CDs/DVDs may not store the data properly or get corrupted. Most importantly someone has to remember to do them and verify that they have worked.

This is the attraction of online backup; things don’t get lost or forgotten.

What is it?

Online backup is a facility where you can store your most important data files on a secure server, offsite. Many vendors will also provide mirror copies so that there is always a backup to the backup.

The main idea of online backup is that is used it to store important data so that if there is a disaster that data can be easily recovered.

Online backup is charged at a monthly rate – based on how much you store. Data storage space, depending on the vendor, is either compressed or uncompressed. Because spreadsheets and other documents can compress substantially this allows you to store more data online for the cost of that space.

How does it work?

With online backup it’s usually done with the use of vendor-supplied software. Online backup software and providers build extra safeguards into their systems. Once an online backup account is set up the account is encrypted using a key created by the user. This is fundamental to the system. Lose or forget this key and no-one can recover the files. After that it’s just a matter of choosing what files to store and determining a schedule that suits you best.

Why use it?

Online backup does not fail and is not subject to human frailties. Every piece of data sent for storage is verified before it is stored. This means comparing what has been received with what has been sent. It also means that there is no corrupt data in the backup. Backup vendors typically make two copies of the data as it is being backed up, with the same checks, so that there is a backup of the backup.

What about security?

Data storage centres have a lot of anonymous data. That anonymous data is encrypted. They have no idea who you are personally. They can identify that a particular account exists on a particular server but apart from that no-one can access the data except the user. This is why the key is so important. The key that only you know allows you to backup and recover the data. All vendors are also subject to Data Protection laws. Data that is not backed up on your server is more at risk.

Online backup works well and is used by many businesses. It can provide a cost-effective secure backup solution.

Be safe back up!

Ken O’Brien
http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/online-backup-a-solution-for-small-businesses-123277.html