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A Home-Based Business Online
Practical home business ideas, strategies
and resources for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
Issue 105 : October 22, 2001
Sent to 10,519 Opt-In Subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: Fawkner Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
Contact By Email
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Welcome and Update from Elena
2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - Cleaning
Services Broker
3. Feature Article - But What Do I Sell?
4. Surveys and Trends
5. Motivational Tip for the Day
6. Free E-Book of the Week
7. Subscription Management
8. Caveat Emptor
9. Contact Information
1. Welcome and Update from Elena
Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers
who have joined us since the last issue.
For those of you who haven't visited the AHBBO website
recently now's the time to do so. There's a host of new
resources available to you including a brand new "What to
Sell" page, for those of you who are saying to yourselves
"But I don't have a product". In addition, the AHBBO
Bookshop is now open (although still under development)
with some great new titles (many more will be added over
coming days) and, coming this week, an entire new library
of small business basics articles will be added. Look for the
"How-To Library" link.
On the subject of what to sell in your own online business,
that's the topic of this week's feature article. There are
many ways to generate income from an online business but
they all start with the same ingredient ... great content.
"But What Do I Sell?" is at segment 3.
Also back this week is Larry Wack's "Surveys and Trends"
at segment 4. and, by popular demand, the Free eBook of
the Week is back at segment 6.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this
week's issue.
Remember, this ezine is for YOU! If you have comments or
suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed, or
would just like to share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want to hear from you. Please send
comments, questions and stories to Contact By Email .
Are you marketing to the over 50 crowd?
Can't afford a research dept or consultant?
Get affordable, cutting edge market research
by subscribing to the Over50Marketing Newsletter
It is monthly and delivered online. Get a free sample copy!
Email mailto:joannef300@aol.com with "sample copy" in
subject
2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - Cleaning
Services Broker
I'm the first to admit cleaning house is definitely one of my
least favorite activities. Couple that with a chronic lack of
time and you're describing a huge segment of the population.
One that isn't going to be shrinking any time soon.
As a cleaning services broker you can tap into this market.
A cleaning services broker basically brings together people
wanting cleaning services performed and those prepared to
perform that service for a fee.
Start out by advertising for cleaners. You'll need to check
references and test their skills. You may also want to
consider bonding them. Once you have several cleaners on
your books (as independent contractors, not employees),
you can then start advertising your services to prospective
clients.
A Yellow Pages listing is a good place to start (although this
does require quite a bit of forward planning) as well as
classified ads in your local newspaper. Professionally produced
flyers/brochures that can be distributed in a letter box drop in
the geographic area you are targeting will also generate good
enquiry.
You should set yourself up so that you bill the client for the
cost of the service and you pay your cleaning contractors.
The difference between what you pay your contractors and
what your receive from clients is your commission.
You can gradually expand your business too by adding more
services over time. Logical extensions include window
washing, garden maintenance, carpet cleaning and pet sitting,
to name just a few examples. And don't forget to think outside
the box when targeting clients. Consider, for example, real
estate agents who need cleaning services for rental properties
between tenants.
Useful Books:
=> Home Cleaning Business : Your Step By Step Business Plan
by Susan Bewsey
=> How to Make Cleaning a Successful Business
by Pamela Glasby
-----
There are many more ideas like this at the AHBBO Home Business
Ideas page at http://www.ahbbo.com/ideas.html with more being
added all the time.
Need To Get Your Web Business Off the Ground?
Don't let getting started get in your way, follow
the lead of a top webpreneur who runs 4 hugely successful
online businesses bringing in over $5.2 Million in sales.
We highly recommend his site for tips, tricks and tools
on building a successful online business. Visit:
http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/633324
3. Feature Article: But What Do I Sell?
© 2001 Elena Fawkner
So, you want to start your own online business. You know
you have to create your own website, start your own ezine
and generate traffic to your site before you can make sales.
So far so good. But ... sales of what, exactly? What do
you sell?
Fortunately, the options are many and varied. Basically,
though, everything falls into one of two categories ...
products or services. We're going to take a closer look at
a few relatively easy options for when you want to get
started and get started NOW.
=> PRODUCTS
What kinds of products can you sell from your website
assuming you don't already have something available?
Your best bet is anything that can be delivered digitally
such as software and information products.
When it comes to selling software or information products,
you have four basic choices:
1. you can create your own product from scratch, e.g., by
writing a software program, a cgi script or an e-book;
2. you can join affiliate programs and sell products already
created by other people and earn a commission for every
sale;
3. you can join a multi-level marketing (or network
marketing) plan; or
4. you can acquire resell rights for products already created
by other people and keep 100% of the profit.
Option 1. is a must-do. Eventually. But when you're
itching to get started, you don't want to have to wait the
3 or 4 months it takes you to write your ebook before you
can launch your online business.
Option 2. is great for a quick start but you're working on
commission. Someone else is getting the lion's share of the
profit for your hard work.
Option 3. is a good choice if you're a natural networker.
For more information about MLM and whether it might be
right for you, check out my article "Not MLM! ... Why Ever
Not?" at http://www.ahbbo.com/notmlm.html .
Option 4. (along with option 3.) is where the real money
is, at least compared to option 2. Acquire the resale
rights as well as the product and you're not working on
commission any more -- you're working for serious profit.
Where do you go to acquire products that can be
delivered digitally with full resale rights? There are several
good sources but here are a few tried and true sources,
each excellent places to start:
eBookPublications
http://www.ahbbo.com/ebookpublications.html
eBookWholesaler
http://www.ahbbo.com/ebookwholesaler.html
FreeToSell
http://www.ahbbo.com/freetosell.html
=> SERVICES
What kinds of services can you sell from your website?
How about advertising space in your ezine or on your
website? How about a members-only area of your site,
access to which requires payment of a membership fee?
=> Advertising Space
Since you really need to be publishing an ezine on a
regular basis to stay in contact with, and generate, web
site visitors, it makes sense to make money from something
you already have to do anyway. Selling advertising space
is a good revenue-generator.
Don't try selling your ad space until you have a minimum of
1,000 subscribers or so. Until you get to that point by all
means offer free ads in your ezine though. That's a good
way to generate subscribers and get your readers used
to seeing ads in your publication. Ad swapping with other
publishers during this period (and beyond) is also a good way
to generate new subscribers.
Once you reach the 1,000 mark, you can start offering
your ad space for sale. The days when you could publish
an ezine with a classified ad section of 20 or 30 ads are long
gone. Ezine readers are much more savvy and discerning and,
as a result, ezine advertisers are much more selective and
will look for ezines that run few ads and which place them
strategically amongst the content, or "meat" of the ezine
itself rather than being stuck in a great glob that nobody
reads at the end.
Think also about sending solo mailings to your list as
another source of revenue. Be particularly circumspect
when it comes to these mailings, however. Solo mailings
are very effective when targeted to the right audience
and so advertisers love them. Ezine subscribers have
varying attitudes towards them though. Some will
immediately unsubscribe from an ezine that sends solo
mailings. Others will accept them so long as the ezine
itself is worth receiving.
Personally, I don't worry about losing subscribers just
because I send solo mailings. The acceptance of solo
mailings (which are, in my case, limited to one per week)
is the price I ask my subscribers to pay to receive my
ezine for free. The advertising revenue I receive is how
I pay my costs and make a profit. If people aren't
prepared to receive a solo a week in exchange for the
ezine then they'll unsubscribe and that's fine with me
because they're not prepared to make a fair exchange
and were never going to buy from my advertiser anyway.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to
pricing your ads. Basically, you want to achieve some
measure of equilibrium between supply and demand. If
you have more demand for your ad space than supply,
increase your prices until demand is in line with supply,
do not increase the number of ads. The more ads you
run, the more you dilute their effectiveness for your
advertisers and the less likely your advertisers are to
place repeat business with you. In other words, by
taking a short-term increase in profits, you sacrifice
the longer-term profitability of your business. You're
cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Conversely, if you can't sell all your ad space, reduce
your prices. Try and get to a price point where the
demand for your ad space is roughly equal to your
supply. If you have an occasional ad spot vacant
don't worry - just run an ad of your own instead. But
if you regularly find yourself with half your ad inventory
unsold and you're not running an excessive number of
ads, this is a signal your ads are overpriced and it's time
to reduce your prices or make the strategic decision to
run your own ads instead of others'. In fact, in many
instances you'll make more money from your ad space
by advertising your own products and services than you
will from selling the ad space itself.
How to set your price? As I said above, there's no hard
and fast rule. Whatever brings about equilibrium between
supply and demand. My own pricing formula is $5 per
1,000 subscribers for a single classified, $10 per 1,000
subscribers for a sponsor ad and $20 per 1,000 subscribers
for a solo. That pricing structure is right for me but may
not be right for you.
Your pricing will also be influenced by how specific or
general your target market is. If you publish an ezine on a
relatively esoteric subject with a small but highly targeted
market, you'll be able to sell your ad space for a higher price
than you will if you publish an ezine on a really general
subject (such as "internet marketing") with an extremely
large but also undifferentiated market. For this reason,
it's not the size of your list that dictates your advertising
pricing, but rather how targeted your list is to the subject
matter of your ezine and your advertisers' products and
services.
Similar principles apply when it comes to selling advertising
space on your web site.
Bottom line: advertisers want and will pay for results, not
how many subscribers you have on your list.
=> Paid Subscriptions
Paid subscriptions are another good way of generating
income, whether they be for your ezine or web site.
A great resource if you want to go this route with your
ezine is Monique Harris' Paperless Newsletter (see
http://www.ahbbo.com/paperlessnewsletter.html ).
As far as your website is concerned, by utilizing password
protection you can effectively cordon off areas of your
website for paying members only. This requires some
technical set-up but your webhost will generally offer some
sort of basic password protection capability. For more
advanced systems, you'll need to get hold of a specially
designed cgi script for this function.
When it comes to pricing your subscription services,
although no doubt there are exceptions to the rule, the
better approach is to charge a monthly access fee rather
than an annual fee. A monthly structure allows you to set
a relatively low initial price, thereby making the decision to
sign up more of a no-brainer for your subscriber, and it also
gives you a recurring monthly income. It's also possible to
charge more overall than you could under an annual
structure. For example, most people would not hesitate to
pay, say, $9.95 for monthly access to a site they perceive
as valuable, especially knowing they can cancel at any time.
But those same people may hesitate if that initial investment
was $120 ($9.95 multiplied by 12 months).
With the appropriate payment processor and software,
subscription fees can be set up to be automatically charged
to your subscriber's credit card each month unless and until
they cancel.
=> THE ROLE OF CONTENT
These are just a few of the options available to you to
generate income from your own online business. The bottom
line with respect to all of them though is the quality of your
content. It doesn't matter how good your product line is if
people have no reason to visit your site in the first place.
So, put first things first. Pick a subject matter for your
site that you are passionate about. Do the hard work of
creating a truly valuable resource for people interested in
the same thing. Publicize it to death. Publish an ezine on the
topic, again with high quality content, to draw them to and,
more importantly, BACK to, your site again and again and
again. Then, and only then, will you have a chance to get
your product or service in front of them. Then, and only
then, will you have a chance to make the sale.
There's no disputing that the main reason we go into business
is to make money. If you don't have this as your objective,
then you're engaging in a hobby, not running a business. But
when it comes to doing business online, the reality is that you
have to give before you can get. So give your site visitors
what they're looking for. Do that and they'll visit you again
and again and refer their friends. Do that and you'll actually
have customers to sell your products to. Don't do that and,
although you may have the greatest product or service in the
world, no-one but you will ever know about it.
------
** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you
include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a
100% opt-in list.
Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article:
------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical home business ideas for the work-from-home
entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com
I WONDER... ARE YOU A LOT LIKE ME?
There are three things that are a dream come true for me:
1) Being able to work at home.
2) Making enough money to experience financial freedom.
3) Having the time to enjoy my life and family.
You can begin living your dream today, too.
Why not start now? The time was never better!
http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?PDIMarketing&ATC18
4. Surveys and Trends
© 2001 Ryanna's Hope
=> SEPTEMBER 11 ISSUES - SAFETY RELATED PRODUCTS
According to a BIGresearch/Deloitte Research survey of over
5,100 people in the US between 27 September and 4 October
2001, 37% say they have changed their buying habits due to
safety concerns.
Additionally, 47% of people in New York City have made
safety-related purchases since 11 September and 15% have
stockpiled food and water since then. 10% of New Yorkers
also have purchased new cellphones since the terrorist attacks.
=> BOTTOM LINE CUSTOMER HELP! THEY WANT TO SPEAK TO
SOMEONE!
Modalis Research surveyed 1,000 US consumers between April
and May 2001 and found that 98% of respondents have used
the internet for some form of customer service help. The most
popular customer service element consumers desired on a
company's website was the general telephone number -- 86%
sought the number online.
WorldCom Research says that US businesses should integrate
different forms of communication between customer and
company into their already existing structures. It notes that
56% of respondents think that the internet provides most
answers, but it is sometimes necesssary to talk to an actual
person.
Findings in eMarketer's eCommerce: B2C Report support the
trends noted by WorldCom/Modalis. Cyber Dialog determined in
2000 that 55% of US online shoppers thought toll-free calls to
a customer service representative were "extremely helpful,"
and 23% felt the same about an FAQ section on a company's
site. An Indiana University/KPMG study reported that in 2000,
79% of US online shoppers considered toll-free telephone
access a "must have" customer service feature.
=> ARE YOU MAKING IT CONVENIENT?
NCL surveyed 1,003 US adults, age 18 and older, living in
private households. It found that 55% of US consumers with
internet access at home or at work have purchased something
online -- up from 44% in 1999. NCL says that convenience is
still the key factor for buying online: 56% cite it as their
number one motivation for e-shopping.
------
WANT MORE?
Ryanna’s has published over 45 business articles nationwide
for the home entrepreneur. You can obtain free info about their
offer of “Cash Making You’ve Never Seen...” and you can
obtain free ebooks and other articles at their site. Subscribe to
their free ezine “Surveys and Trends For Entrepreneurs” too!
Go to: http://home.sprintmail.com/~rypublish/
INCREASE YOUR WEB TRAFFIC BY 72.3% WITHIN 7 DAYS
The only "how-to" source that reveals to you for the first
time, easy to follow step-by-step proven lessons that built
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last three years. Work the "dot com" fall out to your
advantage by grabbing thousands of customers quickly.
http://www.roibot.com/w.cgi?R5469_howto
5. Motivational Tip For The Day
© 2001 Jan Tincher
Would you like a stressless life?
Take stock of how many rules you live by. The law of
averages says that if you have too many rules, somebody's
going to violate one of them just about any time, any day.
If your rules are violated, you have stress.
Take note of the parents of multiple births. When asked
how they keep their sanity, the reply was, "We don't have
too many rules."
------
Learn unique strategies and techniques for personal success
from Jan Tincher online at
http://www.TameYourBrain.com/subscribe.htm
ONLY TWO MONTHS TO GO FOR THIS TAX YEAR!
Are your home-business tax affairs in order? Discover the
secret but perfectly legal loopholes and unheard of tax saving
strategies and how you can use them to save thousands of
dollars of outrageous taxes!
http://www.ahbbo.com/homebiztaxsecrets.html
6. Free E-Book of the Week
Killer Tips & Tricks
http://www.ahbbo.com/tipsntricks.zip *
From Chris Edmiston:
"In my eBook, Killer Tips & Tricks, I'm going to show you
today's hottest tactics on generating traffic and getting
newsletter subscribers. Then I'll show you how to bring
your visitors to your order page with their credit card in
hand. The tactics in this book, if applied successfully,
will bring you from the ranks of average internet marketers
to the top of the field.
"The techniques I discuss with you today are UNIVERSAL,
it doesn't matter what you are selling. You could be selling
diet pills, marketing info, herbal medication, toothpaste,
or jewelry. And the best part is, the techniques in my book
are easy to apply and can be done within days, if not hours.
You might see an increase in sales within the next couple of
days!"
------
* You'll need an unzipper to open this file. If you don't
have one, you can download a free evaluation copy of
WinZip at http://www.winzip.com .
------
SUBMIT YOUR EBOOK!
To submit your eBook for the AHBBO Free E-Book of the
Week segment, email me at Contact By Email,
include a description and download instructions. Please do
NOT email the ebook to me as an attachment.
7. Subscription Management
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7. Caveat Emptor
Although all of the information presented in AHBBO is
published in good faith, neither the publisher nor the
editor accept any responsibility as to the accuracy or
otherwise of the information presented. By making use of the
information contained in AHBBO the reader assumes all risk
that certain information may prove to be incorrect.
All advertisements are accepted in good faith. However,
advertisers are solely responsible for the content and
accuracy of their classified advertisements and no
warranties are given, nor responsibility accepted, by the
editor or the publisher in relation to any classified
advertisement appearing in this publication. ALWAYS carry
out your own due diligence!
8. Contact Information
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
All Rights Reserved