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A Home-Based Business Online
Practical home business ideas, strategies
and resources for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
Issue 107 : November 5, 2001
Sent to 11,140 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 - Grocery
Shopping Service
3. Feature Article - Growing An Online Business ... Doing
the Right Things at the Right Time and Doing Them Right
4. Surveys and Trends
5. Motivational Tip for the Day - Winning More By Losing
6. Free E-Book of the Week - Your eBook Daily Marketing
Plan
7. Advertise in AHBBO
8. Subscription Management
9. Caveat Emptor
10. 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.
First of all, a follow-up to an article from a few weeks back,
"It Could Happen To You", about the plight of Jan Dandridge
of Rim Digest whose domain name had lapsed and was
snapped up by a "Dave Web" who was attempting to extort
$500 to have the domain returned to her. Why "extort"?
Because while "negotiations" were pending, he was pointing
the domain to a porn site. (For new subscribers this article
is at http://www.ahbbo.com/happen2u.html .)
Anyhow, I received an email during the week from John
Aidiniantz in the UK referring me to a recent ICANN arbitration
decision (to read the decision, see
http://www.cpradr.org/ICANNDecisionCPR0110-010823.htm ).
Seems that our good friend Dave Web of 5 Tpagrichnery,
Suite 33, Yerevan, Armenia 375010 has some mysterious
sort of connection with an outfit here in Glendale, California.
Gee, what a surprise. And all this time we all thought they
were far, far away in Armenia where we couldn't possibly
touch them. ;-)
And while we're on the subject of domain name hijacking
and extortion, I was busy the other day checking out
complementary websites for a possible reciprocal link with
AHBBO. I came across at least three sites which were at
one time not too long ago big, excellent sites in their field
but which now all point to the same cheap, smutty porn
site. Presumably the owners of these websites allowed their
domain names to lapse and the ever-present scum-sucking
Dave Webs of this world are holding the owners to ransom.
Again, as I said in "It Could Happen to You", KNOW when
your domain names expire and PLEASE make sure you renew
them on time! (Not that this was the problem in the case of
the above arbitration but you don't have to make it easy for
them, just the same.)
OK, now that I have that rant off my chest, on with this
week's issue. This week's article is all about what you
should be doing in your online business and, just as
important, when. If, like me, you find website design too
much fun and marketing and promotion too much unfun,
this article is for you.
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 - Grocery
Shopping Service
I hate grocery shopping. When I moved to this country
in July 2000, one of the first things I did was start using
HomeGrocer.com. Alas, HomeGrocer.com was acquired
by Webvan.com and things went downhill in a hurry with
that company shutting its doors earlier this year. So, now
I'm back to the Saturday morning grind along with, it seems,
at least 50% of the population. After all, if you work
full-time, when DO you shop for groceries? On the weekend
or in the evening. Either option is equally unpalatable in my
book.
Here's where you can come in. There are many, many
people like me who would be quite happy (delighted, in
fact!) to pay someone a reasonable fee to take care of
this chore for them. You could offer a grocery-shopping
service for busy professionals in your local area. All you
need is a car.
Here's one way to go about setting up a simple system.
Set up a website where your customers can enter their
weekly grocery orders and pay you by PayPal (why pay to
set up a merchant account if you don't have to?). I
recommend that you require an advance payment in
excess of your commission plus what you anticipate the
total bill will be. You can always easily refund the difference
to your customer via PayPal without cost.
In fact, if you get really organized (and can pair up with a
good web designer), you could even include a database of
frequently purchased items and their approximate prices
so that the amount will be automatically calculated when
the customer finalizes the order. Add say 10% to make
sure you're not short and refund the difference. You can
send the customer an email receipt of the actual amount
of the bill (even scanning the actual bill and including that
in your email).
If your business really takes off, you can leave the
grunt work to independent contractors and focus your
energies on building the business. Once you have a
client base, it'll be easy to add on related errand
services such as dry cleaning drop-off and pick-up and
taking Fido to the vet.
Recommended Reading:
=> How to Start and Operate an Errand Service
by Rob Spina
http://www.ahbbo.com/soes.html
-----
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.
Want To Market Your Business On the Internet? Need
a strategy to get started? Not enough time? Want great
product ideas? Don't let obstacles get in the way of your
dreams. Learn from top webpreneur who runs 4 hugely
successful online businesses bringing in over $5.2 Million
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Visit
3. Feature Article: Growing An Online Business ... Doing
The Right Things At The Right Time And Doing Them
Right
© 2001 Elena Fawkner
Once you get past the initial utter confusion and
"overwhelmingness" of the scramble to learn how to
start and run an online business, the time eventually
comes to dispense with the training wheels and just
get on with it.
A common trap for new online entrepreneurs is to
try and perfect their website before inviting anyone
to come over. It's true that you shouldn't submit
your site to the major search engines and directories
while your site's still truly under construction but at
some point you have to stop developing and start
marketing. Your site will NEVER be finished and it
will certainly never be perfect. If you wait until it is
before you start inviting guests, you're going to be
one very lonely webmaster indeed.
Working on your website is fun. The visual results
are immediate and, as a result, the self-gratification
you feel admiring your handiwork becomes addictive.
After all, it's a helluva lot easier to control how your
site looks and works than it is to actually drive traffic
to it.
Because of this, and the fun factor, there's a tendency
to spend a disproportionate amount of time dabbling
with your site, tweaking this and that and trying out
new cgi scripts when the time has long since passed
when you should have started working on driving traffic
to your site already.
To make a success of any business, including an
online one, you must strive to always be doing the
right thing, the right way and at the right time.
Because being disciplined is so important to making
the most of your time, I find it helps if I commit to
spending a certain period of time every day to one or
more of the marketing activities listed below and
getting it over with as early in the day as possible.
Then I can enjoy the reward of spending time on areas
of my business that I find more enjoyable such as
writing articles, and sourcing new and interesting
programs for my website visitors. By getting the
marketing chores out of the way first, you can enjoy
the rest of your day guilt-free. (That's not to say
that all marketing activities have to be "chores". It's
just that some are more enjoyable than others.)
Be especially careful of your time when it comes to
email. This is another common trap many online
entrepreneurs get sucked into. It comes in endlessly
and builds up quickly. We are always so conscious that
it's sitting there waiting to be read and responded to
that it can become a major distraction. Try to read and
respond to your email in one or two sittings at
particular times of the day. And impose a time limit
too. This will force you to work more efficiently.
(The exception is email from customers who need your
assistance. You need to devote whatever time is
necessary to correcting the problem.) If you're not
disciplined when it comes to email you can quite easily
fritter away an entire day and another and another
with very little to show for it.
OK, so here's a list of the top 15 things you should be
doing to market your online business once your site is
ready for launch. You don't have to do every one of
these activities every single day (although if you do your
business will certainly have a lot to show for it) but do
strive to do at least a few. The results will definitely be
worth it.
1. Submit Your Main Pages to the Search Engines
Once your site is "ready" (bearing in mind what I said
above), your first job is to hand submit your main pages
to the major search engines.
My "majors" (opinions differ) are:
Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com (fee)
Alta Vista - http://www.altavista.com (free and fee)
Northern Light - http://www.northernlight.com (free)
Excite - http://www.excite.com (fee)
Hotbot/Lycos - http://hotbot.lycos.com (free)
Looksmart - http://www.looksmart.com (fee - get listed
with Looksmart and your listing will also appear at MSN,
Excite, Alta Vista, iWon, Webcrawler and CNN)
It takes anywhere from several weeks to several months
to get listed with some of these engines so start early.
Then submit to the "minors" (i.e. all the others).
Visit http://www.searchenginewatch.com for the latest
news on the search engines and what you can do to
improve your rankings.
Automate the process of search engine submissions as
much as you can. The program I recommend ahead of
all others is Webposition Gold. Check it out here:
http://www.ahbbo.com/webpositiongold.html .
2. Submit Your Home Page to Directories
There are literally hundreds so this will be a time-
consuming job. Aim for ten per day and you'll make
progress. Visit http://www.jimworld.com for links to
hundreds of directories.
3. Publish An Ezine
For information about how to do that and generate
subscribers, read "Growing Your List" at
http://www.ahbbo.com/growingyourlist.html . If
you're new to ezine publishing, an excellent resource
is List-Universe.com's Ezine University at
http://www.ezineuniversity.com .
Try to write your own original articles for publication in
your ezine rather than relying on other people to provide
your content.
Make sure you have a sign up form on every page of
your website and a pop-up page inviting visitors to
subscribe. To see an example of this in action, visit
http://www.ahbbo.com.
Also, automate the process of publicizing your ezine
and submitting your articles as much as possible. One
excellent software program that will do this for you (in
fact the only one I know of) is Ezine Announcer.
Check it out here:
http://www.ahbbo.com/ezineannouncer.html .
4. Negotiate Reciprocal links
Find websites that target the same demographic as
your site and contact the webmasters of those sites
for a reciprocal link. (This just means that each of you
links to the other's site from your links page or
elsewhere else on your site.)
5. Submit to FFA Pages
Opinion is divided on the effectiveness of FFA pages.
Personally, I think they're a waste of time. Others
maintain that although they're pretty useless in terms
of people actually reading your listing, they can be
helpful with search engines that rank your site according
to popularity (i.e., by how many other sites out there
link to your site).
If you do decide to go the FFA route, make sure you
use a free email account rather than your main email
account. You will get a LOT of rubbish mail in response.
You want to be able to delete it in one fell swoop
without having to sort through legitimate mail first.
6. Identify Commonly Searched for Keywords and Create
Doorway Pages to Submit to the Search Engines
What's a doorway page? Just a simple page targeting
a particular keyword tailored specifically for the search
engine you're submitting to. How to create and submit
a doorway page? You can do it manually if time is not
an issue or you can use search submission software
like Webposition Gold mentioned above
(http://www.ahbbo.com/webpositiongold.html). Webposition
Gold also gives you all the information you need about
what the particular search engines look for in order to
rank pages well.
How to find commonly searched for keywords? Use
the Word Tracker service. Dirt cheap but turns up
excellent keywords. Click here for info:
http://www.ahbbo.com/wordtracker.html .
7. Write Articles and Submit Them
Submit them where? Directly to ezine publishers looking
for quality content for their publications, to article
submission lists, to article databases that exist for the
express purpose of providing other people content for
their sites and ezines.
The ezine submitter software I mentioned above can
automate this process for you and save you literally
HOURS of time each week.
(http://www.ahbbo.com/ezineannouncer.html)
8. Remind Visitors to Recommend You
Include a short note in every issue of your ezine
asking your readers to forward your ezine to their
friends and family, sign up for the Recommend-It
service at http://www.recommendit.com and put
the button on your site and the link in your ezine.
You get the idea. Word of mouth sells!
9. Monitor Your Search Engine Rankings But Don't
Obsess Over Them
Again, use software to take care of the grunt work.
Webposition Gold includes this function.
And when I say don't obsess, realize that search
engines are only one source of traffic. You will find
that a LOT of traffic comes from sources other than
the search engines. Do the things recommended
here and you'll soon see that for yourself.
10. Negotiate Joint Ventures and Co-Ops
Find people to joint venture with - whether it be
for ezine subscribers (you each recommend the
other's ezine on your "thank you for subscribing" page)
or bundle your products together and each sell the
bundled package. There is no limit on the types of
joint ventures and co-operatives you can negotiate.
Be creative and flexible.
11. Join Web Rings
12. Offline Promotion
Don't forget to promote your online business offline.
For more on this, read "Offline Promotion Matters Too"
at http://www.ahbbo.com/offline.html .
13. Host a Forum
Host a forum at your site and contribute to forum
discussions. A lively forum (or bulletin board) will keep
visitors coming back for more.
14. Contribute to Other Forums
Contribute to forum and newsgroup discussions run by
others to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
Remember, these are not platforms for blatant advertising.
The most you can get away with is a short signature
file.
15. Create Your Own E-book
Create your own e-book with links to your products and
services or your affiliate programs and distribute it freely
and encourage others to do so too. This is what's
known as "viral" marketing - it spreads like wildfire.
The above activities represent a lot of work and a serious
investment of time on your part. By no means are you
expected to do each and every one of these things
from the get-go. Once you have an established online
presence, though, they do represent a good range of
activities that, pursued regularly, diligently and
consistently, with discipline and patience, will truly grow
your online business exponentially ... and your profits
right along with 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
Dear Mom...This is a letter from my heart to yours.
I'm a mom with three kids. I know what it feels like to
have to work outside the home and feel torn between your
need to work and your need to be with your kids. Now I
found a way to make money at home and be there for them.
I want you to be able to find it, too. Please...read this now.
http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?PDIMarketing&ATC20
4. Surveys and Trends
© 2001 Ryanna's Hope
WE'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE! CUSTOMERS WANT PERSONALIZATION!
90% of a North American developer's time is spent on internet-
related projects and 21.1% of developers believe that the
profession's main trend in the next year or two will be
personalization.
OK, SO WHERE ARE ALL THE COMPUTERS HIDING?
Nearly 9-in-10 family households with annual incomes of $75,000
or more had at least one computer and about 8-in-10 had at
least one household member who used the Internet at home.
Among family households with incomes below $25,000, nearly
3-in-10 had a computer and about 2-in-10 had Internet access.
-US Census-
TARGETING YOUR ADS TO SINGLE HOUSEHOLDS?
Single-person households were the least likely to have a
computer (30 percent) or Internet access (24 percent). In
households with two to four persons, 58 percent had a computer
and 47 percent had Internet access.
GO WEST YOUNG ADVERTISER!
Households in the West were the most likely to have computers
(57 percent) and Internet access (47 percent). Those in the
South were the least likely to have computers (47 percent) and
Internet connections (38 percent).
------
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:
STEPS FOR SUCCESS: THE SIX HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL
WEBMASTERS
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5. Motivational Tip For The Day
© 2001 Jan Tincher
There are times when you can win more by losing. Many times
you can learn more from your failures and mistakes than you
can by your victories.
Denis Waitley, in his book *The Double Win*, says that failures
can be jumping off points to future successes.
That being, can you look at your *failures* from a different
angle now? Maybe get on with your life and look forward to
your future successes?
------
Learn unique strategies and techniques for personal success
from Jan Tincher online at
http://www.TameYourBrain.com/subscribe.htm
How one man turned an unprofessional, home made
website into over $100,000 in profits last year and
how you can too! You can be up and running in
half an hour!
6. Free E-Book of the Week
=> Your eBook Daily Marketing Plan!
by Wayne Perkins & Tom Hua
Best Selling Title from Amazon.com. This is a detailed
daily eBook Marketing Plan designed for a period of four
weeks to help you to market your eBooks on-line.
Perform just 3 marketing activities per day and you will
begin to see the best possible results within 60 days or
less.
http://www.ahbbo.com/edmplan.exe
------
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 and please
do not submit the free e-book from your self-replicating
affiliate website. I am looking for e-books created by YOU
(they can contain affiliate links) that you want to share.
Like This Ezine? Click to Recommend-It® to your friends!
7. Advertise in AHBBO
Ezine (electronic magazine or newsletter) advertising is
the most cost-effective and targeted form of advertising
online today. This is because the ezine's editor has already
done the hard work of bringing together a large group of
readers highly motivated by the subject-matter of the
ezine itself.
Therefore, assuming you place your ad in an ezine with
a subject matter that fits with what it is you are
marketing, you can be confident of reaching a select
group of highly targeted prospects for your product or
service.
AHBBO offers four different advertising packages:
(1) top sponsor ad placements,
(2) single ad placements,
(3) ad paks (4 ads for the price of 3), and
(4) exclusive mailings.
To learn more about advertising with AHBBO, please
visit .
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9. 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!
10. Contact Information
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
All Rights Reserved