Tips to Start Your Own E Business - Things You Must Know to Be Successful

April 17, 2010 - PRLog -- Today's economy has forced many people out of traditional "jobs" and into cyberspace in order to create financial security. However, before making this leap of faith, there are a number of factors to consider. While having a profitable home-based internet business definitely has its attraction, it is not a simple as one might think. Having the proper guidance and education along the way will, without a doubt, pay big dividends. Here are a few critical tips to starting your own e-business.

It goes without saying that you have to have a good product line, and you'll want to do some research. There are a number of directions to go when considering different products, but one of the most popular is dropshipping. This is the simple method putting someone else's products on your website and when you make sales, you place an order with the supplier and they ship the items directly to your customer. The price you pay for the goods is slightly less than the price you charge, thereby allowing you to pocket the difference. The nice thing about dropshipping is that you do not have to carry an inventory. However, you must carefully research the company supplying the product. Make sure to ask about their fees, speed of delivery, return policy, availability of inventory, and how long they have been dropshipping. If you have difficulty getting answers, this could lead to difficulty with customer service down the road, so beware.

Another type of product you may want to consider is an "informational" product or service. There are many companies that can provide you with a turn-key website designed not to sell a tangible product, but rather to sell things like sales coaching, organizational skills/training, educational programs, tax and legal advice, etc... With these companies, the key is really finding one that offers good training and support along side a product line that is in demand.

Other major factors to consider if you will be designing a website from scratch are your hosting company and web designer. The web designer actually puts your site together and gives it "life." They are responsible for how your site looks, flows, and the overall aesthetics and function. The hosting company, on the other hand, is more behind the scenes and is responsible for providing the actual platform on which your site is designed. Your designer will use the software from the hosting company to create your site and the back office portion of your site such as the shopping cart, shipping calculator, database management, and visitor statistics are provided by the hosting company. While the designer may charge you a flat fee to build your site, the hosting company will have a monthly fee for maintenance. Many hosting companies will also charge a percentage of your sales or charge extra depending on how much bandwidth your site uses each month. The more detailed your site is and the more traffic you get, the more bandwidth you use.

So, now you have defined a great product, found the perfect supplier, hired a top-notch designer, and picked the best hosting company. You're all set to make money, right? Unfortunately, no...

The most important thing to plan for and perhaps the #1 tip for starting your own ebusiness is this:

How are you planning on driving traffic to your site?

After all, even if you have the best lemonade in the world, you won't make much money if all you do is sell it in your own backyard! There are hundreds of different ways for you to market your site. Some are quite costly and range from print ads in magazines to pay-per-click spots on search engines. Some methods are free like writing articles, press releases, and putting a magnetic sign on your car. Regardless of which methods you chose, you must plan on budgeting time, effort, and money into your marketing education. Finding a good mentor or coach is often a critical step as online marketing is usually one of those things that "you don't know that you don't know!" You can spend thousands of dollars on Search Engine Optimization, but if it isn't done correctly, you may go broke before you see results. After investing countless hours getting your site up and running, don't waste your efforts by forgetting to have a marketing plan, or as I like to call it, an Online Profit Strategy! We've all heard the saying "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Get the jump on a marketing plan right away and you'll be headed in the right direction.

Hopefully my tips for starting your own eBusiness have been helpful to you. This can be a very rewarding venture with great fun and great profits, when done correctly! All of my best to you in your endeavor!

Greg Preite is a successful traditional and online business owner. You can learn more about his Online Profit Strategy and begin your educational journey today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Preite

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We provide wholesale and dropshipping service for other eCommerce and brick and mortar stores. We also help new entreprenuers set up eCommerce sights and teach profitable and simple online marketing strategies.