7 Essentinal Resources for Small Business – Domain Name
7 Essentinal Resources for Small Business
Jinger Jarrett
So you want to start a business but you dont have a lot of money Start your business online, and it wont be a problem.
There are some pretty terrific resources you can use. Some of them you have to pay for, but they are inexpensive and can get you started quickly and easily.
1. A domain and web hosting. If you want others to see you as a professional and take you seriously, then you need to invest in your own domain and web hosting.
Purchased separately, the cost can add up very quickly. Here are some very low cost solutions to help you put your name on the map.
Dot Easy - http://www.doteasy.com - For only $25 per year, you can purchase your own domain. The web hosting is completely free. Although this hosting account is stripped of all the bells and whistles like CGI, you still get 15MB of bannerless hosting for free, and if you build minisites, this is a really cheap way for you to get started. Buy a domain a month, and before you know it, you have your own empire of products set up for a lot less than if you had bought all of this separately.
Go Daddy - http://www.godaddy.com - Although as far as I know they offer domain names for the cheapest price on the Internet at $6.95, their service is pretty good. I buy all of my domains here, and Ive never had any problems.
Free Web Space - http://100best-free-web-space.com/ - If money is a real problem right now, but you still want to make a good impression, then this site can help you find the most affordable web hosting or even bannerless hosting thats free.
Remember, you get what you pay for, so eventually, when you can afford it, upgrade. There are some good budget web hosts out there like Dot Easy, but for the most part, you get what you pay for.
2. Web Site Creation Tools.
There are some fantastic tools on the Internet you can use to build your web site, and theyre all free.
Considered to be the best HTML editor online, Front Page 2000 will give you hundreds of scripts, as well as a free FTP client you can unzip into the directory and upload your files directly from the HTML editor.
There are four different modes, including beginner and expert, so no matter what level at creating HTML you are, this free editor will definitely help you.
Youll find it here: http://www.evrsoft.com.
While youre there, make sure you check out the free metatag creator, as well as some of the other great free online tools youll find there.
3. Scripts.
If you want to get the most from your web site, scripts will help you do this. You dont have to be an expert in installation either. You can quickly and easily learn how to install them. I taught myself from reading some of the webmaster sites online.
You have two choices when it comes to installing scripts on your site:
You can install them yourself, or you can use remotely hosted scripts. Remotely hosted scripts are great when you dont have a CGI bin on your site.
This site is offering scripts for free: http://site-by-design.com/affiliates.php - Scripts include: Autoresponder Script, Fly-In Ads Script, Paid To Read Emails Script, Safelist Script, Rotator Script, Homepage Traffic Script. Definitely worth a look.
Two resources that offer a wide variety of scripts in different formats are:
http://www.cgiextremes.com/ http://www.hotscripts.com
If you want remotely hosted scripts, the best sites I have found are:
http://www.cgispy.com http://www.bravenet.com
4. Autoresponders. Autoresponders will help you in two ways: you can use them for your opt in lists and ezines, and you can also use them to follow up with your customers.
With opt in lists and ezines, an autoresponder will save you the trouble of handling subscribe and unsubscribe requests, which can become very tedious after awhile. This will allow you to automate the mundane part of building a relationship with your customers and newsletter subscribers, providing you with the credibility you need online to make the sale.
Two sites that offer free autoresponders that are very reliable are: http://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.sendfree.com/
Please note: when using free autoresponders, the site owner will send his/her ads with your messages. This is valuable message real estate. Its better to pay for your autoresponders, if possible, so that you can place your own ads in the headers and footers of all your messages.
5. Online Tools.
There is a whole host of online tools you can use to help you with your business including email formatters, newsletter formatters, sales letter and press release formatters, as well as wizards to help you build your web site.
Below are some of the best:
Pertinent Inc. - http://www.pertinent.com - Offers a free press release creator, as well as a sales letter generator.
Free Online Wizards - http://www.thesitewizard.com/wizards/index.shtml - This site offers everything from a wizard to help you syndicate your content to form creators and drop down menu creators. Lots of tips and articles too.
Email Formatter - http://www.formatit.com - Tired of getting emails with a ton of >>>>> in them You can use this site to strip those tags out, as well as reformat your emails to any width. Great for formatting articles too.
6. Business Software.
You can find thousands of dollars in free software to help you build your business by searching through software sites online.
My favorite is Freeware Home: http://www.freewarehome.com. Youll find over 7,000 applications at last count here, and theyre all free, full sized versions of the program.
Two applications you wont want to be without are:
Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org - Formerly Star Office, this open source application is the best rival to Microsoft Office. You can use it to do everything from convert your documents to PDF, to word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Theres also a version for MAC, making this a must see application when you cant afford other expensive applications.
Banana Cash Books - http://www.banana.ch/banana4/eng/bc4_cashbook.shtml - Although this single entry accounting program accepts just about any currency, if you want to use the accounting method the IRS recommends for small business, this nice little free program will definitely do the trick.
7. Business Education.
Once you have your business up and running, its a good idea to stay up to date with your business and marketing knowledge.
There are a lot of great ways to do this including forums, article directories, mailing lists, and newsletters.
There are also some great resource heavy sites out there you can benefit from. Below are three of my favorites:
My 1st Business - http://www.my1stbusiness.com - Run by Ben Botes, youll find plenty of ecourses, seminars and more covering small business, ecommerce, marketing, and other topics. You need to sign up for an account, but its free, and definitely worth a look.
Free Marketing Resources - http://www.jdbmail.com/ - Run by Jimmy D. Brown, one of my all time favorite marketers, and quite frankly, one of the best, youll find audio, ecourses, and other resources in plain English that can teach you how to market online. Jimmy doesnt just teach you what to do; he shows you how to do it, and he spells it out. It doesnt matter if you are a complete newbie, or if you have been marketing for some time. Youll benefit from Jimmys excellent teaching.
Ebook Directory - http://www.ebookdirectory.com - Run by Noel Hynes, this is the most comprehensive collection of small business and Internet marketing ebooks on the Internet, and theyre absolutely free. Youll also find plenty of other ebooks here including motivational, writing, and a whole lot more.
There are plenty of free resources on the Internet to help you build your business. The trick is learning when you should buy products and services for your business and when you can get a freebie that will do the job just as well and sometimes better.
A quick search of Alexa, http://www.alexa.com, will help you find some of the best.
About The Author
Jinger Jarrett is a former military journalist and newspaper reporter who teaches and consults on article writing. You can get her latest ebook, its free, "100+ Best FREE and Paid Resources for Writers, Internet Marketers, and Small Business
Growing Your Business In CyberSpace – Web
Growing Your Business In CyberSpace
Mark Sincevich
A synopsis of Philippa Gamses Presentation to the National Speakers Association, Washington DC chapter on Saturday, January 10, 2004
Someone had asked Philippa why Websites are such a pain in a pre-seminar question. Her opening reply was simple, yet powerful, "when you stop improving your site, you stop growing." She believes that Websites are a work in progress much like a business plan or ones own self-improvement. In fact, the first question you should ask yourself about your own Website is, "What does it really do for people"
The second question is "Who is your audience" You see, websites are really a lot like a business plan! If you are trying to attract prospective clients, then each individual page on your site should offer something of value to your audience. The number one way that Philippa adds value to her audience is through her articles. The best way to keep getting top listings with the most popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo! or MSN, is to constantly change or add content. Her articles add value to her audience and are her number one search engine strategy. Maybe this is why she doesnt cold-call. Her customers tell her that they have seen her name in multiple locations before they call her directly.
She said that we should think about the emotional connection that our website makes. How does your website represent you when you are not there Unfortunately most websites are not a true reflection of what we do and who we are. The reality is that our websites need to become an expertise center. We need to show a clear benefit such as how our programs will increase the creativity and balance of a prospective customer. Every page should have a strategy, a way to increase our database and provide a call to action.
Philippa also believes that each web site should have a dynamite testimonial across the front of the homepage, because testimonials are the least-viewed section on every website! She recommends that we pull out our testimonials and sprinkle them throughout our site. And when we think of testimonials, we should be thinking about the substantive ways that we have helped our customers. If we attempt to be clear and specific about our program benefits, why not be clear and specific about their outcomes from real customers. She recommends that we have specific testimonials for specific programs. Talk about maximizing our congruency!
In order to get started, Philippa wants to know what we have done today to improve our website. Two days after her seminar, I added a question and answer section and submitted my site to a dozen search engines. My next step is to write another article. What are you going to do today to improve your web site, your business and even yourself She encourages you to contact her about the changes you have made.
For more information on how to improve your website further, Philippa recommends that you download her tip sheet, "Twenty-Three Proven Tips and Ideas for On-Line Marketing" at http://www.cyberspeaker.com/tipsheet.html. Philippa can be contacted directly at her office in Santa Cruz, California at 831-465-0317 or pgamse@cyberspeaker.com. If she doesnt get back to you immediately, it is due to her ongoing quest to find the best deli sandwich outside of New York City.
c 2004, Mark Sincevich. All rights in all media reserved.
About The Author
Mark Sincevich is a professional speaker, photographer and author of two books and numerous articles. He works with organizations to increase their creativity, balance, leadership and personal development. He can be reached at 301-654-3010, mark@staashpress.com, or http://www.staashpress.com.
Various Aspects Of The Lease Purchase Business – Real Estate
Various Aspects Of The Lease Purchase Business
Sue and Chuck DeFiore
In a previous article, we wrote why we believe that Lease Purchasing is the perfect home-based business, here we want to briefly touch on some of the actual aspects of operating such a business, the pluses and minuses and why Lease Purchasing represents a win-win situation for the seller, the tenant/buyer and just as importantly, you, as the business owner.
One of your goals in operating a Lease Purchase business is to contract for property that you then move to the tenant/buyer. There are a number of unique strategies that can be employed to reach this end.
You can lease purchase the property and then sub-lease to a tenant/buyer. In this strategy, you are taking on the responsibility for all payments to the seller. However, it also affords you great profit potential. You can collect money up front as option consideration, you receive the positive cash flow and you can make additional money at the end if the option is exercised. For those of you not familiar with the term positive cash flow, this is the difference between what the tenant/buyer pays you and what you pay to the original seller. This is also known as a sandwich lease purchase.
Another unique strategy is called the co-operative assignment. Here, you contract for a property and assign or sell that contract to a tenant/buyer, with the approval of the seller. In other words, the owner/seller has final approval over who goes into the home.
Another way of doing business is the straight assignment. Here, you contract for a property and assign or sell that contract to a tenant/buyer. This method does not require a sellers approval.
You can also take a pure option on a property which allows you to purchase the home at a future date with set terms. This option can then be sold to another investor.
As you can see, there are a number of unique strategies that can be employed in this business. We have touched on just some of them to give you an idea of the type of income Lease Purchasing can generate for you.
After youve gained experience in the business, you can start consulting with sellers and tenant/buyers. There are many reasons you may want to consult with a seller rather than get directly involved in the deal. The property may be to distant to work conveniently, there may not be enough money in it for you to receive what you need, or the seller may prefer to do it him or herself.
When you consult with a seller, you are providing the proper contract, a marketing plan and supporting material. We also provide a period of time for follow-up questions.
You can also consult with tenant/buyers. You may want to do this with those individuals who have limited funds available to get into a rent to own home. There are also occasions where people just prefer to do their own house hunting.
Weve really just touched on the various ways to generate income with a Lease Purchase business. Lease Purchasing allows you to develop multiple income streams. By utilizing all of the income generating strategies available to you, you can build a very solid financial base for yourself.
Weve covered many of the pluses of Lease Purchasing as a business, but wed be less than honest not to point out some of the minuses.
If youre the type of individual who has poor attention to detail, this may not be for you. You need to be able to keep good records of whom you spoke to and do business with.
Also, if youre an impatient type and dont like to do "hand holding", again this may not be for you. There are many deals where you will need to be able to walk the participants through and provide constant reinforcement to them.
Although the risk level in this business is minimal, there are some risks involved. You may contract for a property and not move it for example. If youre adverse to any risk, re-think Lease Purchasing as a business for you.
In our opinion, Lease Purchasing provides a truly win-win scenario for all parties. You get to help a seller who has a problem, you provide a nice home in a nice area for the tenant/buyer that they can get into today and buy tomorrow and finally, you are generating a wonderful income for yourself. This is a business that can be operated anywhere there are free property rights.
Believe us when we say that Lease Purchasing is the best business we will ever own. Its that good!
Copyright 2002, DeFiore Enterprises.
About The Author
Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site Subscribe to our FREE "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, its like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com
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