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A newcomer to the world of investments in the notion of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. Everything from using the internet as an avenue to make more money in real estate to online games such as SecondLife seem to be included in the popular definition of this term.
In order to figure out the truth of the matter, I sought out Bryan Ellis, whose experience in the fledgling industry is truly impressive.
When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.
One example of the parallels between virtual and physical real estate Bryan Ellis cites is the similarity between the monetization of domain names versus physical property. “There’s a huge difference between a website and a piece of real estate, but the ways you can profit from them are similar: ‘flipping’, rental/leasing, advertising sales, etc…all of these apply to both markets” he states.
The parallels really are obvious. Consider: A valuable piece of real estate is valuable largely due to the interest that other people have in that specific location. Similarly, ownership of a desirable domain name is valuable for the same reasons. In either case, you could sell or lease the asset and turn it into cash.
In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.
Before you open your computer consulting business you need to have a plan. Don’t just think you’ll remember a plan in your head. You are much more likely to accomplish your goals if you write them down.
Computer Consulting: The First Step
Think of all the things you need to do before you start your computer consulting business, prioritize them and write them down. Some ideas might be choosing a name for your business, getting business cards printed, ordering another phone line, joining networking organizations etc.
Using the computer consulting template below as a guide, write down each of your tasks and the date in which you need to achieve them. Don’t forget to work backwards from the launch date of your business.
A Template
The Launch Date:___________________________________________
Top Ten “To-Do” List with date
1. ________________________
2. ________________________
3. ________________________
4. ________________________
5. ________________________
6. ________________________
7. ________________________
8. ________________________
9. ________________________
10. ________________________
Company Name Ideas
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Possible Organizations to Join:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Bottom Line About Computer Consulting
You have much better odds of being ready for your launch date if you break down your tasks into small steps. Do two tasks a week if you have that much time. In no time at all, you’ll be opening the doors to your computer consulting business.
Copyright Notice:
Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Business Computer Consulting.com All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}
Joshua Feinberg helps small business computer consulting firms get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for your free access to a one-hour audio training program on Small Business Computer Consulting Tips.
Many businesses don’t know how to communicate online. You can see the boring stuff they spew on their websites. Every business speaks of the same thing - how they provide the best customer service, how they produce top quality products, and it goes on and on. It doesn’t communicate a thing and worst of all, they don’t even stand out from the competition!
When your business website represents YOU, it doesn’t hurt to show a bit of personality. One way to inject more personality into your business website is to reveal yourself. When your prospects and customers view your website, you want them to know you. When they like and trust you, it is likelier they will do business with you.
Why? Because we’re people and we want to do business with people we like and trust. Not some face-less entities without a name!
If you’re planning to re-write or re-do the content for your website, here are some questions to help you communicate your personality.
What is your business about?
Tell us what your business does for us. Why should we buy what you’re selling or offering? What unique product or service are you offering? Why is it unique?
Where is your business located?
It is the World Wide Web and businesses can be located anywhere. Provide your business location such as town/city, state and country. Do not abbreviate and assume everyone knows what it stands for. For business credibility reasons, use a proper address instead of a P.O. Box address. We used a P.O.Box back in the early days but learnt the hard way that it was clearly disadvantageous. P.O.Boxes look suspicious, like you have something to hide, even when you’re a legitimate business. Plus courier services don’t deliver to P.O. Boxes!
Who are your customers?
This gives the web user an idea of what industry or business your customers are from. If you are lucky, you would have a couple of famous customers to write about and this helps you establish your credibility and trustworthiness.
How long have you been in business?
If you have just started your business, tell it like it is. If you have been around long enough, tell us too.
What is your business philosophy?
Here you can add your own ‘voice’ or personality. Why did you start the business? If you have a story, tell your story. People adore stories!
Who are the founders or the people behind the company?
Many websites hide their founders too well. Whatever for? If you are a genuine business, you should be proud to be associated with your business. So go ahead, describe your CEO or founders. Tell us what they did before, their range of experiences, their qualifications and perhaps, a little history about how the business was founded.
When you have answered the above questions, you are ready to write your website content.
Finally, when you write, keep your writing jargon-free. If in doubt, use the simpler word. The key is to make your content understandable for all levels of website visitors and allow YOU to shine through!
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Nic Sim is the owner and founder of http://www.RedboxStudio.com - a web design firm dedicated to helping solo professionals and small businesses go online affordably and successfully. To view his design portfolio, visit http://www.redboxstudio.com/portfolio.php |
The Internet has become a valuable source of information and purchasing tool for today’s consumer. With the click of a mouse you can find almost anything from products to services on the web, and you can shop for the best prices and values all hours of the day from the convenience of your own home. For some of these same reasons, mail order businesses are also on the rise with consumers finding better values from companies that don’t have the overhead associated with a storefront.
With everything at the consumers’ fingertips, the home business owner can also benefit from today’s market culture. Just as consumers can shop from their living rooms and kitchens, business owners can conduct business in the convenience of their own homes. If you are looking to set your own hours, have less commuting time, and enjoy the general freedoms of working for yourself, starting a home business may be right for you.
One important business plan to attend to when you first start developing a home business is to invest time in finding your niche.
So what does this mean, finding your niche? Identifying a niche is about finding a distinct segment of consumer interest, then capitalizing on it. It means finding that particular spot in the business world where you can stand out amongst others. For example there may be hundreds of booksellers out there, but how many specialize in books on a particular interest of yours? If your home business focuses on selling books, you may be competing with the hundreds of other sellers. But if your home business focuses on selling books about outdoor sports, you may find yourself in direct competition with fewer businesses.
Now that you know what a niche is, how do you go about identifying yours? You can start by asking your self a few important questions:
What am I good at?
Take an inventory of your skills. Are you a good mechanic? Are you a wiz with home decorating? Do your friends all come to you when they have computer problems to fix? Do you know almost everything there is to know about a particular topic? Find the things you already have some skill in, and start a list. You may be surprised where your talents lie.
What do I enjoy doing?
What things do you love to do so much that you would probably do them whether there was a profit involved or not? The best place to start with this question is to look at your hobbies. These are often the things you pay a fairly significant amount of money to be involved in. Why not check it out to see if you can make a profit at these very same things? Starting a home business can take a lot of time and effort, and having a passion for the focus of your business can be a great source of the stamina necessary to make it through the difficulties in the beginning.
What is there a need for?
After you jot down what you are good at and what you love to do, it’s time to assess the market for these things. Are you always looking for supplies for your hobby, but can’t ever seem to find what you need? It’s very likely others are having the same difficulty, and a home business that supplies this need would be very well received by this segment of the market. Or maybe you love to decorate your kids’ birthday cakes, and your neighbors would rather pick theirs up at the local grocery store but can’t stand the small selection. This is a market for which you already have the skills and interest to meet the needs.
—–Side Bar—–
If you are planning to do your business entirely on the Internet, one great tool you can use to check whether there is market for your idea is the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
You simply enter the keyword that people might use to search for your product and it’ll return the number of times that term was searched on last month. Amazing isn’t it?
—–Side Bar—–
But don’t be afraid of markets where you may have some skill, but have a lot to learn. As long as you have the willingness to put time and effort into becoming an expert in your niche, you will be able to develop the specialization you need to be a leader in the market.
Once you answer these questions and find the distinct area that will set your business apart from others, you have identified your niche and are ready to develop your home business.
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/
An online community of people who work at home.
Hair care has been around as long as humans have been on the planet.
The earliest record of personal hair care dates back 2.5 million years ago, when brushes used to create cave paintings in Spain and France were adapted for use in hair grooming. Interestingly, many of the innovations in hair design that are still used today originated in the late 19th century.
According to 2002 statistics, there were 1.4 million personal care services in the United States, 313,000 of which were beauty and hair salons. The hair salon service industry alone had revenues of $55.9 billion, while salon product sales were $5.5 billion. Coloring alone brought in $10.4 billion for the beauty industry in 2002.
The biggest single customer group is the baby boomer generation, who by the way now constitute the largest population segment in America, and who are more than willing to spend money on a hair care services.
What this means is that the prospects for owners of hair care businesses are solid and strong. The 2003 Job Demand Survey, distributed by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences, indicated that average total income (including tips) for salon owners was $53,150 per year.
There are three ways you can enter the hair industry. You can open a franchise hair salon, in which you pay money upfront to use someone else’s established name and resources such as advertising campaigns. You can buy an established salon from someone who is retiring from the business or has damaged the business and is forced into bankruptcy. Thirdly, you could establish your own salon.
So what does it take to be a successful salon entrepreneur? First, it helps to be a risk taker, you have to be willing to try anything to succeed, you have to have determination and an entrepreneurial mind-set to be successful and you need to have a vision and goals for your business long term.
Learn more about owning your own hair salon business:
http://www.hjventures.com/hair-salon-business-plans.html
Howard Schwartz is a partner in several business strategy groups, including HJ Ventures International, Inc. Howard has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs worldwide with a focus on writing business plans for companies interested in raising capital from Venture Funds and Angel Investors. Howard’s business plans have secured several million dollars in funding.
http://www.hjventures.com
In today’s society many people believes that starting a home base business or home business is hard and frustrating because they can’t find the time to market, and get the home business up off the ground.
But here is where you wrong because you can find time to start your home business by setting out a schedule in sticking with that schedule.
Do you know that time plays a bigger part in owning and operating a home base business? But creating the time is hard work. The first thing you will need to do is sit down in write down your time and schedule. Focus on the main events like from the time you get up in brush your teeth in take a shower, from the time you get your kids to school. These should be your main focus point after you focus on your time point than its time to write down your time.
But however the more you find time for your home business, the more you will learn the basic of creating time. The things highlighted above should be your focus point
1: Write down your current schedule
A. Work Hours
B. Commuting
C. Weekend Time with Family
D. TV Time
E. Workout Time
F. Anything that keep you going.
2: Focus on creating time
A. Draw an outline of the above list
B. From there you should write down the time you’re at work.
C. Focus on your weekend time with your family.
Sticking with your schedule:
Sticking with your schedule can be tuff but once you get the hang of it you will stick to your schedule after making sure your family and friends understands what you’re trying to do by letting them know that you will be creating an home office at home in there’s a certain time you will like for them to stop by or call. Sticking with your schedule means you need to stick to it in not knock off time by not doing what you’re supposed to do. But however taking your home base business seriously requires a great deed of reasonability when it comes time for planning, creating, organizing, and meeting with client. That is why you need to sit down and create your time for your home business.
Many people believe that creating time for your home business can’t be done but yet it can be done by learning the basic of creating time for your home base business. I for once know that creating time for your business is ruff on you when you don’t really have the time but that’s why people today are finding different types of ways to creating time by writing down there time in schedule like for instant.
1: If your child stays up late, focus on the kids. Don’t focus on what you could be doing. If something comes up, decide to embrace the activity. Usually, you’ll find that it is better to “do what you need to do than normally doing what you have to do. Also you need to remember to stay well grounded when focusing on everyday tasks.
2: Focus on your time by keeping an MP3 Player those comes in handed when you’re focusing on ideals for your business. You should always keep a notebook because you may never know when a bright ideal comes to mind.
3: Focus on one item at a time instead of three to eight items at a time that will cloud your memory in you will lose focus on what you’re trying to do.
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy is an Internet home business authority who has helped thousands of people launch a successful Internet home business. To learn more about Stone Evans and find an Internet home business that it right for you visit: www.Home-Business.com
Working at home is a very hard business that many people think is very easily done. It is a well-known fact that 99% of the people who try to start working from home fail. They lack information about working at home, and they usually buy into a program that only offers one way for you to make money. Most of the time in order for you to make any money is to selling something to other people or get other people to join up, or building a downline.
Arbitrage trading is different from most home businesses because you do not get offered just one stream of income. Arbitrage trading you’re going to have 10 different steams of income you can make money with working from home. It also offers you residual income. Residual income is getting paid each month over and over again like and investment. You rarely find any home business programs that over any type of residual income.
If you ask people if they ever herd of sports arbitrage trading more then likely there answer will be no. This is because people haven’t taken to time to learn and understand just how sports arbitrage trading works, and how it can make them money working at home.
Arbitrage trading won’t make you the next Bill Gates, and it won’t make you millions over night. What arbitrage trading will do for you is make you a nice second income from home. If you are serious about making and extra $500 or $1000 part-time a month arbitrage trading can easily do that.
What I find most people do is start off to big. What I mean by this is the goals they set are too big and very far-fetched. When I started my home business my goal was to pay off one of my bills each month. This is a goal that is easily achievable for anyone starting a home business. My next goal was to be able to pay off 2 of my bills.
Once I learned arbitrage trading, and I got it down to where I was paying off 2 of my bills month after month my next goal was to make $100 a week in sports arbitrage trading.
You see this is how you start at successful work at home business. Start small and work your way up. If you set goals that are hard to reach you will fail, and then ended up quitting your home business.
I have been working at home with arbitrage trading for over a year now and each month I have seen and increase in my income. Each month I was able to reach all of my goals I set for myself.
If you’re looking to use arbitrage trading to work from home just remember to start small and think small. Then over time grow as you learn more.
Chris Rohrer has been using arbitrage trading to make over $1,000 a month working from home. To learn more about arbitrage trading, and how it can help you make and income from home visit Arbitrage Trading Information for more information.
I am now going to speak frankly and directly about what it takes to make money in an Internet business. Traditionally, that is not done, but I’ve pretty much had it with some of the ‘traditions’ of online business.
Many times during my first months on the Internet, I started to doubt whether I would ever make any money at it.
Every time I felt I was doing something that should get results, I’d learn another hard lesson about why what I was doing was NOT working.
It took about 4 months before I saw my first dollars, and even then they came few and far between. It took until my 7th month online before I actually turned a profit for the month. Since, I’ve maintained a profitable business.
Still, I have further goals to achieve before reaching the kind of money we all dream of making.
However, looking back now I can see just how much I have grown and learned. I was so stupid in my early days. It’s no wonder I got little sales. Looking back at what I was offering, I wouldn’t buy from me either!
I don’t claim to be a ‘guru’ yet by any means, but I do now know a definite truth about the way the Internet works.
To make money, especially consistent money with repeat buyers, you must have a UNIQUE WORTH.
You have to offer what no one else offers or offer a similar but BETTER product or service than what others offer.
That sounds oversimplified perhaps, but think about it. When you make a purchase, you want to KNOW you are getting the best available, or at least the best available for the price.
That’s how you treat other businesses because that’s how you have always treated other businesses. You DEMAND a good product or service for a good price, AND you like to get it from where you know you can REGULARLY find the best product or service for a good price.
That’s the way you are as a consumer. That’s the way ALL consumers are. So, just because you got on the Internet and heard promises of huge, instant riches, do you really think your business is going to be treated any differently?
No! You are just another business in an over crowded setting where regular consumers will blow right by you in search of something familiar with a good product at a good price.
UNLESS, you take hold of your business, PERSONALIZE it to stand out among the crowd, add extra features, group other opportunities to make your business unique, offer a better price on a known product, or create a better product.
Hey, this is what we all expect. That is the way businesses in competitive markets run. The Internet is an EXTREMELY Competitive Market.
You’ve seen all the claims about how many people are marketing online. You’ve seen them used as an example of how big your market can be. Well, guess what? That’s also how big your COMPETITION will be!
What makes you think you can simply click your way into an affiliate program, slap out one ad, and wind up with a six figure residual income you can go play on for the rest of your life?
Oh yeah, all the ads that said you could, huh? Well, guess what? People LIE on the Internet. Yes, I’d dare say 95% of the ads you see claiming you can make a six figure income are posted by people NOT making a six figure income.
Does this mean it’s impossible? No! The Internet is a place of great opportunity. There are huge numbers willing to buy from you WHEN you offer whatever it is those huge numbers believe will be beneficial to them.
That is THE KEY to sales. You MUST offer something of unique worth that will benefit your buyers. From there you can learn how to get traffic to your site. From there you can learn how to write effective sales copy. From there you can learn how to retain customers and get repeat sales.
Until you have that desirable, beneficial, UNIQUE product, service, group of products, or presentation of products, however, sales will not happen.
That’s not to say you can’t make any money with affiliate programs, but what is it about using the basic affiliate classifieds leading to the basic affiliate web site that is going to make you unique among everyone else?
Nothing.
However, there are ways. Mostly in my articles I talk about running your own business. Next week, though, I’ll go into specifics about working affiliate programs and different streams of income to gain profit.
The overall lesson here is a simple one, however. Seek to provide the same kind of quality, unique, worthwhile products or service that YOU demand.
Take a lesson from your own buying habits and apply it to what you are offering.
More related to affiliate program promotion next in this series.
Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters. Publish Your OWN Ezine — The EASY and Enjoyable Way! *Receive Original, Pre-Written Ezine Issues — You Publish! *Get Access to Extensive Promotional Resources *Initiate and Keep Contacts, Expand Your Online Presence See it! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html
1) Don’t just emphasize benefits. Emphasize value as well.
Let’s say you’re selling a new product. Let’s call it popcorn
facial masks. Yes, you should emphasize that’ll these
exfoliating scrubs will make you look younger and sexier. Now,
let’s pump up the copy with some value in dollars and cents.
Announcing Popcorn Facials. An innovative new scrub that uses
the exfoliating power of popcorn to smooth away your wrinkles
and dead skin cells. With Popcorn facials, your skin will look
sexier, younger, not to mention yummier in a matter of days
instead of weeks. Best of all, as a new customer, you’ll receive
this popcorn facial mask for only $4.95…that’s an astounding $10
worth of savings.
2) Keep it short. Keep scrolling to a minimum.
The more they have to scroll, the more customers you’re likely
to lose. If you have long pages of copy and pictures, consider
breaking it up into separate pages. Or, you can place internal
links within the copy. Alternatively, you can place a table of
contents at the beginning — Anything that’ll keep your
customers from strolling because of excessive scrolling.
3) Be eye-friendly.
Nothing instills eye fatigue like a block of seemingly endless
black and white text. You can beat this by including bullets,
pictures, indented paragraphs, etc. White space breaks your copy
into more manageable chunks.
Your reader will be grateful and more likely to read your copy
because the task won’t seem as daunting.
4) Get attention with your headlines.
Think of your headlines as shortcuts. At first glance, these
informative nuggets should give your customers a one-sentence
summary echoing your customers’ thoughts, “How does this benefit
me?” Without the headlines, your readers will be likely skip
over the most important information in your copy.
5) The golden rule of copywriting…Tell them what to do!
A necessity, it may seem pushy but a call to action is a must
needed statement in your copy. It should tell the reader not
only what to do, but also how to do and when to do it.
For instance, instead of saying click here say, “visit this site
today for the latest advice and best tips on how to lose 5 lb in
less than a week…” The more specific you are the better.
I have tried many get rich quick programs and have most of them
to be complete garbage. I would like to recommend one site that
has work tremendously well for me. I have more in the last
months than I did almost all of last year by using the
techniques described in this program. Do yourself a
favour…give it a try. If you don’t like it you can get a
refund for 45 days after you purchase it.
Click
Here!