3-BUSINESS SIDE

		Making Money: The old saying goes "Do what you love and the money will follow".  The most successful people I spoke with mentioned how much they love what they do.   Do you know what you want to do? Do you have products or a niche you want to sell?   Do you have a service you want to offer?  What could happen for you in following these steps may be the bonus of making good money but also adding to the enjoyment of making a good living while doing what you enjoy.   If you know what you want, then you might skip this section and go  to the Commissions section. For those who do not know what they want to sell and need help to find products, then stick with me and I will suggest areas you can look and places you investigate so you can find your own niche in the internet market.  So, remember it is important to find a product or a service that you can get excited about. Choose something that you understand well and can get creative about so you can serve your customers better. By being excited about what you sell will shine through, and by being honest and fair  with your customers, your credibility will grow and so will your sales. Give this a lot of thought and we will go into much further detail soon. This is one way to build your sales and make money.  An excellent website to admire, look through for information and/or join yourself.

		Commissions: A commission is a fee paid to you by a merchant or seller of services in payment for selling or helping to sell their product or service. The commission is usually a percental of the selling price of the product or service, and normally is not included in any charges for sales tax, freight shipping or mailing or customs fees.  For example, if a product sells to the customer for $40.00, and the commission basis is 20%, the commission is $40.00 X 20% = $8.00 Commission can range from 1% to 50%, and depends on a number of factors; the selling price; the merchants profit margin;  how easy or hard is it to sell; is it a high or low volume seller; how much help or effort the merchant or seller feels you have put into the sale, and how much this has helped them. Commission may be paid on several levels, depending on the sellers program. A.  On initial or one time sales. B.  Recurring or residual commission.          For example, a subscription sold will qualify for the initial commission, but if the customer renews the subscription later, there may be a residual commission. C. Lifetime commission - these may occur if a customer (of the merchant) later buys additional products, in which case you may recieve further commissions.      For B & C, whether and for how long, depends on the sales agreement between the merchant and you.  "Cookies" (SEE Step 2 "Are you Ready")    are commonly used by merchants and sellers to define and track how long you may be paid for sales, after the initial contact or sale. Some commission may be paid directly to you from the merchant, while others may be paid through a merchant account, a form of clearing house which could lump payments from a number of sources into a single monthly payment to you.  Keep track of your commissions by setting up this form to track each of your merchants and commissions:     http://www.microsoft.com/excel

FINDING A PRODUCT::     For the most part, people open up websites because they have a product they want to sell, and need a website to do so.   However, there are those who want to find a product to sell, or who want supplementary products to add to their line.   Two avenues for finding products or services are shown in Step 3, “Niche Marketing”, and in Step 6, “Affiliates”.   Other avenues for finding products:- Are  specialty  merchants (e.g. Blacksmiths, custom glass crafters, quilters, etc.) who would like a web outlet on a commission or consignment basis, with them doing the shipping and handling?      What kind of products would complement the products on your website – how-to books, similar equipment or tools, supplies for your product, etc), and then find these in merchant or drop-shipper catalogs, to add to your line.   When picking products, one key question you must ask,  “Is it relevant to my site, or to my other products”.   Otherwise, it becomes a distraction to your visitors.   Another point, have you bought or tried the product yourself?   You need to be enthusiastic about any  product you plan to sell, since putting them on your site is an endorsement or recommendation from you for the product.   If and when you have products in mind, go to “Google Search” and see if the market is saturated with this item, or if there are relatively few sites selling it.   Think of the pros and cons between hot sellers with many outlets, and hard to find items on the web and then evaluate for yourself.   SUPER AFFILIATES HANDBOOK IS THE PLACE TO GO TO GET MORE EDUCATION:          Click Here!       Tucows has FREE software for many of your needs: Check this one out. http://tucows.com

		Niche Marketing: Niche marketing is a specialized worthwhile segment  of the market.   How do you find a Niche and how do you promote it?               As an example, some websites may offer a very wide range of products, with pet products, including birdhouses.   Other sites may offer only pet products, including birdhouses, but there may be thousands of these sites.   Still others may only offer birdhouses, with a far fewer number of websites competing for sales.   Lastly, there may be only a few sites offering “bat houses”, but specializing their advertising effort in this limited market.   Selling “bat houses” would constitute a niche market.   Is it better to sell your bat houses as part of a catalog of hundreds of items, competing with thousands of websites, or to specialize in “bat houses”, featuring them attractively and aggressively?   It depends on your goals, interests and capabilities, but generally, niche markets do well.   How do you find a niche market?   Do you have a special interest and/or knowledge of a product or item?   That is a key, because the enthusiasm and knowledge you have should help sell your product.   You will know what appeals to potential bat house customers.   You can even develop a need.   For example, “Do you have too many mosquitoes – a bat will eat a thousand mosquitoes a night – buy a bat house, encourage bats, and have a mosquito-free property”.   A number of websites may sell bat houses, but your enthusiasm and knowledge can promote bat house sales.   How do you know you have a worthwhile niche?   If you were to pick “digital cameras, you may find umpteen thousands of websites selling digital cameras.   If you pick “bat houses”, there may be only a few websites (and competitors) selling bat houses, and your specialized and enthusiastic advertising may be very effective, particularly if you can use a tie-in, such as “mosquitoes” to reach out to potential customers.   Also, with such a limited market, the  profit margin per sale may be much higher.   Would you rather handle and ship a hundred items at a profit of $2.00 each, for $200; or ten items at a profit of $20.00 each, for the same $200 profit?   Want to find your NICHE?  Well look no further here is your place to look, it has all kinds of information that will guide you to your special "NICHE". NicheFinder keyword research tool

		Hosting: Hosting is a service performed by a service company, to register your domain name stores your website on their server (computer banks)  and make it accessible to anyone at any time.  There are many choices of web hosts available, and here are some guidelines to help you make your choice.  Look at a number of web hosts, in terms of the following criteria, then compare them and select one.         1) How many pages can it store for me?          2) How many e-mails accounts do I get?         3) How much data can I transfer (in gigabytes)         4) Can I change and edit my own site 24/7?           5) Does my Host include guestbook, counters, and library scripts?         6) What programing language does it support?         7) What are the statistics on uptime for this host?         8) Does it allow access to e-mail accounts through your web browser and can you do it from anywhere as long as your are on the internet?         9) Do they have an easy to use interface?         10) Is it easy to upgrade with the growth of my business?         11) What technical support do they offer?         12) Compare 3 or 4 companies to be sure you are getting best value for your money.         13) What discounts do they offer, if you sign up for a longer time (say 1 year)?         14) Do they charge for any upgrades, amd if so, go find a company that doesn't.         15) Do they offer FREE stuff", like Shopping carts, software, form mail, etc?         16) How long is the unconditional money back guarantee for?         17) What is the cost per month and per year, either for registering only, or for hosting, or for both?  CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR SITE HOSTED:

		Domain Name - URL: This is the name you choose to do business on the internet.  The best thing to do is create a name you will be able to advertise your website with.   Example:  It is best to name your business and use that name all thru your website, your email address, business cards, letterhead, and your contact name.    This way you can claim free advertising in many different areas. If you have a name in mind but are not quite ready to register it, or if you cannot think of a name and need some help then you may want to check out this site. http://www.godaddy.com

		Business Registration and LLC    At some point you will make a decision as to whether or not to run your business as a legal entity, separate from your own personal expenses and earnings, or keep it as a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership.  There are tax and liability advantages to forming a legal entity for your business.  With your business formed as a legal entity, liabilities are generally transferred from your personal liability, to that of the business. As a legal entity, you can deduct the majority of your expenses, including supplies, equipment, advertising, legal fees, expenses for an office in the home, and business related automobile expenses.  To guide you in this, get a copy of the IRS publication #334, "Tax Guide to Small Business."  Also, to satisfy the IRS for reporting expenses and earnings and for your own satisfaction and information, you need to set up a good record keeping system, and keep your records up to date, recording daily.  IRS publication #583, "Starting a Business and Keeping Records" is a help here, and there are many package programs available, from simple ledgers to complete accounting software packages.  Think of what you need now, and go a step further, so that as you grow, you will not have to start all over with a new system. http://www.irs.gov http://www.intuit.com/quicken If you decide to form a legal entity for your business, rather than a sole proprietorship or a partnership, then there are choices to be made. The two most common and simple forms are: L.L.C., (Limited Liability Company) or Chapter S Corporation. For either one, since the forms, fees and application process vary from state to state, you need to contact your own State's office for Business Support Services for forms and guidance.  www.bizfilings.com

		Catalogs: A catalog by definition is a listing of things for sale. You may be involved with catalogs from two points of view. Depending on the objectives of your website, you may have a catalog of the items you intend to sell, whether it be outhouses or zig zag sewing needles, or anything and everything in between.   You may also USE merchant catalogs, to pick out from them the items you would like to feature on your website, using these merchants as drop-shippers, or suppliers for your customers. It is worthwhile to look at a number of catalogs on the web, to learn what is good and bad: Is there a logical sequence to the catalog or is it random.   How easy is it to find a partciular item.   Does it lead you easily to an adequate description of the item.   Does it detail simply the shipping options, costs, ship time and taxes, and lead you to a shopping cart (see Step 7).   Lastly does it make you want to buy now, or to go look somewhere else.   If the latter, the catalog designed has probably failed. Use this experience if and when you put together your own catalog. Remember the purpose of your catalog is not to LIST you products, but to have your customers BUY them. To start you off here is a catalog site worth reviewing.     http://www.clickclub.net http://www.overstock.com http://www.ebay.com

		Business Cards Your busines cards should be handed out to everybody you come in contact with. This is a great marketing tool. Salesmen and businesses of all kinds order tons of business cards and hand them out to everyone they possibly can that might could gain from their product. Your Business cards can do the same for your business. Advertise yourself and your business. Be sure to tell what your business does, your company name, your name, address with zip code, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address and web address if you have one. TIP: On the back of your business card, print out the benefits to them from using your services or products. The most important part of all is to be sure to carry enough with you at all times, and keep them in your purse or wallet to be handed out any chance you get.