It is this USP that
sets them apart from other businesses. Your USP could be
based on: price, extra benefits, unusual products,
exclusive products, or special skills that no one else
offers. Your business should strive to develop it's own
special character that your customers can identify with.
One of the best ways to build customer loyalty is by providing more that they expect. This could include such things as: a free gift with each order, personalized service, fast shipping, or giving a discount coupon. Keep these things in mind as you set up your company.
#1 GRAPHIC ARTIST
Most Internet web sites usually have a few custom made graphics. Also a lot of special computer graphics are needed for games, presentations and other computer software. Companies often hire outside experts to do these jobs on a contract basis. These facts mean that there is an excellent demand for computer graphic artist.
The Internet is an ideal way to promote your graphic art skills. You can show samples of your work in the web site. You can also quickly email finished graphics to your customers.
Here are some examples of graphic services.
* Making Banner Ads.* Scanning photos and drawings.* Customer Web site graphics.* Making icons.* Company logos.
* Computer artwork for software.
In order to succeed with this business, you'll need
excellent graphic skills. You need to be creative, and
able to work with a variety of art styles. You also need
to be able to produce artwork in a variety of file
formats such as: GIF, PCX, JPG, and BMP. This means that
you'll need a good drawing package such as PAINTSHOP PRO.
For further information contact:
http://www.adamsdigitalworks.com
http://www.1-a-m.com/conrad
#2 WEB SITE DESIGNER
There are hundreds of thousands of web sites currently on the Internet. There are many more added each day. Therefore, there is a big demand for people who can design, and create websites.
Website designers need the following skills:
* Artistic skills -- be able to create well designed and visually attractive websites.
* Communication skills -- be able to clearly express yourself, and accurately describe what the web site has to offer.
* Marketing skills -- know how to market yourself so that you can gain clients. Know how to create websites that effectively market the products, and services of your clients.
* Internet Knowledge -- a good working knowledge of the Internet.
* Web page creation tools -- be able to use designing goods websites requires more than just good artistic and Internet skills. You must also have your customers interest in mind. You must want them to be successful.
Books
Graphics and Web Page Designs, by Laura Lemay.
Web Designer's Guide to Frontpage, by David S. Cohn.
Example Web site designers
http://supak.com/prss.htm
http://seanhayes.com
3. DATABASE WEB SITES
Having the right information at the right time can be a major asset to businesses or individuals. For years their have been information companies that supply databases of information to it's users. This has been done through computer connections that enable the customer to search for the data that they need. The other way to find the data that you need is by searching for it on libraries -- and this can take a lot of time.
Now, a few companies are supplying databases on the Internet. Customers can access the information by paying a fee. Here is the type of information that is available: business articles, mail lists, marketing information, census information, and more.
Most database sites will require some customer
programming. The software must allow the customers to
search the database for information that meets the
criteria they want. For example: one company maintains a
database of thousands of business articles from dozens of
magazines. The customer can search for articles about
companies they are interested in. The customer gets a
list of articles, and the option to buying copies of the
articles.
There are a variety of software programs that can help you to produce online databases. The real trick is in producing a quality product that people need and are willing to pay for.
4. SELLING ADVERTISING
One of the first and so for the largest source of expense is advertising sales. Several companies are earning millions of dollars by selling banner Ads on their web sites. One of the biggest examples of this is the Yahoo web site (http://www.yahoo.com).
Yahoo is a search engine that allows Internet users to search millions of web pages for particular topics. The users do not have to pay for doing searches. Yahoo gets hundreds of thousands of visitors each day.
There are many other web sites whose primary source of revenue is from selling banner Ads. Here is the formula for most popular advertising sites.
* Offer a lot of free valuable information that will attract thousands of visitors each day.
* Be able to design attractive banner Ads.
* Constantly add new exciting features such as contests, prizes, and freebies.
Here are some examples of sites that offer valuable freebies and sell advertising.
Files to download -- http://www.download.com Free email
addresses -- http://www.worldprofit.com Interesting
articles -- http://www.isquare.com
5. DO SURVEYS
There are several web sites that specialize in doing customer surveys. Companies are willing to pay these survey experts to design, carry out, and report the results. The survey results are used to determine what the customer wants or thinks about a particular product or topic.
How do you get Internet users to participate in these surveys? You give them a free gift, or enter them into a weekly or monthly drawing for a prize. This gives them an incentive for filling out a survey form.
To successfully operate this business, you need good communication skills, be able to design and report surveys, and programming skills to design the survey pages.
Here are a few places to get more information.
Web Sites http://www.surveysite.com
http://www.inetsurvey.com/index.html
http://www.assessnet.com
THE SURVEY RESEARCH HANDBOOK by Pamela Alreck
HOW TO CONSULT YOUR OWN SURVEY by Priscilla Salant
HOW TO ASK SURVEY QUESTIONS by Arlene Fink
6. OPERATE CONTESTS
http://www.web-search.com/contests.html
http://ww/yoyo.com/games
http://www.getrichclick.com
Many web sites use contests as a way to attract visitors to their sites. However, it is a lot of work to set-up, and operate contests. Therefore, a few companies are specializing in running contest for other web sites.
One of the most successful companies at operating contest is getrichclick.com. This site has ran several major contests for it's clients. Typically, each contest will have many sponsors. Each sponsor pays getrichclick a fee for operating the contest. The prizes can range up to $100,000! The sponsors are responsible for the prizes.
This same idea could work on a smaller scale by providing contests for smaller companies. It takes a fair amount of work to set up and operate a contest. However, if done right, this service could produce a nice income. Most contest are for U.S. residents only, and invalid in states that have special contest regulations.
7. USED ITEMS
Running a "flea market" type of web site has produced good results for some people. These sites sell used, reconditioned, hard to find, and discontinued products at bargain prices. Most of these kind of sites focus on a particular kind of product. Here are a few examples that I have found: computer items, books, clothes, software, scientific instruments, antiques, and collectibles.
To succeed with this kind of web site, you need to do the following:
* Have a wide variety of items at reasonable prices.
* Continually be replenishing your supply of used items.
* Offer special incentives to buyers.
* Send out a weekly or monthly email listing of bargains to your customer list.
To get a site like this started, you need a good supply of products, a well designed easy to navigate web page, and advertise to find bargain hunters.
* You can advertise that you are buying used items.
* Contact manufacturers and ask about overruns, discontinued, or blemished items.
* Visit garage sales, auctions, and close out sales.
* Look for companies that are going out of business, and buy their inventory.
* Find damaged merchandise, and repair it.
To operate this kind of web site, you'll need to be an expert in the products you are dealing with. You'll need to be able to recognize a bargain when you see one. You'll also need to be good at negotiating.
Example Web Sites
http://www.ibservice.com
8. PRESS RELEASE SERVICE
Press releases are a great way for businesses to promote their services. New businesses and businesses with new products often send hundreds of press releases by mail. There are also many traditional services that prepare, and mail out press releases for businesses.
Now there are press release services operating on the
Internet via email. For a fee they will email your press
release to news media. There are thousands of online
magazines, and email magazines that t are looking for
press releases that are related to their subject.
Traditional print media also use the Internet as a source
of information.
To succeed in this business, you must seek out the media people on the Internet. Then offer to send press releases about new products or services. You can then advertise for clients. You can charge a flat fee, or a set amount per press release.
You can earn additional money by writing and creating complete press kits for your clients. This takes a high degree of writing, and marketing skills.
Examples: http://www.asba.net/press.htm http://www.botree.com/promote/press.htm http://www.newsbureau.com
9. EBOOK PUBLISHER
Ebooks are books or newsletter on a computer disk or a computer file (just like this one). Paperless Publishing has become very popular for several reasons.
* It costs very little to publish a few books on disk.
* You can make up the disks as you need them, you don't need to maintain an expensive inventory.
* It is very fast, and easy to make charges in an Ebook.
* Ebooks can make a great addition to your product line.
What kind of books can you publish on disk? There has not been a great deal of success publishing Ebook novels. The major Ebook successes have come as information, or how to kinds of publication. People need, and want specialized information. If you can produce a first class product at a reasonable price, you should have no problem getting sales.
How do you create an Ebook? Actually, it is quite easy. You simply use any word processor that can produce plain text files. These are also known as ASCII files. Most word processing programs give you the option of saving files as text files. Examples are Microsoft Word, Notepad, Wordpad, Word Perfect, and most other popular word processors.
Once you have all of the text files that make up your book, it is time to use the special Ebook software.
Software. Most Ebook Software is very easy to use. You simply define which text files goes into which chapter. The software then creates a final Ebook product. This is usually in the form of a single executable (.exe) file. This makes it impossible for the average computer users to modify your book.
Ebooks are nice products because they are easy to handle and ship. You can even send them by email. They cost very little to produce, thus you have a high profit margin. Some people have had great success with Ebooks. Others have only had a small amount of success with Ebooks. Here are reasons why.
1. The product was subpar. There are too many "informational" products being marketed that are of poor quality.
2. The marketing was poorly done. You need to put forth the same kind of effort as if you were marketing a regular book.
3. The company did not have enough supporting products. I recommend that you have a family of similar products (4-8 different Ebooks).
10. WEB SITE MANAGER
Most business owners do not have a lot of time to work on a website. However, in order for a web site to be successful, it takes work. Because of these facts, there is a market for web site managers.
Just what does a web site manager do? A web site manager has overall responsibility for maintaining a smooth operation of a web site. He or she is to oversee, or make changes as needed. Other duties might include:
* Promote the site to get more visitors and buyers.
* Evaluate the effectiveness of the site.
* Update and change the free information that the site gives away.
* Answer email questions.
As you can see a web site manager can be very busy. Some large sites will require a fulltime manager. Most web sites will only require a few hours of work per week. Thus, a person could manage 2-4 sites at a time.
How much money can you make as a web site manager. Web site managing fees vary widely from $20 to $50 per hour. Your fees should depend upon how much work the site owner wants.
To succeed with this business, you'll need the following skills. Internet Marketing, Web Page design, email knowledge, and the desire to see the business owner to be successful.
11. INTERNET AUCTIONS
There are quite a few successful Internet Auction Web Sites. These sites allow members to put items up for auction, or to bid on items over the Internet. Each auction is set up for a certain time period, usually 3 to 7 days. At the end of the bidding process, the highest bidder wins.
The owner of the auction sites makes money by charging a small listing fee for each item put up for bid. Usually, a small selling fee is charged for each successful auction. These fees are usually a small percentage of the listing, or selling price.
A popular auction site is located at http://www.ebay.com. They have sold over 100,0000 items through their auctions within 12 months. As you can calculate this amounts to a nice income even if the fees charged are very small.
What do you need to operate an auction web site? You need a very reliable web host service, or you need to maintain your own computer host. If your auction site becomes quite busy, you'll need a powerful, heavy duty computer setup.
Next, you will need powerful software to operate the auction. The software is fairly complex. It needs to do the following:
1. Keep track of all listings.
2. Make it easy for bidders to search through the listings, and locate the kind of items they are interested in.
3. Handle hundreds or thousands of users at one time.
4. Compare bids and award the winner when the auction is done.
5. Notify the users of their bids, and listings. This can be done with an automated email system.
You'll need an expert programmer to create software for your site.
A unique way to operate an auction site would be to restrict its use to certain kinds of items: collectibles, and so forth.
Auction sites can be real moneymakers if you have reliable web servers and hardware. They can be a little like having a nationwide garage sale where you get a portion of each sale! Two more methods are desribed in other chapters -- Paperless Publishing and Reseller programs.
Paperless Publishing In the last few years there has been a lot of talk about First, we'll examine some of the benefits to paperless * You can publish what you want -- when you want to. You * It costs a lot of money to print 1000 - 3000 books. * It is easy to make changes, corrections, or additions * You can add sound, pictures, and interactive events to * Ebooks are easy to mail and can even be sent by modem Since electronic documents have so many advantages it is I believe that not all types of books are suitable for What type of disk based books have been successful? Some Earlier I mentioned that entertainment kinds of Ebooks There are two basic kinds of "books" on disk. 1. The first kind simply displays chapter titles on a 2. The second kind of Ebooks does everything the first Let us look at some ways where Ebooks may be useful: For the small business owner Ebooks may make a lot of Aspiring writers can use Ebooks to help get their works Here are some of the reasons Ebooks fail. 1. Because they are easy to create some people find it 2. Probably the biggest cause of Ebook failure is the Disk based publications can be a very useful tool or |
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