Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Finding the Best Small Business Opportunities You Can Cash in On Right Now

In a depressed economy, it gets hard to think of the best small business opportunities out there. Yet, you can find a small business niche that fits you and have a go at a business you can succeed at. Here are some ideas on where to look and how to find a business that suits your talents.

First, look at hot business trends. The most often talked about trend is the baby boomer market, although there are others. Right now, health related products are hot within this demographical group and there are several ways to cash in. Private home care is one of these industries that is in demand right now. Health and beauty aids is another niche that is a great idea for a business. Medical transcription is yet another field that is in demand.

Another direction to look in is developing a personal business skill you have that is marketable. Writing (and I mean technical, freelance, fiction, subject matter expertise or otherwise) is in demand in a big way. There are tons of sites out there that will reward you for developing your flair at writing. Love to work outdoors? Landscaping and outdoor designing is very much in vogue. You can be a consultant, make your own products or make a living as a professional in a field you love.

Spend a lot of time online? Online small business niches are growing at an astounding rate. Online advertising is big business and you can find several niches to get your feet wet and it doesn't cost much for a start up. Affiliate marketing is an old favorite. Low end retailing is back in popularity and you can find lots of products and companies willing to cut you in on the action. Marketing a part of a real world business online is another great idea.

Still left searching for ideas? You can do some research to find a small business idea you can make your own. Netwwork marketing businesses are very popular if you are educated on what you want to get into and work with someone that can give you proper guidance on growing your business. Green businesses are another trend that is getting to be very popular. You can get into solar, making homes more energy efficient, recycling, or any number of business that make use of the new "green is better" technology wave. Whatever you do, get up and start searching for your gold mine right now.






Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Ideas for Small Business: How to Move Your Network Marketing Business to the Next Level

Direct selling is a major part of a network marketing business. Often tasks get daunting and many small business owners get overwhelmed. Moving your network business forward can be done and it can be a simple process. Following a marketing plan you develop yourself with a sketched out game plan is key.

Do you often freeze at the prospect of making phone calls, writing articles, contacting people or writing ads for your business? If so, you are guilty of procrastination. Procrastination immobilizes ideas for small business. To get around this, make lists of those tasks you need to do. Take the least threatening task and attack it with impunity. Move up to the next task and take them on one at a time. If one task is too daunting, get help from your sponsor or hire it done if you can afford it. The quicker you get those tasks done, the greater your odds for success in moving your business forward.

Productivity is the definition of taking control of your marketing plan. Look at your total goal for a certain time frame (say the next 90 days). Break that down into smaller segments of 30 days. Plan the activities you need to complete within that time and make them very specific - leave yourself enough time to complete them all and leave nothing to chance. Next, do it. Execute your marketing plan and record the results. Reevaluate when you come to the end, make adjustments and that way you will remain productive.

Network marketing small business owners should focus on increasing traffic to websites, getting offers and product information to their customer list and looking for help (recruiting leads and bringing in new customers). Traffic generation means thinking out of the box and building smart to stay ahead of the competition. Good ways to build traffic include using social networking sites, writing articles, finding ways to get your current customers to send you more business and teaching downline to do what you are doing. Recruiting leads means ads and you should be getting those out early and often. Check out the heavy hitters in your business group and steal their ideas for getting recruits into your business.

Here's an idea for network marketing small business owners: ask for referrals and for customer leads. Your name bank should remain full and keep you busy. You have only a finite group of people you know and smart network marketing small business owners know referrals are the life blood of their business. Ask, ask and ask. Give your current customers incentives for sending you business and watch the dollars flow.

Work on ways to showcase your higher end products and keep them moving. If you keep your biggest profit products moving, your bottom line will improve as well. Share your ideas with your downline and ride the wave of bigger commissions it produces.

Moving your network marketing business forward is a combination of persistence, patience and methodology. Focus on key parts of your business, develop a marketing plan and execute. Record your results and refine your plan to keep continuously improving your business. Share what you do with your downline and reap the results of your success.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Blog For Profit Ideas: Hobby Websites That Pay

The big idea on line is social marketing. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are sweeping the internet because people want to connect to others like them. An outgrowth of this are personal blogs. One of the best blog for profit ideas are around hobby websites you can build for yourself. Here are some great ideas you can use.


  • Building a site around something you love to do. Hobby websites are quite a niche online. Love to put together model boats? Do you love to ski? What about your favorite video game? All these are ideas you can use as a topic for your blog.

  • Review and comparison sites. If you are looking at equipment or supplies for your hobby, this is a great blog for profit idea. Be sure to do your reseaarch and present your info in an easy to understand fashion like a table, pictogram, or graphic. Understand your audience and build your readership around it.

  • Using ad revenue to run your site. Google, Amazon, Adbrite, etc. are all good examples of companies that pay you for traffic from your site. Being an affiliate for sites like Commission Junction is also a good way to build income into your blog. Your links do need to be relevant to your content and you need to check them regularly to be sure they work. In addition, advertisers like Google have rules you need to follow closely like privacy policy, ad placement and more.

  • When putting your personal website together as a blog, be sure to look at all your options. Blogger and WordPress are two good options to consider for free sites (There are limitations to each such as subject topics and advertising so check into them before yu use them). Cheap hosts are also a good idea as many of them allow you to use a platform such as WordPress to build your site. I use Global Domains International for many of my blogs and I highly recommend them as a host.

  • Putting posts together is another process for making your blog a success. Unique content is what the search engines look for and you want to keep that in mind when you write. Doing some research on your topics is a must but remember not to plagiarize from others. Blogging for profit ideas can be found everywhere. Placing content from sites such as YouTube into your blog is another way to make it fresh and alive.

Remember your favorite hobbies are great subjects for a blog. Your passion will show through in your writing and you should be able to connect with your readers as many of them will connect with your hobby. My newest blog actually deals with my favorite video game and it is a great idea to use. What's your favorite hobby? Get to mining the gold mine around your hobby and let your writing shine.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Using The Power of a Text Message To Build Business

Talking? It’s something everybody’s doing nowadays. Look around and just see how many cell phones you count. Cell phones are the new untapped business media that’s waiting to be tapped.

Just how do you tap into this market? Many bigger companies already do. They use software to text message their customers and clients. A lot of this is done on a national scale and most people view them as occasional service messages.

The big opportunity for text message marketing is local businesses. Statistics show 95% of local merchants have yet to get into using text messages as a business tool. How can it benefit your business?

  • Get your client list growing. If you are a home business, this one idea can get the word out about what you do really fast.
  • Product sales to get new business. Send out text messages on your newest product and offer incentives to your current customers to bring someone new to look at what you have.
  • Act as the guru. Offer your service as a text-messaging expert to other business owners and get a new revenue stream. They will be thrilled at the new business you bring and will pay a premium to you to manage it for them.
The potential power of text message advertising on a local scale is just coming into it’s own. Learn to harness it for your business. If you’ve been relying purely on the internet or regular advertising broaden your horizons. This may be the silver bullet you need to take your business to the next level.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Blog Money: 5 Ways to Get Paid for Blog Posts

Posts on a blog that are interesting to people bring traffic and added value to your home business. Often new bloggers find putting up new content a challenge. Keep it simple. Give your readers what they crave and go researching the world and bring it to them.

Blog money is what I like to call "added revenue". Your home business may provide you content from regular customers who you should contact everyday but your blog is like a window that allows readers to discover you. Let's look at unique ways you can use a blog to boost your business:

  • Product sales. Offering products you regularly market to your blog readers is one way to get revenue. You need to keep in mind who your readers are and target products to the demographic of people who read your content.
  • Ad revenue. Google ads, pay per post and private ads to your site are all good sources of revenue. Make sure the ads relate to the material you are producing.
  • Referral links. Include links to other sites your readers may be interested in. Make sure they give commissions for product purchases if you are sending buyers to their site.
  • Ebooks are another good source of revenue. They do take time to produce but a good ebook can be a great source of revenue.
  • Reader contributions. Not for everyone, but you can place a link for donations for people to donate to keep your blog up and running.
Blog posts are the key to keeping your readers coming back. Feed their intense desire for information and they will return seeking your posts out. Also, consider guest posting on other people's blogs. The world is a social place and you have to reach out by visiting other places your readers may be hanging out. Twittering posts are not bad and can be a way to encourage your friends to spread the word about your blog.

    Sunday, February 20, 2011

    Surviving the Economic Recession: Getting Ahead by Getting By


    Need money? In these tough financial times, a lot of people do. Being pinched by what’s going on around you, it’s pretty hard to keep a focus and keep your home enterprise up and on it’s heels. The hardest part is keeping those income streams flowing in the midst of the economic recession that’s yet to let up enough to make any money.

    I have found a lot of redemption in continuing to work on my passive income streams. This may mean cutting expenses where you can, saving money even with the slimmest of margins and putting that money where you can get a return on it. The bottom line is profit and you must wrangle a profit by whatever means you can.

    Financial literacy is tantamount. Education is perhaps the best investment you can make so stay up on it. Pair this together with saving money and you can really start to see things pick up. Being savvy where your competition isn’t always pays off.

    Genuinely, your home business depends on how well you do in three areas:
    (1)  Revenue. Look for more and novel streams to supplement what you already have. Fatten others by cutting costs where it makes sense but be careful not to cut what essential to your survival.
    (2)  Planning. Don’t stay stagnant in the “here and now”, look to what’s happening in the near future. When the economic recession starts to taper off, you want to be there and be prepared to get your share.
    (3)  Promotion. Yes, put yourself and your business out there. Take advantage of whatever you can muster to continue to build your brand and keep the face of your business fresh  on the mind of your potential customers.

    By shoring up these three items, you can do more than survive; you can help your business to thrive. If you’ve got your business goals, look at them and see where you can get more mileage out of them and brainstorm ways to bridge from where you are to where you want to be. Put together a package that really shows your home business off to the rest of the world. To survive means to get stronger so work to achieve success for your business.