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Considerable Factors Involved in Product Creation & Marketing

The niche you have chosen should allow creation of more than one product or service. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts, to complete turnkey solutions; there is no need to worry about spending time on the real products sold to the customer. The main ones are keyword selection, sales copy principles, graphics, affiliate programs, product creation, online payment processing, auto responders, and search engine optimization.

Once you’ve earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge. But the creation and production costs of a similar big ticket in sequence product, although higher, are still pretty low. A key by-product of this process will be the creation of 3-D, Computer Assisted Design art.

The Association for Financial Professionals permits the following activities for repatriating funds: Research and Development activities, advertising and marketing programs, hiring and training new recruits, acquiring patent and other rights to intangible property, improving transportation, funding capital investments with the purpose of job creation and job retention & funding product responsibility or environmental claims.

It prohibits certain activities like: Tax payments, Payment of executive recompense, Payment of dividends, Redemption of stocks, Debt investments and Portfolio investments. Therefore, before repatriating the money, you must consider whether it is worth or not.

Checklist on what artist and product development necessitate includes: Exceptional vocals, musicianship and/or songwriting skills, Continued education and enhancement of musical skills, Quality equipment, Performance ability, Image creation and maintenance, Plan of action, goal setting, excellent promotion materials including photographs, press releases and artwork, Business management skills, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion knowledge, Online and Offline Professional management, Basic knowledge of recording, producing, engineering, and mastering, Basic knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, and sales online, brick and mortar and air-play, Good choices in members, staff and advisors, Physical and mental preparedness, Basic knowledge of finances, accounting Law and legal issues etc.

The goals for doing so are for the product owner to: Communicate the whole, Determine and communicate when releases are needed, Determine what functionality is sufficient for each release & focus on business value derived from the releases. The delivery team on the other hand will see the whole, learn about the steps to realize the vision, learn the business priorities, provide technical input to the roadmap and provide estimates for the projected features. The salesperson must lead the prospect through the various decision criteria needed in order to secure a sale. Whether your idea is the development of a product, launch of a service business, or even the creation of an event or program for a non-profit, creativity is the root of all entrepreneurial efforts starting with the vision itself.

People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks. Apart from empowering companies and individuals, there should be a particular focus on identifying labor intensive businesses that have the potential to make a significant and positive impact on employment creation as well as those businesses that have a product or service offering for export markets with the final objective of booming local economies.

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Building a Better Website Part III – For Your Home Based Business

Back to business, remember that in part I we discussed everything involved in the background, or before the website; part II we discussed the planning and naming of the website. Well in this article, we are going to get into the building, publishing of the website for your home business, or any small business looking to go global.You will find this section is loaded with useful ideas for building the right site for you. From posting useful content to processing credit card orders online, everything you need to consider is included here.Building It-First, let us start with building it. It does not matter if you use one of the sources in the appendix; to dynamically and instantly create your pages with your input, or you go it alone. Just a heads up though, if you do decide to go at it alone and not use a webpage builder, then be prepared to do some studying on HTML, java, and a few others to help get your site off the ground. A FREE guide to barebones HTML programming is available at werbach.com/ barebones/. Remember HTML is very easy to learn, it just takes a little effort.Building it means creating content and coming up with a design that works well for you and your small home based business.  The content of the website decides the design and layout of the site, for example, if you were going to get into a drop-shipping home business (Be cautious of a dropshipper who requires that you pay a fee to access their product line. A legitimate dropshipper should not charge to set up an account.), then you would want to go with a merchant style website. One with columns and drop down menus, and maybe a quick search box for the site (for the advanced). If it is a site to talk about cars then maybe you want to have a car watermark behind the words, and some articles on certain models; whatever the case may be it is all up to you and the way that you want to go about it. Here some guidelines to help you along the way:Tip # 1 Layout/DesignLayout and design are a very subjective topic, but the important thing is to make sure that there is a layout…as opposed to just putting information up, make an effort to display it aesthetically. The web makes it possible to control how your information is presented, there’s no reason not to do it. Some general guidelines you can follow are:· split your information into logical sections· make sure your starting page is attractive and well laid out· try to have a consistent theme throughout the entire site· try to use colors, styles and fonts that complement each otherTip # 2 Get To the PointTry to get to the point on the first page, or at least give people an idea of what your site is about. If people have to go hunting, they may move on. There is nothing more aggravating than a site that forces you to navigate for ten minutes before even figuring out what they do, let alone offering you the information you’re looking for. Remember, if somebody is visiting your site, they are probably looking for something…try to make it easy for them to find it. Ask yourself what things people might be looking for in general, and try to make those things accessible easily from the main page. Make sure that visitors don’t have to wade through endless links to get somewhere, and conversely, make sure they don’t have to scroll down thirty screens worth to find what they want. Keep in mind that a frustrated visitor probably won’t be a visitor for long.Tip # 3 Total Page SizeOne of the most frustrating things to a person browsing the web is waiting for a site to load…make sure that your site is relatively quick to load, no matter what you put on it. There are obviously a number of factors that can affect how quickly a web site loads, but try to make sure that excessive file sizes isn’t one of them. As a rule of thumb, a main page shouldn’t be a whole lot more than 30K or so. This, under normalconditions, will load the page in a few seconds, but still allow some fairly good use of graphics. If you have significantly more text than that, consider separating it onto separate pages. Fact: the average person won’t wait longer then ten seconds for a page to load, then they are out. Tip # 4 Keep It FreshMake an effort to keep your web site fresh, especially if you want to get repeat visitors. If a site remains stagnant, people will stop visiting it again and again, but if there is always something new, people will drop by often just to see what’s changed. You might want to think about doing a complete site redesign every few months, as it not only keeps it fresh, but it also gives you the opportunity to take advantage of newer technology as it comes out. This also helps to improve your site as time goes on, as you’ll invariably learn better techniques through each iteration, be sure to take advantage of technologies that will allow you to create and manage your web page without needing to know the coding.This all goes back to the SEO that has been previously mentioned. You have to try your best to keep your webpage’s optimized, the meta-tags are important, they have to be typed just right that’s the space just below on the HTML form view of the site. This is where it gets important so pay attention- 

  Starts here-- 
    
 
this is where the title of the page would be example: Online Home Based Business (be descriptive, use some keywords)

   
    
  
Content="This is where you are going to put in a page description, again be sure to use your keywords, but don't play repeat either Google don't like that">

Content=”now this is where you put all your keywords, use different forms. Some examples are: home based business, work from home, work online, home business, small home based business…” you get the picture.

Keywords are important, if the keywords do not match the content then you will not make any rankings, and that is important, because that is how the searcher looking for the product of your home business is going to find you. Fact: When the average person goes online and does a search on a topic, they rarely go past the second page! With that being said, then it is safe to presume that you want to be on the first page. We will get a little more in depth when we get to the optimization section of the website.

If you are doing drop shipping, then you are going to need a form of way to complete transactions online. In the world of shopping carts, the prices can vary anywhere from free to $600 or more. You need to remember that you get what you pay for, and stay away from free shopping carts. They are out there; however, they can cost you a lot in the long run. You may have to spend money on programmers to make your “free” cart work the way you need it to, you will most likely not get any upgrades or documentation, and they usually limit the size of your business. A “free” shopping cart is not worth the time and money that the hassle will cost you.

ASP shopping carts usually charge a monthly fee of around $30-$60. Depending on the company, they may also charge you a set up fee, and/or an annual fee as well. You may also need to purchase your merchant account and payment gateway through the ASP, which will cost you around $150-$200, but you may be able to get a discount by going through the ASP to purchase these.

Licensed software costs around $200-$600 to purchase. It is a one-time cost that you can even spread out over time by leasing. Leasing arrangements usually take your payments to around $40-$50 a month for two years. Once the licensing fee is paid, you will own the software and no longer have to pay for it. You will need to pay for your payment gateway ($20-$60 per month), and you will need to purchase your merchant account which can cost up to $300 or more. There are many different shopping carts out there, and you need to focus on what will best serve your business. Here is a list of several options that I recommend to get you started on your research.

Tradeworks -They can handle your merchant account, payment gateway, and an easy-to-use shopping cart. Tradeworks will handle your compatibility issues and get your cart up and running quickly. They also have great customer service.

Quikstore – This is a licensed software package that is hosted on your server. It is a great product and costs only $199.95. The flexibility is good. The payment gateway costs extra, but Quikstore suggests one that will be compatible with the software. Contact them at quikstore.com.

Miva Merchant – Another licensed software, but it can be hosted either on your own server or remotely. It also offers good flexibility and allows for good growth. The license fee is $595 and they can be found at miva.com.

GoEmerchant – An ASP that is all-inclusive. The merchant account is provided, as well as tools that will help you customize the look of your cart. GoEmerchant charges $59.95 per month and a $29.95 annual fee. goemerchant.com.

Securenetshop – This is another ASP that offers flexibility and a “total” package. The cost of this ASP is $229 per year, plus $149 for the merchant account and payment gateway.

I still suggest that unless you are sure that you have a killer product and you have the funds to invest that you should go with some of the free choices to start, then later up grade.

Publish it

Next, you take the Web address you have set up and publish your pages to that address. It’s sort of like moving your belongings into your new home or office. You will get basic insight into how your pages and files go from your computer to your Internet space and. If you used the built in website builder at website.ws, then you won’t need this part, on the other hand if you used something like Microsoft publisher, or some other build your site from scratch deal then read on. Publisher has its own FTP (File Transfer Protocol) built in, in case you used another program then you might need to get one. Something simple and free for now will do such as FileZilla. Just don’t forget to make sure that all the files loaded correctly, once you upload all the files to the server, then go through and using your browser, click and check each link. This is important, in order for your site to survive it has to have integrity, you do not want to go to a site with a bunch of dead links, right.

This is your chance to go through and make sure that all is well and the links work. Because once you start to market your home based business website it is going to be difficult to fix dead links that are already in circulation.

Well that is all for now. Let us recap; all right in this section we talked about building of the website, remember HTML is your friend, so try to learn a little of it; we also brushed up on the type of content with some ideas as to how to approach it, be keyword rich and specific. A shopping cart can either make you or brake you, it represents your drop-shipping home business, so do some research on what you want to do, and they have tutorials on these things. Lastly, we talked about publishing and checking your site for link flaws, this is important as previously stated, you DO NOT WANT DEAD LINKS!

Well I wish you the best of luck, keep practicing and studying I will be back soon with part IV optimization and marketing.

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Property Manager to Rent Out Your Property

One of the biggest advantages of having a property manager in place is that they not only do all the actual management for you – selection of tenants, completion of appropriate paperwork, inspections etc. – but they also do much of the accounting. From most of my property managers, I would get a monthly statement detailing the gross income, the expenses incurred, their commission and the net amount transferred into my bank account. This makes for very easy accounting.

Typically, property managers charge anywhere from 4-15% of the rental income to manage your properties. Usually the bigger your portfolio, the lower commission rate they will settle for.

Another advantage of using property managers is that the less pleasant work of evictions, notices of rental increases and notices requiring tenants to remedy shortcomings in keeping the property clean and tidy, no longer need to be handled by you personally.

So how do you choose a property manager?

Just like with the selection of a property to buy, or the selection of a real estate agent to work with, or the selection of a tradesman to work on your properties, it is somewhat of a numbers game. Go with recommendations from friends or other landlords, interview prospective managers, ask them how they have dealt with particular problems in the past, and then try them out. You can always change them later on if you do not see eye to eye. However, it may not always be so easy to change agents, especially if you have bought the property with the tenants in it.

Let me tell you about an experience I had with an agent in the UK. I bought a property with tenants in it and by extension I got saddled with the agent who had originally rented it to them. As it was my very first investment property, I didn’t want to have an agent manage the property for me, I wanted to manage it myself. But it wasn’t that easy. The agent kept their security deposit because he had found the tenants and even though it was my property, he demanded that they pay the rent to him and then on top of that, he withheld that rent and didn’t pay it to me. I had no legal recourse unless I evicted the tenants which ultimately I had to do. It was all very amicable as the tenants knew what was happening. They spent one night away from the house to make it legal, I then presented the eviction notice from the courts to the agent and he was forced to return the security deposit and pay me what he owed me on the rent. After that, my tenants came back to me, we signed a new lease and I managed the property myself. But as a warning, it does not always work out that way where there is an amicable eviction and wresting your property away from another management agent.

Just because you use one management company to look after one or several properties, it should not be a foregone conclusion that you always use the same firm for any subsequent properties you acquire in the same area. In fact, engaging two competing firms can be healthy, in that they will each try to do well by you to win over more business. This relates back to my earlier programme on selecting builders. Always get three quotes for any job and don’t get complacent by using just one builder all the time. The same applies to agents.

You can lose your tenants and your rent very quickly if the property manager does not respond quickly to repairs or complaints from tenants. Let me tell you about a situation I had when I first went into the property investment business in the UK. I had some tenants move into one of my properties and they had signed a lease agreement and paid a month’s rent in advance as well as a security deposit. I had turned the management of that property over to an agent with the understanding that my tenants would call them with any problems that arose and they would act on my behalf immediately upon hearing about any issues that needed to be resolved.

What happened next with these tenants was a nightmare. Unbeknownst to me, the roof started to leak in the master bedroom from day one. During the night, if it rained, they had to set out buckets to collect the water that was coming through the roof. They called the management company the next morning and were told that a roofer would be there to fix the problem. This went on for three weeks and each time the leaks were getting worse. The management company kept promising to send the roofer.

At the end of the three weeks, my tenant’s father who was a lawyer, sent a letter to me threatening to sue me if I didn’t give the tenants their security deposit back, but also their first month’s rent and another month’s rent to compensate them for all the emotional upset that had been caused and the physical inconvenience of living under those conditions as well as all the time that they lost from their jobs looking for another place to live. The upshot of the story is that the management company never sent the roofer, they never notified me and they behaved totally irresponsibly. In the end, I lost my tenants, I lost money, and the management company lost me as a client.

Of course, none of this would have happened in New Zealand because the law protects both landlord and tenant. However, if you are looking to invest in other countries, be sure that you know the current laws regarding all aspects of property investment.

To summarise:

On the plus side agents can save you:

paperwork
having to deal with courts and eviction notices
unpleasant issues like informing tenants of rent increases and complaints against them
On the minus side, they can be:
Lazy or irresponsible or negligent
Slow to get the proper repairmen out quickly
Neglectful about informing you when there are serious problems with your property

Here are some additional facts that could be deal-breakers for a landlord in selecting a property manager.

One of the first things I learned to do when selecting an agent was to see what the caliber of his tradesmen were like. Did he have a decent plumber, roofer and electrician? Were they reliable? How much were their average prices? One of the most frequent expenses a landlord can have with his property is plumbing. During my years as a landlord, the number of times I had been called to send a plumber to one of my properties, and the number of times other plumbers who picked up on previous plumbers and told me they did it wrong, and the outrageous sums of money they charged for their mistakes, made me seriously consider going to school and learning how to be a plumber. I eventually did find a plumber who was moderately priced and knew what he was doing. The downside was it took so long for him to come out and fix the problem. So if you get a property manager who seems reasonable, try to check out the tradesmen that he has on his books. As nice as the property manager may be, it’s his tradesmen who can ruin your reputation as a landlord.

Now let’s say that the tradesmen all check out. Now you are faced with an equally monumental task of checking out the capabilities of a prospective property manager. The laws of a country change frequently and you, as well as your property manager, should keep on top of those changes. Your manager has to chase the rents, document everything, pay you the rent on time and make sure that he has referenced the tenants properly and has accepted documents that are legally binding. Both you and the management agency have to keep on top of all the properties that you own: when the rents are due, when they are paid, when they are posted to your account, whether the correct amounts have been paid, that you have up-to-date agreements between yourself and the agency, that all your tax records are accurate.

If you think that property management is like a walk in the park, you will be in for a rude awakening. There are complex tax issues, laws governing those taxes, laws concerning tenant rights, landlord rights, evictions and contracts. You need to be prepared to spend a great deal of time and energy as a property investor. It’s not a question of just finding a wonderful property. You then have to make sure it remains so. A property manager may not know that the building is developing dry rot. He may not know that the wiring needs to be replaced. He may not know that there is subsidence to the building. But since all of these things and many more greatly affect the property that you are buying, you need to keep on top of these things. These are things that the property manager is not responsible for. So while you can always get yourself a property manager to handle the day-to-day operations, you cannot really afford to be an absentee property owner.