So how do you break into this market? What steps should you take to build an eBusiness and start selling online? And most importantly, how do you do so in a manner that sets you up for success.

1. Plan your dream
Before you start thinking about all the tactical stuff you’re going to need to accomplish over the next little while (getting a website, finding products, getting your name out there etc.). Slow down and think strategy for a moment or two. What do you want to sell – you literally have millions of options, and you can’t sell all of them, so narrow your field and look for your own little niche.  A good starting point: think about your interests and brainstorm if there’s a target market that can spin out of that.

2. Create a Business Plan
Next, sit down a write a serious business plan for yourself.  Set a few realistic goals and take a good hard look at what you’re trying to accomplish.  Is it feasible and is it a viable money-making opportunity? Consider your target market – is it too much for a small start up to tackle?  If so, focus your efforts on a smaller and more manageable niche and then work on growing it out once you’ve reached profitability.  Is it too small to reach and sustain adequate levels of profitability over time?  If the answer is yes, look to expand your product offering so it meets the needs of a larger market.  Or look to sell something else. Then create a road map of all the tasks you need to accomplish and the due dates and milestones you’re going to attach to each one.

3. Find Suppliers
Most online sellers, don’t create their own products from scratch, they locate a wholesale dropshipper and resell those products for a profit. A significant advantage to selling on line? You can locate a wholesale supplier who rather than shipping inventory to you, will ship straight to your end customer once an order is placed. This is called a dropshipper or dropship supplier.

The right dropship supplier is a huge asset to your business, so do your research and make sure you build a business relationship with a reputable company.

4. Look for an online storefront provider
As an entrepreneur, you have many skills, you’re resourceful, you’re creative, you’ve got a good business sense, and a whole lot of other strengths and abilities that will help you succeed. Website design however, might not make this list, and frankly, it doesn’t need to. There are a number of reputable online storebuilder solutions out there. Depending on your particular needs, you can use do anything from using their simple tools to set up your own website to hiring one of their professional designers to build a custom site for you.  A good professionally designed premium template can cost as little as $1000.

Often these services also offer integrated shopping carts and order management systems so you’re not just getting a website, you’re getting a full business solution, which is a huge time and money saver (especially if you don’t have a lot of spare start-up capital).  A select number of online storefronts will have even built relationships with a host of dropshippers so you can use them to source products too.

5. Market your New Store
Once you’ve got your inventory built out and have your eCommerce website up and running, you’ll need to spread the word, and get your name out there. This can include submitting your site to search engines, sending out press releases, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, and a number of other options.

Whatever strategies you tackle ensure you can track the performance of each one. This allows you to assess which strategies resonate with your target market and which are a drain on your precious capital.

6. Provide Amazing Customer Service
I acknowledge that this step isn’t technically a part of getting your eBusiness set up, however, its still mission critical if you want your fledgling business to survive, so it’s worth mentioning.  Providing great customer support will set you apart from the competition and encourage repeat business, which in turn will make you money and keep you in business. Enough Said.

7. Keep it Fresh
Last but not least, you’ve gone to all this trouble to create a plan, find dropshippers, build an online storefront, market your new ecommerce store, provide fantastic customer service, so what’s next? Don’t let all your hard work fall down the wayside by walking away from your business and letting it manage itself. Keep updating your product lines, your website, stay in contact with your customer base so they keep coming back and you keep making sales.

References:
Melissa Campanelli , Entrepreneur, How to Set Up an E-Commerce Site

Erick Schonfeld, Tech Crunch, Forrester Forecast: Online Retail Sales Will Grow To $250 Billion By 2014

My Own Business, Internet Business & Search Engine Marketing

Armando Roggio, Practical ECommerce, Ecommerce Know-How: Seven Steps to Starting Your eBusiness in a Recession

What’s in your file cabinet right now? Tax records? Payroll information? And what’s on your computer system? Financial data from your suppliers? Credit card numbers from your customers? To a busy marketer, those documents are an everyday part of doing business. But in the hands of an identity thief, they’re tools for draining bank accounts, opening bogus lines of credit, and going on the shopping spree of a lifetime — at the expense of your company, your employees, and the customers who trust you.

Sophisticated hack attacks make the headlines, but many security breaches could be prevented by commonsense measures that cost companies next to nothing. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business, a plain-language handbook with practical tips on securing sensitive data. The specifics depend on the size of your company and the kind of information you have, but the basic principles remain the same. Whether you work for a multinational powerhouse with branches around the world or a start-up based in a home office, a sound information security plan is built on these five key practice

s:

• Take stock. Know what personal information you have in your files and on your computer. Understand how personal information moves into, through, and out of your business and who has access — or could have access to it.
• Scale down. Keep only what you need for your business. That old business practice of holding on to every scrap of paper is “so 20th century.” These days, if you don’t have a legitimate business reason to have sensitive information in your files or on your computer, don’t keepit.

• Lock it. Protect the information you keep. Be cognizant of physical security, electronic security, employee training, and the practices of your contractors and affiliates.
• Pitch it. Properly dispose of what you no longer need. Make sure papers containing personal information are shredded, burned, or pulverized so they can’t be reconstructed by an identity thief.
• Plan ahead. Draft a plan to respond to security incidents. Designate a senior member of your team to create an action plan before a breach happens.

Get your copy of Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business at www.ftc.gov/infosecurity. While you’re there, download copies for your IT manager, your human resources department, your sales staff, and anyone else who comes in contact with customer or employee information.

Lesley Fair is an attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection who specializes in business compliance.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/articles/art01.shtm

I’ve had a lot of email from people who know they want to start an Internet business, but don’t know how to put the nuts & bolts together on the business end.

That’s not surprising. It can be confusing, and there are certain steps to be taken in a certain order. Without help, you can end up running in virtual circles for weeks.

Now, please keep this in mind, folks; I’m not an attorney, and I’d rather not have to hire one after writing this article.  Let me just say that this is how it works where I live.  Your local government may do things a bit differently.   If you need to, consult an attorney or accountant.  You should, though, be able to do this pretty easily on your own if you choose.

There are five things you would need to get started the RIGHT way.  It works pretty similarly around the US.

1.) File your Business Entity

You need a “business entity.” That just means you need an official business name that’s recognized by the government. You can do this one of two ways.

• Corporation: You can file a corporation with your State.  Most States in the US have a websites services.  They also have instructional forms that detail what goes where, and what everything means on the forms.  Once we complete our forms, we submit them online with about a $90 payment, and poof…we’re a corporation!  We get our official copies back in a few days.
• Fictitious Name: This is a simpler way to register your business, but it does not afford you the protections that a corporation does. Same thing… the website has the forms, and we fill them out and submit them online.  This doesn’t cost as much as a corporation. In some States, this is called a DBA (Doing Business As…), and is obtained from your local County Office building for a minimal fee. ($35 would be an average).  If you’re not sure which way you want to go, see an attorney or accountant.  This is an important decision!

2.) Obtain a Business License

In some states, we are required to have a County Occupational License issued by the county our business resides in.   This takes a couple of hours at the local County Office Building, and costs about $30.  We must show our Business Entity papers. In some other States, a County Occupational or Business License may not be required.

3.) Obtain a Resale Certificate

In almost every State you are required to have a Sales Tax Certificate (Tax ID Number).   We must again show our Business Entity papers.  This is done at the local State Tax Office. When you buy from a Wholesale Supplier, you will be asked to supply them with a copy of this certificate. They use it as proof to the IRS that they are not required to charge you tax on the products they sell you at wholesale.

4.) Open a Business Bank Account
If you’re going to do business, you must have a business bank account.  You’ll need your Business Entity papers, your Tax ID and your County Business License, (if required).  Here, we can open a business account for a deposit of $50 to $100.  Almost all banks offer business accounts.

5.) Open a Merchant Account

The last thing you need is a Merchant Account.  You’ll need everything you obtained in the five steps above for this one. (Unless the County Business License is not required in your State).

This is the thing that allows you to accept credit cards from your online customers.  Without this, you’ll get nowhere.  Online buyers are instant gratification junkies.  They want it NOW! If they have to mail you a check, they’ll go somewhere else and buy.  Merchant accounts used to cost a thousand dollars and more to set up.  They’ve come down a LOT.  We just opened a new one for a setup fee of $150.  The Merchant Account will collect funds from your customers’ credit cards, and deposit those funds in your business account.  The Merchant Bank will charge you about 2.2% of the amount you charge your customer’s credit card, plus about 30 cents per transaction.

Your Merchant Banker will help you to incorporate your Merchant Account into your Internet store software.

Well, there it is. That’s the business end of an Internet business. Sound complicated? It isn’t, really.  The hard part is waiting for one thing before you can obtain the next!

For more details on this process, please read my FREE EBook, “Starting Your Internet Business RIGHT!”
As I said above, these are just guidelines. If you have questions, please consult a professional.

Starting a home based Internet business is easier now then it has ever been before. With good guidance anyone can do it but the key is being taught the ropes by someone who can show you the ins and outs and doesn’t hold anything back. With today’s access to affiliate marketing and low-cost internet, more people then ever can create and maintain websites used to begin a home based internet business.

There are things to consider when embarking on a project of this nature such as the time it will take to set a home based internet business up and then the time it will take to maintain it once it is up and running. It takes devotion and that is one of the reasons why it is a wonderful opportunity for retirees. Even if you are a newbie to the internet and what it means to be online, you can be taught how to start a home based internet Startup Company. Think of the extra money you can bring in doing something that you really enjoy in the privacy of your own home. No boss, no one to answer to but yourself and no one to spend the profit except, you’ve got it, you.

There are tons of ways to make money with a home based internet start up besides what you choose to sell online. You can also choose to create a partnership with other companies through online advertising. The internet is full of companies looking to advertise on YOUR website. Why not turn that desire into cash while racking in the money from the Internet business that you have started as well. Think of the possibilities.

Our website offers low-cost ways to make income on the internet. The owner, himself is a retiree so she knows exactly how hard it is to find yourself considering making extra income but not knowing where to start. Take the story of Blaine, for instance.

Blaine is a 60 something “young” man who found himself bored to tears after retiring from the same company for 30 years. For the first time in his adult life Blaine wasn’t getting up every day and going to work. He literally did not know what to do with himself. Although Blaine played golf and enjoyed fishing he realized quickly that he could only do so much of both of those activities before he found himself bored once again. Blaine was surfing the internet one day, wasting time, wishing he had something to do when he came across the site on how to create your own home based internet start up. He instantly got excited and then to work. Today, Blaine is happily doing business on the internet and once again fishing on the weekends. Blaine needed a direction and creating his own home based internet business gave him that direction

One day we all get to the point of retirement from jobs we either loved or hated. If you loved your job then a home based internet start up could be a way to continue doing what you love. If you hated your job, here is your chance to change your destiny. Either way, the ball is in your court and you can be the boss.

So if you have time on your hands and a need to fill it or if you need extra cash and don’t want to work from someone else, consider a home based internet start up business. It can be as easy as listening to those who have already gone before you and discovered the tried and true methods that make this program work. Just think of the opportunities you will have to control your own life, your own time and your own money flow. You choose when you want to work, where you want to work and how you want to work. Want a day off, you can ask the boss because, oh that’s right, the boss is you. Need some extra cash flow one month? Then you can choose to work your home based internet business a little harder that month because, once again, you are in control.

So take the time to explore starting a home based internet start up and free yourself from the ties of responsibility to others today.

About the Author
Nancy Stetson. She uses the programs on her website to show the beginner on the internet how one can begin with no experience and little money. Visit her at: http://www.HomeBased-Opportunities.com or nstet60@peoplepc.com.