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How to Get Your E-commerce Business Idea Funded

Introduction

As technology has taken over the marketplace with ecommerce many entrepreneurs decide to begin there journey with an online business. It makes sense; online businesses are attractive options due to the gaining popularity of ecommerce among consumers across the globe. And, in most cases, online businesses require less capital investment as compared to traditional models, especially stores selling goods. However, it is not without a justifiable amount of seed money that you can start and online business, it does require its share of capital. This article discusses how to understand you’re the financial requirements of your online business idea and subsequently raise the funds needed.

money
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/30360780@N02/3328400343/

The business plan

The entire saga begins on paper with a watertight business plan. A well researched and carefully drafted business plan will help you understand the real requirements of your online business. Once you start penning down the details, you will be surprised at the number of revelations a business plan surfaces. Many new factors will come forward and you will become better prepared to take on the challenge.

You must include every facet of your business in the plan and take the pain to make each sectioned meticulously detailed. Special focus must be given to the financial section for that is where you will determine how much money you plan to invest and what are the revenues you are aiming at. This section will also be the first one your potential investors will scrutinize.

Roping in the Investors

Unless you have existing sources of steady incomes that generate extra cash, you will need to approach funding sources or lenders in the market. Banks are usually more interested in funding traditional businesses over virtual ventures. However, this trend is slowly changing and some banks are considering online businesses for loans. It is a difficult option but also one which shouldn’t be ignored.

Your friends and family can be a great source of funding if they are willing to show confidence in your ecommerce plan and back it up with their money. Don’t for a moment think that a smile and familiarity will get you through to their bank accounts; the only way is to present a solid business pan with exact future projections.

Other more professional lenders include angel investors, venture capitalists, peer and peer lenders. These lenders can we found through the internet and funding is again based on the promise that you business plan brings to the table. These types of investors are usually fully involved in the business they invest in, as a result, their levels of interest in you plan and projections will be much higher than your acquaintances. Some might loan the money to you on interest while most will be looking for a stake in the business.

Whoever you approach you will need to be presentable and show credibility. Any financial source who will bet his money on you and your business plan will need to know that they are going ahead with a trustworthy person and a feasible business plan. It is your job to portray these requisites and get your funds releases.

About the Author: Penny, the author, is an expert associated with Ezbob.com, an online financial solution for that provides instant business loan to e-commerce and other online traders for their working capital and operational expansion requirements.

Shopping for Digital Goods Online with Ease

As more people buy into the world of mobile devices, e-commerce continues to grow at a steady rate. It is forecast that by 2016, US consumer online retail purchases will increase by 62%. Not only will people be spending more, but there is predicted to be 15% more consumers buying online by 2016 as well. While retailers are thrilled at these prospects, the online digital shopper will be looking for ways to shop that are simple, safe and fun.

Understanding Digital Goods

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the many types of digital goods that are available today. E-books, digital images, music, templates, manuals and software are examples of digital goods. They can easily be purchased through a mobile device or PC. They are also referred to as e-goods or electronic goods.

Digital items can include anything that is used, stored and delivered in an electronic format. These items are usually delivered to the buyer either through an email or a download directly from the Internet. Once payment has been received, the seller will send an email with an attachment of a link where you can safely download the item you purchased.

Advantages to Buying Digital Goods

These days, it seems that everything is going digital. There are many advantages to buying the digital version of a product. Usually, a digital product is cheaper. For example, a music CD in the store can cost anywhere from $10-$20. When you buy the songs digitally, you can decide which songs you want. Also, because the download can take place on your mobile device, you don’t have to try to transfer the files.

Programs that are downloaded can save money on shipping and the hassle of trying to figure out where to store all of the CD’s that you must keep. Textbooks can be accessed from your mobile devices and you don’t have to carry all of the bulky books around. Of course, the #1 advantage of buying digital goods is that you never have to leave your house!

How to be A Smart Digital Shopper

While shopping online is fun, you must always use caution when buying over the Internet – and that includes buying digital products. First of all, you want to do some comparison shopping to make sure you are getting the best price for your products. Secondly, you want to find out what types of payment are accepted. Most vendors are now offering a variety of online payment solutions.

You want to make certain that you use caution when buying online. It’s best to buy from a reputable store. The website should be secure which can be identified by a padlock on the bottom of the screen or by seeing “https” in the address bar. This means that it is a secure site that can’t be seen by others.

Another way to check for safety is to look for a “secure payment” icon. This is a small picture that lets you know what payments are accepted and secure. For example, there may be a small graphic with a padlock that reads “Shop with confidence. Secure website.” Next to that will be a list of the types of payments that can be made securely on that website, such as Visa, PayPal, MasterCard, American Express, etc.

Also, make sure you check out their guarantee policy. While it’s less likely to actually return a digital product, it is important to know what to do if something should go wrong. As a buyer, you have rights, even though you are buying online. If the link or download is faulty, you must know what to do to get a refund or get the correct item.

Enjoy Yourself!

Buying digital products online can be a fun experience. Just as we walk down the aisles of a store, we can browse the Internet from the convenience of our homes. You can compare products, chat with an online support person and even jump to another store to see what they can offer. As long as you take the time to be careful, you will find it to be easy, convenient and even addicting!

Entrepreneurship MBA to Help You Make it Big in Business

Money and power are the order of the day in the twenty first century. Speaking of acquiring money and power, few options are as promising as the corporate world. Young students who aspire to make it big look forward to either entering the corporate sector or starting their own business. Regardless of what choice they make, it is vital that they possess adequate and appropriate business knowledge. There are several courses in business that educate students on encountering the various problems faced in the corporate sector. One of the courses that could be instrumental in forming a successful entrepreneur is Entrepreneurship MBA.

Growth and importance of the course

The course has been attracting interest from students across the world. They no longer find geographical boundaries to be a limitation in their efforts to pursue a graduation in Entrepreneurship MBA. International universities are responsible for enhancing the popularity of such courses as they welcome students from all over the world. All the leading universities and business schools have Entrepreneurship MBA courses.

Working people who cannot find the time to pursue further education through a conventional medium opt for online courses. While this will give you the same amount of information and knowledge in terms of theory, the practical aspect of the course will not be covered as well as it would in a full-time course. It is advised that you dedicate enough time and effort towards your education as it promises to reap some truly amazing benefits.

What is required to apply for an Entrepreneurship MBA course

Entrepreneurship MBA courses help in altering the way in which aspiring individuals think so that they will be better equipped to deal with any kind of business-related situation. A full-time course in Entrepreneurship MBA will require a high GPA in your bachelor’s degree if you’re looking to crack a seat in one of the top universities or business schools around the world. You must also be able to dedicate a challenging amount of time while you’re pursuing the course.

Benefits of a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship

The problems that businesses encounter these days have risen and are unique. There may be no definite solution to a particular business problem, but an MBA in Entrepreneurship will prepare you for the hardest of times. You may not receive solutions to problems with a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship, but you will certainly be prepared to tackle any business-related problem and solve the same efficiently. One who recognises problems in a business and acts to solve them accordingly is called a successful entrepreneur, and an MBA is the most convincing way to achieve success in the corporate world.

Aspiring businessmen must make time to pursue further education after they have completed their graduate courses. Accredited universities must be the only ones that students must consider as they promise a terrific future. Even if you have the right skills to be successful in the corporate world or to start your own business, and Entrepreneurship MBA will help in further improving those skills and polishing the gem in you!

About the Author: Penny is an expert associated with College Info, providers of university programs and Post university programs.

The Increasing Importance of SEO in Non-Online Businesses

If you are one of those who think SEO is necessary or beneficial only for online businesses, you are sadly misinformed. SEO or search engine optimization may be a term and a practice in the online realm, but the entities and causes that can benefit from it extends beyond the World Wide Web.

It’s now considered old-fashioned for a businessman to eschew the chance to promote his services and products on the Web in favor of traditional marketing tactics like handing out flyers, paying for radio, paper and television ads, and hosting promotional events.

Let’s face it though: these marketing moves are already too clichéd that consumers who are instinctually leery of promotional efforts would no longer bite your proffered bait. Besides, there’s now a much more cost-efficient method of promoting one’s business, and that’s through search engine optimization.

Notice that it has become customary for a large company to hire a reliable SEO company to create its official website and promote its services over the Web. Even the owners of SMBs (small to medium businesses) are actively going online to promote their businesses too. They have lesser resources than large companies though, so they often use free platforms like Blogspot, WordPress, and social media networks.

So why do today’s businessmen and entrepreneurs turn to online channels when it comes to promoting businesses? Why should those who haven’t jumped into the bandwagon yet do the same thing?

SEO = Effective & Efficient Business Promotion

One of the first things people in marketing and promotions do is find out where they can reach a large percentage of their target market. This usually means sending people to the malls and sidewalks to distribute flyers, hand out free samples and the like—which would all work to a degree because people do frequent these public places. However, you can also capitalize on the fact that the Internet is just as widely populated—perhaps even more so.

Consider the following:

Almost every person in the civilized world today is using the Internet on an almost daily basis, be it for leisure or for work.
Customers are now researching online about the products they are interested in first before actually going to the stores to buy them.
Besides researching product descriptions, customers are also looking for reviews and customer feedback to reinforce their decision on buying a particular item.
70.30% of Internet users in the United States have bought at least one product or paid for a service in 2011.
It is estimated that in 2012, the percentage of US Internet users who will end up purchasing items/services through this medium at least once will go up to 77%.

Based on these statistical data and simple analysis of consumer behavior, it is clear that the Internet is also a commercial ground where you can, metaphorically, hand out leaflets and flyers to potential customers. Now this is where SEO comes in.

business seo
SEO your business. Make your business become visible online.
Source: http://www.techwench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Branding-Small-Businesses.jpg and http://bigideassmallbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SEO.jpg

To define SEO, it is the process of making a website become visible to search engine users—specifically, by making their websites appear in the first results pages.

It is easy to understand how this benefits a business that’s looking to attract more customers. If your website is on the first three spots on the SERPs, you have the best chance of getting clicked on by users. There have been so many studies conducted over the years regarding this matter, and the statistical results vary. According to Chitika network, 34.35% of Google users only click on page 1 of its search engine results. 16.96% click on page 2, and 11.42% click on page three. The values continue to decrease for the succeeding pages.

traffic from google
This SERP click-through study was conducted in 2010.
Source: http://chitika.com/research/uploads/Traffic-by-Google-Result.png

It makes a lot of sense to utilize SEO, especially if your target market is of the younger age demographic. You can be certain that they will probably do some research on the Internet to satisfy their curiosity about your product/service or your niche in general. If your SEO campaign is successful, you might just be able to generate conversions. Of course, there’s also the added benefit of being able to generate a profit from your website itself by virtue of pay per click (PPC) advertisements.

What About Cost?

We’ve mentioned how efficient SEO can be in promoting a business, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be spending a buck for it. You’d be hard put to get an exact cost for SEO services though. If you’re going to ask various SEO companies or expert SEOs how much they charge for their services, the common answer would be, “It depends.” It is difficult to pin an exact value because there are many things that must be considered.

Yes, SEO will cost you money. The good part is it is also an investment that can give you excellent returns in the future. There’s this excellent article written by Trond Lyngbo at SearchEngineLand.com where he discusses the cost of SEO in conjunction with its value. He gives a perfect analogy for SEO: that it is like an iceberg whose value may appear small on the surface but its benefits are in fact 90% greater underneath. He adds that just like icebergs though, there are also huge risks involved in SEO, and it should therefore be entrusted to experienced search engine optimizers.

iceberg
There’s more to SEO than meets the eye.
Source: http://pastormojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/iceberg1.jpg

Concluding Statement

Using SEO alone to promote your business definitely won’t guarantee you huge sales. Its effects may not even be immediate since it takes time for SEO tactics to actually bite and be reflected in the SERPs and your website statistics. However, it doesn’t remove nor diminish the fact that consumers are becoming highly dependent on the Internet for product research. The number of online shoppers is similarly increasing, thanks to the ease and convenience that online shopping presents. It therefore makes sense to make the most out of the Internet for your business—and SEO is instrumental for that.

About the author: Emma-Julie Fox writes for Pitstop Media Inc, a top rated Vancouver SEO company that provides services to businesses across North America. If you would like to invite the author to guest post on your blog please contact www.pitstopmedia.com

Four Items to Keep Your Small Business Legal and Safe

Always be prepared for the worst

small business safety

With taxes, payroll, inventory and so many other things for a small business owner to juggle, worker safety may not always be at the forefront of your mind. But even if you have just one employee, both the federal government and your state have requirements that it’s important to adhere to.

Whether you manage a staff of several dozen people or strictly utilize contract workers, it’s wise to emphasize safety at your workplace. Not only will promoting safe conditions and practices give you an added layer of protection in the event of an accident (and remember, anything can happen), it also demonstrates to your employees, coworkers and clients that you’re a conscientious business that cares about the people it works with.

Perhaps you’ve never thought about business safety at all, apart from meeting the legal requirements your lawyer alerted you too when you opened your business. Even if you’re in a low-risk office environment, consider adding or updating the following items that are wise for any small business to keep on hand:

Disaster Plan and Supplies

What’s up with the weather lately? Areas of the country that once seemed relatively immune to natural disasters have been caught off guard in recent years, from tornadoes sweeping across the Southeast to a hurricane slamming into New England.

At your next meeting with employees, discuss a plan in the event of a tornado, earthquake or even a power outage. Make sure that your building has at least two ways out — windows that are stuck shut could prevent escape if a primary exit is blocked.

Keep gallons of water, some energy bars, batteries, flashlights, and a radio on hand (cell reception can go out during a major disaster), and make sure that everyone who spends time in your building knows where this is located.

First Aid Kit

If your office is large or has multiple levels, consider this one to be plural. Keep your kits stocked with antibiotic ointment, hot and cold packs, burn cream, bandages, tweezers, alcohol and over-the-counter pain relievers. Even if 99 out of 100 times, your first aid kit is utilized for headaches and paper cuts, you’ll be glad you have it in the event of a real emergency. The ability to stabilize a burn or cut victim until professional help arrives can mean the difference between life and death.

Put it on your calendar to check and restock your first aid kits every three months.

Proper Signage

If there’s ever a fire or a major emergency at your office, it’s possible that first-time customers or visitors could be present. Even if your employees are all well-versed in emergency exits and a disaster plan, those less familiar with your business will instinctively panic.

Are your exit signs well-placed and lit? Check those bulbs.

If your business utilizes machinery, you’re likely well-versed in safety signage that warns people of possible dangers. Office workers, however, get few reminders about the hazards of their job. Consider placing friendly signs in bathrooms and communal areas, reminding employees to stretch and take breaks to prevent repetitive motion injuries to their wrists and back.

Safety Manuals and Training

Most businesses have a safety manual that’s distributed to employees when they begin their jobs. Few ever open and read this. Although the manuals are often designed to meet legal requirements, it’s worth following up with employees during meetings and workshops. An annual safety training refresher course can double as a team-building exercise, and it’s a chance for a business owner to say ‘thank you’ to employees by providing a tasty lunch while they discuss safety protocol at the business.

Even though the chances are (hopefully) slim of an emergency occurring, it’s always best to prepare for the worst. Employees who feel like their safety and health is genuinely considered and cared about by their superiors will be happier and more productive in their jobs.

About the Author: Jay Acker leads a group of producers who create OSHA safety manuals and other training materials for business customers. They make training kits, courseware and safety posters at www.safetyservicescompany.com.