Home-Based Business for Beginners

If you want to run your own business out of your home, Home-Based Business for Beginners will provide you with all the information you need to get started. Learn about the tax and other advantages of running a home-based business. But also be alerted to some of the disadvantages including finding good employees and your legal liabilities.

This book will help you locate products by attending domestic and foreign trade shows; by conducting searches on the Web as well as several other techniques. It then helps you figure out if there is a market for the products you have selected by conducting a survey or by using Internet search engines.

Learn about legal structures for your business and select the one that is most suitable for your needs. Don't forget about government sales tax permits. If you have invented your own product, make sure to patent it and make sure that you are not infringing on other people's patents.

Direct mail marketing can be an effective way of selling your products or services and this book will show you what's involved. Find out how to create effective mailing pieces; how to take advantage of bulk mailing rates and the best timing for your mailings.

Learn about the basics of telephone marketing and fax broadcasting but be cautious about the Do-Not-Call List.

Learn how print media can be used as a delivery system. There are sections on advertising in newspapers, magazines, trade journals and professional magazines as well as the classifieds.

Less emphasis is placed on broadcast media, since this tends to be expensive and often beyond the budget of smaller companies, so you will only get a brief review.

There are sections on exhibiting at trade shows, fairs, holding house parties, door-to-door selling and making cold calls. You will get to take a look at e-mail and e-newsletters as advertising and marketing tools and the difference between spam and opt-in-mailings with clickable links to your Web site.

You will get an introduction to database marketing and how to rank your customers using the RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) method.

This book shows you how to create your own Web site and how to register your domain name and select a Web hosting service. You are cautioned about browser compatibility, screen resolution, load times, copyright, spelling, layout and the colour scheme you propose to use. You get advise on creating your home page and tagline together with the use of multimedia and splash pages. You are recommended to observe the "3-Click Rule" and incorporate a site map and search tools. It shows you how to use referrals and testimonials and ways to create a "Sticky Site". It recommends that you include your contact info as well as answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).

You will learn about the use of cascading style sheets as well as the difference between static and dynamic Web authoring software. You are provided with reviews of eleven different software packages that you can use to create your own Web site.

Find out what's involved in opening your own Web store and some e-commerce software that can help you. Take a look at selling your merchandise at eBay auctions and how to create effective listings. Find out the requirements to open your own eBay store and how to manage it. Finally, this book will help you figure out if you need financing to start your home-based business or whether you can bootstrap your own way to success.