This is a very simple trap which many thousands of would be online business people have fallen into, which came first, the customer or customer services? While the majority of people may say the customer, you really need to do your homework and have all of your systems in place before going “live”.

While obviously you need customers to stand any chance of making money, but making money and being successful are often two different things. To be successful you need to ensure that your customers visit you over and over again, thus increasing your income and reducing the cost of your advertising revenue compared to your income.

Imagine the scenario, your site is ready to go, you are chomping at the bit, everything is ready, then bang! You are live. You sell your first product, money in the bank, great, but then the customer comes back and asks for some help or advice, what do you do? Who can help? Is there a system in place?

Unless you are able to offer after sales care then there is every chance that customer will not return to your site, and they may pass on their concerns to others. That means that each new customer you bring, is potentially only going to buy from you once, before moving on - what a waste!

In order to be successful you need to ensure that all of your systems and procedures are in place before you go live. While you will need to adjust some elements as you go along, you need to be ready with the answers which your customers will ask, you need to be ready with some good old fashioned advice, something which will ensure that come back to you time and time again.

A non-repeat customer is a wasted customer, and very expensive to replace!

If you have a look on the internet any time of the day you will see hundreds if not thousands of competitions, day in day out, but do they work?

It has to be said that the vast majority of competitions go unnoticed on the internet, and those that are noticed will only attract a very short term crowd to your site. There are very few competitions which actually attract new long term customers to your site, and in reality they are probably more of a tool to retain users than actually bring new ones in.

There are a number of factors to consider when even thinking about posting a competition to your site :-

1. How the winner is chosen. You need to define clearly how the winner of the competition will be chosen - this is vital.

6. Have regular competitions. One competition will not make a big difference, but if you have regular competitions then you will get repeat visitors.

All in all it is not as easy to make an impact on your site with just one competition, you need to give your readers a reason to come back time and time again. Once you have them on your site, and they have entered your competition you need to direct them back to your site, to get them actually checking out what you are offering.

Whether you offer freebies to those who enter your competition or join you mailing list, or you offer them a discount, you need to find a way to convert them fro competition entrants to readers of your site. That is the tricky bit!

While everyone seems to be doing it these days, setting up your own online business is not quite as easy as you may think. There are many factors to consider, none more so than the amount of money you will actually need to spend on it! However, is it possible to cut corners on spending when setting your site up? Is it sensible to do so?

Research has shown that the vast majority of online business will probably curl up and die after a short while, due in the main to lack of advertising and a lack of genuine investment. While it is possible to “cut corners” at the beginning of your venture, the only real way that you can do this is by doing the extra work yourself. There are many task which need to be done, and many task which you can pay other people to do, but if you are looking to reduce the initial cost you will need to pick up the slack. So what are the pros and cons of doing it yourself?

There are a number of factors to consider, including :-

Pros

· You have the potential to save substantial amounts of money by doing as much as possible yourself.

· There will be no confusion as to what you actual want, as you will be doing it!

· It will give you experience which may prove invaluable in the future.

Cons

· It may delay the launch of your site if you are forced to do more work yourself.

· The quality may not be as good as the paid option - although this will depend upon the actual task(s).

· It will take you away from other areas of the business, and could put more pressure and stress on you.

· If you need to upgrade at a later date, would someone else understand how you coded the various areas of the site?

While it is essential to keep spending to a minimum at launch, and use your funds to really push the site in the outside world, you do need to find a balance between quality and cost. There are many areas which you could do yourself, and while they may be a little time consuming, they will bring your business that little bit closer to profitability.

There are many pros and cons for each option, but if you can find a balance then you are probably on the way to a successful business. Good luck!

After you have successfully navigated the online business world, created a viable business and begun to grow, you may well have a think about selling out, paying yourself for all of your hard work, but When? How? and what price should you be looking for?

While there are many formulas, valuations strategies and sell out estimates it all really comes down to who wants to buy your business and how interested they really are. You may have a business which is in demand at the moment, or the markets may have moved on to another area - the online market is much more fickle than most and susceptible to trends. Finding the right time and place to sell your business can be just as important as the business which you are actually selling!

So what kind of valuation should you put on the business?

There are a number of valuations which you can put on your business, with the traditional figure being 10 times the net monthly profit. While this is quite commonly used, it can be worthless if you have just moved into profit, or your business is growing but still loss making - it really does depend on who wants to buy it, and how well you can actually market it.

When to sell out?

It is probably best to sell out before your business reaches its peak, leaving something for the buyer to get their teeth into. Unless you leave something for the buyer, what reason is there for them to actually buy it?

In summary, there are many ways in which you can value your business, but ultimately it comes down to who wants to buy it. There are some great online forums out there like Digitalpoint and Sitepoint who will give you exposure to a number of possible buyers, although if your business is large enough you could go to a professional “middle man” to sell on your behalf, although they would take a commission.

There are a number of different factors to consider when selling your site, and they all need to come into play at the same time to get the best price. Good luck!

While the majority of regular online surfers will probably have heard of Web 2.0, you may just have dismissed it as some tech talk and moved on. However, there is ever chance that you have already come across a Web 2.0 application as they are growing in numbers on the internet. What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is the new form of online advertising which is interactive with the user, without them actually knowing it! It is a very complicated system which basically tracks your movements on the internet, which sites you visit at which times of the day and what you look for. It is being used by the main search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! in order to get the best return out of their customers. So how does it interact with the user?

After building up sufficient information about your surfing habits, Web 2.0 can then control to the smallest detail the style, type and number of online adverts which you will see on relevant sites. By changing the colour of the ads at a certain time, or realising that a certain style has passed its sell by day, the system will move to the next most successful and formulate a new plan of “attack”. The systems have become so thorough and precise that they may actually know where you are going online before your do!

So what are the benefits of Web 2.0 adverts?

By calculating where you will be at a certain time, the application can deliver an advert which is about a subject which will interest you, and in a style which has shown to be popular to a certain social class or country. By making the adverts as easy on the eye as possible, it has been shown that resulting advert income can be increased dramatically.

We are not talking about just a few percentage points, we are talking about a whole new level of income! Web 2.0 is here and it is here to stay, although it will attract some controversy due to the “tracking” nature of the process.

Of the millions of webmasters on the internet, there will be very few (if any) who have not made major mistakes on their march to the top. Learning by your mistakes is a great way to gain experience, and while you would not go out of your way to make mistakes (or errors of judgement), if it costs you money once, you can be sure that you will not do it again!

So what are the benefits of making mistakes?

While it may seem a little strange to think making mistakes may benefit you, it really can help in the long run. Here are a few things to consider when pondering why you do not want to make the same mistake again :-

· Pride! We all have pride in our work, and we all want to succeed in the best way possible, but it is not always that easy. While you should not take mistakes personally, you should learn for them and ensure there is less chance of the same mistake happening time and time again.

· Competition. The competition to succeed online has never been more intense and it will only get harder. Being able to push your site to the top of the tree can make you feel very proud - a feeling that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Contrary to what many people tell you, the best way to learn is by your mistakes (so long as you don’t make too many!), because there is no better feeling than being in the same situation again and managing to turn it around to your benefit. You can read all of the books in the world,, talk to the best people in the business, but until you actually get out there you will not know what it feels like.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because as long as you learn from them, the process will be worthwhile in the end.