Top Web Hosts for Your Online Business Website - Definite Source of Online Income

If you are an affiliate marketer, a newbie in online business, any businessman wants to promote your business online or whosoever you are wants to earn online, the first step is to make a platform on which you build the building of your online success, through which you promote your products and services online and expose them before everyone worldwide and this platform is the right web host fulfills all the requirements for your business website.

But to select an appropriate web hosting company for your business web site is not a simple task. Actually there are hundreds of such companies exists now so to select the appropriate among them according to your business website needs is somehow a difficult task. Due to ignorance of technical knowledge about web hosting most of online business owners finds it difficult how to choose a right host. Searching appropriate host among hundreds of such companies is time consuming and tedious task. So for choosing the right company always remember about uptime, price, data transfer rate, disk space, security, backup and customer support for your website and keeping these factors in mind go through top hosting reviews and take the advice of some technical experts and you will definitely seek the right host for your website.

Another thing to remember for selecting right company is discounts and web coupons provided by it. It will be very beneficial to you at the time of signing up for hosting subscription. Most of the best companies provides unlimited bandwidth and space but additional features, discount coupons and monthly subscription rates provided by them are different. Selecting appropriate host for your online business website benefits you in terms of affordability, security and reliability as well as helps in providing your web site a good rank and SEO.

Some of the cheap, reliable and top web hosting companies recommended by experts are BlueHost, Hostgator, Hostmonster, FastDomain, Host Papa, LunarPages, HostUpon, PowWeb, FatCow and IX Web Hosting.

Starting a Home Business Service - Tips

With so many people having lost their jobs in recent months, home businesses in the service industry has become a rapidly growing trend. As regular 9 to 5 positions are becoming harder to find, having a home business service is increasing in popularity. It is becoming more and more attractive as the start up cost and overhead is very low when compared to a brick and mortar service business.

If you have been thinking about using your talent to start a home business service, and you feel that you are ready to commit to providing a home business service, then read these tips to help you get started.in the right direction.

First I would like to clarify what a home business service actually is.

A home business service is performing a service or task that will help other people with tasks they either don't want to perform or are unable to perform on their own. A service business supplies the solution to a need and can include anything from walking a dog to figuring out a clients taxes. Virtual assistants have become a very popular service that is provided from home.

I'm not going to cover the benefits of having a home business as it is already common knowledge, I am sure that you already know what your reasons are for wanting to work from home and why.

Getting Started:

1. Set Up a Home Office

Getting a home office set up for your home business service is one of the first things that needs to be done. Getting a business phone is an important part of selling a service as you will need to be able to communicate with clients. If this is out of the question because of your budget, at the moment, get a business line added to your home phone as soon as you can.

You will need a separate office space from the rest of the house, especially if you are planning to have clients come to your home.

2. You Will Need a Website

You not only need a computer, which I assume you already have since you are reading this article, but you will also need a website. A website will be the gateway for your business in your local area. It is imperative to develop an online presence for your business. The Yellow Pages are quickly becoming a thing of the past, and the cost of running an ad in the Yellow Pages is often beyond many entrepreneurs financial means while in the start up process.

Having a website is much more effective than the Yellow Pages as you can get it up and listed in days, while you have to wait for the next publication of the Yellow Pages to be printed. Also, more and more people are going online to find local services and businesses than are looking in the Yellow Pages. Finding a listing on the web is faster and more current that the phone book.

3. Research Your County Laws

You will need to know the legalities for registering your home business service and for any zoning restrictions that may be applicable for a home business in your neighborhood.. Every county in every state has different laws and ordinances. The county clerk may be able to help you with this information or will at least be able to direct you to the right place to get it.

4. Get a Business License

You can usually pick one up at either the county court house or the county clerk's office.. The license won't cost you anything, but once your business is started it will be subjected to a different tax structure.

I am not a tax attorney and cannot offer any advice on the tax exemptions for your state or with the Federal government. What I can tell you, is that you will be allowed more exemptions that you are getting now for using your home for your business. You can get more information online at http://www.irs.org.

5. Set Up a Business Plan and Set Goals

Having a home business service can develop into a very lucrative business. Be sure to have a definite business plan strategy worked out that is measurable and that you can use as a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly guide. Remember to set goals that can be achieved. Set your beginning goals in small time frame increments. Cross them off your list when you have achieved them and then add bigger goals to strive for.

6. Advertise Offline and Online

Get some business cards made to hand out to everyone in your neighborhood that you come in contact with. You never know when the service you are providing will be needed in the community. You can get business cards free online at Vista Print.com. You only pay the shipping which is about $6.00

Print fliers with details of the service you are providing and remember to Include your website URL and your home phone number. Pay a high school kid in the neighborhood to pass them out for you.

Put fliers and business cards up on bulletin boards at grocery stores, liquor stores, apartment buildings, laundromats, the post office, and any other place you can think of that will allow advertising.

Offer a free gift with your home business service. Vista Print often has promotions for free advertising venues such as tote bags, post cards, refrigerator magnets, etc.

Place small ads in local newspaper and free press newspapers. Place ads on web sites such as Craig's List, eBay, and USFreeAds. Be sure to list your home business service with Google Local Directory so that you will be placed on their Goggle business map for your area.

Use viral marketing, email marketing and article marketing online to get people to your website. Submit a press release about your new business both off line and online. There are several free sites you can submit to. Do a Google search to find them. Until you begin receiving clients, spend all of your scheduled work time marketing your home business service both online and offline.

Once you start receiving clients it can be very difficult to manage your work time, your marketing time and your family time. Plan accordingly. Schedule business tasks that need to be done daily between time spent with clients. Set a limit as to when the work day will end in order to spend time with the family. I hope these few tips will give you a place to start in getting your home business service off the ground and running.

Viral Marketing For Products and Services - Definition of Viral Marketing

Viral marketing has burst on to the internet scene with a vengeance. Funny how you can use the term "viral" and "computer" in the same sentence now and have it be something positive. Let's start this out by giving a definition of viral marketing followed by a few examples. Wikipedia defines viral marketing or viral advertising to be "marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses". Basically, what that means is advertising in the form of word-of-mouth. People who like (or dislike) a product, service, or other item and then tell others. The concept itself is far from new but its application online takes on new meaning with the ability people now have to communicate with thousands of people in a matter of seconds.

One of the most common forms of viral marketing has become the uploading of video content. You'll see this all the time as a funny or cute video might get millions of views on a site such as YouTube. Companies have discovered quickly that this form of advertising may be just as effective, if not possibly even more effective, than television commercials. At the very least, it is far less expensive. We have all received emails in the past from a friend who has seen a funny video, or a joke, or a picture online and then they send it out to everyone in their address book. This too, is viral marketing, albeit a spontaneous form and perhaps not pre-planned.

Of course, there can also be negative ramifications to this phenomenon. If someone does not like your product, service, etc... it is fairly easy to start a viral campaign which is negative.

So, if you have a business or product that you are looking to promote, how would you go about starting a viral marketing campaign? The first step is that you have to get content out online. However, if your content is purely self promotion, then you probably will not see the "virus" spread too quickly. Instead, the content must be interesting, funny, cute, intriguing, helpful, philanthropic, and/or stimulating. People will need a reason to pass it on. Sometimes simple is better, and short never hurts either as most folks always seem to be in a hurry. You are going to need to be creative and original and prepare for some trial and error. However, when you get it right, it will all be worth the effort so be persistent!

Hopefully this article has cleared up any confusion that you might have had about viral marketing. If so, help me to make this article go "viral" and pass it along to someone you know or post it on your Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace page and socially bookmark it out there too!

As always, I wish you the best of success!

Evaluating the Potential of Internet Business Services

Internet Business Services are thriving. Every day there are more and more consumers logging on and now cost-effective to carry on business services via the internet.

To operate an Internet Business Service you will need less operating costs as you no longer require a brick and mortar store and you can now have specific niche businesses or items that would have failed if they had been in a traditional business setting. Best of all, Internet Business Services will allow you the freedom to be able to work from anywhere - the office, on the road, at home...anywhere!

That being said, not all Small Business Internet Services prosper. You can still sink a lot of money into your business and have it flop. There is homework involved for the Internet entrepreneur as you have to research the business you are considering as there is so much competition out there that it may be infeasible to try to go head to head with a company or in an industry you have no chance in turning a profit it.

Use concrete data to contribute as the basis of your Internet Business Services. Likely the main factor over all to be considered is the demand for the Internet Business Service you want to create.

Here is a scenario: You are considering an Internet Service Business to sell contact lenses in the Philippines. What is the average gross margin on sale? What are the price points to be considered? Is there enough volume in terms of population demographics to support the need? If you can not get enough traffic there is no need to be in that business.

Be very wary of your competition. Who are other Internet and non-Internet Business Service providers that cater to the same need? There could be few competing Internet Businesses in your niche, but if there is not enough traffic to begin with, you are better off to find another niche

How do you intend on making your money? Will you be acquiring your revenue from online sales, affiliate commission revenue, advertising revenue, email marketing...?

After you have done your homework and determined what niche is a fit for you and you are sure of the likelihood of success with your Internet Service Business get to work on your site. Make sure it is unique, interesting and useful. Launch it-and let the sales roll in!

But the next question is who is going to build your Internet Service Business website and how are you going to pay for the construction of the site and all that goes along with it? Today there are options for financing your website. You will likely need to put some investment into the site construction and development but if you finance the site, you can make the site much more professional and high-end and then pay for it over time as your sales come in.

Web Services - Definitions We Should All Be Familiar With

Web services, SOA, everything-as-a-service: what are all these terms? What do they mean to you? Here's a list of definitions as I see them:

SOA

Service Oriented Architecture. a way of describing a business model that uses cloud computing.

Cloud Computing

The use of Web Services.

Web Services

Software or data served over the Internet as an ongoing service rather than a custom-made or out-of-the-box piece of software or dataset (delivered, say, on CD)

DaaS

Data as a Service. Outsourcing data management to "the cloud" - either "public" data (such as street names) or private data (such as stock lists).

Desktop as a Service: This term hasn't really caught on due to DaaS being generally reserved for "data as a service" or "database as a service". Desktop as a service is a rather more accurate term for the more buzzword-y "Operating System as a Service"; not a true operating system (which boots up the computer and manages a user's hardware resources) but an online desktop which stores your preferences and basically acts as an interface for other web services, just like a normal desktop is a user intterface for traditional software and data.

SaaS

Software as a Service. Outsourcing software to a company "in the cloud" that runs the software, updates it, and allows business access to it for a charge.

PaaS

Platform as a Service. A piece of software delivered as a service that allows development of 3rd-party apps to "plug into" it. Examples: Salesforce.com, Facebook.com

Lesser-known services under the umbrella "everything as a service"

CaaS

Communication as a Service. Delivering telecommunications, instant messaging etc. as a service over the Internet. Telephony as a service, also known as "Voice as a service", employs VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Software and hardware can be provided as a service by providers.

IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service. Slightly tricksy one, this. Can be taken as being similar to "Operating system as a Service" or "Desktop as a Service", Infrastructure as a Service typically dishes up services centred around hardware as well as software. Wikipedia tells us that "servers, software, data center space or network equipment" are all served in IaaS.

MaaS

Monitoring as a Service. Network/website monitoring delivered as a service. Notifications of network or website problems delivered via SMS, email, etc. Another term not really part of the Web 2.0 Buzzword Boom but still applicable:

Utility Computing

Self-explanatory: providing computing services as a metered utility, in the same way that the services above are delivered as a service. With the sheer weight of as-a-service offerings out on the 'net today, having a clear idea of what these concepts are and how they could benefit your business has never been more pertinent - or difficult.

The Evolution of Business Service Management (BSM)

Looking back, the emergence of business service management (BSM) seems inevitable. This new generation of tools helps IT organizations manage technology infrastructures within the context of the key services they provide for their customers. BSM tools are critical enablers for the increasingly popular process-focused IT Service Management (ITSM) approach.

What's driving this evolution to BSM and its related IT management paradigms? Executive Consultant Troy DuMoulin of Pink Elephant, an ITIL events and consulting firm, explains, "The interest in ITIL, the evolution of legislation like SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), and the interest in standards is symptomatic of something much more rudimentary. At the base of this growing focus on formalization and legislation is a growing awareness of exposure and dependency that the business has on IT. Before, IT was seen as an enabler, supportive but yet somehow separated from the business processes themselves. But now there is a realization that there is no true separation between the business process and the underlying IT services and systems."

Information technology has become so vital to business today - so ubiquitous in every aspect - that most businesses literally cannot function without it anymore. Even simple manual tasks like filling a car with gas or cashing a check now require the support of an IT system.

This heightened reliance on IT has placed companies at a crossroads. They are compelled to address this new dependency by putting processes and technology in place to ensure IT does its job serving the business effectively. So the move to BSM can be seen as a natural reaction to the new way IT interacts with and enables business.

"BSM is a way for a company to agree on what the business expectations are, and manage the IT performance to those agreed upon expectations," clarifies Brian Childers, a consultant who also serves on the Board of Directors for itSMF USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting best practices in IT services management. "Once we understand the expectations, we can build the processes to suit the expectations, and manage against them."

Vendors are responding rapidly to these new service management imperatives. Leading software providers - like HP, BMC, Mercury and Managed Objects - are already introducing new BSM-versions of their popular tools to help revolutionize the way IT managers gauge technology performance and leverage that knowledge to meet business needs. And new kinds of automated, self-learning software from companies like Netuitive, are making it easier than ever for managers to cut across their technology silos and tie together their existing management tools.

"Over the years - especially during the frenetic IT build-out of the late 1990s - companies cobbled together a mishmash of systems within their IT organizations," adds Tony Gilbert, vice president at Netuitive. "The result now is a heterogeneous set of components in the IT environment, and individual departmental silos for managing each one. The right set of BSM tools makes it possible to tie together all of these pieces of technology across an enterprise and to monitor IT from the perspective of the service it delivers."

BSM tools help IT groups see technology in terms of how it impacts their business services, and zero-in on the cause of a particular performance issue that is affecting that service -- a capability companies do not have when they manage IT solely through technology silos. The new BSM tools can also enable a company to prioritize resources based on the relative importance of multiple business services. For example, a brokerage firm could manage online trading or online banking services holistically instead of piecemeal within silos: the server group, the database group, the application group.

More Than Just Technology

But completely changing a management approach is not easy. "For the last 20 years our industry has been focused on managing technology. Management of IT has been by domains, such as mainframes, networks and databases. But those domains don't truly live in isolation." Pink Elephant's DuMoulin continues, "A basic premise is that there is a business requirement for IT to understand how any given IT component relates to another and how these devices support or potentially disable a business process. When you understand IT from this perspective you see that you cannot manage by technology or device. You need to understand the relationship between those devices, and how they relate to IT services, and ultimately how IT services are consumed by business."

The people factor remains an issue, too. For many organizations, BSM often requires a corporate culture change. IT personnel must learn that they don't just manage boxes and applications, but actually provide services that the business consumes in order to survive and thrive. Most experts agree that the tools are out there, and are necessary, but they go hand in hand with changing processes and changing the way companies perceive the value of IT.

"Some people believe that it doesn't matter what technology you use as long as you have the right processes in place," comments Ken Wendle, the ITSM Solution Lead at HP. "But I have always said that IT service management is a combination of people and process, enabled by the right technology, all working in synergy with each other. It is about the intelligent blending of technology to enable and enforce the right processes, which then will allow an organization to execute around business priorities."

"I have seen companies that put the right processes in place, and trained the right people, but then created process silos," HP's Wendle also notes. "But ITSM is about cutting across the technology silos, not just creating another set of process silos on top of them. ITSM is about taking a holistic approach."

The BSM Evolution Continues

Where is BSM going from here? "One of the missing ingredients today is the enrollment of the business community," itSMF's Childers believes. "They need to understand what BSM is and why they would want to support it. I think the better job everyone does with bringing the business side onboard, the faster BSM will progress."

"I don't think companies have gained all the benefits of technology that they could," HP's Wendle agrees. "The business people need to understand and appreciate what IT can do to help the business side of the organization."

Clearly there is work to be done, but the adoption of ITSM and the BSM tools that support it continues to gain momentum as more companies realize this is a prerequisite for success in a new world where business and IT have become one.

"The prediction is that over the next five years, ITSM will be as impactful as ERP systems were, or maybe more," itSMF's Childers concludes. "I don't think ITSM is going away, because it makes too much sense." And innovative BSM vendors will continue to develop new tools to help.

Using the Internet to Create a Brand For Your Business Services - Be Your Own Brand Name

When people say that they want to make photocopies of a document, they often say they're going to Xerox them, even if the machine they're using isn't a Xerox brand machine. When people need to sneeze, they often ask for a Kleenex, even if the box nearby is a different brand. That's the power of branding. If you can make your company name synonymous with the product you're selling, then it will be that much easier to get the word out about your product. Using the internet to create a brand for your business services is a great way to promote your business.

The first step to using the internet to create a brand for your business services is to decide on the name of that brand. It should be short and easy to remember so that people can start using it quickly. You should try to make it clever, and it will definitely help if you include it in a catch phrase. People are more likely to remember it if it's part of a slogan. If the current name of your business doesn't work, then you may want to try creating an internet-only service and giving that product a brandable name.

If you're serious about using the internet to create a brand for your business services, then you need to be serious about using your brand name as often as possible. Use it as though it's already a part of the pop-culture lexicon. People may ask what you're talking about, but that will only serve as an opportunity to tell them about the branded service. You want to encourage as many people as possible to start using your brand name as the name of the service in question, and the best way to do this is to lead by example.

And be sure to advertise your brand diligently. Using the internet to create a brand for your business services will be an exercise in futility if you don't make the effort to properly market the brand. You'll know you're making headway when you use the brand name as the service name and people actually know what you mean. The more you're able to get people comfortable with your brand as the name of the service, the closer you are to your goal of branding your service. With the help of the internet, you can even take that brand worldwide, if you want to. The sky's the limit.

Cost Effective Business Services

A business services franchise is a good option for many who are willing to serve the corporate world. A business franchisee needs an investment in terms of fees, real estate, marketing, merchandise etc. there are both small business services as well as high cost businesses in the category. Here we discuss some prominent business services franchises.

Financial services: The financial services space is rapidly growing in India. It is one of the most significant business services in India. According to the latest Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) data, financial services, banking, insurance and real estate sectors have risen by 7.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2009-10. This displays the success of the financial service industry. With the over-all increase in the finance services seekers, finance service providers took to franchise route, thus creating a great scope for franchise opportunity.

Till a few years back, the franchising which was an unknown concept in this field has gained lot of momentum in the present times. Before discussing the factors responsible for this development, let us first get familiar with the term 'Financial services franchisors'.

Financial services refer to services provided by the financial service companies. The finance service companies encompass a broad range of organisations that deal with money management. A few of these organisations include banks, insurance companies, consumer finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds etc. These companies offer various services such as asset protection, investment and savings, retirement plans, customer-orientated service, besides offering personal loans, commercial loans, mortgage loans, and education loans for the aspiring students. Financial service providers are on the rise as franchising as a mode of expansion is being opted by this industry. Manish Shah, Associate Director- Business Strategy, Equity & Product Development, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd shared, "The belief in entrepreneurship and the drive it brings to the business, made Motilal Oswal take the franchise route. Franchising brings more scalability to the business and the business becomes entrepreneur driven."

Courier Services: Another category of business services is courier service. The companies basically work around transportation of goods from one place to another, delivery of documents, packages, and larger shipments of products. These provide services to companies and individuals who need rapid service, accountability, and tracking that regular mail does not accommodate. Courier services are more reliable and dependable as compared to ordinary postal services due to less time consumed and delivery guarantee. However, with the introduction of modern gadgets and faster modes of transportation this system has also progressed a lot. Moreover, franchising is also one of the main stimulants of its popularity and profitability.

Franchising in this sector has grown with more and more players taking the franchise model for reaching out to far flung areas in the vast nation. Courier service companies are required to deliever important mails and parcels to any part, whether city, town or village in the country. Therefore, franchising can be the best mode for guaranteed delivery of the items. According to DS Patel, Channel Head, DTDC, "Franchising is an essential and most effective way of expanding the network. Opening our own company owned courier offices is very expensive and time consuming. However a franchise outlet is economically beneficial to the company." As informed by Praveen Govindraj, Assistant General Manager, First Flight Courier, "Franchising definitely helps in directly reaching to far-fling areas for delivering items due to our local partners in those areas." He further added, "Franchising can be a win-win situation for both the franchisor and franchisees as both benefit from it. The local partner (franchisee) has a much better idea of a particular locality than the main company which is based out of Delhi or Mumbai. Delivering parcels to small towns and cities becomes difficult and also take a lot of time if it is done by the company in metropolitan areas. At such times the local franchisee can be of great help." This can be the major reason for courier companies to opt for the franchise route. Moreover, having local partners all over the nation, who deliver all items on time, also increases the credibility and profit making of the parent company.

The typical feature of the courier service franchise includes doorstep booking, customer convenience and security of each and every consignment that has been entrusted to it. Jaguar Couriers Franchise, Blazeflash Couriers, etc are some of the franchising companies under this category.

Cartridge refilling: Cartridge refilling forms another business service category. In the modern age of I.T, there is a constantly growing need of cartridgere-fills. Foraying in the cartridge refill industry through franchise route is a promising venture. A cartridge refill franchise offers to its user's quality refills at a fractional cost. Current industry trends and future projections suggest that printer cartridges demand will continue to multiply at a very fast pace as computers and low cost printers swamp the market. Cartridge World, Cartridge Café, Cartridge Xpress are some of the good low-cost franchise options.

Challenges

Every business has attached to it certain set of challenges. Though the basic challenges remain the same across the board for all business service franchises, their relevance with each sector differs.
Before opting for any of the above options, clear all your doubts. Apart from your initial investment, take into account the ongoing costs that must be paid to your franchisor, including franchise royalties, marketing fees and other required purchases. After you are convinced go ahead and make your mark in the franchising world!