I like to occasionally share what I’ve been working on. Maybe it inspires someone, maybe it inspires no one, maybe I’m just talking to myself.

I decided to go ahead and buy the Build a Niche Store (BANS) software and give it a try. I’ve only built one store with it, and it’s mostly easy to use.

I did come up with one problem, however. The niche I chose related to certain consumer electronics, and the BANS database was out of date on the category numbers, so I ended up having to add them manually. I did comment on that in the BANS members-only forum, so I won’t be surprised if that gets taken care of.

I just made the site two days ago, so no indexing yet. But if you know CSS and can cope with a header and footer file, the templates are pretty easy to adapt. Those are the ways I usually create my own websites, so it is something familiar to me.

The challenge to that kind of site is getting search engines to like it. After all, it’s nothing but eBay listings. But at the same time you can narrow those down into a pretty interesting niche.

If you do decide to buy BANS, make sure you follow the link sent in your emails to get into the Member’s area. The forum is quite useful and several members have created MODS that can improve your BANS website.  Some are doing quite well, others are just beginning.

I’m having a lot of fun thinking up potential niches, and considering whether some of my domains that are just sitting right now could do well as BANS sites. At the very least it will be a quick way to add something to undeveloped ones.

I don’t expect this to become my only tactic for earning money online. Some people do quite well with it, to the tune of several hundred dollars a month per website, while others struggle. I like to have a variety of sites, and my first love remains creating content sites. But for a greater balance in where my income comes from I’ve been exploring more options like this.  If it works, it should be relatively hands-off compared to many of the other sites I run.
Besides, it’s fun to see what else I can make work for me.

Technorati Tags: bans, build a niche store, ebay, affiliate marketing, quick websites

As I posted the other day, I had to evacuate due to fires. That kept me from doing a lot of my usual business, which is pretty much to be expected. However, there are things I did to make it possible for me to do some things, and some things I wish I had done.

1. Always have your computer backed up.
   This one really should be obvious, yet it isn’t done as much as it should be. You can get multi-gig USB Flash drives for very affordable prices these days. Get one, use it to back up your most important data. Consider whether to keep it on or off site.
2. Bring your computer if you can.
   I brought mine along, but left the monitor, keyboard, etc. behind. This kind of goes with backing up your computer, but it feels a lot better to have the machine itself along. You may or may not have room for the computer, and the monitor, keyboard and other parts are far more easily replaced than your data and overall setup.
3. Have your passwords handy.
   If you have them all memorized it will be easy, but sometimes it can be hard to remember while under stress which password goes to which site. I have a notebook with many of my passwords and logins, listed in a format that is designed only to jog my memory, rather than writing out the actual passwords. But I hadn’t updated it recently, and some were wrong while other sites weren’t listed.
4. Consider hiring help.
   If you aren’t going to be able to do it all yourself during an emergency, consider hiring a virtual assitant for the duration. This will get your emails answered and any basic help you need otherwise taken care of.
5. Figure out if it is realistic for you to keep working.
   Sometimes during an emergency it will be. Other times it won’t. Since I stayed at my mother’s house rather than at a shelter I was able to use her computer for some minimal work. Not at all the same as working on my own computer (especially the difference in keyboards!), but it made a little bit of work possible.
6. Go for the personal touch when appropriate.
   If it’s going to impact how you’re doing business, go ahead and let your customers and website visitors know what’s up. Most will be understanding. For those who aren’t, well, that’s what personal assistants are for, in part. If the needs are too complex for your assistant sometimes you will just lose the business of that client.
7. Be prepared to be stressed.
   Being evacuated from your home due to an emergency is stressful. You don’t know if your home will be there when you get back. There’s too much news and too little information much of the time. Your spouse and/or kids may need more of your time.
8. If you have kids make plans to keep them busy.
   One thing I really wish I had done was to bring more toys for my kids to play with. But I did remember markers and other fun things. Movies were good and kept them distracted from the news. So far as my daughter was concerned, it was a big party with her cousins.
9. Remember what’s important.
   Beyond your worries of keeping up with business and wondering if you still have a home, there are more important things in life. If you still have your family and your health, things aren’t all that bad. You can get back on your feet again after the crisis is over.

Technorati Tags: business emergency, coping with emergencies, stress, emergency planning, business planning

Life’s a lot crazy right now. I’m one of the people impacted by the fires in San Diego county. I know I still have a home… or at least a working phone and answering machine.

I’m not going to keep updating here. I’m posting at my HomeWithTheKids.com blog instead. We’re safe; the kids are sleeping. We got our most important stuff out.

What more really matters?

In a lot of ways self publishing is huge these days. Even a website or blog is essentially a form of self publishing. But when you talk about it, most people think of self publishing as getting a book into print.

Good thing there are a lot of options for that too. Just do a search and look at all the companies that offer it.

Lulu.com is one well-known option. They publish all kinds of books as well as digital media such as DVDs. You can print one copy or thousands, depending on what you need at the time.

And of course there’s iUniverse, Xlibris and many other companies.

There are times when publishing a book makes a lot of sense. Getting published by a traditional publisher is difficult, although not impossible. But people place a certain value on printed books that is different from how they view online material, even if they paid for it.

There are a few factors you will want to consider when self publishing. For example, can you offer your book on sites like Amazon? If you want to sell to the general public, that would be an advantage.

Cost is another factor. Self publishing isn’t necessarily cheap. Then there’s how many copies must be printed. Sometimes you are buying a lot of copies, other times you are essentially doing print-on-demand.

You’ll also want to think about whether they offer things like an ISBN number, cover design and so forth.

There are some advantages to self publishing. You can set the price. You decide when to print. You aren’t generally stuck in a contract. You generally keep the rights to your work.

But there are disadvantages too. People may not take you as seriously, since your book didn’t go through the traditional publishing process. It can be harder to get into bookstores. It costs money, often upfront.

If getting a book published is something that will help to build your business it’s very much worth looking into. Don’t let the negatives keep you from moving forward if the positive factors outweigh them.

Technorati Tags: books, self publishing, writing

When you decide to start an online business there are a huge range of options. You can sell just about anything you want through affiliate programs, or create your own product or service. It’s quite exciting to get started, but it can also be overwhelming.

There are advantages to each way of marketing. Affiliate marketing is popular because you don’t have to create a product. All you have to do is get people to buy it. On the other hand, if you create your own products you don’t have to worry about whether or not the affiliate tracking is working or if the company is honest.

Which is best can depend on the area you’re working in. There’s one topic I do fairly well in where affiliate marketing is really my only choice. Sure I could create an ebook on it, but it relates to a field that requires some pretty serious training. While I enjoy helping people get into that field I don’t want to do the actual training. So affiliate marketing recommending the best possible resources makes sense.

On the other hand you may be familiar with a topic where you can write an ebook that will help people, or otherwise create a useful product or service. In that case you probably want to do that, and consider whether or not starting an affiliate program will help you with your marketing efforts enough to be worth the money.

There are a number of options for starting an affiliate program, or joining one. Clickbank is very popular for those who want to focus on downloadable products. Paydotcom.com is another good choice.

Shareasale is a popular choice for those who want to sell physical products or electronic products without paying as much as the bigger networks offer. There are quite a number of networks, making for a bit of research you will want to do before signing up with anyone.

There’s also a lot of software for running your own affiliate program. This is good when you don’t want to be paying extra to networks, but means you will have to work harder at finding your own affiliates.

Of course, there’s nothing saying that you have to be an affiliate or run an affiliate program. Lots of businesses do neither online, and do quite well. But it is a channel you should be aware of, both as a possible way to boost your own sales and as a way to have more products to recommend on the backend.

No matter which kind of online business you start, you need to think about how you’re going to earn a living. There are a lot of factors to consider, and you will probably learn as you go. But if you choose the right field you can enjoy yourself as you earn your living.

Technorati Tags: affiliate, affiliates, online business, wahm, work at home business, home business, selling products

It’s Blog Action Day today, and like many, many other bloggers, I’m thinking on how we can help the environment.

Having a home business can be much greener than working outside the home. You aren’t commuting, after all, and your wardrobe may be simpler. Or not, depending on your fashion sense. But I know one of the things I love is not having to own so many “dry clean only” outfits.

But even if you are doing pretty well at thinking green with your home business there is probably more than you can do. Here are some thoughts I have:

1. Turn off your computer and/or monitor when not in use.
   The monitor is easy to switch on and off, so that’s the one I do most often. But even if you don’t power down your computer all the way there are modes that save more electricity. Check your power options in your computer’s control panel.
2. Do you really need to print that?
   I very rarely print anything. This allows me to leave my printer shut down most of the time. It also saves paper and ink.
3. Reuse paper when possible.
   This is easiest if you have young children or if you’re doing something like printing driving directions. Kids often enough don’t mind drawing on paper that has something printed on the back. But when you print, remember that there’s a blank side that could be useful the next time you need to print something that doesn’t need a blank sheet.
4. Think about what you’re promoting.
   You’re promoting things because you want to earn money from sales, but are you really promoting the best options? If you can find a more environmentally friendly option to promote you have another selling point.

These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. I’d love to hear what others do in their home business to be more green.

Technorati Tags: blog action day, green, environment, home business, work at home business, wahm

The holiday season is upon us. Stores in my area already have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations up. Is your site ready?

Network Solutions has just released Ecommerce Holiday Tips whitepaper. It offers 7 tips to help you with building your holiday sales. You do have to fill out a form to read it, but the whitepaper covers tips on areas such as how to analyze your site from a gift giver’s perspective, improving navigation, online advertising and more.

Of course, you should have started things already, but it’s not too late to get things going if you’re running a little behind on your holiday optimization.

Network Solutions of course offers relevant services such as Ecommerce Software. It’s very useful when a company like this offers a whitepaper, as they have often done significant research to back up what they’re telling you to do.

They do note that some holiday optimization is easier than other parts to do. After all, a part of it is simply acknowledging that the holiday is coming on your site. You don’t have to drive people nuts by adding falling snowflakes to your site; you can just do things like have links to holiday gift guides.

Check it out if you need a little nudge to your holiday sales efforts.

People blog for a lot of reasons. I blog here to talk about home business, and so I talk very little about my home life. But other blogs focus entirely on people’s home life. It just depends on who you want reading your blog and what you want them to do.

When you blog to get sales, you want people who are going to buy from you. It doesn’t matter that much if other people read what you write. You need to attract people who will buy from you.

If your blog isn’t acheiving the goals you have for it, you need to figure out why. This is particularly important if you have the traffic, but not the sales. You’ve only figured out a part of the equation if you aren’t making sales.

Selling on a blog does not have to be difficult. While people don’t want to read sales pitches all day, every day on a blog, a well crafted, useful discussion of a product can really get their attention and drive sales.

Take a look at how you’re getting traffic. Is it just natural search engine traffic? Commenting on other blogs? Technorati? Article marketing? How well are these building up your blog in the way you want it to go?

One of the key things you want to remember is that you need to keep things consistent whenever possible. You can’t expect to write an article on cat care and expect it to drive the right kind of traffic to your dog blog. Readers may be animal lovers, but not all cat owners have or want dogs.

You always need to be confident in your online appearance. You can admit to mistakes and hard times, but if you blog about how miserable all of these make you, or how impossible your obstacles are, people aren’t going to have trust in you.

And of course you should focus on what your ideal customer wants. This is the person you are writing for.

Hopefully you have a vision of this person already in your head. But you may find it helpful to write out what you want, so that you have something to refer to on those days when you just aren’t feeling inspired. This is the person you are writing for. This is the person you want to appeal to.

An unfocused blog is simply unlikely to attract a solid audience. Work on your focus by figuring out where it really needs to be. Then write.

Technorati Tags: blog focus, blogging, blog audience, blogs