Start doing online business using B2B Portals in Six Steps author:Nowshade Kabir source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_239.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:14 category:online_business article:

I registered with a B2B site but what’s next?

This is a question many first time users of B2B marketplaces ask themselves. A few expect that the registration itself will bring them a number of new customers. In some cases this might by true! Especially, if you are a seller of some much coveted items. But for rest of us, things are a little trickier! A large B2B marketplace has a lot of suppliers of similar products, who are vying for the attention of potential customers. To establish your company as a favored one among them is not an easy task! However, a little planning and thorough follow up of some basic guidelines improve your chance of getting noticed by buyers significantly.

Below, I outlined some of the basic steps that you should take once you seriously decide to market your products using B2B marketplaces.

1 Write a nice profile

When a prospective client sees your trade lead ad or your product on the marketplace and feels interested, the first thing he does is - checks your company profile out. That’s where the buyer gets his initial information about your company. If you have a virtually blank profile with a very little information on your company, doubtful that the potential client will even bother to make a request for quote. That’s why you should spend a little time on writing a nice company profile. Here are some aspects that you should emphasize on while writing your company profile.

Start your profile with something noteworthy about your company. This could be the distinct quality that sets your business apart from your competition.

Describe your present customer base, target market and any new products or projects that you are planning to come up with.

Write a bit about your company history. When the company was incorporated? What is the business form?

If you have something to boast about, do it! If you feel that your sales figures are impressive, why not mention them.

Be brief! The profile should not be more than five paragraphs. You don’t want your buyers to get bored!

2 Include your logo on your Storefront page

If you would like to separate your company from many other similar vendors, you have to think seriously about creating a brand for your company. Brand is the distinctive pattern of your business operation. It portrays the nature of your service or product, your uniqueness in comparison to others etc. A nice looking logo is a key to branding your company. Customers will remember your company name better if you have a great logo to go with.

3 Add products to your storefront

It is important to have your main products, products that are your primary sale generators, added to your storefront. Products with nice picture and well descriptions capture buyers attention more than any thing else. After all the reason that the buyers are on your page is to look for the products that they need.

New Great Storefront Services

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Basic

Single page storefront

10 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

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Enterprise

10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

100 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiations

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features

Coming soon!

Corporate

10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

1000 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiation

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features

Coming soon!

4 Make nice pictures of your products

Nothing can turn off a prospective buyer than a hazy or blur picture of the product that he intends to buy from you. If your competitor’s product with exactly same features has nicer picture, guess who has a better chance to get the business? Spend some money and take professional pictures of your products. Make sure that you followed all the instructions of the Portal before uploading the pictures.

5 Post your products for sale on the marketplace

Product visibility is the name of the game! Don’t confine yourself just by adding products to E-catalog and your Storefront. Post products for sale on the E-marketplace.

There are numbers of great advantages of posting products on E-marketplaces:

Frequent browsers of marketplace can see your products

Buyers can compare your products with others on marketplace

Buyers can take an immediate buying decision and make an instant Purchase Order.

6 Post trade leads

For many not-so-savvy users of B2B sites it's a bit complicated to make buys and sales through marketplaces. They prefer to get trade leads from the site and make contacts with buyers or sellers by fax, phone or just emails. Posting trade leads is a great marketing method to tap new territories. Don’t be disappointed if you do not get immediate feedbacks. Repeat trade leads at least once in a month. Since normally a portal constantly acquires new members, in order to expose the leads to bigger audience, it is worthwhile to post trade leads frequently.

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10 Blazing Ways To Sky-Rocket Your Profits author:Dirk Wagner source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_1373.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:15 category:online_business article:

1. Use a "P.S." at the end of your ad copy. This is were you either want to repeat a strong benefit or use a strong close like a free bonus.

2. Publish a free ebook and give it away from your web site or in your e-zine. This will increase your traffic, sales and e-zine subscribers.

3. Create multiple streams of income with your web site. You could sell your own products, join affiliate programs, sell advertising space, etc.

4. Give your visitors compliments in your ad copy. This can earn their trust and put them in a good mood, in return they will be easier to sell too.

5. Create new products or services only if there is a strong need for them. You won't have anyone to sell them to if you don't have a market.

6. Sell your backend products to your customers right after they order. Take them to a "Thank You" web page that includes other products you sell.

7. Sell a few products on your web site instead of selling a large amount of products. To many choices can overwhelm your visitors and they won't buy.

8. Include content and free stuff on your web site that promote the products you're selling. If they don't read your ads, they may read your offerings.

9. Remind your visitors that you're human not just a web site. You could publish information on your family life, a picture of yourself , a profile, etc.

10. Provide a "Contact Page" on your web site. Give your visitors as many options to contact you as possible. This'll add credibility to your business.

Copyright 2004 Dirk Wagner

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10 Critical Things To Do Before You Spend A Dime In Advertising author:Karin Manning source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_195.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:14 category:online_business article:

“Research…”

Let’s say it again…

“Research”…Grrrrrrrr.

The word “research” can make many eBusiness owners cringe. Why? Because it sounds like such hard work.

Let’s analyse the word itself. “Search” means to go looking for something and “re” means “again”. Put them together and it means to go looking for something again.

Guess what?

Research is hard work. However, to survive online research must be done and it must be done on a regular basis. So if you don’t like doing research, well basically, that’s too bad. It’s time to take it by the hand and make it your friend because you need to do research to be a successful eBusiness owner for these reasons:

Research is going to take time, however, in the long run it’s going to save you a lot of money.

Research is what’s going to set you apart from everybody else. By taking the time to research hot topics, hot websites and the latest techniques of Internet gurus you are going to learn what is currently working and what is currently not working – taking advantage of the mistakes that others have made – and that information alone is priceless.

Research is going to make you look like an expert. People will want to join your list, belong to your private site, read your books because they know you spend the time researching the latest up to the minute trends and techniques.

Research is what the majority of eBusiness owners avoid doing like the plague. Why? Because people are inherently lazy and if there’s an easier way of getting from (a) to (b) people will consistently choose that route.

Guess what? By doing research that other people hate doing you will become a valuable regular source of information to an unlimited number of people.

So let’s say the word again and this time let’s say it slowly and with a smile…

:O) R E S E A R C H :o)

See, it doesn’t seem so awful now, does it? Because research is what is going to save you a lot of money, make you a lot of money, and research is what all successful Internet marketers do on a regular basis.

It’s time consuming

It’s annoying

Sometimes it’s a right royal PITA (Fill in the blanks with this one ;O))

However, it’s a necessary evil so let’s learn to really love it.

Okay, now that I hope you are feeling a little warm and fuzzy towards doing research ;o), what every Internet marketer must do on a regular basis is research what advertising works.

And the first step is to find a newsletter/ezine to advertise in and to do that you need to spend a bit of time collating some information.

Here’s 10 things to do before you spend a dime on advertising:

Take time time to look at the newsletter publisher’s website.

If you like the website then subscribe to the ezine and look at the format of the ezine closely.

Contact the publisher and ask the following questions:

What is the number of subscribers?

Has each subscriber specifically asked to be subscribed to the list or has it been automatic through a co-op etc?

Is double opt-in used ie. Has each subscriber confirmed their request to subscribe?

How often and what days of the week is the ezine published? It is generally believed that Tuesday through Thursday are the best days for readership, however, I know of many successful ezine publishers who publish regularly on a Friday or Saturday targeting weekend readership.

Is the ad published in the newsletter itself or is it published as a separate ad sheet (newsletter preferred).

Will the publisher use your choice of subject line and, if so, will it just say your subject line (always preferred) or the words “SOLO AD” and then your subject line?

Is there a queue before your ad will be published (this is a really good sign)? A queue usually means that ad results are good and the ezine is a recommended advertising source.

By taking the time to wait for these answers and going over the responses carefully you will immediately be able to place ezines in rankings of importance as a result of the answers you receive.

The more “yes” answers you get to the above questions the higher the quality of the readership will be. The number of subscribers is not an indicator of how well your ad will pull. Quite often newsletters with low subscribers pull as well as newsletters with thousands of subscribers.

The bottom line at all times is the sales you receive as a result of your ad placement. The higher the readership quality the higher quality prospects and customers you will receive and the less refunds you will have to process :O).

So next time that you’re in two minds about doing things the quick way (looking for quick results with no research, high chance of monetary loss) or the slow methodical way (looking for quality results, possible delayed gratification, definite monetary savings in the long term) remember that Turtle who gave a certain self-confident Hare a big run (pardon the pun) for his money.

Now which one are you…that Turtle or that Hare?

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10 Explosive Ways To Turbo-Boost Your Sales author:Carlo Cabrera source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_2538.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:15 category:online_business article:

1. Design your web site to be a targeted resource center. Choose one subject and build on it. You'll gain repeat visitors that are interested in that topic.

2. Offer something that is really free. If people go to your site and what you said was free really isn't, you'll lose their trust and they won't buy anything.

3. Add a chat room or message board to your web site. People want to interact with other people that have they same interests as them.

4. Entice people to link to your web site by giving them something free in return. This'll increase your ranking in some search engines.

5. Trigger your reader's emotions in your ad copy. Example, if you sell a book on gambling tips, tell them the feelings they'll get when they win money.

6. Make sure your site looks good in all browsers. You could be losing sales because it looks distorted in some web browsers.

7. Increase your sales by e-mailing full page ads to your e-zine subscribers. Remember to tell people before they subscribe or they may consider it spam.

8. Ask people questions in your ad copy that make them think about their problems. For example: Do you want to be free of your debts?

9. Magnify the size of your prospects problem in your ad; show how your product can solve it. The bigger the problem, the more sales you'll have.

10. Invest a percentage of your profits right back into your business. Spend it on marketing, product improvement, customer service, advertising, etc.

Copyright 2005 Carlo Cabrera

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10 Characteristics of A Home Business Professional author:Kelly Lowe source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_2282.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:15 category:online_business article:

Home Business Professionals are unique people. We are all very different people, with very different personalities and thinking processess. However, all successful home business professionals have the following characteristics in common.

1. Home business professionals are usually leaders, not followers. We like to set the standards, not adhere to them.

2. Home business professionals are always looking for new and better ways to do things. We believe that there is always a better, more effective way to get things done, and we seek to find it.

3. Home business professionals are very open-minded. We never say that an idea won't work without looking at all the facts, and if possible, testing the theory in question.

4. Home business professionals are generally very organized. We are our own bosses. There is nobody to tell us when, or how, to get things done. It is something we must do for ourselves, and being organized is usually the first step in getting things done effectively.

5. Home business professionals are hard workers. We know that starting a business is hard work, with long hours. However, we know that eventually, we will be able to work fewer hours and enjoy the same success. However, we do understand that work will always be involved, even if the hours are shorter.

6. Home business professionals like to help out others. If you talk to a home business professional, the chances are good that you will find that person does charity work of some sort.

7. Home business professionals are honest in their business dealings. When they see others being dishonest, they are quick to call them on it, and point it out to others.

8. Home business professionals are very dedicated. We love what we do. It is something we have chosen for ourselves. We make our own rules, and we love "going" to work each day. Our love for what we do drives us to do it better than anyone else and keeps us very motivated.

9. Home business professionals are very energetic. We don't have the stresses that the people in the corporate world have. We are not a part of the rat race. This allows us to have more energy. While traditional corporate employees tend to go home from work and stretch out on the couch to watch television, home business professionals walk out of their home offices ready to go have fun. We have alot of energy left over at the end of the day.

10. Home business professionals are happy people. We love what we do. We've made our own rules, and we are living the lives that we have chosen to live. Who wouldn't be happy?

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10 Benefits to Becoming a Coach author:David Wood source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_1961.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:15 category:online_business article:

Coaching is a very personal experience, but we all share in the benefits that coaching brings to our clients and ourselves. If you're thinking of becoming a coach, this list may persuade you to take the leap. If you're already a coach, it will remind you how lucky you are!

1) Coaching is extremely fulfilling

You get to partner with people in whichever area is MOST important to them right now. You can make an enormous difference to their life, and watch the results unfold. Find out what areas are most fulfilling for you, and work with clients who are pursuing them.

2) Coaching lets you work from home or anywhere else!

Stroll around your front yard using a cordless headset phone, coach from a quiet meeting room at work, or even from the beach. Due to the growing popularity of phone coaching, you can now travel or live in any country in the world, and keep your coaching practice going.

3) Set your own work hours e.g. Mon to Wed, 10am – 1pm?

You decide when you coach, and when you’ll have free time to create other projects. Prefer to coach in the evenings? Want 2 hours for lunch? It’s your choice.

4) Coaching pays well

Good coaches are exceeding six figure incomes. Suppose you charged in your early stages only $250 per month and provided 30 minute sessions. You could spend two days a week coaching 20 clients, and still make $60,000 that year. And, if you worked up to 30 clients at $400 per month, we’re talking $144,000 for coaching three days a week.

5) Coaching offers you your own business with VERY low overhead

Running your own business gives you a LOT of freedom and room for creativity. And there are not many businesses you can enter with the investment of nothing but your coach training, a computer and a phone. You can also transition safely into the profession by developing a client base BEFORE you cut back to 3 days a week at your regular job, or even quit.

6) Coaching creates continual personal growth

By asking a lot of your clients, you'll find you naturally begin to ask a lot of yourself. You cannot help but grow and expand, and achieve results as you ask them to grow and expand, and achieve results. Imagine reaching a startling insight for yourself in a coaching session, and you're getting paid for it!

7) Your personal development is tax deductible!

Any course you do related to personal growth, including any travel you need to do to take the training, is generally tax deducible (check with your accountant). Want to learn Reiki? Yoga? Management skills? If you're passing it on to your clients and getting paid for it, it's a business expense.

8) Coaching allows you to network with other winning coaches

You become part of a dynamic worldwide community. Need a contact in London? Visa information for Canada? Advise on coaching while traveling the world? You'll find the coaching community surprisingly generous and supportive.

9) Coaching equals creativity

Coaching clients regularly is an amazing structure for creativity in your life. The world becomes a huge palette where your job is to help brainstorm ideas and strategies for your clients. It's impossible for you to not come up with ideas and strategies for yourself and those around you! A new book? A series of audio tapes? How to reduce hunger? A web course for girls hitting puberty? Who knows where you will end up!

10) Get in at the ground floor of an emerging profession

As a profession, coaching is in its infancy. It is less than 15 years old in the US. If you start now, in five years you could be a leader in your profession.

By David Wood and Geoff Grist

I encourage you to share, replicate or forward this article as long as the author links, and copyright information are kept intact.

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"Don't Leave Home Without It?" I Say, "Don't Leave Home With it?" author:David Moore source_url:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_2345.shtml date_saved:2007-07-25 12:30:15 category:online_business article:

There’s a popular credit card commercial that ends with the line, “don’t leave home without it.“ Well, I say “don’t leave home with it.“ What I mean by that is this. Why pay for a product by spreading your payments over many months through credit card payments when you can get what you want by paying cash. And over the lifetime of those payments you will have actually paid 5-10 times more than the sticker price because of the interest that is added to the cost of the item. Why not save the interest and get more of what you want, or donate to a worthy cause, or help someone you love with that money?

Furthermore, why leave home to earn the money you need in order to pay your credit card bill when you can work from home and earn enough money to keep from having to get credit cards in the first place? Make sense?

Well, it is possible to earn a comfortable living working from home at your computer. It’s even possible to earn a substantial income if you are motivated and if you are a self-starter. If on the other hand, someone has to get you out of bed every morning, start your car for you, and head you in the right direction with one of your hands on the steering wheel and a cup of coffee in the other, don’t try a work-at-home business. While you may be able to sleep in every morning, you will have to spend some quality time working your business. The question is this. How much is it worth to you?

Jeremy Rifkin said, far too often we “continue to address the problems at hand with solutions that create even greater problems than the ones they were intended to solve.” He’s right. We keep trying to solve our financial problems by getting credit cards that in the end create even greater problems than the ones they were intended to solve. And when it’s time to think about retirement all we have to look forward to is keeping up the minimum payments on those credit cards we now wish we never had. We’ can’t visit are kids and grandkids like we wish we could. We can’t take that ocean liner cruse we’ve always dreamed about. We can’t make a meaningful contribution to an organization dedicated to helping those, who through no fault of their own, cannot help themselves.

Look, I’m 55 years of age and I’m definitely not the product of the internet generation. But I have a burning desire for my wife and I to be able to visit our children at our leisure, to watch our grandkids hit home runs in Little League or do ballet, to pay off our debts, to take that ocean liner cruise we’ve always dreamed about, and to contribute to worthy humanitarian causes. That’s why I decided to become an at-home business entrepreneur. And it’s beginning to pay off. This time next year I fully expect to be earning at least $8000 a month from my on-line business while working 2-3 hours a day - maybe even earning a lot more than that, but I don‘t want to overstate the possibilities.

Speaking of possibilities, our youngest son is a third year pre-med student who wants to study and treat infectious diseases. What a joy it will be to contribute to his medical education (without having to borrow the money) so he can immediately put his practice to use rather than having to first earn money to pay off his medical bill.

Do you have similar dreams? Then start your on-line business now. Let me give you one final thought. The other day I was mowing our grass. I enjoy doing this chore. I could hire someone to do it for me, but it’s relaxing to me. So I cranked up the engine and started pushing the mower. Because part of our yard is on a slope the pushing became a little more strenuous. But wait, I bought a self-propelled mower to eliminate this stress. It finally dawned on my that I had not pushed the lever down to activate the self-propulsion of the mower. Why did I tell you this story?

Because that’s how it is with an on-line work-at-home business. You don’t just start the engine and suddenly it goes on auto pilot while you rake in the monthly commissions. First you have to activate the lever. In other words, it takes some effort on your part to get the business up and running - a few months - then it in fact does go on auto pilot - and all you have to do is steer it in the right direction. And just like the sense of pride and accomplishment I feel when I look at the beauty of a freshly cut lawn, your business becomes a sense of pride and accomplishment as you enjoy the benefits of what it has brought to you.

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