Can You Still Make Money on the Internet?

A common question I am asked when talking about starting an e-commerce business is Didnt the Internet bubble burst years ago, and didnt that prove that it really isnt possible to make money with an Internet only business? Well, its true that building a business on the Internet isnt what it used to be. Not long ago, the first person with an idea could build a web page and own the market. If you sold a widget, you registered the domain widgets.com and anyone who wanted a widget knew where to get one. Marketing was easy. A few posts in an online discussion group, an ad in the right magazines, maybe a TV ad if the venture capitalists had given you a bunch of money, and your fortune was made. The most difficult challenges during this period were technical. Entire teams were hired to design and build web sites. Another team was hired to integrate the shopping cart. This method made many millionaires and it was so easy that people forgot it was supposed to be a business. It became the playground for anyone with a neat idea. Eventually the dot-com bubble burst and fortunes were lost.

Immediately after the dot crash, the situation quickly reversed. It became more affordable to build a web site, but because dozens or hundreds of people were selling the same widget, marketing became important. Most of the technical problems had been solved so instead of hiring teams to do the work, sites could be built on contract for just a few thousand dollars.

We are now entering the next phase of e-commerce. While there are still plenty of people making money as web designers and programmers, a single person can do most of the work in an evening and have the entire web site running in a weekend. With modern web development tools, it is possible to build a functional web site with no knowledge of html, the language most Internet pages are written in.

Many web-hosting companies are offering point-and-click web site development. Usually these sites are based on templates designed by experts and can be customized to suit your needs and preferences. With these tools, you can build an entire e-commerce solution with shopping cart in a weekend. With services such as PayPal and Google Checkout, it is possible for anyone to accept credit cards over the Internet without a merchant account.

There are several ways to make money online. The most obvious is to open an online store. I suggest you pick a small market and target it instead of selling a wide variety of merchandise. By using a drop shipper, you can open a store without even carrying any inventory.

You can also make money using Googles Adsense program. You may have seen ads on some web pages that say Ads by Google under them. Every time someone clicks on one of those ads, the website owner makes money. If you can get enough visitors to your site, you can make a lot of money this way.

If you are eager to start an e-commerce business or want to incorporate e-commerce functions into your existing business, there has never been a better time to do it. Prices are lower than they have ever been and the technology makes it easier than most people believe.

Jason Conley is an e-commerce professional in Texas. His current projects include http://highlandknifehosting.com and the sister site http://sellknives.com

Five Ways to Get in Front of Your Target Audience

It's worth the effort spending some time and energy figuring out who you work best with. Once you've figured that out, then what? You feel good, you've chosen a niche. How do you find the people in your niche and get your message across to them? And how can you do that without feeling like you are selling to them?

Here are a few things for you to think about...

1. Does this group of people, this niche, have any outside interests in common? For example, you may find there is a large group of engineers in the Midwest that enjoy hunting in their spare time. Or know some graphic designers in the Rocky Mountains that are avid rock climbers. Is there a better way to share a common interest and get to know each other in a relaxed environment than to join them on their excursions? Establish trust, build new friendships - it all leads to enjoyable work opportunities for you.

2. Do you help out with your kid's soccer team or are you on the PTA at school? Doing things that YOU enjoy will naturally lend yourself to meeting new people with like interests. Your co-volunteers could work in the niche you've chosen or may have friends that do. Doing things that you enjoy doing, especially if it is involves getting out and meeting other people, will help YOU meet new people and make new contacts. Don't like the people you've been hanging around with? Try something new and totally different. Put yourself in a very different environment and you'll meet totally different people and have a very different experience.

3. Get involved in local networking associations. I'm not necessarily talking about the chamber of commerce. If you can, get more targeted than that. If you would like to meet more people involved in naturopathic medicine, find out what they do. I bet they attend trade shows on maybe natural health or are interested in yoga, or vitamins, or the natural food stores in your area. How can you have a presence there? Are there groups that meet that are rock climbing enthusiasts? Roller blading groups?

4. Are there any small, local publications that your target market may read? For example, there are a few free magazines and newspapers in my area and they are often looking for content for their readers. Classified ads are very inexpensive because the publications are small, and I've also found that these smaller publications are very open to bartering to keep their pages full. One publisher offered to run ads for me for free if I delivered the free papers to 20 or so places around town once a month. I am too busy to do that of course, but the point is to be creative.

5. Look at where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you're comfortable writing and doing marketing related tasks on the internet, you may be doing enough of that already. Get away from your computer and meet some people. The same can be said if you are an extrovert. You need to balance your marketing efforts both online and off. I do get a lot of business from my online marketing efforts, but I also know that it compliments anything I do outside my office. Meeting people and having them experience you and your energy can't be beat.

Have you seen a common thread here? All of the tips I gave you involved you getting out and meeting people. As a writer I admit I like to stay home and do stuff on my computer. I have an awesome system in place for marketing myself online and publishing articles and even coaching and working with people on the phone.

Getting out and meeting people means taking off my favorite slippers and actually moving - not what I always want to do. Looking over the successes I've had the past few years, there's no doubt in my mind that when I do get out and speak to a group or get involved in an organization my business gets busier. And the people that I meet in person and have felt my energy and enthusiasm give me more referrals, and bring me more word of mouth marketing than the clients I have online. And we are more likely to become friends.

Copyright (c) 2006 Kelly Robbins

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection (http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, "5 critical things you must know when writing for the healthcare industry" - info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.

Dog Flea Remedy What Effective Products Available?

Summer brings holiday joy for most people but not exactly so for dog owners. In fact, it may well be the busiest time of the year for all dog owners and the cause of this is Fleas!

Dog Owners are most likely to see their dogs scratching frantically and having skin rashes at its worst during this time of the year which prompted them to desperately go in search of a dog flea remedy. But there are hundreds of dog flea products in the market so, which is the best dog flea killer among all.

If this is the dilemma that you are facing right now, then read on as we reveal some dog flea and tick treatment that are reported to be effective.

If you are thinking of trying some flea powder and flea collars, forget them, these are products of the past and are simply not effective.

Flea combs have been around for a long long time but have always been overlooked to be an effective first line of treatment for dogs with fleas. True that you wont be able to eliminate all fleas simply by combing your dogs fur but it helps in reducing the flea population greatly. Its the safest way to keep flea infestation in your dog under control not to mention that its also cheap. Value these grooming sessions as it also helps in building a mutual bonding between your dog and yourself.

Use of dog flea shampoo is common among dog owners. As with flea comb, flea shampoo would not eradicate fleas completely as they will be washed off shortly leaving no residual effects. But, again, its effective in helping to control flea population and it helps keep the skin of your dog clean and prevents secondary infections especially when inflammation develops from the constant scratching

The use of dog flea medications has increase in popularity in recent years. Firstly, they are highly effective flea killer, which have reportedly been able to kill off 99% of the flea population within 24 hours after application. Secondly, these new range of flea medicines have long lasting effects enabling a single application to last for up to a month. Of these, the most popular ones are Advantage, Revolution, Frontline, Frontline plus and Advantix. Each of these is unique and the choice of which to use on your dog depends on what your dog is infested with. Revolution is labeled not only for use against fleas but also are also active against ear mites, scabies mites and heartworm while Frontline Plus controls both fleas and ticks.

Added on to the list are the oral flea pill like Program and Sentinel. These are growth inhibitors, which serve to interrupt the life cycle of fleas, and it serves as long term preventive in flea control.

To equip yourself with more information about the various types and forms of flea products before heading to get one suitable for your dog, make sure you check the section on "Flea Treatment For Pets" within my website at http://www.all-pets-info.com/fleacontrol/Flea-Treatment-For-Pets.html which covers in detail the advantages, effectiveness, side effects, how they should be used and what you should look out for when using any of them.

Ann Wong owns an animal shelter housing 150 dogs and cats. Understanding the difficulty and frustration of pet owners in getting rid of fleas, she has publish a website on "Flea Control" at http://www.all-pets-info.com/fleacontrol with the purpose of helping people especially pet owners solve this problem completely.