What is your online dream — a retail business featuring imported crafts? An online business which connects travelers with adventure trips? A specialty clothing boutique showcasing local designers?
How will you finally realize your dream in 2007?
The first step is a memorable, marketable online identity. If you have not visited BuyDomains lately, you will find 1,500,000 domains on offer — up from 600,000 in 2006. The selection of high-impact domains is unmatched. Spend a minute searching and see what is new...
Is 2007 a year when you are launching new offerings? Do you have a web site devoted to showcasing these new lines? In addition to featuring a product or service on your main site, you may want to develop a secondary site which is specifically focused on your new product. This focused site will allow you to optimize for search engines more effectively and a strategically chosen second domain will have brandability and keyword value. You can read more about online marketing in our Small Business Site; there are a variety of articles of interest to the entrepreneur.
One of the hottest trends is the proliferation of .mobi domains. The .mobi is designed for sites which are optimized for mobile devices such as phones and PDAs. If you have an existing web site, you may want to design a parallel site with a .mobi extension.
Note that .mobi sites must be designed to accommodate display on a mobile device and should take bandwidth into account — this does create some challenges, but it could be a quick win for you business.
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Management skills, understanding the industry and current market conditions all influence whether or not a start-up business will ultimately succeed or fail.
However, of all the factors that determine a start up's success, perhaps the most important is an accurate assessment of initial cash needs.
Seldom can a business owner start up a new enterprise without having to take out a loan or find some other form of financing. Most entrepreneurs require at least some start up financing for their business. Accurately and realistically determining a business's financial needs directly affects the business' chance of success.
To estimate financing costs, experts recommend that a start-up owner estimates the amount of money he will need to cover all costs for the first six months of start up. Once established, many businesses prefer to have enough capital to cover operating expenses for 12 months. Yet, this is an unlikely financing target for most start-ups. In general, financial institutions won't cover the costs of a start-up's first year. Similarly, loan payments for an entire year of operation would cripple most start-ups. Six months, however, is a reasonable financing target.
Read the rest of the article — click here
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Have you had a "Eureka" moment — realizing that you have thought of the perfect domain name for your business, at last — only to realize that someone else has already registered the name? The story doesn't have to end there; with Afternic's assisted offer service you can still move to acquire that domain with complete anonymity.
BuyDomains' sister company, Afternic, a leading domain auction site offering a range of domain-related services, will locate the owner of your target domain and purchase the domain on your behalf — without disclosing your identity to the potential seller. Your domain taken? Don't settle for the wrong online identity in 2007 — contact Afternic and get the name you really want.
Read More About The Assisted Offer Service
Considering development of a technology-based site?
B2B Technology Sales: Ten Steps to Success
Business to business technology sales can be a profitable endeavor, but like all industries, hard work and patience are required to ensure success. Some business practices and attitudes work better than others when selling technology, and selling to other businesses differs markedly from selling to consumers. Nothing guarantees success in any business field, but the following steps go a long way toward building a successful B2B technology sales plan.
1. Research New Market Trends
Research in market trends and business needs is as vital when selling technology to other businesses as it is when selling to individual consumers. Gathering such research differs from researching consumer-marketing trends, however.
Consumers may be willing to fill out surveys or respond to cold call interviews, but such strategies are less likely to work with businesses, where intrusions on their time cost the company money. Offer businesses some perks to participate in your marketing research. A small honorarium may attract businesses to focus groups, whereas a cold call is likely to be brushed off.
2. Customers' Needs vs. Customer Wants: Which Should Win?
There are two business maxims that often conflict when selling technology to business. One is the old rule that the customer is always right. The other is that what the customer wants isn't necessarily what the customer needs. To succeed, a business needs to address both of these concerns.
When selling technology to businesses, it's important to differentiate between wants and needs. A successful B2B technology business focuses on both. An ideal sale gives the customer both what is wanted and what is needed. Ideal sales situations are not always possible, however. Buyers may initially be happy with a product they think they want, but they'll quickly be disillusioned if the product doesn't deliver what they need. In such cases, the customer is likely to blame the seller.
A successful technology sales business takes the time to explain how technology gives the customer what they need. The customer's wants should not be ignored, but often the purchaser has a limited knowledge of technology. In such cases it is the responsibility of the seller to discuss and explore the buyer's needs, and promote the product that best fills those needs.
3. Follow-Up on Sales
No matter how happy a business seems with your technology, it's vital to follow-up on any sale to see how well it's working out. Following up shows businesses that your company values customer satisfaction, and gives the seller opportunity to gather valuable feedback from clients. Often, bad feedback is even more valuable than praise.
4. Customer Service and Support
Few businesses are willing to purchase expensive technology without receiving some form of support. The more specialized the technology, the more vital a good customer service and technical support center becomes. Even if the purchasing business should run in to serious difficulties, an effective customer service center can maintain, or even improve, your businesses reputation.
Depending on the nature of your business, customer service and support can be delivered in person, over the phone, by email, or even through website chat rooms. No matter how you chose to provide customer service, complaints and concerns should be addressed promptly.
5. Know your Limits
Any successful business knows its own limits. A small technology selling business is more likely to operate locally, and with fewer clients, than a business that employs several hundred people. Smaller businesses that focus on quality service to a limited number of clients are more likely to get repeat business than small companies that focus on selling without offering customer support.
6. Get Online, Stay Online
A technology business without a website is at a severe disadvantage in today's competitive market. Businesses expect that any company that sells technology will be web-savvy enough to have a well-designed, successful website with helpful features, including an online store. Once online, the website needs to be updated on a regular basis with new products, helpful content, and company press releases.
7. Get to Blogging
Blogging may have started as online entertainment writing, but now it is embraced by the online business community. A regularly updated web log improves business website rankings, and also provides a forum for site visitors and clients to leave feedback about company services and products. Businesses have gleamed valuable insights in their markets by paying attention to blog responses, and have begun dialogues with prospective clients that have ended in sales.
8. Stay Connected through the Internet
Staying connected with clients, and potential clients, is much easier if your business is online. In addition to a blog, a technology sales website can provide an opt-in newsletter, which is emailed out once a month. As the clients opt to receive the email, they are likely to be more receptive to it than unsolicited spam.
Online newsletters should be kept short, and deal only with topics that would be of concern to your clients. While its possible, and even advisable, to add personal touches to a company newsletter, the bulk of the newsletter should deal with industry news and client concerns.
9. Discover Really Simple Syndication
Companies can also make use of RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS provides instant access to any clients who have signed up for the business site's RSS feed. New reports added to the RSS feed allow the business to send new information, news, and website updates to clients faster than email. RSS readers are available for free through a number of websites, including Yahoo Widgets and Google Gadgets.
10. Old Fashioned Networking
The Internet receives so much attention as a marketing tool that people sometimes forget how important good, old-fashioned networking can be. By all means use the Internet to the utmost to promote technology sales, but don't give up on good, old-fashioned networking. Attending seminars, trade fairs, and business conventions is as important now as it ever was. Person-to-person networking gives your business a human face, the one element that is often missed with online marketing.
Success in business-to-business technology sales requires constant analyzing and re-evaluating of the market and client expectations. Companies that stay on top of technology changes provide excellent company service. And if they stay connected with clients after the sales are complete, they are well on the way to long-term success. Professional pride and willingness to stand by your product helps build your reputation and attracts new clients.
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Table of Contents
- New Domains, New Opportunities
- Increase Traffic to Your Site
- Calculating Your Cash Needs
- Assisted Offers: Get Your Domain Even If Someone Already Owns It
- Submit Your Success Story
- Blogs: A Promo Tool for Your Business?
- Technology Domains
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Success a Quick Strike for Cobra Martial Arts
"The Cobra Martial Arts Association was established in the UK in 2002.
Since then we have grown to become one of the largest in the Country offering support and advice to all Martial Arts Styles.
Our main web address is www.cmaa.co.uk but now with purchase of cobramartialarts.com our Students and Members can find us much easier on the Internet."
Andrew Morrell
President
If you spend much time on the Internet, you may have noticed that one of the fastest-growing trends is the proliferation of blog sites.
Web logs — or "blogs" — aren't really new: they first appeared in 1994, and the term "blog" was coined in 1998, but the term "blog" didn't enter into mainstream use until quite recently.
Blogs started out primarily as a means of cataloging new sites which were rapidly proliferating around the Internet — they were largely link compendiums to help connect communities. Blogs as a form evolved into commentary and social interaction sites with user commentary and input on a variety of topics, from politics to sports to music and food.
What started out as a small phenomenon is now a juggernaut: there are now upwards of 60 million blogs according to the Wikipedia blog page and blog search engines such as Technorati have sprung up to help make sense of this explosion.
The advantages of blogs can be applied to commercial sites, as well as to opinion sites: the personal, interactive nature of the blog can be a terrific way to foster customer loyalty, and the simple, text-based form of most blogs makes site development a basic task. If you would like to find a simple way to communicate about your product, service or cause, consider a blog site. There are many good "blog-related" options at BuyDomains, including:
BlogVoices.com
GirlsBlog.com
GolfBlog.net
BlogHunter.com
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