If you're feeling that you are ready to leave the hectic world of 9-5 for the cushy life of a home based business. Reconsider that thought. Don't give up ideas of owning your own business, far from it. Reconsider the "cushy" part.

It is a lot of work to be self-employed and when you do it right, it is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world. You need to ask yourself some honest questions to be certain that you are ready to self manage. First of all, are you ready to invest all your time in your new venture or will you continue to work until it gets off the ground? The latter option is the financially smart one. Instead of breezing into your CEO's office and announcing you're going to go sell electric dog polishers on the Internet out of your home and oh yeah, his toupee is a disaster. Instead, quietly build your business online and then when you're making enough to finance your jump from the office to the home, you can do so fairly painlessly.

Remember, on the average a brick and mortar start up will take about 2-years to show a profit. Internet businesses generally do so faster, however you must market hard. The more you market your product or services, the sooner you can build a client base that will allow you to be truly self employed. Don't get discouraged, if you have done your research and you know you have a good product or service, keep marketing -the clients will come.

It can not be stressed enough that you will need to market and continue marketing every single day. Your website will be your voice that greets your customers 24/7. Your shopping cart program will handle orders and credit card payments. You will need to handle the actual shipping of orders, questions from customers and other day-to-day goings on with your business. The days can get long, but it is very rewarding.

If you are ready to own your own ecommerce business, talk to the pros at Merchandizer. They can take a lot of the guesswork and hassle out of the creation and launching of you website and help you get the best shopping cart program for your ecommerce business.

When you first start your ecommerce business, you will have some people who are very supportive of your endeavor and others who will make statements like, "The Internet is too big - you'll never make it" or "No one buys on the Internet- everything is a scam" and "Less people shop online because of credit card fraud".

And not one of those statements is accurate. Many Yahoo stores are wildly successful. More people shopped online for Christmas 2005 than ever before spending over 23 billion dollars and it is expected to increase by at least 25% for Christmas 2006. Last, Internet shopping is growing and with more and more secure features on shopping cart programs, credit card fraud isn't an easy thing for the average criminal mind to pull off anymore.

There are a myriad of people selling products they believe in and making a good living doing it. There are also people who jump in, spend thousands of dollars on a website and then never make a dime. What's the difference?

The core difference is in the marketing. You must market your product and website on a daily basis. Successful firms have their sales reps out beating the pavement every single day. You must do the same for your online business. Having the coolest designed website in the world won't bring in the customers, having yourself listed on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. Banner programs, affiliate programs and using the power of corporate blogs are all great ways to get your company name out there. Join message boards and talk to people who could use your product or service. Always include a link to your site, message boards get indexed by search engines too. Best of all, these are extremely low-cost ways to promote your website. You can prove the negative people wrong about your venture as long as you stick with it. All businesses have slumps and most businesses have a slow upward start. Make time everyday for marketing of your product or service and you will reap the rewards!

You may have heard about e-zines but you may not realize the sheer power they have. If you have an online business, putting out a monthly e-zine will help keep your company name in your customer's minds.

You don't have to be a great writer to put out an e-zine; in fact it is probably better if you aren't. People don't want to read words off the SAT; they want to read something entertaining and conversational. Think about when you write to a friend, your tone is upbeat and you write like you were sitting there talking to your friend across the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.

Use the same attitude in your e-zine. If you're carrying some new products, tell about it. If you're upgrading your computer system and it might delay orders a day or so, let people know. Thinking of having a sale? Let your subscribers know.

One popular e-zine includes the following in this order: A greeting message to subscribers, new products, something silly one her under the age of 5-years old kids did (you can rely on kids for that), product lines she's working on carrying in the near future, some information about a couple of affiliate programs she's a member of, and a coupon for 20% off a customer's order just for reading the e-zine to the very bottom. And it works. She reports sales go up for about 2 weeks after an e-zine is sent out and she usually gains 10-20 new subscribers and she puts out her e-zine once a month.

Protect your mailing list. Don't sell your customer's names or information. You will gain a loyal customer base if they know their personal information stays personal with you. State that fact on your website where you have a subscriber sign up box.

An e-zine can be a great marketing tool, look into starting your own e-zine this month!

When you're ready to launch your online business, you want to keep your costs down. Here is how to launch your online business with a minimum of an investment. If you already have a business and you just want to enter the realm of the Internet to expand your customer base, half the battle is over right there.

However, if you are setting up a new business, decide what you want to sell and either find a wholesaler or consider drop shipping. A drop shipper will set up to ship to your customers when you order as if they came from you directly and you pay a discounted rate for the item on a per item basis. A low percentage of drop shippers charge a handling fee. Get everything in writing before you do a drop shipping arrangement to make sure you are doing the proper mark up on your pricing and there are no surprises. If you hammer that end of the deal out, drop shipping can be very profitable.

If you need a website designed and you don't want your brother-in-law to do it, talk to Merchandizer about getting a professional website designed and a shopping cart program. Hadn't even considered the shopping carts yet? When you search around you will find not all shopping carts are created equally. Merchandizer has a shopping cart that is perfect for a start up that starts at 19.95 per month and will be more than adequate for showcasing your products.

Write web content for your entire website that describes each of your products in detail. This is a courtesy to anyone visiting your site and it will also perform the duty of helping search engines index your website. More people report they go to Google to find local businesses rather than cracking open the Yellow Pages. It is very important that your site be search engine friendly.

Your website is your face you're showing your customers on the Internet. Make sure it looks sharp and professional!

If you have a good website for your product and you are clearly successful in your realm, people who want to experience the same success are going to copy you.

Knowing where and how to draw the line is the key and how you draw that line will make you admirers or enemies.

When you find a competitor is using your ideas on their WebPages, that's probably in the realm of fair use. If they are using verbiage directly from your website, then you have cause to ask them to change it. There are a couple of reasons for doing this, first of all, it ruins the uniqueness of your website content. Second of all, your website will be penalized and appear lower in search engine rankings for having duplicate content as another site.

Write them a letter and include a screen shot of your site to end all arguments. You can do this easily by pulling up any WebPages you like and holding the Alt+Print Screen keys at the same time and then pasting the image into any graphics program you like such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to name two.

That is normally more than enough to compel someone to change their content. If they still won't a phone call will normally do the trick. Speaking one on one to someone will show him or her you don't take being copied lightly. You can find contact information by looking up the WHOIS of the domain name and getting in touch with the website owner.

Most ISPs will deal with copyright infringement issues by simply removing the account of the person who is doing the infringing. If the other person simply won't change their site you can always report them to the legal department of their ISP.

No matter which course you take for contacting the person. No matter how upset or angry you are, hold your temper and be above any pettiness. If you're in the same industry, you're bound to run into this person again and you don't want a tense situation. Be professional and you will find these simple annoyances can be resolved on a whole other level.

Having an angry customer is never fun and no matter how thorough you are or how much effort you put into your business, someone is going be unhappy. You can turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied, loyal customer if you handle the situation correctly.

First of all, listen. Simply listen. Ask the customer point blank: "Why are you unhappy with our company?"

Then let them talk, don't interrupt and don't offer explanations. Let the customer do the talking; just make it clear you are really listening.

Next, bite your lip and refrain from making any statement that sounds like an excuse. The UPS truck was late, there was a fire in the warehouse that delayed shipping, or your floor manager had the flu and the person in charge that day didn't know the ropes. None of those things are the customer's problem and shouldn't be used as they sound like what they are: excuses.

Instead, counter their complaint with action. Tell them what you will do to make the situation right. If it is a case of the shipping being late or an item being damaged, offer to refund the cost of shipping or replace the item. Both of those are actions and will show the customer you aim to make them happy.

If they feel they weren't treated nicely by an individual in your company, offer your apologies, assure them that isn't the norm for your business and offer them a small gift certificate and follow it with a letter of apology that thanks them for bringing it to your attention.

Taking action instead of making pretty excuses will win you loyal customers who know you put their needs first and it will also turn into referrals because you are a company they can trust to make things right even when things go wrong.

Next time you get an angry phone call or email, don't look at it as a problem; look at it as an opportunity to strengthen your customer relations.

When a potential customer finds your website, does the text on the screen annoyingly convey the message " BUY MY PRODUCT, BUY MY PRODUCT, OH PLEASE BUY MY PRODUCT!!!" or is it a more friendly approach to the subject showing the uses, testimonials and other good information people would want to know?

When you're making your WebPages for an ecommerce site, keep them simple and refined. When you jot off an email to a friend, it will have a friendly tone, simple language, and you keep it upbeat. Do the same with your WebPages.

Consider every person that is potentially a customer, a friend. Write your website text like you were writing to just one person and try to answer as many of the common questions as you can. Additionally, as people email or call you and ask questions about your product, take note of the question and answer and create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section for your website. Inviting people to check out this section will eliminate a lot of answering the same questions over and over from people.

When you make your website a friendly experience, not only are people more likely to refer their friends, they are more likely to become repeat customers because they feel they "know" you.

You can be friendly without being unprofessional. If you decide to keep a company blog (and they are indeed powerful tools) keep it friendly but professional. Don't talk about your personal life except how it relates to your company. Like you might put in your blog that you participated in "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" and her observations about your company. Most of all, keep it positive. No matter how bad or depressing things get, never let it out on your website. People don't want to come to visit you and leave feeling worse.

Keep it upbeat, positive and you'll positively be a success!

For the most part, banner ads are still good for advertising your website. They aren't as intrusive as pop-up ads and people aren't actively installing banner killers on their PCs.

First you need to create a banner ad for your site. It can be something as simple as a graphic you make yourself in Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. There are a number of good sites that will let you design your own banner online, complete with text and image effects such as http://www.addesigner.com. Most banners are one of two sizes. Either 468x60 (which is considered a "Full" banner) or 234x60, also called a "Half" banner. You have very few words, so make them count. If you are using a banner add to advertise a sale, put SALE in large letters to draw attention of anyone who would be interested in it. If you have an affiliate program, use the words "Make Money" to draw attention.

Next you need to get your banner seen. Join a banner exchange program, where like-minded sites agree to show each other's banners on a rotating basis. That way the same banners are never seen on a site and you get a lot of visibility. Be sure to read the fine print and make sure you won't be accepting adult advertising in exchange for posting your banner ad. There is normally an "out" for the types of advertising you will not accept on your site. Keep it family friendly so your site won't be indexed as an adult oriented site.

Banners are very powerful tools for advertising when used correctly. Check out some of the sites or open up your favorite graphics program and start designing a banner ad to advertise your product or services today!

An ecommerce website without customers isn't making you any money. You need people to be able to find your site and you want them to purchase products from your store. In order to accomplish this, you need to do a little checking of your web design. Even if you only know the very basics for html, you can do this yourself.

Does your website clearly define what you sell? Does your front page of your website seem inviting or is it dry and boring? If it is the latter, crank up your wording a notch and make it more conversational. Write or have your web page written as if it were "talking" to the person who will be reading the text. Make it friendly and if you know a fact about your product or industry -however obscure - throw it in. Search engines are powerful marketing tools. Search engines index text only, make sure there are plenty of buzz words about your item on the page. Words that people would be searching for on the web. The more of these words you have on your page, the higher in relevance your website will be counted in those return searches.

Make sure your products are clearly defined as well. They should have good photographs and detailed explanations. If you have the smallest, most unimportant seeming fact about your item, put that in the description as well. Someone, somewhere will want to know that.

There are a good number of online malls and storefronts that will let you list your site for free or a very small price. Another great way to promote your site is through blogging. Merchandizer can set you up with a blog design and more if you choose this route. Blogs are powerful sales tools and people tend to save the links and visit them often when they are looking for information about products.

Tighten up your website, get indexed in the search engines, blog it, and make more sales!

Pricing your product or service can make or break you. You want to be the best deal out there, but you also want to make enough money to make selling worth your while.

First of all consider how much it costs you to sell your product. What are the fixed expenses and the variable (figure those on the high side to be safe) expenses? Fixed costs include your overhead such as rental, salaries, taxes, and any expense that you pay regularly and it doesn't change. Variable expenses are those that can change. Such as the pricing of materials to make your product and intangible costs such as sales commissions.

Check your competitors. Who is successful in your field? They are obviously doing something right. Check out their products and pricing. Do they offer free shipping or an extended warranty? Ascertain why people are choosing to spend their money with this competitor. Knowing the ropes before you jump in will make you an even stronger player in the game of ecommerce.

Determine how unique your company's product is. Can you charge more for a special feature? If you can, promote that quality heavily and also the quality of the item itself. This will enable you to get a slightly higher price for your own product.

If you are lucky enough to be in an industry with a trade association, many of them can give you statistics for free about your product and it's demand and pricing around the country or world. This will give you even more knowledge for pricing your product intelligently.

Don't undercharge your products. You'll soon be shutting your doors if you aren't making a profit, not to mention, it looks unprofessional for your product. If you're too cheap, many people do assume they get what they pay for and a price that is too good to be true on a product may lead people to believe you have inferior or knock off products. If in doubt, another trick is to price on the high side and have a sale periodically. Everyone loves to feel like they got a bargain and no one will consider that you have an inferior product because you're having a sale.

Now that you know the basics, price your products and sell, sell, sell!