If you are going to start an online newsletter, you can choose these business models: 1. Subscription based model = you charge a membership fee whether monthly or annual to read and subscibe to the newsletter. Be sure to have really compelling and unique content that others will not be able to get for free with your newsletter. What others do is to give a free sample or teaser of the content — e.g. the first 2 paragraphs of an article — and to read more or access more content, the visitor has to subscribe and pay. There are several

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The Washington DC area has a very thriving second hand or consignment market. With plenty of foreign service personnel living in the area, shopping in the consignment stores can yield one-of-a-kind pieces from various parts of the world. It’s always a thrill to find great and unique pieces of items from consignment stores that you won’t find in the department stores. So how do you join the fray and start your own consignment store? I’ve found several resources on the Web that can help you start your own consignment business: The WEBworks Consignment Store “How To” Manual Getting Started in

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Big publishers such as Ziff Davis, American Business Media and others have been conducting events such as trade shows and seminars as an additional revenue stream for their businesses. In fact, Publishing Executive Magazine reports that trade shows have overtaken business-to-business media’s print revenue in 2006, accounting for 36% of the industry’s revenues. Many small businesses are following suit and are also conducting seminars, conferences or trainings, and finding these events to be a profitable source of revenues. So how do you build profitable events for your business. Publishing Executive Magazine in its May 2007 issue offers a number of

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A question was asked in Yahoo Answers if anyone knows of statistics that will show what percentage of users click on the top result, what percent clicks the second, and so on. I remember a paper I read a few years ago that actually looked at the behavior of search engine users and gave some data on this precise question. The paper was written by Dr. Bernard Jansen and Amanda Spink of Pennslyvania State University entitled “An Analysis of Web Documents Retrieved and Viewed.” It was presented at the 4th International Conference on Internet Computing, Las Vegas, Nevada in June

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The Internet is really reshaping lending as we know it. I just learned of a fantastic site that allows investors to lend to entrepreneurs from poor countries, where $325 can mean the fulfillment of a life long dream to start a business and hopefully alleviate one’s family from poverty. The site is called Kiva http://www.kiva.org Kiva works with microfinance organizations in third world countries such as Honduras, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, Samoa, Tajikistan and others. You as an investor can look at the profiles of these entrepreneurs needing financial support — such as Lucia of Tanzania who needs $1,000 to purchase a

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I know a lot of people who are lured into creating an information website, whether a blog or a website itself. They’ve heard stories of people making good money just by serving ads or offering other people’s products. True, there’s a lot of money that can be made by simply putting up content on the Web. However, with billions of sites out there and lots of information on every imaginable topic, the question is always how will your site rise above the noise? Here are my tips to a Yahoo Answer user when she asked this same question: 1. What

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One of the greatest fears of many small business owners is the arrival of Wal-Mart in their areas. In fact, in many areas, communities are even protesting the arrival of this giant chain to demonstrate support to the communities’ mom and pop stores whose existence may be threatened or jeopardized. We have previously written about ways small businesses can compete with the big boys Small Business Survival in the Midst of Giants 10 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With the Big Boys You’re Small — Use It to Your Advantage! Competing with the Retail Giants The new book “The Upside:

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I have a four-year old son, and even at this early age, he already understands the joys of shopping. When we go to the mall or a store, he insists that he buy something (he doesn’t always win, but he definitely tries). He feels that he is entitled to buy anything he wants and I can imagine that this growing consumerism will only grow worse as he gets older. And marketers know this. Marketers are trying to reach younger kids, getting them hooked early to their products and brands. USA Today had an interesting piece on how marketers are reaching

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I’ve met a lot of folks who have long thought of starting a business, yet never had the opportunity nor the time to actually start it. Some just talks and talks about wanting to start a business yet never could find the time to squeeze it in their current lives. Others seem content to put their dreams in the backburner of their lives. My colleague Lyve gave several tips on how to make that giant leap and just start the business. Read her article “Making The Leap Of Faith And Starting A Business”

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I am a chocolate addict, and I need to eat chocolates every day. I eat not one or two, but three or more bars (not just small pieces) every day. The only times I lay off chocolates are the couple of weeks before my glucose tests during my pregnancies. So of course, when one of my favorite chocolate brands launches a new product, I am all ears. Godiva has recently launched a new product called Godiva Chocoistehttp://www.godiva.com/chocoiste and lessons can be learned on how they launch this new product and work towards branding it. The first step into launching a

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