Online Business

Many of the readers of this column are closet entrepreneurs, and this article is for you. Online businesses and commerce are so mainstream that they are rivaling the traditional brick and mortar businesses that have been the foundations of many communities. With powerhouses like Wal-Mart, Home-Depot, and Best Buy putting the squeeze on mom and pop stores, many ambitious moonlighters and former mom and pops are heading online.
There is still another group of people who want to take their business online, but feel that it is to complicated or expensive for a small business or one person shop. The truth is that the Internet has become an equalizer between the big stores and everyone else. The relatively low cost to set up shop has opened the entrepreneurial floodgates for many.
If you are considering starting and online business, your first stop should be a site like yahoo or godaddy.com. They both offer introductory package deals that include your web address, webhosting, and email accounts for one fee. This will save you a lot of work and headache. They also have fairly straight forward website creation wizards that build your site for you.
An online business doesn’t mean being limited to having a web presence only, it can also be run and maintained from online. This extra bit of location freedom can be a major asset for small businesses and freelancers. The ability to manage your business while enroute to customers can be an advantage that larger firms can’t provide. The first online tool that you will need is an online calendar and a communications method. Gizmocall.com is a free web browser based phone service that can keep you connected with clients and calendarhub.com will allow your customers to view your events calendar. An online scheduler is essential if your business is service oriented, or an online project management tool may fit your needs. ePointment.com will allow your clients and customers to schedule your services online. For those in need of online project management, eProject.com provides this along with Microsoft Outlook compatibility.
If your business involves selling a physical product, most webhosting packages include options to open a web store. You upload the picture and description of the item onto the web store’s catalog and you’re nearly done. You need a way to get paid. Many people use paypal.com, billpay.com, or a merchant account to accept credit card payments online. Next you can go to uship.com to get shipping quotes for product.
It is really astonishing how many online services exist. Loosestitch.com lets you outline your ideas online and share them with your business partner or co-workers. If you don’t have a business partner, go to partnerup.com and find one. If you need business, go iconnecte.com to network with other small business owners, freelancers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. If all of the individual sites have your head spinning, go to veetro.com to find a suite of online business services to meet your needs.