You Can Post From Anywhere
OK, well, not literally anywhere — but just about. As long as you have access to your smartphone’s 3G or 4G network, you can access your social networking accounts and interact with your friends and followers. This means you’re not chained to a desk or even a laptop when it’s time to update your social networking profile. You won’t have to rush back to your office to manage your business’s Facebook page; you can respond more quickly to your fans’ feedback and comments, which helps you build a strong relationship. Even if you’re just using your social network for personal reasons, your friends will appreciate your prompt response.

You Can Add Other Media in Just a Few Seconds
When you use social media from a smartphone, you can upload photos or videos you take with the device right to your social media account. If you are an iPhone and Twitter user, the process is especially easy. When you take a photo or video and tap the “Share” icon, one of the options is to tweet the media. It just makes sense to communicate via your cell phone when you are adding images or videos, because the process is so streamlined that it takes hardly any time at all. If you want to add a photo or video to a social network from a computer, you’ll have to transfer the images from your camera to your computer first — this takes a few minutes, and over time you’ll lose hours you could have spent doing something more important.

Getting on social networks from a desktop or laptop is still a worthy practice, but ignoring smartphones is not a good idea. You’ll spend more time uploading media, and be limited as to when you can post. For more details on the increased use of smartphones for social networking, check out this article from the comScore Date Mine and this one on Computer World.

Website
Probably the most important tool you will need to begin an online business is a website. When customers are looking for a service, or information about a product, the first place they go is to the Internet. The Internet is a great place to begin your marketing. And a website is the best place to start. It is very easy today to build your own website with the many website builders available on the market. If you are feeling unsure of building your own, you can easily find a professional to build one for you.

Your website will need a “squeeze page” to capture the contact information of anyone who visits your site. Your guests can leave their information and “opt in” to receive your blogs, newsletters, or email’s advertising upcoming events or sales. An “opt-in” is very important to avoid getting in trouble for spamming.

An email auto-responder is great to have for instantly responding to your website visitors. You can set up your responder to send a thank you email immediately for joining your mailing list. You can also set up “drip campaigns” to inform them of upcoming special offers and offer a gentle reminder that you are still open for business.

If you are selling product or subscriptions to blogs or newsletters, an online payment method such as PayPal is also essential to have on your website.

Of course, in addition to all of this, you will want to have information about yourself and your business on the website. Be sure to include product information, helpful information pertaining to your service, and your contact information. There are many helpful tools on the Internet to help you build the perfect website. Personal branding has become one of the best ways to market yourself or your business.

Personal Branding
One of the best things you can do for marketing yourself and your home based business is personal branding. There are a couple great ways to achieve personal branding. The first is to register your website with your name, or your business name as the domain name. An example would be; www.johndoe.com .  All of your marketing will be focused around your domain name.

Another great marketing tool for personal branding is to start a blog. As mentioned before, you should have an “opt in” on your website to receive your blogs. Write a weekly or monthly blog about yourself, what you are offering, or what your business offers. If your business is related to the health and wellness industry, your blog could be about ways to stay in shape, or a great diet plan. By having a personal blog, you are reminding your clients, and potential clients that you are still open for business. It is always nice to offer something of value to them. A great healthy recipe is something they will appreciate receiving and will think of your business every time they make your recipe.

Marketing
Now, how do people find your website? Marketing is going to be a very important tool for your new home based business. Your website will need to be found. Promoting your website in the major search engines, such as Google or yahoo, is a great place to start. All of your marketing material will need to have your contact information on it, including your website. Whether you are using business cards, or simply handing out fliers, people will need to know you exist and how to locate you. You can pay your kids $10 to hand out fliers at the park, or little league field.

Time
Although your new online home based business is only part-time, it is very important to make sure you are putting some time into it. Make sure you are setting aside time each day to your part-time business. If you don’t work your business, your business will not work. Even if you set aside an hour a day to make follow-up phone calls.

Social Networking
Today, social networking is a very important tool in the online home based business industry. Word of mouth is the best way to get your name out there. You can create a fan page on Facebook for your online business. There is no cost to creating a fan page. There are also ways to purchase advertising with Facebook as well, depending on what your budget is can help determine whether to purchase advertising.

Another aspect of social networking is professional networking groups. You can find on-line networking groups, or groups that meet weekly for networking. Be sure to have plenty of business cards with your or product samples to hand out. You will also want to capture the information of the other professionals to add to your mailing list. Referral marketing can be a great help to you in building your home based business. You can attend meetings as often as you can fit them into your schedule. There are usually several local meetings a week at several different locations.

Write a Book
Have you noticed that just about every professional today has written a book? Writing a book about something that you are an expert in gives you increased credibility. Whether you are a plumber, or an Internet marketer, handing your customers a book will increase your marketing power and make you look more and more like an expert in your field. Be sure to have the book available on your website as well. You can offer the book for free, or charge a fee.

Internet Articles
Writing Internet articles is also a great way for people to find you. If your business is offering a particular service, you can write an article about that service.

Now that all of your tools are in place, you are ready to begin your part-time online home based business.

What Authorize.net Offers and Pricing
A large number of reseller partners who offer industry leading payment services sell the services of Authorize.net. These resellers also help companies establish a merchant account which is the bank account needed in order for you to accept credit card payments. There is a one-time Gateway set-up fee of $99 though it should be noted that this is only a suggested retail price. In reality, the site’s resellers can charge more or less depending on their individual price structure. There are a host of other charges associated with Authorize.net including:

• Monthly Gateway Fee – The recommended price is $20 but this could be anywhere between $10 and $50 depending on the reseller.
• Transaction Fee – This is a fee charged every time a credit card transaction is processed. Again, the recommended charge is $0.10 but it could be between $0.05 and $0.20 per transaction.
• Batch Fee – This is charged per batch of selected credit card transactions.
• Advanced Fraud Detection Suite – Although Authorize.net already offers a set of fraud prevention tools, there are more on offer for $9.95 a month.
• Automated Recurring Billing – The process of recurring billing is a convenient tool for merchants who have regular subscribers. You will pay $10 a month extra if you want this service.
• Customer Information Manager – For $20 a month, you can store the information of your customers securely. Such an option allows your customers to save information on your database for future use.
• eCheck.net – A separate payment gateway service that enables customers to designate electronic checks from their checking account. The site offers the service for $20 a month.

Authorize.net also offers free customer support and connection methods such as server integration and advanced integration. The free fraud prevention tools are Card Code Verification (CCV) and Address Verification Service (AVS).

Overall
The price of credit card processing can really add up but in reality, the additional customers you will receive because of it will make these fees worthwhile. Although Authorize.net offers a reasonable service, it is irritating to know that the prices for various options vary depending on the reseller. The customer service also leaves a lot to be desired despite options like live chat. As Authorize.net is apparently the world’s largest payment gateway service provider, it is a prime target for hackers who have attacked the site on several occasions. An incident in July 2009 saw the entire web infrastructure for the site fail over the Independence Day holiday. As a result, none of the site’s merchants could process credit cards for several days.

One potential idea is to become a house sitter or a pet sitter. Many people feel the need to protect their homes while they’re away on vacation or business, and pay others to stay in their homes. Pet owners in particular often like to leave pets in the home instead of choosing to board them, and may look for people to stay and take care of animals during an absence. This idea requires very little monetary investment. All you really need is personal references and either business cards or flyers, though you could also choose to advertise in a local newspaper or have your own website. Reliable transportation is usually a plus, as well.

Another easy home business idea is to become a personal shopper, something that works especially well if you launch it during the holiday season. Many people hate shopping or feel they are too busy to shop, so they’ll pay others to do it for them. Typically, a good candidate for this type of work should have reliable transportation and good personal references. You’ll need to have available credit on a credit card or money available on a prepaid debit card, since you won’t really be able to use theirs to make the purchases. Consider a card that gives cash back, or one that offers points for your purchases, and you may be able to give yourself a bit of a bonus along the way.

If you have a lot of stuff lying around that you’d like to get rid of, another easy home business idea that might work for you is selling products through online auction services like eBay. People really can make a living buying and selling things at online auctions. You can either sell what you already have and reinvest it in more items at clearance sales or garage sales, or get a wholesale license and buy in bulk. It helps to have a digital camera, so you can take good pictures of what you’re posting for sale. Things that sell best still have tags attached, so look through your closet for that pair of jeans you never wore, and turn it into some solid income.

Some small businesses and other individuals need secretarial services from people who know how to type, transcribe, or proofread, but they can’t always afford to hire someone to work full time in an office. With a computer, email, and a printer, you can advertise your services and charge by the job. If you don’t have a fax machine, you can sign up for an email to fax online service online for a small fee. For that matter, with the same materials, if you know how to use software to make flyers, you can also offer desktop publishing services for another easy home business idea.

Learn how to create a website for your own home business,

Maintain Your Identity
Captain Obvious returns and tells you to keep your domain name as close to that of your website as possible yet Captain Oblivious wins with thousands of websites online which bear absolutely no resemblance to their domain name. For example, if you want to visit Facebook, you type in www.facebook.com. Everyone knows this and are so familiar with the URL that they type it in almost unconsciously. Had Facebook been called www.thelamppost.com, do you think it would be quite as popular? Businesses lose sales because of this. Maybe your site is called Tasty Bakery but there is already a site called www.tastybakery.com. Using a domain name that doesn’t relate to your site will see people type www.tastybakery.com when they are looking for your site, find a rival site instead and do their business with them.

If someone else has your name, find out who owns the name, get in contact with them and see if it’s possible to buy the name off them. This will cost more than buying a domain name in the usual way but the extra sales will be worth it. Alternatively, you could find a great domain name first, then name your website after it.

Keep It Short
It’s possible to have a domain name of 67 characters in length. While it may be fun to come up with such a lengthy name, it will do nothing for sales. The longer a domain name is, the harder it is to remember, which more or less ends your chances of being found. Consumers won’t remember your domain name just because you ask them to. It has to be short, snappy and memorable. Try and keep your domain name down to one or two words.

No Hyphens
It’s tempting to use hyphens as a means of distinguishing your site from the rest. However, names with hyphens in them are a pain to type. Also, if someone recommends ‘the lamp post dot com’, you will type in www.thelamppost.com not www.the-lamp-post.com. Such a name will be ok if the search boxes of Google and other search engines are used, not so if visitors type in the URL.

Getting An Extension
.com is the most popular type of site so the odds are, the name you want is already taken in this form. .net and .org are not as popular but may be available. .com is desirable but it’s not the end of the world if you fail to get it. Also, if your business serves a particular region, you may be better off using a local extension. For example, American businesses can use .us while British companies can use .co.uk.

A domain name is a vital part of your online business. Careful and correct selection will greatly increase your traffic. Get it wrong and your site could remain buried under the other 175 million.

Search for a domain name now at GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar.

How Affiliate Networks Work
Basically, affiliate networks serve as the intermediary between the merchant and affiliates. These networks take a cut by providing mutual financial gain to both parties. Each network will have a unique approach to the basic business model. The variations would usually involve the following:
•    Number of affiliates who are active on the network
•    Industry specialization and focus
•    Support services offered to the merchant and affiliate
•    Acceptable methods of promoting affiliate products
•    Program specialization (ie. pay per sale, pay per lead, co-registration)

These variables have a significant impact on the affiliate program. That’s why it is important to analyze each network to see if it is right for you. Some of the aspects you should consider include the affiliate network’s reputation, competition, payout potential, and your personal preferences. Let’s tackle these issues further:

Reputation of the Affiliate Network
With so many affiliate networks competing for the same market, you can afford to be choosy. Check out what others have to say about the service by reading reviews and visiting forums. If a significant number of individuals have a bad experience, it’s better to stay away. Take note that there will inevitably be some good and bad reviews. It is best to visit the website itself before making the final decision.

Competition
By “competition”, we’re not referring to the affiliate network’s competitors but your competition. If a network has many members who are selling the same thing, then it might be more difficult to lure customers to your website. In choosing a network and products to promote, it is best to find niche industries that aren’t too crowded yet.

Payout Potential
Compare the payout potential of all the affiliate networks you’re interested in. Most networks will have one specialty. For example, some focus exclusively on digital products while others are associated with top names in the retail industry. There are more specialized sites that only deal business-to-business (B2B) merchants. Whatever the case, it is up to you to decide which particular affiliate network shows the best payout potential.

Personal Preferences
Of course, you can’t take personal preferences out of the equation. There are actually a surprising number of people that choose one affiliate network over another simply because of the payout method the network uses. Others go with gut feel. You’ll have to check out the various sites that meet your interest to make a proper decision.

A big factor in how to start an affiliate program will be based on the affiliate software that you choose. Every piece of software is a little bit different, however the key is choosing one that you are happy with. Some people opt for 3rd party solutions known as affiliate marketplaces where you hand over a lot of the responsibility to affiliate managers. Regardless of which option you choose, there are still a few things that you will have to take care of.

One of the most important, but often overlooked, steps is choosing your offer. It is easy to say that you are paying out affiliates 30%, but that doesn’t mean that it is a good idea. You need to make sure that you are offering them enough to entice them to promote your product, while still optimizing the amount of profit per sale for yourself. You also need to create an test your sales page. It doesn’t matter how much you are paying affiliates if you can’t convert any of the traffic into sales.

The next step is setting up your affiliate area. This is where your affiliates will get all of the tools that they need to promote your products. From a graphics standpoint you should offer a wide variety of banner sizes. You should also try to create several different graphics for each banner size. This will ensure that every affiliate marketer has what they need. You also need to create some content for your affiliates. This should be a combination of text, audio, and video. In most cases, a few short videos along with blog posts/review articles should be considered the minimum.

The final step is deciding how you will recruit affiliates. Setting up your program won’t do you any good if you never get any affiliates. When you start an affiliate program, it is vital that you create an affiliate attraction strategy. When you do this, there should be two different strategies. One strategies should be about about promoting the opportunity in general and the second should be targeting the super-affiliates. Super affiliates will often be a large majority of successful affiliate sales, so make sure that you are keeping them happy. In most cases, they will ask for custom promotional material which is to be expected. So make sure that you have the ability to give them what they need.

There are a lot of details that can muddy the overall plan. This is why identifying the basics of how to start an affiliate program is essential. Once you have the skeleton plan ready to go, you can start looking into specific details without worrying that you will overlook a key step.