Starting a Small Business


Small business is normally referred to a business on small scale set up by an individual or a group of individuals. In the United States the Small Business Act states that a small business concern is “one that is independently owned and operated and which is not dominant in its field of operation.” [Source: United States Small Business Administration, web page – http://www.sba.gov/size/]

On the internet the term “small business” is often interchanged with “home based business” because the business owner operates from home or a small office. Generally small business owners look for revenue to supplement their other sources of income. Or, they earn enough to support their household with something to spare. Many small business owners are able to earn substantially more while managing their operations on small scale.

The growth of the internet has provided tremendous scope for the growth of small business. Every year tens of thousands of people are attracted because it is extremely easy to start a business on the internet without incurring much cost. Some of the more common types of small business on the internet are discussed below. Although there is negligible cost in starting many of them, the business owners end up spending considerable amounts trying to promote their business. Statistics of the last several years show that very small percentage of people involved in small business are able to earn a profit. But small business provides opportunities to earn huge amounts and serious players with the correct approach are able to take advantage of these opportunities.

There are numerous ways in which a small business can be set up on the internet. Some of the more common types are discussed below.

1. Affiliate Programs – They are by far the most common type of business preferred by small business owners. The business owners earn commission by selling or facilitating sales of products and services of other organizations. There are thousands of affiliate programs available. On the internet it is very simple to register with these programs. The registration is free for the majority of the programs. Therefore people desirous of making extra money are easily attracted by affiliate programs. After all there is hardly any risk involved in becoming an affiliate.

All affiliate programs do not maintain the same standard of efficiency and ethics. They vary in quality from excellent to extremely bad. Therefore the small business owner has to be very careful in selecting the affiliate programs he/she wants to get associated with.

2. Displaying Ads on Web Pages – Google Adsense has made display of contextual ads a major source of revenue. The business owner puts up ads such as Google Adsense on his/her web pages. When a visitor clicks on the displayed ads the business owner earns a commission. Normally the web pages will display not only ads but also affiliate and other links providing multiple streams of earnings.

3. Selling Own Products – Small business can be set up for selling the products prepared by the owner. The product could be in digital form or it could be a physical product. The business owner can also start an affiliate program to sell his/her own products. In many cases the products are not really prepared by the owner of the business. The products are made by someone else, but the business owner buys the right to sell the products as his/her own. This is particularly true of digital products.

4. On-Line Jobs – Plenty of on-line jobs are available for those who wish to offer their services. They get paid by number of jobs completed. There are many on-line jobs (where the completed jobs are submitted on-line) such as mail order jobs, typing jobs, transcription, writing articles as a ghost writer, designing websites, preparing sales pages etc., to name just a few.

5. On-Line Surveys – There are many organizations that conduct surveys for themselves or their clients. The business owner can register with these organizations. He/she can be invited to participate in the surveys when his/her profile is found suitable. Compensation for participation in surveys varies greatly. In many cases cash awards are given to selected people and selection is done by draw of lots. In some other cases all participants are paid by cash. Some organizations compensate by giving gifts to the participants.

6. Other Sources of Earning on the Net – There are many sources of revenue which are specific to the net. There are programs that pay their members for reading letters, or only for opening them. Auto surfing is another source of revenue in which payments are made for viewing certain minimum number of pages. The auto surfing programs do not guarantee payments. Therefore members can participate at their own risk.

These are some of the opportunities for small business on the net. But success does not come automatically or instantly. It takes time to build and grow a business, even the small business. Those who are prepared to put in persistent efforts and use the right mindset can expect to make a fortune from their business.

Jennifer Schilling is a home business entrepreuner with multiple websites.


More Resources

Economic Recession or Not, You Must be Creative to Survive
Are we Really in an Economic Recession?Some US statistics seem to indicate we are heading into one. If we are heading in that direction, what should we online marketers do about it?Should we panic and give up our web sites, or just accept that we will get less business, and let it go at that.
Affiliate Marketing
Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is one of the most common forms of making money on the internet.Affiliate marketing was set in place by larger corporations and websites who realize that marketing smarter is better than marketing smarter.
In Mourning for the Google Cash System
Do you remember when you could pick an affiliate program, hustle up a few hundred keywords toss it all into your Adwords account & wait for the commissions. No me neither! I was busy doing something else during those glory days.
Working With Affiliate Programs
Everywhere you look you see affiliate program offers forevery product or service that you can think of. Some havefully automated systems that sell high volumes of hardproducts all over the world.
6 Affiliate Mistakes Youre Probably Making...
Everyday I see more and more affiliates making the same mistakes. The worst part is that they're just doing what they're taught by the so-called "experts.
Affiliate Marketing at a Glance: Helpful Hints
Regarded as one of the choice Internet marketing systems offered to small businesses, affiliate marketing has caught the attention of accomplished entrepreneurs across the globe. With virtually no risk involved in the affiliate marketing game, payment is made only after results are provided.
Overwhelmed at the Number of Affiliate Programs, Help is On the Way
Business is founded by the principal of right contacts, meaning you succeed with as many good contacts you have. Internet has expanded this to mean "remote contacts" people whom you have not seen or sometimes even talked to.
Top Five Ways to Earn Extra Money Online at Home for Free
Here's a fact: everybody wants to earn extra money. We all have bills to pay, families to feed, and the list goes on and on.
Internet Affiliate Business: 5 Ways to Grow It Organically
Growing your internet home business organically means there are similarities to organic farming. An organic farmer knows that if he develops healthy soil, he will have healthy plants.
Internet Affiliate Marketing 101 - Its All About Relationships
So you've found the perfect affiliate program, you've signed up and they gave you a website..
How To Start Your Own Affiliate Program
1. Why Start Your Own Affiliate Program?Multiple web sites and distributors selling your product can result in increased sales and profits.
5 Ways to Promote Affiliate Programs
After having chosen several programs to join, you probably realize that customers won't knock on your door - you have to come to them. By promoting your affiliate programs successfully, you build your own success!So what should you do to promote your affiliate programs? Here are five methods which have succeeded for millions and can succeed for you, if you choose to follow the same steps as those millions before you!#1 Create your own marketing affiliate program materials.
The Logic Behind Niche Content Profits
In researching most successful online businesses, you start to notice a trend emerge. As far as websites go, there are a few giants such as Yahoo and MSN that cover every topic imaginable.
Affiliates Need To Read Their Newspaper
Millions of people check the news everyday-- in the morning paper, online, and on the nightly news.But far too often affiliates do not find out what has occurred in affiliate marketing that day; this is important because affiliate marketing changes daily.
How to Become a Better Affiliate
First of all you need to understand that an Affiliate Program takes time to make it work. No one achieved "financial freedom" overnight.
The Key To High-Volume Web Sales
The quickest way to achieve high-volume sales on the web is to set up your own affiliate program.There are two ways to set up an affiliate program: you can install affiliate tracking software on your server or you can use a 3rd party affiliate tracker.
Joint Venture 101 - The Quickest Way To Build Your eBusiness - PART 1
This article reveal the same techniques that many Internet marketing experts uses every day to make millions of dollars in profits - no kidding! In my own opinion it is the most profitable and powerful concept ever used on the Internet field. So, stay close and read it carefully.
How To Make Money On A Music Website Through Affiliate Programs?
Do you find yourself looking for a way to make some extra money? How about creating a website on something that everyone includes in their life, Music? The opportunities are endless and what's great about it is that you can make money on it while you're eating, sleeping, or just sitting around watching TV.Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of work in the beginning to get everything started.
How to Evaluate an Affiliate Program
There are thousands of affiliate programs offering wide range of benefits to their affiliates. However, many of these programs and the claims they make are not to be trusted.
Choosing An Affiliate Marketing Program
If you are new to affiliate marketing, you are probably overwhelmed with the number of programs available out there for you to join and promote. This article will provide a guideline to help you choose the right affiliate program for yourself.

More Affiliate Revenue Information:

Related Articles

Five Things to Look For to Join Any Affiliate Program!
Here's a really simple way..
Affiliate Programs : Golden Opportunity or Waste of Time?
Now that the idea of doing business over the internet has been firmly established, many potential internet businessmen are searching for the best way to do business. Usually the choice comes down to whether you want to set up your own business and online store, or sign up for an affiliate program.
12 Tips On Selecting An Affiliate Program
People sign up with affiliate programs everyday, looking to expand their income and make a good living for their efforts. The unfortunate part of all this is that most people will sign up with a company without really knowing what the company is all about.
Mining For Gold With The Best Affiliate Programs And Hitting Pay Dirt
Colin McDougall tinkered around with affiliate programs earning a few dollars, nothing much to write home about, even had his own e-commerce site, known as the man's mall. In theory that site was supposed to offer all sorts of gadgets for guys.
Are You Being Ripped Off By Clickbank Merchants?
I see affiliates from two perspectives.Firstly as an affiliate, I see myself as a business partner to those merchants that I promote.
Vital Things To Check At Any Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are now one of the most popular ways for webmasters with lot of traffic to their sites to earn good money.There are many factors which influence the amount of money earned by an affiliate.
8 Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Products
Many affiliates fail in affiliate marketing because they limit their marketing strategies to placing referral links in their web sites, distributing links to business sites through multiple emails or posting their links to other web pages. Doing any of these alone would not guarantee sales and thus, your commission.
Grow Your Business with Affiliate Marketing
To generate additional business income, consider expanding your business through affiliate marketing. Here are three ways of boosting your business income with affiliate programs.
6 Things to Increase Your Affiliate Income
So you've signed up for affiliate programs, posted links around the net but you're still only making pocket change? Wonder what others are doing that you aren't? Below you will find 6 things that every affiliate marketer needs to increase their income.#1 - Your own Website:Build a website to promote the product.
Never Too Old
NEVER TO OLDMy great granddaughter said I was too old to learn to use a computer.The trouble with the younger generation is that, they think that just because you are getting old, you are also becoming stupid.
Back-End Selling With Affiliate Marketing
More and more people are getting into online businesses for a variety of reasons. First, because the Internet provides a wide market for businessmen and selling through the Net is often synonymous to selling their products to the world.
What Puts The Super In Super Affiliate?
To be super at anything means to excel beyond the scope of average or achieve superiority status.Super affiliates do just that.
How To Boost Your Affiliate Sales With Free Articles
Free Articles continue to be one of the most effectiveways of quickly generating traffic and sales, withoutpaying for advertising.But how can you use free articles to promote anaffiliate link? Putting your affiliate link in yourResource Box is not going to work, for a number ofreasons:- people can easily remove your affiliate IDand just visit the main website of the affiliateprogram (you get no commission)- an affiliate link makes you look like just anotherbeginner, instead of an expert with somethingunique to offerSo how do you use articles to promote affiliateproducts? Here are some strategies:(1) Turn your website into a 'Marketing ResourcesDirectory'On your website display book covers and provide briefreviews for a range of eBooks or software that dealwith web marketing.
A Wake Up Call To Always Remember
I received two emails this weekend. Both were as a result of autoresponder follow ups these people were receiving from my business.
How To Profit From 2 Tier Affiliate Programs And Build A Sub-Affiliate Army In The Next 24 Hours
Before I get into depth with this article I first want you to have a good understanding of what a '2 Tier' affiliate program is and there advantages. Then from there I'll go on to explain how you can start recruiting Sub-Affiliate's by simply locating the Super-Affiliate's within your Niche market.
Understanding The Three Basic Types of Affiliate Programs
With all the companies on the internet that offer affiliate programs, you want to be able to differentiate between the types of programs that are being offered.The three main affiliate programs you can choose from are, pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead and pay-per-click.
Free Keyword Research Tools Are Not As Effective as Wordtracker
One of the most unanswered questions online today is, how to perform keyword research that gets free traffic from the search engines. Many SEO experts recommends using one keyword or keyword phrase per page, while others recommends using secondary keywords with your main keyword.
10 Profit Boosting Tips To Increase The Success Of Your Affiliate Program
1. Develop credible, benefit rich ad copy, along with a well designed site to increase your sign ups, and also your affiliates' conversion rates.
Tips For Marketing Your Affiliate Business
Not all Home Business Entrepreneurs are experienced enough to produce their own product, so most of us 'would-be-entrepreneurs' become affiliates, marketing someone else's products and opportunities. That is nothing to be ashamed of.
How To Build Your Sales
You may have heard of joint venture marketing, It's used frequently by savvy entrepreneurs to increase profits and add loads of prospects to their customer list.So what is joint venture marketing (or j/v)?Speaking at the Information Marketing Boot Camp