Online Business Opportunities Offered By a Weak Economy

Now is a good time to take advantage of certain online business opportunities the weaken global economy presents. With consumer spending being tight and skepticism strong this is an ideal time for many online businesses to more deeply embed their roots. For anybody who works online there will be many new growth opportunities made available by the dismal economy that has engulfed much of the world. It is up to the individual entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the situation so heads up!

Let's take a look at 3 areas that actually present growth opportunities for many internet businesses as a result of the economic turmoil all around us!

New Niche Opportunities

With new or persistent problems comes new needs or opportunities for many online businesses. The economy as it is no doubt has people scrambling to make ends meet which calls for resourcefulness and/or innovation. This creates a need for the development of goods and services that will fill these needs. In addition the current economic situation will also serve as the motivational springboard for many to start their own businesses as well! This alone is a positive since as we all know small business is the backbone of any healthy economy!

Cutting Edge Technology

As more people take to the internet in search of entrepreneurial success this will compel many software engineers to develop more useful tools. Work efficiency is always a factor in how productive and thereby successful any entrepreneur can become. Obviously the growing number of internet businesses will as a result, offer many growth opportunities for software engineers.

Relationship Building

Building trust and strong relationships has never been more important since the current economic conditions have left most jaded and skeptical. In fact building trust has always been a necessity and fortunately this can be more easily achieved through the proper use of social networking. Actually for anybody who works online relationship building is always a must, and not just to get the sale, but for long term success as well! Being the internet makes it difficult to meet and greet people 'face to face' it is necessary to breed a certain familiarity with others to make them more comfortable with you! This takes time but the tools are available to do so.

As a result of the current dismal economic climate there exist certain online business opportunities made available to anybody who works online. It is up to the individual to capitalize on these growth opportunities made available in order to further develop their own online businesses. By simply targeting the 3 areas discussed above, many entrepreneurs can more deeply root their businesses and further solidify their path to success!

Where to Get the Best Light-Up Shirts: An Analysis of the Major Players in This Growing Industry

With all of the websites on the web currently trying to capture a piece of the light-up garment market its hard to know which ones to trust. Through experience and a great deal of research I have come across what I believe to be the top player in this industry. As a relatively new company in the market, D.A.F. Designs (www.dafdesigns.com) has already captured a large audience and continues to grow, leaving behind a trail of happy customers in the process. Through this article I will provide an analysis of some of the major players currently in the market with the goal of helping you find a quality company to buy from.

For those of you who do not already know, the light-up shirt is a fairly new technology. As its name suggests it is in fact a shirt that lights up. Now this might seem strange to some, but it’s actually reasonably simple. The light-up shirt uses electro-luminescent panels attached typically by either Velcro or sewing to a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt or tank top. These panels are unique in the fact that they do not heat-up and they are very light weight and thin (about 0.8 cm thick), which allows them to be worn by the user with no discomfort. The power-source of the light-up shirt is a battery pack attached via a cable to the panel I had described earlier and this comes in a variety of styles, ranging from 2XAAA to 4xAAA configurations. An even further subdivision of the light-up shirt industry is the difference between the standard light-up shirt and the sound activated light-up shirt. It is the latter that I will be discussing as it is the more popular of the two.

The sound activated light-up shirt is a very interesting product because it reacts to any sound that it comes in contact with. What I mean by this is when you play a song on a device such as a stereo and adjust the sensitivity accordingly the shirt panel will light-up with the music in a fashion dictated by the design on the panel (these come typically as equalizers, but other styles are available). Selling these shirts arise three main competitors: TheLightUpShirt, T-Qualizer, and D.A.F. Designs. I will be giving my analysis of the three and I have dealt with each one of them.

Breakdown:

TheLightUpShirt (Price: Highest-Service: Very Poor - Delivery: Terrible - Product: Poor)

At first glance this company looks very reputable mostly because they have a nice clean website to them. After that first glance though this reputation disappears. The first thing I notice when I visit this site is their claim to having sponsored various celebrities (Mike Posner, Jerry Springer etc), but after further investigation and contacting both the legal contacts for these celebrities I had found that there is in fact no connection between them and TheLightUpShirt (and I expect them to take some form of action against this site).

Let me talk about my buying experience:

Once I ordered off this site I started to get the impression they aren’t as nearly as organized as they seem to be (and after further investigation I found they are run by one student at Virginia Tech). After about 5 business days of my order status still saying “processing” I decided to email them and see what the delay was, and thus began my irritating journey of trying to get in contact with this company. If you try and email them you get no response for a very long period of time and they didn’t even respond to me for 2 weeks after my initial complaint. After looking at their Facebook group I noticed that other people were having the exact same problem. Finally when my order was shipped it took another 4 weeks for it to arrive, which is pretty ridiculous when we are talking about a month and a half order to delivery time from Virginia, US to North Vancouver, Canada.

The actual product itself:

The packaging this shirt came in gave me a good indication of how the quality of the shirt would be. The box was very beat up and you could tell a lot of care wasn’t put into the packaging. When I finally opened the box and felt the shirt I could tell they went to a great extent to lower their production costs, and I am estimating the shirt being about 140g of cotton weight (typical shirt is 180g). The worst part about the shirt was the massive amount of shrinkage that occurred in the wash.

On the plus side the panel did work correctly, but the battery pack was the 2xAAA version and I learned later that this makes the shirt light-up more dimly than the 4xAAA model.

T-Qualizer (Price: 2nd Highest- Service: Good - Delivery: Moderate - Product: Arrived broken)

Again this is another case of a nice website that lacks on other fronts. My review of T-Qualizer parallels on TheLightUpShirt, but the difference between these two companies is that T-Qualizer sent me a broken product. I will update my review of this company once I receive the replacement shirt.

D.A.F. Designs (Price: Lowest - Service: Fantastic - Delivery: Speedy - Product: Best of the three

All in all, D.A.F. Designs (www.dafdesigns.com) came out on top. They were the one company that didn’t just focus on a clean website, but took into account the whole consumer experience. They really brought about a balanced scorecard approach to doing business and I wish that more businesses operated in this manner.

The thing I loved about buying from D.A.F. Designs is the fact that their service is phenomenal. They responded to all my questions the same day and even as in little as a few hours, they have live chat on their website where a staff member is available to assist you with any questions you might have while surfing their website, and they have frequent sales and discount voucher handouts.

My buying experience:

As I stated above, the service at D.A.F. Designs is fantastic and they have the greatest selection of product styles of these three competitors. I had assistance every step of the way and the only downside to the buying experience is that some of their product photos aren’t the greatest, but because they are a relatively new company they are constantly updating their website, so I expect these photos to be updated sometime in the near future. The check-out process is very smooth and they offer prices in both U.S. and Canadian dollars, which makes it handy if you are worried about the exchange rate.

The product itself:

When the package arrived it came in a very sturdy box and included things you would typically see such as a packing slip etc. A great thing about ordering from this website is that they include a discount coupon for a percentage off your next purchase, so you can always grab one for a friend or family member. D.A.F. Designs uses the 4xAAA style of battery pack, which is how I noticed the massive difference in color vividness between 2xAAA(TheLightUpShirt) and 4xAAA(D.A.F. Designs) panels. The dafdesigns.com shirt is 180g and is also pre-shrunk cotton (which I tested), so it won’t be shrinking on you in the wash.

Conclusion:

As with any industry there are a few players who stand out from the competition and eventually spring forward to become the leaders of the pack. I believe D.A.F. Designs will become the next leading retailer of light-up t-shirts in the coming future because they believe in the full customer experience and provide a lot of extra pleasantries that the other companies just don’t. If you are looking for a light-up shirt as a gift or for yourself, I definitely recommend D.A.F. Designs (www.dafdesigns.com)

Mobile Phone Reviews- BlackBerry 8900 Review

Smaller than the Bold, but the packaging for many features, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is one of our favorite all-time BlackBerries. The ideal is of medium size, with a QWERTY keyboard and a bright, high resolution, it is an almost perfect device for mobile email. Other key features include a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, video camera, a music player, GPS, a large capacity battery, Wi-Fi, and plenty of memory. The only important thing missing is 3G.

The BlackBerry 8900 is the latest BlackBerry Curve series, and is one of the best ever BlackBerries. Its name suggests that the grooves of the BlackBerry range just below the BlackBerry Bold, but despite its lack of 3G, its still a bit better than the Bold.

Like others in the series Curve, the 8900 has a full QWERTY keyboard 35-key keyboard with trackball. It looks almost identical to the Bold, except it is smaller and lighter, which on the same weight as many standard phones, and compact enough to fit easily into a jacket pocket or even in the jeans pocket . This fact alone device becomes more common for age curves or bold.

Before beginning our analysis, let's take a moment to admire the ergonomics and the construction of 8900. Unboxing the 8900, you can not help but admire the quality of construction of the device - it just feels so solid and well built. Unlike many phones, taking the back to insert the SIM card and battery is so easy. The keys are really small, but they move crisply and anyone with fingers on the normal size range for Homo Sapiens should have no problem with them at all. You can even use it without help. The scroll wheel is the same as with previous blackberries - some love it, others are less enthusiastic. We're not 100% in favor of the scroll wheel, but does the job.

Let's move on to the next screen. It's huge! At 2.44 inches wide and a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels, this is just the type of display you need to read e-mails or surf the web (much less for viewing photos or watching videos.) In this screen matches with the 3G iPhone is just ahead of anything else in existence. The menus are very simple too, and once I got used to the scroll wheel and the total size of the device, you will find that 8900 is the phone almost perfect, ergonomically speaking. For us, it's the closest I ever BlackBerry have reached perfection. Just a little more work in the menus and a scroll wheel smoother, and 100%.

Now, of course, the key selling point of a BlackBerry e-mail is in motion, and the 8900 does not disappoint. There is little difference here with previous BlackBerries, so we'll just reiterate that the BlackBerry mobile email is the best in the business. It is compatible with virtually all standard mail. It also supports attachments, with a viewer and editor for Microsoft Office documents. Combining this with the large display and QWERTY keyboard means you get the best mobile email experience available. It is also a great environment for text messaging.

But the 8900 is much more than mobile messaging. On the one hand, has the best camera to appear on any BlackBerry to date. With 3.2 megapixels, LED flash and autofocus, it is the same quality as the camera on the BlackBerry Storm, and even the chamber of the Bold. It may not be a replacement for the 8-megapixel digital camera, but they produce excellent print quality images, and is a welcome addition. This marks one more way that the curve for 8900 is almost a conventional telephone. The phone has a media player too, of course, and with features like playlists, shuffle and organization by the artist and album, is a very useful MP3 player. It is very strong too! The headphone jack 3. 5 mm allows you to connect any compatible headset, as always. You can also use a stereo Bluetooth headset, if you prefer. With a 1GB microSD card provides as part of the sales package, and the possibility of extending this 16 GB, it will not be short of storage for music or videos. The video player works well too, with support for DivX and XviD, and flicker-free playback of high quality LCD screen. Even there are five games included (from Sudoku to BrickBreaker), although he reached the round of testing of these (all work can not be played on mobile phones in the UK!) There are also built in GPS, so you can find its current location, and this can be used with BlackBerry Maps.

The 8900 has a full range of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, USB and WiFi. The WiFi connection is very easy to configure, and allows access to email, web, or data on your PC. This is probably the best way to use the built-in web browser.

The 8900 has a huge heavy-duty battery, contributing to their weight significantly, but gives much staying power, even with heavy use. It can be recharged from the mains or via a USB cable from your PC.

The 8900 is a quad-band phone, meaning it can be used worldwide, and the utility that comes with an international charger too, so do not worry about forgetting to take your travel package. But the feature that is very obvious thing missing is 3G. The Bold has 3G, the storm has 3G, why not the 8900? To some this may be a show stopper, and surely is a shame to have to rely on 2G data transfer with this powerful device.

Finally, it is worth noting just what a crushing device is curve 8900. Besides the quality of physical construction, the coefficient is very high, with 8900 being the latest in a mature evolution of business devices. Unlike some competitors, there is very little about the 8900 with a "beta" feeling. Nice features include the wide range of ringtones and alerts (audio and visual), the richness of the status indicators on the screen (for example, missed calls, messages without opening, connection status, and alerts calendar.)

This is definitely one of our favorite all-time BlackBerries. The 8900 is really a multimedia device and can be done at a single point for communication, music, media, photography, web browsing and GPS too. Oh, if only had 3G! Apart from the lack of 3G, this really is the best BlackBerry ever.

5 Key Ways to Engage your Facebook Business Page Fans

We’ve all heard that if you are in business, you need to have a Facebook Business page or Fan page.

Now that you’ve gone ahead and built your Facebook fan page, what’s the next step?

If you build it they will come… or will they?

If you now do nothing with your Facebook page, it will do nothing for you. Congratulations, you have a cyber-slug!

If you don’t have the time to spend keeping your page updated, or you don’t have the cash in your business to pay someone else to keep your page updated, you are wasting your time. It’s that simple.

We’re a fickle crowd. If you are not keeping your page current and populated with new and interesting bits and pieces to read, you won’t be top of mind with those that have liked your page.

Without posting on your wall, your fans are not seeing your page in their newsfeed. Your fans will have to remember to find and revisit your page. They won’t.

When was the last time you actively visited a page on Facebook purely because you thought of it?

Or did you see a post or comment in your newsfeed from a friend that caught your eye and you clicked through to find out more.

My guess is option 2. Most of us operate that way. We see what others are doing or talking about and then go and have a look see.

With that in mind, how can you apply the browsing habits of most online users to your Facebook page strategy to ensure people continue to visit your page?

1. Post 2 to 3 times per week

Yes, per week. Be on your wall posting articles, comments, questions, videos, photos, etc at least 2 to 3 times per week to keep your page fans engaged.

If you are not talking to your page visitors, someone else will be.

2. Post at different times of the day / different days of the week

Unless you know exactly when your page fans are online, make an effort to post at different times of the day and also, post on different days of the week.

By posting at different times of the day, you can make sure you are appearing in the newsfeed of your fans at differing times. People are online at different times of the day. Some like to early morning browse. Some jump online after lunch. Others do a quick catch up on what’s happening at dinner time or when they’ve finally put the kids to bed and have a few moments to themselves.

Likewise, some people are more active on weekdays. Others browse on the weekend when things have slowed down at work.

Know when your target market is online and post specifically to tap into their peak browsing times.

3. Repost your content

It’s perfectly fine to write one single article and post the same article to your wall 2 or 3 times. Just make sure you spread out the time between the posting.

For example, you may post an article at the start of the month and repost it at the end of the month. Why? No one can possibly be on Facebook 24 hours a day. There will be fans that would love to read your content but were not online when you first posted it.

Reposting gives people the chance to catch it on the second time around.

4. Post Content from other Sources

Be seen as in information disseminator. As well as sharing your own information, source material that you know will appeal to your target market.

If you read an article that was helpful to you in business, chances are, it will also benefit others. So share it.

Your Facebook page visitors will appreciate the gesture and may even “on-share” it, citing you as the reference point where they found it.

This is where the ability to tag in Facebook can be really useful. An article you found and posted can easily be shared as a link by someone else, with a tag to your page as a thank you for sharing. Win-win!

5. Respond to Comments or Questions

If someone posts a question or a comment on your page, reply. Sounds simple, but I’m amazed how many people don’t even bother to visit their own page to see what is happening on the wall.

Engaging with your visitors is an ideal way to establish rapport and build up a following of loyal fans who will love to hear from you.

If you do this, chances are next time they have a question in your field of expertise, they’ll ask you. Their friends will also see that they’ve posted on your Facebook business page wall and some will click through to see why.

Why Did you Build a Facebook Business Page?

Your aim when building a Facebook business page should be to generate traffic to your page, as a source of potential leads, clients and customers.

Your challenge is to keep them interested when they get there. Keep them engaged. Keep them coming back.

That way they’ll see you as the expert and seek your advice and opinion when they have an issue to solve or question to ask.

Hire Professional SEO Services to Boost Your Business

Making your business successful requires proper tactics that can broadcast your business to your customers in order to help you attract more customers for your business. Internet marketing is the best solution that can ensure the success of your business. Business websites are a gateway for your business to target the vast online market and internet marketing is the portal that you can use to attract your targeted customers.

Internet marketing increases your online traffic, pre-sell your projects & services, increase sales conversation, and improve your brand image and value. An eye catching attractive website is essential in the technologically advanced and highly competitive market of current age, for the success of business. Internet marketing services provider companies are easily available on the internet these days and finding the right company to market your business is just what it takes to make your business successful.

The companies that provide internet marketing services are highly experienced in the field of internet marketing. The effectiveness of these companies is un-doubtable because of the various strategies they use in order to differentiate your company from your competitors and normal crowd, which basically decides your success. No matter what type of business you are running, when you take your business online, be assured that many other people have the same business as you do and they are selling the same things as you are. Therefore, creating a difference between your website and the website of your competitors is necessary in order to attract customers and internet marketing services is the only way that can easily ensure this important prospect.

Internet marketing services will not only give your website the attention that it needs to stay in business, but it will also give your business the opportunities it needs in order to raise the profit graph of your business. Internet marketing services use a variety of strategies in order to broadcast your website to your targeted customers. Strategies such as, PPC management, search engine optimization (SEO), online PR and affiliate program management and marketing etc. Only a professional company offering internet marketing services knows the right mix of business accuracy and human touch that is needed to make your business successful.

According to market statistics more than 85% of total internet traffic and 50% of E-commerce transactions are generated through search engines. Therefore, search engine optimization is necessary in order to gain high rankings in the different search engines because this is the traffic that will determine the fate of your business. If you are unable to grab a fair share from this vast traffic, your business cannot be successful. SEO is a technique that can help you reach your goals much faster if it is done properly.

If your website is not able to gain high ranks in the search engines for the key phrases relative to your business, then this could mean huge loss for your business. In order to gain higher ranks for relative key phrases of your business, using the internet marking services is essential because they know the tips and tricks that are necessary to market your business successfully.

Truth About The Beachbody Coach Business

If you are reading this article, you must have been informed of this opportunity and you are doing your due research. The truth of the situation is that you should analyze any business venture. This opportunity was doubtless brought to your attention by a pal or you bought one of the team beachbody workout dvds. If you bought a fitness dvd, you were probably made contact with by a team beachbody coach, whose job was to help you reach your health targets with your workout. No matter how the break was introduced to you, your most important concern is to see if it's a legit opportunity.

Team Beachbody is the proud maker of best selling home fitness exercise programs, like P90X, Insanity, Turbo Fire, Hip-hop-abs, and a lot more. Likely, you saw the exercise routines on infomercials and were amazed by the alteration from ordinary people. This company's main focus is to finish the trend of obesity, by providing home workout solutions designed to suit any budget, and something that may be done in around an hour a day.

Team Beachbody Coach Business model is very simple and duplicable. Team Beachbody is up on the multi-level enterprize model, where they call their distributors coaches. Coaches are the first line and the heart of beachbody. Coaches are there to help buyers who have got their workouts online or thru the infomercials, reach their health goals. Also, while coaches are there to support and galvanize, coaches are also there to sell other workout dvds, additions, and club memberships. As a Beachbody Coach you are also needed to build your team of coaches to grow your cash making potential.

How does one get paid as a Beachbody Coach?

As a coach, you get paid several ways. The primary way is resale - here is where you sell a product thru your company's website. The 2nd way is membership sale - you can sell a club membership and you'll get paid unearned income each time the customer renews their membership. The third way is team bonus - here is where the rubber hits the road. You get paid leftover based off your team production ; this comes from your down line sales. Team beachbody also gives out bonuses for fast start, top recruiters, and the most home direct orders.

The income potential of a Beachbody Coach varies wildly, Coaches can make anywhere from $0.00 to over 1,000,000 dollars yearly. The secret to success is grit and being consistent.

To conclude, Team Beachbody is a fantastic opportunity for those that are wanting to get in the best shape of their life physically and financially.

The Three Most Commonly Accepted Affiliate Myths

Affiliate marketing has become really vast, which is why it is surrounded by a number of myths. If you want to know what those myths are, keep reading.

One affiliate marketing myth that's still around is the one where affiliates think they need to spend countless hours making websites and various blogs and then keeping them up. It's important for you to understand that affiliate marketing doesn't require much effort at al when it comes to designing a website and keeping it up with the intent of offering products. Why, you ask? That's because you don't have to keep adding to it to keep it up. An example of this would be if you had a site that was intended to review a product that you happen to be promoting. This site could stay like it is forever, unless there was something that changed with the product. There are times when you'll see that such review pages remain the same for years, without any addition of new content. It should now be apparent that you don't need to spend a lot of time making a page for the purpose of selling affiliate products. Not only that, but blogs and Squidoo pages that have your products for sale only require you to do what you can to make sure you have enough backlinks to keep your same search engine ranking. Beyond that, it's completely your call as to what additional products or information you want to add.

Another wrong impression about affiliate marketing is that you can't get positive results because of all of the people that are doing the same thing. Yes, there are a few niche markets where there is tons of competition, but that also means that there is opportunity in there. But on the other hand, there are also niche markets that have low numbers of competition. If you are serious about creating success, you must be able to do better than the competition because this will let you see what affiliate marketing is all about.

Also, it's a myth that you need many visitors to actually get sales for your affiliate product. Although you want targeted traffic coming to your particular site, it is even more important. There are sites that receive huge number of visitors but don't have many conversions. This basically means that in order to continue making consistent sales, you have to ensure that you provide what your visitors are looking for. So you see there are plenty of affiliate marketing myths, new ones as well as ones from several years ago. It's your ability to look past these myths to the goals you've set for yourself that will determine your success or failure in this business.