Part 12_101 Internet Businesses You Can Start From Home

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Part 12_101 Internet Businesses You Can Start From Home 292 101 Internet Businesses You Can Start From Home 99. Wedding Products OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS MODEL People take planning for a wedding seriously. There is a ton of organizing to be done and items to be bought. The many related costs for a wedding can add up, and in an effort to keep the whole lovely event within a budget that doesn’t break the bank, many go online searching for the best buys available. It saves them time and money, so putting a wedding products business online is a great idea. You can generate revenue for the wedding products Web site by selling wedding products directly from your Web site and having them gift-wrapped if need be or delivered to the correct address at the convenience of the customer. You can offer anything from invitations and wine glasses to wedding dresses and veils. You should concentrate on servicing clients within your geographic reach because this will allow you to provide a personalized service with plenty of local resources such as links to all the churches, caterers, halls, hotels, and other related services. You should include a gift registry on the site where guests can check what has already been bought for the happy couple and find sugges- tions of what they might like or need. The possibilities for this business can go far if you use your imagination to explore all the services within your power to make a wedding go smoothly and make these services available online on your site! SKILLS NEEDED Knowledge of online promotional techniques would be an asset when oper- ating this type of business. The wedding resources within your local area need to be researched and provided on your site. You should know the latest wedding trends and be familiar with different cultural traditions when it comes to marriage. Knowledge of wedding planning would also be a primary benefit. You will need basic Web publishing skills to update and manage your Web site. COST TO START THIS BUSINESS If you launch this type of business, you will initially have to pay for the devel- opment, design, and hosting of your Web site, computer hardware, computer software, a scanner, a printer, and possibly a digital camera. You will also have to pay for the electronic storefront. This enables you to easily display and sell your wedding paraphernalia. Other costs that you will incur are related to the promotion of your Web site. Estimated cost is $5,000 to $20,000 to start. 101 Profiles of Top Internet Business Concepts 293 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES NEEDED One person with wedding product, planning, and organization experience can operate this business at the outset. If you acquire a significant client base and save people money, your business will grow from referrals, so you may want to hire an assistant later on to manage orders and distribution. INTERNATIONAL POTENTIAL This business has low international potential. If you are selling wedding prod- ucts online, chances are the customers will want to do business with someone in the area, and the reason they choose to do it online will be for convenience and discounted pricing. E-BUSINESS MODEL/PAYMENT PROCESSING METHOD E-business level 2 or 3 would be most appropriate for this type of business. For more information, see Part 1. IMPORTANT BUSINESS ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED The site must be kept current. When items are discontinued or are out of stock, this must be updated on the Web site. Since you are promoting your products to an online audience, it is extremely important for you to generate as much traf- fic as possible to your site. There are multiple ways for you to do this; however, it is essential that you allocate a significant amount of time to online promotion of the site. ONLINE MARKETING TECHNIQUES • Developing a comprehensive affiliate/associate program would not only increase the awareness of your wedding product site, it would also send referral business to your site. • Launching a strategic banner advertising campaign on Web sites fre- quented by your target market would be a great way to increase traffic to your site. Sites that you could place banner ads on include family- oriented sites and noncompeting wedding-related sites. Sites targeted toward party or event planning and sites that particularly target fe- males would also be appropriate. • You could hold a weekly or monthly contest on your site for a free wedding product. You could ask people if they would like to be notified of the winner via e-mail. This would encourage them to return to your 294 101 Internet Businesses You Can Start From Home site and re-enter your contest, thus re-exposing them to your wedding products. • Develop as many links as possible from Web sites, directories, and meta- indexes frequented by your target market. There are thousands of wed- ding-related Web sites online. These are the sites that your target market will visit if they are planning a wedding; thus it is extremely important that your site generate links from these sites. • You could develop a Featured Product page on your site. You could change this product every week. People will continue to return to your site to see what the featured product is. You could even ask people if they would like to be notified of your featured product via e-mail. This would be a great way to encourage repeat traffic. • Optimize your sit ...