Strategies and Solutions for Home-Based Business...
This site features in-depth information about wholesale drop shipping in Canada and the U.S., how-to info on China sourcing, trade and tariff resources, reviews of selected drop
ship and wholesale directories, online marketplaces, service and fulfillment solutions, plus complete hosting and drop ship turnkey solutions for home-based business.
We are a research and communication service, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We report on reliable strategies and solutions
for wholesale drop shipping and home-based business in Canada and the United States, including tax and tariff rules and regulations.
We also present collected resources on China sourcing, company search, wholesale search, trade and craft shows, eBay alternatives, marketing and site promotion, plus
resources for Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. And if you're looking for site design and content development, we can help you with that too.
BLUE BOOK Top 20 Rankings of CPA and Affiliate Networks
The 2010 results were divided into Top 20 CPA and Affiliate networks
because, while both approaches may be categorized as performance marketing, they focus on different pricing structures, involve different publisher
strategies, and have different types of traffic and advertising clients. The Top 20 lists are shown below, but it's worth reading the write-ups onsite.
Following last year's overwhelmingly positive feedback on the list of emerging scripts we featured, we're back this year with our second
installment of "Emerging Free Web Scripts to Watch for in 2012." The scripts that made it to the list this year have been curated from submissions we received, along with handpicked scripts scoured from the Net.
This year's list is even better than last year, featuring both new and updated scripts that take innovation, feature sets and — most importantly — use of web technologies to the next level. Our list is
comprised of web scripts coded in different languages and in a broad range of categories. I feel certain that you will find something new to use on your site or at least items to keep tabs on for upcoming projects.
More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
Average user has 130 friends
More than 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
On average, more than 250 million photos are uploaded per day
More than 70 languages available on the site
Approximately 80% of users are outside of the United States
Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application
On average, people on Facebook install apps more than 20 million times every day
Every month, more than 500 million people use an app on Facebook or experience Facebook Platform on other websites
More than 7 million apps and websites are integrated with Facebook
More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices
More than 475 mobile operators globally work to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products
Current Edition: December 2011
With 800 million users around the world, and counting, Facebook is one of today's leading destinations influencing online identity, entertainment, and content distribution. [...C]reated by the publishers of
Inside Facebook [...] as a guide to growing your business [...] through Facebook marketing[, t]he Facebook Marketing Bible is the comprehensive reference for
marketers on Facebook, whether you're running your first test or you're ready to maximize your existing campaigns. [...]
There's no doubt about it, marketing on Facebook is something businesses are doing more
and more as the social network grows closer to one billion members. The Facebook ad team has actually done a wonderful job working with engineers at the company to build an easy to use, self-service
ad product that makes Google AdWords targeting seem silly and incomplete.
You can target Facebook ads to people of a certain age, location, or area of interest. You can get really focused with your marketing.
This infographic from Flowtown shows survey results the company collected about who is marketing
on Facebook. Impressively, 69% of the businesses they spoke with are utilizing Facebook for this very purpose. [...]
Finding the Right Products To Sell
Selling what people are buying is the only way to make money.
And selling those products in the right places is equally important.
One of the best ways to find the answers to both questions is provided by Worldwide Brands — take a video tour
of the Market Research Wizard.
Doing real business online...
It's best to set up your business as a legal entity. If you're in Canada, talk with the people at CorporationCentre.ca. In the States, check out the services provided by
MyCorporation.com.
Worldwide Brands is the best resources available for identifying reliable suppliers, including China suppliers. Membership provides you with lifetime access to
Drop-Ship, Light Bulk, Volume, and Liquidation Wholesalers, plus a range of tools and capabilities (such as
Instant Import Buys and Instant Market Research) that can save you a lot of time and money. One-time fee, Lifetime membership.
Recommended Online Store Provider Build a Yahoo! Store
Interested in starting an online store? Yahoo! makes it easy.
Yahoo! Small Business offers a comprehensive eCommerce solution that includes reliable and secure hosting, a free domain name, easy-to-use design tools, unlimited disk space and data transfer,
unlimited email storage, and 24-hour customer service. Create your store design, add product details with the ecommerce wizard, accept payments, easily process and ship orders, and track
progress with extensive reporting capabilities. Yahoo! has everything you need.
Amazon Top Seller Secrets: Insider Tips from Amazon's Most Successful Sellers (2009), by Brad and Debra Schepp, shows readers why Amazon is the marketplace that will bring them more cash
and more customers. Sellers will discover everything they need to navigate the Amazon marketplace, set the right price for merchandise, drive more traffic to their product pages, achieve
consistently high feedback ratings, become an Amazon Pro Merchant, open more than one Amazon WebStore, source the best products, and more. Readers can increase their profits and build their
business without constraints and without all the hassles.
The authors' newest book, The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide: Insider Tips and Strategies for Sourcing Products from the Worlds Largest B to B Marketplace, was released in November 2009;
it describes how to ramp up your business, or build an entirely new business, using the Alibaba.com brand and web site as your supplier. This
practical guide provides simple answers for complex questions, from navigating the site, to finding products at the right price, branding, and much more. Plus, the book includes best
practices for importing, locating and vetting suppliers, and protecting yourself against online fraud. It's an answer-packed guide that answers all your questions about doing business
through Alibaba.com, and it is officially licensed and supported by Alibaba.com.
Social Toolbars
Wibiya Increase Engagement & Page Views
Adding the Wibiya toolbar to your website allows you to easily increase page views and user engagement, and promote your content. Wibiya offers a variety of free apps, enabling you to extend your
content’s exposure and provide users with a more interactive experience of your website. Very simple to install — a small JavaScript.
Meebo
Integrating all social networks and communications channels into a single, simple-to-use solution, Meebo enables users to easily share content and communicate in real time with the people who matter to them.
More difficult to configure, and with fewer apps.
Drop Ship Programs of interest
Vitabase
Vitabase provides their own brand of scientifically backed supplements as well as other popular health supplements ranging from vitamins and herbs to skin care enhancers.
They are a Nutritional Tree certified merchant. Located in Monroe, Georgia.
Native Remedies
I've been affiliated with this company for several years. The are online leaders in the field of natural remedies. Located in Boca Raton, Florida.
China Wholesale and Drop Shipping
AliExpress (by Alibaba.com) brings you quality products at wholesale prices — even on minimum orders as low as 1 item — and provides secure Escrow payment plus express delivery with full tracking. It's free to join, and
the new Escrow Buyer Protection guarantees that your transactions on AliExpress are secure. See Chinasourcing.
LightInTheBox.com serves customers
from over 50 countries around the world. Products include cell phones, clothing and apparel, electronics, computers, gifts and party supplies, health and beauty care products, home
and garden products, jewelry, bags, outdoor sports equipment and supplies, toys and hobbies, and video games. You can even get tailor-made wedding dresses, with great
discounts and special offers. LightInTheBox products are sourced directly from manufacturers, and undergo a quality assurance process before inclusion in the catalog. See Chinasourcing.
Chinavasion, in Shenzhen, China, was founded by European business people and
has staff from Greece, Germany, the UK, and several provinces in China. They ship products to resellers all over the world. Business is done in English
and in U.S. dollars.
Our appreciation of Chinavasion has grown as they continually provide useful instruction (email courses and onsite presentations) for prospective buyers. They do not
provide an escrow service such as that offered by AliExpress by Alibaba.com or DHgate.com, but their support services are very good and their range of products,
extraordinary. Highly recommended! See Chinasourcing.
Trend Watching —
What's up, what's coming?
Trendwatching.com publishes a free monthly Trend Briefing and news feed
that is one of the few I really enjoy reading. If you're not familiar with this Amsterdam-based group, you're missing out on valuable
trend spotting and marketing insight provided through a network
consisting of more than 8,000 global business and marketing-savvy spotters, delivering examples and insights to business
professionals in more than 120 countries. See Trends/Niches.
eBay — Research before you sell or buy...
Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, Terapeak,
an eBay Certified Provider, was founded in 2002 by brothers Anthony and Andrew Sukow while running their eBay Power Seller business. Terapeak is the only company to focus
exclusively on eBay research, and was the first to provide eBay seller, eBay category, eBay Motors P&A, and eBay international research. The company delivers high-caliber information on how
to sell, what to sell, competitor research, and seasonal trends. Research before you sell. Research before you buy. Find the value of your items, discover new products to sell, and develop
your selling strategy using Terapeak Marketplace Research.
How To Multiply Profits AND Automate Your Business
AWeber's opt-in email marketing software helps over 75,000 businesses like yours raise profits and build customer relationships.
dropbox
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website. Dropbox also makes it super easy to share with others, whether you're a student or professional, parent or grandparent.
[...] Dropbox’s ascent has been just as stunning. The 50-million-user figure is up threefold from a year ago, and it has solved the “freemium” riddle, with revenue on track to hit $240 million in 2011 despite
the fact that 96% of those users pay nothing. With only 70 staffers, mostly engineers, Dropbox grosses nearly three times more per employee than even the darling of business models, Google. Houston claims it’s already
profitable but won’t reveal margins.
It’s only going to get better. That 96% of nonpaying customers is throwing their stuff into Dropbox at such a pace that thousands of people each day blow through the free 2 gigabytes of storage, and upgrade to 50
gigs for $10 a month or 100 gigs for $20. Even if Houston doesn’t sign up a single customer in 2012, his sales will double. As we go over this math Houston pauses to garnish this lovely inevitability: “But we will
sign up many, many customers.” [...]
Government Auctions
In Canada, see Crown Assets, BC Auction, Service Alberta, or search by province.
Alternatively, GovernmentAuctions.org® is a well-known membership-based
web site that helps users find and participate in government auctions of seized and surplus property in the US and Canada. Currently lists 70 Government Auctions that are located in or pertain to Canada (CN).
Make Affiliate Sites on WordPress
Do you build landing pages and review sites for niche products and special offers? There's a user-friendly tool that might interest you. Affiliate Theme is an innovative new WordPress theme that was built
exclusively for affiliate marketers who want to quickly create and efficiently maintain affiliate websites. Launched in February 2009, Affiliate Theme has been very well received. That's not really a surprise.
You can reconfigure Affiliate Theme with incredible ease — change the colors, fonts, header graphic, navigation style, and even page layout. You don't have to be a coding expert to modify your theme, but you can use code if you want.
Take a look at the Theme Options Panel, v.1.1. Read testimonials from top affiliate marketers currently using Affiliate Theme.
What's New at SaleHoo
Create and run your own online store in less that 3 minutes...
Quick hassle-free setup, professionally designed templates, search-engine and user optimized, secure payment processing, automatic daily backups, hosting, and great support. Having
your own webstore can open a whole world of new opportunities for you. With your own store you are free to get buyers from multiple sources and you maintain complete control over how
your products are presented. You'll benefit from secure payment processing, prominent display of trust-inducing symbols, easy-to-find contact details, a rofessional privacy statement,
and a seamless design. A SaleHoo store takes care of all of that, and much more. There are three plans available to suit all budgets: $27/mo, $47/mo, $97/mo. Choose the one that suits
your needs — you can switch plans at any time. Learn More
Use Drop Shipping to Expand into New Markets Stuart Lisonbee
About the Author:
Stuart Lisonbee is an eBay PowerSeller, eBay Certified Consultant, and former eBay employee. He currently works for Doba, a drop ship service provider.
MiniInTheBox serves customers from over 170 countries and continues to expand. But our vision is ongoing: One world, one price. Check out our amazing collection on a wide range of products,
from video game accessories, iPad and iPhone accessories to crazy and cool electronic gadgets — over 17,000 SKUs.
For retail businesses, expanding into a new market can be a risky proposition. Aside from additional marketing costs,
there are also the costs of storing new inventory that may or may not sell.
This is just one more situation where drop shipping can help save you time, money, and a lot of unwanted stress. Just
like drop shipping is a low risk way to break into the retail business, it can also help your existing business get
its feet wet in new markets.
Let's take a look at an imaginary online retailer that sells camping equipment. For years, this retailer has focused
on specializing in tents and sleeping bags only. Now, to increase sales and profits, he wants to expand into more camping
accessories such as cookware, backpacks, propane, emergency equipment, and so forth. The problem is, he's worried that
he won't be able to overcome his reputation as a "tents and sleeping bags only" store, and he'll be stuck with a lot
of inventory he can't sell.
In comes the drop shipper. Now the tents-and-bags-only retailer can start offering an expanded offering on his website
without risking an investment in inventory.
One of four scenarios could possibly occur:
He is unable to sell any items from his expanded catalog, and goes back to selling just tents and bags.
He only loses a little time from the effort.
He sells some items, but not enough to justify bulk purchases of the additional items. He sticks with drop
shipping the new items to keep his new customers happy and coming back for more. Hopefully, sales continue to
increase and his expanded selection becomes a major part of his business.
The expanded selection is a huge hit, so he starts purchasing inventory to save money by purchasing in bulk.
He finds that he loves the time he saves from drop shipping so much, he expands his drop shipping operation to
include his tents and sleeping bags!
Whatever you're thinking about expanding into, drop shipping could be the solution for your business. Using a drop
shipper will allow you to run your tests without the risk of losing money on inventory.
When looking for a drop shipper, the usual rules apply: make sure they provide real-time inventory reports to minimize
the risk of backorders, make sure they use a reliable shipping provider that also provides tracking information, and make
sure they process orders in a timely fashion so you don't end up with angry customers.
Watch all 10 tips in this free series - see 
