Website design can be one of the most frustrating, but most rewarding aspects of building your online business. When designing a website, there are three main areas that you want to consider. Text, Graphics, and the overall page design. In this article, we’ll consider the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of each of these areas.

Website Text -

Do’s:

• Use only 1 or 2 different fonts per page
• Use only 1 or 2 different font sizes per page
• Hyperlinks on keywords that link to specific pages of your site.
• Text colors should be easy to read, and not too hard on the eyes.

Don’ts:

• Use all caps, bold, or italicized print
• Don’t underline text
• Use graphics or picture based text
• Flamboyant and distracting colors such as bright yellow, pink, etc.

Graphics -

Do’s:

• Graphics fit easily on the screen
• Large files download only if requested by the user.
• Users are informed of required plug-ins, especially if they are missing the plug-in needed to view the graphic or multimedia file.
• Keep graphics under 800 x 600 pixels so that they can be viewed correctly by the majority of internet users.

Don’ts:

• Use large file sizes
• Use multi-media without referencing the plug-in needed to view the file.
• Use graphics that are too wide.

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When researching suppliers for your website, you want to be careful who you choose to work with. A reliable supplier can help your business to thrive and a good relationship with that supplier can lead to larger profit margins on your part. However, an unreliable supplier can cause you profit loss and may even drive you out of business altogether. Whether you are looking for a dropshipper, a wholesaler or a manufacturer, there are certain things you want to look for before choosing which company to work with. Below is a list of key questions to ask before making a decision.

Dropshippers:

• Do you have a minimum order?
• Will you allow us to sell online?
• Do you wholesale?
• How do you ship the products?
• What is your average delivery time?
• Will you allow me to use your photos on my website?
• Do you charge a dropship fee? (You want the answer here to be NO!)
• Do you accept returns?
• Do you charge a restocking fee?
• Do you want returns sent directly to you?
• Do you prefer to be paid per order or on credit?
• Do you have a suggested retail price for your products?
• Do you guarantee your products?
• Do you ship internationally?

Wholesalers (same questions as you’d ask for dropshippers, plus the following):

• What is the cost per piece?
• What are your quantity discounts/price breaks?
• How long will it take to receive the bulk orders I send?
• What support do you offer me and my customers?

Manufacturers (again-same questions as you’d ask for dropshippers, plus the following):

• What is the cost per piece?
• Do you offer quantity discounts/price breaks?
• What is your production timeline?
• Will I be given samples of my product before final production? (This is a very important question so be sure to ask it! Without tangible samples-not just a PDF document-you cannot be sure the final product will turn out the way you planned.)
• What do you need from me in order to manufacture my product?
• Where is your warehouse located?
• Can you provide me with contact information for some of your current or past clients? (This will allow you to get a first person testimonial supporting or warning against this manufacturer.)

Remember that it is ultimately your choice and don’t allow anyone to pressure you into agreeing to any terms. After all, you are the boss in this situation! Researching suppliers is a key responsibility in building any business so you want to take your time and make the best educated decision possible. Use these questions as a guideline to choosing your supplier. Also, refer to this article by Janet Meiners for great tips on searching for and negotiating with suppliers. Happy supplier shopping!

by Kylie Comfoltey

So you’ve chosen your product that you want to base your website around. Unless this is something that you plan on making and shipping yourself, you need to find a supplier. This is sometimes easier said than done, but luckily there are several different methods of finding suppliers. One of them is bound to work, but some are harder than others. Let’s go through the different things you can do to find a supplier for your website. These are in no particular order, and you may need to do a combination of these things to find the supplier or suppliers that you need.

Search Google (or other search engine)
This is one of the most time consuming ways to try and find suppliers because a lot of dropshippers do not advertise themselves on the search engines as ‘dropshippers’. But there is a good chance that you’ll be able to find something. Just go over to a search engine like Google and type in “[product name] dropshipper”. For example, if I needed to find a supplier for tents I would type in “tent dropshipper” and then go through the results to see what I can find. You could also try this with the word ‘wholesaler’ and see if you can talk them into doing dropshipping for you.

Manufacturer Directories
Another way to search for suppliers is to go looking for manufacturers on a manufacturer directory. If the manufacturer won’t dropship, they might know of a distributor of theirs that does. Here are several sites that you can go to for finding manufacturers:

• Alibaba - deals mostly with Asian manufacturers
• ThomasNet
• TradeKey

Big Dropship Companies
A really easy way to find a supplier is to just go to a company that will place a bunch of suppliers products on their site for you to choose from. This is a more expensive way to go, but that’s what happens when things are convenient. Sometimes these sites are called ‘dropship aggregators’ because what they do is go out and find the manufacturers, suppliers, and others and list their products on their site. They normally charge some sort of access fee to their information, and they also won’t tell you directly who the actual suppliers are. Examples of sites like this are Doba and Simplx.

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Retail sales online continue to grow in 2007. Is anyone surprised? E-commerce and business on the internet really is setting itself up as the wave of the future, and with things still on the rise it’s a great time to get involved.So let’s look at some of the numbers. According to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2007 (January to March) were estimated at $31.5 billion, which is an increase of 3% from fourth quarter of 2006 (October - December). That may not sound like a huge increase, but total retail sales only increased by about 1.7%. So e-commerce once again almost doubled regular retail in one quarter! Another interesting statistic is that e-commerce retail sales have increased by an estimated 18.4% since fourth quarter 2006. Total retail sales only increased by an estimated total of 3.2%. If you were wondering if e-commerce was still growing, the answer is a resounding YES!

Here are some highlights from some of the big players online and what they have also experienced in the first quarter of 2007:

Amazon

Amazon has experienced some great growth so far this year. Net sales increase 32% since the first quarter of 2006. In dollars, that’s an increase from $2.28 billion to $3.02 billion in sales. Their net income increased 115% in the same period, which equates to an increase from $51 million to $111 million. Talk about growth!

eBay

eBay also had some good growth in the first quarter. Their total revenue increased from $1.72 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006 to $1.77 billion. Net income increased from $346 million to $377 million in the same period.

If you were wondering if e-commerce is still growing, the answer is a resounding YES! The good news is that its not just the big boys that are growing, but other smaller sites all over the internet continue to grow their profits as well.

So how can you benefit from this information? Very simply, if you’re not involved with selling things online you should really consider doing so! The internet is a marketplace that is only going to continue to grow as time goes on. Don’t let this train pass you by. Whether it’s getting involved with eBay or starting up your own retail website, now is a great time to get started.

Another great thing about getting started on the internet is that there is lots of free information and also people that are willing to help you get started. The possibilities are endless. Find something that you’re interested in and something that you can get a supplier for, and start getting involved!

Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/07Q1.html
Amazon Q1 2007 Financial Results: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/97/97664/Q107_PressRelease.pdf
eBay: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=EBAY

by Dan Patterson

So you want to blog? You’re not alone. According to Pew Internet 80,000 new blogs are created every day. There are many benefits to blogging.

Here are a few benefits of blogging:

1. Blogs are informal and written in a conversational way. Web sites tell the formal story about your business. Web sites are normally not updated frequently. Changing a web site is too technical for the average person - so you need a web programmer to do add a web page to your site. Blogs are an easy way to add information online.
2. Writing a blog entry or post is almost as easy as writing an email.
3. Blogs are casual in tone. People get to know the stories of your life, your business, or things you are passionate about. Blogs are a way to establish credibility and trust. People get to see the real you.
4. Google loves blogs. What do I mean? When you start a new web site it can take months before Google adds it to their index. However, I’ve seen blogs listed in as little as an hour after being created.
5. Blogs give you a chance to use keywords that relate to your business. This helps you get ranked higher in search engines.

If you’re ready to blog you can start right now. Unlike regular web sites, the process is fast and easy. And most blogging software is free. Here are a few popular blogging platforms from easy to more advanced.

Blogger - http://www.blogger.com

Blogger is Google’s blog software and perhaps the easiest way to start blogging. You simply choose a name for your blog and get started. They have templates to choose from. How to set up a blog in Blogger video from YouTube

Pros

• Easy for beginners.
• Easy integration of Google ads - you make money when someone clicks on them.
• Instant credibility in the search engines when your URL has the Blogger name.

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