Sharon Cohen - 199 Internet-based Business You Can Start with Less Than One Thousand Dollars: Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions

199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less than One Thousand Dollars:

Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions

by Sharon L. Cohen

with a foreword by Bill Askenburg Artisan & Proprietor, New England Birdhouse, www.NewEnglandBirdhouse.com

199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less than One Thousand Dollars: Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cohen, Sharon, 1949

199 internet-based businesses you can start with less than one thousand dollars : secrets, techniques, and strategies ordinary people use every day to make millions / by Sharon L. Cohen.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60138-255-9 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60138-255-3 (alk. paper)

1. Electronic commerce. 2. Electronic commerce--Management. 3. New business enterprises--Computer networks. 4. Internet marketing. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred ninety-nine internet-based businesses you can start with less than one thousand dollars.

HF5548.32.C629 20099

658.11--dc22

2008030530

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Table of Contents

Author Dedication

To Seth and Jordan, as they find their way in and out of the virtual world

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Foreword

Ten years ago, I decided to open my online business, New England Birdhouse, selling custom birdhouses that were replicas of my clients homes. Armed with a unique niche product, knowledge of marketing, and stubborn persistence, I set out to stake my claim in the dot-com world.

After spending 20-plus years in the advertising industry, I recognized that I had a product perfectly suited to capitalize on the niche marketing potential of the Web, but no road map of how to build my online business so I winged it. I surveyed the competition, brainstormed countless lists of domain names, wrote a lot of copy, and learned enough HTML code to cobble together my first Web site. Within a couple of months, I had my first custom birdhouse order; New England Birdhouse, at www.newenglandbirdhouse.com , was officially in business.

Since that time, my Web site has been through countless design revisions. Search engine optimization (SEO), page rank, Facebook, and Twitter have become my recent online marketing obsessions. My Web site includes both a blog chock-full of original backyard birding articles, as well as a customer-service-supported online storefront selling birding supplies, garden and patio dcor, and New England-style artisan wares. I maintain a waiting list for my custom birdhouses and have crafted them for clients across the United States and abroad.

At each step, I looked for a comprehensive guide that would help show me the way, and I believe that Sharon L. Cohen has finally written it.

For the entrepreneur on a shoestring, 199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less than One Thousand Dollars: Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions is not only a how-to guide to start an online business, but a must-have to thrive in the world of e-commerce. This helpful guide is for everyone who is exploring the possibility of starting an online business and for the seasoned online business owner who needs fresh marketing and advertising ideas to take a business to the next level.

The first chapter helps you through the process of determining whether being an online merchant is for you. Are you passionate about making this happen? Are you self-motivated? Do you have the commitment to stick to it through the ups and downs? What business skills do you bring to the table are you organized, have a strong sense of customer service, or interested in marketing? Starting and building an online business is not easy, but it can be very rewarding.