When a small business decides to take their business online there are usually several mistakes that they do. This is partially due to lack of experience and often lack of knowledge. There seems to be a trend that small businesses think of their website as an online business card instead of a marketing tool. That is where the majority of them go wrong. So let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes done when a small business takes their business online.

1. Order of links

So many times you visit a small business website and they proudly flag the “about us” link as their first link. This is called the pride link because they often think that telling people about the company is the most important thing. The links should be in order of importance. Not in the order of the business owners EGO! If you use a website designer and he does consult you on the order of links, chances are you should be using someone else or at least make sure you educate yourself about online marketing because your website designer sure hasn’t!

2. No focus

Most small business websites lack focus. When you enter you are not sure where to go next which makes it hard for the user to understand exactly what he is supposed to do. The website should flow and the user should be able to make sense of the site within a few seconds of opening it up.

3. No sale / No lead setup

Many small businesses do not use their website to increase sales directly or capture leads. It is nothing more than an online brochure or business card. Sometimes the information is more confusing than it is helpful. If you competitors site is easier to navigate and captures either the sale or lead, you just lost a client. A small business websites needs to be even more on top of catching leads than a corporate website because every client lost counts more!

4. No analytics

Most small business websites have no clue what people do when they enter their site. No clue what users are really looking at and where they are losing their potential sale or lead. If customers just walked in and out of their place of work eyebrows would be raised and something would be done. Shouldn’t the same thought process apply to the site? You need to know what is going on with your small business website and what users are doing.

5. No marketing purpose

This is the biggest “Whammy” of them all. Small business websites tend to fail seeing the potential of using the website as a complete marketing tool. The fundamental reason to take a business online would be to do marketing. The lack of marketing vision explains the mistakes from above. If just this single piece was in place when a small business builds their website, many of the other things would be solved because they would educate themselves about what it means to have a marketing tool!

6. No results!

This is no surprise considering everything above. If there is no purpose, no focus, no vision and no marketing thought behind the site then there are probably no results from the site either. What is even worse is that most small business websites do not even measure results or understand how to measure results from their site. Once again it is a lack of understanding more than anything!

So what can a small business do when they are ready to take their business online and setup their small business website? The most important thing is to educate themselves in a few areas. The most important ones being, what you need to consider before building or having someone build your website. How to use the website as a marketing tool and it would be extremely beneficial to you if you at least had some understanding of what SEO is and how it works. What is the difference between a website designer, website developer and an online marketing company? All of them do different things and have a different understanding of how to use the internet; the question is what purpose is your website supposed to serve? For most it should be a marketing tool, because the internet is the most effective marketing tool available!

If you own, operate, manage or you are starting up a small business then we suggest that you take a look at the 10make90: Get your website up right. (Can be found on www.10thatmake90.com [http://www.10thatmake90.com]). It is a great resource for small businesses looking to build a website and take the step online. You can find all the basic information you need to know before taking that step and taking your business online. Make sure that you are utilizing the power of the internet fully as a small business. The rate of businesses that fail is high enough; at least make sure your business is getting all the leads and sales that it can be getting. Don’t make the same mistakes that others are doing, it takes so little effort for you as a small business owner to avoid those common mistakes!

Auctions are those events where properties or goods are sold to the highest bidder. Auctions are mostly public events, where bidders make a series of bids and purchase a particular item for a high price. During auctions, bidders decide the price of an item rather than the seller. It depends on bidders to decide the amount they would want to pay for a specific item. During an auction, a bid is a proof of a legal binding. Bidders agree to pay the amount that they have bid. In a high profile auction, bidders may have to pay a deposit in escrow accounts or give a proof that they can pay for those items.

Types of Auctions:

Different types of auctions take place around the world. Below mentioned are some types of auctions:

1. English auction:
This is a basic type of auction. In this type, people can see the item and then start bidding. Bidders slowly raise the value of their bid until everyone gives up. The highest bidder is the winner. An auctioneer manages an auction, keeps records of the on going bid and decides the winner. Sometimes, the seller will quote a minimum amount for an item to the auctioneer, below which the auctioneer cannot sell that item.

2. Dutch auction:
In this type, the auctioneer sets a particular price and then gradually lowers the price. People in public will start bidding and later decide which prices are suitable for the item. A seller may use this type of auction to sell large quantities of same products to the public. For instance, a seller may want to sell a large amount of hay and will thus, decide to sell this hay to people for the same amount, once a reasonable price is decided.

3. Silent auction:
In this type, the bidders in public will present their bids in a sealed format. These sealed bids open at the same time and bidder with the highest bid wins. There could be a modification in this type of auction. The bidders are allotted a specific period to bid. They can roam in a room displaying the items, and write their bids on an associated sheet of paper. The bidders are allowed to see bids of other bidders and can choose a higher price for an item. At the end of the allotted time, bidder with the highest bid is the winner.

Examples of Auctions:

Auctions can be of two types either public or private. Sellers may trade any kind of items in both types of auctions. Some areas where auctions take place are:

1. Antique auction: An antique auction consists of a trade opportunity as well as provides entertainment.

2. Collectable auction: In a collectable auction, the seller may put up collectables like coins, vintage cars, luxury, stamps, real estate, and luxury for sale.

3. Wine auction: In wine auction, bidders can bid for rare wine, which may not be available in retail wine shops.

4. Horse auction: Bidders can bid for young horses of the best breed.

5. Livestock auction: In livestock auction, bidders can buy pigs, sheep, cattle, and other livestock.

The other examples of auctions may not be public. These auctions are for bidders from corporate levels. Some examples of private auctions are:

1. Timber auction
2. Spectrum auction
3. Electricity auction
4. Debit auction
5. Environmental auction
6. Auto auction
7. Electronic market auction
8. Sales of business auction

Bidders in an auction need to examine the items displayed and decide an appropriate price for an item. Thus, auctions help buyers in getting the best deals and in gaining better profits for sellers.

There are tons of home based business ideas you can adopt, and choosing the right one may not be easy, however, knowing what to look for in a home based business will definitely make things much simpler.

The following is a set of 7 questions which you should be asking yourself to determine the type of home based business you truly desire and worth putting your focus and effort in.

1. How much startup capital am I willing to invest in my home based business?

Budgeting is very important, and you should always set aside an amount of cash flow for emergencies.

When determining the investment, it should be an amount you are comfortable with to start your home based business. It does not necessary mean that you have to invest the full amount, but rather as gauge to filter out high costing home based business ideas.

Since you will be working from home, you need not pay the high cost of rental for office space and depending on the business you are in, possibly no management of employees and salary required. Most of your investment will most likely go into purchase of raw materials, services and marketing.

There are other on-going variable costs you need keep track such as bills, purchase of raw materials and etc. And you should be splitting your household expenses and that for work related for tax purposes.

2. What is the Risk level of the home based business I’m comfortable with?

Home based businesses vary in risk levels, and you should determine the amount of risk you’re willing to take. Risk can be due to return on investment, product fulfillment, natural disaster and more…

Higher risk business not necessary will always give you a better return. There are home based businesses that are low cost and risk level but still make you tons of money.

3. Do I want to deal with physical or digital products?

Product fulfillment is very important in a business. It determines the customers’ trust on your home based business and how much you can be making. You have to be prepared for cases where the product failed to deliver, product damaged during delivery and refund request.

Thus, you have to decide whether you want to deal with physical products that needs to be delivered, or digital products that can be downloaded from the website directly after payment.

4. Do I want to target global or local customers?

Depending on the type of product or services you are providing, you can be targeting either local or global customers. Of course, this will also depend on how you handle payment and product fulfillment. Should you be leveraging on the Internet to target global customers, you need a website that accepts credit card payments. On top of that, you must be ready to handle larger orders.

5. Do I have the knowledge or experiences in this industry?

You need not be an expert, but at least some knowledge is preferred before you jump into an industry. Always do your research to find what is in demand before you waste all your money, time and effort.

Keep a lookout for partners or mentors who are more experience, whom you can leverage on to guide and assist you towards your success in your home based business.

6. How much time am I willing to spend on this home based business?

Time management is important, especially when you are your own boss. There are home based businesses that require a lot of your time, and those that requires lesser time but giving same result.

If having more time freedom is one of the reasons you want to start your home based business, then you should be looking at home based businesses where you can outsource most of the work and put it into automation.

7. Do I want to get paid once or many times per sale?

If you are dealing with membership or subscription types of businesses, then you would have a ready customer base that will purchase from you regularly from your one time marketing effort.

Alternatively, you could also be in a home based business that you market frequently and make money on every sale made.