The Problem with Starting a Free Home Business

Now I'm all about saving money, cutting costs and not over-paying for stuff - but at the same time, I believe we get what we pay for.

Yes, you can start a business for free, in fact there are many. However, it's going to cost you more time and more work in exchange for the "free" part. Are you up to it?

Starting any business is hard work. There's no way around that. Ask any business owner. That's why you always hear about "Start a business doing what you love", because that's the only way you'll ever make it through the "hard work" part.


Avoid the "Cookie Cutter"

Besides doing what you love, you've got to be different. Joining a cookie cutter business opportunity is just not going to cut it. Sure, it is free to start, but then what? You're competing for a little piece of market share against thousands of other people doing the exact same thing.

In order to compete, the little guy essentially has to eliminate his competition... meaning create his own little "sub-industry" or niche that differs enough from the big guys that they don't directly compete.


Getting Out of the Box and into Your Own Niche

Lots of clever entrepreneurs are now thinking outside-the-cookie-cutter-box and have started going online to share their unique ideas. You've probably seen many blogs and consulting businesses online run by individuals who market themselves more than the product or service they are selling. This is what I am talking about.

Where this really stands out to me is in the coaching/consulting industry. I see so many coaches popping up online, that I don't know how they all find clients. But you know what they've done? They've created their own niches that basically no one else can compete with.

Instead of marketing their services - they focus on marketing themselves. There may be thousands of coaches, but there is only one Bob Jones.

But I digress...

Starting a coaching or consulting business is not free, but sharing your ideas through a blog is. However, the drawback to a blog is that is takes time to attract readers to your blog. They've never heard of you.

Squidoo and HubPages

That's where sites like Squidoo and Hubpages come in handy. You can essentially set up your own unique individual pages on their high-traffic websites and share your knowledge and ideas with the world. On these sites, page-builders talk about all sorts of fun stuff, like cooking recipes, pets, home decor, traveling and every sort of interest you can think of.

These interesting and unique topics drive visitors to the site because as we all know - people go to the web to find out about stuff.

Creating pages on Squidoo or HubPages is free to do, of course, or I wouldn't be telling you about it. However, the catch is that it will cost you extra time and work. Don't expect to make money the first few weeks or months, but there are plenty of people that create Squidoo Lenses and HubPages for a living. And they never paid a cent.

It's worth looking into, if you're up for the work.

5 Ways to Get People to Come Back to Your Website

A prospect or customer can be expensive to acquire - so why not keep them once you've got their attention? Here are five simple ways.

1. Ask your website visitors to bookmark your site. Sounds simple and obvious - but are you doing it? Sometimes all it takes is asking. People are busy and usually have a million things on their mind when they are surfing the net. It's easy to get distracted (as most of us know), so don't assume everyone has your best interests in mind.

Social bookmarking widgets are easy to add to your site, and several are free, including AddThis.com and ShareThis.com.

2. Share useful advice. If visitors can learn from you - either through little-known industry tips, how-to instructional advice, product reviews or interviews with field experts - this gives them a great reason to return to your site. When you are writing, keep the reader's time and attention span in mind. Make your content easy to read, get to the point quickly and make sure it's informative and interesting.

Need ideas? Look at newspaper articles you read or popular blogs online, intriguing infomercials you see on tv or hear on the radio.

3. Provide useful tools for your visitors. These can be in a variety of different formats. You can offer free reports, audio downloads, on-site calculators, maps, charts, etc.. The more interactive and personalized to your visitors you can make them, the better.

Google has gadgets you can add, Facebook does too. FreeSticky.com provides lots of sticky content you can use and WidgetBox.com shows you how to build your own widgets.

4. Add a forum or discussion group to your website where visitors can join as members. This gives people an easy free way to get their questions answered, meet people who share common interests and feel like they are part of a group. As we've seen with sites like Facebook and Twitter, once people join a social group that they like, they want to come back for more.

5. Offer a free newsletter that includes news, tips, special deals and updates on your site. What if people forget to come back to your site? You already know they're busy. A newsletter is a great way to remind them to come back without having to go find them again.

Advertise your free newsletter on your website and give them an awesome reason to subscribe. Email newsletters and be easy, fast and cheap, and you can send out letters as frequently or infrequently as you like. There's no rule here. We use YourMailingListProvider.com, and you can set up an account with them for free.

Keeping your old customers is much easier and cheaper than trying to find new ones all the time. Long-time customers can also be a great source of referrals, too, so don't underestimate the power of getting people to come back to your site...

How a Simple Change Can Make a Dramatic Difference

I was just reading an article in Sunset Magazine that covered a variety of interesting and different sandwiches offered by local restaurants - and the recipes behind them.

They talked about turning "classic into fancy" or using unusual cuts of meat, etc.. By classic, I'm talking the egg salad sandwich, tuna melt and BLT. Stuff you've probably not thought much about because it's been around for years.

However, what I thought was so interesting was that many dishes were so unique - but the recipes revealed that only one ingredient was different. It got me thinking about unique business ideas.

In order to come up with a new product or service that is perceived by consumers as being unique and totally different - you may only need to change one ingredient. The whole concept of product development suddenly seems so much easier and less intimidating.

If you're struggling to come up with a really cool product or service idea, why not start with something that already exists? It can be a popular product or not-so-popular product. The goal is to make one simple or small change to create the perception of an entirely new item that either offers new benefits, is used in a different way, can be enjoyed by a whole new group of consumers, etc..

But what if you already have a business with existing products or services? Then what? Think about it this way: how could you step it up a notch or make a simple change or upgrade that results in a dramatic perceived difference?

Some ideas that you might think at first to be a little too crazy may be just what the market wants - something new, different and exciting. You never know until you try - and if nothing else, you can get your business some valuable free press.