Have you heard about domain names that sold for over a million dollars? Inspired by this, you imagine registering a great domain name, hanging onto it for a while, and then selling it off to become the next multi-millionaire. It could happen, but don’t count on it!

First of all, many of the truly great domain names are already taken. Second, the dot com bust took some of the wind out of inflated domain name prices. (If you sell your domain name for millions of dollars worth of stock in a publicly traded dot com flop, what is the name really worth?)

The cybersquatter buys domain names totally on speculation. Sometimes he will register names of famous brands, companies, or individuals. Time and again, these domain name speculators learn the hard way that they must respect intellectual property rights. They hope that some large corporation will pay big bucks to them for the use of the company’s own (already trademarked) name. Instead, they end up with threatening letters from a law firm for their attempts at extortion.

However, you can still make money from domain names if you are sensible in your approach. Here are some suggestions on ways to profit.

1. Affiliate Programs: Use your domain name to promote an appropriate affiliate program. Either redirect to the affiliate site or write a review that links to them.

2. Informational Sites: Create content and then profit from it by earning advertising revenue through Google AdSense or a similar program.

3. Redirect to Your Own Site: Some reasons you might want to do this include preventing competitors from using a particular domain name and benefiting from searches some users perform by domain name. (For example, if they wanted to order flowers, they might just type “flowers.com” in their web browser. You could get some traffic and sales this way.)

4. Product Sites: Create your own or sell someone else’s product appropriate to your domain name.

5. Park Your Domain Names: You might feel that your name has real potential for resale value. There are companies that will allow you to park your domain on their servers, advertise that your name is for sale, and split advertising revenue with you.

The trick is to generate traffic for your domain name. That traffic in turn will create revenue. Then, when you go to sell your domain name, you will have a few things going for you.

First, you will have a fully developed website. A fully constructed building on a piece of land increases the value of the real estate property. Similarly, the value of your domain name is enhanced by a complete and operating website.

Second, you have traffic. Just as a shopping mall with no traffic results in no sales, so a website must have traffic to generate income.

Third, you have income. An income property, such as an apartment building, can be appraised on the basis of its income (as well as other factors). Similarly, the gross income, net profits and cashflow of a website have value. For example, if someone offered you $1,000 for your domain name and website when it was generating $10,000 per day in profits, you would likely laugh at him.

You really can profit from your domain name investments by adding value and properly developing your web properties.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Perhaps you, like me, have web hosting that includes, free of any extra charge, unlimited autoresponders. That being the case, you might be inclined to balk at any suggestion to start paying for them.

Recently, however, I made the switch to paying a monthly fee for unlimited autoresponders. Am I rich (with money to burn)? Have I lost my mind?

Actually, I consider this move to paid autoresponders to be a wise decision. Here are some reasons why you might want to pay for an autoresponder service.

1. Sequential Autoresponders:

Although many web hosts offer unlimited autoresponders, each autoresponder is only capable of sending one response. Building business relationships with paid autoresponder services can thus increase your sales.

2. Tracking Capabilities:

The autoresponders that come with your web host don’t have built-in tracking capabilities. Tracking customer response with paid autoresponder services can lead to more effective advertising campaigns.

3. Deliverability:

A very large number of your newsletter subscribers are not getting your newsletter if it is sent using your web host’s mailing list program. Improving newsletter delivery with paid autoresponder services will improve your bottom line.

4. Legal Protection:

Since the e-mails you send are hosted on the autoresponder service’s servers, you are insulated from false accusations of sending spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail). Protect yourself legally with paid autoresponder services.

You could also consider buying an autoresponder program (or script) that will allow you to run unlimited, sequential autoresponders from your websites. However, they can be expensive, require some technical skill, and still have some disadvantages.

For example, since you are hosting your own autoresponders, you might still have issues with deliverability and legal protection.

Paid autoresponder services, with their many advantages over other autoresponder systems, can increase your business profits.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Wouldn’t you like to know all the Internet marketing “secrets” that have made me the man I am today?

I live in a house way too big for my beautiful wife and myself. We eat three square meals a day and can snack anytime we feel like it! We drive our luxurious Cavalier to the beach and swim anytime we want (when I’m not busy making money on the Internet and the beach is not closed because of E. coli levels or ice fishing).

It wasn’t always this way. I remember just about fifty-two short years ago when I had no clothes. The doctor had to wrap me up in a blanket. But I applied myself for decades and finally starting making money on the Internet.

Did you hear about the guy that made fifty million dollars in one day on eBay? Peanuts! If you want to make really huge amounts of cash from e-commerce, listen to a guy who’s been there.

Why should I tell you (a perfect stranger) all my tricks of the trade? Why don’t I just keep the information to myself and make a ton of cash with that knowledge?

These are good questions. This proves that you are thinking and that people on the Internet are not stupid or gullible.

The real reason I am sharing this information is because I like people. In fact, I like you. I consider you one of my closest friends because you are interested in my one passion, Internet marketing. The fact that you have read this far proves your interest. Because you are so smart and motivated, I want to help you.

The fact that I am going to release only 5,000 copies of my Internet marketing “secrets” at $5,000 a pop, for a cool $25,000,000, has absolutely nothing to do with money.

You see, I don’t really need the money. We only have three more payments to go on the Cavalier. My fridge is full of Canadian beer. So, money is obviously not my prime motivation.

My charging you $5,000 for my Internet marketing “secrets” is my way of giving back to the community. Really, I’m doing all this to help you because I want to leave behind a legacy. I want people to say (after I’m dead and have no clue about what’s going on) what a great philanthropist I was.

By the way, the lawyer at the legal clinic said I should tell you two words: “Earnings Disclaimer”.

Even though anyone as smart and motivated and good-looking as you is sure to make billions on the Internet working two or less hours a week, he insisted that I tell you. (Aren’t these creative types hilarious?)

He says: “There is no guarantee that you will make any money. Some persons are stupid, lazy and ugly and have zero chance of success.”

What a party pooper!

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Whether you want to come up with your own original name or wish to buy someone else’s, here are some strategies for obtaining a profitable domain name.

1. Do It Now!

If you do think of or find a good domain name, don’t procrastinate. Register or buy it now!

I’ve thought of a good name, checked it for availability, and then slept on it. When I went to register, the name was gone.

Years ago, one of my clients delayed in registering his company name and within a month someone else registered it.

The situation is even worse now. There is a lot of domain name speculation going on. Many simply register a name in the hope of selling it later to someone who desperately wants the domain.

It’s really true in the domain name registration world: If you snooze, you lose.

2. Register Dot Com

There are practical reasons why you should consider registering a dot com if at all possible.

When you go to sell, dot coms generally seem to go for more money than other Top Level Domains. Why is that?

It has been suggested that dot org or dot net are perceived to be second-rate because the owner either couldn’t afford to buy the dot com name or their competitor had the foresight to register it first. (Obviously, an ISP having a dot net or a non-profit organization having a dot org would not necessarily be perceived in this way.)

Additionally, dot coms are easier for people to remember. If you have a dot org or a dot net, it is just one more thing for people to have to remember. First, people have to remember your website’s name; then, they have to remember that your TLD (Top Level Domain) is not the commonly assumed dot com. You could lose some traffic to your dot com competitor.

3. Is It Practical?

Do you have a business use for the domain name? Is your name short and memorable? Does it describe or brand your business? Does it infringe on any trademarks? Is it free of hyphens, numbers, and other extraneous or confusing elements?

Give some careful thought to the above factors before registering or buying your domain name. It could be one of the best investments you ever made.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Your customer sees a marvelous array of products on your website. After thoughtful consideration, she purchases the product she wants. Amazingly, you have never actually seen the product. That is because your supplier shipped the order directly to her.

1. Problems With Stocking Inventory

After deciding what products you will sell, you are immediately faced with many challenges.

First: “To stock my products, will I need to rent store or warehouse space? I was hoping to sell by Internet, mail order, or export, but I don’t have much storage space for inventory at home.”

Second: “Will the supplier even deal with me if I don’t have a retail location? I was counting on keeping my overhead down by operating from home.”

Third: “I know that many manufacturers and distributors have a minimum order, sometimes in the thousands of dollars. I don’t have that kind of money!”

Fourth: “Even if I did have the money, why should I tie it up in inventory? How do I know if the product will even sell?”

Fifth: “I guess I will have to add extra insurance coverage for my inventory. Maybe I better upgrade my security system while I’m at it.”

Sixth: “The shipping charges are going to kill me. First, I have to pay to get the goods here (freight-in). Then, I have to pay to ship the goods out to my customers (freight-out).”

Seventh: “If I expand and hire employees, how will I control the inventory? How will I know if my employees are stealing from me?”

Eighth: “How much time and money am I going to spend packaging and fulfilling orders?”

These problems can be reduced or eliminated by drop shipping.

2. Drop Shipping to the Rescue

Drop shipping is a method of selling products without stocking inventory yourself. You don’t need to stock inventory, because you only order an item when a customer requests it.

With drop shipping, when you make a sale you contact the manufacturer or authorized distributor and make arrangements to pay for the order at your wholesale cost. Your distributor then ships the product to the customer with your invoice and shipping label.

For example, let’s assume that you have just sold a product to a customer for $100.00 plus shipping charges of $15.00. Having received the customer’s payment, you now need to fax or otherwise send your order to your drop ship supplier. You will need to pay your supplier, by credit card or other means, your cost of $50.00 plus $15.00 shipping. This leaves you a $50.00 gross profit. Your supplier will now ship the product to your customer.

With this arrangement of not having to stock inventory yourself, there are many advantages.

You eliminate the high costs of holding inventory. There is no need for you to rent expensive storage space, finance high minimum orders, get stuck with goods that don’t sell, or pay other expenses associated with maintaining inventory.

Indirectly, you do pay inventory costs. Your drop ship supplier must maintain his inventory and pay all associated costs, including freight-in, storage space, insurance, accounting, shrinkage, and so on. To make a profit, he must pass these costs on to you.

The real advantage to this drop shipping arrangement lies in keeping your costs variable. Instead of being stuck with these expenses up front, whether you sell or not, you pay only when you make a sale.

3. Profit From Drop Shipping

Many legitimate drop ship suppliers may not require you to have a retail location, but they will want to see evidence that you are in business. They may require you to produce a resale license or retail sales tax permit.

To be sure, there are pitfalls to watch out for in drop shipping. For example, some suppliers claim to sell at wholesale prices but are actually selling closer to retail. Also, margins are very slim in some competitive areas, such as electronics. However, with proper research and information, you should be able to avoid these problems.

Whether from your home, retail store, directly from your website or through an online auction, you can arrange to sell an item before you purchase it. That way you have nothing invested in inventory and won’t get stuck with stock that won’t sell.

Rather than financing and stocking inventory yourself, consider drop shipping your way to wealth.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

If you operate a small business, you may feel that your income potential is quite limited. However, you can increase and diversify your income through international trade.

1. Importing

Retail store owners can find additional products to sell from foreign manufacturers, distributors, and other suppliers.

Advantages of importing include increased product selection, lower costs, and increased income.

You may even decide to go exclusively into the import business and become a wholesale distributor.

2. Exporting

Manufacturers can find new customers for their products in foreign countries.

Perhaps consumers in your country have lost interest in your product. It may have become obsolete because of technological advances. A foreign market, however, may be desirous of that very product.

Maybe there is an economic slump in your country. Another country may be experiencing a boom. Sales from customers in that country may help stabilize your income.

Exporting can also help smooth the peaks and valleys of your income. For instance, if you sold winter sporting goods, you could sell to both northern and southern hemispheres to help offset the seasonal nature of your business.

Of course, you might also consider selling sporting goods for all the seasons and still export to other countries to increase and diversify your income.

You could also become an Export Management Agent. Arrange for other domestic companies to sell their products to foreign corporations and earn a ten percent commission.

You would think that selling to foreign customers would be quite risky. However, use of letters of credit can protect all parties. An Export Management Agent might actually arrange for ninety percent of the sale to be paid directly to the domestic supplier and ten percent to be paid directly to himself.

3. Licensing

Consider becoming a licensing agent. Earn royalties by arranging for foreign corporations to manufacture and sell the products of domestic companies.

4. Finder’s Fees

Imagine the possibilities for earning finder’s fees in international trade!

You can earn fees from domestic companies for finding foreign buyers (or for finding suitable imports from foreign suppliers). You can also earn fees from foreign companies for finding domestic corporations that will buy their products (or for finding suitable suppliers and products from domestic corporations).

5. Drop Shipping

Visualize receiving an order from a customer based in a foreign country and not having to be bothered with shipping and handling the product. No customs declarations or brokers are required by you. This is because your drop ship supplier is handling those details.

You might collect $100.00 plus shipping of $15.00 from your foreign customer. You then simply send your customer’s order to your drop ship supplier with your payment of $65.00 (consisting of $50.00 wholesale cost plus $15.00 shipping). Your drop shipper will now fulfill the order. Congratulations! You just made fifty dollars.

6. Mail Order

Add a mail order service to your existing business operation. Manufacturers, retail stores, and other businesses can increase their sales by using this additional method of selling that is very conducive to international trade.

7. Internet Marketing

You can also extend your reach to worldwide customers by means of the Internet. Methods of obtaining foreign business include affiliate marketing, online auctions, online stores, and websites.

Yes, to increase and diversify your income, consider international trade.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

You would like to increase your income by selling other peoples’ products but you just don’t have the money to stock inventory.

On the other hand, perhaps you have lots of your own product and would like to increase your sales, but you don’t have a lot of money for advertising.

The solution to both problems may lie in drop shipping.

1. Sell Products You Don’t Own

You would like to sell a variety of products but you don’t have very much money. Don’t worry! Your customers will supply you with the necessary capital. You don’t have to stock inventory. You can drop ship orders.

For example, you receive a credit card order for a product retailing for one hundred dollars plus five dollars shipping. You now turn around and fax (or e-mail or phone) your order to your dropship supplier. You pay the fifty dollar wholesale product cost plus five dollars shipping using your own credit card.

Your dropship supplier now ships the order to your customer. With no investment in inventory, your gross profit equals fifty dollars.

2. Sell Products You Do Own

Would you like more sales of your own products? Consider drop shipping your products for other dealers.

As an example, you may have a product that sells for one hundred dollars plus shipping. Every time you sell that product yourself, you will have a sale of one hundred dollars. However, how many one hundred dollar sales can you make personally?

Now consider the situation where you offer your dealers a wholesale price of fifty dollars. You could have hundreds or thousands of persons selling for you.

It is true that each product sale now only brings you only fifty dollars in sales. However, these are sales that you wouldn’t otherwise have. What would it cost you to obtain these sales through traditional advertising channels? Would your advertising even bring you the desired results?

Keep in mind that with this drop shipping arrangement, you pay only for results. When a dealer retails your product for one hundred dollars, he is really receiving a fifty dollar profit for selling your product; you could view it as a sales commission. You receive only fifty dollars per product sale but sell way more than without drop shipping. You ship directly to the customer for your dealer.

So, whether you sell other peoples’ products or your own, drop shipping can increase your sales, preserve capital, and maximize business profits.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.
]]> http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/185/drop-shipping-increases-profits/feed/ 0 http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/180/grow-your-business-with-affiliate-marketing/ http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/180/grow-your-business-with-affiliate-marketing/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:00:33 +0000 jspope http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/?p=180

by J. Stephen Pope

To generate additional business income, consider expanding your business through affiliate marketing. Here are three ways of boosting your business income with affiliate programs.

1. Earn Commissions

By joining and promoting suitable affiliate programs, you can expand the number of related products and services that you can offer your customers. The company offering the affiliate program pays you commissions on products and services they sell as a result of your referrals.

Good affiliate programs will offer excellent products, website, credit card processing, commissions, sales aids and support. Your main function will be to direct your existing customers and others to the company’s website.

2. Earn Income from the Efforts of Others

In many affiliate programs, you can earn commissions on the referrals of other people that you sign up as affiliate marketers. So, now you are not only earning income from your own sales but also from the effort of others.

3. Start Your Own Affiliate Program

By starting and promoting your own affiliate program, you can obtain a worldwide sales force for your own products and services. The beauty of this arrangement is that you only pay for performance. Your sales agents are only paid a commission when they make a sale of your products and services.

By applying these suggestions, you, too, can grow your business through affiliate marketing.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.
]]> http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/180/grow-your-business-with-affiliate-marketing/feed/ 0 http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/169/barter-your-way-to-profits/ http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/169/barter-your-way-to-profits/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:31:03 +0000 jspope http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/?p=169

by J. Stephen Pope

Have you ever faced any of the following situations? One: You need a lawyer but you don’t have the cash for the retainer. Two: You have a warehouse full of inventory that just isn’t moving. Three: Sales are down and you need more customers.

Each of the above problems might be alleviated by bartering.

1. What Is Bartering?

Bartering is simply exchanging goods or services without money.

For example, you give your accountant and his family a meal in your restaurant in exchange for the preparation of your income tax return. This is a barter transaction because no cash changes hands between the two parties.

2. Bartering Improves Liquidity and Profits

A shortage of cash is not an unusual situation for either businesses or individuals. Perhaps you would like to advertise in a certain publication but just don’t have the money. Have you considered exchanging something of value that you have (a service or product) for the advertising you need?

Such a barter deal is mutually advantageous. Neither party has to part with cash to obtain the desired goods or services.

Not only does bartering conserve cash, but it can actually generate sales and profits. Inventory turns over more quickly. Service providers sell more of their time than they would had they insisted on cash.

3. Bartering Creates New Customers

Notice, also, that both parties just made a sale to someone they wouldn’t normally have. You both just received a new customer.

If happy, your new customer can refer you to many more customers, including ones who pay cash. Perhaps your original barter customer may also start paying cash in future transactions with you.

4. Barter Exchanges

In addition to trading with individuals and businesses, you might consider joining a barter exchange.

A barter exchange is a business that facilitates the exchange of goods and services between its members. There are membership fees for joining. Also, the barter exchange charges a commission on transactions made through it.

5. Tax Aspects of Bartering

Barter transactions made by your business must be reported for income tax purposes. Also sales taxes may apply on such transactions.

For increased liquidity and new customers, consider bartering your way to profits.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.
]]> http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/169/barter-your-way-to-profits/feed/ 0 http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/162/how-to-grow-your-micro-business/ http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/162/how-to-grow-your-micro-business/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:01:24 +0000 jspope http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/?p=162

by J. Stephen Pope

If you want to grow your micro-business (defined as a business with fewer than five employees), you might consider some of the findings of a survey by Statistics Canada.

1. The Findings

According to “Growth Determinants of Micro-Businesses in Canada” (Evangelia Papadaki and Bassima Chami, Small Business Policy Branch, Industry Canada), the survey by Statistics Canada revealed the following:

• Micro-businesses get much of their advice from family, friends, customers and suppliers. Accountants are more commonly consulted for business advice than lawyers and bankers.


• Completion of high school was cited as a factor for growth in the micro-business. Perhaps surprisingly, college or university education was discounted as a factor for success.


• Age or sex of business owners did not affect business growth. Nor was being an immigrant a significant factor.


• For growth, being willing to delegate, assume risk, and share ownership all seemed to be factors for success.


• Expansion of the local market was more important for growth than the export market for the micro-business.


• Growth micro-businesses innovate and engage in e-commerce activities.

2. The Opportunities

This is encouraging news for entrepreneurs. You don’t necessarily need a lot of money for professional advisors to grow your micro-business. Higher education is not a prerequisite for success. Age, sex or country of origin are not relevant factors for growing your micro-business.

If growth of your micro-business is your goal, you can’t do everything yourself. You must be willing to delegate (or perhaps even share ownership of your business with others). Innovation, a willingness to take risks, and use of the Internet are also important to your growth.

Are you willing to delegate, take risks, and partner with others? Are you innovative? Do you employ e-commerce in your business? Are you using the Internet to expand your local business?

If you can answer these questions affirmatively, then your micro-business is poised for growth.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.