How to attract businesses to purchase banner ads on your sites?

You should think of the advertiser as your customer, and your website as your product. You need to package information about your website in a way that appeals to an advertiser. Particularly, you need to quantify your audience--visitors, page views, loyalty, demographics.

If you've got a good audience within a clear niche, you could simply approach potential advertisers that you think are relevant to your audience. Most banner advertising is based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions)--the value ranges depending on how desirable your audience is.

If you don't have a lot of visitors, or a particular niche--and even if you do--then advertising networks (like Google Adsense) are a great, and simple way to get going.

The network takes care of finding advertisers, charging them and paying you. Of course, they make a profit while doing so--some of the advertising revenue goes to the network. Affiliate networks (like Commission Junction) will let you choose which advertisers you show, and you'll earn money when your site visitors complete a purchase after clicking on your ads.

How do online businesses make money?

It depends on which type of online business you're talking about.

Some businesses sell products or services and some make their money through advertising revenue or Pay Per Event (PPE) services like Google AdSense.

And, still some online businesses make their money through membership fees.

How to start an online business?

Step 1: Research

Learn about your market, other existing networks and how you can create a better service.

Step 2: Revenue Model

How are you going to make money out of your site? Give some thought to this. Are you going to sell it, sell ad space, charge for a premium membership or sell products/services to your members?

Step 3: Create the Website

It will take you a few months so get started as soon as possible.

Step 4: Start Preparing Your Marketing Campaign

Start building your lists, Facebook contacts, Twitter followers. Start participating in forums, blogs and discussion boards. Contact list owners and give them a reason to promote your new network. Don't forget about your off-line marketing plan. Think about 1) Who is your target market? and 2) Where can you find them? (magazines, websites, radio stations, etc.)

Step 5: Launch Your Marketing Campaign

Launch all your campaigns at once. Your community has to grow extremely fast at the beginning. Encourage people to invite their friends to participate.

95 percent of the success depends on your ability to grow the network quickly at the beginning. If you get the snowball rolling down the hill, it will get bigger and bigger. The initial push is your main challenge now.

The Secret to Team Unity

A leader can build unity by fighting the five enemies that tear it apart: poor communication, gossip, unresolved disagreements, lack of shared purpose, and sanctioned incompetence.

1. Poor communication is when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Most companies use “mushroom communication”—leave them in the dark and feed them manure—as a growth strategy. That won’t work. Winning organizations must have a culture of communication. Without it, team members are detached and insecure.
2. Gossip is discussing anything with anyone who can’t solve the problem. Gossip is degrading and destructive. People need a place to express themselves, but it should be to someone in a position to do something about it. In our company, negatives go up and positives go down—period. We’ve made gossip a fireable offense, and we’re crystal clear about that in the hiring process and in staff meetings. The team loves it!
3. Unresolved disagreements destroy unity. Sometimes the leader doesn’t even know they exist—that’s poor communication. Other times the leader avoids confrontation—that’s denial. Either way, the team loses. With hundreds of people working together, some will inevitably lock horns and bump into each other. A leader should act quickly and decisively when that happens by pulling the splinter out, cleansing the wound, and allowing some time to heal. Sometimes it’s messy, but the alternative is to act like nothing has happened and later wonder what went wrong.
4. Lack of a shared purpose is caused by the leader not restating the goal, vision and mission early enough or often enough. At our company, new team members memorize the mission statement and our leaders constantly review it with the team. Everything we do is measured by that mission statement. And, since our company has a unified purpose, every team member knows exactly how he or she fits into the grand scheme.
5. Sanctioned incompetence is when someone has a destructive attitude and no one addresses it. That demoralizes everyone. Team members will eventually become de-motivated when they see a leader who will not take action when someone on the team cannot, or will not, do their job.

A leader will go to battle early and often with these five enemies of unity. There is going to be a lot of drama in any workplace, but leaders must invest the time and energy to deal with issues instead of blindly writing paychecks and hoping for the best.

Don’t be scared to address these problems in your workplace whenever and wherever they appear. That’s called leading. It’s not easy. It’s not pretty. And it’s not going to be your best day in the office. But, it could just be your best day as a leader.

Common Mistakes

J. W. Marriott said that if a person wanted to start a business, he should find the best business in that industry and go to work for them. Once he had learned everything that he could, he should then start his own. What Marriott was suggesting was that a person should have a great knowledge about the industry he was about to enter.

The following are the most common mistakes that people make when starting a business:

• Inadequate front end planning (no business plan, feasibility study, or cash flow projections). You need sufficient capital for both the start up and the backup.
• Thinking that you can achieve instant success without spending the time and having the long commitment.
• Failure to research the market. Know the market and your competition before you start.
• Underestimating the competition. Whether they're big or small, understand that your competition sees you as another company trying to take money out of their pockets.
• Trying to do everything alone. Work with a banker, accountant and a lawyer.
• Hiring inexperienced people to save money particularly in the area of marketing and sales.
• • Inadequate records, financial knowledge and not watching cash flow. Just because you're making a profit doesn't mean you can pay all the bills.
• The false idea that the world will come to you. Your product is not going to sell itself. Never underestimate the power of advertising.
• Assuming that all you need is just a good idea. You need fortitude, financial and moral backing, as well as timing, organization and a bit of luck to be successful.

Small business dominates the nation and certainly is the driving force of the economy in the country. Entrepreneurs take on the challenge of business ownership and independence. Don't get caught saying to yourself, "If I had only known."

Lawn Care Business

A friend of mine asked me, "You said there are plenty of old people where you live,"
then he told me, "Buy a lawn mower or grass cutter and start cutting lawns and doing yard work. A lot of old people means lots of customers because they are no longer able to do their yard work themselves."

He addedd, "I make more money doing yard work than I did at any job I ever had."

Mmmmm what an idea.

Earned $31 Billion

Pua's mighty 'Pen'

S. INDRAMALAR speaks to the creator of the now indispensable Pen Drive

Fact file
Name: Pua Khein Seng
Age: 31
Hometown: Sekinchan, Selangor
Education: SJKC Yeok Kuan, Sekinchan; Pin Hwa Independent school, Klang; Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Occupation: Engineer/ president of Phison Electonics Corp
Current base: Taipei , TaiwanYears abroad: 12

WHEN he set off for Taiwan in 1993, Pua Khein Seng's only aim was to complete his degree in Electrical Control Engineering at the renowned Chiao Tung University and return home to work in Malaysia .

Never did he envision himself heading a multi-million dollar Taiwanese company that developed the world's first USB flash removable disk, which they called Pen Drive .
Pua Khein Seng went to Taiwan to get his engineering degree but ended up staying on, starting his own company and inventing the pen drive.

"I went to Taiwan to pursue my undergraduate degree. I chose Taiwan only because it was too expensive to study either in the United States or Singapore . "However, I did well in my undergraduate programme and was offered a place to do my masters," explained Pua, who was back in Kuala Lumpur recently for a holiday.

After completing his Masters in July 1999, Pua worked for about six months in a local company before deciding to set up his own venture company with four fellow engineers who had studied with him at Chiao Tung.

"We were confident that we had the know-how and ability to start our own business, which is focused on USB technology. The company is called Phison because there are five of us - two Malaysians and three Taiwanese engineers," said Pua, 31, who hails from Sekinchan, Selangor.
Phison Electronics Corporation was set up in November 2000 and within six months the young entrepreneurs came up with their first invention - a USB storage device called Pen Drive .

"We were the first company in the world to develop the USB Drive SoC (System On Chip) and we were very confident that the market for USB will be huge. At the time, no one b elie ved in us so we had to do everything ourselves - from developing the technology, the chips to the product itself.

"We were only 27 at the time and inexperienced. But we were confident that we could design good systems and chips but we didn't know anything about selling. So, we sought partners or traders who could help sell our products for us," Pua added.

Through smart partnerships and shrewd strategies, Phison soon made its way into European, American and Japanese markets. One quick move was securing Japanese tech giant Toshiba as Phison's largest shareholder and customer.

"We launched Pen Drive in June 2001 and by August the same year, we broke even! From September 2001, we were reaping monthly profits from our invention and there has been no turning back since."

Having established himself in Taiwan , Pua is in the midst of setting up Phison's branch in Malaysia , due to begin operations this February. "I am starting a branch in Malaysia because this is my country. I would like to do contribute to its development.

"We have about 100 engineers at Phison in Taiwan , 20 of whom are Malaysians. Though they studied in Taiwan , I had to re-train all the engineers I hire because, like most fresh graduates (in this field), they are not industry-ready upon graduation.

"Unfortunately, some of the Malaysian engineers want to return home after a couple of years because they are homesick, about to start a family and so on. Some prefer to work in Singapore , as it is closer to home. Instead of losing them to competitors, I decided to set up an office in Malaysia where they can still work for me," said Pua.

Another problem faced by returning computer engineers from Taiwan , Pua added, was the lack of job opportunities for hardware engineers in Malaysia . "There is no environment or support for design engineers here in Malaysia . One of my Malaysian engineers from Phison returned home and ended up as a teacher in a Chinese school! I was shocked and thought, 'After all that training and re-training, he is going to just teach?' I told him to hold on till I open up the Phison branch in Malaysia ."

Though he has been in Taiwan for the past 12 years and married to a Taiwanese, Pua is not sure how much longer he will remain there. "I have really no idea where I will be in 20 years. Maybe Taiwan , maybe Malaysia , maybe somewhere else ... it all depends on my business. The industry is moving so fast that I cannot predict what or where I will be," he said.

For the moment though, Taiwan is home for Pua, his wife and two children even though he misses the Malaysian way of life. "I come home once a year for Chinese New Year and will usually stay for about two weeks. There are several things I really miss about Malaysia . One is the food! For the past 12 years I have been c ravi ng for Malaysian food ... I miss laksa, curry noodles, chee cheong fun and all the other delicious dishes we have here. "I also miss the lifestyle and quality of life here. When I come back, I am always amazed to see people hanging out and relaxing at mamak shops at night. In Taiwan , most people would still be at work at that time of the night!

"Before I got married, I used to work for 15 to 17 hours a day, everyday. Now that I have children, my wife has forbidden me to stay so late. Now, I go to work at 9am and come home by 11pm. These hours are quite normal for the Taiwanese."