Lifestyle Entrepreneur and Online Marketing Success Blog - Internet Riches - e-Riches 2.0 by Scott Fox

NEWSFLASH: FR*E E-book! + New Paperback Edition of Internet Riches

Great news!  

The new paperback edition of Internet Riches has just gone up for PRE-ORDER on Amazon.com!

This updated edition of my book is now available at the even better price of only $12.21.

PLUS: FR-E NEW BONUS INFO!
As a special promotion with Amazon.com, if you order the new paperback this week, you’ll receive a FR-E e-book that I wrote especially for this promotion.

This new ebook is titled “5 Instant Internet Businesses” – It's a guide to five killer opportunities online that can help you establish your own online business quickly, easily, and with almost no expense.

If you've been considering buying a copy of my book, now is a great time to order the new paperback edition of Internet Riches. 

I’d love Amazon.com to give away as many copies of the “5 Instant Internet Businesses” ebook as possible, so if you already have a copy of Internet Riches, is there maybe a friend who you could send a copy? I donate profits from the book to charity, so you can help others while helping yourself, too.

GET YOUR FR*E EBOOK TODAY FROM AMAZON.COM - ORDER THE NEW PAPERBACK NOW!

Thanks to all of you who have helped Internet Riches become popular enough to support this new paperback edition!

Ask Scott Fox: Startup Branding & Domain Names

Hello Scott,

I've read probably 95% of your book "Internet Riches" and I can't tell you how grateful I am for pointing me in the right direction to start an E-business. It's an exciting book to read and hard to put down.

The business I want to start is a reseller of products for men along with other specialty items.  The domain name is critical, I believe, to the marketing and long term success of the business.

I have found "Naming Consultant" services online that look to be a good place to create a name for me but to get a quote from them they ask for detailed information about the company you want to start; which I understand is needed.

My concern is how secure is that information if you decide not to use their service for whatever reason. If the cost is greater than say $2000.00 to $3000.00 dollars I think I may just take a shot at it myself.

Any feedback would be helpful.

Many thanks,
Mark W.

SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER:

Hi Mark,

While I understand your concern about confidentiality, I don't think that's the biggest issue you raise here.  I do not think you should spend money on a naming consultant for your startup, at least not yet, and certainly not thousands of dollars.  Here are a few reasons why:

- While a cool name is an important part of branding, many, many new brands these days use completely made up or repurposed words.  (Google, anyone?) Many more use combinations of existing words to create more meaningful short phrases as outlined in Chapter 10 of Internet Riches.  These types of brands/domains are available cheaply and, more importantly, their domain names are still available as dot-com addresses. 

- Most startup businesses change dramatically early in their growth cycle.  As I caution in my book, don't order 5000 business cards for your new web site business until you are absolutely certain that the name, slogan, domain name, products, strategy, and branding are all locked in at least for the medium term.  The money you are talking about here is a lot more than any business card order I've seen lately.

- You would be better served launching test sites or even simply running Adwords test ads to see which names you can come up with yourself seem to get the best reaction.  $2000 will pay for a LOT of test ads, logos, and domain names.   

Each of these points is an effort to help you save your capital until you are certain how to best deploy it.  I would rather see you spend that money on marketing once your new business is up and running, than have a really cool name for a business that soon evolves into something else. 

Try revisiting Chapter 10 of my book and doing the exercises there to brainstorm domain names of your own.  I'll bet that you can come up with several attractive and relevant brand names for free that would be worth testing. 

Thanks for writing. Congratulations on the impending launch of your new e-business!

Best regards,
Scott Fox

What do you think?  Do you have experience with naming consultants, positive or negative?  How did you go about branding your web site?  Please comment on this discussion!

Post-retirement Jobs Online for Retirees from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines & Coast Guard?

I was recently contacted by a reporter who asked if e-business offered good opportunities for retiring military personnel.  I think it does and some of my thoughts on this are below.

What do you think?  If you are active duty, reserves, or retired Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard (in the USA or other countries), please let's hear from you.

What do you think of my points below?  Can you share a few examples of the unique needs of military personnel or families?

I like to do what I can to support our troops, so I have 5 fr*e copies of my book, Internet Riches, for anyone who sends us worthwhile comments from a .mil or related military email address!

E-Business Jobs after Military Retirement?

When planning their career paths, especially when nearing retirement, transitioning (or current) military personnel should consider putting their technical training and familiarity with military operations to work online by starting their own e-commerce web sites.

Years of training and experience in the Navy or Army, for example, will fill a person with expertise that is not available to civilians.  Details of how troops are provisioned, the supplies necessary for operations, the routines and hardships of daily life as a grunt, officer, or non-comm - all these insights have the potential to create a new business for new retiree.

The Internet offers more opportunity to individuals than at any time in history because it requires little capital to start a successful e-business with global reach. Because it’s cheap and easy to start a new web site business, they can be started in off hours or on the side as the soldier transitions into retirement.  Even better is to start the new web site, blog, or online service while still on active duty.  This allows your current paycheck and active duty relationships to be leveraged well to position you for eventual retirement and increased focus on your new e-business.

Military personnel have the discipline to overcome many of the challenges of entrepreneurship, plus the direct experience in the problem-solving approaches needed to create successful web site businesses that appeal to consumers, especially if those consumers are other Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard veterans, actives, or reserves like themselves.

Finding niches of community, products, and services to appeal to others is the key to any successful business.  Appealing to the unique needs of military personnel can be a lucrative example of such a niche.  Especially with their diverse experience of foreign cultures, military personnel are uniquely suited to have identified trends or products that can be leveraged with a web site shop, advertising-based blog, or online community. Their network of friends, former colleagues, and civilian counterparts across the world can also be uniquely served by the globally distributed nature of the Web.

Military personnel are well suited to potential success as e-business entrepreneurs due to their unique training and experience with military culture and needs. They have a pre-established audience of customers with natural affinity toward one another – that’s how businesses are built!

What do you think?  If you're familiar with Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force or Marine career opportunities and retirement procedures, please chime in!  I'd like to write more on this topic to see if we can help our servicemen and servicewomen through our combined expertise.

I'll send fr*e copies of the new paperback edition of Internet Riches to the first 5 people who share their thoughts with us via Comments or email.

Ask Scott Fox - Do You Have a Question?

Now that we've successfully moved my blog over to this new platform (Thank you, Type Pad!), I'm going to be posting more regularly.

I'd like to include more of your questions and input, too.

Do you have a question about starting an on-line business, internet marketing, or small business strategy?

Please enter it in the Comments or email us!

Scott Fox Live: The Big Biz Show

My friends Russ and Sully, the hosts of the nationally syndicated  "Big Biz Radio Show" recently made me an offer I couldn't refuse!

For the next several Tuesdays at 540pm ET, I'm going to be appearing on their radio show. 

They're 2 funny  guys who have a great program about business and investing.  I'm going to add a bit of technology and entrepreneurship talking about my favorite "Instant Internet Business Secrets" each week. 

If you'd like to tune in, enter your zip code on this page to find a broadcast affiliate of the Business Talk Radio Network.

Thanks Russ and Sully.  This is going to be fun!

iPower Web - Hosting Recommendation REVOKED

IPower Web has been removed from my list of recommended vendors.

For years their web hosting and site template services were top quality for a low price.  Unfortunately, in recent weeks their service has deteriorated substantially.  I've received emails from many of you complaining about major problems with their systems and poor customer support.  And personally my team has been very frustrated by the company's complete lack of support for customers using the Site Builder software that I discussed and recommended in my book.

Unfortunately neither their public relations people nor their CEO have responded to emails (I wanted to give them a chance to explain) so I'm now officially withdrawing my endorsement of their services.

Perhaps they are victims of their own success.  IPW's long-standing offer of $7.95/month for hosting, site building tools, and a domain name was a good deal.  That deal got even better starting in December when they lowered the monthly price to just $4.95/month as part of a "winter sale".  Too good to be true apparently - and too bad.

If you are looking for traditional, no frills, web hosting, IPW may still be a good choice.  But if you are seeking the easy-to-use web site builder tools outlined (including screen shots) in Internet Riches, I no longer recommend that you use iPowerWeb.

My New Recommendations for Web Hosting Solutions:

We've been testing Type Pad as a new hosting solution.  We've found that not only is the platform great for blogging, it's also a generally good hosting solution overall.  Their basic service is only $4.95/month and you can set up multiple sites/blogs under the $14.95/month account.  A good deal from an up and coming company. 

A more complete web hosting solution is Site Sell.  This company offers not just hosting but a suite of keyword testing tools to help you target your new site's content accurately to attract visitors.  Their search engine optimization-driven (SEO) approach gets top reviews.  They have an informative "video tour" of their system here.

Bye bye IPW!

Do you have recommendations for quality yet affordable web hosting services?  I'm especially interested in those that offer really easy to use, WYSIWYG editing systems that include attractive design templates. 

if so, please email us or contribute to the discussion by entering a Comment.

 

Southern California Technology Industry Awards

I try to keep our focus here global, or at least national, but still have to mention an upcoming event that I'm excited about: The Technology Council of Southern California Technology Industry Awards.

The Southern California Technology Industry Awards dinner (the 14th Annual) recognizes industry leaders and companies that have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation.

The awards will be presented during a fancy dinner ceremony at the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on February 28, 2008.

I recently was elected as a Board Member of the Technology Council. I believe strongly in the importance of such civic organizations in encouraging the growth of entrepreneurship, whether in Los Angeles or any where else. If you plan to be in the LA area at the end of the month, please visit the Technology Council web site for more details about this fun event.

(And next year check with me in the 4th quarter to find out if your SoCal-based company can be nominated for one of these prestigious awards, too.)

download page

Click to download Audio file #1

Click to download Audio file #2

Kate Delaney's America Tonight - Wednesday Nights

One of my favorite radio hosts is Kate Delaney of "America Tonight". 

Her late night show keeps people entertained all night long in towns across the US. 

I'm pleased to say that starting tonight, I'll be appearing on Kate's show regularly to discuss my usual mix of entrepreneurship, innovation, and enthusiasm for small businesses online. 

We're particularly going to focus on a series of "Instant Internet Business Secrets".  These "secrets" are actually web services that can help you or anybody set up your own e-business in almost no time and with almost no money. 

Learn more by tuning in to America Tonight on Wednesday nights at 215am ET/1115pm PT.

My OneMinuteU.com Videos

The Learning Annex recently contacted me with an exciting offer:

Because we had such a good time together the last time that I taught classes for them, they would shoot for fr*e videos of me giving e-business advice and promoting my book.

Of course I said "yes"!

They are launching a new online educational web site called OneMinuteU.com.

It is stocked full of one minute mini-class videos from experts of all sorts, now including me.

Click on these links to see some of my one minute video commentaries:

- What's The Best Business To Start Online Today?

- What Is Affiliate Marketing?

- Is My Business Right For Venture Capital?

- The Pros And Cons Of eBay

(It even looks like they created a new content category for me:  "Internet / Web Entrepreneur"!)

Please check out their new site and enjoy the videos.

And if there are more topics you'd like to see me cover, please leave a Comment below.

E-Biz Profile: OfficeFurnitureDistributors.com

Here's some reader mail from another entrepreneur who has recently started his own e-business:

Dear Scott Fox:

As a business owner I have always thought that you must stay one step ahead of the industry you are in.

I know it is risky to try to see the future. But acting upon their vision of the future that is what a successful entrepreneur does. If the vision turns out to be right and the act is done with precision then the risk can be very rewarding.

I am in the office furniture business. The credo of a good salesmen in this industry is to solve the problem and meet all the objections.

I saw the web as having two problems. Buying office furniture has always been a touch it, feel it, kick the tires kind of business. Buying office furniture which can be expensive was not done that much on the web.

I now see the office furniture industry changing as attitudes toward the web change. The emotional risk of buying a costly item has been lowered as the web establishes itself in my industry. Manufacturers and import distributors have retooled their packaging and shipping philosophies to accommodate the expanding internet options. Thus making fulfillment much easier for the on line dealer.

Because of these changes and what I see as the future in my industry I decided to start my on line business. www.OfficeFurnitureDistributors.com

I discovered that with having a retail web-shop gave me a lot of options for selling. For one, clients that were not in my market place and usually went to my competition can now be sent to my retail web-shop. These new avenues (aka profit centers) will more than pay for the new shop.

As with any new venture my concerns were, “oh my gosh, how do I do it?”. That is when I found Scott’s book on Internet Riches. It showed me what to look for and where to find it. I was quickly and easily able to find all the resources I needed to set up my web-shop and get it running. I found the web based companies and people that set that part up my new web-shop. Lots of package deals that are not expensive.

I also found, much to my surprise, lots of office furniture industry companies that were ready willing and able to accommodate a web bases business.

Now that the web-shop is up and doing business I need to market it to the next level. Using the techniques in Internet Riches got me going with affiliate marketing, Google ad words and some of the other things that I have tried. There is a whole new world of marketing I need to explore. Finding inexpensive marketing is my next challenge.

I have say it is fun being an entrepreneur. I feel like an explorer into a new world. An adventurer on a new journey.

It makes life worth living and I might say it makes a lot of money also.

Steven Weinbaum

Office Furniture Distributors.com

SCOTT FOX'S RESPONSE:

Thanks for your email, Steve. Congratulations on your new online profit center!

It's great to hear that a traditional industry like office furniture is getting on board with e-commerce, too. Good for you for seeing beyond the traditional operating paradigm of your business to see the new opportunities that the Web represents.

Is there anyone reading this that needs office furniture? How about sending Steve some of your business to support a fellow e-entrepreneur?

In Los Angeles? Interested in a Book Signing?

My publisher has offered to arrange my first public appearance of 2008 - a Book Signing event!

It would be in Los Angeles in March - probably at the big Barnes  & Noble at The Grove (Fairfax & Third Street).

I would enjoy meeting more of you face to face.  We'd make a fun program out of book signing, my remarks, and some audience Q&A. 

Are there many of you who are based in LA that would be interested in joining us?

Please email me or hit the Comments, please.