subject: Small Business Opportunity, Online Business Opportunity [print this page] Online business opportunity has caught the imagination of many young and old entrepreneurs. Internet has given an opportunity to businesses big and small to reach out to markets that practically have no geographical boundaries. Consumers are using internet to purchase products and services like never before.
Though there is a plethora of small business opportunity with immense options to make millions. Many small business opportunity face fraud and scams throughout the lifetime of the firm. These may start at research and development phase and go on even till transaction and billing.
Ecommerce entrepreneurs need to be extra careful when entering the terrain through partnership, new business venture or buying an established business. You should have at least read through the financial statement along with the business plan of the company you wish to purchase, check with the business bureau, read the customer complain thoroughly and follow the company news for a specific time frame.
Your search can easily start with a thorough internet research with all possible details of the company. It can then move onto studying the available website from all possible perspective. Study the general look and feel of the site, the technology used, the navigation, structure of the site, the customer service desk, the payment details, security and everything else very minutely.
Business plan is an important part of evaluating any business. A good plan will help in understanding the business to the fullest such as estimating the problem areas, sales forecast, and an estimate of return of investment. An established online business opportunity should have-
A positive reputation among customers, distributors, customers and other agents
Great reputation of founders of the business with enough information to prove the authenticity of the venture
Should have clear and crisp business legal papers
A clear buying amount with an equally clear fee structure.
Avoid opportunities such as working from home which usually sell useless information and there is hardly anything to show to the investors later.
When planning your very own launch
Have a business plan that is well made keeping in mind finances, results, growth structure and every other minute detail of the business.
You should have finances to support you through first six months to one year at least
A great exit plan just in case the plan does not materialize
Carefully choose a company to support your web hosting, payment gateway, shipping and other business to business issues.
Remember it is most important to protect your business environment from online scammers and the online fake credit purchasers. This is one of the most common problems faced by the business houses with online presence. The payment gateway and cart should be well structured and easy to use to convert the visits on your site to profits.
You can have a customer verification address to at least minimize the fraudulent practices. Secure payment processing has many internet payment gateway options available. Check and utilize them well.
