Home business opportunities are virtually everywhere you look online. And the promoters of each home based business opportunity often claim that the opportunity they promote is the best business opportunity to join. This often makes it difficult for newbies to make the right choice, the choice that best suit their situation. This article takes a look at the four broad categories of home business opportunities so you can identify the option that suit your circumstances and therefore make informed choice.The four broad categories of home based business opportunities are:1. Opportunities that involve building an information rich web site from scratch and thereafter monetizing the resulting traffic2. Opportunities that involve joining affiliate programs that offer unique affiliate links for promoting the affiliate product or service3. Opportunities that involve joining a network marketing home based business opportunity that offer free distributor web site to members and4. Opportunities that involve getting paid a fixed amount for completing a set of tasks onlineLet’s take a closer look at each option above.The first online business opportunity involves building your dream online business from scratch.The right process requires you to do the following:
identify your passion
brainstorm topics that fall within your passion or interest using appropriate brainstorming software
identify a profitable niche that matches your passion or interest
Assemble low competition keywords that define your niche
Draw up a site blueprint
Design your web site
Write content for your web site using the low competition keywords brainstormed earlier
Promote your web site massively online
Add income generating streams to your web site
Cash your money month after month
If you conclude that the above process is tedious and time consuming, you’re probably right.But why?It’s because it’s business… it’s online business. And online business takes time, effort, and creativity just like offline does.The second home business opportunity mentioned above is affiliate program marketing. With this type of online business, you join the affiliate program of your choice and promote the affiliate links you’re given using a blend of online marketing techniques. Some online marketing techniques will produce more results than others. So, you need to track your sales promotion efforts or campaigns to determine what works and what doesn’t for the specific affiliate program you promote. Then drop campaigns that don’t work and do more of what works.The third category of home based business opportunities are MLM home business opportunities that offer members free distributor web sites to promote the MLM business opportunity. As with the affiliate program model, members of this type of MLM business opportunity promote their member web site url and register new team members using the tools on the member site they were given.The fourth online business opportunity involves completing a set of tasks in expectation of being paid a pre-determined amount.This kind of opportunities include:
paid to write
paid to attend to customers (online customer service jobs)
… and other such online job opportunities.WARNING: Verify that the internet job opportunity you’re interested in is legitimate before you join!Each of the home business opportunities described above have their pros and cons.Option 1 above requires you to do a lot of work without immediate reward. With this type of online business, you’re basically writing an online book or journal. And you don’t get paid for writing a book until it’s finished and it starts selling, right?In simple words, this option is a long-term business where you build traffic or your own customer base through content writing and marketing. This is a tedious but rewarding way to build a long-term business. With this type of home based business you own your traffic or customer base. And when you own your traffic, you own your business.Option 2 is affiliate program marketing. This system involves selling a product or service by finding a market for it. Depending on where you advertise or promote the affiliate programs, you can begin to make money right away.Here’s one thing to remember though.Not everyone makes money from promoting affiliate program products despite spending a lot of money in advertising.Why?It’s because affiliate program marketing success requires a set of skills. To succeed, you need to learn the skill-set that guarantees success. Option 3 is much like option 2. You get paid for promoting a network marketing opportunity.However, unlike most affiliate program opportunities that are free to join, virtually every network marketing home based business opportunity require members to join with a registration fee. Besides the registration fee, members must buy at least one pack of the MLM product they promote every month to stay active and qualify to earn commissions (at least in most programs). This means there is a maintenance cost for most MLM business opportunities.Option 4 is the most direct form of online business. You get paid to complete a set of assignments. The problem with this is that it’s like having a day job… when you stop working, you stop earning. Whereas with the other kinds of home business opportunities discussed above, you can build your business to a point where what you earn far outweigh the efforts you put in. And you can put your business on auto pilot.What home business option is right for you right now?It depends on your current circumstances. In my candid opinion, the overall best option is one that allows you to build a long-term business and put your business on auto pilot down the road.I’m talking passive income!Bottom line.It’s your life. Choose how you want to live it.Choose the opportunity that works for you.

Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:

An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.

If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.

Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.

After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:

Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.

A Case Study

Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.

Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.

Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.

I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.

There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.

According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?

As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.

When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.

While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.

So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:

The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.

Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.

If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.

When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.

And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.

It seems as if everyone wants to start a home based business these days, and many of those businesses are conducted primarily on the Internet. There are many models for successful home based businesses out there. One such business model suggests you can earn an income with information marketing by selling information products on the Internet. But is this a legitimate home based business idea? And is it an idea you should pursue?In a word, the simple answer is “Yes!” Information marketing is a great way to earn money online, and with the global availability of the Internet, there has never been a better time to capitalize on this kind of home based business opportunity. But, of course, there are a few guidelines you should follow.1. Be An ExpertFirst, it stands to reason that if you are information marketing or selling information; then you must have information other people want to purchase. You must know something or be an expert on some topic that other people want to know about. You must have information or resources to share. You must have an information product.That means you need to be an expert on something, so you can create information products to develop a home based business in information marketing. This really is not as difficult as it sounds, however. Realistically, every one of us is good at something – whether that is a job, a hobby, or a process or procedure. And every one of us could create an information product such as a newsletter, white paper, booklet, or e-book that we could sell via an information marketing website.2. Create Your ProductAfter you know what information you want to market, you need to develop or create a product to convey that information. In other words, you have to have something to sell. People purchase information every single day-in the form of subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, books, e-books, white papers, booklets, newsletters, and more. So you need to create a product, or better yet a line of products, that presents this information for people to buy.In this age of the Internet, even that has never been easier. You can write down all of your knowledge in some rough draft notes or simply compile a bunch of research and Internet resources to learn more about the topic, and you can find a ghostwriter online. This is a person who writes for other people as a work for hire. So you provide the research and information, this person does the actual writing and creation of the product, you pay the writer, and you own the information product. You can then pursue information marketing via your website and sell that product to generate revenue with your home based business.3. Marketing Your ProductOf course, there is more involved in the effective marketing of your information product and it is a little more complicated than just knowing it and getting it written. You will need to create a good website that is search engine optimized and can attract potential clients who are looking for your information. You will need to build a following of clients who trust that you can provide the information you are looking for before they will purchase your information.And there are many more steps you will need to complete to get your business up and running and start bringing in the cash. But the bottom line is, yes! Selling information products on the Internet is a potentially lucrative and very legitimate home based business! And it is one almost anyone can pursue!