Did you know that about 7 out of 10 households use candles? Did you know that the American retail sales of candles is estimated at $2 billion annually ? and that this figure excludes sales of candle accessories (Well, the British candle-making consumption is fast picking up, too)? Did you know that statistics show that over 95% of all candles sold are purchased by women ? so this kind of makes it an exciting business opportunity for men? Did you know that you could also sell candles successfully over the Internet? Well, if you weren't aware of the facts above, it's time to think about them and start setting up a home-based candle making business, which, for all you know, can make lots of spare cash for you to binge out on.
Candle making is easy: all you need is wax, moulds, colourings and perfumes to start your home-based candle making venture. But, you have to be very creative because there are a lot of households out there who are engaged in or are contemplating getting into candle making just like you. Here's a small tips section that will help you get started:
Candle making: Tips and tricks
1. Attend a candle making course in your neighbourhood and pick up additional knowledge from the Internet, at boot sales and at craft fairs.
2. There are 10 types of candles you can make: tapers, votives, pillars, container candles, tealights, outdoor candles, floating candles, novelty candles, utility candles, and birthday candles.
3. A well-made candle is characterized by: heavenly aroma, pleasing colour, creative shape and, of course, the cost. If you balance all these factors and come up with a great candle, consider your job done.
4. Creativity plays a big part in the candle making business. For example, suppose you read an article where a movie star commits social hara-kiri, like Mel Gibson did, then you must make a mould of that movie star (either the face or a famous pose), pump in a good aroma and sell it by telling people to "Burn ________ In Your Home Because He Did That". Another good example would be Paris Hilton ? now, she would make a good candle.
5. Candles are also used in aromatherapy; so be sure to know the popular aromas going around and don't forget to mention them in your marketing communication.
6. Scented candles are also used in many seduction techniques. Imagine the rest of this story and get it going in your marketing push.
7. Always make candles that are tailored to the target market ? don't go by your own whims and fancies.
Marketing your candle making business
Marketing is the key to success for any home-based business. First, you have to popularize your business in your neighbourhood by printing flyers and spreading them around. You can also speak to small novelty stores and find out if they are willing to sell your candles on a consignment basis or if they would like to buy them outright at a discount. Second, if you can handle extra demand and logistics then you must open a web store dealing in candles. If there is a genuine demand for your candles from all over the place, then you must tie up with a courier company for dispatching candles to these far away localities. A press release in a local newspaper and on the Internet will help you out too. Look, if you do a good job then ultimately things will fall in place. Just be dedicated to your candle making business and be patient, and in time, you'll surely find yourself waxed with profits.
One thing you have to remember when owning a profitable home based business, though, is that in order for it to be successful, you have to give your prospects and customers what they want. This includes going out of your way to do extra things for them to make up for the money they may be spending on your business opportunity.
Marketing your profitable home based business is very important for this reason. You need to get traffic to your website, and you need paying customers to help build your business if it's going to be successful.
The problem is always money, money, money, or should I say lack thereof. Many people jump into a business feeling like they're going to make a fortune without realizing the costs of advertising. Many people don't make a budget they can afford and sustain over time, so their profitable home based business ends up being not so profitable, and they may even quit.
Sometimes when you are short on advertising funds, you can put in time rather than money and get the same or similar results. But this, too, can lead to frustration when there is a lack of both time and money.
There are many cheap ways to build a profitable home based business. If you think about what your business niche is and what customer base you are targeting, you can make your advertising very localized and specific rather than paying big bucks for advertising in places where your business wouldn't even reach your target audience.
For example, if you have a dog grooming business in your city, you likely don't need to advertise outside of the city. Sometimes offline advertising methods work better than online advertising methods. For your dog grooming business you could post flyers or posters very inexpensively. Business cards are cheap and easy to distribute as well.
If you have a profitable home based business online, that's another story. In that case, it's also a good idea to advertise offline and extend your reach, but of course advertising online is mainly what you want to spend your advertising dollars on.
But it doesn't have to be expensive if you look to advertising on free blogs, discussion forums, free classifieds, and through website link exchanges. Also, one of the best cheap ways to advertise is by writing good quality, original articles and distributing them to publishers across the internet. All of these methods allow you to advertise your website link.
Usually when you write articles you have to pay for a monthly article distribution service. It may be free at first, but then you are encouraged to upgrade. I would consider this a great investment of your advertising dollars, above many other methods. While article distribution is a slower approach to making money, it's a quick approach to getting backlinks to site, and building traffic.
You can also pay for posting your link in different link directories and I would consider this another good investment, especially if the link directory service you are paying for tells you what the Page Rank of the site you're linking to is.
When you have your website listed on a higher ranked site, you will likely get more exposure. Not to mention, this is a quicker way of spreading your links around rather than manually visiting sites yourself and having to enter in your website's information each time.
There will be expenses whenever you own a profitable home based business, but just keep in mind that if you budget both your time and money, and choose how you wish to spend your advertising dollars wisely, then you should be on the right track.
Both Steve Carter & Liane Bate are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Steve Carter has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide, Home Based Business and Marriage. Find out how you can start earning $1 - $2000 a week...if not more. Get training included from me and two millionaires, that practically forces you to succeed! To find out more visit. Steve Carter's top article generates over 1300 views. to your Favourites.
Liane Bate has sinced written about articles on various topics from Make Money Online, Your Online Business and Marketing. Liane Bate owns a web business. Find out how to. Liane Bate's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.