Everyday more people move into the home based business field selling some sort of service or product. New websites are being built by various service companies. The problem here is that the same website is being built for hundreds of new home based businesses. Recently I purchased one of these ?Free Website Offers? and found myself lost in the crowd. Being independent all my life, I decided to design my own website and stand out from the crowd.



In searching for products to put on my web site I noticed that I was learning more about the product before placing it on my web site. I started to examine each product more carefully to ensure that it met the criteria I developed for my site. You see I realized that the site now was my creation, and represented me. The products would also have to represent me, and who I am, and not be full of gimmicks or hype.

The products also had to be things that people were buying and not just what I thought they wanted to purchase. So I asked myself the same set of questions about each product before I put them on my site. For instance: ?Who wants this product??; ?How much of this product is being purchased??; ?Why would they buy it online??; ?What would be the return on my investment??; ?Where should I place it on my site??; ?When do I decide to replace it??.

After putting the site together I decided to put my shoes on backwards and look at the site through the eyes of the potential buyer?and WOW! What a difference some thought makes. What I saw in my new site made me very proud. Now I had something that was unique, separated me from the pack, represented quality and value, and was me. It was a business that I could count on, and represent to others who were serious about shopping from home and/or working from home. It was also a great feeling of accomplishment and a lot of fun since I never designed a site before in my whole life.

Now although the site is the ?hero? in my marketing program, it is not the complete marketing program. I still need to promote the products and business. I found a great way of attracting potential customers to my site is by writing articles. Through these articles I am able to establish my business knowledge and publish these articles on the internet at article information sites. People looking for information on home businesses will end up reading my articles and then visit my site.

Since most people visiting the internet are looking for information, I offer my visitors a free e-book about the science of the internet, and a free newsletter with over a hundred marketing tips for a home based business.

Of course, search engine optimization is part of the marketing program along with various forms of advertising both online and offline.

Keeping my competition constantly in my sight is also critical so that I can take advantage of any opportunity to gain an edge and stand out from the crowd.

Copyright ? Donald N. Lombardi