Buying a website can provide benefits over building one. It simply depends whether you possess the expertise or resources to do so. When you’re wanting to buy a website, be sure it’s a complete solution. A few advantages of buying a website are: it may be generating revenue, ranking for certain keywords or just plain help you save considerable time.

After you buy a website, marketing your website will be the key to it’s success combined with the articles that will be within your website. Those are the things you will focus on if you’d like to have a successful online business. That’s where the work will start. This is what requires the most of your time, because if you do not market your website, the buyers will never come to your website. They won’t be able to find you out of the countless websites which are out there.

There are several things you should be doing with your new website. First of all, you’ll be writing articles such as this one regarding the products or services you sell and subject matter related to them. You will also spend time submitting these articles to online resources that supply free article content to website owners.

Lots of webmasters are eager for good authentic website content. They go to those content providers and pull content articles relevant to their products or services and put those articles into their websites. Since your article has an author bio section at the bottom with links to your website, every website owner that inserts your article into their website is now another website that links back to you.

That improves your link popularity, which generally helps you get better listings in search engine results for keywords. Publishing one article everyday will move you up in the search engine rankings in no time.

Additionally you can comment on blogs and forums which are relevant to your products or services. In the signature line you can put a hyperlink to your website. In this subtle method you not only create another website that has a link to your website, but by taking part in the forum or blog you may just have users there that are interested in your website and may want to purchase your product or services.

Remember that anytime you buy a website, make sure to pick a niche that you will be enthusiastic about as well as finding a seller that will provide more information to help you along the way.

There are many companies out there who are dropship suppliers. Basically, these are companies that have inventory of different types of products that can be purchased at wholesale prices (or perhaps just slightly higher than wholesale) without purchasing in bulk or large quantities. In essence, they do not have a minimum wholesale order requirement like most wholesalers. Once you set up an account with one of these companies, you can build an online retail store and sell the company’s product line on your website. When you make a sale, you contact the supplier, place an order for the product you just sold, and you have them ship it directly to your customer. You charge your customer retail price, the supplier charges you wholesale price, and you pocket the difference. Only a small percentage of wholesalers will offer dropshipping, so you will have to do some research.

Let’s look at an example with some numbers attached to you can see exactly how it works:

You start an online business and you find a supplier that will dropship iPad accessories (hypothetical example). You now list all of the companies’ products on your online store at retail price. You make a sale- someone buys a iPad case on your website for $69. You charge the customer the $69 plus any applicable sales tax or shipping fees and then you contact your supplier and order the same case from them at wholesale pricing. Let’s say that is $39. They ship the item directly to your customer and you pocket the $30 difference without ever touching the item.

It is a simple process but keep in mind that you will need to build a website, establish a merchant account with a bank so you can accept credit cards online, establish accounts with dropshippers, and most importantly, learn how to market your website. Please do not make the mistake that so many people make by thinking that simply owning an online store will make you money, you need to market it like any other business.

And these smaller sub-markets don’t mean smaller profit potential either. For example, the natural health and beauty market is forecast to be worth $14billion by 2014, so if you just concentrated on this niche, there would still be plenty of demand for your dropship business.

You might decide to look at the home fitness and body improvement market. Every year, people spend billions on products and equipment to help improve their fitness, the way they look, or ease a particular ailment. Breaking it down even further, you could concentrate on the market for home stress relief, or massage products – there’s really no end to the number if niches you could choose for your new dropship enterprise, all giving you the chance to compete, and make money.

Become the expert

Once you’ve chosen the markets for your dropship business, one of the best ways to establish yourself is to become the specialist, or expert in those markets. Of course, there are benefits to providing a range of dropship products across several different types of sub-markets in the health and beauty niche, a kind of “one-stop-shop” for everything your customers might need. But a better approach for most dropshippers, would be to concentrate on each market individually.

If you build a dropshipping business around one specific product type or focus on solutions for a particular ailment, your customers will come to see you as the specialist in that area, and people always like to buy from a merchant who looks like they know their market, and what the customers want. You could even provide free advice, downloadable guides, or “how to” videos on your site, to support your expert status. Existing customers will keep coming back for information and to buy more, and they will recommend you to there friends and families who are also looking for the dropship products you are selling.

Reliable supplier with the right dropship products

The health and beauty market is a great example of where customers are happy to pay a little bit more for products that they have confidence in, which can be bought from a reliable retailer who is looking to help them solve their problem. By choosing a Dropship Supplier who has the best quality products, presenting them in a way that shows the buyer you understand their needs and how your products will benefit them, more customers will trust you. In markets like health and beauty, buyers need to trust in the product they’re purchasing, and the dropshippers who sell them – if you can achieve this, customers are more likely to buy from you.

The size of the Health and Beauty market, and the number of competitors, might put a lot of dropshippers off, but if you approach it right, you could find a niche that offers even the smallest and newest dropship business, great profit potential. Health and beauty products are always in demand, and customers in this market spend a lot of money. If you build your business up using these tips, you’ll soon have a loyal customer base, who’ll buy from you time and time again.

Sole Proprietor or LLC?

Choosing the structure of your business depends on a couple of factors, the first being, what the limits are in your state.  Most small business begin as a sole proprietor, because it is the least expensive route to starting your own company.  For those who work as a sole proprietor, all that needs to be done tax-wise is a Schedule C on a personal return.  The reported business income goes into your personal taxes instead of a separate entity as a corporation.

While it may be less expensive to start as a sole proprietor, there is a legal aspect to consider.  Those who work solo have no legal protection over personal assets.  This translates to you being liable from a personal standpoint for actions that occur within your work – so if someone wants to sue you, your assets (home, car, savings, etc) are at risk. Even though a LLC or corporation may be a little more expensive to start, they do give you the protection over personal assets.

Here is a comparison between a Sole Proprietorship (DBA) and a LLC (Limited Liability Company):

Advantages of a Sole Proprietorship

Lower start up costs
No annual compliance
Ease of accounting
Ease of tax preparation

Disadvantages of a Sole Proprietorship

Personal liability exposure
It may limit ability to raise future capital
It may limit the transferability of business assets

Advantages of a LLC

No double taxation
Can have multiple members
Personal liability insulation
Can be broken into shares

Disadvantages of a LLC

Subject to self-employment tax
Lack of uniformity among limited liability company statutes

Do You Need A Business License Or Permit?

You should check with your local city or county government to make sure you are in compliance.  Some home businesses are exempt, but most businesses do need a license. This helps with planning for tax reasons and the county growth. Permits are required for certain occupations or businesses.

What Corporate Forms Should You Use?

There are three primary forms used for businesses.  You should consult with your lawyer or your business accountant to decide which form is best for your business.  Most small businesses choose either a “S” corporation or LLC (Limited Liability Company) since these two forms put a limit on your personal liability, yet still allow the profit and loss statements to be filed under the individual returns.  There is also the “C” corporation form.

Special Tax Numbers

Having a special tax number is safer for sole proprietors than giving out your social security number, so even with the smallest business it is advisable.  To get your EIN or employer ID number, all you have to do is call the business line with the IRS and you can have it assigned over the phone or you can visit the their website IRS.gov to apply for it as well.

If you are a corporation or have employees that are on your payroll, you will need an Federal Employer ID number. This number is assigned and puts your business on the IRS’s books. State ID numbers may be assigned, depending on the laws in your own state.  The best way to figure out if you need a state number is to visit StateLocalGov.net for a quick reference and further directions on what to do.

Other License/Permits

Depending on your business, if you are going to be reselling goods purchased, you will need to sign a resale license or statement of intent.  This states that the end consumer will be paying the sales tax and you will be exempt as the “middleman”.

If you are not using your name for your business you will need to file a DBA so people will know who owns the business.  You can also often open a separate checking account under the DBA name, which will allow you to write checks with your business name printed on it.

Starting a business takes a lot of planning and hard work, but with the right steps planned ahead, you can avoid a lot of tax and legal issues at the end of the year.  Make sure you are working with a good accountant and remember it’s fine to start small.

Helpful Links
Small Business Administration USA
Legal Forms

DropShippers

To begin with it may be best to try and find a drop shipper as this involves little risk on your part and means you won’t be storing any stock yourself. The idea behind dropshipping is quite simple. You accept orders and payment from customers for goods that you advertise on your website. You don’t hold any stock of these goods. Instead you place an order with the dropshipper who delivers the goods directly to your customer’s address. The paperwork accompanying the delivery will make it appear that the goods were delivered directly from your business. Your customer pays the retail prices fixed by you, while you pay the wholesale price from the supplier, thereby making a profit.

This said, do remember that you will always pay a little more for a product when buying from a dropshipper as they do most of the hard work, such as packing and shipping.

Its also worth noting that you can always use a dropshipper in the beginning even with a small profit margin or even no profit just to test whether the products sell. Once you know they do, you can source them cheaper from a wholesaler and start making better profit margins – by using this method you eliminate the risk of buying a load of stock from a wholesaler only to find that it doesn’t sell!

Wholesalers

Wholesalers typically have a minimum order value which can be a problem when you first start out as you don’t really want to spend a $1000 on stock you are not certain you will sell.
However sometimes it is possible to get them to reduce this amount if you explain you are just starting out etc.

Many wholesalers use the minimum order to filter out the people trying to make a few bucks selling their products cheap from the house and in a way it can be beneficial to you too. Some people are happy to make just a few hundred extra dollars a week selling products online with a tiny profit margin but unfortunately that kills it for anyone with a business that has overheads.
In order to make a decent living selling online you need to pick products with a decent profit margin so make sure you check that the wholesalers are giving you true trade prices and be sure to appear as though you are a proper established business.
Sometimes even the wholesalers will deliver straight to your customer too if you ask, particularly when the item is large so always ask.
The trick is with wholesalers to buy from them what you need and don’t get sucked in to buying a wide variety of products with first proving that they sell. You can even sell the products on your website and THEN order them in from your wholesaler removing any risk of being stuck with slow selling stock.

Just be sure that your shipping times displayed on your website allow enough time for you to order in the product from your wholesaler and then re-ship it out to the customer.
Try to make sure you have multiple wholesale suppliers for your products as often they will be out of stock when you need it, so if one’s out hopefully the other will have it in stock.

Importers

The time to consider importing is when you have a successful ecommerce store and not before. Importing products can get you them cheaper but it does have pitfalls. I would recommend using an experienced import agent at least for the first few times you import goods. You will be expected to buy in large quantities direct from the manufacturer usually either a 20ft or 40ft container load of products.

• Complete turnkey dropship solution. You can start operating the website and selling immediately.
• Includes a free available domain name (.com).
• Includes complete dropshipper information.
• No investment in stocking products.
• No previous experience is needed.
• Make money by selling products with prices marked up to 100%. Also make money by displaying advertising ads.
• Perfect for home based business. 
• This gift baskets online business can be operated from any location in the world.
• Does not require much time to operate
• There are no hidden fees. You will get everything exactly as explained below.
• You will receive support and answer on every question you have. Free ongoing support is included with the purchase.

Supported languages:

English, German, Italian, Spanish,  French, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional,  Dutch, Farsi, Romanian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese. Portuguese, Polish

Supported Payments Gateways

Paypal, Paypal PRO, Authorize.Net,  Moneybookers, 2Checkout, LinkPoint/FirstData, LiqPay, WorldPay, PayPoint,  SagePay

• Complete turnkey solution. You can start operating and selling immediately.
• Includes a free available domain name (.com).
• Includes complete dropshipper information.
• No investment in stocking products.
• No previous experience is needed.
• Make money by selling products with prices marked up to 100%. Also make money by displaying advertising ads.
• Perfect for home based business. 
• This zippo lighters online business can be operated from any location in the world.
• Does not require much time to operate
• There are no hidden fees. You will get everything exactly as explained below.
• You will receive support and answer on every question you have. Free ongoing support is included with the purchase.

Supported languages:

English, German, Italian, Spanish,  French, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional,  Dutch, Farsi, Romanian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese. Portuguese, Polish

Supported Payments Gateways

Paypal, Paypal PRO, Authorize.Net,  Moneybookers, 2Checkout, LinkPoint/FirstData, LiqPay, WorldPay, PayPoint,  SagePay

• Complete turnkey solution. You can start operating and selling immediately.
• Includes a free available domain name (.com).
• Includes complete dropshipper information.
• No investment in stocking products.
• No previous experience is needed.
• Make money by selling products with prices marked up to 100%. Also make money by displaying advertising ads.
• Perfect for home based business. 
• This biker online business can be operated from any location in the world.
• Does not require much time to operate
• There are no hidden fees. You will get everything exactly as explained below.
• You will receive support and answer on every question you have. Free ongoing support is included with the purchase.

Supported languages:

English, German, Italian, Spanish,  French, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional,  Dutch, Farsi, Romanian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese. Portuguese, Polish

Supported Payments Gateways

Paypal, Paypal PRO, Authorize.Net,  Moneybookers, 2Checkout, LinkPoint/FirstData, LiqPay, WorldPay, PayPoint,  SagePay

• Complete turnkey solution. You can start operating and selling immediately.
• Includes a free available domain name (.com).
• Includes complete dropshipper information.
• No investment in stocking products.
• No previous experience is needed.
• Make money by selling products with prices marked up to 100%. Also make money by displaying advertising ads.
• Perfect for home based business. 
• This car electronics online business can be operated from any location in the world.
• Does not require much time to operate
• There are no hidden fees. You will get everything exactly as explained below.
• You will receive support and answer on every question you have. Free ongoing support is included with the purchase.

Supported languages:

English, German, Italian, Spanish,  French, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional,  Dutch, Farsi, Romanian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese. Portuguese, Polish

Supported Payments Gateways

Paypal, Paypal PRO, Authorize.Net,  Moneybookers, 2Checkout, LinkPoint/FirstData, LiqPay, WorldPay, PayPoint,  SagePay