If you have an online business and you do transactions online, working with clients and suppliers, then you know that getting scammed is a serious possibility. Here are some tips and hints to keep in mind.
Chances are that you will find someone who would like to cheat you in any way possible. Use your instinct. Evaluate and check the payment options and the shipping methods. Sometimes you will get checks; try to keep a record of the person doing business with you, so as to avoid fraudulent or fake checks.
When doing business with people from other countries, be a little more strict. Do not accept personal or traveler checks, because you cannot control and confirm them early enough. Use credit card and PayPal for the payments and do not ship the item until the transaction is fully confirmed. If you are the provider, you need to ensure that your clients do business with you using a secure system; remember that trust is something that requires both parties’ commitment, so try to avoid anything that can compromise the transaction. Make your client trust you so as to build a solid rapport. If using PayPal ship to confirmed addresses and keep a good record of clients and shipments.
There is no reason to avoid doing transactions with people from other countries and there is no reason to be biased. However you should keep in mind that several businessmen have been scammed, especially by people who appear to be in a few African countries. Several reports from the online fraud system show that several scams come from that place, mostly because American laws cannot apply there and the system is not friendly to American businessmen. This doesn’t mean that your fellow citizens cannot cheat on you, but at least you will be able to react and use the law.
Always keep in mind how your client communicates. Do not deal with clients that use third parties or avoid informing you on the payment method and shipping details. In any case, if you see that something is not quite right, either cancel the transaction or look for another way to do it. If the client sends emails, try to keep record of his IP address; it might prove useful.
Do not accept cash under any circumstances. You do not know where that money comes from, you do not know if it is authentic and real and in any case, online businesses cannot rely on cash. If your client is wealthy enough, he can find another, more secure and safe way to do business with you. Unless your client is your best friend, cash should be excluded from all transactions.
Every one wants to be a part of the home business industry these days but the competition here is quite fierce. More and more people are trying to cash in on this amazing industry with the many benefits that it provides. That is why you need to employ strong advertising to make your business reach out to the maximum number of people. If you are very savvy about the marketing of your business, then finding appropriate ways to do so would not be difficult for you. You will easily be able to find the means to do so. There may be expenses in building your home based business, but if you are gaining in terms of customers then these expenses will eventually pay off.
Before formulating, the right rules for advertising it is necessary that you are aware of your market. You can pick up a domain name that is befitting of your business and use it to bring customers to your website. You can also try internet marketing strategies such as article marketing and using blogs to gain visibility. Then there are other ways that are available on the internet, which can help, you in advertising.
You can try and find people who might be interested in sharing your advertisement expenses with you. These people might be selling products that may complement yours. This cost sharing method is quite advantageous as it will provide you the chance to offer products to the customer through economical advertising. Shared advertising by sharing links with complementary product sellers has become very popular on the net these days. The more number of advertisers you network with, the more chances you have of getting your product wider exposure.
If you are able to make use of banner advertising, that will also help drive traffic to your website. But the banner should contain pertinent information about the product with appealing animation. The advertisement should also talk about the qualities of your products in a very concise but catchy manner. With banners even if customers are not visiting your site, they get to know about your product and maybe recall later when necessity arises. Get together with friends and business associates and share banner space on their websites. This technique of ad sharing can also be employed for sharing solo ads or classified ads on the complementary product seller’s sites. Even advertising through blogs can attract the attention of potential customers.
Word-of-mouth advertising helps when you are catering to a small target group or community and your home based business is more of a hobby. But if you are looking at taking your business to new levels then you have to step out and trudge through varied advertising avenues to bring in desired results.