Have you compiled all the information that you need to start your new online home based business? However, have you been told that many newbies failed to earn money, and lost all their money, and then they went back to their old job? This fact may sound devastating to most of us, especially those who always wanted to leave their day job and looking for better business opportunities.In fact, starting your own business at home in order to achieve the life that you always wanted – building a profitable one is indeed achievable if you learn from mistakes. As a newbie, you cannot afford to make mistakes that can put your business at stake. Therefore, you can actually learn other people’s mistakes – although you haven’t started making one big mistake yet.Mistake #1: Choosing the wrong nicheIt basically means that either you’ve no interest at that niche, or you don’t have a single clue about what the niche is all about. This only happens when you haven’t thoroughly done enough research including keyword and topic research, and product research. It could take a few of your quality hours (probably days) to complete this research.You’ll slowly lose passion on the niche that you don’t really like causing lack of focus and perseverance. If you fail to understand your niche well enough – you’ll be easily out-ranked by your competitors that make it harder for your business to survive.Mistake #2: Do not have a proper working scheduleAlthough you’re your own boss of your own online home based business, it doesn’t mean that you can work whenever you want. If you don’t have a strict working schedule – you tend to procrastinate and delaying all the important work. Soon, you’ll have a huge pile of workloads, and you’re unable to get things done productively. Many newbies have been misled by quotes like “Make Money While You’re Sleeping” and “Create Your Own Auto-pilot Income” – giving them an impression that they can work lazily – in fact, building a successful home internet business requires discipline, hard work and perseverance.Mistake #3: Treating Your Business as a one-man show performanceBeing a newbie in your new home based business – you have to do all the work on your own since you’ve limited funds to hire others, so that you can others to complete some tasks on your behalf. In the long-term point of view, you need to leverage your business by outsourcing some of your tasks to others – in this case, you can virtual assistants or freelancers to perform time-consuming tasks. If you’re spending too much time on small tasks – for instance, logo designing or data entry tasks; you’ll not be able to concentrate on other important tasks – for instance, website promotion, content creation or building backlinks.Learn from these common mistakes and stay persistent in building a profitable online home based business.

Online ads, pay per click, affiliate marketing, advertising in Facebook, banners… there are several old and new methods of advertising online that has emerged in the internet today. There are some who are also advertising their advertising services all throughout the web and promising that they can give good traffic in no time. Internet marketing experts even disagree on what is the best online advertising available now.

Online advertising has become attractive to business owners, as most of these advertising methods are cheaper compared to the usual print or billboard advertising. Advertising online also allows you to deal with targeted traffic – or individuals online who are most likely interested in your business, thus it has greater chances of getting reliable results when it comes to advertising.

There may be varying opinions about what is the best online advertising available today. Internet marketing experts may have their own reasons for naming one online marketing method to be better than the other. Say if you want an advertising that will work for you long term, you can choose article marketing. If you want fast and quick results, search engine optimization may be on top of the list, or if you want cheaper and quicker results, you can also make use of pay per click advertising and if free advertising falls in your best online advertising category, there are lots to choose from. You can indeed make many choices, considering also your goals and preferences.

Below are some suggestions on how to promote your products online. It is important to remember though that these advertising methods, like any other best online advertising methods available, is focused on bringing targeted traffic to your site which is essential in internet marketing. The job of converting this traffic into sales still lies in your strategy to draw potential customers into purchasing your product or service and not just visit your site.

1. Search engine optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
2. Pay per click marketing (PPC)
3. Article Marketing
4. Affiliate Marketing
5. Banner Advertising
6. Free advertising on social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace)
7. Forums
8. Link Exchange
9. E-mail advertising
10. Online classified advertising

SEO experts would probably argue that advertising on search engines is the best way to advertise online, thus would recommend search engine optimization or search engine marketing. Indeed, advertising in search engines is one good way to make your business visible to the online world, as these are the major tools in the internet. You can also choose to advertise in other websites by using pay per click, banner advertising and some free services like the social networking sites and forums. E-mail marketing and article marketing are also good options in advertising online. To get the most out of the various advertising methods in the internet, you can even do more than one of these methods, which for sure, will bring the best results you are looking for.

As previously mentioned, the best online advertising is not just about traffic. You also need to have good landing pages and an attractive website to convert these traffic into sales.

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.