After looking at hundreds of online shops and providing critiques for many shopowners, I see the same mistakes being made over and over again. And what’s frustrating is that most of these mistakes have to do with either being too cheap, greedy or lazy.

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For example, most newbie webmasters simply use the out of the box shopping cart installation without any modification which results in a sub optimal shopping experience for their customers.

To be successful, you have to take the time to make your store unique and attractive. You have to stand out and the default look just isn’t going to cut it.

Other shop owners think that they can cut corners and skimp out on paying for critical products and services in order to save money. Below is a list of the most common newbie mistakes that will absolutely cripple your store’s chances for success.
No Contact …

Most of the readers who visit MyWifeQuitHerJob.com fall into opposite extremes when it comes to their online business goals. Either they want to go all out, create their own products or import their goods from Asia for maximum profit or they want to start an online store as a side business using the most “passive” methods available.

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The prospect of making money passively without requiring much work is extremely attractive which is why many readers fall into the latter category.

In other words, they want to be able to make money with as little active effort as possible. They don’t want to have to carry inventory or do product fulfillment which is why I receive many questions having to do with either running a dropshipped online store or becoming an affiliate marketer.

However, there seems to be some confusion about the differences between these two types of online …

The other day, a friend of mine called to let me know that after a year of dragging her feet, she finally decided to take action on launching an online store. And I was ecstatic! One of the reasons I was so excited was that her story was so similar to ours when my wife and I first started out with our online business. Her goal was to start a family, quit her job and stay at home with her child without sacrificing her income. An online business would be perfect!

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As we spoke on the phone, I became completely engulfed by her enthusiasm and her energy. And after about 5 minutes, she made me genuinely excited about her products which she wants to sell to the baby boomer market.
Oh Steve!! The best part is that I’ve made sooo …

In my previous article on My Latest Take On Hosted vs Non-Hosted Ecommerce Solutions, I recommended two hosted shopping cart solutions, Volusion and BigCommerce, that do not charge any transaction fees for using their service. Not being charged a percentage of your sales is nice because you can run your store at more or less a flat monthly rate(not taking into account credit card fees) that does not scale proportionally to your revenues.

A few weeks ago, I signed up for trial accounts with both Volusion and BigCommerce and decided to compare the two services. Before I get into the guts of the review, I’ll just tell you up front that you can’t really go wrong with either service and choosing between the two really depends on which features and factors you value more.

I also wanted to mention that I’m not going to really go into that much …

As long as I’ve been writing tutorials on how to open an online store, I’ve always advocated going with a free open source shopping cart and hosting it yourself as opposed to signing up for an all-in-one hosted ecommerce solution. After all, if you host your shopping cart yourself, you’re in charge of your own destiny. You have full control over the source and no one can suddenly raise prices on you. Plus, there are many cool things that you can do on your own that the big hosted solutions won’t allow you to do.

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But after running this blog for a couple of years now and listening to reader feedback, I’ve come to realize that using an open source ecommerce solution and self-hosting may not be the right solution for everyone.

Some people are just completely tech averse and don’t want to deal anything remotely …

Since I commonly get asked what services I use for my online store, I thought it would be useful to create a resource page that details every product, tool and service I recommend. If you are thinking about starting an online store in the near future, you should bookmark this page for your reference and convenience. Enjoy!

Web Hosting
Blue Host – Blue Host is the shared host that my wife and I used for 2 years to run our online store before we switched over to dedicated hosting. BlueHost is inexpensive, reliable and offers a wide array of free services. Highly recommended for new shop owners.

ServInt – ServInt is the dedicated webhost that I use now for every website I own including my blog and online store. Service and uptime are top notch and I’ve never had any problems ever. If you are looking for …

Based on several emails that I’ve been receiving lately, it seems that a few of you are hesitant to start a business because you’re hung up or stuck on selecting a business idea to pursue. And the number one concern seems to be whether there is enough demand or too much competition in your niche to succeed.

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I received an excellent email in my inbox a few weeks ago that pretty much summarizes where a lot of people are getting stuck so I’ve decided to dedicate a blog entry to the topic.

I just came across your site and it seems like an awesome resource. I have a question for you, that might make a nice blog post. I did a search of your site, but could not find the answer to my question, so here it is:

My wife has an idea for an ecommerce store. It seems …

Many of the questions that I receive in my inbox at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com are related to opening a dropshipping store and I can certainly understand the appeal. When you run an online store that only offers dropshipped products, you don’t have to worry about inventory and you don’t have to worry about product fulfillment. All you have to do is sell the product, take orders and make a decent profit. Alas, if only it were that easy…. As with everything that sounds too good to be true, there are always gotchas.

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In theory, dropshipping sounds like a great idea because it’s inherently scalable without you having to do a lot of work up front. But when you dig down a bit further, it becomes obvious why dropshipping isn’t so great. Most people try to open up a dropshipped shop expecting it to be easy, …

When most people think about entrepreneurship or starting their own business, the first thing that comes to mind is the risk that is associated with being your own boss. Perhaps that is why entrepreneurship is such an exhilarating and sexy term. It takes guts to go out on your own.

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But the funny thing is that most of the successful entrepreneurs I know are very conservative and don’t like taking risks at all. Ironically, my entrepreneur friends are some of most risk averse people I know! I happen to fall into this same camp as well. Sure, I would risk a good amount of money to start my own business but would I ever bet the entire bank or stake my livelihood on a business idea? Hell no!

Managing Risk
One of key aspects of entrepreneurship is knowing how to mitigate risk. …

Whenever I mention to anyone that I work a full time job, help my wife run our online store and maintain MyWifeQuitHerJob.com all while having two kids in the house, one of the first questions I always get is how I find the time to do all of these things.

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Believe it or not, even with all of these items on my plate, I still feel I have time to take on even more. The secret is being more efficient with your time and managing your day a little bit better. I know. It’s easier said than done. But I’m going to describe in this article how my wife and I organize our time to run our online business and and how we manage to cram a ton of activities into a single day. The reality is that there’s plenty of free time …

“I have no idea how to create and manage my own website and I have absolutely no interest in learning either. I’m just going to hire someone or pay for a service.”

Believe it or not, most people that I encounter who want to create their own online store or business have this attitude. They are reluctant to learn basic web programming because they are afraid of the technical aspects of running a website.

To me, this attitude is contradictory. You want to start an online only business yet you have no desire to learn about the web? That’s

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like saying that you want to be a real estate agent but have no desire to learn about the rules and regulations involved in buying or selling a house.

Unless you have the budget to hire a full time web developer, you are going to have to …

This is part 7 of a 7 part guide on how to start a small business.

Especially if you’re a first time entrepreneur, starting your own business can be quite overwhelming. The are many rules from both an accounting and a legal perspective that need to be followed or you risk getting penalized by the government.

Sometimes unexpected problems or disputes will arise in which you will have no clue how to proceed. That is why it is essential to have an experienced professional available to consult with when things become complex. At a bare minimum, you should find an accountant or a tax expert to help in preparing your initial business tax return even if you think you know what you are doing.

Small Business Startup Guide

Introduction
Part 1: Deciding On A Corporate Structure
Part 2: Small Business Trademark Issues
Part 3: Small Business Regulations and Permits
Part 4: Small Business Taxes
Part 5: …

This is part 3 of a 7 part series on how to start a small business.

Even though it’s not technically difficult to officially register your business with the US and state government, it can be quite intimidating. That being said, I can tell you that my wife and I were absolutely terrified about the entire process. What if we screw up and get audited? What if we forget to obtain a permit or fill out some crucial paperwork? The good news is that it’s not that complicated to fill out the forms. The bad news is that all of the information can not be easily found in one centralized location.

Small Business Startup Guide

Introduction
Part 1: Deciding On A Corporate Structure
Part 2: Small Business Trademark Issues
Part 3: Small Business Regulations and Permits
Part 4: Small Business Taxes
Part 5: Small Business Hiring
Part 6: Small Business Bookkeeping
Part 7: Small Business …

In my last article entitled How Dedicated Hosting Can Actually Be Cheaper Than Shared Hosting, I discussed the reasons why I finally decided to switch from shared hosting to dedicated hosting with our online store.

After publishing the article, a number of readers subsequently emailed me to ask which provider I finally chose and how I made the decision. Ultimately I chose to go with ServInt and here are the reasons why. Depending on what needs you may have with your own website, some of these criteria may not apply.
I Didn’t Want To Pay A Ton Of Money
As I mentioned in my last article, our online store doesn’t really require too much bandwidth or CPU resources at the present time. As a result, I wanted the cheapest dedicated hosting solution possible. The most reasonable dedicated plans out there are the virtual dedicated hosting plans.

For those of …

Most people think that starting their own business has to be an expensive endeavor. While it is true that many successful entrepreneurs self-fund their startups by racking up massive debt on their credit cards, it definitely does not have to be that way.

Thanks to the internet, starting your own online business is as inexpensive and risk free as ever. In fact, I highly recommend that you create a business that is well within your own means rather than risking your life savings all in one shot. If you can handle it, it’s best to start your own business while you have a steady job or an alternative source of income.

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I’ve received many questions regarding how much we spent starting our wedding linens business and I’d like to enumerate all of these costs below. As you’ll find out from reading this post, we risked …

All of the books I’ve read on how to start a business always focus on writing a thorough business plan prior to taking any other action. Having read quite a few of these books and having written a fair share of business plans, I’ve found that writing these documents have largely been a waste of time, especially for small businesses.

While the principle of writing down a business plan is fundamentally sound, I’ve found that things rarely go as planned and that your business plan practically goes obsolete the minute you are done writing it. Sure, you are supposed to be diligent and update your business plan as changes are required, but realistically there are much more productive things that you could be doing other than amending a document. Business plans are really only useful when looking for funding or when pitching your business to a third party.

Don’t …

Before you begin any sort of implementation, it’s important to assess the viability of your business plan. Is there a large enough market for you to take a small slice of the pie? Are there too many competitors for you to be successful?

Determining your target customer and the size of the market you are pursuing is crucial in determining whether you can make enough money to sustain a profitable business. Instead of just guessing, you should try and make a concerted effort to quantify your earning potential as best you can.
Figure Out What Your Ideal Customer is Like
The first step is to write down in great detail what your target customer is like. Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your target market

What demographic are you targeting? For example, ask yourself what age group, income level, gender, sex, education level, race …

DBA,or doing business as, is a legal term that is used when your business is operating under a fictitious business name instead of the owner’s name. For example, “The Gap” is a fictitious business name because the name of the business does not include the names of the store owners.

Because it is impossible to know who is actually responsible for the business from a fictitious business name, the government requires you to file a DBA statement in the interests of consumer protection. It’s different in every state, but in the state of California, not only do you have to file a statement with the county, but you also have to publish your fictitious business name in a local newspaper for a set period of time as well. Why does California force you to do this? It’s because publishing your DBA in the newspaper cements your …

Designing a clean, good looking website is not enough to guarantee a successful online store. While it certainly helps to have a great looking site, you are destined to fail unless you find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. Below are a few ways to do just that.

Provide Good Content
Good product descriptions or reviews regarding your products instill confidence in the buyer that you know what you are selling. If you provide helpful and accurate information, psychologically a customer will feel obligated to make their purchase from you (even if your prices are slightly higher).

For example, in our online store (we run a wedding linens store), we have free dedicated pages on how to make art and crafts with the products that we sell. Customers feel like they are already getting something for free even if they don’t end up buying anything. At …

Many people who open an online store naturally assume that drop shipping their items is the best way to go. After all, you don’t have to deal with the hassle of carrying inventory and the product companies themselves are responsible for getting your orders to their end destination. While drop shipping, when employed successfully, can result in a low effort, low risk business model, many online businesses fail to consider the following disadvantages.
Customer Support
Because the delivery of your product is out of your hands, you may run into customer support issues when your customer does not receive their item on time. When you stock your own items, you can always make sure that your products will be delivered in a timely manner.

When you drop ship, handling customer returns can be a huge hassle as well. Even though your customers are actually buying their products from the …