On-Line Work /on-Line Store

[wayneseymour]

After reading many forums and grazing through numerous sites on the Philippines I realize many fokes make a living or added income through on-line means ,before making the move I would appreciate any information(HELP!!) on how to go about it and the pitfalls to avoid and or if its a possible means to supplements ones income. I not looking to be the next on-line millionaire just want to know if I may be able to add additional income to my meager! pension. Would like to try and start up before I move so it would be a sort of seamless transition, any comments, advise help, or information will be more than appreciated(hey I said that before didn't I)sorry for the newbie inexperience but hey I am looking to survive once there.

[OldUgly&Cranky]

i would like to know some of that too great topic wayne !!!

O-U-C :thumbsup:

[billten]

Main thing that i have learned with online businesses is that they are just that, a business. If you do something that you already know about and understand and there is a real business case (read business plan!) for the product or service, it may work. The days of "put it up and they will come" are long gone, think about what you know, make a plan, figure out a cost and income projection, etc. etc. Very boring i know but TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) these days...

The internet just gets around the geography issue, its just a means to get to a customer, it doesn't take away the fact that you gotta offer 'a quality product or service', 'that people want', 'at the right price'.

Regards the software part, if you are starting out there are a couple of options, either piggy back on an accepted platform like ebay or amazon or use an open source script from a decent service provider. They are easy to set up and run.

[earthdome]

Online stores for a physical product will be a problem if you are in the Philippines and your customers are in your home country. How do you ship product?

I have no idea what the opportunities are for online stores to sell products in the Philippines. That could be a quagmire.

I have an older brother who has done well with his core business of plumbing/AC contracting. He thought he had found a niche on the internet as a middle-man to make 10's of thousands of USD a month. He spent 10's of thousands of dollars getting all setup. The only people who profited from his venture were the vendors he used to setup the business. I recall how excited he was.. and how concerned he was that his website would not scale to handle the traffic. He consulted me as an internet professional to get my advice. To the best of my knowledge the only people who profited from his venture were the vendors he used to market/setup his online business.

I echo billten's comments. Do something online that you have experience in. It doesn't have to relate to the Philippines just because you live there.

I know some people who are doing ok writing e-books and self publishing online. They find some market niche... maybe vampire/supernatural romance stories for teenage girls...

and publish fiction books. But... they have some writing skills and talent to write books that appeal to that market niche.

Finally... make sure you have enough monthly income to survive in the Philippines before you move. You will be completely on your own once you arrive.

Best of luck on your online business ventures and move to the Philippines.

[lighthouse]

If I may add also, a lot of the locals are well versed in computers. Either hardware or software. You can buy and setup a rocking PC for a far lesser price than a Dell because the parts are bought separate and assembled. Make sure to spec good brand parts if you go this route. For software a lot of IT colleges started in the Philippines back in the 90s and so a lot of corporations offshore their support here. On the other hand I have met a lot of Filipinos in New York who work in the IT industry and are doing very well.

Getting the online side of the equation is easier than getting the business side of it-unless of course you know that side already. Good luck :-)

[wayneseymour]

Online stores for a physical product will be a problem if you are in the Philippines and your customers are in your home country. How do you ship product?

I have no idea what the opportunities are for online stores to sell products in the Philippines. That could be a quagmire.

I have an older brother who has done well with his core business of plumbing/AC contracting. He thought he had found a niche on the internet as a middle-man to make 10's of thousands of USD a month. He spent 10's of thousands of dollars getting all setup. The only people who profited from his venture were the vendors he used to setup the business. I recall how excited he was.. and how concerned he was that his website would not scale to handle the traffic. He consulted me as an internet professional to get my advice. To the best of my knowledge the only people who profited from his venture were the vendors he used to market/setup his online business.

I echo billten's comments. Do something online that you have experience in. It doesn't have to relate to the Philippines just because you live there.

I know some people who are doing ok writing e-books and self publishing online. They find some market niche... maybe vampire/supernatural romance stories for teenage girls...

and publish fiction books. But... they have some writing skills and talent to write books that appeal to that market niche.

Finally... make sure you have enough monthly income to survive in the Philippines before you move. You will be completely on your own once you arrive.

Best of luck on your online business ventures and move to the Philippines.

I was thinking drop shipping that way you dont have to house the products ...dont know just feeling around. thanks

[Curley]

I have been involved with the internet and internet businesses for ten years and the MOST important thing for anyone wanting to do any sort of business online is to ensure that your website is found by the search engines. Your choice of domain name is ultra important and the optimisation of the site also. Most off the shelf products are not fully SEO friendly and for a good site you will need the help of a professional programmer with SEO experience. Also if you intend to earn some money from pay per click ads such as adsense bear in mind that there is a worldwide recession and companies are not paying top dollar for good keywords any longer, one of my sites that was earning $3,000 a month 4 years ago now only makes $1000 to $1200 per month. If you find some good keywords and a matching domain then you can earn a reasonable extra income if you are prepared to put some time and effort and capital into it.

[earthdome]

I was thinking drop shipping that way you dont have to house the products ...dont know just feeling around. thanks

Ahh... yeah... that might work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

Sounds like you already have experience and/or have been doing your research.

[wayneseymour]

I was thinking drop shipping that way you dont have to house the products ...dont know just feeling around. thanks

Ahh... yeah... that might work.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Drop_shipping

Sounds like you already have experience and/or have been doing your research.

Thanks, just research..I want to know before I go:) I am looking for anything to give me a fighting chance on making it work(surviving) once I get there.

[Curley]

Another thing to look at is Affiliate marketing, if you have a strong website with plenty of visitors (both unique and repeat) many companies will welcome you as an affiliate either as a white labelled supplier or by paying you a commission when you pass on visitors. To enable this to work you do need a strong well visited website, this means you have to get it well established before approaching the companies offering affiliate programs. To give you an example, if your website attracted a lot of foreigners planning to visit the Philippines then someone like Agoda hotels, a company offering cheap flights, or car hire would be interested in working with you.