Once you work online for some time and get some results of your work you think – it is a good idea to hire some help; then I will be able to test more things, to start more websites, to try more techniques, to have more time to think over new ideas, to network online, etc.

I do not talk about full time office staff (I hope I will in the future). I mean freelance and remote helpers who get their tasks through e-mail and phone, plus occasional meetings in person. I do not hire any freelancers I can’t meet, get to know and talk to.

I have posted some articles on what I am doing:

Staff training: how you do it?

Independent contractors: building relations

As I try to improve the quality of my online projects I realize that it is getting harder and harder to hire the corresponding contractors. Or we can put it this way – it is getting more expensive to hire good professionals: it does not matter if we talk about copywriters, coders or online marketers. A few months ago I used to hire only University senior students. Now I feel that they do not cope with the tasks I want them to do.The only solution I see is to hire more experienced staff and to do it carefully – I do not want to get loss making projects as a result of my unwise innovations.

Summary: I see that it takes time to build relations with people and contractors, it takes time to filter those who do not fit me and my vision.

I admit I was sure that it is fast and easy to find ‘someone’ who has some basic knowledge in the area I need and train him or her to do what professionals do or what I want him to do. I was wrong. I think about the ways to motivate my best contractors, those who perform well for months now and show really god results and progress.

[tags]staff, freelancers, part time, contractors, hiring, training, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]

I used to run an online store not long ago, but the Internet arena was completely different at that time if compared to what we have now. Yes, I have been selling on eBay for years, but eBay business greatly differs from a pure stand alone online store.

Once I have become a partner at one of the top local bookstores I have realized the need to go back to e-commerce basics to improve our service and attract new customers – competition is also tough here.

My first impression is that e-commerce nowadays is the industry taken by big players. There are no good websites focused on covering e-commerce issues for small or middle business. InternetRetailer does not fit here. A good exception is Wilson’s e-commerce website, but in my opinion it does not keep up with all the changes that occur on the Internet. As a result, many things discussed at the website are either obsolete or simply impractical.

Webmaster forums also do not discuss e-commerce much. SitePoint and Webmasterworld have special forum sections for e-commerce, but if you check them you notice that there are much less popular than other forum sections.

I was lucky to spot some really good threads discussing online store conversion and some other issues, but I expected much more information on this topic:

Increasing conversion rate: your tips
Site Search – Weakest function of most commerce sites

Conclusion: I admit the thought that I did not dig deep enough, but after this short research I have a feeling that e-commerce is not good for small business owners anymore. The reason – they can’t compete with big players in the field. Individual entrepreneurs run gift businesses and some other similar businesses in tiny niches, but others are taken. Yes, probably it is a question of niche (as always), but I am afraid that there are too few niches for small business owners profitable enough to survive.

I might be wrong (I wish I were), but this is how I see it now.

[tags]ebay, ecommerce, online store, online business, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]