Hi, I was wondering if anyone could offer guidance as to the best way to start a business that offers customized giftware & promotional items, framed artwork, and business products. How do you find companies or manufacturers to make the customized gifts/products that you have designed? Can you recommend any books or place on getting started in the giftware and promotional products industry?

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Hi,

I made tips for this HERE. They are specifically for online businesses.

You need to be very clear about your brand, and find someone to fund and make your business, without selling all the rights (DON'T SELL LEASE OR OWNED).

Try HERE and HERE.

Once you get them made, you will need a good design and system (eCommerce shopping cart as such). Web templates HERE and excellent web hosting HERE.

You might need to advertise, to save your budget. Try Adsense.

Then to make the amount of money that it has cost to advertise, use Adversal and Adsense on your website!

If you wish to also save money (e.g. start your company for COMPLETELY free, to see if it works), then you can:

1). Use Ezyrewards to get a FREE domain (availiable WORLDWIDE), you just fill out forms, and get points. *note any other people reading this CAN sign up to get free STUFF and free domains+hosting from Optinom and Godaddy*.
2). Use Freehostia to be hosted with (they are good, and work with, optinom, from ezyrewards. I am hosted with them at the moment until I get my servers up!

You will need a PayPal account (no doubt), if you are going for paid hosting. It is most popular way of paying people, and being paid for items.

Lastly, to sell your merchandise, you can set up an EBAY SHOP. It's secure, and guarantees traffic! Auction your items or buy it now them! If you sign up to Ezyrewards, the owner might let you have ebay shop price as a custom reward!

Thanks,
CJ

 

 

 

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Great tips you have there CJ

You will also need to research your market. Use research tools like Keyword Enchanter.


I think you mean AdWords there.


There is a trade off here. If you use pay per <- snipped -> on your site like AdSense, you risk losing some of your customers to your competitors. You are actually advertising competing products on your site this way. Besides, these ads also do not look professional. I suggest displaying AdSense ONLY on content pages or pages that you are not offering any of your products for sale.


Yes FreeHostia is a good host BUT NOT for business websites. FreeHostia does not give you access to SMTP or the PHP mail() function. What this means is that you can NOT sent emails from your website or from your domain hosted on FH either This is bad for business as you would want to communicate with your customers now and then. The best free hosting package I know is right here at Trap17

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you ready have the high quality complete hosting offer from TRAP17, so why you not use this service?....

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