Using trading to gain an advantage over your competitors
If you have a business on the Internet, you should be trading goods and services with other businesses. You should always try to trade first for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require no money, though sometimes you may need money to offset the value of the goods or services being traded.
Keep in mind that a joint venture is an agreement in which two or more businesses work on a project for a set period of time. Joint ventures can be long-term, like promoting a product together, or some can be short-term, like bartering or trading products and services. Joint venture ideas are virtually endless.
Trading will give you many advantages over your competition. It can save your business money. You can spend the extra money to buy paid Internet advertising. It allows you to offer your products and services at a lower price than your competitors. You can afford to get the more expensive goods and services to compete on the Internet.
There are numerous ways to find trade deals online. Set up a barter message board or chat room on your web site to get more barter offers. Note on your web site or ezine you are willing to barter for goods and services. Join newsgroups or email discussion groups that deal with bartering.
Join an online barter club to meet other businesses that barter. Find web sites that barter by looking up the keywords “barter,” “trade,” or “swap” in your search engine of choice.
There are a few things you should do before trading. Compile a list of your goods and services you are willing to trade. Make a list of goods and services you need or want for your online business. Know the approximate cash value of the things you are trying to trade and the value of the things you are seeking in return.
All of this information can help you negotiate a successful trade deal.
When proposing a trade offer, tell the person the benefits of the deal. Explain to them why it would be a win-win situation. Give their business many compliments in your proposal. Prove to them why it would be a fair trade. This type of proposal can increase your chances of them saying “Yes, I will trade with you.”
Trading can build long-lasting business relationships, increase your credibility by teaming up with other reputable businesses, you can have access to free products and services, and you can construct most joint venture deals with little or no money. Also, you can gain new leads and customers and you get discounts on products and services.
What are the ten things you should trade for before buying?
1. Information Products - it could be ebooks, “how-to” videos, cassettes, magazines, newsletters, paid e-zines, courses, etc.
2. Advertising Space - it could be banner ads, ezine ads, ebook ads, magazine ads, newspaper ads, tv ads, fax ads, online classified ads, etc.
3. Web Hosting - you could offer a free advertisement for their web hosting service on your site in return for free or discounted hosting.
4. Software - it could be for tax software, website authoring software, accounting software, newsletter software, graphic design software, etc.
5. Writing/Editing - it could be for website content, promotional articles, press releases, e-zine articles, promotional ebooks, etc.
6. Accounting/Bookeeping - you could offer a no-cost advertisement in exchange for their accounting and booking services.
7. Consulting - it could be market consulting, legal consulting, computer/software consulting, business consulting, etc.
8. Copy writing - it could be for brochures, business cards, classified ads, sales letters, product packages, banner ads, promotional products, etc.
9. Merchant Accounts - you could offer no-cost insert ads in your product packages in exchange for the option of accepting credit cards.
10. Internet Access - you could offer a no-cost pop-up ad on your web site in exchange for free or discounted Internet access.
Bear in mind that if you have a business, you should be trading goods and services with other related businesses. Try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require little or no money. It might just work wonders for you and your venture.
The no/low cost pop-up ad idea is great. I employ that on my site and it really helps.
I’ve saved alot of sales thanks to that feature alone.
Thanks
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Great post. I really enjoyed it. I will have to bookmark this site for later.
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Those ten things to trade before buying are really amazing. We will save a lot of money by trading those things.
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Good information for think with the running business.Bookmark now!
some info that I never try before.
inkjet banners last blog post..
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Do you ever do something like content trades, like I’ll write for you once a month and you do grapics, I would be interested in trading services
Need more traffic to your site
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Link exchange is also another good thing you can trade with other online businesses. It will not only help your rank in google but also may attract potential clients depending if you trade with relevant sites to your company.
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Ian Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am
@Taylor@Ascend Graphic Design Classes, very good advice indeed. I’m always on the lookout for good web sites to trade with. One way links are by far the best, but not always easy to come by
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