At the most basic part of how to work from home on the internet there is three main paths.

1. Find a affiliate or reseller program or find a skill like data entry and solicit your services.

2.  Find your own product and put a shopping cart on your website. Paypal works great for this.

3. Provide a valuable content for a subscription fee

There is thousands of other way but I want to focus on the top three.

1 .. First find a affiliate or reseller program or find a skill like data entry and solicit your services. This the easiest of all ways to make money on the internet. I recomend finding something that most people use every month and that you use and have a opinion on. For example mps players, you can find a website that specializes in MP3 players and check to see if they have a affiliate program.

If they do then you should start a basic website, even one page is fine. Do not get a free web page or a page from the business that sells the product. This will be much harder to market and get search engine traffic to.

On your website post something eye grabbing like their lowest price MP3 player. Now add test that has to do with this devise on the page in a attractive and professional manner.

Next you should add a blog on the website, I recomend wordpress for this and DWHS for hosting since they have word press that can be added for free easily and they only charge$3 for a basic website.

Make sure and update your blog  3 times a week even if it’s cut and pasting stuff from the website that you are sending customers to. This will eventually make money if website has a good product, make sure and have a friend or you test the website to see if the affiliate program and website itself works well.

2 .. Find your own product and put a shopping cart on your website. Paypal works great for this. This is actually easier then you think. Even if all you sale is candles or toilet paper if the site is clean, professional, and functional you will make at least some sales.

First find a distributer, in this example lets say a local candle maker. At first you will not make much from the candles  because you will not buy them in bulk but this starting process is how almost all business with no start up costs will work.

Next sign up for paypal and use there shopping cart option to add the candles to your website and  allow for people to buy them. You will also want to make friends with your local shipping office so you can eventually get a shipping discount.

Next build a blog on your website and update it once a week with stuff in regards to candles. You will also want to sale these products on Ebay and Craigslist.

3 ..  Provide a valuable content for a subscription fee. This is done in so many ways I couldn’t cover them all but some are EBooks, News, Groups, Content, ECT.. ECT..

For this you don’t need a shopping cart, just a website with some great sales stuff on it and a company like verotel to manage the members and payments

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Other things to consider:

Get good hosting, slow or dead web pages do not get customers. We recomend www.dwhs.net for this

Link to you blog from at least your front but even better is every page.

Make sure and add images to each blog post, it makes it less boring.

Think of these words first when making a website:  clean, professional, and functional

It’s not that bad to have someone else build the website. PageAlive.com does a page for $100 flat

Be patient, search engines take about three months to list and update new sites.

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Written by Charles Yarbrough for www.marketingspot.com
www.charlesyarbrough.com

It’s coming to a age where having a website is necessary for all business owners. But who has time to update all the new products and business changes on a daily basis? The reality is the majority of business owners update their web page every 6-12 months. Usually this consists of something they think will improve the image of the website. The part that’s commonly overlooked is that updating your website pages and text at least once a month has huge benefits far beyond any benefit of a slight image change.

By updating the web page once a month it adds credibility with customers and even more credibility with the internet process (Search engines and other websites). Search engines will always list a website that is active over stale, plain, and low text (content) websites. The differance between adding even a little more text each month is huge for how search engines will consider your website in the SE ranking system.

Of course adding jiberrish will not help much, but adding good text based stories, information, and by building more pages you WILL make a huge differance.  With that said here is the top 5 reasons to update your website atleast once a month:

1. Search Engines - They see changed and content rich web pages as a active website and will always rank this over a stale website.

2. Other Websites - The internet starves for new original information and by adding it to your website regularly you will have a much better chance to get free one way links to your website.

3. Customers - When customers see a website that is updated and has lots of perdinant information they are more likely to save the page to there favorites and come back!

4. Personal  Investment - I’m not big on tricking myself but the more you add to your website and see actual results the more fun it will be to add more content and watch your website grow.

5. Website Quality - Eventually you will notice errors or little ways to clean up and make the website more usable when your actively updating it.

The best way to stay active is to add a blog to your website, www.wordpress.com is a search engine friendly and is super easy for anyone to use. Most web hosts like www.dwhs.net  has it available for free by the push of a button. For example www.ocfocus.com You can see how the main website is the front line for the business and just adding a link on the bottom of each page to your blog you can have a easily updatability website that the search engines and your customers will love.

The other option is to have a non-static website, you can so this with blog software or any CMS (content management system)  www.drupal.com is a good option for this but might require slightly higher hosting fees to run it.

Written by Charles Yarbrough for www.marketingspot.com
www.charlesyarbrough.com

First… sorry about the cheesy image, I couldn’t resist.

Here are 5 business marketing characteristics that might help you be more successful.

1. Do what you can do for free; If your willing to do something substantial for free then you are able to do it well for money.  Find something you like and that you do well as a hobby or passion, then seek means to do it professionally.

2. Stay in the game; Most business’s fail, it’s a cold fact of life. Use this as a lesson and learn from all obstacles. There is a lesson in every situation that sets you back. Usually the lesson is someone else did what your trying to do better.

3. Be in the moment; Try not to spread yourself to thin. Staying on track is hard by nature, our minds want us to find something easier or better. In busines there will always be temptations of easier and better ways to make money but these our found from someone else working hard to find it.  Usually they found it by learning as they get there. Trying to take a short cut to match someone else’s success will usually set you back. It’s more reliable to find your own path and stick to it.

4. Don’t find ways to make yourself more successful; This is more for business and marketing professionals that are established. Instead of you focus on what can make your customer and employees more successful. This will bring success back to you in the end.

5. Open the possibility box, expand all possibilities for the business you target. It’s smart to know what not do as much as what to do. Try new stuff that pertains to your business even if you think it’s not worth it. In the end, even if it doesn’t work you will know more about what you need to NOT focus on.

Written by: Charles Yarbrough
www.charlesyarbrough.com

VIDEO is taking over the internet world. I can’t explain enough how important it is to get on board. We will see more directories with video more websites with optional welcome videos and most importantly if you have a help page on your website make sure to have help videos!

Videos give the customer/visitor a sense of realism and that someone is with them during the process.  Really compared to text and a image it is a much more suyppeir way of getting something acomplished.

So why hasn’t everyone jumped on the band wagon? Well besides having a full plate it’s because the technology is still alittle cloudy. Do you use WMV, Flash, Quicktime, right.. Who knows.

Well I feel strongly that flash video is the best, it seems to roll with web pages better then the others and has more interactivity them the others.

So how do you start with video on the web?

1. Buy a camera, newegg and costco are good for this
2. Buy the video editor ulead
3. Export the finished video in flash
4. Add it to your website

Also green screens are great ways to spice up the video but don’t get cheesy. This is a business video and needs to not waste time and look clean.

The was written by Charles Yarbrough 

Among the best ways to get immediate customer feedback about your products, services, customer service and other issues—as they perceive them—is through focus groups. But, at anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 per session, depending on the firm you use, the location (i.e., at their site or at a hotel) and the depth of your questioning, it can be an expensive process.

That said, if you have a do-it-yourself mentality, you may have more resources available to put together a focus group than you realize. If you look at the basics, you’re assembling a group of 10 or fewer people to discuss topics designed around specific results you’re looking for (e.g., feedback on a new product or service, the shopping experience at your firm or website, whether you offer good follow-up service, etc.). You’ll have a series of scripted questions, with a group led by a moderator.

So where can you save some money? Following are a few ideas:

• Write your own questions and script—Because you know what you want to learn and accomplish, you’re perfectly capable of creating the questions to which you’d like answers. Try to develop questions that help participants open up and answer without being led. For example:

• What do you like best about working with us? Least?
• How would you want to see our business/product/service be improved?
• Are there products or services that we should be offering but that we’re not?
• What have you seen competitors offer that works better than what we do?
• What about our processes or customer service?

• Keep it in-house—Often, the greatest expense comes from working in the field with focus group companies, which provide meals, snacks and even little gratuities (read: desk toys). If you have the space or access to a conference room, bring in a good meal and do the work in your office, or you can even rent a hotel room. If you have to rent a video camera, just make sure someone can operate it. The record you keep of the meeting—so that it can be used later—is critical.
• External or internal moderator—This can be a tough choice. It can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 for an external moderator, but the objectivity they bring to the table can be worth it. If you have a trusted friend who you think can do the job, it may be worth the savings. Under no circumstances should you moderate; you may not like everything you hear and that can kill any objectivity.
• Recruiting—Market research firms can recruit for you and it might cost about $50 a head, plus whatever you pay for in meals, snacks and fees. But you can also speak directly with your customers or send invitations to do your own recruiting. The promise of a meal and even a free service or product (the gift has to have value—no useless trinkets here) is often enough to get people onboard. You may even want to involve former customers—provided you’re close enough—to determine why they left. The key is to assemble a diverse group of customers and get to the right size (six to 10 people). If the group is too small, people will be inhibited and may not talk; too big and someone’s views will likely be missed.

Once you’ve completed the group, watch the playback and read your notes carefully and unemotionally. Chances are, you’ll learn a lot about what works or doesn’t work for your customers—and it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. And remember to follow up with those customers that have participated in the focus group, thanking them for their help and time.

Moving from a sole proprietor to S Corp status (the most common small business structure) offers potential tax and other benefits. But a sole proprietorship gives you more freedom to move money and is cheaper to operate. So when, if ever, should you incorporate? It depends on where you are in the growth and lifecycle your business and what you need. Each type has its own advantages.

“The chief benefit of a sole proprietorship is ease of operation,” notes Janet Attard, founder of small business intelligence site BusinessKnowhow.com. “There’s no special paperwork to file other than your quarterly taxes, a Schedule C and a Schedule SE—to pay your own Social Security and Medicare—at the end of the year. There are no monthly payroll tax deposits or quarterly payroll tax returns, and no separate corporate return to file. Since all net income belongs to you, you can easily take money out of the business. There are low start-up costs and you can use losses to offset other income on your tax return. And it’s your baby—no one else can tell you how to run the business.”

That said, as you grow and take on more employees and outside contractors or do more work with larger corporate customers, you may want the protection that incorporation offers. As an S Corp., you gain liability protection. As a sole proprietor, if you hire someone who makes a costly mistake, you’re personally liable for their actions. Under the rules of incorporation, unless it can be proven that you were negligent regarding an employee’s actions, you have liability protection.

But, Attard points out, there are other benefits as well. One not readily evident is your perception in the marketplace. “When you incorporate, you immediately look more professional and bigger,” she says. “At one point, we had the opportunity to partner with AOL, so we incorporated to look more professional. Larger companies want to know you’re in it for the long haul and sole proprietorships can appear temporary in their eyes.”

Other advantages include greater ease of ownership transfer for incorporated companies vs. sole proprietorships and real tax benefits. In an S Corp structure, you are employed by your own corporation. You get paid a salary and have payroll taxes withheld on your salary. Any profits (all corporate income, minus all expenses including salaries) left at the end of the year then pass through to the owners as unearned income, which is not subject to the self-employment tax. If you are the sole shareholder in an S Corp, pay yourself $75,000 a year, and have $20,000 in profits at the end of the year, you’ll only pay income taxes on the $20,000, instead of income taxes plus self-employment. One caveat: The salary owners take must be considered “reasonable” in the eyes of the IRS, which it considers “fair compensation for the work performed.”

One increasingly popular derivation of the S Corp is a Limited Liability Company (LLC), which offers similar liability protection, yet owners still pay self-employment tax. As far as ease of management goes, the LLC falls somewhere in between a sole proprietorship and an S Corp.

Incorporating a business tends to be fairly simple and inexpensive, with the key documentation being your state’s Articles of Incorporation, your corporate bylaws along with a first-year franchise tax payment, various government filings and licenses and attorneys’ fees. In fact, you can even incorporate online through such sites as BizFilings, MyCorporation, The Company Corporation and many others.

No matter which you structure you choose, Attard recommends consulting an attorney or accountant before making any decisions. “If you spend a couple hundred dollars and get good, consultative help up front, it can save you thousands later on down the road should you have legal issues,” she says. “When we shifted to S Corp status, my accountant handled it for me. It takes about 10 extra minutes a quarter to operate this way and I count on my accountant to know the tax ins and outs that I don’t want to learn.”

“President” and “CEO” are just titles. The words don’t convey what the leader of a company actually does that determines the venture’s ultimate success or failure. There are only three specific CEO actions that ultimately matter. If these actions are in place and working, the company will grow and prosper. If any of these actions fall short, the business will founder or fail completely.

According to Helow and Schleckser, very few CEOs are aware of these actions or their implications. They usually realize these things are important, but they almost never believe that these three actions should occupy 80% of their focus and attention. Yet, instead of spending the bulk of their time on these critical actions, time spent usually equates to less than 10%. A shift in focus and competence in these critical actions will substantially alter the destiny of the venture.

The three CEO actions that separate the winners from losers are:

1. Picking the right business/profit model
2. Putting “A” players in key positions
3. Implementing “A” processes in customer service and sales

Picking the right business (model)

Some businesses are good, others aren’t. A mediocre home builder in Washington, D.C. will be more successful than a great home builder in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Market demand always wins. Picking the business, designing it correctly and modifying it to meet changing conditions are the CEO’s most important acts.

What are the elements of a great business?

• Demand exists—or you can create demand—that consistently exceeds supply. It helps to have a product that customers love, has recurring revenue and is a non-discretionary purchase.
• You have a sustainable advantage that is difficult to duplicate. With this advantage often comes unique vertical knowledge, which deepens over time.
• The economic characteristics (gross margin, return on invested capital, etc.) are favorable.

In the wake of the dot.com bust, for example, The CEO Project found some interesting islands of success. ATX Forms in Caribou, Maine, is a classic example. ATX develops software that small, private accounting firms use for their clients’ tax returns. Their product is essential for their customers—accountants can’t do tax returns without this type of software, the product is sold on an annual basis every year because the tax code changes annually, and ATX focuses its product on the small practitioner. There are other large competitors, but ATX has the advantage of focusing on the needs of the small practitioner. Their sales and profits have grown over 50% in each of the last two years.What do you do if you’re in the wrong business? You have two choices. One choice is to take your existing assets (customer relationships, product knowledge) and reconfigure the assets to support a higher value business proposition. A CEO in the paper cup business—think commodity—invented and patented the big cups with the narrow bottoms to fit into vehicle cup holders. His business took off.

The second choice, and the hardest for entrepreneurs, is to sell or close the business and do something else that creates more value. For most entrepreneurs, it would be easier to cut off a limb than lose their baby. But often, it’s better to surrender and look for a better opportunity.

Selecting “A” players in key positions

Sometimes one person can be the missing link. Helow says he frequently hears “we were growing slowly and then we added ‘x,’ and that was the missing piece.” Often, this function is sales because most companies have sales as their limiting constraint. Sometimes it is a technical skill and other times it’s the addition of a great operations person that can bring all the pieces together. Sometimes it is replacing the CEO.

Player definitions are:

• An “A” player regularly excels and goes beyond expectations, reinvents and improves new situations and is a shining example for others and forwards company values. Ask the question: If you could hire anyone in the world to do this job, would it be that person? If the answer is no, then the person is likely not an “A.”
• A “B” player consistently meets expectations and supports others and company values.
• A “C” player is neither an “A” nor a “B.”

Most CEOs give their people “A” ratings when they really should be a “B.” But the difference between an “A” or a “B” can make the crucial difference in a critical position. That said, “B”s are essential to a company’s success. Companies are built on “B”s. You can’t have all “A”s. But you need to have them in the top positions of your company.Who are the most important people in your company? It’s always 1) the CEO and 2) the manager at the company’s point of constraint. Since most companies can usually handle more sales, the point of constraint is usually sales and marketing.

“A” processes in sales and customer service

If a company can systematically delight its customers, that leads to a series of good things. Existing customers don’t leave, they buy more stuff, and they frequently refer others. Being able to do this every time is a key ingredient in company success.

Several CEOs have used an innovative approach for keeping customer delight front and center in their organizations. Instead of complicated and arbitrary numerical customer surveys (one person’s “3” is another person’s “4”), they would ask their customers if they were 1) Delighted, 2) Satisfied or 3) Not satisfied. This made the customer data much more real. The next question was usually “why?” This opened up a customer dialogue, which frequently led to significant improvement in customer delight and revenue. A unanimous conclusion from this approach was that there was much greater economic value turning a “satisfied” customer into a “delighted” customer than trying to convert a “not satisfied” customer into “satisfied.”

Another catalytic event for many companies is when they find the keys to unlock their sales and marketing process. Orange Glo International manufactures Orange Clean and OxiClean. In the beginning, these products were sold mostly through craft shows. The product would sell itself in live demonstrations, but obviously the company would stay very small relying on craft shows and live demonstrations. Then came the Home Shopping Network test. The product was demonstrated live to millions and it sold very successfully. Users began telling their friends and the company was on its way. OxiClean became so popular that it eventually became one of the top-selling items for Wal-Mart on a worldwide basis, and the company is now over $300 million in sales.

CEO focus and skill along three critical dimensions will determine the ultimate success of the enterprise. The overwhelming tendency is for the CEO to spend time in other places—some good, some bad. A total commitment to building skill in these three areas will have a geometrically positive effect on business performance.

As your business grows, you’ll undoubtedly need to get help. More often than not, you’ll use freelancers and contractors before you can afford full-time help. But managing independent contractors entails some special handling.

“It starts with understanding the very real distinction between part-time workers and independent contractors,” notes Dr. David Javitch, CEO of business management consultant Javitch Associates. “An independent contractor is someone who’s not full- or ‘regular’ part-time on your payroll.

Strictly defined, full- or part-timers are your employees, which means that you may be required to offer certain benefits, pay over-time should the circumstance arise, cover them under your workers’ comp policy and follow other employment regulations.

In contrast, an independent contractor is not an employee. While they may cost a bit more, you do not pay for or provide benefits, which can be as high as a third of salary costs, and they work only a specified set of hours.”

The distinction is an important one, as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has very clear requirements of contractors. For example, they should, in most circumstances:

• carry their own general liability insurance,
• pay their own taxes,
• charge a flat rate per project,
• carry workers’ comp and general liability insurance for any support staff they hire on your behalf, and
• use their own expertise and/or equipment to complete assignments, generally without your direct supervision.

Beyond that, there is some ambiguity around the way the IRS deals with the classification of independent contractors. According to the agency: “The main factor a business must use in determining how to classify its workers is the degree of control the business has over its worker. The more control the business has over a worker, the more likely it is that the worker is an employee rather than an independent contractor.”

Perhaps the best management tool you have at your disposal when managing contract workers is a written agreement. According to online legal advisor Nolo.com, the law generally doesn’t require you to put anything in writing. An oral contract or agreement is legally binding. But oral agreements can lead to costly misunderstandings because there’s no clear written statement of what the independent contractor’s job parameters, payment terms, length of time on the project and, most importantly, what the two parties will do should a dispute arise.

“You need to be very clear from day one what the scope of work is,” adds Javitch. “In addition to a specific description of the work, an agreement should cover what your corporate standards are, what your expectations are for the quality of work and what you expect in terms of timely delivery. You’re hiring these people for their expertise. If they can’t do what’s expected of them, you should have the right to cancel the contract as quickly as possible.

At one point, for example, we brought in an independent contractor to help with our accounting. This person was allegedly experienced, but, within an hour, we found that he couldn’t handle an Excel spreadsheet. We immediately dismissed the person and didn’t pay for any of his time.”

Beyond the legal mandates are issues around the ways in which independent contractors blend into your corporate culture. “This may not always happen, but there are negatives that are sometimes associated with these workers,” suggests Javitch. “They know they’re independent and they typically have a higher level of expertise in their particular field than an employee they might be working next to. They probably make more money and can sometimes see themselves as special. Part of what you can do before you ever hire anyone is to have them interview with a few other people in your company and help them understand the way your culture works.

A good written agreement can also stress what you expect in terms of behavior on-site. And, remember, it’s ultimately your decision as to whether they stay.” Finally, it is always wise to consult an attorney before signing a contract or when the potential for a legal problem arises.

A chargeback occurs when the amount of the original charge that was credited to your business checking account is reversed. Wells Fargo Merchant Services has created this tip card to assist you in managing this sometimes costly and time consuming process. Below you will find the most common steps that can be taken to help prevent chargebacks.
Common Reasons for Chargebacks

* The card was fraudulent.
* Cardholder disputes the quality or receipt of merchandise.
* The amount charged to the card was incorrect.
* Processing errors were made during the transaction.
* Proper authorization was not obtained.
* Merchant did not fulfill a retrieval request.

Although chargebacks cannot always be completely avoided, there are steps you can take to help prevent them. The more you know about processing procedures, the less likely you might be to do, or fail to do, something that could result in a chargeback.
Procedures for All Businesses

* Make sure that the business name you provided to us that will appear on the cardholder’s statement is a name that your customers will recognize. Many chargebacks start when a customer does not recognize a charge on their statement even though it may be a legitimate one.
* Respond promptly to retrieval requests. Both customers and card issuing banks may request copies of sales and credit drafts. Once a request is initiated you need to respond within 12 business days. Sales drafts should be accessible to authorized employees for 180 days after the initial chargeback notification after which they should be stored long-term in a safe and secure location.
* Always get an authorization.

Procedures for Retail Businesses
Make sure you fully comply with the transaction requirements issued annually by Visa®, MasterCard® and Discover®, most importantly:

* Have proof the card was present by making sure you swipe all cards through your terminal.
* Get a signature from the cardholder and compare that signature to the back of the card. Check additional identification if necessary. If the card is unsigned, request a photo ID that has a signature, and have the cardholder sign the card. Otherwise, don’t accept the card.
* Get an imprint whenever a card has to be manually keyed into a terminal. Be sure that all of the transaction information shows up on the imprinted copy including the amount, business name and location, and the cardholder’s signature.
* If the credit card is declined when swiped through the terminal, do not continue to try and get an authorization. Instead you should request a new form of payment from the cardholder.
* Verify that the number on the screen matches the embossed number on the credit card.
* Obtain an authorization number for the full amount of the sale — do not break the sale into several smaller amounts.

Procedures for Internet and Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) Businesses
Take the following precautions that are unique to your business:

* Use the Address Verification System (AVS) to ensure that your customer is providing you with the correct billing address. Discover requires AVS on all card not present transactions.
* Provide us with a local or 800 number that we can include on your billing statement. Supplying a telephone number for your customer will help prevent a chargeback from occurring. Your customer can contact you directly with questions and you will have a chance to rectify the situation or be able to issue a refund to the customer before they dispute a charge.
* When sending merchandise to a customer, use a shipper that will be able to provide proof of delivery to the full billing address should there be a dispute. For very expensive items, request a signature for the merchandise to be released to the buyer.

How the U.S. General Services Administration Works for Small Business
The U.S. federal government represents the world’s largest marketplace and awards contracts at the rate of three-per-minute every working day, giving companies large and small plenty of good reasons to pursue doing business with government agencies. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awards a majority of its contracts to small businesses because they generate the majority of new jobs and contribute substantially to the nation’s economy, according to Felipe Mendoza, Associate Administrator of the GSA, who heads up the Office of Small Business Utilization (OSBU), the agency’s key point of contact for reaching out to the small business community.

OSBU advocates for small, minority, veteran, HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) and women-owned businesses, promoting increased access to GSA’s nationwide procurement opportunities. It monitors and implements small business policies and manages a range of programs designed to nurture entrepreneurial opportunities and put the small business community in contact with key contracting experts.

From the GSA and OSBU websites, companies can link to dozens of valuable resources that can help them start doing business with the federal government, increase the business they are already doing or just brush up on the skills they need to function more productively and effectively in this massive but in some ways unique marketplace.
Becoming a Qualified GSA Vendor
The GSA uses the same general criteria as the U.S. Small Business Administration to determine whether a company qualifies as a small business. By that definition, a small business is a business entity that is organized for profit (even if owned by a non-profit organization), has a place of business in the U.S., and is not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on government contracts. In addition, it must meet industry-specific limitations on annual sales and/or number of employees spelled out by the by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in its Table of Small Business Sizes (*PDF).

All companies wishing to do business with the Federal government must register with Central Contractor Registration (CCR), which requires a D-U-N-S Number (supplied by Dun & Bradstreet) that can be applied for online. It’s a one-time process and your registration remains valid as long the business entity remains in existence. You must also complete an Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) registration.

Finally, you should link your company’s home page to its listing on PRO-Net, a database the SBA maintains to provide government buyers, contracting personnel and prime contractors that may be seeking subcontractors with easy access to information about qualified small business vendors. Links to currently available business opportunities and downloadable bidding documents can be found at FedBizOpps, a portal where businesses can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities posted by government buyers from agencies throughout the federal contracting community.

Micro-purchases (up to $2,500) and some simplified acquisitions (transactions of $2,500 to $100,000 that are set aside for small businesses) are paid for with government purchase cards. Any business currently set up to allow customers to use credit cards, such as VISA or MasterCard, should be able to accept government purchase cards. All other payments are made through electronic funds transfer (EFT), with direct deposit into your company’s bank account. Payment terms are spelled out in individual contracts, schedules and solicitations.

The Federal government purchases products and services from companies in virtually all Standard Industry Classifications (SIC), but transactions may be driven by current market conditions. For example, there is currently strong demand for companies providing products and services that can be used in the Katrina clean-up and rebuilding effort on the Gulf Coast.

GSA Main Website 

GSA Tools Website