Overview of Business Model

Today, with access to the Internet, people have come to expect a certain level of personal choice. Many people enjoy having their own personal calendar set for personal use or as a gift for friends and relatives.

Custom calendars are a wonderful choice for a simple gift idea or a great way to spruce up the office. These are wonderful gifts for parents or grandparents, as each month or each day can have an interesting picture of the children or grandchildren. They are also great corporate gifts, where each location or each product can be presented on each page. The custom applications are endless.

Now, with the extensive set of specialty publication software and the power of personal computers, it can be moderately easy to set up a small publication firm.

Skills Needed

The most important set of skills needed for creating custom calendars is superior graphic design capabilities. Familiarity with the various graphics programs available to you, particularly products like Adobe Photoshop, is a must.

Cost to Start This Business

The cost to set up and run this type of business ranges from $2,000 to $7,000. Your initial setup costs include a personal computer, a photo-quality printer, and the appropriate software. You will also need to pay for the design, development, and hosting of your Web site, and possibly your storefront solution and merchant account setup. All additional costs are associated with promoting your business online and offline, and purchasing and holding a limited amount of inventory.

Number of Employees Needed

This business can easily be started with one part-time individual.

International Potential

Your market size will be large, and most English-speaking international markets will provide an opportunity. Be aware that there will be markets that are closed to you due to language barriers.

E-Business Model/Payment Processing Method

E-business level 2 is most appropriate for this type of business. For more information, see Part 1.

Important Business Issues to Be Addressed

You may be faced with significant online competition. This business has a low cost of entry. For this reason, you many want to target your calendars toward one particular niche of online customers. You might decide to specialize in pet calendars or corporate calendars. Also consider what volume of calendars you will be producing. If you turn out only a few a month, then you may wish to use a high-quality desktop or industrial printer. However, as your volume increases, you may need to utilize the services of a professional printing service, which may prove costly with little room for errors.

Online Marketing Techniques

• Develop a comprehensive link strategy. Generating links from other, related sites is an excellent way to bring targeted businesses to your Web site. You will want to be linked from sites that cater to your target market. You might establish links from appropriate cybermalls, gift-suggestion sites, and other appropriate directories.

• Generate a few samples to display on your Web site. Perhaps you could include a few great testimonials on that page of your site as well.

• You might also consider using a viral marketing technique like Tell a Friend. This will allow your customers to bring their friends to your Web site. If they enjoy your product, they’re guaranteed to pass the information to a friend.

• Develop a sponsored listings campaign to bid on appropriate keyword phrases with the popular search engines.

• You might want to participate in Web rings related to Gifts Or Unusual gifts Or One-of-a-kind gifts.

For a more detailed description of these techniques, along with many other effective online marketing methods, I recommend the companion book 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site. You can also find tons of free resources at Http:// www. susansweeney. com/resources. html.

Additional Income

You could easily expand your product line once your calendars are selling. With e-cards popping up everywhere on the Internet, this too could be a logical next step for your site. You could consider custom engraving, custom e-books, custom screen printing, custom mousepads, or other products that require the skill sets and the technology in your organization.

Online examples

Custom Made Calendars

Http:// www. custommadecalendars. com

This site is a good example of a custom calendar site. They have used the addition of private photos to establish a niche for themselves.

AmerICan Calendars

Http://calendarco. com

Specialty calendars may be more appropriate than custom calendars. This is an

Example of a high-volume printing operation.