Online Florida Business Ideas – Domain Flipping

Domain flipping – buying domains and selling them (at profit) later.

Domain flipping is sort of like speculating on the stock market… or, it can be.

We’ve done some domain flipping in the past, but it isn’t something we ever made a serious run at. There ARE companies that buy thousands of domain names for $5-6 each, and then sell them at a profit. If you’re planning on doing the same as a business in Florida – or, wherever you’re located – there are a few tips we have for you…

1. Find a registrar that gives bulk discounts for buying large numbers of domains. Godaddy is one. Tip – if you are buying anything at Godaddy – look for “Godaddy coupons” online and get the coupon codes to enter during checkout. Some of them work and some don’t – try many, you never know which might work and save you $3 – $300.

2. The shorter the name the better.

3. Don’t buy someone’s business name in a domain name, they are virtually assured the rights to the name if they’ve incorporated under that name and have done business using that name. You don’t want to be taken to court over it. Tip – there are a lot of legalities about which domain names you can legally own, and which you cannot – research the topic in-depth after reading this article to fully prepare you to go into this niche.

4.  Try to predict trends… one trend coming is 3-D. 3D everything… domain names with 3D in them will be highly desirable as people realize that whatever niche they are in – could be turned into not just photos and videos… but 3D images and videos as well. There are many domains with 3D available today. Tomorrow?

5. Study domain flipping websites and see what kind of money most domains get in a sale. Usually they are under $100. Sometimes you can sell a name for a million dollars or more. You could focus on either method, or both. Decide what you’re most likely to find success in to grow your online Florida business.

Don’t forget to incorporate your business – an unincorporated business is not a well founded business.

How Can You Monetize Your Florida Business Blog?

If you have a Florida business already, and you’ve incorporated with Florida State, you either have something to sell and a way to make money, or you don’t. You might have, like we did at one point in time – incorporate JUST to build a website (blog) and have that BE the money-maker.

A blog / website that brings a lot of viewers on a daily basis, can make money in many different ways. Like a paper magazine, a blog can offer visual advertising and sell blocks of space on the site for a monthly fee. Some sites make a couple of thousand dollars a month this way. The norm for a a decent site is probably < $1,000. Which, if it’s free money coming in every month – is not something to ignore – right?

Some people run PPC (Pay Per Click) ads on their business websites. I’d not recommend that, but some people do it and you could do it too if you have nothing better to sell. If you were focused on a particular Florida niche you could take paid reviews on your blog. That means you could offer that, for a set fee, $100 perhaps, you would accept a well-written article that advertises something available to Florida viewers. The article would typically become part of your website, permanently.

The hardest piece of the business blogging puzzle is… traffic. Getting people to come to your site to read what you have, view what you have (photos,videos), is the toughest part of it all. When you have a thousand people coming to your site a day – all focused on getting information about one thing – you can monetize it (make money) from that traffic rather easily. It’s a numbers game really.

Look more into blogging… it might be right for your Florida business.

New Florida Business Ideas – Blogging

A blog is short for Web Log. Blogging is the act of putting together information on a website with a timeline, and sharing that information with other Florida web surfers.

Blogging is rather essential for your business these days – whether you have an online store, or just a blog to cover what you’re doing in your brick and mortar store. If you’re frequently telling people about what is going on with your Florida business – you’ll have a much better chance of having more and more people come by your blog to take a look.

Your blog can be a sort of journal for your Florida business – you can tell how you went about the incorporation process, for instance. You can tell about a sale you have coming up. You can run a poll and ask visitors what they want to see on your blog. You can post photos of your workplace, properties, staff that work in your business, and even post videos of processes you use, items you make, or services your business offers.

Setting up a blog for your busienss is not difficult. You might choose wordpress.com, blogger.com, or wordpress.org to get started. If you start a blog at blogger.com or wordpress.com you can move it to your own domain name, like “yourfloridabusiness.com” with a minimal effort. If you choose to start a wordpress.org blog – you’ll already have your own domain name.

Look into blogging – it will help your business get off the ground after you incorporate with us here at Start Florida Business (.com).

Should Your First Online Business Be EBooks?

One great way to begin your first ebusiness is to start selling a product that is easy to create… on your own. Your products have the best chance of making it in the market place and giving you substantial enough income to quit your day job because you can make the most profit from selling your own products. Sell someone elses product and you will likely get a 50% or 60% commission. This is typical in most online industries.

If you create your own eproduct – an eBook for example, you can sell that eBook for $14.99 to $39.99 and besides the financial processing fees for accepting credit cards – you’ll get the rest. Create your own product an you will also be able to offer it to affiliates to sell at 50% of commission. By creating your own eBooks you’ll be getting the most income per product sold as you possibly can. eBooks, or any electronic product that doesn’t really exist tangibly where you can hold it – is a remarkable way to make money because the supply is unlimited. The delivery instantaneous, and the perceived value can be much higher than a regular paperback book.

The very first step is to incorporate your new business as soon as you’ve decided on a name and domain name for it. If you don’t protect your personal assets you may lose everything. Incorporating is a great way, to protect your personal assets from court cases against your new business, it’s easy, and you’ll get tax breaks. Incorporating is the best way to do that and avoid double taxation using Subchapter S or LLC type incorporations.

Creating Your eBook

eBooks are easy to make and easy to sell online because you can just give your customers a download link after they pay for it. eBooks can be created using any word processing program you like, and then move it to Microsoft’s Word program for easiest conversion to eBook formats. Add photos, and you can turn your eBook into a PDF file with free online converters. There are a number of programs you can buy for $99 and less that convert your document into Adobe PDF compatible eBooks, there is no need to spend over $500 for Adobe Writer.

eBooks can be of much shorter length than typical paperback books. 50-70 pages is the ideal length for an information filled eBook. Go bigger than that and readers’ eyes may tire reading on the computer screen. eBook readers are getting better, but right now Amazon’s Kindle has the easiest to read screen, and the features on the machine are not anything to brag about. Give us another year and things should be looking way up.

Keep your eBooks to a low number of pages and jam-packed with information, photos, graphs, and soon even videos as eBook technology catches up to the web browsing experience. Offer previews to show potential buyers what the style of your eBook is, and to entice them to buy. Don’t show your first chapter if your first chapter isn’t your best. eBooks are selling online for $5 to $100. For an information filled eBook about a timely topic – and that offers novel information you may be able to get $39 for it. Be careful pricing too low. We had some eBooks at $8 for a while, and then finally raised the price to $14.95. They sold much more at the higher price. The perceived value is what’s important to the customer. At $8, your eBook may seem like junk.

Offer bonuses along with your eBook and you’ll notice they have a great effect. Sell your eBooks on your site, through PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, using affiliates, and any other way you can think of. Don’t forget to collect email addresses and permission to email your customers to alert them of future eBooks you put out. Repeat sales can be a tremendous source of future revenue. Don’t stop at one eBook. As you build the number of products you have to sell you can eventually create a full-time job for yourself as a writer of eBooks. Remember the first step – incorporate!

The Fear of Incorporation

We’ve been helping business owners incorporate for over a decade now. What we noticed is that many people are afraid to incorporate their businesses and we wanted to go over those fears and address them here.

Reasons for Fearing Incorporation:

1. A lot of paperwork. If you are a one-person business there is very little you need to do in the way of paperwork for your new Florida business. If you have employees other than yourself, yes, you’ll have more paperwork to do. Best off to outsource that to someone. There are many online services that can handle your payroll, for instance. If your business bank account offers online checking, review their website to see whether they offer a simple and affordable payroll service. Mine does (PNC.c0m).

2. I don’t want to hire an accountant. Accountants make our lives easier – not more difficult. You probably don’t need to hire an accountant full or part-time to manage your business finances. You can pay an accounting firm to handle taxes for you, and other projects on a case by case basis without hiring a Florida accountant at your business site.

3. It’s too serious. While it does sound like a big step, it’s an essential step that will help you protect your personal assets from being seized in a court case. Being serious will open doors too – banks, and other Florida lending institutions will be more likely to give you loans.

4. More taxes. There are ways you can setup your business so you are actually paying less tax than you would as an employee of someone else’s business. See, when you’re employed by someone else you are getting a set salary. The money you make is more than you need for all your expenses for the month. But, you get taxed on the entire salary check – even the money you save. With a corporation you can pay yourself whatever you need exactly. The rest you save in the business account – and it doesn’t get taxed. In fact, you can buy things you need for the business with that money – and not get taxed on it at all – or, enjoy a reduced tax rate on it. You should really contact an accountant and figure out all the ways florida incorporation can save you money, and protect your business.

Which Corporate Entity is Right for Your Florida Business?

It’s not all that difficult to choose which corporate entity is right for your Florida business. Here are your choices, and a little bit about each type of corporate entity. Annually in Florida there are about an equal amount of for profit corporations filed as there are Limited Liability companies formed. Usually the choice of business type is one of these.

We didn’t mention Non-Profit companies here, as they are quite a bit different from regular corporate entities. A Non-Profit is designated as such only after IRS approval which may take months to secure.

Limited Liability Company

In the year 2007, over 135,000 limited liability companies (LLCs) as they are usually called, are a blend of business combining some features of both partnerships and corporations.

Florida limited liability companies may choose whether they wish to be  taxed as partnerships or corporations. Limited liability companies must register with the Florida Division of Corporations to legally do business in Florida. Fill out our simple online LLC form here.

Profit corporations

In 2007, over 135,000 new “for-profit” businesses registered in Florida state with the Florida Division of Corporations.

Corporations are separate legal entities than the individual that owns them. Each corporation must file with the Florida Division of Corporations. We assist you with that matter when you fill out our easy to follow incorporation forms here on this site.

The two types of corporations are the C-Corporation and the S-Corporation. With a C-Corporation, the corporation rather than individuals pays taxes and assumes liabilities. Florida’s corporate tax is just 5.5%.

An S-Corporation allows up to 75 shareholders to share income and expenses and to report income/expenses on their individual end of year income tax returns filed with the IRS.

Non-Profit Companies

These start out as profit corporations until they are later designated as Non-profit companies after complying with all IRS requirements as governed by the Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3.

The Non-Profit company exists foremost as a provider of programs and services that benefit others which ordinarily would not otherwise be provided by local, state, or other government offices. Non Profits can earn a surplus, but the earnings are not distributed to employees or any individuals, they are held by the company and reinvested toward future programs and services.

There exist many grants and other programs to help non-profit companies succeed. Google, YouTube, Flickr, and many other online properties have special programs designed to help non profit organizations advance their good cause and help others.

Sole Proprietorship

We don’t recommend doing business in this capacity as there are a couple of drawbacks to it. Serious drawbacks. One benefit is ease of creation. Sole proprietorships are easy to set up and easy to disband.

Profits for this type of entity are taxed at the sole proprietor’s individual federal tax rate as reported tax form Schedule C or CZ. Florida sole proprietorships don’t file FL business (corporate) income tax returns. Sole proprietor owners have virtually unlimited personal liability for any legal debts or other obligations their Florida business incurs during it’s lifetime. Familiarization with Florida’s “homestead laws” are important because they limit this liability somewhat.

Partnerships

Partnerships are not that popular, just over 3,000 partnerships filed documents with Florida state to become registered in Florida during 2007.

Partnerships are easily formed. Florida business partnerships are unincorporated and allow for 2+ persons to share liabilities and join capital for the business. Florida business income from the partnership is reported on each partners individual tax return. Limited partnerships must register with Florida state, and the fee initially is $965 and $500 annually in years following.

Choose the type of business entity that is right for your business carefully. Accountants are great sources of knowledge, but can often times try to swing you into incorporating with them at very high cost. Your best bet is to make an appointment with your accountant, ask all the questions you need and return home to fill out our simple online incorporation forms for just $195 for profit, non profit, and Subchapter S companies or just $265 for LLC companies. Don’t pay more, there’s no need to – we give you rush service at no cost to you.

Florida Incorporating Costs: What’s Fair?

If you’ve been shopping around before you do your incorporating you’ve surely found out one thing. There are dozens of websites to choose from. The next fact you quickly become attuned to is that each site offers to help you complete your Florida company incorporation for varying amounts of cash.

What is a fair rate for Florida incorporating costs?

We don’t really pretend to know what’s fair or not – we have been charging the same rate for Florida incorporating costs on our sites for nearly a decade. What we did originally was this…

We looked at all of our competition – just four companies back then, and we priced our service lower than all of them. We had no idea how much it would cost us per person to incorporate them and we didn’t understand the whole process quite frankly. The first few months in 1999 were eye-openers and we didn’t make much money at all. We knew we wanted to keep our prices fair and reasonable – but really didn’t know what that was. We decided on $195 for all types of Florida incorporation except the LLC, which we put at $265.

Fast forward to 2009. There are now over sixty companies competing in the same space. Google loves us because we were one of the first, so we have that going for us.

We’ve helped over 10,000 new businesses incorporate in Florida and we’re helping more than 1,000 each year. We’ve had not one person complain about our rates – so we know we’ve got our incorporation services priced fairly and reasonable.

We’ve seen companies come and go – but, this LegalZoom is taking another approach entirely. You’ve seen their ads on TV and heard them on radio. I’ve seen them on the internet. They are spending millions and millions of dollars on advertising. It’s the American way – right? Spend 10,000,000 in advertising to get $15,000,000 in sales. It’s an amazing business and it’s running full-steam ahead. All of this success despite the fact that they charge a couple of hundred dollars more for the basic incorporation than we do here at Start Florida Business because they don’t offer what everyone really needs unless you’re ordering the most expensive – level 3 package.

Here we do it quite differently. We add on no extra incorporating costs. We GIVE YOU the help you need to incorporate your Florida Subchapter S, Non Profit, or LLC. We process your forms the SAME DAY and don’t charge any extra fee. With LegalZoom and other companies sometimes your incorporation isn’t processed for weeks.

So, just some differences between us and them.

If you’re sure you want to incorporate. If you’re sure you don’t want to spend a couple hundred dollars for extras you probably don’t need. If you’re sure you want to incorporate today – and not wait for weeks of processing, incorporate with us at one of our 4 online forms:

Subchapter S Incorporation >

Profit Incorporation >

LLC Incorporation >

Non-Profit Incorporation >

Incorporating Your Business

Incorporating your business is, what we consider, an absolutely necessary step.

Incorporating your Florida business accomplishes a number of things for you.

1. You can enjoy a limited protection of your personal assets as the corporation becomes an entity of it’s own, separate from your personal assets. In the case of legal action against the company, your personal things: savings, home, automobiles and other valuables might be untouchable unless you’ve committed fraud or other harmful activities.

2. Your business will be seen as official and the credence your company gets with incorporation will be seen by others – including lenders, as professional and “serious”. Unincorporated companies are not seen as good investments and not very professional when compared to incorporated companies.

3. You can enjoy a number of tax benefits – depending on the type of incorporation entity you choose. There are significant tax advantages to the various corporation types – and researching what those advantages are is crucial! Finding and hiring a great accountant to help you take advantage of tax benefits is highly recommended. Accountants are worth every penny they charge – and they can show you!

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