So Your Starting An Online Buisness? Check For Customer Support First

Starting an Online Business is easier then you think. There are several work at home opportunities that are available. Anything from writing about your own niche related topic to Ad Marketing to Male Enlargement Opportunities. Although most people probably look for a cost friendly avenue to pursue, there is one major detail we all seem to over look. It should be the first thing we look for and we all assume it is there, but it may not be as present as we think. That would be Customer Support.

The last thing you need to find out is not there when starting an online business, is that there is no customer support. It is all fine and dandy to purchase a product for $10 a month, but does it provide all that you need? So yes, it may provide emailing capabilities, server space and auto responders. But if you have questions is there a purchasers forum? Better yet, are you allowed in the forums before you buy the product? Are there any responses to questions you send? How do you take advantage of that "Money Back Guarantee" if you ever need it?

These are the top questions we should all be asking when starting an online business. You may think you will never need to use customer support but at some point even if it is years down the road, you will need it. The last thing you need to find out when beginning your venture, is that your questions are just not important enough to see human eyes because it is a computer automated responder that takes the message. Internet Marketing is HUGE right now. Everyone wants a piece of the work at home pie.

With 70% of people thinking of starting an online business and several making money at it, why not? That is a very high number. But they are only thinking about it. That means they are likely researching about it. Which means a lot of web surfing. Equals a lot of sales gimmicks and having to give up your personal email just to see what is behind "Door # 1". And when you do finally begrudgingly sign your email away and enter the life of starting an online business, it may not be all the peaches and cream we have hoped for. Seems like the most common entry page is another sales page.

Offering free e-zine subscriptions and showing you "Do not take it From Us, here is So and So and their success Story" ads. Then when you scroll down to the bottom, it does not mention anything of customer support or how to find it if you need it. There is a lot of different payment options, signs about a money back guarantee, and "if you buy now get $350 worth of additional products FREE"! And this is fantastic when starting an online business. We want to know that our investment is protected and we all love free stuff. But maybe what we should be asking first is how to contact customer support if there is ever a problem.

Take the major companies of the world. If there was no customer support they would never make it. Someone somewhere will have a question that needs to be answered. If you are starting an online business and you will be selling or promoting a product, are you going to ignore any and every question that comes your way? I doubt it. Although in society today, it seems like we are not as people friendly as we once where, there is something to be said for customer support. A happy customer talks. An irate customer talks, emails, and messages anyone and everyone about their experiences with a name and company attached.

Customer support is the front lines between you and who you will be dealing with. If there is little to no services, there will be little to no recurring business. Word will get around quickly that customer support stinks. We are a freedom of speech society that allows us to say what we want to anyone who will listen in any manner we choose, within reason of course. Nobody needs a lawsuit.

Word of Mouth is Queen in the business world and people listen closely for great customer support but remember names and companies for the worst experiences. When starting an online business, this is no different. Do your homework and ask questions. Yes, several people make it doing little to no research on a specific item, but do you want to promote something you do not care about? Or are you okay with your website "Going on Autopilot" and still making you money while you do the 9-5? Whatever avenue you decide to pursue when starting an online business remember customer support is King.

Celeste uses Site Build It for all of her web master needs. As the creator of little-known-food-facts.com, Celeste has spent hours researching foods and their effects on people. She has taken this information and is promoting a healthy lifestyle while working from home and raising her two young children.

This has been a dream come true for Celeste as she is able to pursue her passions of cooking, writing and photography all from one spot. Find out more on how you can create your own healthy lifestyle and how to begin your own work at home opportunity here.

How to Accurately Measure the Customer Support Level of Your Small Business Web Hosting Provider

If all things being equal, we would rate customer support as our most important determining factor in choosing a web hosting provider. Relying on testimonials found on the provider's site is the most common approach to assess a company's level of customer excellence but it is also quite an outdated one. Afterall it's not uncommon for some providers to fake the testimonials. Instead we suggest you follow our way of intelligently assessing its customer support.

Customer-Employee Ratio - Sizing its level of customer support is sometimes as easy as finding out whether they have enough employees to support their level of business growth. An easy way to do so is to look at the customer to employee ratio, CE ratio, as a benchmark.

For example, according to our records Sitesell has approximately 15,000 customers and employs about 30 support staff, it has a CE ratio of 500 (15,000/30 = 500), you can expect a much higher level of customer satisfaction and a faster response time when compared to another provider who is serving 100,000 customers but only have 75 support staff. Their CE ratio would stand at approximately 1,333. Basically you should look for a professional hosting provider with a low CE ratio.

Number of Telephone Lines - Check to see if there is a separate line for sales, billing and technical support. We hate companies who use only 1 line to serve everyone. Either it is a company with very limited resource or it's immediate priority is simply not their existing customers but new customers.

An Active Forum - The real condition of a web hosting company's customer support is really found in its members forum if any. You will get a good dose of complains and praises but if the complains outnumber the compliments, it's time to raise a red flag. Forum is possibly the most effective way for you to get as close as you can to knowing a company's strength and weakness without committing to any contract with them.

Cynthia is the webmaster of Small-Business-Web-Hosting-Guide.com, you can discover even more but often overlooked ways to determine which is the right web hosting provider for your small business by subscribing to her free web hosting newsletter for all small business owners.