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A Guide on Successful Product Creation and Internet Marketing

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

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Tax Time: Tax Reporting Requirements for Property Managers

The beginning of each calendar year is a very busy time for many businesses, and Property Managers are not left out of that category! Whether you are a large Property Management Company or an individual Property Manager, this is the time when all tax forms should be issued for funds paid out to Rental Property Owners or Vendors during the previous calendar year. The form that is used to complete this task is the 1099-MISC, and this form must be submitted to the recipient and the IRS by a specified date each year. When 1099s are submitted to the IRS, they must be accompanied by a summary form, Form 1096, to meet the tax filing requirements.

- Why is the 1099-MISC necessary?
The IRS uses 1099s to monitor any income source that is not filed on a traditional W-2 form, which only shows income received as a salary or wage. This is a way in which the IRS captures any income received by an independent contractor or rental property owner that may otherwise go unreported. A Property Manager or Property Management Company is acting as a reliable source for the IRS to help enforce that all income is being reported.

- Who should receive a 1099-MISC?
• Rental Property Owners – all rental property owners that have received $600 or more in rent disbursements in a given calendar year should be issued a 1099-MISC.

• Vendors – all independent contractors or vendors who are unincorporated and have received $600 or more in a given calendar year for services provided should be issued a 1099-MISC.

- When does a 1099-MISC NOT need to be filed?
Every situation has exceptions, and tax filing and reporting is no different. Here are some of those exceptions:
• If the total payments to a rental property owner or vendor are less than $600, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.
• If a rental property owner is a corporation, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.
• If a vendor is an incorporated business, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.

- What information is required on a 1099-MISC?
• Tax ID # – this can be an individual’s SSN or an EIN for an unincorporated organization.
• Address – this is needed for the 1099-MISC to be sent to the recipient.
• Funds Paid – this includes a total of all income paid to a vendor or individual rental property owner during the previous calendar year. (Remember, only if the total is greater than $600)

- What boxes are used on a 1099-MISC to report income?
• Rental Property Owners – all income collected that was for rent should be reported in box 1 “Rents” on the 1099-MISC. Any additional income paid (late fees, utility bill reimbursements, NTQ fees, etc.) should be reported in box 3 “Other Income” on the 1099-MISC.
• Vendors – all payments made for vendor services should be reported in box 7 “Non-employee Compensation” on the 1099-MISC.

It is also good practice to send all rental property owners a copy of their financials for the previous calendar year so they can see where the amounts in each box on the 1099-MISC were derived from.

Not filing 1099s when required can lead to penalties and fines by the IRS, so it is very important to keep accurate records of amounts paid to each vendor and rental property owner and request any necessary forms that you may need to file the tax forms to be compliant in this process.

Postage Meters For Small and Home Based Businesses Save Time and Money

How Home Business Can Take Advantage of a Pitney Bowes Postage MeterHome businesses are expanding throughout the world and with this evolution, a postage meter, such as those from Pitney Bowes (who produces 90% of the postage meters on the market) can add a dimension of professionalism. The Internet has given just about anyone who wants to, the opportunity to operate their own business from the comfort of their own home. Still, although these home-based businesses do not have the same overhead as traditional businesses, each one still needs to monitor its expenses and eliminate unnecessary ones when possible.Home businesses do not necessarily have to be web-based businesses. A hair stylist can run her operation out of her home as can a music instructor. When this happens, though, one factor is almost inevitably overlooked as a way to cut expenses and that has to do with postage. A postage meter offers many advantages to home business owners.When a home business owner needs to communicate with clients, sometimes this requires letters or invoices or any number of forms of paper transactions. Advertising that is mailed also requires stamps. This requires postage – and usually trips back and forth to the post office. Many home business owners claim they do not mind these trips, as it gets them out of the house. When one trip per week becomes two or three, then you are not only detracting from the time you have to promote your business, but you are also spending money on gas to get to the post office and back home.It is easy to overlook just how much a small business spends on postage. A Pitney Bowes postage meter, however, has the ability to track the number of letters and the amount of postage that was spent in a given period of time. When it comes time to track these expenses at the end of the month, there will be no more need for guesswork.A postage meter also eliminates the need to wonder how much postage to place on a given letter or package. A postage meter can weigh the parcel and determine, based on the destination zip code, how much postage is needed. Right down to the penny. How many times in the past have you thrown an extra stamp on a letter because you did not want it returned due to insufficient postage? When you run a business out of your home, the temptation to do this increases dramatically.Another advantage for home business owners that a postage meter offers is the look of professionalism. It is bound to have happened where you receive a letter from a business that was handwritten with a traditional stamp. The look and feel of the letter speaks of being unprofessional. By adding a metered stamp, your home business will look like any seriously professional business operating today. After all, image does mean a lot in the world of commerce.People want to feel that they are doing business with someone who is professional. A postage meter, such as those from Pitney Bowes, will not only save you money and time, it will also add that aura of professionalism people respond to in a positive way.