Concierge service is a good home-based business that has a sure market. While in the previous years, concierge business is only available to the elite and corporate executives, it is making its lucrative way to other sectors.

Today, concierge services are used by celebrities and busy professionals who constantly need someone to help them organize their schedule and manage their lives. If you are apt for running errands for others, you might want to consider starting a concierge business.

Depending on the type of services you would like to offer, it is important to determine your limits. There are many clients who need to do things for them.

Some services may be against your principles or beyond your capacity. It is important to be clear with your niche as one irate and unsatisfied client could ruin your reputation.

Some of the concierge services needed are setting appointments with hairstylists, doctors or personal training sessions.

There are also times in which clients would hire people to buy groceries, walk their dogs, or accompany their pets to the vet clinics or take dirty laundry to laundry service centers.

Other home-based businesses providing concierge services focus on doing office tasks such as handling travel arrangements, setting business appointments and meeting and organizing conferences, corporate parties, etc.

A rich market is also flourishing in the areas requiring services such as housekeeping, cleaning services, party planning, picking up mail, preparing dinner or paying bills.

Equally important is setting the availability of your services. Can you render services anytime of the day or night?

Branding yourself is important as people pay for your services and not products. Your personality should reflect the concierge services you offer.

The brand image that you are projecting should be visible to your promotional campaign such as flyers, business cards and transportation service.

The competition is tough, so you should know how to sell yourself to clients. Your business must stand out from the rest by providing services that have a good market but low in service providers.

Start creating your network of contacts to have easy business transactions. For example, if your niche is about dinner preparation, you must know several caterers or restaurant owners, event decorators and other suppliers.

You must have many contacts that provide services according to the standards of your clients. Developing your business plan is crucial.

The marketing aspect is the backbone of your home-based business. Learn which marketing strategies are best to promote your concierge services. Know which areas have high demands for concierge services and focus your promotional campaign there.

At times, it is also wise to include in your marketing campaign areas which may not have huge market but only few service providers are available.

The word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. Disseminate the information to your friends, neighbors and former office co-workers about your home-based business.

To have a regular income, encourage your clients to sign a comprehensive service contract with you. Offer discounts and a free service of their choice if they sign a one-year or two-year contract with you.

Establishing a home business will require you to create a professional looking business website. This website is a necessity if you are working from home. If you have a website, more clients will perceive your business as legitimate. You can build your own site if you have the know-how or if you know someone who can teach you how to create a website. Your website must have high quality blogs. It must be informative, visually delightful and can be navigated easily. You will only succeed in achieving these qualities for your website if you are equipped with the right skills, so ensure you are up to the task before you begin.

Most profitable jobs based at home have well established websites, and you can achieve this as well by following the guidelines below.

1.Hire a skilled professional website designer. To get the best talent, ask for their portfolio and browse their previous works. Compare not just their abilities but also their quotes because the web design market has grown so competitive that you can choose the one who can offer you the best deal.

2.If you are on a tight budget, you may build your own website by using free templates that are available online. You may browse through WordPress.org and Blogspot.com. These sites offer a wide array of free themes and templates. If you work from home and would like to market your products and services through your website, using WordPress or Blogspot can be a great help to you. You do not have to be an expert in using these sites because the themes can be easily downloaded and you can set it up on your own. There are also forums where you can get help if you need it. Be careful not to be overwhelmed with the large number of free themes. Take your time and choose the theme that suits your business best. You may also Google the different steps on how to create your own website by using WordPress or Blogspot.
Changing your websites layout is not advisable. Be consistent and stick to a layout that will generate the impression of a large company. This will boost your clients expectations and attract them to try your products and services. Your websites content and design matters greatly because it will make a big impact on your customers, so make sure that you get it right the first time.

If your business includes selling products in small numbers, building a shopping cart on your business website is not recommended. To cater to e-commerce websites, several companies have built a system to make the business operation easier and worry-free. One such website that can help you is PayPal. This is a must if you only sell a few products. People who purchase products online know this option because PayPal is known to be a reliable payment method. It offers data protection and quick money transfer.

Jobs based at home that involve a number of different products may opt to purchase a complete service of shopping cart for a business website. Other shopping cart services can be costly but this is because they will offer you a package that will make your work easier. If you are on a tight budget, you may use an open source e-commerce product.

A website needs a domain name and hosting to make it live and viewable. Choose a domain name that is catchy and easy to remember. This is another aspect that will capture your clients interest so make sure that your domain name is appealing. As soon as you pick a name for your business website, set up a dependable hosting package. It does not have to be expensive because there are website hosts who now offer more affordable rates.

Setting up your own business website does carry a cost but it does not have to have too much strain on your wallet. On average, it should only cost you about $150 annually. This will actually depend on how much work you have done and how much work you have designated to others.

So you want to start your own home based business. Would you be interested in knowing what are the hottest trends for 2006? Well, here are some of the most popular home-based business ideas for 2006. These are all the trendy ideas for this year and would make great investments for a home business.

Making meals from home and delivering them to a customer base is a new and upcoming home business. This is a great home business for the individual that loves to cook and finds themselves cooking for everyone and making food simply because they like too. These types of businesses will do all the work for the customer who has ordered a meal including purchasing the foods, preparation of the meal and will even do the clean up. The customer assembles the meals and puts them in the freezer to eat when they want. They can purchase up to two months supply of meals. Again, this is a great business for the individual who loves to cook. Most Americans spend the majority of their time eating outside the home and very rarely do they take the time to cook anymore and this has allowed businesses to capitalize on the market of providing home-cooked meals for families that would prefer eating at home, but just do not want to do the work of cooking the meals. This trend is particularly popular in families where both parents are working or in homes where there are single professional men or women. Many individuals believe this new type of business venture will be here for a long time and is not simply a passing fad that will fade with time.

Creating a home business based on everyone’s love of pets is a new and very popular home business venture. A Pet-based home business can entail everything from pet sitting, to walking and training pets, and providing supplies and toys for pet owners. More than 60 million American homes have pets and that is a huge market for a home-based business on any level. Most pet owners will spoil those beloved animals with anything that they find is cute, fun, and practical. A great new home based business trend for 2006.

Another great home business that is soaring is specialty services for kids’ that include fitness training, art classes, even science projects. Parents are willing to pay for specialty services that their child can be involved in that are apart from team sports. Parents like to give their children a variety, which makes the home business geared towards services that are specialized for kids’ enjoyment a huge success. This type of business can even include tutoring for children who have special needs in certain areas of the school curriculum as well as fitness and weight loss education.

Another niche for the home business in 2006 that is growing rapidly is providing home improvement to customers. Many people will pay someone to come in and do minor repairs or hauling away items from their home. You might be surprised how hard it is to find good, reliable handymen and women these days or what we used to call the junk truck when I was growing up. Sometimes those items are not worthy to be put on the curb with the trash but are more appropriate for resell and/or donation to the charity of your choice. A great home business idea for retirees or someone who owns a truck.