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Tips for Online Flight BookingsBelow are some tips you can use next time you’re looking for an online travel agency to book flights online.Social Media channels like Facebook and Twitter have been game changing in the way online businesses conduct themselves and deal with their clients and prospects. Take advantage of this by checking if the online travel agency you’re interested in has a social media profile. Keep a lookout for how active they are in their social media – do they respond to their fans and followers, when did they last post and how many fans/followers do they have? In addition to social media, many online businesses will have a blog where they can ‘open up the floor’ to their followers and encourage industry related discussion. Check if the company you’re interested in has a blog and you’ll soon be able to tell whether or not they’re a suspect fly-by-night or an authentic travel company.Find out what others are saying about the online travel agency you’re leaning towards by carrying out a quick online audit. A few search engine searches and you should be able to come up with some balanced reviews and testimonials.Are they displaying airfares including taxes and fees? It’s one thing claiming to have the cheapest airfares, but many OTA’s that make these claims fall short in that their cheap flight prices suddenly skyrocket when you come to the booking page and see the total. They’re wasting your time and are not giving the online travel industry a good reputation. Save yourself time and money by finding an online travel service that displays the total cost of the flight including taxes.Internet is a faceless business and reputable online travel agencies should be easily reachable through channels other than their website. Check their website for a valid business address, phone numbers and email addresses. Some online travel agencies will have the option to chat to them directly from their website.Check that the website has a safe and secure Internet payment facility. This is usually identifiable by a clickable badge that will take you to another page that displays the security certificate.How much flexibility does the travel agency allow? In other words, how flexible are they when it comes to booking a flight online, how long do they hold the seat for you if you don’t pay immediately, what is their cancellation policy? The top online travel agencies will usually have a full customer support team and experienced travel consultants to help with any flight bookings for business and leisure travellers. Also check on the added services the OTA offers. This will usually be things like SMS itinerary reminders and travel insurance.What can you find out about the company on their website? You will usually find this information under the ‘About Us’ or ‘Company History’ sections. Avoid fly by nights and try to book with a company that is established within the online travel industry. Look out for press releases and carry out some searches on local news websites to see if they’re getting any media coverage.Finally, make sure the company you book through makes it clear what you need to bring to the airport when you fly. To get on the plane it’s usually an e-ticket (provided by the OTA), a personal identity document (passport if you’re flying internationally) and in some cases the credit card you used to make the booking (if that’s the payment channel you chose).Remember that the services an online travel agency provides are designed to make your life easier. Sought out a good one and you’ll never have to bother visiting a bricks & mortar shop ever again.

Are you interested in starting your own business, but you have a very small budget to start with? The idea of starting a business has long been viewed as a very expensive venture and is only a common practice among a small group of people. Thankfully, the technology era has leveled the playing field for starting a business. It is now possible to get started with very little cash. And by gaining the right knowledge and skills, you can own a very lucrative business. In this article, I have compiled a list of 4 profitable online business ideas that you can start, with just a laptop and internet access.1. Become A Website Developer.Website development has created many business opportunities over the past couple of decades. Now that there are open source platforms like WordPress, it is quite possible for anyone with a computer/laptop and an internet connection can become a website developer, even if you have basic technical skills. If you are uncertain of whether or not you are able to start a business, creating websites for clients, then a short, informal online course in WordPress can fill in the blanks and give you the confidence to offer your service to potential clients.In addition to, website development, you can offer hosting services to your clients. And no, you don’t have to own a server. You can get hosting services for very little money. You can then offer the service as part of your package for website development. This price is usually set a bit higher than what you pay for the hosting.Online business ideas like website development, don’t require that you have a business space, so if you are strapped for cash and don’t want to incur the monthly cost of an internet bill, then this is the kind of business for you. You can take your laptop to your favorite cafe shop, and make use of their free internet service. Make sure you buy something from the shop, as this will keep you and the business owner happy.2. Start An Online Store.This is one of the most lucrative online business ideas I know of. You can start a business online, selling your own products, or selling other people’s products. The clear advantage of this business model is that you are not restricted by creativity, or location. If you do not have a product, and don’t have the slightest idea how to come up with one, then you can earn huge commissions from selling other people’s product. This is one of the few online business ideas that you can start with no money.If you don’t have an online store, it would cost very little for you to set one up for yourself, or have someone set one up for you. As mentioned before, open source platforms like WordPress and Joomla makes it possible for anyone to create a website. WordPress has great support along with free plugins that can make it very easy for you to create an online store with a shopping cart and an automated checkout system.However, if the monthly cost of hosting is still above your budget, then you can make use of free e-Commerce platforms like eBay, Etsy and Amazon. There is no monthly fee to sell your products, and you only pay a small fee for listing your product.3. Become a Social Media Manager.New social media platforms are springing up all over the internet. These social media platforms have huge audiences at any given time of the day. This makes it important for businesses to create and maintain a social presence on these social media platforms if they want to be visible to potential customers.This need for a social media presence has created a new and unique business opportunity. It is very tedious to spend time creating content to add to the social media platforms. And with so many platforms to have to keep track of, it can be a full-time job.Many companies are in need of a social media manager, and you can help. This is one of the online business ideas that will not become saturated. New companies are emerging every day and need to maintain a social media presence. So you will never run short of a potential client list.It is very easy to create content and maintain a several social media accounts. You can use platforms like Hootsuite to manage several social media accounts simultaneously.You can schedule posts and content for several weeks in advance. You can then charge clients a monthly fee for managing these accounts, which will be a lot less than having to hire an employee to provide this service full-time.4. Become a Mobile App Developer.Before you decide that mobile app development is only for those individuals who have spent years or more pursuing a formal education in coding, you might want to read this.It is possible for non-techs to create mobile apps for clients with no coding skills. You can use mobile content management platforms like MAPS – Mobile Apps Productions Software.These platforms allow you to create mobile apps and publish them to the Google Play and Apple app stores. In addition to publishing the apps on the app stores, the content management platforms allow you to provide back-end access to clients so that they can manage and update their mobile apps. You can also maintain the apps on the client’s behalf and charge an additional monthly fee for management and hosting of the mobile app.More than 91% of the world’s population have a cell phone or mobile device. And as consumers become more attached to their mobile devices and more demanding of what it can provide and provide quickly, the demand for mobile apps will be even greater. More than 95% of businesses do not have a mobile app for their business. You can create a mobile app for these businesses at a price that they can afford. This is one of the online business ideas that has very little competition and huge earning potentials.Looking for More Online Business Ideas?While you may find lots of online business ideas on the internet, it is important to note that being successful in any business requires that you acquire the skills and knowledge of creating the business or service.

Every successful online business has a plan of where they are going and how they are going to get there. Where will your business be when it’s most successful? How can you ensure that you get there? Can you answer these 6 questions?1. Who Are You And What is Your Business?Is your online business as just a hobby? Or is it a serious business that you’ll stick with even if the going gets tough? The internet can be impersonal business environment. Your website visitors will want to know who you are. Your ‘About Me’ page can become one of the top read pages on your website. Tell people who are, why you’ve built your online business and how it can help them.2. What Do You Offer?What solutions does your online business provide? Is it freedom? Maybe more time? Or is it something else? What problem can your product or service fix for your customers? If you can answer that, your journey towards having a successful business will be quicker.3. Who Is Your Customer?Knowing your ideal customer is an important part of running a successful online business. Create a customer avatar so that you can look at it and know exactly who you’re doing it for. To find that “perfect” prospect do your research to discover their desires, emotions, demographics and other physical and mental personality traits.4. What Makes Your Business Different?Generally, another online business will be offering something like yours or close to it. You have to make your offer for a product or service more attractive to buy from you than it is to buy from one of your competitors. What makes you and your business stand out so that it’s better, different, or special?5. How Will You Deliver It?It’s important to know how you’ll deliver your product or service to your audience. Will you sell a physical product that’s delivered to the customer’s front door? Or a digital product that’ downloaded instantly to the customer’s computer once they have bought it? Perhaps it will be both? But without knowing how you’ll deliver what you’re selling, it will be difficult to succeed in your online business.6. How Will You Determine Success?A successful online business can mean different things to different people. Do you want to sell a specific number of products, get more website traffic, enhance your online reputation, broaden your brand or something else? If you don’t know what you want to achieve, how will you know if have ever achieved it?