Product Sourcing News   

How to use the iPhone for Your Online Business

By: Colette Marshall
President, Worldwide Brands, Inc.

Iphone, iPhone, I-phone : No matter how you write it or say it, Everywhere you look, there's lots of talk about the iPhone. I will go ahead and admit it. I am officially an iPhonadic (short for iphone addict). I use my iPhone constantly, but I use it 90% for work, not texting or phone calls.

I use ALL the other features to help generate new product ideas, keep up with all the social marketing for the site, create content, and more.

Here are my tips for you on how to use the iPhone to aid your growing online business:

1) Existing features on the iphone and what you can do with them:

Feature: NOTES
Create a New note and call it "Product Ideas". As you walk around the mall or grocery store, jot down your random thoughts of product ideas. When you return home, you can enter each keyword into the Product Sourcing Tool to do your market research. This way you don't have to come up with ideas right on the spot when you start your market research and searching the database for suppliers.

The recent update to the iPhone allows you to copy and paste. If you're searching on the web browser, Click and hold on the url and select copy then go over to your Product Ideas note and click and hold and select paste. Now you have the url saved for a later time as well.

Feature: Calendar

Ever miss a webinar because you forgot what time it was? Sync the calendar on the iPhone with Google Calendar and when you sign up for a webinar add it to your Google Calendar. It will then automatically sync to your iPhone and you'll get a reminder right on your iPhone with all the details.

Here's a link to Google's instructions on how to sync your iPhone: Sync Your iPhone Calendar http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/sync.html

If you use Outlook, you can also sync that to Google Calendar and you'll have your desktop synced as well.

Also use the Calendar to schedule reminders and tasks for when to contact suppliers or keep yourself on track with tasks you need to complete in the next step of building your website.

Feature: Camera

The iPhone takes some great pictures. If you need a new product image to quickly put up on your site, set yourself up an area with a nice plain background for no distractions and good lighting and take as many pictures of the product as you like. Then email it to yourself so you can upload on your website or auction.

With the new iPhone 3GS, you can now take video and upload it straight from your iPhone to YouTube. This is perfect way to capture live testimonials, demonstrate product features, and create video podcasts.

If you're out and about and see a product that sparked an interesting idea, use your camera to take a picture of the SKU, model number, or seriel number so that you can look it up online later when you're doing your research.

Feature: Voice Memos (new iPhone 3GS)

If you're like me and like to verbally talk out your ideas for articles, product descriptions, reminders to self or memos, use the Voice Memo feature to record those ideas. It will make your content writing for your website one step easier. If you have been paying an article writer, then you can send the idea right away on email. You don't have to wait until you get home.

Feature: Email, PDF reader, Ipod - Podcasts

Many of the documents you send over email can be read on the iPhone. Acrobat Reader files (*.pdf) are a perfect example. If there is an SEO free report or an ebook you just bought about an important subject, Take it with you. When you're waiting for the kids to come out of school and you're waiting in that long line to pick them up, you can read a few more paragraphs (please don't read while you drive though. Not a good combination). But you could listen to podcasts from the iPod feature of different internet marketers.

If you haven't read Chris Malta's "Starting Your Internet Business Right" ebook, you could download it now and send it your iPhone and read it when you have a quiet, quick moment.

Now for the Applications....These are the apps that I personally use.

Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Facebook, LinkedIn - Use these apps to keep up with all the social marketing you do for your business. I rarely go to Twitter.com to tweet about Worldwide Brands . I always tweet from the iPhone when I'm walking across the office or running outside for a quick break.

You can follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ColetteMarshall. Tisha Rogers, our Operations Director, is also on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TishaRogers

Classifieds Pros - This is a tool to search Craigslist, eBay and several others at the same time. eBay also has an app you can search on eBay with. So if you come up with an idea, use these apps to search whether or not it's sold on eBay and at what prices right there on the spot especially when you're away from your computer. Don't forget to save the URL so you can go back and look at it later.

Wordpress - I use this tool to check for comments and start a blog post in draft if I have an idea while I'm on the road. When I get back to my computer, I can just finish it up quickly and publish it faster.

FedEx mobile - If you use FedEx to ship your packages to your customers or your supplier uses FedEx to ship you a bulk order, you check the tracking straight on the phone through the FedEx app. You'll know when to be at home to receive the package or you can send your customer an update right from the phone.

That's it for my tips for using the iPhone for your online business. Now I'm off to use the Safari Browser on the iPhone to search for cool new iPhone accessories that a few of our customers are selling.