Starting A Printing Services Business

Starting a printing services business

Every business at some time or another will need printing services. These services include business cards, letterhead, envelopes, mail-outs, posters, flyers, and occasionally huge banners for use at trade shows or special events. Your online printing service business will provide these services, but your customers will have the added benefit of being able to order their products online and receive an instant quote for your services. With the huge growth in home-based businesses, there is an increasing need for printing suppliers for this market. You will be generating your income through printing orders you receive through your Web site. You will create the printed products to your customers’ exact specifications, and then you will ship the products to your customer wherever they may be. Many customers will allow a reasonable lead time, but you should be aware that occasionally you will need to be able to complete a job in 24 or 48 hours or less.

SKILLS NEEDED

You must have graphic design skills as well as a familiarity with a broad range of layout software such as Adobe Acrobat, Quark, and PageMaker. You will also need to know how to operate industrial printing equipment.

COST TO START THIS BUSINESS

The cost to initially set up your printing service will range from $20,000 to $100,000. These costs include a high-end computer, appropriate administrative software, a printer, a scanner, a digital camera, and the specialized software you will need. You will also need to buy special industrial printing equipment. This equipment will account for approximately half of your initial expense if not more. Finally, you will have to have your Web site designed, developed, and hosted. Other initial costs to consider include your inventory of printing supplies and some advertising for your Web site.

UMBER OF EMPLOYEES NEEDED TO START

It is possible to run this business with one person. However, due to the nature of industrial print jobs, you will find it much more efficient to have at least two full-time employees.

INTERNATIONAL POTENTIAL

The Internet opens up your business to the international market; however, shipping large print jobs overseas will eliminate any competitive pricing edge, making it much more likely that those customers will order from a local store.

IMPORTANT BUSINESS ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

The high cost of printing equipment means you’ll have to be as cost-conscious as possible. You need to generate as much repeat business as possible. This is done through both high quality and high customer service.

ONLINE MARKETING TECHNIQUES

1. Develop a comprehensive link strategy. You want to get as many links as possible from appropriate Web sites, directories, and meta-indexes related to your target market. There are thousands of business-related Web sites on the Internet that would provide a great linking opportunity for your site. You should also attempt to develop links from business service Web sites and directories. These sites will provide highly targeted traffic to your site.

2. Launching a strategic banner advertising campaign on Web sites frequented by your target market would be a great way to increase traffic to your site. Sites that you could place banner ads on include noncompeting business service sites, business-related cybermalls, local high-traffic sites, and other Web sites that would be of interest to your target market.

3. You could hold a weekly or monthly contest on your site for a free print job with a maximum dollar value. You could ask people if they would like to be notified of the winner via e-mail. This would encourage them to return to your site and re-enter your contest, thus re-exposing them to your products and services.

4. Develop a sponsored listings campaign to bid on appropriate keyword phrases with the popular search engines.

5. Participate in newsgroups and discussion forums related to business services. Remember to use a cleverly designed signature file with a catchy tagline and hypertext link that will send readers to your site.

6. Providing valuable contributions to business services-related mail lists would be a great way to create exposure for your business. Again, a cleverly designed signature file with a catchy tagline would be a great way to send traffic to your site

ADDITIONAL INCOME

To generate additional income, you can include graphic design or Web development services. You might also consider providing personalized promotional printed products like corporate calendars.

ONLINE EXAMPLES

Anchor Imaging http://www.anchorimaging.com A solid Internet-based print job company. They take jobs online and files through e-mail and FTP, plus they have a two-day turnaround time.

Miranza.com http://www.miranza.com With their array of specialty printing equipment, they can handle even exotic print jobs.