6 Tips to Recession-Proof Your Small Business
October 10, 2008
Many small business owners are trying to find ways to keep their business alive through the economic downturn. There are many tips and resources that will help a small business stay alive through a slump in the economy.
#1 Budget and Manage Business Expenses
This is not the time to explore new and unorthodox methods of marketing, advertising and business management. Watch every penny, more important, but a price tag on your time. Make sure that every minute is profitable.
Quickbooks Simple Start (simplestart.com) is a free, easy to use accounting software that will help budget any home based business.
#2 Project Management
Several online tools let you track your time, projects, and clients. I use Freshbook.com. It integrates everything from time tracking to invoicing, and estimating a project to integrating through several different payment systems including paypal, paypal payflow, and more. Another service is billingmanager.com.
#3 Find a Small Business Mentor
A good mentor can be worth years of experience and education. They can help you avoid the traps and scams that have pulled down so many new businesses. Do not give up the search. It can take time to find a good mentor. Many people pretending to be mentors only have something to sell. Persistence is the key to success when looking for a mentor. Several place to find a mentor includes jumpup.com, twitter, and industry associations.
#4 Find a Networking Team
Networking is becoming the foundation of the new business methodology. A team working together, sharing their skills, and building their skill base can offer clients a broader spectrum of services, answer their questions, and convey credibility.
#5 Lower Operating Costs
There are several ways to lower costs. Skype lets small business owners talk from their computer. Vonage lets users build international phone service, with ‘numbers’ in several countries for only $7 each.
Another way to lower costs is to find help through ifreelance, guru.com, and ‘word-of-mouth’ instead of hiring a company. Building relationships is not about asking for a service for less. Relationship business strategies are built around trust and value, not necessarily asking for a discount.
These six tips can help a business not only survive a recession, but thrive no matter how deep the market dives. Survival is not difficult. Millions of dollars are made in a recession. Many people become millionaires in a recession. There is no reason it cannot be you.
Three Common Mistakes: Internet Business Survival
August 20, 2008
Most business owners know the basics of marketing on the Internet. Others know just enough to be a danger to their business. Not every aspect of marketing can be learned by reading free articles online. Once a business owner understands this, they are ready to start their own Do-It-Yourself marketing campaign.
When a business owner understands that their knowledge of marketing is ‘thin’ then they can implement the 10 secrets to internet Business Survival.
#1 – Marketing on the Internet Does Not Follow the Rules
No business owner discounts the importance of a professionally designed logo on their business card. A professional logo is designed to ‘speak’ to a target demographic, a particular audience.
Many Internet business owners make the mistake of believing that people shopping on the internet are ‘sold’ differently than in the brick-and-mortar world. Shopping behavior on the Internet follows the same trends as in the real world. Business owners need to focus on branding their business.
Branding requires the same theories on the Net, and off, because people buy the same way. Typically, the following rule
- The stores in the mall outlets receive the most sales.
- The niche stores survive longer than the stores who feet everyone.
- Branding a store increases the Return on InvestmentStores that target a narrow target market have a higher conversion rate
- Typically, 20% of all profits are reinvested in advertising, for a business to remain strong.
#2 – I Know How to Market Online
There are several ways to learn online marketing and advertising. Everyone knows the cliché phrases and basic rules.
Web Content Rules
Link building
High Page Rank
Article Marketing
Good Coding
Google luv
Many DIY internet marketers can write a paper or two on any of these subjects. What they want to remember is that ‘if it is easy – then everyone would do it.’ Business owners only need to be in the forums for a few days to hear people speaking on authority on subjects they know nothing about. Everyone knows the terms, few people understand the theory that makes them work.
If internet Marketing was ‘that easy’ then the top Search Engine Results Positions (SERPs) would be dominated by small webmasters who spend all their time talking on the web. Webmasters need to understand that most of the ‘free’ information is 2– 3 years out of date.
Example, Many webmasters still feel that using high keyword density is important. However, a couple years ago the search engines changed the rules.
#3 – Search Engines Do Not Think
When marketing to search engines webmasters need to realize that search engines see all words as a math calculation. The search engines cannot read. They really do not care about the way letters are strung together. And, they often get it wrong.These intangibles to marketing destroy an internet marketing campaign:
Marketing rules do not change when selling on the Internet
Hire the pros, or take the courses. Good enough is not good enough when it comes to reaching the top of the SERPs.
The only way to the top of the SERPs is to do it the Search Engine Way – no matter how illogical/stupid it sounds.
Behavioral Targeting: Web 3.0
April 29, 2008
The conversation has shifted away from the hackneyed Web 2.0 term, to what will most likely be the next overused meeting phrase, Web 3.0. In this next iteration - users will be able to create a platform of widgets on their computer that will control the content they view. It will (in a perfect world) let users stay with their favorites sites and eliminate the clutter. Read more
3 Ways to Improve An Internet Marketing Campaign
April 23, 2008
No matter how successful a marketing campaign is, there is always room for improvement. The following tips will help small business owners improve their web marketing efforts.
SEO Networking
SEO networking is different from traditional SEO marketing. In SEO networking the webmaster builds a spider web within the Internet with each strand leading Internet Users toward the main website. This type of marketing includes lenses such as myspace, bebo.com, facebook.com, yahoo groups, and other social networking lenses. Social networking lenses can be anywhere from three to ten levels from the main site. Read more
Social Spark Now Released
April 18, 2008
IZEA released Social Spark Today. I was one of the first to hit their site and see if it promises to live up to all the hype. The one thing I did notice off the bat that the control is now in the business owner’s hands.
I was a little disgruntled that they offer a video tutorial. Click the link. No tutorial. That said, I love a challenge. I created a dummy account and went on a mining expedition. Within minutes I saw something that no other advertising site offered. I could pick posts one at a time. No minimum campaign. No minimum number of posts. No down payment. There were even more than 30 ‘free’ opportunities.
I clicked through to a blog and took my first look at the controversial pop up. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. We’d been made to believe this popup resembled the Devil’s own attempt at viral marketing. Instead I saw a neat, clean lined box with a YouTube music video on one side, and an invitation to join Social Spark on the other.
Should You Buy Traffic?
April 16, 2008
Small businesses are faced with a mountain of Internet marketing tools. Most are expensive and do not generate revenue. Others are free, but the advertising cycle often exceeds two years. The Internet is an ever evolving community. Successful businesses need to hook web-surfers within 10 seconds or lose them permanently.
Buying traffic looks like a black hat scam destined to leave a website banned. Most business owners are surprised to learn that buying traffic is often the cheapest and most successful method of Internet Marketing.
SEMthing For All Small Businesses
April 15, 2008
While there isn’t much we can be certain of these days, one thing still remains hard to argue, the internet has created a level playing field upon which small business can effectively compete with large companies. No where is this more apparent than when it comes to one of our best tools, Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Last month I attended the SES conference here in New York, an event that continues to grow every year with small business owners. The clinics and discussions were filled with bed and breakfast owners, blog writers, and restauranteurs trying to crack the code to search engine serendipity.
I don’t think its an overstatement that search engine marketing is the single biggest opportunity when it comes to marketing your brand online. We all know this from experience as online consumers, we start our search at the search engines.
In future posts I’ll talk in more detail about the opportunities in SEM and SEO, particularly how they pertain to google, because, lets be honest, it is the 190 billion dollar gorilla.
How to Read an Arts CV
April 13, 2008
The current growth in outsourcing has Public Relations departments scrambling to understand this alternative type of resume. The common complaint from small business owners is ‘why can’t they just use a resume?’ When you understand the purpose of a CV, you’ll have more respect for it as a b2b tool.
