Small Business Articles

Business » Small Business | By Samantha Cannell @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 5:13 PM

For some reason, many business owners seem to routinely put their marketing tasks on the back burner. Some business owners do not enjoy performing these tasks and others find themselves too busy handling other parts of their business. These problems can easily be solved by outsourcing marketing activities to a virtual assistant. There are a variety of different marketing activities that you can outsource. Experienced VAs may be able to give you marketing ideas that you had not thought of ... more...

Business » Small Business | By gregory burrus @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 12:23 PM

Does your website get many visitors? Are you getting enough business from the Internet? There is not much point having a website that nobody visits. Most people build a website, submit it to a few search engines and hope that people will find it. Unfortunately, with so many different websites and blogs on the Internet, it is not enough just to have a website out there. If people do not know that your website exists or how to find it, you might as well not have a website. If you want to dr... more...

Business » Small Business | By Samantha Cannell @ Wednesday, 26th March 2008 @ 2:50 AM

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is a process of making your website 'search engine friendly'. When the search engines can find your site, you'll have a better chance of having top listings in the search results. When this happens, the search engines will literally send you free web traffic. There are several SEO tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant. This will free up your time to work on other aspects of your business. One of the most importan... more...

Business » Small Business | By Stewart Baker @ Tuesday, 25th March 2008 @ 11:07 PM

When you finally decide to open up your own coffee business there are a lot of things that you need to consider, including your cashflow situation. You need to have some type of capital in order to start and sustain your coffee business for at least the first year. Everything is expensive these days no matter what you decide to do. Starting a business is no exception but you can plan and carefully invest your money so you will not put yourself at the brink of bankruptcy. Before y... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ratu Lewis @ Friday, 21st March 2008 @ 8:34 PM

Why isn't your Web site attracting business? You took the time to obtain the site, looked at the tutorials, and created pages you can be proud of. so why isn't anyone noticing? Your Website You put time and care into your Web site, but your site isn't actually made for you alone. People who create Web pages do so for a reason - to sell or buy products, to meet people, to expound on opinions and ideas, to get money, the list goes on and on. But if your Web site isn&#... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Friday, 21st March 2008 @ 8:28 PM

But where does social media such as forums, blogs, social bookmarking fit with your overall marketing strategy? Social media does not replace all of your other marketing - it just changes the mix. When I look at a company's marketing I categorise it into two main areas - Online and Offline. I then break these down into further categories. Online: * Website & Search engine strategies * Customer strategies * List building strategies * Sales strategies * ... more...

Business » Small Business | By Enrique Villalobos @ Tuesday, 18th March 2008 @ 11:51 PM

Not all home based business are profitable. Many of those who tried setting up a home based business found themselves at a loss and ended up closing down. Engaging in a profitable home business requires skills and a lot of patience, not to mention funds that can be used as capital. However, if you do you homework and invest enough time, effort and capital into your business, chances are you will reap some profits a few months after. What can be considered profitable home business?... more...

Business » Small Business | By Chuck Markham @ Tuesday, 18th March 2008 @ 3:51 PM

First, if you're only reading this article because you want to find a good format for writing a business plan, then you will find some good formats, templates and software at Intuit's website - you know, the same people who make QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax. Well, if you go to the Intuit website, then you will find its new business plan service under the name of "JumpUp." And even better, some of the templates and software are free. But, I have a feeling you might have a... more...

Business » Small Business | By Tim Staines @ Tuesday, 18th March 2008 @ 5:56 AM

Wholesalers are the main ingredient to how people make money on the internet today. They are also beneficial in everyday household families that want to save money on groceries by going to a store that sells food in bulk. Either way, wholesalers have been ruling the import and export of merchandise around the world, along with locally in the United States, for years. Who can blame anyone for using a service that allows you to buy large quantities of items and then turn around and sell them on... more...

Business » Small Business | By Vernon Riley @ Saturday, 15th March 2008 @ 9:16 AM

Most business owners recognise that it is potentially of great value to understand the behavior of visitors to their website. What the visitor does or does not do can indicate the likely success of each strand of the marketing campaigns run by the owner. It would be ideal if a neat overall picture could be gained of all activity and lessons drawn from this. Traditionally most ISPs offer 'web statistics' to provide the owner with a measure of what is happening on their website. T... more...

Business » Small Business | By Jack Sinclair @ Saturday, 15th March 2008 @ 3:48 AM

Many people trying to make money using paypal get caught up in online scams and figure making money with Paypal in a legal way is impossible. To be successful, all you really need to do is focus on the real ways to make money, and avoid the scams. There is a money making system that really works and brings money right into your Paypal account, legally. The system works like this: 1. Build a website. You build a website that sells something, and people find your site, get interested... more...

Business » Small Business | By Daegan Smith @ Thursday, 13th March 2008 @ 8:00 PM

Make a list of things that you'd like to do. Make each activity the heading of a clean sheet of paper. On each activity sheet, list all types of business that can be related to such an activity. This is where you should be imaginative on new products that can be offered that is not yet in the market. Encircle the businesses that can last even during crisis. Basic human needs such as food, shelter and clothing, for example, will have demand at any point in time, so these m... more...

Business » Small Business | By Josh Stone @ Thursday, 13th March 2008 @ 6:16 PM

One of the things that you need to keep in mind when you are selecting your uniforms is the type of business that you are running. For example, while the idea of a crisp white shirt looks very professional, how long do you think a chef will really keep it clean? Most white shirts do not last long in a restaurant, however they are frequently used. Consider when you are thinking about colors a color that will not show all of the stains that can occur. If you own a business where there is no ma... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 5:13 PM

Here is your crash course in small business marketing in 2008 - Web 2.0 for business. Lets start with a few society trends to give the REALLY big picture. Society trend number 1: People buy differently now than they did 10 years ago Remember 10 years ago, when having a website was a "BIG THING". Now having a website is considered as essential as having a telephone. People's shopping style has changed. Most people go to the net to research new purchases or poten... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 5:03 PM

At first glance this seems intuitive. In business results matter - if you don't get results you don't have a business. It amazes me the number of businesses who do things without stopping to work out if they are getting a result. So here are 5 areas where businesses commonly do things and don't know if they are getting the right result. 1. Yellow Pages Ads Yes, most people do them and they are amazingly expensive. But how many calls do you get over the lifet... more...

Business » Small Business | By Christa Kowalczyk @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 4:05 AM

The substance, which is secreted by the honeybees to construct their honeycombs, is nothing but the natural wax. The Beeswax is generally produced by the young worker bees. The worker bee has eight wax mirror producing glands in the body. The newly produced wax scales are colorless and glass clear. The worker bees masticate the wax making it opaque. The new honeycomb has wax, which is nearly white but gradually turns into yellow or brown due to the addition of propolis and pollen oils. Bu... more...

Business » Small Business | By James Lowe @ Tuesday, 11th March 2008 @ 3:57 PM

Some cash flow residual income program ideas businesses are ready made and some are not. If you are ready to start turning your freedom dreams into residual income program ideas then perhaps starting your own repeat sales business is the way to go for you. You will work with others and build relationships as you go along. For example every one who tries to come up with their own affiliate residual income type business is surprised to learn that there are at least several marketable ideas... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Monday, 10th March 2008 @ 12:51 AM

Most business mums are conscious of the environment. We dutifully take 3 minute showers (less if we have a crying toddler in tow), buy recycled loo paper at least until the first bout of gastro in the house when we revert to something less resembling sandpaper and tell ourselves that dishwashers use less water than regular washing up. One thing that most small business owners forget with all of this focus on the environment is their own personal energy conservation. It is nothing for a bu... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Monday, 10th March 2008 @ 12:50 AM

No-one likes to fail. In these past few months I have watched as a few otherwise great businesses have folded. But what could have been done to turn the business around from disaster. What does the owner really want? This is the hardest part - if the owner is ambivalent at best about the business, they are not sure if they really want to be there, then no business intervention will work as well as it could. The first step is to help the owner be totally clear on what they w... more...

Business » Small Business | By Ingrid Cliff @ Monday, 10th March 2008 @ 12:40 AM

In business I have lost track of the number of people who when you ask them who their customer is they reply "Oh- everyone really". When I hear that response I also get to hear how their business is struggling, they have spent a small fortune on advertising with no result, staff come and go with monotonous regularity and good suppliers are thin on the ground. The thing is your product or service will never suit everyone. Trying to make it fit is the definition of futilit... more...