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August 27th, 2009A big part of running a small business is trying to figure out how to get your name out there to market products and services. The Internet provides tremendous opportunities, provided you know how to harness all the tools out there.
SEO Advantage has unveiled its new and improved knowledge center to help small businesses like yours learn insights into optimizing your website for the search engines, which boosts search engine rankings and qualified site visitors and thus leading to higher sales and revenues.
It's designed for small businesses no matter their online marketing experience and informs them of the inner-workings of SEO and how it can be a valuable tool to market their products and services.
The search engine optimization firm helps small businesses by designing optimized websites for search engines, bringing more qualified traffic and boosting online sales.
Copywriters at SEO Advantage develop short and informative articles weekly to the knowledge center that's divided into 8 sections, including: SEO, copywriting, PR, social media, e-commerce, search engine marketing, working with an SEO company and a Q&A about SEO Advantage.
Visit the search engine optimization Knowledge Center today by visiting http://www.seo-advantage.com/seo-topics/.
June 2nd, 2009When getting a small business off the ground, you want to have all the knowledge you can to make the right decision...but finding the right ones that will actually be useful can be very time consuming.
An article in Entrepreneur Magazine's April, 2009 issue - Best Resources for Startups - lists 4 resources every aspiring small business owner, and even those who are well established, should be familiar with.
1. SCORE - A nonprofit organization with over 400 chapters and 12,000 working and retired entrepreneurs and business people that provides mentoring online and in-person for free.
2. Small Business Development Centers - Located across the country and usually connected to a university, these organizations provide consulting for just about anything facing a small business.
3. Small Business Administration - Federal government agency that provides an array tools to help new and aspiring entrepreneurs succeed. It's recommended you start with their Start-up Assessment Tool to help find the right resources.
4. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Center - An arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that provides comprehensive assistance for startups through web-based tools and resources.
These are just a few of the many resources out there...but, they're most likely the most reliable for accuracy and impartiality.
March 21st, 2009We all know and have experienced this - finding reliable information can be one of the biggest challenges in any endeavor.
Well, at least in the realm of search engine marketing, that has just been made a little easier with the addition of the new and improved knowledge center from SEOAdvantage.com. It's designed for small businesses with any level of online experience - informing them of the inner workings of SEO and how it can be a valuable tool to market their products and services.
The online marketing firm helps small businesses by designing websites and optimizing them for search engines, to bring more qualified traffic and boost online sales.
Short, informative articles are developed by copywriters at SEO Advantage and added weekly to the wide ranging knowledge center - divided into 8 sections, it covers major aspects of online marketing including SEO, copywriting, social media and e-commerce optimization tips. Visitors will also find tips they can use to self-optimize their sites - an effective option in today's economy.
Visit the search engine optimization Knowledge Center today at http://www.seo-advantage.com/seo-topics/.
February 24th, 2009Becoming an entrepreneur requires not only focus, but determination . You can easily incorporate your small business online - but the behind the scenes organization, marketing, etc. of your business is a whole other story.
New terminology is increasingly making its way into today's business world lexicon that provides a short description of what an entrepreneur does. Terms like "greenpreneur" and "solopreneur" provide a quick description of what kind of business an entrepreneur is in or how they operate. Small business people like the terms because it helps distinguish themselves from a crowded marketplace and more effectively network.
So what would be a good buzzword for you? It depends, there are many you could use. And quite possibly, more than one could be used to describe your operation.
Perhaps you are fresh out of college, or are wasting no time in delving into the business world - in which case, you could call yourself a "scholarpreneur" or "teenpreneur". Or perhaps you love starting a business or are launching several different ventres at once, hence a "serial entrepreneur".
Check out this handy article in AllBusiness.com for a more detailed description of this popular terminology at Starting Up: Entrpreneurial Buzzwords.
Whatever term you use to describe yourself, online incorporation service MaxFilings is here to help easily form your corporation online in just minutes. Our incorporation fees are very affordable, and free access to an extensive online incorporation library is available.
October 8th, 2008Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of making a website and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. With recession looming, many small businesses are experiencing a dramatic decrease in sales and may be thinking about SEO to get them through the tough times.
While SEO is a great way to drive a targeted customer base to a small business website, it is a long term strategy that should only be a part of your overall marketing activities. It isn’t a quick fix as some would like it to be so if you are looking save a failing business, you may want to rethink how SEO can help.
First, it takes time to even plan an SEO strategy, much less implement and see tangible results from it. It can take several weeks just to do the necessary research to even know where to begin.
After careful research identifies target keywords and link strategies, site architecture, metatags, page copy, and text and anchor links need to be overhauled, a time consuming process indeed. Once a site is fully optimized for SEO it will still need time to age. Incrementally, you will begin to see more targeted search engine traffic as on page SEO begins to mature.
Link popularity is the other half of this puzzle as the search engines place a premium on keyword targeted links. The success of SEO is largely dependent on overall link popularity of the site. This process moves faster if your site already has links but most need work in this area as many of these links may not be targeting anchor text.
Another very important thing to remember is that while relatively inexpensive, SEO has to be done in conjunction with other online and offline marketing initiatives to be successful. Do not count on visitors from organic searches to always be there as search engines can change their formulas and drop your site on a dime.
When done correctly, SEO is a worthwhile long term investment for any business with a website. If your small business is doing fairly well without SEO, you should consider getting into it now and start collecting the extra traffic.
August 15th, 2008While family owned businesses may seem insignificant, they account for over 1/3 of Fortune 500 companies and for 80% of all new job creation, 60% of employment, and 50% of gross domestic product.
Marketing a small family business and focusing efforts around those attributes is a strategic marketing choice and not so much done to save money or resources according to small business marketing and management writer Joanna L. Krotz.
She writes first and foremost that connecting family values to your company is a sign of stability and responsibility to potential clients, which has become more valuable in recent times, especially following the aftermath of major corporate scandals such as Enron.
"The family-ness factor works well in marketing," says Ira Bryck, who directs the Family Business Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. "Just as long as the business is treated like a business and the family is treated like a family."
One family style marketing success story of recent history features Columbia Sportswear company owner Gert Boyle, whose parents founded the company in 1938. The ad campaign portrays "Mother Boyle", an aggressive but humorous character that emphasizes the matriarchal standard "One Tough Mother" and later "Don't forget who makes the pants in the family."
Techniques abound for promoting and marketing a family image for smaller, newer businesses. Highlighting history is a good method and has been used successfully by small businesses borne out of historical events such as natural disasters and Prohibition for example. Other methods include publishing company history in marketing materials.
However, family or no-family, nothing takes the place of a good business and marketing plan. In the end, customers will judge your business on the merits, so pricing, quality, and service are absolutely essential issues.July 7th, 2008A recent survey by Business Owner's Toolkit indicated that while small business owners remain wary of current economic conditions, they are pretty optimistic about their current outlook.
By an overwhelming majority, 83% of small business owners plan some sort of expansion to their business in the next year. Half of those are pretty optimistic while the others are more cautiously optimistic. Out of 1300 businesses surveyed, 85% stated that they have not seen a decrease in demand for their products and services.
Nearly 70% of respondents expect demand for their products in increase in the next six months while only 5% stated they expect their demand to decrease.
However, business owners surveyed indicated some concerns. These include: economic conditions (52%), energy costs (42%), materials cost (26%), taxes (23%), and access to credit (21%).
"Small business owners have heard messages of gloom and doom, but the majority aren't experiencing it," said Troy Janisch, publisher of Business Owner's Toolkit.
These concerns though reflect the growing trend in improving operational efficiency. A majority of small business owners are seeking information on how to effectively market their products, manage finances, market their business using the Internet, improve planning, and build personal wealth.
The next survey of members of the Business Owner's Toolkit, numbering over 60,000, will occur this August.June 13th, 2008With the rise of niche social networks, many business owners are considering whether a specifically branded social network fits for their businesses and industries.
Unlike general social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, branded networks are built for users to connect and communicate about topics related to their industries. Examples include Shelfari.com for book enthusiasts and ImSaturn for Saturn owners.
Considering a branded network to foster discussion about your industry and promote more traffic to your site? There are some factors that you need to address in order for the benefits to outweigh the costs in time and money.
Business writer Scarlet Pruitt suggests the following points to creating a successful niche social network.
The first and most important issue to address is to ensure there are enough active users before even considering beginning a networking site. To achieve this, you will need to offer a wide platform of topics beyond just your brand and include discussions on how your industry affects the world at large.
Once a cadre of dedicated users is secured, you can move on to obtaining the needed software. There are a few companies out there that specialize in social networking platforms, such as Ning and ONEsite, and offers wide ranging options from inexpensive basic software plug-ins to entire Web 2.0 platforms. You can cut some costs by establishing a revenue-sharing agreement with the provider or by including ads.
Finally, integrating the networking site into your main website will take a little more time and money. But once you have everything up and running, engage your community through blog posts, networking with your community, and sharing information with other sites.
April 9th, 2008Government contracts can be fertile ground for a small business to grow but earning their business takes a little education and legwork. The first and most important step to obtaining government contracts is to do your homework.
Different government entities have varied processes and rules for bidding. For federal contracts, the Small Business Administration provides a solid overview of their policies and procedures. The National Center for Small Business Information offers courses to entrepreneurs on government work at all levels.
In order to even bid on federal government contracts, a small business must register with the Central Contractor Registry, which is an electronic system that provides automatic payment transfer when a contract is awarded. The registry requires a business to submit a brief profile summarizing capabilities, etc. so it is important this is the best it can be.
Preparation is also key to winning government contracts since the bidding period can vary. Sometimes, the open bid period is less than a month. Not streamlining your paperwork can result in you losing money if you have to "reinvent the wheel" advises Greg Brooks of West Third Group, a Plattsburg, Missouri consulting firm.
Brooks also advises that procurement and contracting officials do not necessarily accept the lowest bid and in fact, is pretty low on their list of considerations. It is more important to demonstrate experience since past performance is scrutinized much more so than price.
Networking is also a big component of not only winning government contracts but good business period. Gary Beckert of the NCBSI says that most small business get their start in government contracting by teaming with someone else. He advises, "A small business isn't going to succeed without a network of peers, economic development organizations and other contacts."
And don't expect a major windfall from government contract work. Many contracts set a 15% profit limit and some are as low as 10%, which is nothing to dismiss but not the golden egg some might expect.
Government contract work can be very beneficial for your small business if you know the basics and are prepared.
February 21st, 2008Website design helps support your site's business goals with graphics that communicate, but a skilled website designer will also ensure that navigation and other usability concerns address the needs of your target audiences.
As a small business, you want to make sure your website design contributes to every aspect from the site's user experience and enhancement of content to search engine optimization (SEO). Unfortunately, SEO is a very specialized field, and few website designers hold more than passing knowledge, usually recommending outdated, incomplete practices to small business owners. In the worst case, the infrastructure that a website designer may use when building your site could actually hinder your site's chances of ranking in the search engines.
To make sure your new website design (or redesign) builds in best practices for SEO, a leading search engine optimization provider is offering a limited time deal where a comprehensive SEO program is included free when you work with the company's website design team to build or redesign your web site. You can see more about the free SEO/web design offer here.
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