bizthreads.net: Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

We've all heard that the Internet is a great new medium for business.  I've found that there are limitless opportunities and virtually no rules for you to market your business on the Internet effectively.   However, given that the Internet is an ocean, you need to be the coral in the ocean and know how to catch a prospective customer's attention.

Content is the most crucial factor in internet marketing. 

I've put together some time-tested tips for effectively marketing your business online:

Content:  Good content will automatically build up your brand image and act as a passive marketing tool.  Good content and good websites get recommended to others, thus exposing you to a customer base you didn't even know existed.

Search Engines: Start with the search engines.  A prospective customer should be able to get to you easily and if they ‘happen' upon your site while blindly surfing the ‘Net, so much the better.  The Organic, or free, search engines have been proven to result in more website hits.  To crack the puzzle, chose the right keywords that will get your customers to you.  Suggestions are available on:

http://www.goodkeywords.com

Articles: Including articles on your site will brand you as an expert.  It stands to reason that the more articles you have on your site, the more number of times your keywords will appear, therefore you will receive that many more hits. Your articles should be informative.

Press Releases: Including press releases make your site more impressive.  They should focus on news about your business, and not appear ‘sales oriented'.

Blogs:  Blogging is in. Using a blog, you can create content even if you don't know HTML.  People can refer to your blog for industry news, and you can include links to your business' products and services.

Internet marketing does work, if done correctly. 

Procrastination is the thief of time.  Time once lost is lost forever.  There are numerous quotes on the most precious commodity called time — yet, we often find ourselves saying, “where did the day go”, or “this year has flown by so fast”.  Time is a finite commodity, yet the number of things we want to achieve in our lives is infinite.

Efficient use of time, through time management skills, helps us bridge the gap between our finite time and our infinite goals.   Given below are some time management tips.  At first, some of them may appear to be common sense, but you will soon see that these skills will help you make more productive use of your time and decrease your stress levels. 

Set a Goal: Every morning, spend a little time deciding what you want to accomplish in the short term (i.e. that day), and set a time frame for each task.

Keep track of wasted time: Just as you schedule your tasks, schedule breaks between tasks to catch your breath and keep track of how much ‘break time' you spend during the day.  You will probably be shocked at the result.  Breaks are essential for our continued functioning; however, too many breaks are a waste of time.

Interruptions: No matter how strict a time schedule we make, we are living in the midst of others who also have their own plans — therefore, interruptions from others, even for important matters, tends to throw us off our schedules.  There are some interruptions that can be controlled, like automatically directing telephone calls to an answering machine so that you can attend to them once you have accomplished your goals for the day.  Consciously try to limit the time spent with people who casually drop by, especially when these unexpected calls are during the ‘work time' you have allotted yourself.

Effective time management will help you find many moments during the day that you thought you had lost.  It will help you take control over your life and you will reduce your stress while increasing your productivity.
 
Respect your time and others will respect it too.

As Albert Schweitzer once said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”  Anybody who has every brought up children or even raised animals will support this statement.  Most people learn by the best way the can —mimicking.

Here are some commonsense tips to get others to do what you want them to do!

You set the standard: Or as it is often said ‘Do not expect others to do what you do not do yourself'. Work as hard, or harder, than you expect your employees to work.  This could mean knowing more, putting in more effort when you are on the job, being punctual — everything that you demand of those who report to you.
 
Be an effective communicator: Communicate in a straightforward manner so that people learn to trust you.  Communicate the good as well as the bad.  Good communication and interpersonal skills are critical in managing people.

Be authentic, be real: What you see is what you get.  People can easily see through any façade you may try to put on.  Being genuine yourself will inspire others to honesty and integrity.  Accept your faults and shortcomings.

Help others climb: Let others know that you are not trying to hog the limelight.  Show them that you are ready to give them a hand up and shine as well.

Management by walking around (or MBWA): Show people that you are accessible and approachable, but draw that subtle line so that they don't perceive themselves as equals.  After all, you are the business owner and therefore the leader.
 
Fight for them: Show them that they are not alone in their professional struggle.  Show them that you are willing to help them pull that oar.
 
Listen, then pass judgment: This will help you to be fair, and you will not need to take back what you have said.

Work constantly at honing your communication and conflict resolution skills.  These commonsense tips will help you set up and keep a cohesive, productive team. 

You guessed right — the world is getting smaller!  Or so it seems.

Globalization has opened up a new world of business opportunities. There are no limits, as there are many things to sell and buy. There is always an open market for new products. You can sell small time, like selling homemade goods to friends and referrals, or even start your business in a big way by opening a prominent brand name franchise.

There are lots of lucrative business opportunities for entrepreneurs — all you have to do is choose the right one to pursue.

Insight Study

Before deciding on any business opportunity, you should know your talents and skills. Consult the people closest to you regarding your choice and ask for their views. After careful consideration, you may discover that you have latent talents and skills that could be used in an entirely different business venture that you may not have considered before.

Marketing

Developing a suitable marketing technique leads to success. The safest way to do this is to be to study the market, and then invest in something that is in demand. Or, you could start something that is in demand and not yet offered on the market. Being successful in a business is all about devising a marketing plan that will work towards the sale of a product or service.

Tapping the right business opportunity and then balancing it with what you already have, and what you can potentially have, achieves success in business. Always make sure that you have long-term goals in whatever business you get into.

As a business owner, it can be very frustrating when a company doesn't pay you when they should. In addition, collection of past due bills can be very time consuming!  You may want the money, but you need to be careful when you decide that it's time to collect.

With strict laws governing fair debt collection, it’s important to follow certain guidelines before proceeding to collect a past due bill. An overdue debt should be pursued as soon as it becomes overdue to ensure that you get the entire amount. If you fail to collect the past due debt in six months, you will probably end up recovering only half of the amount owed — if that much.

Notify Customers — If all your regular billing attempts have failed, then its about time that you took some serious action. Send a ‘past due' notice to the customer. When doing this, make sure that this notice looks different from the usual bills. When people get into a financial crunch, they choose which debt to clear first, depending on how tolerant a particular company (yours) is about late and missed payments.

Make A Call — Call the customer yourself and make a polite request to clear the overdue payments. Sometimes, this can be the most effective method of recovering an overdue debt. However, according to the Fair Debt Collection act, you are not allowed to call and harass customers at odd hours over the phone. If you feel that your phone call reminder has not been taken seriously, proceed to the next step.

Sending a ‘Ten Day Demand Letter' — This letter will be regarded as an official warning to clear the debt within a period of ten days, after which the debt will be handed over to a professional debt collection agency.

Hiring A Debt Collection Agency — A debt collection agency can be your best bet if all other methods of debt collection have failed. They have the necessary means and influence to coax your delinquent customer to settle at least part of their outstanding bill. They don't bill you until they produce payment.

If you're in business, then collecting overdue debt comes with the territory.  Using the steps above can make the process just a little bit easier, in addition to producing faster results.

In business, you need to understand that writing business letters is completely different from writing informal letters. Business letters should be concise and crisp. They should always be accurate. If you are in sales (aren't we all!), your letter may be the first impression that you make on a client.

A well-constructed business letter is much easier to read and understand. You should plan your letter well before writing it, and be precise and to the point. Always use the minimum number of words to get your message across. It is also important to space out the letter by using appropriate paragraph breaks, to make reading it easier.

Do's And Don'ts

Do not use technical terms and jargon unless it is absolutely necessary, as your reader may not be familiar with those terms. Always use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. Always be polite, and make a request rather than a demand.

If you have a detailed message to convey, it may be simpler to break it down into two letters. You could send the first letter, following it up with a phone call to check whether the recipient has understood the message, before sending the second one. You should not use informal terms in your initial business letters. However, you can be less formal once you have developed a relationship.

Never use shortcuts in formal business letters or emails — you're not sending a text message! Always keep a copy of the document sent for business purposes.

Once you have written your letter, read it before sending it and check for any errors.

Is your salary making you feel small — like mine was? Then it's high time to start a home-based business! Of course, the first question that you have to ask is how feasible it will be. The answer is that it depends on how much investment is required.

The Internet is a very good way to start  - a computer can cost you less than $500, while an Internet connection will cost about $25. That's very affordable — now you just have to find the right business for you.

Be An Affiliate

If you choose to be an affiliate, you can start by endorsing a product on your website, and when a customer sees and buys it, you will earn a small commission. The best thing about this business is that no inventory is required, and the your job (as the affiliate) is basically to be a middleman who acts as a mediator between the company and the customer. The best way to earn profits is to get your website registered in various search engines in order to increase traffic, and therefore, your number of customers.

Write Articles

Writing articles and posting them online is another way to use the Internet.  You can sign up for Google's Adsense program.  After you are accepted and integrate the code on your website, then every page with an article will show related Google Ads. Your website is promoted by also selling products advertised on it, which results in a small commission. 

Procure Traffic

No, I'm not talking about the type of traffic with cars — I'm talking about website traffic (i.e. prospective customers)!  The key to procuring traffic is be by assigning keywords to your site, so that when readers type a specific word they are directed to your website. Sometimes a small investment is required to do this, but the rewards are well worth it.

Although having a home-based business is both convenient and lucrative, if you plan to use the web as a medium, then you should be ready to invest a substantial amount of time and effort.

How to Delegate Better

As a small business owner, you know that you're often pressed for time - and you're probably stumped as to what to do about it. The answer — delegate — sounds simpler than it actually is!

The inability to delegate is one of the most common problems faced by small business owners. Managing is basically getting results by organizing your work and getting help when you need it.

Many entrepreneurs are good at dumping things, but they lack delegating techniques. They often tend to offload things that they dislike doing, or give assignments to their subordinates or outsourced vendors without adequate guidance.

On the other hand, some business owners are of the opinion that delegating is the best way to assign work. However, this course of action may not be right either. Delegation works when employees are willing and competent to handle the job. But if your employees are not competent or willing, then delegating work to them is not a good choice.

Before delegating work to your employees, you should make sure they have the knowledge to get the job done right the first time. True delegation takes place when you give your employees assignments that they are capable of handling, and in return ask them what they need from you. You can only delegate someone to do a certain job if they know how to accomplish it. There is a simple technique to understand how much control you can give your employees.

• First, check whether the employee has the ability and skills to do the work.
• Then check whether they have the motivation or willingness to take on the delegated job.
• Make sure that delegating the job to them will help your employees to grow in professionally, to give them some incentive to do well.
• Consider how the delegation will affect other team members, and whether it sets a good example.

Before thinking about delegation and how to make it work better, you should strive to give maximum freedom to your employees to and to increase their productivity.

Have you ever wondered why companies participate in tradeshows? Where do they get the money and the time? Here are some of the secrets of tradeshow selling that I've learned over the years:

There are two basic reasons why companies showcase their products at a trade show:

1. To get the undivided attention of the visitors who pass your booth
2. To maximize your floor space so that prospects can enter your booth

To accomplish these goals, you have to follow some general rules:

• Make your enclosure deep and wide
• Secure a good location for your booth
• Create the maximum useable floor space
• Create accessibility from all sides of your booth

In addition to booth location, which is a major tradeshow success factor, there are nine other secrets of successful tradeshow selling:

1. Gather intelligence -  get to know the competition and conduct on-the-spot market research
2. Make your booth attractive with bright colors
3. Minimize furniture usage (if that is not your product)
4. Use Signage -You booth should capture prospects' attention
5. Use adequate lighting -Good lighting attracts attention, so keep your booth well lit.
6. Aesthetic appeal — Use attractive color and layout to design your booth
7. Lasting impression - Give visitors a booklet or product brochure to support your product
8. Use bait — like a drawing, raffle or contest — to draw visitors to your booth
9. Be outgoing — If you have to, get in the aisle to talk with people and entice them to your booth

Using the 9 tips above, you can turn a run-of-the-mill tradeshow into a revenue and prospect building machine!

Special Events — Bigger Profits

Planning special events isn't just fun — it can also lead to bigger profits!  When I plan a special event for my business, I look at it as just another form of advertising.

Try putting on a special event if you want steady customer loyalty.  Special events have a way of getting people excited about your business. This is the reason why you see bookstores hosting book signings and reading sessions, companies conducting free seminars and stockbrokers holding retirement planning seminars.

Planning the Right Special Event

The motive behind any event planning should not be about planning the event, but deciding on the kind of marketing results the event is capable of producing. This involves strategically attaching a sales message to every event and later benefiting from the results. For instance, a seminar could have a speaker offering a gentle sales pitch at the end or handing out coupons to participants. You can follow up later by keeping track of the coupons and monitoring and keeping a log of new customer responses. You should also find out how customers can came to know about your company. 

Tradeshows

Nowadays, many companies focus their marketing efforts on tradeshows. Tradeshows attract the highest number of real prospects. During the tradeshow, many companies host a party after hours, a raffle, or some sort of contest.  To gauge the potential of a tradeshow, research the show thoroughly before you decide to exhibit and talk about the results to past exhibitors in the same field.

The key to getting good results from a special event lies in meticulous planning.  If you plan and research well, your special event is bound to be a success, resulting in more new customers and greater profits over the life of your business.