How will you know if your business is growing not only at a pace you can handle but at a reasonable pace that will let you reach the goals you’ve set for yourself? Read the rest of this entry »
How to get Small Business Progress Tracked?
November 25, 2008
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Advertising, Business Plans, Sales | Tagged: business, business plan, first, group, group of customers, groups, Marketing, other, people, plan, running, time, travel | 
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Small Business Marketing Budget
November 23, 2008There is no right or wrong amount for a business to spend on marketing. Many factors will influence whether a business allots 5 percent of its total annual budget for marketing or 15 percent. Selecting a percentage for your business is the first step. Read the rest of this entry »
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Advertising, Budgeting, Sales | Tagged: Advertising, budget, business, community, economy, event, Marketing, money, percent, projects | 
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Small Business Reaching Customer
November 23, 2008Undoubtedly, the type of business you start will determine the people who will become customers. The first step to reaching customers is to draw up a profile of the kind of client you’d like to attract.
Defining your customer means you can then narrow down your choice of the marketing methods you use. Read the rest of this entry »
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Advertising | Tagged: business, customer, customers, life, Marketing, opinion, other, people, product or service, research, women | 
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Business Plan goes Marketing
November 23, 2008Entrepreneurs know to employ a variety of marketing techniques because it’s impossible to predict how effective any one method will be until time and money has been spent. A marketing plan will help you to keep track of the various marketing methods and should be considered to be as essential to the success of your business as developing the business plan. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments » | Advertising, Budgeting, Business Plans | Tagged: Advertising, business, children, costs, life, market, Marketing, marketing costs, marketing plan, money, months, news, plan, projects, research, time, year | Permalink
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Online Business Smart Give Aways and Gift Certificate ideas
November 16, 2008Give-Aways
Online merchants have been using a variation of this idea for years—give something free, then sell something. Although this idea is not new to commerce (businesses have been using loss leaders for decades—selling products below cost to get shoppers into a store) it’s the right formula for the Internet.
A good example of this strategy is the free virtual bouquet that many flower sites offer visitors. Come to their site, send a free virtual bouquet via email and perhaps become a paying customer of real flowers in the future. In a similar vein, you can send a virtual greeting card to anyone on the Net by using many of the greeting card sites. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Ecommerce, Marketing, Promotion | Tagged: Advertising, business, Ecommerce, email, events, family, free, free virtual bouquet, gift, gift certificates, information, internet, offer, online business, online marketing, people, product, product or service, products, reminder, reminder service, reminder services, search, search engine, service, services, shoppers, site, store, via email, web, web store | Permalink
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Ecommerce must have a good Website PR
November 16, 2008Online publicity is an important element of your marketing plan if you’re to rise above the noise level on the Net. But getting that publicity is not easy—it takes a lot of work, and can be froth with dangers. It takes a lot of planning and preparation and is definitely not a one-shot effort. A well-thought-out publicity plan gives your eBusiness the kind of portrayal you want in the media and your community. Over the long haul, good portrayal generates good credibility for your eBusiness.
The goal is to generate important coverage of your eBusiness at exactly the right time and in exactly the right place. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments » | Advertising, Ecommerce, Marketing | Tagged: articles, business, business online, buzz, christmas, community, company, design, ebusiness, Ecommerce, fashion, holidays, in the news, journal, key, Marketing, media, news, news releases, people, plan, pr, product, product or service, public relations, publicity, releases, school, service, target, tv, website, writing | Permalink
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Pitfalls of Shopping Website, enough to scare your Customers away continued
November 15, 2008Surprise Them with Shipping Costs
Shoppers don’t like surprises. Before you put your customers through your order taking process, let them know what the actual shipped price of their order will be.
You can do this in one of two ways. First, present the customer with the full amount of his order before you ask for his credit card. If you can’t have offer that calculation, then have complete shipping and handling charges listed on your Web store—and make that list easy to find. This is even more critical for your international customers.
If you want to sell to international customers, then you have to let them know it. Give them the international shipping costs before they reach your order form. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Advertising, Ecommerce, Marketing | Tagged: credit card, customer, customers, Ecommerce, graphics, home, information, internet, online business, order, page, people, personal, product, secure, secure server, shoppers, shopping, site, web, web store, world | Permalink
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Pitfalls of Shopping Website, enough to scare your Customers away
November 15, 2008Your Web site is here to serve your customers—not impress them. You job is to design a site and offer a shopping experience that gives consumers a quick, safe, and easy way to purchase something from your Web store.
So before you sit down with your Web consultant, and before your Web designer puts pointer to screen, be sure the 10 ways to drive customers away from your site are avoided.
Confuse Your Customers
That might be funny to you, but treating your customer with no respect will drive him away from your site for sure. And one sure-fire way to drive him away is to confuse him.
Keep your navigation simple. You’re there to sell. Customers are there to buy. Make it easy for them to find your products and buy them. If they can’t find what they want and order it in three mouse clicks, you run the risk of losing them. So, organize your site material logically from the customer’s point of view. Be sure to include clear directions for navigating the site from your home page. Remember that the home page of your Web store serves a variety of functions. It’s a map of your store, a welcome mat, and a marketing message all in one. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments » | Ecommerce, Marketing, Sales | Tagged: address, america, away, business, culture, customer, customers, design, drive, drive customers, drive him away, Ecommerce, framed page, frames, home, information, Marketing, merchant, offer, page, people, personal, product or service, running, service, several, shopper, shoppers, shopping, site, store, sure, web, web store, world, writing | Permalink
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Finding the Funds You Need
November 10, 2008Money is the oil that greases the often squeaky wheel of American businesses, large and small. While the primary ingredient of small-business success is hard work and lots of it, money is still essential to launch and then maintain the often-spotty first year of a small-business’s existence.
Now that you have a good idea of how much money you need to start your business, and how much you’ll need to generate to pay the bills every month, where are you going to find it? It’s a sign of a true entrepreneur to believe that your talents and energy levels are so wide-reaching that the cash will start pouring in—and never let up—from the first week your business is open. Read the rest of this entry »
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Start-up Operating Budget and list of Personal Expense
November 5, 2008In the course of running your business, you will have to deal with not one but two budgets: one for your business and one for yourself.
A business budget is also referred to as an operating budget, and it differs from the budget you developed for your start-up costs for several reasons: After operating your business for even a short time, you will have a much better idea of where the money goes, as well as what comes in. You’ll also have some sense of when the money tends to arrive in your bank account, so you’ll also know when you can expect to be able to pay your own bills. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments » | Advertising, Budgeting, Education, Payroll, Sales, Tax, Transportation | Tagged: Advertising, budget, business, Education, expenses, family, fees, food, health, home, life, Marketing, miscellaneous, money, Office, operating, operating budget, people, personal, personal budget, software, taxes, time, work | Permalink
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