Small Business Strategies

Content Strategy: Using Cards To Index, Organize and Structure Websites

2010-07-09T04:50:00.001-07:00

One of the alternative careers Iâ€™ve considered as a Technical Writer is Information Architecture. Information Architecture is worth considering if youâ€™re attracted to organization of data, for example, indexing, rather than writing. I get a bit tired to typing at times and enjoy other tech comms activities such as analysis, diagramming, and documentation planning. This short article gives some insight into how Information Architecture is used when developing websites. So, for those of who want to retain your writing skills and move into web-facing career, maybe Information Architecture is worth exploring.

From: http://ping.fm/BexuU

How To Write Case Study Analysis For Marketing Plans

2010-07-04T01:28:00.003-07:00

To prepare your case study analysis, you need to understand the four parts that hold the case study together. Once you have grasped how to structure your case study, you are then in a better position to refine this document and make the sections flow more smoothly from one topic to the next. Your case study should be built around the Situation, Problem, Solution, and Evaluation.

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Checklist: How To Value Your Website or Blog

2010-07-04T01:20:00.001-07:00

Create a handover checklist. Itemize what you need to do (and dates) and what they need to do (and dates). See this as a small project that needs to be coordinated. Create a list of tasks, allocate them and assign dates. Share this with the new site owner.For example:

From: http://ping.fm/XAEyh

How To Write Content For Your Blog Every Day of the Year

2010-07-04T01:13:00.003-07:00

In this short video I explain how to create content and to remove the barriers that stop most people from creating content on a daily basis. It’s not difficult but you do need to have a system that lets you maximize your opportunities to create content and reduces the barriers that stop you from doing this. For example, you can create more content for your blog – and generate more business – if you work in batches.

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Inside SEO: Why the About Us Page is the Second Most Important Page on Your Blog

2010-07-02T23:57:00.001-07:00

You find a blog you really like. You want to learn more. Youâ€™re thinking of buying from them. What do you do? Click About Us, right? Most people do. Now, pretend youâ€™ve never visited your own site. Remember, you know nothing about you. Nothing. Look at your About Us page? Be honest, whatâ€™s the one thing thatâ€™s wrong with it?

From: http://ping.fm/8VuVg

5 Entrepreneurs like Kobe Bryant Who Overcame Discrimination To Succeed

2010-07-02T23:56:00.001-07:00

Should you use a role model to develop your business?

Maybe you should: the top business magazines say, ‘be yourself, be authentic, share your story’ Or maybe you shouldn’t. For entrepreneurs, using a role model creates a dilemma.

Does it mean you’ve sold out? Do you lose street cred? Can you really copy someone else and be true to yourself?

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5 Entrepreneurs like Kobe Bryant Who Overcame Discrimination To Succeed

2010-07-02T23:55:00.001-07:00

Should you use a role model to develop your business?

Maybe you should: the top business magazines say, â€˜be yourself, be authentic, share your storyâ€™ Or maybe you shouldnâ€™t. For entrepreneurs, using a role model creates a dilemma.

Does it mean youâ€™ve sold out? Do you lose street cred? Can you really copy someone else and be true to yourself?

From: http://ping.fm/IwfKt

My Top 10 Worst Money Making Ideas from Neil Patel at Quick Sprout

2010-07-02T23:54:00.003-07:00

And if that doesn’t encourage you, just look at Mark Cuban. At one point he had a business idea that revolved around selling powdered milk. In his eyes, it tasted as good as the real thing and you wouldn’t have to worry about expiration dates. But as you know, that isn’t how he made his billions.

PS: If you are looking for more bad business ideas, check out this post by Jeremy Schoemaker and this post by Brian Armstrong.

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My Top 10 Worst Money Making Ideas from Neil Patel at Quick Sprout

2010-07-02T23:54:00.001-07:00

I know most of these ideas sound foolish, but I was a kid/new entrepreneur when I came up with most of these business ideas. The point I am trying to make is that you to will come up with a lot of dumb business ideas, which means that you will fail a lot. Just donâ€™t get discouraged because sooner or later youâ€™ll learn to come up with good business ideas.

And if that doesnâ€™t encourage you, just look at Mark Cuban. At one point he had a business idea that revolved around selling powdered milk. In his eyes, it tasted as good as the real thing and you wouldnâ€™t have to worry about expiration dates. But as you know, that isnâ€™t how he made his billions.

PS: If you are looking for more bad business ideas, check out this post by Jeremy Schoemaker and this post by Brian Armstrong.

From: http://ping.fm/NFXC1

Business Case Templates: 15 Ways to Write, Format and Create

2010-07-02T22:58:00.001-07:00

Looking for funding for a new project but not sure where to start? One way to get the funding you need is to create a Business Case. This outlines the benefits, competitive edge, and other gains the company stands to make if it invests in this project. For certain projects, the Business Case is a fore-runner for a Request For Proposal (aka Invitation To Tender) where business proposals are accepted from external firms.

Business Case Template

Over the coming weeks, we’ll look at how to write, review and assess business proposals. For now, let’s focus developing the Business Case.

I’ve put together this Business Case checklist which covers most all areas related to the project/service you are exploring. This checklist should help you address areas such as Achievability, Benefits, Costs, Critical success factors, Resources, Risks, Scope, Strategic fit, and Value For Money.

Business Case Checklist

To ensure that your business case is complete, examine the following points:

Achievability — this ensures that you (and other parties) have the experience, expertise, and resources to manage the project. Examine different approaches that can overcome any potential obstacles, e.g. additional resources, timelines, or budgets.
Assumptions — speak to all stakeholders and gather their main assumptions, e.g. in the case of outsourcing IT development, that the Intellectual Property Rights will be owned by your organization. Examine whether these assumptions are valid or not.
Benefits — outline the benefits, and opportunities, that each option provides. Identify the high-level benefits that align with your company’s main business objectives, and explore how these benefits can be measured
Costs — obtain indicative figures for the cost of the project over its entire lifecycle, not only the implementation costs. You may want to factor in 15-20% for scope creep, if appropriate. Also, determine who will pay for the project, if they have agreed to do this, and the payment method. Examine how to get an acceptable balance of cost, benefit, and risk.
Critical success factors — seek consensus with the other stakeholders on what constitutes success. If you do not take this step, stakeholder will have different expectations of the final deliverable. Define success factors that are specific, measurable, and achievable; identify any other factors that could affect success, such as the delivery of other parallel projects.
Dependencies — outline the internal (e.g. staff availability) and external dependencies (changes in the marketplace, new government legislation).
Options – gather details on all available options that could meet the business needs. Consider the trade-offs associated with each option, and the degree to which each option meets the project’s needs. Make sure that you have included the overall supply chain’s needs, i.e. the organization, partners, suppliers, staff and customers.
Procurement — send an Invitation to Tender (ITT) to prospective contractors. Evaluate their bids. Hold presentations with the most impressive bids.
Project Group — identify those (individuals, units, and departments) who are involved and/or affected by the project. Determine their interests and endeavor to resolve any potential conflicts.
Resources — scope the anticipated resource and capabilities requirements that you will need, such as staff, IT, workspace, equipment, and funding.
Risks – Capture all anticipated risks – plan contingences. Prepare a high-level estimate of the costs for each risk.
Scope – define what is in/out of scope with the existing budget; scope what can be delivered with a reduced budget, with indicative delivery dates; ensure that there are no conflicts with other on-going projects. Look at the impact that delaying the project or under-delivering could have.
Stakeholders — identify their role, responsibility, availability, and contingencies if they become incapacitated/released from the project.
Strategic fit – confirm that the project is still required and that its objectives are in line with the company’s business goals.
Value For Money — examine how to get Value For Money from the contractors, contractors and other third parties. Agree what constitutes VFM with the project stakeholders.

Once you have checked off these points, your business case should be ready to send to the project stakeholders.

What are your thoughts? What have I missed?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the popularBusiness Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter @ivanwalsh

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For Better Market Research Get Real Clicks not Fake Answers

2010-06-29T23:40:00.001-07:00

For real information, watching what people do is way better than asking them what they think, what they did, or, the worst case, what they intend to do. That’s why I like this new click-based and search-based research so much. Don’t go with what people say; go with what they do.

A great recent example is Marketing Profs’ In Social Media Era, Facebook Rules.

The data is fascinating; but the methodology, and the tool used, is even more so.

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For Better Market Research Get Real Clicks not Fake Answers

2010-06-29T23:39:00.001-07:00

For real information, watching what people do is way better than asking them what they think, what they did, or, the worst case, what they intend to do. Thatâ€™s why I like this new click-based and search-based research so much. Donâ€™t go with what people say; go with what they do.

A great recent example is Marketing Profsâ€™ In Social Media Era, Facebook Rules.

The data is fascinating; but the methodology, and the tool used, is even more so.

From: http://ping.fm/jc1Gg

How To Submit Your Video to YouTube?s Editors

2010-06-19T06:24:00.003-07:00

While there are several ways to get your videos on the YouTube homepage, this is the simplest, the more legit and the most rewarding. To do so, you need to understand how the Spotlight Videos option works in YouTube. The screenshot below is an example.

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How To Submit Your Video to YouTube?s Editors

2010-06-19T06:24:00.001-07:00

Business Rules vs. Business Requirements

2010-06-19T05:18:00.001-07:00

Business Rules vs. Business Requirements from Klariti Smart Business Tips by Ivan Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter. One area where many graduates and business analysts get tripped up is confusing Business Rules and Business Requirements. We looked at how to write Business Requirements last week, so let’s look at what Business Rules and Business Requirements have in common and where they differ. Business Requirements – Excel Template Difference Between Business Rules and Business Requirements? What is the difference between a business rule and a business requirement? * Business Rules – these are statements (or conditions) that tell a person whether they can perform a specific action that relates to how the business operates. Business Rules also give you the criteria and conditions for making these decisions. * Business Requirement – this may include what you need to do to enable the business rule to be implemented. In other words, a business requirement may not be valid if it contradicts or breaks an existing business rule. Example of Business Rules Let’s step back a minute. My Dad has three pet ducks at his home. One water duck and two land ducks. Yes, it gets very loud sometimes. So, here are some rules regarding the ducks health and safety: * Ducks cannot be given bread. It may choke them. * Ducks cannot be left unattended when swimming. They are poor swimmers and may drown. * Ducks must be given water with all meals. Helps them digest. * Duck must have buddies. They’re very socialable and pine when alone. * Ducks must be kept out of the kitchen. Yes, I see the irony :) Ok, these are some of the rules we have for the ducks. From Business Rules to Business Requirements Now, imagine we were building a new apartment block for millionaire ducks. No doubt there will be many requirements about their lifestyle, feeding, entertainment and transport. While gathering and defining these requirements, we need to consider: * The new apartment owners must not allow folks to give bread to the Ducks. * If you’re building a swimming pool. They can have a pool if it’s a requirement, but they also need a life guard. You get the idea, right? Connection Between Business Rule and Business Requirements Now that we’ve looked at how Business Rules work, let’s look at how and where they are connected: 1. Do business rules exist even when you can’t implement a requirement? Yes. The Business Rules inn independent of the requirements gathering process. It can and must exist independently of other processes. 2. Does implementing a business requirement mean complying with the business rule? Depends. In general, Yes, but there can be exceptions. 3. Does implementing the business requirement make it easier to comply with the business rule? Yes. The connection will be stronger across all business process and allow greater understanding of how the Business Rules to Business Requirements function. Sample Business Rule This is an example of business rules for a bank taking credit card applications over the web. Example: Taking Credit Card Applications Over The Web Business Rule: Customer has an Email Address. Business Requirement: Ability for bank staff to send and receive emails to the customer. Now if we change the business rule: Revised Rule: Customer must have a valid Email Address. Note: A second rule is required to define ‘valid email address’. An Email Address is considered Valid if does not return as ‘undeliverable’ within 60 minutes of being sent out. Additional Business Requirement to support Business Rule: System will immediately send email to customer once email address is received. The email is not batch processed but sent in response to each email received. Note: The smallest change in the wording of the business rule can have significant impacts on other business processes. When testing business requirements make sure that you consider all possible scenarios where the revised business rule will impact other parts of the business. Recap * Business rules describe what you may or may not do in a specific business scenario. It also gives the criteria, conditions and exceptions for making these decisions. * Business Requirements capture what a user must do to implement and/or comply with a Business Rule. * You may need different sets of business requirements to implement different sets of business rules, for example, when dealing with complex business processes with complicated conditions and exceptions. * Business rules are independent of business requirements and shouldn’t be changed to accommodate a requirement. Be careful when changing a business rule in case it impacts how a business process functions. Conclusion There is one final point I want to share. Make sure that ownership of the business rules is properly assigned to someone – and make the person accountable. One approach is to assign this activity to a business analyst with strong skills in document control and with the ability to push through new versions of revised Business Rules. Try to find the most practical solution for managing your business rules. We used a networked Excel spreadsheet at a large European bank and it worked very well. All documents were version controlled and we followed a strict naming convention which made it easier to retrieve and update the rules when needed. Don’t get tripped up on the technology. Once the team understand how the documents are structured, written and shared, then you should be fine. Also, remember to purge out-dated business rules. This means you’ll have fewer documents to manage and should speed up annual audits if/when the auditors want to check your document repository. Final tip: in the Excel spreadsheet, cross-reference the business rule to the business requirements so you can quickly identify where one change impacts another. About the Author: Ivan Walsh shares Small Business and Small Business Information for Entrepreneurs at Klariti. He also runs a Business Planning Blog

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Inc.com: The 5 Types of Entrepreneurs

2010-06-18T17:57:00.003-07:00

Home-run sluggers want to change the world in a big and obvious way, says serial entrepreneur John Warrillow. They are not thrilled with incremental success, and the trend toward serial entrepreneurship is not necessarily appealing to them. Sluggers would rather make a single business their lifes work, and make it big (if at all.) They are not as amenable to early exits or succession planning. Fred Smith of FedEx is an obvious example of a slugger.

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Inc.com: The 5 Types of Entrepreneurs

2010-06-18T17:57:00.001-07:00

Why I Won?t Buy From You!

2010-06-18T17:56:00.001-07:00

Actually the answer is pretty simple. You havenâ€™t given me sufficient reason to choose you over your competitors. Todayâ€™s customer has more choice, more knowledge, and even tabbed browsing to evaluate you and distinguish you from all of your competitors. In the few seconds theyâ€™ll invest in your website, if they canâ€™t decide why you might be the solution to their want or need, theyâ€™ll close that tab faster than your Flash promotion can ever engage them.

From: http://ping.fm/6iJLb

Checklist: Buying Your First Digital Camera

2010-06-17T20:17:00.003-07:00

You want to buy a digital camera but not sure where to start. The options are to go low and buy something inexpensive (but maybe you’ll regret the quality), get a mid-price camera, learn how it works and then get a top of the rank camera. Or bite the bullet and get the best digital camera.

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Checklist: Buying Your First Digital Camera

2010-06-17T20:17:00.001-07:00

You want to buy a digital camera but not sure where to start. The options are to go low and buy something inexpensive (but maybe youâ€™ll regret the quality), get a mid-price camera, learn how it works and then get a top of the rank camera. Or bite the bullet and get the best digital camera.

From: http://ping.fm/zArao

Google Docs and Backwards Compatibility+ new document editor, code-named Kix

2010-06-17T02:08:00.003-07:00

When Google announced a new version of Google Docs in April, it was obvious that not only the user interface has been changed.

The new document editor, code-named Kix, is so different that Google had to change the way documents are stored.

"The new Google document editor doesn't use the browser to handle editable text. We wrote a brand new editing surface and layout engine, entirely in JavaScript. (...) To you, the new editor looks like a fairly normal text box. But from the browser's perspective, it's a webpage with JavaScript that responds to any user action by dynamically changing what to display on each line," explains Google.

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Google Docs and Backwards Compatibility+ new document editor, code-named Kix

2010-06-17T02:08:00.001-07:00

When Google announced a new version of Google Docs in April, it was obvious that not only the user interface has been changed.

The new document editor, code-named Kix, is so different that Google had to change the way documents are stored.

"The new Google document editor doesn't use the browser to handle editable text. We wrote a brand new editing surface and layout engine, entirely in JavaScript. (...) To you, the new editor looks like a fairly normal text box. But from the browser's perspective, it's a webpage with JavaScript that responds to any user action by dynamically changing what to display on each line," explains Google.

From: http://ping.fm/foYHx

Growing a Business Franchise with Podcasts

2010-06-17T00:12:00.003-07:00

The audience for podcasts is growing. Fun and simple to produce, podcasts are an effective way for a franchise to connect with and attract more customers.

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Growing a Business Franchise with Podcasts

2010-06-17T00:12:00.001-07:00

The audience for podcasts is growing. Fun and simple to produce, podcasts are an effective way for a franchise to connect with and attract more customers.

From: http://ping.fm/N9RJX

Why I Returned My iPad

2010-06-16T09:03:00.003-07:00

Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on.

And that's where creativity arises.

My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These "wasted" moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital.

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