Small Business Brief

Short Term Thinking Can Harm Your Business

Susan Oakes — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:11:58 +0000

The problem with project thinking is it leads you into the trap of continually needing new customers to have a healthy business. It can also mean that you get swamped with work for a time and then nothing, so you need to attract more customers. Sure there will be times when customers just want you do a one off project. However if you change the way you think about your services and how you offer them you could be surprised at the additional solutions you can actually offer your customers.

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How to Make a Great How-To Video

News Hound — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:07:39 +0000

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a video certainly adds a good few more on top of that. One area in which video is invaluable is the “how-to” instructional that takes a diagram, recipe, or list of steps and brings the topic to life. Whether you’re a small business owner and want to demo a product, an artisan wanting to show off your skills, or even a consumer with a passion for sharing knowledge, before you pick up the camcorder, have a read of our top tips.

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Merchants Push Sales Through Social Media

News Hound — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:23:59 +0000

After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites. Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts.

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How to Target Social Media Influencers to Boost Traffic and Sales We’ve seen on several marketing programs that the percent of incremental unique visitors to a site from shared links more than doubled when the names of the top sharers where...
Use Shopping Sites to Boost Traffic Did you know that customers viewing results on a shopping search engine are TWICE as likely to convert into a sale? Shopping search engines — like Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com —...
Facebook: From Marketing Channel to Point of Sale With Shopping Apps Facebook is set to allow developers to create shopping apps directly on merchants’ fan pages. This means that fan pages, which were once mainly marketing channels, can now be used...

Small Business Owners Lending Money to Employees – Good Business Sense?

News Hound — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:17:19 +0000

There's no firm statistics on how many small-business owners lend money to staff. But those who frequently engage in the practice say it makes good business sense. One reason, they say, is that it can help prevent a slowdown in productivity because workers who are stressed out about money may have difficulty focusing on their jobs. Another rationale for helping employees overcome financial hardships is that it can boost loyalty, morale and unity within a work force.

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Does the Internet Show the True Colors of Your Business?

News Hound — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:50:50 +0000

What attitude adjustments should you make in your business to influence your employees? The next time you get a customer complaint, online or not, is your reaction, "Oh geez, here we go again?" Or do you think to yourself, "A customer problem! This is my job to fix." The difference in your attitude will translate into a difference in that of your employees, and might turn around how your business is perceived, online and off.

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What Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg

News Hound — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:35:36 +0000

Despite all the criticism that Mark Zuckerberg has taken for his actions in the past, there is one thing that nobody can contest: Zuckerberg is an extremely shrewd business person. He often thinks in terms of decades, not days, weeks, or months, and has built the only site that has ever had the chance to take down (or at least compete with) Google. So what is it that has brought him to this point and what should entrepreneurs take away from his successes?

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OPENapps Launches Web App Marketplace to Bring Together Developers and Website Owners

News Hound — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:17:34 +0000

OPENapps allows app developers to easily get their application to market and provides website owners a way to find and integrate apps into their sites while still maintaining their own branding.

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4 Powerful Marketing Lessons From a Voyage Around The World

Susan Oakes — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:52:24 +0000

If you do not live in Australia you may not have seen the news that a 16 year old girl named Jessica Watson successfully sailed around the world unassisted. Apart from the feat itself which was pretty astounding, what caught my attention was the planning and execution by the team responsible for the marketing of the whole journey.

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Do You Know Your Time-is-Money Rate?

News Hound — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:42:05 +0000

I think this time-is-money analysis is important because sometimes we get too cheap with business expenses. I can give you lots of examples including: Are you spending extra hours on cheap rental cars? Does the money saved equal time saved? How much time does a business book or magazine have to save you before it’s worth it? How much time does a business software product have to save you to be worth the money?

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Five Tips For Not Getting Ripped Off By A Credit Card Processor

News Hound — Fri, 28 May 2010 23:20:08 +0000

If you have your own business, you most likely have gone through the annoying and frustrating process of choosing a credit card processor (also called a merchant account provider) in order to accept credit cards. Since there is not a lot of information out there on how to choose a processor, a lot of business owners get ripped off with tricky rates, confusing salespeople, and contracts that are impossible to understand. Here are some tips to help guide you in your search.

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Even The Babysitter Takes Credit Cards With Square Small businesses, mobile vendors and yard sale junkies across the world unite - credit and debit cards have come to the street-side, the festival ground and the front yard with...
99 takeaways and top tips from Search Engine Strategies London 2010 The Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in London was once again a great success and I've collected no less than 99 tips, ideas, statistics and memorable quotes from various speakers,...