Small Business Blog

Archive for January, 2010

The economic situation in the world is quite tough right now. Although it could be tempting to get stressed by financial troubles like most people, there is a different way you can look at it. You can look at it as an opportunity.

How could you turn the bad economic situation into an opportunity for you? Since a lot of people are getting laid off or downsized, there are now a lot of people looking to make money on the internet. Since so many people want to learn ways to make money online, this could be a great opportunity for you to take advantage of. You can help others make money online while make money for yourself.

Here are several approaches you can take to do that…

Create an Online Community or Blog

A great way to make some extra money online is to create a blog, online community or website for people who want to find ways to make money online. Because you’re tapping into a market that’s actively looking for business ideas, you’ll be tapping into a market that’s very hungry for information.

It’s easy to make money by providing a range of business ideas, especially the ones that can be started on a shoestring budget. You can also add a community aspect to your website by allowing your visitors to discuss business ideas on a forum or blog comments section.

Once you have your website, community or blog up, you can make money several ways. The simplest way is to display advertisements from Google’s AdSense program. Another approach is to make money by selling other people’s products and collecting a small commission. More on that in a moment.

There are many other ways you can make money by sharing business ideas. For example…

Write Your Own eBook

Millions upon millions are made through selling eBooks about business. Although it can be tough to compete in larger industries like “How to make a website,” it’s quite easy to make a name for yourself in smaller industries with a good eBook.

It takes a bit of work upfront to create an eBook. First you need to brainstorm a good idea to write about. Once you have your idea, the next step is to spend time writing your eBook or recording an audio eBook. After your product is complete, then you can make a website or blog that’s designed to persuade your visitor to buy.

Needless to say, as part of running a business you’ll need to continually provide customer support and keep on promoting (marketing) your website. You’ll also be collecting the checks each and every month.

The great thing about the online format is that you don’t have to ship anything or print anything. Everything is easily downloaded to your buyer’s computer.

However, if that sounds like a lot of work, an easier alternative is to…

Sell Other People’s Business Idea Products for a Commission

Even if you don’t want to go through the process of creating your own product, you can still make a lot of money by selling other people’s products instead. Most other entrepreneurs who create products that teach how to start businesses have what’s called an “affiliate program.” These are programs that will pay you as much as 50% of the sale price when someone you refer buys a product.

What’s amazing about these programs is that you can still make a ton of money without creating your own product, worry about customer service or fulfilling orders. The only thing you need to do is send their website customers with a special referral link. If you’re someone who likes to tell friends about new stores, products or online finds, then you might find that this is an amazing way to make some money for you.

1. MAKE SURE THE PRODUCT BEING OFFERED MATCHES YOU

If your passion is embroidery, you probably won’t do
too well with car parts sites. Stick with what you know
at first and, once you learn how to promote on the
Internet, move on to different products.

2. CHECK IT OUT

Don’t just jump in because it’s easy. Ask yourself this
question; is the product or service you are affiliating
with something you would bring to your best friend? If
not, you may want to keep looking.

3. TALK TO CURRENT AFFILIATES

Ask for a list of happy affiliates. Ask them some key
questions such as did they get the help and support
promised? Are they being paid on time? You get the
idea.

4. THINK LONG TERM

If your first arrangement doesn’t pan out, don’t give
up. Many people on the net are making excellent incomes
with affiliate programs. You can too.

5. GO FOR QUALITY

Make a checklist of everything you want, find two who
meet the criteria, and go all out with those two.
Remember that it will be your reputation on the line.

6. HOW WELL DO THEY SELL?

You need to ask how well the product or service you
will be promoting ‘converts’. Conversion is simply the
number of people per 100 who buy something.

For example, at the Directory of Ezines they convert 8 of
every 100 visitors to buyers. They know this because they
do the hard work of analyzing there traffic and sales,
and have for 10 years now.

This is the hard work that affiliates never have to do,
which is why being an affiliate is so much fun! You
make the money but don’t have to do the copy writing or
figure out conversions or any of the back-office stuff.

For most established products you will promote you can
expect this number to range from .5% to about 10%.
Anything higher or lower and you need to be careful
about them telling you the truth.

Also, be aware that ‘hot’ products convert well while
they are hot but conversion drops with time. So be sure
to get *current* conversion figures.

7. WHAT IS THE COOKIE DURATION?

Most affiliate programs track using ‘cookies’ that are
set on the visitor’s machine. You need to know how long
this cookie lasts and if it can be overwritten.

The reason this is important is that it will change how
you market.

If a company has a short cookie duration then you want
to focus on ads that make the sale now. If they have a
long duration you can use other methods (like banners)
that are more passive.

You also want to know if the cookie can be overwritten.

If it can, then someone who first learned about product
X from you, but clicks another link to buy, will not
earn you the commission you deserve.

Neither of these factors are good or bad (Amazon has an
incredibly short cookie but people still make fortunes
as affiliates for them) but are worth knowing.

8. DO YOU EARN ‘BACKEND’ COMMISSIONS?

This means do you get paid when someone you refer buys
a second product? This is vitally important. People
often buy two, three or more products from one site.
You should earn commissions for every product they buy.

9. DO YOU EARN RENEWAL COMMISSIONS?

If you send someone to a site where they pay a monthly
or quarterly fee, do you get paid every time or just
once? You should get paid every time.

10. DO THEY SUPPORT YOU?

Most people don’t know, or have the time, to write ads
and create banners or graphics. You should expect the
program you join to provide these tools as well as some
training on how to sell their products.

Affilaite Checklist

There is a major difference between sophisticated accounting software used by larger businesses for financial control purposes than is required for small business where a simple bookkeeping spreadsheet is sufficient.

An accountant needs to not only ensure the financial records are accurate but also retrieve any part of the accounting records to answer accounting questions on the accounts, provide a legal basis for the transactions and report the financial statements at regular periodic intervals.

Accounting is a term that embodies a whole raft of financial activities while bookkeeping is specifically literally the keeping of books of account. For non limited companies that do not need to produce a balance sheet then a simple income and expenditure account can be produced much simpler using single entry bookkeeping principles.

Less financial control is often required from small business accounting software as the bookkeeper is often the owner manager who already has an intimate knowledge of each transaction. Books are still required for tax purposes and a solid requirement of preparing a set of financial books for tax purposes is that each entry is supported by third party evidence.

The prime accounting documents providing back up are sales and purchase invoices or receipts and bank statments. Financial transactions where no receipt exists can still be entered in the business books although all transactions not carrying third party evidence could subsequently be disallowed for tax purposes and certainly would be if the amounts entered indicated unusual income or expenditure.

Producing an income and expenditure statement using single entry bookkeeping is little more than making two lists of financial transactions. Those lists being one of sales income received from sales invoices or receipts issued to customers and the other of purchase expenditure being from purchase invoices received from suppliers.

To record sales income it would not normally be sufficient to simply add up the total of the invoices as such a summation does not leave an audit trail of the items which have been included. A written list of sales invoices does provide an audit trail.

Sales accounting for a small business accounting purposes can be either a manual list of the sales invoices or by using a spreadsheet package a list can be made on a bookkeeping spreadsheet. Basic formulae canh be used to add up totals in a bookkeeping spreadsheet.

The essential information to enter for a sales invoice would be the date of the sale, name of the customer, sales invoice number if applicable and optional a brief description of the item sold. In the next column would be the total sales invoice amount. Additional columns might be required to account for taxes on sales such as vat in the uk or sales taxes.

A further small complication might be if at the discretion of the small business owner additional information was required from the bookkeeping records to indicate the totals of the different types of products and services then additional columns could be incorporated to enter the net sales figures in these columns.

There it is then, a simple list of sales invoices to satisfy the sales accounting requirements for a small business where a balance sheet is not required.

On the expenditure side of the business the bookkeeping can also be a simple list of the purchase invoices and receipts showing the amount spent. The list should also produce an audit trail by showing the date of the purchase invoice, name of the supplier, purchase invoice for identification purposes and the total amount spent.

Usually tax returns are the main purpose of producing small business accounts and invariably some analysis is required to show what the expenses have been spent on. The small business owner can insert additional standard columns to the bookkeeping spreadsheet.

The expenditure analysis columns do not need to be a different column for each type of expenditure. It is better to set up and group the analysis columns in general headings which can accommodate all the expenses.

These bookkeeping analysis columns would include stock, other direct costs, premises costs, general administrative costs, transport and delivery costs, repairs and maintenance, travelling and hotel costs, motor costs, bank and legal costs and other expenses. It is better not to enter too many items under a general heading of other expenses as this is more likely to be investigated as the type of expense has not been precisely identified.

One important column to also include is for asset purchases as fixed assets usually have different tax rules applying to the claim of the expense against tax and should be separated from other expenditure.

Having set up two bookkeeping spreadsheets the task is then to produce the income and expenditure account by collecting the totals of each of the analysis columns. The sales total is the sales turnover from which is deducted the totals of each of the expenditure classification totals with the result being the net profit and loss of the business.

Where stock is bought and sold a further adjustment may be required to account for the difference between opening and closing stock. This is done by taking a physical stock check and valuing the stock at the start and end of the financial period.

On the income and expenditure account adjust the stock purchases figure by adding the value of the opening stock and deducting the value of the closing stock. The result is not the stock purchases total as shown in the bookkeeping spreadsheets but the cost of the goods which have been sold to produce the sales turnover being reported.

Simple bookkeeping for a small business accounting purposes can be two lists of sales and purchases supported with sales invoices and purchases invoices.

Many people have home based businesses today, which are usually carried out without much professionalism. However, it is basically better to work at creating a professional image for your home business which is possible by creating business cards for your business.

It is no point in just creating business cards; they have to be effective in propagating your website. So follow these tips to find out the best tips for creating effective cards:

Choose a font that is easy to read; preferably standard fonts like Times New Roman or Arial. Avoiding capitals, italics and underlining all ensure legible business cards. In addition to this, the card becomes legible only if the type is large enough to read and when choosing colors, choose dark colors for use on a light background.

Though using glossy and metallic paper will help enhance the look of your card, the card will not be liked by the recipient of the card. This is because people usually use the back side of the card for writing notes, which is not possible on cards with a high gloss or metallic back. So have your business card printed on paper that lets people write on.

Another option you have to make use of the back of your business card is by adding valuable information on it. You could consider adding a map to your home, some important information about your services, any discounts you have in mind, use it as a coupon or just about anything that comes to your mind for making your card more effective.

It is better to use the services of a professional designer to design your business card. If you can’t afford one, you could consider at least getting a consultation for your card. With the help of the designer, you can decide where you intend to place your logo and contract information. Even a short consultation will help in creating a much better and more effective business card.

Instead of keeping the back of the card empty, use it for additional advertisement for your business. Use it to explain the benefits and high points of your business as the right use of the back and front of the card gives an idea of the amount of professionalism you are conducting your business with.

Some ideas for filling up the back of the card would be a quiz or checklist that will make the customer want to call you for its answers. Or perhaps valuable information like important phone numbers, handy tips, conversion tables and charts or perhaps turning the back of the card into a coupon.

And last, but not least, remember that business cards are easy to replace. So if your card becomes outdated, or if you change your business or business name, don’t keep the old cards. Jut throw them away and get new ones made for you. It is important to have fresh and updated business cards to effectively propagate your business.

There are some points which are to be considered while designing a site for SEO. So here i present some points which are need to be considered by Designers & Developers.

1. URLs should be static with the theme of the specific page content ( i.e on flagstaff hotel page url should be flagstaff-hotel).

2. Put the Product/Services/Category Name in h1.

3. Call the Same Page Product/Services/ Heading to the title.

4. Call the Same Page Product/Services/ Heading to the meta’s if given separately.

5. Get the product/ services name ( keyword ) into product/services description.

6. As much possible highlight the products/services with EM, I, U, B, strong.

7. Keep the URL, short, specific and keyword oriented not just like most “on the fly” URLs.

8. Define image alt as per image don’t just put any keyword forcibly.

9. While creating sitemap for dynamic site keep in mind it covers almost all the pages which have description and content. And give each URL a very specific title ( as per page content/product/services.).

10. Create a Robots.txt

11. Use the Anchor Text ( Hyperlink the Product name in content with most specific page).

12. Try to make Navigation User Friendly as well as search engine friendly. Simple and easy navigation fancies Visitors as well as robots.

SEO Checklist For Web Designer

1. Design the website not just as per SEO point of but it should be very elaborate so the visitor can quickly guess the business of website in a glance.

2. Most possibly try to put the content side from topmost and from the very left ( But don’t compromise with the design layout or quality).

3. Try to design the navigation from topmost or top left as much possible ( But don’t compromise with design layout)

4. Try to highlight all the product/services or Main categories on Home Page if Possible (This will help the users to have easy access of all the products in single click and also it will help Search Engines to crawl the product/services pages instantly).

5. Name all the images as per theme and product or services, images with full product name i.e. a image of flagstaff hotel should be named as flagstaff-hotel.gif not like prd1 or product1.

6. Put the product names/services names in text not a image ( For Coders).

8. Rename spacer.gif / pixel.gif / zero.gif as the main client product/services like(if there is a popcorn supplier use it as popcornsupplier.gif).

SEO Tips for Flash Designer

1. Make text basis representation of the flash using noembed tags.

2. Put the swf name full and as per the accurate services if the theme is multimedia fireworks.. Use multimedia-fireworks.swf instead of using just fireworks or multimedia.

3. Usually embed with a html or any static page and provide meta description and title for the page.

4. If possible copyright, sitemap, terms and condition link keep on page instead of using text. Give a Static Navigation of each flash page (Of Product/Services/About).

5. Provide a title and description for instances.

Setting the right price for your book is crucial to its success. If you do not set the right price, you may do more harm than good to your sales. When pricing your book, you need to take into consideration many factors.

There are generally two methods that you can use to arrive at the price tag of your book. The first is the traditional or the bottom up method. It is called bottom up because you start your calculations from the bottom and gradually go upward to get the best price for the book.

In this method, you first take the production cost of your book, add the trucking costs and multiply the sum by eight to arrive at the magic figure. The reason to use this high multiple factor is to cover the commissions/profits of distributors, wholesalers, and stores, all of which demand a heavy cut of the list price of the book. Without the support of this distribution channel, you will be unable to deliver your book to the reader/buyer.

Usually a distributor’s cut is about 66%, wholesalers take up to 55%, and stores take 40% of the list price. Then the costs involved in promoting your book have to also be taken care of. Promotion is an expensive business and you will need to shovel back nearly 25 to 30% of the gross amount.

The least expensive way of promoting your book is to seek reviews. They are one of the most effective means that also costs the least. However, they involve sending review copies of your book to various newsletters, magazines, newspaper columns, and other opinion molders.

Remember that these review copies are books that are not sold, and therefore you do not get paid for them. They are sent free and the cost involved is considered promotional advertising expense. Depending on your subject and target audience size, you may have to send out hundreds of copies. One important factor that has overriding priority over the cost of production, while considering the final price, is the genre/category of the book.

Another method is the top down method. The principle here is to price your book according to the price of similar books in the market. The price that is given on the back page of the book should be in line with other books in the market, because retail prices are established not by the cost of production, but by the marketplace.

To find out market prices, visit bookstores that stock similar books and check the prices. You also need to note other points like the shape, quality and type of paper, and binding to determine what your reader/buyer is prepared to spend.

You must also keep in mind the target buyer segment when determining the price of your book. If it is targeted at teenagers, you need to make it low priced with a soft cover. Books for professionals like lawyers, doctors, accountants, technical experts etc. should be hardcover editions with dust jackets and can be priced higher, say around $80 to $100. Business books should be priced at around $35.

Pricing a book is a subjective issue and there cannot be any hard and fast criteria to fix the price. However, what is discussed above can enable you to proceed in the right direction while determining the price of your book.