Business Strategies and Tips That Are Essential But Often Missed

Many new entrepreneurs have good intentions, great ideas, and strong goals. Coming from a job to starting a business, however, introduces new concepts that many new business owners are not aware of or familiar with. Some of these are legal, most are financial. These few tips will keep our businesses running smoothly and increase cash flow.

1. Have a dedicated business budget. After we have calculated total business costs such as fees or dues, we set aside a dedicated amount to spend on products, educational materials, and advertising. If there is an expensive item we want to purchase we average those funds if needed and add them to our monthly budget, cutting back on something else. If we stay within budget we will develop a good habit that will save us money and increase cash flow. As our business grows more profitable we can expand spending accordingly on advertising and other essentials.

2. We make sure that everything we are doing is legal and the companies and organizations we work with are also legal. If we are in doubt we consult an attorney. This is important for two reasons: illegal companies will rarely pay us, no matter how hard we work, and our reputations can be severely damaged by promoting illegal or illegitimate products and services.

3. We plan for taxes and remember to file a schedule C every year. We can claim a business loss, deduct business expenses, and recoup much of what we spend on our businesses. We make sure we are following the tax laws as well. Review the IRS guidelines for home businesses. In a recent Webinar only about 10% of the people in the business had filed a schedule C. Most did not know the tax laws also. Not following the laws can cost us money and also get us in legal trouble. Tax issues can be very costly.

4. We pay attention to proper and acceptable marketing techniques. We don't spam, we don't blast ads inappropriately, and we don't spam social media sites. We provide value and position ourselves as leaders who truly want to assist others. This is the method the leaders use to build and maintain their lists. It is much more effective than spam and ad-blasting.

5. We keep organized lists of actions to take, results we have achieved, and places to improve. This includes tracking ads, tracking responses to article and video posts, and tweaking our efforts as necessary. Being organized in this way maximizes results and reduces effort accordingly. I personally am not well organized so keeping track of everything is really important for me and makes life much easier.

Simple organization and tracking will make running our businesses simpler and more enjoyable. Paying attention to legal issues and taxes will reduce liability risks and increase cash flow. Budgets help us develop good habits and control our expenditures. Simple efforts can produce massive results in many areas and will improve the quality of our businesses. More important is that a good foundation in these areas when our business is small will pave the way for our business to grow huge with few complications.

Hello my friends, I'm Dave Cleinman. Network marketing can be fun and rewarding, but it is also hard work. For information on how to make the process easier, including tips, methods, and valuable life-changing information, visit my blog Steps to Success and sign up for my newsletter, Step by Step.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Cleinman

Hallbrook Pays Lawyers $25,000 to Ensure Hallbrook Real Estate is Not Ranked #1 on Google

An excellent example of what not to do involves a group of lawyers representing a development group who charged their customer $25,000 to make sure they were not on the first page of Google. Yes, you read correctly that the lawyers helped their real estate customers make sure they were not listed on the first page of a search engine in the middle of a terrible real estate market and only made $25,000 for doing it. The Hallbrook subdivision is an upscale neighborhood in Leawood Kansas minutes South of Kansas City. Homes for sale and real estate in Hallbrook are listed by several real estate companies with ads listing the spectacular Hallbrook Real Estate or Hallbrook Estate Homes for sale.

A local real estate company wanted to promote the homes and real estate they had for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision through a website to reach prospective buyers searching online. A small Search Engine Optimized marketing website was built incorporating the words Hallbrook Real Estate in the domain name (website address) listing homes for sale in Hallbrook and local area attractions. The website also featured on the home page links to the Hallbrook Country Club, Hallbrook Realty Team and other real estate companies with listings for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. Within weeks the website was ranked # 1 on Google attracting the attention of someone at the Hallbrook Office Center or Hallbrook Country Club.

Someone somewhere was upset that the word Hallbrook was being used to sell real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. The first contact was a letter from a lawyer demanding that the # 1 ranked website be taken down because Hallbrook was a word used in the company trademark. The website was taken down for a short time to be sure nothing wrong was being perpetuated through use of the word Hallbrook to list real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. A quick search on Google showed 41,115 notations of the term Hallbrook Real Estate including dozens of similar websites that were not ranked on the 1st page of Google. A call was made to the lawyers representing Hallbrook Office Center sharing that the # 1 ranked website also linked to their client's website sending prospective buyers while clearly noting the website was not affiliated with any of the Hallbrook entities.

Months went by without further communications until a huge packet of legal paperwork was delivered to the website hosting company (Builder Consulting) from Lathrop & Gage lawyers. A lawsuit had been filed claiming use of the word Hallbrook was a violation of the trademark held by Hallbrook Country Club and Hallbrook Office Center. Lawyers from Lathrop and Gage shared that nearly $25,000 had been spent for the lawsuit demanding the # 1 ranked website listing real estate for sale in Hallbrook be taken down requesting that NO FURTHER marketing for the Hallbrook subdivsion, homes or real estate ever be done.

To be clear, lawyers from Lathrop and Gage wanted written agreement for their real estate clients that the # 1 ranked website on Google sending buyers to the Hallbrook subdivision be taken off the Internet in addition to confirmation that no future marketing would be done pertaining to Hallbrook. This seems completely contrary to everything a real estate company would need and want but for small $25,000 legal fee it was so agreed.

The lawsuit was dismissed, the website is no longer live and Hallbrook real estate sales are down 288% which is no surprise with the aggressive anti-marketing campaign in full force. Interesting to note when the case first came up the website was offered for sale for $1,000 at which point Lathrop and Gage shared the customer had already spent almost $25,000 on the case so they were not interested in buying the website...it would have been MUCH cheaper to just buy the website and keep the # 1 ranking on Google!

There are long term ramifications of immediate actions, begin with the end in mind!

Being Posative Leads to Success...in Business & Life

I have considered writing about this for several weeks though until today I felt it was more of a personal mission than a Blog worthy message. When I arrived at work today there was an email from a builder in Texas inquiring about website services and online marketing. The email had the company name, website address, phone number, name and details of when the builder wanted a new website launched (60 days) so I picked up the phone and called him to find out more about his business and how we may assist.

The first questions I ask anyone is "how did you find our company?" to which his reply was "another website company trying to sell me a website gave me your name". He further elaborated that the sales person from the other website company had been so persistent and gone on for weeks about Builder Consulting that he simply had to go look us up on the Internet and find out what would cause someone to be so insecure they had to name another company, by name, as someone they "better not work with..." although he had never heard of our company or mentioned our name previously.

After spending a few minutes online researching website development firms and specifically our firm since he had been told by a sales person NOT to contact us he was comfortable enough to send an email request through one of the 12 websites he found pertaining to our company to speak with someone himself. When we spoke he was clear about his business needs and goals, inquired if we knew the other company (at which point I shared I knew who they were but would rather speak about how Builder Consulting can provide solutions than gossip about another firm) and we proceeded with a 30 minute conversation about his business.

By the end of the conversation the company on the other end of the phone became a customer requesting an agreement to begin working with Builder Consulting. He stated openly that the other company he had been speaking with was so negative and focused on why he should not work with other companies, while our conversation was simply about his business needs and what Builder Consulting would do to assist him.

The culture of a business or individual shows clear to others, short term gains may be made through negative marketing or slanderous claims about companies that may be considered competitors but those gains will never last. When a company we have never spoken with contacts us and becomes a customer simply because someone was so scared of trying to sell their work based on quality, service, results and innovation then it becomes quite clear that happiness in business and life ultimately determines success.

If an individual or business needs to say bad things about another to sell their products or services then they simply must not have a good enough product or service to be sold on its own standing - most companies are smart enough to realize this.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions Since 1995

Some of the many benefits of Insomnia...

As far back as I can remember I have been unable to sleep much, it first felt like a curse yet looking past the sleepless times there have been tremendous benefits. Throughout schooling I would use the time to read books, magazines and when I had read everything in the house I started to log onto my father's workstation and learned how to work with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Social Media is not a new invention, we were doing the same things using BBS in the early 1980's with man bulletin board systems surviving today.

It was a place to share information, comments, play games, read about others and the information they posted (sound familiar...maybe kind of like Facebook or Myspace). Everything back then was simple text, we created images with dots and dashes after the wonderful sound of a 1200 baud modem dialing, the handshake and then connection. I would guess the majority of Internet Users today have never heard a dial-up modem connect or have gone through the transition from 1200 baud to 2400 to 56K to high speed and now higher speeds. I was caught using the EXPENSIVE IBM Workstation provided by EDS for my father but I never learned because I never slept and it was always something new or interesting to learn.

Forward over 20 years later and I still spend nearly every night from whenever I arrive home until 3,4 or 5 AM on the computer. I have several computers in the house, two laptops in the bedroom (so I always have one in reach) enabling me to spend 100+ hours each week learning on the Internet. Add to this the PDA cell phones with Internet Connection, the wireless cellular EVDO high speed modem and dozens of computers, servers and workstations at the office and I now appreciate Insomnia. There is always a benefit to every experience, sometimes it may take years to truely see but if we have the patience and determination things become clear.

It has been a busy day, maybe I can get to bed by 4 AM tonight after some more time online...

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites Since 1995

913-814-8844 Office

Large or Small, Personal or Business, You Know Your a Success When...

Throughout history the people who made the most difference, changed the world, brought about innovation, social expansion and created everything we take for granted today were loved and hated. Consider Microsoft, undeniably the most influential company in history in terms of computers and software used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Chances are you are reading this Blog on a computer using Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Internet Explorer and sent email using Microsoft Outlook or Exchange today.

Do a quick search for the term 'Microsoft Sucks' and 42,200,000 (over 42 million) search results are displayed starting out with a website dedicated to 'Why Microsoft Sucks'. To date the Microsoft Office is the # 1 selling office productivity software in the world, Internet Explorer is used by 98% of all businesses and still there are more than 42 million results about 'Microsoft Sucks'. Can anyone name the company that created Open Office, the free 'imitation' of Microsoft Office that has been around since 1999? The company does not come to mind, they now offer Open Office in more than 80 languages worldwide but nobody knows who they are because it is just a cheap imitation of Microsoft Office who came first and dominated the market (Sun Micrososystems developed Open Office).

Next think about what Susan B. Anthony went through in her quest for Women's Suffrage (the 19th Amendment, right to vote) being arrested by the US Marshall Service, jailed numerous times, expelled from her Union, called a 'harlot', 'unpatriotic' and many worse things. She stood up for what she believed in, what was right and equal for all people and changed the world. In her time she was hated by most men and a significant portion of the female population for pointing out inequities in society and dedicating herself to changing them. Move on to one of the most well loved and most popular leaders in history with a 98% popularity rating in his country, Adolf Hitler.

As unlikely as it sounds, Hitler was extremely popular throughout Germany at the start of his power and throughout the initial war. Hitler utilized the emotions of the German people who felt they had been oppressed and taken advantage of after World War I using national pride, promise of change and most significantly propaganda to influence Germany to follow him. This technique has been used throughout history by scandalous people or companies to sway others to their views when they were unable to obtain influence or compete through legitimate means.

Ask yourself how is it that companies that have done so much to improve and influence our lives are so hated by so many or women like Susan B. Anthony that dedicated their lives to helping others obtain a fair vote in society could be so despised? Neither history or any of us remember the people who never made a difference or caused any 'waves'. The companies and people who take the initive, put themselves at risk, create change and influence life or business as we know it are the ones everyone loves, or loves to hate. When I officially started my business back in 1995 I made little difference, nobody knew who I was or heard of Builder Consulting and life was easy.

Move forward 15 years and hundreds of websites later to where Builder Consulting has been recognized as the Best Place to Work by the Business Journal twice, received 119 local and national 'Best Website' awards, created the industries first content managment system (BuilderAdmin.com), presented hundreds of educational classes worldwide and still conducts business without a single salesperson needed. Last week alone six 'hate emails' from the owner of a company that started up in the same city 8 years after Builder Consulting using a name that is eerily similar to ours. The week before an email was forwarded from someone in Tulsa stating they were told 'Robert Jackson is slimy' (really...I take showers daily) and last month a company in Texas became a customer after another website company told him 'watch out for Builder Consulting' prompting him to research our company and become a customer.

Success, we finally made it! Builder Consulting has changed the way the industry markets online, created the websites, software and solutions others are now trying to imitate and continues to be years ahead of the herd. Customers love us for the success and solutions and other companies hate that they cannot compete no matter how many bad things they say!

The people and companies that make the most difference are those we all know, love, like or love to hate (TMZ is one of the top rated shows). You or your business has made it, you know your a success when the same happens to you!

What similar experiances have you had, did you notice an increase in this type of desperate activity as the economy slowed?

BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Technology Solutions since 1995

Need to Rebrand, Adapt or Change? Look no Further than KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1952 by Colonel (Harland) Sanders though the idea goes back to the 1930's. During the Great Depression Colonel Sanders began selling fried chicken out of his gas station eventually coining the marketing phrase "finger lickin good'. Over the next 40 years the company became famous worldwide with more than 36,000 locations. Two key aspects brought about the name change from one of the world's most recognized fast food names, Kentucky Fried Chicken, to the short KFC acronym.

First and most important is the health food craze that swept the nation dramatically reducing sales for 'fried food' and anything else considered fattening or unhealthy. Health food stores such as Whole Foods sprung up everywhere, consumers began counting calories and the word 'fried' became a bad word. Subtly starting to re-brand Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC eliminated the instant, in your face reference to unhealthy fried food bypassing the fickle consumer aversion to fried foods partially. Jump to present day and KFC released Kentucky Grilled Chicken making the transition of the fried, unhealthy image to a clean grilled (I.E. healthy) image.

The second reason was a little known move by the State of Kentucky trademarked the state name 'Kentucky' requiring anyone using the word to pay licensing fees. Kentucky Fried Chicken began the re-branding process to KFC within one year of the action and recently worked out and agreement with the State of Kentucky for use of the trademarked word again. Kentucky Fried Chicken saw sales and profits plummet when society changed then adapted and changed to succeed. The change was an active process over several years starting with the simple use of an acronym simultaneous with the longer Kentucky Fried Chicken name for the first few years.

Next came the drop of the longer name using KFC as the primary branding and advertising message followed by the most recent Kentucky Grilled Chicken to complete the transformation to a healthy (or least healthier) fast food experience. A company as large as KFC could not accomplish this overnight, it required years of planning, effort, marketing, branding and consistent messages to the public to change perception. Many people were not even consciously aware of the change yet it happened and now a company doomed to fail as healthy food popularized has emerged as a strong leader once again. The same must happen for businesses today in the challenging economic times. What worked before does not work today, buyers are using social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn to connect with sellers and each other.

No longer are traditional advertising or business models applicable for success, all sellers must adapt to the new terms of buyers in both message and product. Former messages of strength are no longer valid in today's economic times ("xyz builders...building homes since 1940..."). No matter the industry the market has changed and everyone needs to adapt for the change to succeed. If KFC can do it in 109 countries at more than 36,000 locations than any you can do it at your business under your leadership.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites since 1995
913-814-8844

Ability is Greater than Money

Ability is greater than money because it can be neither lost or stolen.  

If you study the lives of very successful people you will find that they rarely climb to the top of their business or profession and stay there without challenges.  They often climb to the top and falter several times during their careers but they know that the one thing that got them where they are, their ability, is always there to help them reach the top again.

Your ability is the one thing that you exclusively own; no one can ever take it from you.

The economy and business today continue to be challenging yet those of us with true ability to provide solutions will succeed.  Builder Consulting builds better websites, our unique ability is to place websites on search engines and build long term successful relationships with customers who become partners.

What is your unique ability that will help you succeed in good or bad times?

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844 Offices

What Successful Entrepreneurs Can Teach You

I had a great opportunity this week to speak with an entrepreneur who owns a successful software company on the East Coast.  We spoke about a variety of topics but focused on direct response (DR).  I found our discussion so engaging (definite Kodak moment) that I thought I'd focus this post on the core aspects of a successful direct response campaign whether it's in print or online.

Test. Test. Test.  It might sound cliche but the fact of the matter is that there are lots and lots of web site owners and marketers out there who may test at first, but then leave it alone.  How do you expect to get any better if you're not constantly testing.  For example, if you are doing a standard online campaign with PPC, test multiple landing pages.  This is easy to do is you use Google Website Optimizer or some other split testing and multivariate testing tool.

The objective is to test everything.  Start with your headline which is the most important aspect of your landing page all the way down to the color of your buttons.  Don't assume anything.  In the world of direct response, a small lift in conversions can result in large revenue gains.

Measure, Measure, Measure. Getting started with your testing is where you need to begin. However, your testing is meaningless if you're not properly measuring each activity. Install Google Analytics on your web site and additional tracking if necessary. If you are focusing on affiliate marketing for example, you'll want to know which keywords are converting for you.  Consider tools like tracking 202 or redirect URLs to capture important data and information.

Scale. Scale. Scale.  Before you begin any direct response campaign, consider the concept of scale.  If you create a campaign and it's successful (aka profitable), do you have an opportunity to expand it?  If the answer is no or you think that future growth is limited, explore a different opportunity.  So often I see people who put in the work to make a promotion successful only to discover there aren't enough prospects or the niche is simply too small to make a reasonable return on.  Do this research before you begin.

Scaling campaigns, as noted by my discussion with the entrepreneur who founded a profitable software company, is often the most overlooked aspect of direct response marketing.  Don't get caught by surprise.  Focus on whether of not your campaign can scale before you begin.  Make sure to always test your campaigns and by all means necessary, measure your results!

Use Testimonials And Guarantees To Make Buying Decisions

Trying to sell something online? There are a variety of barriers, both physical and emotional that keep people from buying. Over the weekend I received a wonderful testimonial from someone who recently finished reading my book. It reminded me of the power of testimonials.

When individuals are considering a purchase, they pass through various stages in order to make a buying decision. These steps include: problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. Regardless of the product you're selling, consumers move through each of these stages and they do so at varying rates.

Although you have the opportunity to differentiate yourself and your offering at any stage of the decision making process, the biggest barriers often occur when evaluating alternatives. Consumers put different weight on different elements associated with the purchase.

For example, someone may be considering two different automobiles and each has features not offered by the other. However, some of those features will be more important. Perhaps one car offers a bumper to bumper warranty and the other offers none. If this is one of the most important decision criteria, other criteria that are not met are often overlooked.

To help consumers overcome obstacles and make a buying decision, differentiate your offering and remove risk. These are some of the most powerful tools you can use from a marketing perspective to improve purchase behavior. Testimonials are a powerful way to give the impression of risk reduction. When consumers see the value others have received, they begin to lower their guard. Add a no-hassle guarantee and much of the risk is removed.

Testimonials are powerful when users can find others in similar situations (had the same need or problem) that were helped by your solution. We buy based on references. So create references that support your business. Ask customers for testimonials and publish them to your web site(s), emails, and brochures.

Remove risk with a guarantee that's clear and meaningful. I recommend testing your offers with a guarantee versus no guarantee. No-hassle guarantees are similar to rebates in that they are rarely abused but do a lot to lower purchase barriers.

Reassure your prospects that they are going to make the right decision. Testimonials and guarantees are essential for giving them buying confidence and security. Cultivate testimonials and add a guarantee to your offering to grow revenue and improve conversions.

A Must for Independent Retailers, Restaurateurs and Service Establishments

Guest post by John S. Harris

It’s Thanksgiving Week and holiday decorations, seasonal recipes, holiday sales and special promotions start to scream at all of us. The charge is underway, and a big chunk of the action every holiday season is that special currency known as gift certificates, or gift cards. How does the independent merchant compete with the chains to make the most of the opportunity?

The answer for the independent is the same as it’s always been. Focus on your customer base. This is a strong suit for independents, many of whom tend to personally know or at least recognize their best customers. These are your most loyal, most frequent, most spending, or some combination therein. These folks also represent your referral marketing network. The holiday season is the perfect time to engage and reward them. Though it helps greatly to utilize an online gift certificate service, it’s not essential.

What is essential is to re-think your gift certificate or gift card strategy to do two things: reward your fan base; and reward the potential new fans they bring into your orbit.Gift Certificates and Gift Cards have obvious and well known advantages, foremost amongst them being cash in the bank well before the sale that ultimately credits against it. But their less hyped advantages lie in their inherent viral marketing properties. Gifts are all about giving, of course, and there’s always a Buyer, and a Recipient involved – two consumers, not one.

Turning one consumer into two consumers is the very definition of viral marketing. Therefore, every single sale of a gift certificate is an outstanding shot at a viral marketing win.

So here are some suggestions for making the most of your gift certificate or gift card opportunities.

Issuance and Redemption Basics: Get the nuts and bolts in place for the rush. You cannot afford to make it difficult or time-consuming for consumers to either buy, or redeem, gift currencies from your business. If you’ve already got a system in place, then good for you. If not, I’ve put together a table (inset, below) that lays out the basics of the commercial gift world – the tools accessible to you to work the gift business.

• Treat Gift Buyers and Redeemers THE BEST. Sure, you and your staff treat everyone well, but the folks buying and redeeming are the best existing, and potentially best new, customers. Viral!
• Make Them Available Online. It’s a must that customers can buy them 24X7 and frankly, it’s a pretty basic courtesy. Widespread, cheap and easy; see the table of online gift certificate services (below), if you’re not already there.
• Stock Up. A one-dollar gift card can be sold for easily one hundred times that amount, or more. Not a time to get caught short on either your paper or mag-stripe gift stock.
• Train The Troops. You and your staff must be fluent in the sale, and redemption cycle, particularly the POS part of it. It costs nothing to set up some practice sessions.
• Review Your Denominations. Maybe you’ve been selling $10 certificates or cards for years, but your average check is $16. Does that make sense?
• Know the Law. Every state is different, but there’s been a flurry of both state and federal legislation in the past two years. Go to http://www.consumersunion.org/, for a great summary.

Marketing Basics: It is crucial to let your customers and employees know about your gift offerings. Some inexpensive (or free), direct marketing programs that you can make happen in a couple of days:

• Eye-catching Signs or Posters:
• “Gift Certificates Available – On-Line or In-Store at…”
• Table or Counter Displays. Same message
• Staff Buttons. Fast and cheap, a million places online can create them for you overnight
• Flyers:
       -Start putting a simple flyer into every bag or box; in every check-presenter, etc.
• Add to Voice Mail message:
      -“Our gift certificates are available 24X7 online…”; or “We’re open special hours this year to provide gift certificates…”
• Add simple text at the bottom of your receipts or invoices
• Staff Training. It’s easy to simply mention that you offer gift certificates or gift cards

Promotion Plan: Work the gift business both online (see table of online gift certificate services, below) and offline. Some proven strategies include:

• Give Free Gift Certificates to your best customers. Send them via mail or email, an actual Gift Certificate / Card with a personal message, e.g.,”Thanks for you business over the years.” Make sure you do it in a way that makes it very easy for the recipient to re-gift it if they want. Most recipients will spend more on the back-end, both in purchases and in referral business. If you’re too busy, some companies will do a special run of Gift Certificates complete with personalized messaging and complete fulfillment for a very small fee.

• Buy a Gift Certificate / Get a Gift Certificate. This promotion rewards the purchaser with an additional, or separate, gift of their own. This is particularly effective with office administrators, because when the purchaser buys a $50 gift card/certificate, they would typically receive a $10 one for themselves. The big chains do very well with this strategy – Smith & Wollensky’s is one of many examples of what a proven technique it is. Online gift certificate systems (see table below) are particularly adept at automating this and capturing all the buyer and recipient info.

• Presuming you already have some form of customer list or database, this is the season to think more professionally about how it needs to be happening all year long. You do not want to win new customers without capturing some basic contact info about them! Get your website up to speed on this. Ask whoever handles your website to add a simple online form for customers to join your mailing list – it’s trivial and very inexpensive.

• Send a follow-up “Thank You” via email or personal note to recipient and giver after redemption. If the recipient is a first time customer, thank them for coming to your store and reinforce your goal of personal service and product selection. Also, send a ‘Thank You” to the buyer for introducing a new customer to you and sending a best customer back to you. This simple courtesy is worth its’ weight in gold.

Gift Systems. It’s a brave new world out there as far as online gift certificate services are concerned. Your most successful competitors are already there. If you’re not, it’s never too late. Most of the systems today can be up and running in literally one or two days. I put this table together to try and simplify a pretty complicated industry. There are billion-dollar vendors and tiny start-ups in this space, and hundreds of companies. So this is merely my attempt to clarify what’s out there.

Check out the "Landscape of Online Gift Certificate Services Available to Small Businesses"

About The Author - John S. Harris has been a small business consultant for over twenty years. A former owner and operator himself, John is a principal in Lynch + Harris, a consulting firm specializing in operations management and marketing communications that helps independent restaurants and retailers expand their business and improve their operations. John can be reached at ircharris@gmail.com

Make a Blog Income Starting Today

Guest Post by Andrew Rondeau

Every day, thousands of people make a blog and take their first steps into blogging. While some end generating a large readership and eventually some blogging income, the vast majority of bloggers fail to amass even a single reader, and most don't make a cent from their blogging experiences. It's a statistic that's slightly alarming and potentially annoying to a lot of wannabe bloggers, however once you examine the true causes of failed blogs, and the true motivators for blogging success, you begin to see how blogging can actually be incredibly lucrative.

Most bloggers fail because of a lack of patience. They see the top bloggers bringing in thousands of dollars a day and reaching tens of thousands of people, and they think that they could be there overnight. As usual, the truth is different from the fantasy. While thousands of bloggers make it to Technorati's top listings, the vast majority end up disillusioned and disappointed after a few days, sometimes a few weeks, and end up leaving their blogs untouched for years.

In that way, blogging is like business. While millions of businesses fail every year, thousands grow into the giant companies that push the world economy forward. Generating blog income should be treated just like a business in order to have maximum success. Treat your blog as a revenue source, make strategic decisions to boost your earning and increase your influence, and experiment with different revenue streams. I've listed some of the best blogging revenue streams below, to help you boost your blog's earnings and increase your own blogging confidence.

PPC Advertising

By using PPC ads on your blog, you can generate a small (but potentially lucrative) income every time a user clicks through to another website. While it's smart to plan ahead for advertising strategies (especially if your blog advertises your services) general purpose blogs can easily generate thousands of dollars a month with good advertising placement.

PPM Advertising

If you'd prefer the security of a flat fee over the growth potential of PPC, cost-per-thousand advertising can bring in consistent and valuable income. While most small bloggers can arrange a PPM advertising program for their blog through a network, big blogs might like to look at offering independent advertising spaces and special one-off client rates.

Of course, part of establishing yourself as a powerful advertising resource is growing in size. Small blogs aren't great advertising earners, especially if they deal with relatively general subjects. This raises the question: What can small blogs do to earn blog income?

Start by offering your services, whether they're creative, technical, or business based. There are people out there that are willing to work with you, especially if they already read your blog. Make a blog to use as a promotional tool and you'll see opportunities not just for direct advertising income, but for indirect partnerships and contracting potential. The opportunities for blog income are endless, and with some drive and perception, it's easy to turn a small blog into a massive revenue bringer.

How do you make your money blogging? Share you views in the comments below.

Author Bio:

Andrew Rondeau is the author of the free guide 'Build Your Own Profitable Blog in 45 Minutes'. Grab your complimentary copy at http://www.webuildyourblog.com

today and start making a blog income.

Moss Jackson & Ken Lichtenstein: Business Partnerships - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Business coaches Moss Jackson of Navigating For Success and Ken Lichtenstein of Corporate Initiatives describe some of the issues involved with common partnership arrangements. They discuss family partnerships as well arms length agreements, and some of the problems and potential found in each type. They also share some of the psychological implications of different personality types and their impact on business partnership success and failure.

Moss Jackson and Ken Lichtenstein are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, December 3, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Business coaches Moss Jackson of Navigating For Success and Ken Lichtenstein of Corporate Initiatives describe some of the issues involved with common partnership arrangements. You will learn:

* How the people side of business affects partnerships in all ways

* How to navigate the challenges of family owned partnership companies

* How to handle the many short and long term challenges of partnerships

* How to create a model of success for all business partnerships

Moss A. Jackson (photo left) is a clinical and organization psychologist who has been practicing in the field since 1972.

He specializes in two areas:

1. Psychotherapy and success coaching with adolescents and adults.

2. Helping companies and organizations to create healthy and profitable partnerships, teams and successful relationships.

Over the past year, he has created Navigating For Success Workshops for adults, couples and adolescents.

Ken Lichtenstein (photo left) has worked for 25 years in the area of people development. He is experienced in effectively developing leaders, teams, and organizational units. He has coached individual contributors, managers and executives.

Ken has successfully assisted companies from broadly changing their cultures, increasing team effectiveness, to coaching individuals to improve their work performance. He understands the challenges of business from the inside, having spent most of his career living day to day with critical business challenges.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with business coaches Moss Jackson of Navigating For Success and Ken Lichtenstein of Corporate Initiatives as they describe some of the issues involved with common partnership arrangements. They discuss family partnerships as well arms length agreements, and some of the problems and potential found in each type. They also share some of the psychological implications of different personality types and their impact on business partnership success and failure on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Moss Jackson, Ken Lichtenstein, family, business partnership challenges, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Will your Blogging Idea Make you Money Today?

It is no longer enough just to have a great idea for a blogging web site. It can and will be hard to tell the difference between yours and all the other blogging sites on the web today. The secret is to find your own specialization, and roll with it. No matter if you are starting out, or improving your current blogging site, if you wish to grab a hold of and maintain a grip on the blogging community, you must use your own special appeal to your advantage.

This still leaves plenty to do though. Simply finding your specialty is only the beginning. You must be able to fill a unique need with it, if you wish to develop a lasting relationship with internet bloggers and surfers.

All successful blogging sites have started with a great idea, and yours is no exception. Nowadays, there are countless sites aimed at this market, and the competition growing between them is epic. If you wish to stand out from the rest, you have two choices. You can do the same thing an already popular site is doing – and do it better, or you will have to offer something that no other site has.

Take a look at sites that already have a following, and see if you can incorporate any of their fundamentals into your own idea, while adding your own genius and elegance to your project to make it unique. You can also set up AdSense on your site, which is easy and takes less than an hour.

Most people agree that in the World Wide Web economy, the sites that stand out and do the best are the ones with the most personality. The surfers who utilize the blogging community have been shown to respond strongly to this as well, and you need to take a look at how you can give your site a strong magnetism and traits to make it stand out as a reflection of your own persona when considering its content and development.

So once you’ve implemented your great idea, have narrowed down your specialty traits and added your own identity and charisma, the next step is to generate the buzz and get the word out. Just having the grand idea isn’t enough. You must come up with an intelligent and realistic approach to market it and bring traffic to target readers. With the other qualities in place, your content will keep them coming back, but it is crucial that their first visit will make a lasting impression, and their own style recognizes the charm of your site as appealing, so that it stands out among the rest.

How to Create Additional Income Stream through a Newsletter?

Guest Post by Anil Gupta

Did you know that you can also earn money online from newsletters which you send to your readers? If you have readers who follow your blog with great interest then you could even get them to sign up for your newsletter.

Most pro-bloggers on the internet gain additional revenue from newsletters. However, many bloggers have a question on how to attract readers to sign up for newsletters.

What are the Advantages of having a newsletter?

Having a newsletter is a great way to have readers keep returning to your blog. This will also create a sense of community which all bloggers should try to achieve. The main benefit of a newsletter is that it allows the webmaster to create an additional revenue stream apart from his main blog. Newsletters are becoming very important to propel the overall growth of a blog after a certain stage.

How to get readers to sign up for Newsletters?

The best way to lure your readers to subscribe to your newsletters is by offering them extra content which they will not find usually in your blog. That content should be useful and unique. So when your readers see that there is more content which is only accessible when you subscribe then they sign up for it. This is possible provided you provide good content. If the content in your blog are useful then chances are readers will know that your newsletter will be even more useful. Basically, newsletter

How to make money from Newsletter?

There are various ways to make money from a newsletter. The conventional ways to make money such as Adsense ads etc. are not possible to implement in newsletters. But there are more effective ways to monetize newsletters:

Direct Advertisement Space: If you have a nice number of readerships then you can opt for showing direct ads and sponsored links on your newsletter. This will be a far better paying than a Pay-Per-Click campaign.

Sell your Merchandise: If you have anything to sell relevant to the niche of your blog then you can use your newsletter to market your products.

Affiliate Marketing: This another lucrative way to make money from newsletters as you will be able to promote content to a more trusting audience therefore your chances of sale increase. However, be careful not to overdo it as this may harm your readership count and may cause them to unsubscribe.

Eventually, once you create a brand for your blog you can switch over to the paid version of newsletters but that is at a higher level.

It is worth considering this different stream of making money online. Have you tried providing newsletters on your blog, if so how successful were you to generate revenue from it? You can drop down the answers below.

Author Bio:

Subscribe to ScopeForMoney Newsletter to add more income streams to your business and to learn lots of ways to earn money online at home started by Anil Gupta

Even a Caterpillar Knows How To Unleash Itself Into a Beautiful Butterfly

Today marks the beginning of Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people around the world to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. It runs this year from November 16-22 and virtually connects approximately 4 million people in 87 countries (read Kauffman Foundation's release about it).

Each nation has found a different way to kick off what is the culmination of months of organizing and engaging their communities.

How do you plan to celebrate and connect with the world? You can start by making a comment here with "I support Global Entrepreneurship Week!"

To find out more, visit Unleashing Ideas. Get live updates at the Unleashing Ideas Blog.

Go ahead ... unleash yourself and your potential -- globally!

Outsourcing New Ideas

As funds dry up the world over, businesses are doing everything they can to continue down the path of generating new ideas (innovation). Have you considered outsourcing that aspect of your business to reduce costs, speed development time and tap into a pool of talent worldwide?

According to a recent article in the WSJ (special Business Insight Report), four situations call for outsourcing:

1. When companies would need to add lots of new knowledge to innovate, such as figuring out how to work with an unfamiliar chemical compound to make a different line of pharmaceuticals.
2. In the early stages of a project, when there are lots of technical hurdles to be overcome and the outcome is far from certain.
3. When intellectual property isn't well protected in the industry. In these cases, since new ideas spread quickly from company to company, it may not be possible to differentiate products with innovations. So, businesses turn to outsourcing to limit spending.
4. When companies have had lots of experience with outsourcing. Let's say all the factors above are equal—it's basically a toss-up between working on a project in-house and outsourcing it. In these cases, companies with a long track record of contracting tend to hand off the job to outsiders—three times as often, in fact, as businesses with average levels of experience in the practice. The costs and benefits of outsourcing are more certain for experienced firms, and they can better manage the situation to produce effective results.

Take a further look here to find out how outsourcing innovation works and affects performance.

Business by the Astrological Signs

As both a graphic design consultant and an astrology hobbyist, in this month's column I thought it would be interesting to discuss what it's like to work with people of each of the 12 sun signs in the zodiac.

Your clients' sun signs can help you figure out the best way to work with them, as well as their likes and dislikes.

Disclaimer: Please note that astrology is much more complicated than just the 12 sun signs, so use this information as a general guide only.

Aries – WHAT’S NEXT? Aries are enthusiastic and have fiery reactions. They enjoy starting things and don’t always like to finish them, so do the project quickly and suggest new ideas before the current one is completed.

Taurus – Taurus’s don’t like change and love beauty, harmony, and money, so the bottom line is very important to them…how PROFITABLE will this website or ad be?

Gemini - RESTLESS and INTELECTUAL…I THINK I like the curly the font, the purple background, the wavy picture…the ocean photo…well, you get the picture…

Cancer – How does this make me FEEL? What is the emotional overtone of that design, what do people FEEL when they look at my project? (I can attest to this one, being a cancer chickee…)

Leo – Leo’s like being the center of attention and they adore being appreciated, so APPRECIATE their opinion and make sure you have the most flattering picture of them in their marketing materials.

Virgo – Virgo enjoys fixing things and being of service, so be prepared to make LOTS of changes to a project. But, when they are happy, you know your work must have gotten to the point of being FLAWLESS!

Libra – Libra’s like CHOICES…so make a couple different versions for them to choose from and they will ponder it over for a few days and get back to you. Give them the time and choices to choose.

Scorpio – INTENSITY…Scorpios will get a gut reaction to the project and will either love it or hate it and then go from there...

Sagittarius – HAPPY go LUCKY…freedom loving…just don’t tie them down to one choice or one way of doing things. Expect to go with the flow and make changes as you go along.

Capricorn – STATUS seeking – how will this benefit my image and help me climb the success ladder?

Aquarius – Wacky, UNUSUAL, shocking…they love the most off the wall ideas and will go with them just to get a reaction from other people. Use your strangest designs on them and they will love it!

Pisces – Mystery, INTUITION, and Creativity – when working with Pisces…they just KNOW. Encourage them to listen to their inner guidance when asking for feedback.

By Articles Directory

How To Create Or Buy An Information Product Once And Then Sell A Multiple Times

The starting point to success in any business is to come up with the right idea that will be successful in the market place. What most people lack are not the drive, talent and creativity to succeed as an entrepreneur. It is coming up with a viable idea. That may be one of the reason information products is one of the fastest selling products on the internet. What make this business unique is that you can start it with a little money and make unlimited income in a very short time.

An information product is anything that describes step by step ways of solving a particular problem. It can be in the form of a book, manual form, audio visual CD, e-book. The cost of producing it is very minimal.

As we all know making money in any business implies that you are solving a specific want for people. As an information entrepreneur there are many problems out there that you can create information products to solve and people will be happy to buy. The simple step is to come out with an idea to solve a specific problem, do the research to confirm that there is a market for it. Then you start developing a solution to the problem.

After the product has been created, all you have to do is to advertise it and wait for the money to roll in. That will give you time to work on some other products. The most important thing is to create a product that is in high demand. That people will be happy to exchange their hard earned money for. The worst thing that can happen is to devote your time and energy to create a product and nobody wants to buy.