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Small Business Questions

I have been spending a lot of time over at Yahoo Answers these past few days answering questions and rating other people's answers. While many sound like students seeking help with their assignments, doing Yahoo Answers is fun, entertaining and very educational. It gives me a look at the types of information our target audiences are looking for and the kinds of questions they have.

One thing I noticed is that there is still a great deal of people out there who believes that they can earn money from assembling craft items, stuffing envelopes, and other well known scams. Many also mistakenly believe that they can easily get government grants to start their for-profit businesses. And yes, that there are a lot of folks who want to get rich quick with minimal effort! As they say, there are no scammers if there are no suckers.

A lot of people are also looking for information on business ideas that they are thinking of starting, which of course is perfect fit for many of PowerHomeBiz.com's articles.

I am now at level 3 (I wonder what the prizes/gift will be - they only say it's coming soon), and hope to reach the next level by next week!

How to Market a Cake Decorating Business

I responded the other day to an email sent by a subscriber asking for tips on how to market her cake decorating and cheesecake business. Here's my response

How to Market a Cake Decorating Business

Tax Tips for the Self Employed Entrepreneur

We posted today an informative press release from the folks producing the very thick JK Lasser tax guides. The article talks of the items that a home-based business owner can use as deductions, as well as tax rules governing the self employed.

Read Being Your Own Boss: A JK Lasser Tax Tip for the Self-Employed

Finding Your Identity: 8 Essential Questions

The idea that you are at liberty to pick whatever path in life you want is the unspoken agony of the modern person. Call it the myth of personal freedom. This popular, but misguided, belief ignores the fact that life has order, and that that order bears heavily upon your choices, on what makes sense to do with the time you have. The good news is that, although you can’t be anything you want, you have more potential than you know.

The order I am speaking about is contained in a code, your identity code. Much like our genetic code, our identity code is born into each of us, providing a complete map of how we as human beings are designed to function – of how we are supposed to live – when we are living according to who we truly are.

Read full article by Larry Ackerman, author of the new book "The Identity Code "

Contextual Advertising: Why Are You Earning Only Pennies?

Contextual advertising programs such as Adsense and Yahoo Publishers Network are the “in” things today. Web publishers want to get into the action, if they are not already in the programs. They find contextual advertising – placing highly targeted text links on their web pages – to be a relatively easy way to earn money on the Web. They simply apply to the program, put in the ad codes, get traffic, and wait. Lots of people are said to be earning hundreds, if not thousands, per month by simply being part of Google and Yahoo’s publisher network.

On the other hand, while there are many success stories, there are also many others who are frustrated with contextual advertising. They can’t see what the fuss is all about – while others are said to be earning thousands, they earn mere pennies per day? Where are the thousands expected from these programs? They have tried various strategies, changed ad placement, bought ebooks from those who claim to have found huge financial windfall from Adsense, and spent chunks of cash on pay-per-click advertising just to get traffic to their website. But, nothing seems to work.

Read full article

5 Tips for Reducing Ezine Unsubscribe Rates

ChiefMarketer.com offers 5 tips for reducing the number of subscribers who leave your mailing list. These are

1. Send good stuff
2. Offer alternative frequencies
3. Offer change of address
4. Offer other newsletters
5. Ask for feedback, and act on it

Read full article

Paid Survey Opportunity for Stay at Home Moms

Just got this email from PineCone Research, an online marketing research company:

PineCone Research is ready to expand and we need your help. We have immediate openings for MOMS OF BABIES 12 MONTHS OF AGE OR YOUNGER. Do you know of households that meet this description that would like to join the PineCone Research Panel?

If so, please FORWARD A COPY of this e-mail to each household you would like to refer so that they may click on the registration link shown below. That household should complete the registration form themselves and submit it. REMEMBER THAT ONLY ONE PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD MAY REGISTER. Multiple registrations of the same Household will void all registrations. Here is the link to the registration: http://www.pineconeresearch.com/signup/ds463Referral1.asp

PineCone Research is a legitimate market research firm, with top notch companies and brands for their clients. If you are included in their panel, you will be contacted for studies that fit your profile. Most studies are done online, but every now and then they will actually send you the product to try out and test.

Surveys last anywhere from 5-20 minutes, and you will be paid $5 for every survey you do. You can have as little as 1 survey a month or 20 surveys in a month. It's not much, but it still is additional pocket money.

How to Do Link Development -- Properly

It never fails to amuse me to receive link request emails from different website owners using the same exact languange. These are the template-driven automated link requests where some unfortunate soul who do not know how to configure the templates end up sending emails like "Dear [insert website name here]."

There is an excellent post at WebmasterWorld.com that looks at how link development should be done. First off, the poster opines that link development should be viewed as traffic development, and not merely as a race to improve pagerank senselessly. Search engines have caught up with the game, and for link building to work the online webmaster should:

1. Instead of sending hundreds of automated emails randomly to other websites, find out websites that are related to your topic and highlight to them what additional info or resource your site can bring to them (instead of the usual blah-blah about improving page rank, etc.)

2. When buying links, buy links because of the traffic it can give you and not because of the pagerank improvement it can bring you (afterall, how long can you keep paying the site to make sure your pagerank remains high?)

3. Instead of writing articles and sending them out to 50 article directories, submit only relevant articles to chosen list of publications (my personal favorite - I am oftentimes convinced that people do not know how to read even though they profess that they are "authors")

There are more great points in the post. Check it out at WebmasterWorld

10 Do's and Don'ts in Buying a Business

From finding the right business or franchise to buy, to finally accepting the keys to the front door - buying a business can be an extremely frustrating exercise. It is important that you plan and implement each and every step in sequence and avoid the many caverns on the road to completing the deal.

The following 10 points should always be in the back of your mind.

Read full article

Yahoo Answers: New Way to Promote Your Expertise

Yahoo has recently launched Yahoo Answers, where people can ask and answer questions. Unlike its Google counterpart, Yahoo Answers make it easy for anyone to register and start answering questions.

You do not need to submit a resume and prove you are an expert; the quality of your response will prove that for you. Your responses will be judged by the person who posed the question - he or she can accept your response. There are many questions where 3 or more responses have already been posted but no responses have been accepted as yet (either the poster is still not satisfied with any of the responses, or well, maybe the poster actually forgot that a question has been posted!). You will then garner points based on the number of responses you made and whether your responses have been accepted. Very reminiscent of the MSN Encarta style in the late 1990s when a similar system was in place.

So how can you use Yahoo Answers to promote your business?

First - The system allows you to post your sources for your response. This can be a link back to your website! You can simply provide a summary in response to the question, and lead the viewers to your website for a detailed response.

Second - Yahoo will allow posts in Yahoo Answers visible to the search engines. If your answers include links to your site, then the more questions you answer, the more backlinks you have.

Third - You can link your Answers account with your YPN account - and get paid!

Try Yahoo Answers now and see how it can help in marketing your business.

100 Greatest Sales Tips of All Time

I just received the new book "The 100 Greatest Sales Tips of All Time" edited by Leslie Pockell with Adrienne Avila (Warner Business Books, February 2006). The book is a collection of sales tips from some of the best business thinkers around the world.

It is one of those thin hardbound books that you can finish in an hour (love those types!), with each page containing one tip whether it is one short sentence or a couple of paragraphs.

Some of my most favorite tips from the book are:

• A salesman minus the enthusiasm is just a clerk. (Harry F. Banks)
• When you have a passion for your product, selling is the natural by-product of sharing the love (Kae Groshong)
• Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust. (Zig Ziglar)
• A mediocre salesman tells. A good salesman explains. A superior salesman demonstrates. Great salesmen inspire buyers to see the benefits as their own. (Carolyn Shamis)
• I was 11 years old, selling soap door to door to earn my way to YMCA camp. I'd say, "Hello, my name is Brian Tracy. I'm selling Rosamel beauty soap. Would you like to buy a box?" People would say, "No, don't need it, don't want it, can't afford it," etc. I was very frustrated -- until I rephrased my presentation: "I'm selling Rosamel beauty soap, but it's strictly for beautiful women." People who had been completely uninterested would say, "Well, that's not for me. It wouldn't help me. How much is it?" I started selling the soap like hot cakes. (Brian Tracy)

DHL Advancing MicroEntrepreneurs Program

Is there such thing as free money? Yes, there are and some of them can be found in your local business group or non-profit organization. In fact, you have a higher probability of getting free money to support your business from a local group as against buying lists claiming to offer information on where to get free money (they do have lists of organizations, but whether these organizations will actually give money to YOU is an entirely different question).

In the Washington DC area, there is an organization called Community Business Partnership based in Springfield, Virginia. CBP recently entered into an agreement with the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (http://www.microenterpriseworks.org/) to promote the DHL Advancing Micro-Entrepreneurs Program and the DHL Cares Project. They have been asked to select ten clients who meet the criteria for AEO/DHL program participation. Those ten clients who agree to participate in this program will receive $1000 for business development as well as free and reduced cost shipping during the program's duration. In exchange, these clients will be required to assist CBP in tracking the impact of this program on their business.

If you are looking for resources to help you in your business, look no further than organizations in your area. They may have the cash, expert advice, and the right connections to help you in your business.

Buying Your First Franchise

A lot of aspiring entrepreneurs have saved enough money and are still in search of some guidance when it comes to entering the small business arena. Always be on the lookout for buying a franchise opportunity that is not seasonal but can still rake in the cash for you.

1. Budget Everything. First and foremost, you need to have a budget. Having a set budget will enable you to think of how much money you can actually spend on your franchise. It is best to be in touch with reality here since buying a franchise, as compared to just starting a small business from scratch, is not only risky but comparatively costly as well. So you need to be fully aware of what you are putting your money into and if it is truly worth all that trouble.

Read full article

Looking for Angel and Venture Capital Investors? Here's Your Chance!

If you think you have the next big idea -- and require help from investors -- check out North State Venture Forum.

To be held on March 2 at the Sierra Nevada Big Room in Chico, California, the forum will bring together several venture capitalists and angel investors such as Skype's founder Tim Drape. Angel and venture capital investors participating on panels include independent angel investor Jim Schraith, former CEO of Sharewave; Gilles Attia of Strategis Early Ventures; Scott Lenet of DFJ Frontier; Peter Gardner of Capital Valley Ventures; Brad Triebsch and Jose Blanco of Central Valley Fund; Jeremy Wolfe and Steve Mills of DCA Capital; Brian Frenzel of Band of Angels; Jim Kitchel of Sacramento Angels; and John Kunhard of American River Ventures.

Those seeking for investors may get a chance to present their business idea to the panel (and who knows, may luck out in finding investors). Simply send a 3-page summary of your business plan to entrepreneur@goldencapital.net by Feb. 17 (there's still time!). A screening committee of investors will select up to six companies that will be invited to make a formal PowerPoint presentation at the event.

For more information about this event, click here.

Taxes: What's New for 2005

Tax time is here again. It's not crunch time yet, but for many business owners, the process of preparing tax returns have started. I am still awaiting for several 1099s from several organizations before I get into one of my least liked activities - tax preparations.

So what are the tax changes in 2005 that small businesses need to know? Here are the major ones that affect entrepreneurs:

• Small business owners can avail of the new 401(K) Roth that allows contributions of $14,000 out of profit (plus $4,000 catch up for those over 50)
• IRAs increase from $3,000 to $4,000 (plus $500 catch up for those over 50)
• Increase of health insurance deduction for self-employed individuals from 70% in 2004 to up to 100% in 2005
• Increase of vehicle mileage from 37.5 cents per mile to 40.5 cents per mile from JanuaRY 1 to August 31, and 48.5 cents per mile from September 1 to Dcember 31

Performance Metrics: What Customers Want from an Ecommerce Website

Internet Retailer Magazine has published several Harris Interactive data that online retailers should note. One of these data is the performance metrics that customers value most, which are:

• Website security = 25%
• Ease of completing a transaction = 20%
• Confirmation upon completion of transaction = 11%
• Ease of navigation = 11%
• 24 hour customer service = 8%
• Ability to compare different products/services = 8%
• Easy customer service access = 4%
• Web page download speed = 3%
• Others = 10%

The items above have always been the concern of online shoppers, but the percentages make it more illuminating.