The Value of Media Mentions

In today's highly competitive environment, you need to employ as many marketing arsenals as possible to increase awareness to your business and get the word out about your products and services. One of the best ways is to get mentions from the media.

Getting mentioned in a newspaper, TV or radio can benefit your business in a number of ways:

• Branding - the fact that a respected publication mentioned your business gives it credibility


• Prestige - getting mentioned by the media particularly the top guns like Wall Street Journal or CNN is certainly prestigious


• Marketing tool - some even go to the extent of ordering reprints of the media mention to showcase to existing and prospective customers that a major media outfit mentioned them; while others include the link to the media web site in their PR pages on their website

So how do you get mentioned in the media? Some of the strategies to get your business in the radar of these media organizations include:

• Hiring a PR firm to help pitch your expertise to media outlets


• Sending press releases


• Contacting editors and letting them know how your ideas can help the articles and stories they are working on


• Creating great content in your website

PowerHomeBiz.com mainly relies on the quality of its content to get the attention of media. Most recently, some of the mentions we received include

• Forbes.com "Differentiate or Die" article


• Long Island Business News


• Essence Magazine "Make Your Day Pay Off" article

One main caveat though: media mentions hardly give you live links. So if you think that being mentioned in Forbes.com can result in huge traffic, unfortunately, they did not give a live link back to PowerHomeBiz.com. So traffic wise, you can't expect a huge upsurge in traffic as these organizations are very stingy in giving hyperlinks. Though if they give you a link, such as a Wall Street Journal article that previously featured PowerHomeBiz.com, the traffic can be amazing.

So if you are looking at traffic building, you're better off working with bloggers than the media as bloggers tend to give live links -- hence traffic -- to sites that they mention in their blogs. But if you want prestige, bragging rights and credibility, strive to get mentioned in a major or local media organization. Better yet, do both!

Challenges Small Businesses Face When Starting an Online Business

I was contacted today by a journalist who is doing a feature article on the founders of an online dating website for wine lovers. He wants to know the challenges faced by small business owners when starting an online business.

I have worked with many online entrepreneurs, including those who advertise on our website. In my opinion, the most difficult aspects of starting an online business for small entrepreneurs are:

No clear idea of how to start a business on the Web. To have a business online, you need to have a web presence -- which is a website. However, many small and home-based entrepreneurs do not know how to create, much less manage, a website. As a result, they become severely constrained in terms of how to present their businesses on the Web. They go to free web hosting sites, which may be good for their budget, but not for presenting a professional image on the Web. Others create websites that do a poor job of showcasing the products or services they offer. We even had an advertiser who is an internet marketing consultant (!) with an poorly designed website -- his above the fold contains nothing except a header graphic with no logo, a picture of a man with absolutely no content, and to read what the website is about you have to scroll down to see any text.

No clear idea of what business to start. Everyone wants to earn money: and the more earnings, the better. However, many do not know how to actually earn money on the Web. They hear of a business opportunity, and buy into it only to find that they can't make the kind of dough they were promised initially. Or they may have heard about earning through advertising, but they do not know how to write compelling content. Worse, many thinks the Web can give them "quick money" only to find that succeeding online takes a lot of work and effort.

Underestimating the difficulties of getting traffic - Many small entrepreneurs think that all they need to do is to put up a website (or a blog) and visitors will come to them automatically; only to learn that getting traffic is not as easy as first thought. Their site has to compete with more established and authority sites in their field, which typically dominates the organic search engine results. As a result, they feel compelled to spend hundreds, if not thousands per month, doing pay per click marketing in the search engines.

Failure to understand how to convert visitors to buyers. Many small online entrepreneurs think that all they need is to open up a storefront on the Web and they can rake in huge sales immediately -- only to generate only a couple of sales in 6 months. They complain that the $10,000 loan they took out for their website and inventory has already been depleted, and yet they haven't been able to break even at the very least. Turning visitors to buyers is different from just getting traffic. To do so, it is important to look at every element on the website and see if it conveys trust and entices buyers to purchase.

Taking a Little Mommy Break

I will be taking a couple of weeks maternity break as I take care of my newborn.

Best of luck to all your entrepreneurial ventures!

3 Basic Questions You Need to Ask When Starting a Business

I had a very interesting discussion today with a "retired" entrepreneur who had started several successful ventures in his hometown. We were discussing the topic of starting a business; in particular, how can a person know that this is the right business to start and succeed with it.

According to him, he only ask himself three questions:

1. Is this a business that I can do? He basically looks at whether he has the resources, skills, knowhow and right support to start the business. If he feels that the business is way over his head (and budget), he takes a step backwards and looks again why he is attracted to the business in the first place and what he can do to make it easier for him to start the business.

2. Do I understand how to grow and run this business? He never starts a business that he has not researched. Before embarking on the business, he reads whatever he can about the business from books, magazines or other sources of information he can get his hands on (even talking to current business owners).

3. If the business fails, how will it affect me and my family? As a family man with 3 kids, he always looks at the risks involved and the odds of his success. While he doesn't believe in playing it safe, he also does not want to go blindly into something and lose everything his family has.

Pay Per Call: Leveraging the Search Engines to Reach the Local Market

If you think pay per click advertising is too expensive and not giving you the results you need, you may want to try pay per call instead. Pay per call is a type of online advertising that appeals to many small businesses -- especially those without websites -- because it combines the power of search marketing and the one-on-one interaction of a phone conversation.

Pay per call is geared towards Internet users who go online to search for vendors and suppliers, but would rather talk to someone rather than email to discuss concerns such as pricing, product availability, and get a feel for the vendor. Think of a mom looking for a daycare for her child who go online to check for daycares in the area -- and found your ad -- and then dials your number to talk to you. Allowing you to interact with a potential customer via a phone call makes it easy for you to discuss your business and get that sale.

How does pay per call works?

As the advertiser, you will select your keywords, choose the appropriate categories and select whether you want your ad shown nationally, regionally or locally. Like the traditional PPC campaign, your landing page must capture the user and entice them to make a call to you! When you write your ad, it has to include your business name, short blurb describing your business and a trackable toll free number. This toll free number will then be redirected to your own phone number.

Unlike PPC, you will be charged only when someone calls you, and not when that person clicks on the ad. So it is more of a pay per action type of advertising where the action in this case is for the person to call you.

The downside, however, is that pay per call bid prices are typically higher than pay per click. Instead of paying cents per click, pay per call can cost anywhere from $2 to $30 (or more) depending on the position of the ad and the chosen category.

If you are interested in looking at the pay per call online advertising option, here are some companies that offer this type of advertising:

• Ingenio http://paypercall.ingenio.com/default.aspx
• Superpages.com
• eStara http://www.estara.com/
• Voicestar http://www.voicestar.com/
• Google (limited testing) http://www.google.com/help/faq_clicktocall.html
• FlyingSpider.com http://flyingspider.com/
• Thinking Voice http://www.thinkingvoice.com/
• Upaypercall http://upaypercall.com/
• ZiffLeads http://ziffleads.com/

How to Get Your Product in the TV Shopping Channels

TV shopping channels such as QVC has become a highly effective way for small business owners to sell products. Even if you are an unknown seller offering an unknown product, getting a slot in QVC can assure you of huge sales numbers. Imagine this: in less than 5 minutes, you can sell more than a thousand units of your product (or even more!). Where else can you find that retailing wunderkind?

If your product can get into QVC, it is like hitting the jackpot -- or at least the start of something big for your business. As such, competition can be very tough as every inventor or new marketer wants to be shown in the network. So how can you get your product featured on QVC?

1. Start by going to their website http://www.qvcproductsearch.com/ and study the section on how to become a QVC vendor. Check out the conferences they offer, which can really help you prepare your product for the primetime. If you feel you are ready, submit your application online or attend a QVC product search

2. Watch the QVC shows and familiarize yourself with the types of products being offered, how they are presented, how these products are packaged, the price points, etc. Develop an understanding of what sells on QVC

3. Understand the process of QVC. It takes months sometimes to hear a reply from QVC regarding your application. Once you get invited for an interview, expect that it will be like auditioning your product where you have to "sell" the idea why your product will work well in QVC to the producers. I've heard of some sellers who thought the invitation was just a formality and that they were already "in" only to find a couple of thousand other inventors and marketers lined up waiting for their turn to present the products.

I will be writing a more detailed article on this topic so watch out for it!

The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship

The Intuit Future of Small Business Report authored by the Institute for the Future has come up with an interesting study on the changing faces of entrepreneurship. According to the study, gone are the stereotypes of long ago when people associate entrepreneurship with middle of the age folks.

The study sees three trends affecting small business formation in the coming future:

1. Entrepreneurs will become more diverse in terms of age, origin and gender:

- those nearing retirement (and looking for a way to sustain income, pursue their interests, or just keep busy and involved) as well as those who are entering the workforce will become the most entrepreneurial ever.
- women limited by their corporate career path will choose to go to entrepreneurship
- immigrant entrepreneurs will drive a new wave of globalization

2. One person businesses with no employees (or personal business) will rise with the growth of the number of freelancers, contract business, social entrepreneurs and accidental entrpreneurs

3. Rapid growth of university-level entrepreneurial training

You can read the full study at Intuit

Getting Certified as a Woman Owned Business

If you are a woman business owner, you might want to consider getting certified as a woman owned business. The certification, which confirms that your business is 51% owned by a woman, will give your business a boost when you engage in government contracting process, including bidding on state government contracts, and even some local corporate contracts.

You don't have to pay to get information on how to become certified as a woman owned business. Contact the following organizations regarding the procedures and benefits of being certified as a woman-owned business (however, some agencies such as WBENC which is one organization that provides national certification charges $300 for application).

Women's Business Enterprise National Council
1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 872-5515 Fax: (202) 872-5505
http://www.wbenc.org

National Association of Women Business Owners Corp.
1411 K Street, NW, Suite 1300 Washington, DC 20005-3407
Phone: (202) 347-8686 Fax: (202) 347-4130
http://www.nawbo.org

There are also women's business ownership representatives in Small Business Administration (SBA) district offices. To locate the nearest WBOR, call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800-827-5722. Or check this PDF file for a state by state listing of WBOIR

Another good organization to contact is SBA's Online Women’s Business Center at http://www.onlinewbc.gov

Note though that getting certified as a woman-owned business can take anywhere from 4-6 months and will require tons of paperwork (even interviews and site visits!) to ascertain that your business indeed is a woman-owned business. The application is cumbersome, and some of the items you need to present include: financial statements prepared by an accountant, copies of all equipment rental and purchase agreements, copies of all real estate leases, copy of bank signature authorization card, and payroll for the prior month (including compensation for owners and officers).