PowerHomeBiz Small & Home Business Blog

How to Get Your Home Business Off to a Good Start

2009-06-29T20:45:00.003-05:00

Here are some tips to help make sure that your business is off to a good start

1. Make sure that your family is 100% solidly behind your decision to start a home-based business.

It is important to have your family's support when you start a home business. It may be that you will need to tighten your purse strings as you jumpstart the business, especially if you are leaving a job to launch the business and the family loses one steady income source. The family must believe in your vision for them to allow you to use the family's savings and assets for this business. Or it may be that you will need your spouse to continue employment to ensure that the family still has health insurance and benefits.

I also interviewed an entrepreneur who had to get her famly's approval because her business required huge quantities of supplies and inventories. Her business took over one of her children's bedroom and garage, in addition to another room for her home office. She said it came to the point where her business supplies even spilled over to the family room, and it was a case of boxes here, there and everywhere. Luckily, the business took off and after a year she was able to move the business to a Main Street store, clearing her house with all the supplies and inventories.

2. Make sure that this home business is what you really want to do.

Starting a home business is NOT easy. For your home business to succeed, you need to invest significant amounts oftime, effort and resources. So you better make sure that this is what you really want: that this business is something you'd like to be doing for the next five years, and that you really want to work from home.

Don't get carried away with the initial rush of excitement of this new home business. Instead, try to think of how you will feel about doing this business in the long term. Is this a business that you think you will still love to do a year or two from now -- even if your initial expectations are not met?

Also make sure that you can actually work from home. I talked to an entrepreneur who started a business with his best friend. They worked in their respective homes during their startup phase, and kept in touch during the day to compare notes or plan their next activities. Unfortunately for him, he learned that he did not like working from home solo the whole day. He craved for human interaction, and being cooped the whole day in his basement while working on the business drove him nuts. After six months, and seeing the business start to show growth potential, he convinced his partner to rent an office downtown instead.

3. Know what you are REALLY getting into.

This seems very basic, right? In reality, however, there are many entrepreneurs who decide to start a business, but have absolutely no clue what they are getting into.

Take for example the many Adsense publishers. With the popularity of Google's advertising program, many folks decided to launch online businesses by starting Web sites or blogs. They then applied to Google Adsense (or other ad programs) thinking that they will start seeing thousands of dollars per month, only to find that their sites could only earn pennies per month. So what went wrong? They went in and started their online businesses without really understanding what works best for Google Adsense. They made false assumptions with the program, and failed to take into account the responsiveness of their audience to ads, their topic, their topic, and placement of ads.

Read books about the specific business. Visit forums to find what others are saying or experiencing with the business you want to start. The Web has also made it very easy to research competitors and how the strategies they are using. Be a sponge willing to absorb anything and everything about your business. Remember, research is your best friend!

Insurance for Small and Home-Based Businesses

2009-06-17T09:38:00.003-05:00

Starting a business is very risky. In addition to the possibility of failure, there are a lot of things that can go wrong and small business owners need to protect themselves and reduce these risks. Examples include:

Loss of property (building, office furnishings, computers, inventory, etc.) due to fire or theft
Lawsuits arising from defective products, an error in service
Damage to your business vehicle resulting from theft, accidents, flooding and other events
Employees injured in the workplace
Customers injured in the business premises

The State of Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance has put together a comprehensive guide on the types of insurance that small businesses and even home-based businesses need. While the guide focuses on Wisconsin laws, it’s still a great read if you want to know some of the insurance products your business might need.

Another great resource is the Insurance Information Institute’s Insuring Your Business: Small Business Owners' Guide to Insurance . It is another comprehensive guide that walks you through each of the insurance products your business may need – risk management, property insurance, business vehicles, workers compensation and life insurance for key employees. The best part of the Guide (other than it’s free to access on the Web) is that it discusses the insurance needs of specific types of business, from artisans to retail stores to manufacturers to ecommerce.

With regards to home-based businesses, the III Guide states that one of the common mistakes of home business owners is thinking that their homeowner’s policies could actually cover the insurance needs of their business. But a typical homeowner’s policy may not provide enough coverage as “the usual limit is $2,500 for your business equipment while at home and $250 when it’s off the premises.” That is certainly not enough if you’ve got a lot of equipment and inventory inside your home.

After reading these two guides, consult and insurance representative to find specific products that your business may need.

Tips on How to Select the Right Collection Agency

2009-06-16T10:27:00.001-05:00

Collecting receivables is an important step in ensuring a healthy cash flow for a business, and more so for a home-based business or solo entrepreneur. However, account receivables collection is a time-intensive process that most small businesses just don’t have the time, know-how and energy to pursue. Hence, many turn to third party collection agencies to collect the debts and amounts owed to them.

But how do you choose the right collection agency to work for you?

American Profit Recovery suggests making sure that the qualities are factors when deciding to retain a third-party collection agency:

Member of ACA International; The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. Make sure the collection agency you are talking to is a member and that they subscribe to and follow their Code of Ethics. http://www.acainternational.org/.
Personal Referrals: As with anyone looking for someone to do business with, always ask around. Talk with other business owners or members of your local Chamber of commerce to find an agency that others you know may have used.
Educated Workforce: When interviewing the representative from a collection agency, ask them their philosophy of who they hire. Do they hire college educated people or do they just bring in anyone to fill a position?
Different Approaches: Does the agency you are talking to have several methods of collecting on past due debt? The agency should offer a low cost flat-fee structure along with other proven methods.
Record of Community Service: make sure the collection agency you are hiring has a record of community service. The agency should have a track record of giving back to the community in some way.
Background Check: It is imperative that the agency you are dealing with and may be calling on your customers pursues background check as part of their normal hiring practices. Anything less is not acceptable.

AllBusiness.com also recommends that:

Choose members of the American Collectors Association or the Commercial Law League of America., as both associations require that their members adhere to a code of ethics and are familiar with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Both associations also provide ongoing education for their members.
Ask for proof of insurance. Most licensed collection agencies are required to carry bonds for their particular state and Errors and Omissions insurance, which protects both the agency and client for any errors made by the collection agency.
Ask about the recovery rate of an agency. Ask for references to verify the percentage.
Check to see how long it took the agency to collect and if they collected the whole debt or just a portion of what was owed

There’s also an article over at EzineArticles.com that discusses what to look for when hiring a collection agency and here are some of the recommended factors:

The best thing to do is to network within your community or within your profession to see who other creditors are using that they like.
Ask, "Out of every $1,000 that you collect exactly what will I receive?" Asking the question that way eliminates the possibility of additional fees that you did not know was going to be included.
Ask the agency for a list of references. Then call some of them to see if the agency is doing a good job for its existing clients.
Ask for a 10-day demand letter service. With that service, the first thing the agency will do before it takes over your accounts is send your debtors a letter. The letter will say that your debtor has ten days to pay you before the collection agency gets involved. If your debtor pays you within the ten day time period the collection agency will not get involved and the agency will either charge you nothing or charge you a nominal amount to send out the letter.
Ask the agency about what kind of regular reporting you can expect to receive from the agency. This way, you can get feedback from them on how the agency is progressing in collecting the debt.
Ask the agency when you can expect to get paid. Will it be on a certain date every month, or is it inconsistent?
Finally, with a new collection agency you have never worked with before, it's a good idea to give the agency a limited amount of time to work your accounts. Just say, "Let's try this on a trail basis and see how it goes." Two to three months is plenty of time to know if the agency is going to be able to do a good job for you.

How to Earn Money from Home

2009-06-09T20:04:00.003-05:00

There are many opportunities for earning money from home – from buying into a turnkey business opportunity system, finding work at home employment, starting a home-based business, or even buying a home-based franchise. The key is to know what interests you, what you’d like to do, and what your resources can allow you to do.

Here are some opportunities for earning money from home:

Start a home-based franchise. There are a number of franchises that you can operate from your home, from business consulting to home-based pet services to home services. Home-based franchises typically have lower cost to entry compared to traditional franchises given the lower franchise fees. The fact that these franchises can be operated from home allows you to save on the overhead costs of running a storefront.

Turn your hobby into a revenue source . It's great to delve into an interesting hobby such as artwork, photography, or crafting paper jewelry. It's even more exciting (and financially rewarding) to turn your special talents and passion for your hobby into a successful home-based business . If you are an amateur photographer or simply someone who loves to dabble in photography, you may be able to earn money from your stock photography images. If you have created a blog or web site to talk about your hobby,consider turning the web site into an income generating vehicle by putting ads or affiliate programs . If you love to shoot videos, consider turning this hobby of video production into an income-generating opportunity

Turn your skills into an income-generating opportunity. The skills that you employ (or used to employ) in your day job can be used to help you earn money on the side. Whether you are doing web design , writing, desktop publishing , or computer repair , you can use these skills and work on the side, possibly on a part-time basis. However, be sure to read the policies of your employer particularly if you have a non-compete agreement (just make sure that you are not touching their clients and that you find your own customers).

Participate in market research. Market research pays, though not very much. You can get paid from participating in marketing research panels and studies, plus get the chance to know about upcoming products or services. The amount you earn will not get you rich, but the income may allow you to at least put some loose change in your pocket. You can sign up as a mystery shopper where you can pretend to be customer in order to evaluate customer service metrics of businesses such as restaurants or clothing shops. Or you can sign up with legitimate online paid survey companies (be careful of the scams out there) and be included in their consumer panels and be paid answering market surveys. . Another way is to participate in focus group discussions , where a small group of participants selected from a broader population is gathered and interviewed .

For more ideas on how to earn money from home, visit PowerHomeBiz.com Earn Money from Home
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Internet Marketing Lessons from eBoot Camp Book

2009-06-04T21:32:00.001-05:00

eBook Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business" by Corey Perlman is an excellent primer on internet marketing and search engine optimization for beginners. The book covers all the essentials of Internet marketing, from the effective use of metatags to the right way of using the social networks to the steps needed to generate links to the site. It focuses on low-cost and easy-to-implement strategies that can increase search engine ranking and boost the traffic of a web site.

The strong point of the eBook Camp book, and what sets it apart from similar basics of Internet marketing books, is how it concretizes the must-learn lessons of the book. Every chapter has Tips for Success section that summarizes the important lessons that the reader should take away from the chapter.

Read the article Internet Marketing Lessons from eBoot Camp Book

15 Home Business Ideas that Thrive During Recession

2009-06-02T20:22:00.002-05:00

Many people are fearful of starting a business during a recession. Times are tough, and people are curbing their spending, which makes the idea of starting a business in a downturn economy even more daunting.

However, for many families and individuals affected by the recession (whether they lost their homes or their jobs), finding more ways to make a living or supplement income streams is a crucial need right now. Even for those still employed, many are thinking of putting in place a backup plan in case they are laid off from their jobs. Then there are those who have recently graduated from college or about to graduate and are finding it to be quite a challenge to find a job.

As such, starting a home business is a viable option for many. Home-based businesses are great during recession because of little to no overhead costs.

Even during these tough economic times, there are great income opportunities for those who are willing to take the risk. After all, the right time to start a business is when you have a great idea where your product or service benefits customers, recession or not. The right business idea can help you beat the odds and succeed even in a recession.

Here are some types of home-based businesses that thrive during an economic downturns and present opportunities for home-based entrepreneurs:

Read full article

Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain Name

2009-06-01T10:00:00.004-05:00

Choosing the domain name is the first important decision you will make in creating the website.

There are actually two schools of thoughts in selecting the domain name for a website: the branding approach, and the keyword approach.

The branding approach is choosing a short, catchy and easy to remember domain names such as Twitter, Flickr, Google and eBay.
The keyword approach is choosing a domain name that utilizes keywords for search engine purposes.

Benefits of Keyword-Driven Domain Names

The main SEO benefit of keyword-reflective domain name is in the inbound link, or how other sites will link to you. Keyword-rich domain names allow your keywords to be placed in the anchor text when people reference your site.

For example, WomenHomeBusiness.com – when other people link to the site, they use the text "womenhomebusiness" within their links (e.g. WomenHomeBusiness.com). This is called the “anchor text,” and anchor text of the inbound link is one of the most concise assessments another person can make about what your site/page is 'about'. Search engines then see WomenHomeBusiness.com as a site highly relevant to the term “Women Home Business” thus helping the site become #1 for that term.

Another benefit of having keywords in the domain name is to help boost the site’s CTR (click thru rate) in the search engine results. The URL with the keyword gets bolded in the search results, and this helps grab the attention of more searchers. Search engine users are becoming better at ignoring spam in search engine results, and are looking for important clues in your listing in the search engine results. Keywords in meta descriptions, titles and URLs get clicks.

Google does give keywords in the URL a certain amount of weight, but you don’t need it in order to rank (as evidenced by those who use the branded approach). MSN/Live Search and Yahoo place more emphasis on keywords in the domain name than Google. So if you are looking to target MSN/Live Search and Yahoo, having keywords in the domain name is the right first step.

Guidelines to Consider in Setting up a Keyword-Rich Domain Name

If we’re going with the keyword approach, here are some guidelines to consider:

Think of the main keyword you’d like to site to be found – and use that term. What is the site all about? A good domain name relates to your business name or core business.
Choose generic domains that users are likely to remember and use, as these domains will carry more weight than others.
Keep the domain name short and easy to remember. In many cases, type-in traffic is more valuable as opposed to a 20-letter keyword rich domain name.
Say your prospective domain name out loud to listen to its sounds. See if your tongue gets twisted around any syllables. Whatever your domain name, it should stick in the mind.
Think of how easy it is to say your domain name to people over the phone. If you have to constantly spell it for the other party to understand your name, then you’ve got a confusing domain name.
Use excellent, descriptive, and truthful naming strategy when selecting the name of your web site, because the name reflects your value and the brand.

However, it is important to remember that the real key to front-page Google rankings lies not in keyword-rich domains, but in the quality and relevance of the website content. You can rank highly for any term you set your mind to, regardless of your domain. Short, catchy titles may help, but ultimately, you need to use your business sense to define your brand.

For more information, read the article "What's in a Domain Name: How Your Domain Name Can Ensure Your Online Success" and "So What Makes a Good Domain Name?"

Tips to Successfully Run a Home Business

2009-05-18T21:17:00.006-05:00

Feeling a bit melancholic that all my favorite shows have ended their seasons (9 months till "Lost"!), I started to think about what I will do differently if I were to start my home business today.

My husband and I started PowerHomeBiz.com in 1999, and a decade on the Web has taught me a lot in terms of what to do (and what not to do) when running a home-based business. Here are some in my list:

Decide what you do best, and focus on it. For other things you can do marginally, consider hiring others to free up your time to do what you do best.

If you are concerned about the cost of outsourcing or hiring outside help, calculate how much time it will take you to do the task yourself (and the opportunity cost of foregoing things you should be doing), and see which option makes the most sense.

Little kids and a home-based business are very hard to mix. Either you decide to work only when the entire household is sleeping (that means no sleep for you!); or you hire a babysitter or nanny during the day to watch the kids while you work.

Sit down and make every effort to understand your business financials. Not only is the knowledge important come tax time, you can achieve your business goals faster if you know where you stand financially.

Understand your cost structure. You can only price your products well if you know what it costs to produce them.

You need to be very good in managing your time when running a home-based business. Otherwise, you'll often end up wondering where did time go when the day is over and you've accomplished nothing.

Don't be ashamed to say that you run a home-based business. Other people might sneer at you for being "too small time", but they don't know that you earn 5x more than they do!

Create a dedicated space for working in your home, and it must be a place that is convenient to you and suitable for your work habits.

Even if you consider yourself the smartest cookie in the block, there is much to learn from other people. Participate in forums and even social network sites. Talk to other business owners and network.

Be out there and trumpet your business. Even home-based businesses can build its brand.

Do not ignore the social media. Participate in Twitter. Create a Facebook profile for your business. Submit content to StumbleUpon and Digg. But be sure to separate your business from your personal accounts.

Learn how to chill out and take a break from work. Discipline yourself to stop checking emails while eating dinner with your family. And do not put your laptop in your night stand so you can check emails at 2 a.m.

Relax and have fun. You are working from home so you can be free from the rigorous demands and timetable of a corporate environment. Take a break from work and enjoy life at home. Hurry up with work so you can live your life -- talking a walk with your dog, having ice cream with your kid, or watching your boy play tball.

My Twitter Experiment: How to Use Twitter to Market a Business

2009-05-12T21:04:00.004-05:00

Though I created my Twitter account back in January, I never used Twitter except to send one tweet a month (which is basically nothing in the Twitter world).

Recently, I started to look seriously at Twitter and how to use it to market PowerHomeBiz.com. Maybe it's all the hoopla surrounding Ashton Kutcher's millionth follower, or a friend using Twitter to promote his organization. But in the last couple of weeks, I've been actively tweeting -- and now I'm hooked.

Sending about 3 tweets a day, I have thus far gotten about 375+ followers. I am happy with my numbers, though there are folks who were able to get thousands of followers in just one week. My target at the end of May is to have 500 followers.

Here are some things I've learned thus far in terms of using Twitter to market the business:

Twitter users are information junkies -- and that means feeding them with quality information.
Drop your links, but only sparingly. Twitters are easily turned off by what they perceive as spammers. Unless you talking about an excellent article from your site, resist the urge to tweet about your website again and again. That's the fastest way to lose followers.
If people "unfollow" you, don't take it personally. Some will even come back to follow you again.
Follow other users. Search for their names or by keywords ("home business" or "branding") then follow the users that interest you. If you follow them, there is a high likelihood that will follow you back -- and increase your follower numbers.
Twitter is a great mechanism to check what others are saying about your business. Create saved searches of your business name or products and track what others are tweeting about your site. Then thank them for tweeting about your business (or "retweet" in Twitter parlance)
Use hash tags # of your post's topic. This will enable your posts to become visible when users search for those topics, thus increasing your visibility.
Use tools such as Tweetdeck to organize your preferred columns
Track the number of users who click on your link. The URL shortening service Bit.ly http://www.bitly.com/ allows you to track the number of clicks your shortened link gets, and even show the geolocation of those who clicked.

I am still learning how to use Twitter. But I am very happy with the results thus far. It is so much easier to get traffic from Twitter (compared to Digg for example). Referrals from Twitter have increased by more than 100%, and the audiences actually are more engaged. Plus, I get to see what types of info they like by tracking retweets and mentions of our websites.

I will write more tips on how to use Twitter based on my experiences with this fast growing social media site.

7 Smart Things Successful Businesses are Doing to Ride Out the Recession

2009-05-07T22:38:00.002-05:00

Jay Abraham, author of the upcoming book The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business From Stagnation to Stunning Growth In Tough Economic Times has written an excellent piece on how businesses can grow in this tough economic climate.

He offers 7 "smart things that successful businesses are doing in order not just to ride out the recession but to grow and thrive as never before:"

Break down your numbers
Have a systematic, strategic process in place
Produce not just incremental gains but exponential gains by recognizing how your business really makes money.
Have clarity about all of the factors that affect your business
Understand your competitors' appeal, advantage, and differentiation in the market
Know the alternative products and services that your prospects can buy in lieu of your products and services
Incorporate growth thinking into everything you do

Read the complete article What Does it Mean to Get Your Business Unstuck?

Can Your Business Make a Lot of Money?

2009-04-29T14:25:00.000-05:00

When starting a business, our first thought is often: Can I make money with this business?

I previously wrote about how to evaluate a business idea in the article Evaluating Your Business Idea and Product . The article lists some helpful questions you need to ask yourself when thinking of what products or services to offer.

But how can you quickly tell if there’s a demand for your business idea? The first step is simple: OBSERVE.

Take time out and go to the mall, or a park where a lot of people congregate. And observe the whats and the hows of their activities.

In one mall visit for example, two things stood out for me. One, almost everyone has a cellphone (or smartphone) and many can be seen talking on the phone, texting or checking their emails. Two, there’s a lot of baby boomers and older people walking about, shopping or just hanging out in the mall. This observation tells me that there’s a huge mobile market, and that catering to baby boomers can assure business owners of a sizeable customer base.

Let’s use as an example a question asked by someone from Yahoo Answers. He asked if he can make a lot of money tinting windows, both of houses and cars.

I advised him to go out and observe. Walk around the neighborhood, or drive to nearby areas, and count how many windows of homes have been tinted. Or sit down in a bench by the busy street and count the number of cars that drive past with tinted windows.

In my walks around my neighborhood, for example, rare are the houses with tinted windows and those I’ve seen are for their sunrooms. This tells me either two things: there’s a big market for a window tinting business; or that there is no demand for such a service.

The second step is to ASK.

He needs to talk to the neighbors and ask them why their windows are not tinted. Have they ever considered tinting their windows? Do they know the benefits of tinting the windows? If the answer is because they think that tinting windows is not important or necessary, then he’ll have a hard time getting customers for his new business.

While it is good to hire a market research company and scientifically poll thousands of respondents, home business owners can do well by simply keeping their eyes and ears on their target market.

The Importance of Accessibility of Location to a Small Business

2009-04-27T19:21:00.003-05:00

The owner of a company I recently featured in Learning from Big Boys in the blog post Lessons on Retailing: Demory's Christmas Memories contacted me through Facebook that after celebrating 10 years in business, he had to announce that the business is for sale.

Their Christmas business operated one store in Maryland. They have a web presence, but more of a very simple (even amateurish-looking) Web site that merely advertises the store. They do not use the Web as an additional sales channel.

After 10 years of doing good business in their Hagertown, Maryland location, fate gave them a low blow last year.

A one-lane bridge near the store was closed in August 2008 for repairs, detouring traffic. The bridge closure dramatically reduced the number of cars passing their road. With fewer cars, their sales plummeted. Even Quiznos in the same area complained in a news article that their sales were down 50% because of the bridge closure.

The business has fought the county on getting a temporary bridge put in to at least ensure the continuous flow of traffic. The state actually approved it but the County Commisioners voted it down.

And what could be worse than a Christmas store not being accessible in the months leading to the Christmas season?

The bridge reopened on Dec. 21, 2008 but by then the damage to the business has been done. Sales dropped and cashflow became so tight. They explored the option of moving the store to another location, but they were not able to secure financing. Unable to run the store any longer, the owners then decided to sell their well establised Christmas store.

I have not seen the financials of the business, so I am not really privy to what went down. But one area that they should have pursued was to use the Web to sell their products. They should have opened an ecommerce store that allow them to sell to a wider customer base. Given this day and age of shopping online, failure to tap the Web as a selling channel can be huge kiss of death. Even with the reduced foot traffic, they could have maintained their sales through their ecommerce store.

But now the business is for sale. It's sad that a once-successful business suddenly found itself with hardly any customers because their location became inaccessible.

What could they have done to save the store?

Marketing with Yahoo Answers: 10 Ways to Promote Your Business Using YA

2009-04-26T11:51:00.005-05:00

I previously wrote about How to Use Yahoo Answers to Promote Your Business . The article was first written in 2007 when I just started to top the Business and Finance category, and 2 years later, I am still #1 in the Business and Finance category.

Why use Yahoo Answers? For PowerHomeBiz.com, Yahoo Answers has offered a number of benefits:

Free traffic - we always love free!
Lots of traffic - with more than 21 million users in the US and 90 million outside, YA can potentially bring huge traffic (and free!)
Responsiveness to ads - I'm a numbers person, and I love to slice and dice our web stats. One of my important finding is that traffic from YA has brought us a huge chunk of advertising income, and that alone is the main reason why I spend a lot of time on YA.

Marketing through Yahoo Answers is not easy. Unlike Twitter where you drop your link in 140 characters, you need to actually answer the question -- and some of the questions can be detailed and even tedious. Plus, YA doesn't allow dropping links for the sake of merely dropping links.

So how can you use YA to promote your business?

1. Be relevant = Relevance is the key. You can only drop your links either in the source box or in the actual answer IF AND ONLY IF the link is actually relevant to the question.

My strategy is to drop PowerHomeBiz.com links only if I actually got the answer from any of our pages. For example, a question on what business should I start, I paraphrase the content of our article Choosing the Best Home Business to Start and then put the article in the source code. If anyone complains about spamming, I can easily argue that the source is where I actually got the answer.

2. Lose the signature file. See #1 tip. Sig file is the easiest way to be pinned for spamming, especially if your link has absolutely nothing to do with the question at hand, and you post the same link again and again in your answers. It's the quickest way for your account to be suspended (and yes, YA also kicks out people, though you can easily create a new account).

3. Put your website/s information in your Profile page. YA allows users to promote their businesses in their profile. Use this to your advantage.

4. Be visible. The more visible you are, the more chances people are (a) going to check out your profile page; and (b) going to click on your website links in your answers or in your source boxes.

5. Provide the best answer -- ALWAYS. Think of YA as your opportunity to present to potential target market that you are the best with what you do, or at least knowledgeable of your sector. They are more likely to check you out if they like what they read from your answers.

One more benefit of giving the best answers is increased visibility as you will start climbing up the category or subcategory, if not the country-specific or global leaderboards. Those leaderboards are great marketing tools as they represent the best in that category (however "best" is defined -- best cheater, best answerer, best strategist). BAs mean 10 points, so getting more BAs can help you go up the leaderboards much faster compared to the 2 points of just giving out answers.

6. Come to YA with a strategy. One common tactic, especially of those with incredibly high best answer percentage is to answer only questions with 0 response and then voting for their own answer, thereby guaranteeing that they get the Best Answers (not that I do this).

Voting for your answer is not a violation (though YA at one point banned people from voting for their own answer but was quickly overturned). And answering questions with 0 answers is not a violation, either. These strategies are commonly frowned upon, but they are not considered to be against the rules.

So what is my strategy? I have a 150-page document of all my answers in YA. So if someone asks about angel investors, I have a ready answer that I can paste. If someone asks about what is Adsense, I also have a ready answer for that. I even have 10 variations on "getting a grant" type of question -- for Qs on grants for school, grants for non profits, grants for starting a business, even getting grants for felons. I can provide my answers fast, just slightly modifying the response based on the actual question. On lazy days, I simply search for questions -- e.g. business plan -- and then pasting my pre-prepared response. Some users don't like it, but hey, my response answers the questions and that's all that matters!

7. Vote for your own answers. As I previously said, YA allows you to vote for your own answer. If you think you answered the best, why will you allow someone who answered "Google it!" or "I don't know" win out over your well-thought out answer? It doesn't make sense. Give your answers a fighting chance by taking time to review all Qs in voting and vote for your own answer. Given that askers rarely come back and choose the BA, you stand a high chance of getting BAs for your answers.

8. Protect your account. Yes, there's a lot of trolls in YA and competitors who want to sabotage your account. If you don't protect yourself, you'll find yourself getting lots of Violation Notices. I even got a VN for spamming because I directed the user to the SBA.gov website!

I used to have my account open to the public so anyone and everyone can read and learn from my answers. After someone went over my responses and voting for No Best Answer (if NBA wins, the Q will be deleted) even if I and the other respondents gave on-target answers. So now, I protect my account by:

Keeping my account private.
I don't accept fans -- unless I know and trust them. I used to have 500+ fans, but I removed all of them.

9. Increase your reporting trust level. Part of #8, but deserves a thorough discussion. YA's community moderation system allows users to file an abuse report for any violations they see or perceive on the site -- from spamming, solicitation, malicious codes, violence or threats, fraud, and others.

The more you report abuses correctly, the higher your reporting trust level and the faster you can delete content in YA. In less than 2 minutes sometimes, you'll have the instant gratification of seeing your reported content to be removed from YA (to prevent abuse, they allow only 5 instant deletions from that same user, then your reports go to Yahoo customer care or YA staffers). Go after the very obvious spammers -- those who post their blogspot link with no other answer, the credit/loan solicitation -- as the abuse reports are likely to stick and they are not likely to defend their answers.

Another benefit of reporting correctly -- and increasing your trust level -- is that it becomes harder for anyone to report your content and delete it immediately from YA. You need this protection so that others, with lower trust ranking than you, cannot remove your answers by themselves.

10. Read, and re-read the Community Guidelines. Follow the rules, and you will have more opportunities to market your business to YA users. Read the Suggestion Forum as well for some tips from oldtimers on how to navigate YA.

Learn from Experts: Useful Webinars for the Week

2009-04-21T20:56:00.003-05:00

I am a big fan of webinars, and attend as many as I can. It allows you to learn at the comfort of your own work place. If you are using online marketing techniques and monetizing your site through advertising, here are some must-attend webinars for the week:

Increase Customer Loyalty with Online Solutions = learn how online solutions can help you retain and grow customer relationships and improve your customer interactions.

Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Time: 10:00 AM PDT 11:00 AM MDT
Fee: None (free)
Register at http://www.webex.com/web-seminars/view_event/665152015?PHPSESSID=bbd1a76bf5d93afa1a50c24c915b864e

21 Ways to Get Your Envelope Opened = direct marketing webinar featuring copywriting legend Alan Rosenspan and sponsored by IBSDirect

Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time: 2 pm ET
Fee: $79
Register at http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=136163&s=1&k=6613AF37860FC531F66C5504F2C4087A&partnerref=001

Adsense Orientation Webinar = will walk you through the basics of your Adsense account, show you how to start displaying ads, and also answer your questions via chat

Date: Friday, April 24, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm PDT
Fee: None, but limited to 500 participants
Register at https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=573101592

Marketing Your Business in a Down Economy

2009-04-19T20:53:00.003-05:00

Experts say that cutting marketing in tough times is a bad idea. When the going gets tough, businesses must work harder to market their businesses. In fact, they advice that now is the time to pull out all the stops in marketing. After all, it's survival times.

While there is no magic number as to how much a business must spend for marketing efforts, here are some strategies to help your business attract and grow customers during the recession:

Set benchmarks for your marketing and make sure you can support the new customers that your marketing efforts will attract.
Ensure quality first. While you don't have to wait for perfection, try your best to ensure that customers will love what you deliver. Otherwise, your marketing efforts will just be in vain.
Understand how your previous and current customers are finding you.
Keep wooing your current customers.
Think of additional products or services that you can offer them. They already know your business, and it will be easier to convince them to buy more.
Look back and use strategies that worked for you well in the past.
Do a little investigation to see what strategies your competitors are using. You might be able to use some of those strategies as well.

Can a Blog as Main Web Presence of a Business Be Taken Seriously?

2009-04-16T21:30:00.004-05:00

A startup photographer wants to market his business on the Web. But he's got a limited budget, and would prefer to create a web presence as cheaply as possible (free even better). So he's looking at the option of creating an account with the free Blogger.com.

His main question is: Will potential clients take his business seriously if his main Web presence is just a blog?

Blogs have come a long way, and are now an accepted format on the Web. However, whether a blog is the right platform for selling his photography service is the big question mark.

I told him that the first step should be to determine the purpose of having a Web presence. He said he wanted to be on the Web to help him market his business, get leads for his business, and use the Web site as a showcase of his photography style and quality.

Blogs are good for narrative, opinion-driven and information-type web sites. However, I do believe that it cannot properly showcase a photography business.

As a photographer, an important decision factor for potential clients is the quality of work, and that is often achieved by having a clean, easy-to-access presentation of the pictures. What I imagine -- and often see in photographers' websites -- is a gallery style layout of picture thumbnails categorized by topic or style. This is something a properly designed website can easily do, allowing for quick navigation where users can click from one photo to the next easily.

Blogs may be cheap, but it is much more difficult to navigate. You can't do a gallery style with 20 pictures on the page. Instead, you'll have 1 photo per blog post, or 20 photos lined down. Blogs are good if you are narrating stories behind the photo, but not really to present a big portfolio.

Then of course, there's the issue of long domain names. I told him that if he will go with Blogger, make sure that he buys a domain name as he can use that domain to redirect his blog. Instead of thisismyblog.blogspot.com, which doesn't look as professional as he'd hope to be and hard to remember, he can publish his blog into that domain name without getting a web host through the custom domain feature.

Still feeling conflicted, I told him that his web site or blog will be the "face" of his business on the Web. He needs to think of his customers and what can make them patronize his services. He doesn't need to make it so high tech and pay $100,000 to develop his Web presence, but it needs to be easy to use and can properly showcase his work. For me, a Web site is more professional, better usability and allows for more functionality such as order forms and running of scripts for payment acceptance.

How about you: do you think he should go for just a blog or have a Web site? Let me know your thoughts.

Beware of "Google" Scams: Google Money Kit, Cash Kit, Quick Cash, etc.

2009-04-15T14:35:00.005-05:00

Beware of business opportunity companies that uses the name of Google -- e.g. Google Money Tree, Google Cash Kit, Google Quick Cash, or whatever the other names are. They are all running a scam using Google's name. And I must say that they are succeeding pretty well, convincing a lot of people with snapshots of checks supposedly earned from the "business opportunity."

The scammers are spinning the money making opportunities provided by Google's contextual advertising program, Adsense. Unlike Adsense which is free, the main difference of these scammers is that they charge shipping fees of either $1.98 - $3.88 for a CD that will supposedly provide you with a way to earn money from home. They will also ask for your bank information as you enroll in this "free trial."

Once you get suckered into the promise of easy money (they even have photos of checks received from Google typically around $5,000), you will then realize that you will be billed anywhere from $69.90 - $72.21 on a monthly basis if you do not call to cancel your "free membership." The fun part is that the CD contains nothing but information on how to sell on ebay, where to supposedly find drop shippers and suppliers etc.

Here's the FINE PRINT from the Google Kit website:

By submitting this form I authorize Google ATM (DRI*GoogleATM) to immediately charge my credit card $1.95 USD for the setup of the Google ATM Home Business Kit. I hereby request that Google ATM (DRI*GoogleATM) activate my account and authorize them to advance funds as indicated. Monthly Service fees will commence seven days from the date of this purchase, and will be billed monthly thereafter. After the seven day trial you will be billed Sixty nine dollars and ninety cents USD monthly for the continued access to the Google Money Making System. No refunds will be given for failure to use the requested and provided services.

It is very important to read the fine print. The above is at the very bottom of a very long page where the reader may be enticed with all the promises of income from the program, further bolstered by the various so-called "testimonials."

The worst part for me was their presentation of a "Google" check thereby giving potential suckers (err, buyers) the confidence that this is indeed a program by Google. But, in the fine print they admit that Google has NOTHING to do with this program -- which begs the question: what's the point of showing a "Google" check other than to deceive the people and misrepresent the program as that of Google.

Google does not endorse or sponsor this site and is in no way affiliated with
this site The trademarks of Google, MSN, CNBC, USAToday, ABC, CNN and Yahoo! are the properties of their respective companies. These organizations do not specifically endorse or sponsor this site. The Google work job kit is free to
try for a limited amount of time only.

There are a number of variations to the scam, such as the blog supposedly by a Scott who was able to wipe out his debts by using the Google Cash Kit system, or the Earn Cash from Google or the Money Making Story with Google. I'm not sure how they actually work, but here's what Google in their official Adsense blog says
We’d like to take this opportunity to state that we're not affiliated with any third-parties that solicit payment to join the AdSense program or that sell CDs with money-back guarantee offers. AdSense is a free product offered to publishers by Google Inc., and there’s no cost or obligation involved. As a result, we recommend that prospective publishers exercise caution when presented with such offers

If you want to earn money from Google, the ONLY way is to apply to Google Adsense http://www.google.com/adsense . Read the fine print always with these "money making programs." Search the Web for complaints from other people -- and actually listen to their complaints.

Remember that there are no scammers if there are no suckers. Don't be one.

Starting a Business in a Recession

2009-04-09T21:08:00.004-05:00

Many people are scared of starting a business during a recession. Times are tough, and people are not spending -- which makes the idea of starting a business in a downturn even more daunting.

But an economic downturn shouldn't stop you from pursuing your business endeavors. As they say, the right time to start business is when you have a great idea, recession or not. With the right business idea, where your product or service will benefit customers both in good and bad times, you can beat the odds and succeed even in an economic downturn.

The key is to look long and hard at your business idea to see if this is a business where a market truly exists. Afterall, with a recession comes the tightening of purse strings not just from customers but bankers and investors alike. That means starting the business lean, and well, possibly even with your own money.

Here are some types of businesses that thrive and stand a better chance of survival during economic downturns:

1. Must have products and services. Food is one business that remain strong during a recession. Afterall, people will still need to eat and drink no matter how bad the economy, though many will be cutting dining out and instead stay at home and cook!

And guess what, demand for cosmetics remain strong even when times are tough! Demand for cosmetics seem recession proof as women continue to indulge themselves by buying lipsticks and powders. Ask any woman on the street if they will forego wearing a lipstick and you might get dagger stares everywhere. There's even an economic indicator for it: the lipstick index

Other necessity businesses include automotive repair, healthcare, web sites for small businesses, education and learning products.

2. Sign of the Times-type businesses. These are businesses that are most needed during a recession, yet will still generate strong demand even when times get better. An example of this type of business is bargain hunting, helping people find deals, coupons and discounts. Whether good times or bad, people want to save and get the best deals, but more so when everything is tight.

3. Any business with minimal startup costs. Now is not the time to risk your family's life savings into a business you are not sure will work. Home-based businesses are great during recession because of little to no overhead costs. You can start a blog at no cost working from home monetized by advertising, which can allow you to earn decent income. If you're lucky and your blog or website catches on, you can earn spectacular income workin from the comforts of your home without the headache of an office or retail space lease.

4. Start a proven business. It is significantly riskier to start an unproven business from scratch as compared to starting a well known franchise. Franchises may sometimes feel that you are working for somebody else, but buying into a franchise allows you to start a business with a well established brand, fully developed operational systems, and with products or services that are proven winners.

Once you've decided what business to start, follow the tips shared by experts in the article Recession Strategies for Small and Home Businesses

How to Earn from Your Videos

2009-04-07T20:40:00.004-05:00

With the rapid growth of broadband, videos have become a vital part of the Web and watching videos on the Web have become much more commonplace. My 4-year old son, for example, is addicted to YouTube and watches videos of Bugatti and Ferrari cars.

But if you're at the other end of the spectrum and loves to produce videos about your dogs or hilarious kids, a number of options are now available to help you get cash for your creations. Here are ways you can earn from your videos:

1. Put advertising on your videos. The best example is the Youtube Partner Program http://www.youtube.com/partners = requires that you must own the copyright of your videos and that these videos generate thousands of impressions. Other similar ad-based programs are:

Revver http://revver.com/go/faq/#makingmoney1 = offers both CPM and CPC ads and splits the revenue 50/50 with the video content producer
Atom.com (formerly AtomFilms) http://www.atom.com/creators/go_pro/ = payout to Pro Videos vary but could be $8 in revenue share for every 1,000 content plays. Focuses on funny and witty videos, and now allows video creators to have their work shown in Comedy Central TV show.
BrightCove http://www.brightcove.com/products/advertising/ = inserts ads in the videos and provides syndication platform for video producers.

2. Be paid by number of views. Metacafe Producer Rewards program http://www.metacafe.com/producercentral/ is open to any creator of an original short video, and the payment system is simple and straightforward – $5 for every 1,000 views, starting at the 20,000 views mark.

3. Earn money by producing videos for others. TurnHere.com http://www.turnhere.com/ helps small local businesses produce professional looking videos for an average fee of $1,000 per video. If you don't think you can compete head-on with TurnHere.com, you can join them as a freelance video producer.

4. Sell your videos. Some of the sites that allow you to sell your videos are:

Apple's iTunes Music Store http://www.apple.com/itunes/contentproviders/ requires tha you apply and be approved as a content provider
Behemoth http://www.behemoth.com/ which targets Christian family audiences
Steamyo http://www.streamyo.com/ allows video producers to set the price of their videos

5. Get paid for responding to requests for specific types of videos. Videos submitted to CurrentTV.com http://current.com/make.htm are broadcast on the their web site, as well as on cable and satellite channels. There are two options to earn. The first is to submit a "pod" or a 7-minute video on pre-announced topics such as the hottest trends on the street to voting outside of mainland to the juiciest hooking up stories. Payment is negotiated per pod basis, and your video may be broadcast on television. The second option is to submit a video ad as dictated by the sponsor, and you get paid if the video is shown on the Current website or on another television station.

6. Sell videos on a royalty basis. iStockPhoto.com , well known for their subscription model in selling photos, has branched out to videos. After passing a rigid test, you can submit videos and earn as much as 40% of the royalties paid. CreateSpace.com http://www.createspace.com/ allows your videos to be sold on Amazon.com and you can earn royalties on every sale you make.

7. Sell your video on demand. If you are a more established video content producer and independent filmmaker, FlickRocket.com http://www.flickrocket.com/ offers a direct online VOD/rental and download-to-own/burn service. Jaman http://www.jaman.com/ and GreenCine http://www.greencine.com/ offers a venue for independent filmmakers to sell their films.

For more detailed information, check out 8 Ways to Earn Money from Online Videos

Selling to the SOHO Market

2009-04-02T21:20:00.003-05:00

As a business owner, you might have experienced being contacted by other firms trying to sell their products and services to you. In my case, I get a lot of emails and phone calls from other businesses offering anywhere from their phone systems to computers to accounting services.

One thing that strikes me though is that many of these companies, particularly the big vendors, do not seem to know how to sell to the SOHO market. They think of me as a business, so they treat it as a business-to-business deal where I am treated like a corporate buyer.

The SOHO entrepreneur, especially the one-person business, is not something that can easily be classified as a business-to-business transaction nor as a business-to-consumer transaction. Small office/Home Office entrepreneurs are more of a hybrid, exhibiting characteristics of both types.

Take for example a vendor of a high-end computer system who contacted me. The sales person just rattled off the features of the product and emailed the specs.

If I am a corporate buyer of a Fortune 500 company, I may treat the process of buying the computer as just one of the to-dos for the day to be crossed off my list. The emotional investment to the process extends only as to whether the purchase will be good enough for the users of the machine and hopefully cement my value to the company as someone who knows how to choose products well.

But I am not a corporate buyer and I do not treat buying expensive machines as simply a task to be crossed of my to-do list. Unlike the corporate buyer who simply needs to write off a purchase order to send to Accounting, I will pay for this machine from my OWN pocket. I will be spending my own money to buy it. That in itself makes a huge difference for a corporate buyer and a SOHO buyer.

There is also a deeper emotional investment attached to the decision. This computer may be something I've always wanted, but could never afford when I was just starting. Now that the business is doing well, I can now afford to buy it. So this computer for me will be an affirmation that the business is a success that I can now afford to buy this expensive machine.

If you are selling to the SOHO market, think of us as a hybrid with both B2B and B2C characteristics. We're a business, but have the minds (and emotions) of consumers.

How to Grow a Food Business

2009-03-30T21:09:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine sent me some food items from ImpromptuGourmet.com to try out, and I must say that I'm impressed. I never ordered meals over the Web before and I am surprised at the quality, speed of service, and yes, even taste.

This made me realized the vast potential of the Web for food product manufacturers.

If you have a food business (PowerHomeBiz.com has an article on Starting a Food Business), you need to seriously consider tapping the Web to sell your pies, cakes or chicken dishes online aside from your storefront for neighborhood groceries.

Start by doing research. There are now a lot of food vendors on the Web that you can use to research -- from how they present their food items to how they price the items to show they ship the items and how they package the food items.

In particular, packaging the items for shipping will be a significant challenge.

The JiveTurkey.com http://www.thejiveturkey.com/ for example, first puts their turkeys in an oven bag for reheating. They then place the turkey in an insulated foam cooler before placing it in a leak-proof corrugate box. Products are shipped overnight, and reheating instructions are included inside the packaging.

New York-based LittlePieCompany.com http://www.littlepiecompany.com/ ships their scrumptious pies all over the United States by first putting the pies in a shrink wrap to maintain freshness. The pies are then placed in a 12x12x6 foam filled corrugated box with reheating or preparation instructions placed inside. The pie rests on two 8-ounce gel packs that stay frozen for as long as 48 hours (their slowest and cheapest shipping option is 2 days).

Hmmm ,,, writing about food makes me hungry :o)

Tips on How to Launch a Business During a Recession

2009-03-27T21:04:00.003-05:00

Robert Tuchman, successful entrepreneur and author of the new book YOUNG GUNS: The Fearless Entrepreneur's Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own gives out eight steps on how to start a business that actually makes money, even in this tough economy:

1. Start with self-financing.
2. Borrow, but with caution.
3. Do business from home.
4. Don't delegate all the grunt work.
5. Know when to show a loss.
6. Invest in right software.
7. Stay on top of your numbers.
8. Hire inexperienced people with lots of passion.

Read the article How to Launch a Business During a Recession

Local Search Optimization Strategies

2009-03-22T20:24:00.003-05:00

The Web may have no borders, but an increasing number of users are looking for products and services available in their local areas. Hence, it is important that you take time to ensure that local customers can find your business when they look at local resources.

Here are some tips on how to ensure that your business is visible in local search:

Make sure that your business is included in your local phone directories listing.
Many local directories use content from any of these three content aggregators: InfoUSA, Acxiom and Amacai. Check and update your business listing on these companies.
Submit your listings to local directories of search engines such as Yahoo Local
Include your listing in map search such as Google Maps Local Business Center
Update and check your listing in the top yellow pages and vertical directories. Use Local Search Guide to see listings of yellow pages and vertical directories
Optimize your pages to rank high in your main keywords as well as in your local area. A well optimized title could include your business name, keyword and location
Reach out to local bloggers who talk about your area and businesses in your area. Let them know about your business, and if possible, give them a sample of your products and services. Hopefully, they'll like it enough to write a positive review about your business.
Find Web sites about your area (e.g. city guide and tourist information area). Check if there's a way to have your site listed, even featured in the site. Consider advertising as well.

How can Shipping Costs Affect Your Business?

2009-03-18T19:59:00.003-05:00

Someone asked me an interesting question about the impact of shipping costs to the bottomline.

The asker has developed a product that is considerably better and resolves the problems of the main competitor's product. This new entrant will also offer more with the product in terms of features and size. The competitor's product is simplier and needs limited shipping space in terms of box size.

However, having a bigger and better product presents a challenge for this new entrepreneur: the product has to be shipped in a larger package. His main question: How will having a bigger box affect his shipping costs, and more importantly, the bottom line?

My suggestion was that he should start cranking his shipping costs numbers -- get estimates on what the box will cost (especially if it is custom) and get quotes from shipping carriers as to how much the shipping will costs. The only way he can know how shipping will affect the bottomline is when he knows exactly the costs it will need to ship the product.

A high shipping cost can affect a business in several ways:

1 - increased costs in terms of shipping and handling that can eat up profits and tighten cashflow
2 - the high shipping costs translate to high shipping fees paid by customers, and some customers may opt for cheaper shipping (his competitor)
3 - leaves the entrepreneur little room to maneuver if there are shipping errors

Given this challenge, I told him that he needs to clearly establish the superiority and added value of his product. Most customers buy from a specific company because they like the product or the price. Since he knows that he is at a disadvantage with his higher shipping fees, he must be able to convince the customers that they will be getting a better product so they will not mind that they are paying higher shipping fees.

He also needs to be smart in terms of choosing a reliable fulfillment and delivery company. Shipping errors can lead to added costs, further constricting his cash flow. Worse, shipping errors -- e.g. wrong address, undelivered products -- can erode customer trust and even cause chargebacks.

What else should he do? Let me know your thoughts.

Government to Aid Small Businesses

2009-03-16T22:11:00.002-05:00

I typically do not blog about politics or government. But like a growing number of people, I am outraged by the huge bonuses AIG will give its derivative traders -- basically our tax dollars after getting significant chunks of the bailout monies. They should have just given all the AIG bailout money to small businesses!

I suppose to counter all the flak the Administration is getting for approving the AIG bailout, President Obama announced today that his government will help out small businesses mainly by easing the credit squeeze:

By buying up to $15 billion of securities that are linked to small-business loans.
By increasing loan guarantees for small business to 90 percent of the loan value to encourage banks and other lenders to extend credit,
By waiving the Small Business Administration's loan fees
By requiring banks that received federal bailout money to report each month how much small-business lending they did.
The IRS also announced that small businesses with deductions exceeding their income in 2008 could use a new net operating loss tax provision to get a refund of taxes paid in prior years

Being an eternal optimist, I hope that these measures -- and more -- will help usher in economic recovery for all of us. But I still think that the government should have given more money earlier to small businesses, instead of giving tax payers money to big companies who then sponsor expensive golf tournament sponsorships or pay millions of dollars in bonuses.