The April 2007 issue of Target Marketing magazine has a great article on how to reach the real estate agent market. Realtors are real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors. According to the article, the real estate agents comprise a “large market that purchases a wide variety of products and servIces and influences other prospective customers on a daily basis.” Having just bought a house, I can attest to this statement — as I have come to rely on my real estate agent for her recommendation from vendors to interior decorators to painters. What are

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I just received a copy of the book “Ignited: Managers! Light Up Your Company and Career for More Power More Purpose and More Success“ by Vince Thompson, and it is full of great tips on how to run and manage an organization. While the book’s orientation is geared towards the corporate employee, business owners have a great deal to learn from it. We’ve published an excerpt from the book where the author talked of the difficulties and realities of time management in the article “The Problem with Time Management” One of the sections I like is that of problem solving.

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If you are selling online, here are trends you need to look out for: 1. Using videos to generate online sales = The increasing use of broadband has significantly expanded the use of videos and rich media. The key now is to think how to use these formats to increase sales in your website. Video sites such as YouTube attract gargantuan traffic and could be used to increase brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales. One way videos can be used to boost sales is through the creation of product demonstrations. Marketing Sherpa has written a great article on how to

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The tax deadline is almost upon us and I hope that most of you have completed, if not submitted your tax documents. In talking to other entrepreneurs, tax time is either made easy or unbearable by quality of their bookkeeping. Some have it great with their accountants who do everything for them. However, many more do their accounting and tax work by themselves — and some are pretty diligent about it and do it regularly; while others do it only before April 15 rushing to find all their receipts and listing their expenses and income. I know of many home-based

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When creating a website, one of the very first things you need to decide is what will you put in your About Us page. Should you present a more personal approach where you tell visitors who you are and how you started the business? Or should you present a more corporate facade that sounds so businesslike and professional, without revealing anything about yourself? I don’t think there’s a right or wrong approach. The more personal approach of presenting the life story of the business founder or a detailed description of how the business came about can be a great human

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One of the fastest growing online communities nowadays is the virtual world of Second Life http://www.secondlife.com . It is a 3D world where you can literally live a second life (hence the name), where you create an avatar, adopt a new name, develop your own personality, and even embark on an entrepreneurial journey! Many big companies are already setting up shop and presence in Second Life. IBM has already acquired 24 Second Life “islands” while Toyota, Dell, Reuters, Starwood Hotels, American Apparel, General Motors and several others also have their presence in this virtual world. But the biggest news coming

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Just want to share with you folks invites that arrived in my inbox that are worth looking into: Free subscription (digital version) to the Small Business Technology Magazine Free Webinar: China Logistics = for those of you who wish to expand to China or wish to tap the Chinese market). This webinar, to be held on April 17, will focus on the current market outlook, government regulations and opportunities for U.S. companies in two key areas relating to the China marketplace Free Webinar: Is There a Doctor in the House? How to Breathe New Life Into Your Under-Performing Customer Acquisition

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This is an interesting problem to have: what if your business is such a success that you need new territories to explore and replicate the business in another geographical location? One option is to franchise your business. By franchising, you get to widen the reach of your business without you shouldering the expenses for it. However, to be able to succeed in franchising you must first be able to show that Your business has a track record of success over time You must prove that you have a proven concept that works You must have a business that offers something

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Someone asked a question today on whether there are personality types that are not suited for entrepreneurship. Immediately, one can rattle off some characteristics that may not suit an ideal entrepreneur and these are: Those who are better off following directions, instead of creating their directions Those who are too risk averse and loves/needs the security of a salaried life Those who have problems seeing through to what they started Those who have no long term vision of what they want to accomplish Those who cannot handle the pressure of trying to make it on their own Does not persevere

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Many small business owners are faced with the problem of competing against the big boys of their industries. It’s not easy going against the Goliaths; mainly because you can never outspend them in terms of marketing. These big boys have deep pockets that they can use to launch comprehensive branding campaigns dominating various mediums — from TV, radio to Internet. They can also hire the best ad agencies and public relation firms to help them reach and keep their target customers. So what can you do? Since you don’t have their marketing budgets, you need to market smarter and this

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Forrester Research has released a report this month entitled “Email Marketing Comes Of Age” on how email still remains an important tool for driving targeted traffic to your web business. Alas, this 6-page report is not free and costs $279 (such as high price for a mere 6-page report!) I checked around other sites that may have had access to the report and Internet Retailer and DMNews.com among others wrote about some of the findings of the study, to wit: E-mail has reached almost universal penetration: 97% of consumers and 94% of marketers use it Average click-through rate for an

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Spring is here again! Now is the time for replanting, preparing and beautifying the lawn, and doing outdoor gardening. But many people simply do not have the time, the inclination or knowledge to take care of their lawns that they turn to professional lawncare specialists to help them. If you love grass and lawns, lawncare services is a perfect business for you. What does a lawcare services do? You can offer mowing services and weed control, lawn care analysis, tree and bush trimming, putting in fertilizers, tree and shrub care. Some offer services to control fire ants and maintenance of

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