While April is still a few months away, now’s the time to start thinking of taxes. Start looking for all the receipts and documentation and start researching on what possible deductions you can get. If you are running your business from your home, you may be able to deduct the expenses associated with running the business. Our article “Tax Time: Check What You Can Deduct from Your Home Office” explains what you can deduct from the business use of your home.it While taking home business deductions can lower your tax liability, it is important to be careful about what you

The best topic will be one where you can create unique and compelling content on a regular basis. If you want to earn via advertising, here are guidelines on how to select the best topic 1. Create a website on a topic where advertisers are plentiful and their bidding on ad systems such as Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing. Instead of writing about your favorite squirrel (where hardly no advertisers are bidding for the space), write about the latest tech gadgets. 2. Write about a topic you are passionate about. Instead of writing about mesothelioma which is supposedly high

If you are thinking of starting a business in another country, a resource that I highly recommend is World Bank’s DoingBusiness.org website. Being from the premier international organization, the site has loads of economic information and studies on business environments including taxes as well as an extensive collection of business laws. More importantly to entrepreneurs, the site specifies the requirements asked in that country when you start or even close a business. If you are looking to expand globally, make DoingBusiness.org your first stop.

Many small and home-business owners — including myself — get intimidated and confused when thinking about trademarks and how it can protect their business names. Many fail to appreciate the importance and value of trademarks, and how the process works. With this in mind, I interviewed Shannon Moore, General Manager of TradeMark Express http://www.tmexpress.com . Her business helps clients research and apply for trademarks and she does consultations on the issue of trademarks. Shannon is active in Yahoo Answers as well and she is the #2 in the Business and Finance category in terms of the most best answers. My

MSNBC.com has a very interesting on some of the common scams preying small business owners that you need to be aware of. I have heard of some of these schemes for the past few years, but it is still worth keeping in mind lest you be victimized. Here are some of the scams the article talks about and what to do to avoid becoming victimized sending a check returning the amount “overpaid” paying advanced fees for supposed “valuations” bogus invoices blue sky scams in the vending industry I’m not too proud to admit that we were once hit by a

comScore has released the December 2006 market shares in the U.S. of search engines. Google again leads the pack and the rankings are as follows: Google = 47.3 percent Yahoo = 28.5 percent Microsoft = 10.5 percent Ask = 5.4 percent Time Warner Network(AOL) = 4.9 percent So what do these numbers mean? For me, it shows that any search engine optimization efforts — whether organic or paid — should focus on Google. With majority of Internet users searching in Google, any effort directed towards improving your site’s ranking in Google (particularly for pay per click advertising) could bring the

If you want a comparison of entrepreneurial activities across countries, the best resource is the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [GEM] study. Conducted by Babson College and the London Business School, the study surveyed over 100,000 people in 42 countries. The latest study released this January 9 finds that the percentage of nascent entrepreneurs in the US [those who were thinking of or have recently initiated an entrepreneurial venture] fell from 12.4% in 2006 to 10%. However, the number of established entrepreneurs is slightly up indicating that entrepreneurial activity is alive and well in the United States. Entrepreneurship is also going strong

If you are looking for a growing market to serve, check out non-profits. Non-profits are growing fast. According to a report of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations entitled “United States Nonprofit Sector,” , there were 837,027 nonprofits in the United States in 2003. These non-profits had combined assets of $1.76 trillion which makes the U.S. nonprofit economy the sixth largest in the world — surpassing those of Brazil, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. Even in terms of employment, non profit workforce grew by 5.3 percent from 2002 to 2004 compared to the 0.2 percent drop in the for-profit

1. Create a website. The website should have content as your content is what will drive traffic to your site. Your site should create value for visitors, and elicit their trust. They need to trust you enough to know that the products and services you are recommending is best for them — and they will do the action that you want them to do. One of the common mistakes I see of newbies is they create websites for the sole purpose of earning from affiliate advertising, and their website ends up nothing but banners of various affiliates they promote. Their