For small business owners, an enthusiastic vision for smooth, steady growth can become nothing more than a mirage once company cash flow problems begin to heat up. Most will struggle with the timing of payment from clients or customers at some point, all while attempting to pay their own bills in a timely fashion. With all of the best laid plans for rapid flowing cash streams evaporating down to just a gurgle in the ditch, the potential risk of joining the ninety-percent of businesses that fail within their first three years of operation becomes a very sobering possibility. Many of

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In recent years, website marketers were concerned with increasing “hits”and the “stickiness” of their sites. They were concerned with increasing page views and the amount of time spent on the site. This is definitely a hold over from the paper based businesses of the past, and has proved to not be of much use in the fast moving internet world. As a result, hits and views are no longer considered useful metrics for evaluating website success. They simply don’t provide the right kind of information needed by online marketers. Now they look at conversions, drop-out rates, return on investment and

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If you are looking for a franchise opportunity, the choice is mind boggling. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of different types of franchise available for you to invest in, with the same variety in cost. Each have their own benefits and usually the more you pay the more potential to earn. You obviously want to select a profitable business venture so it is important that you thoroughly research. The major benefit of starting a franchised business is that the business model has already been proven. As a result, only 5% of franchises fail in a year compared to

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Marketers are now recognizing the power of mobile messaging. With mobile phones now as ubiquitous as ever, marketers have realized that mobile phones present fantastic opportunities for interaction between a brand and its customers. For one, short messaging service (SMS) can directly reach the consumer at any time, any place and in an attention-grabbing way. To make full use of this new medium, North Castle Nextstep and mobile marketing software provider Enpocket offer what they dub “MYIQ Rules for the Mobile Road.” While there’s no new marketing revelations in the list, it nonetheless provides guidelines on what marketers should consider

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Submitting articles to other websites have been touted as one of the easiest and best way to market your business on the Web at zero-to-low cost. By getting the articles published, the author gets his or her name and their business out there. They establish credibility and image as an expert in their field. Plus, they get points from the search engines, if the link back to their site is made by the publisher. However, as an editor of an online publication that accepts article contributions from other writers, I find that many site owners and “authors” (I use this

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The goal of every business is to be successful by gaining new customers and retaining old customers. A crucial way of achieving this end is through Business Intelligence. Business intelligence is also known as simply BI. Business intelligence can be defined as a process of collecting information in the area of business. An essential idea of business is that data is enhanced into information and then into knowledge. Business use BI to gain an advantage in the marketplace by understanding their customer s needs, customer s decision-making processes, and economic, cultural, and technological trends. Business intelligence involves analyzing not only

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Going to the movies is one of the few inexpensive perks of life that I had to forego when I had my first child almost three years ago. Instead, I had to content myself to watching movies when they are released in DVDs. But not with Star Wars III. Oh no, definitely not with the final Star Wars movie! I am such a huge fan of this film that it feels like sacrilege to watch it in the small screen months after it was shown in the theaters. Star Wars, however, is not all about light sabers and galactic wars.

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You’ve heard that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. But hiring your own family is one case when you can. Pay your minor or adult children to work for your business, then write it off as an expense. Many people are confused about whether it’s legal to hire their children and grandchildren. Follow my advice to satisfy both the IRS and employment laws – while saving on your own taxes. Assuming it’s a true payment for services performed (and the paperwork is handled properly) it’s totally legal and acceptable to pay family members. Minor Children Save the

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A new study by Retail Forward entitled “Retail Innovation: Ten Opportunities for 2010” is an interesting read covering the trends and potential opportunities for the retail sector. The report focuses on the 10 retail innovations that go beyond technology and operating strategies, and instead looks at new ways for providing consumer benefits. The report does a very good job in explaining the concepts especially its use of real-life illustrations of the concepts presented. According to the report, here are the 10 retail innovation opportunities to watch out for: Catch a Wave – the need to respond to demographic, societal, economic

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If you are running an e-commerce business, do you wonder how you are doing relative to other businesses on the Web? Do you ask how your conversion rates are compared to others? Or how your marketing costs stack with the rest? If you are selling on the Web, I highly recommend checking out e-tailing.com’s report “The Merchant Speaks,” which is the result of The E-tailing Group’s annual survey of e-commerce executives conducted during the first quarter of 2005. Below are some interesting findings from the study: What is your conversion rates?When asked what is their conversion rates, majority of survey

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