Small Business Internet Marketing Blog

I found this Stumbling. Thought I would share.

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The dream of all those who pursue a business of their own can be thwarted by some common mistakes. If you are considering a business of any size, the information below can stack the odds of success in your favor.

Money is not everything. It definitely is no reason to pursue a business of any kind. Most people pursue a business of their own in hopes of becoming wealthy. A better standard of living is possible with almost any business, entering into a business simply because of the perceived idea that riches will follow is a recipe for failure. Successful businesses are operated by people who truly enjoy the business and love what they do. When you love your work, the money will follow.

Think long term. Many businesses are not profitable for two, three, up to five years in some cases. This does not mean that you will not be making any money during the first years of your business. It does mean that your “pay” may not immediately meet your expectations. As stated above, loving what you are doing can help make up for the lean years and will greatly increase the likelihood of your venture becoming a thriving, successful business.

Adequate operating capital can quickly make or break any new business. Many entrepreneurs believe that their business will be more than profitable enough to “self fund” the operations of the business. This will not be the case in almost every instance. If you do not have the funds to float your business for at least 18 months, your business plan may be flawed. Obviously, some businesses will require more cash to maintain than others but regardless of the business you are pursuing, don’t fall prey to the self funding trap.

Wearing too many hats may be required initially, however, there will come a time when you will need to hire people to attend to things that are getting in the way of more important work. This frequently occurs around the time that your business is starting to make that extra revenue you had expected. The desire to continue to do everything just to keep that extra take home pay can actually hurt your business in the long run. As your business grows, hire people to manage details that are not as important as what you need to be doing for the growth and future of your business.

Finally, learn to listen to your customers and stay connected to your market. Customers will tell you what they seek or would like you to provide if you are open to their suggestions. This means connecting with not only your immediate customers but your local community as well. A narrow minded “this is how it is going to be” attitude is a sure plan for failure. It is also one of the easiest mistakes not to make.

Small business or large business, you will be looked up to in your community. Respected. Admired. This is some of the allure of operating a business, along with the potential of personal success, financial success and a secure self directed future. Avoiding these few pitfalls can help your business become all you expect it to be.

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American Express survey of Small Business recently reported that only about 5% are using blogs in their business. Considering the low cost and the benefits of branding, public relations and market communications blogs offer, one would think blogs would be much more popular than they seem to be.

One of the reason businesses do not blog is the time commitment and the perceived writing skills needed to publish a blog. Trust me, I read many blogs and “writing skills” are not a requirement for maintaining a blog. Though very poor writing skills may negatively affect your business image. Putting together a cohesive sentence or two is not all that difficult. I just wrote six and you are still reading.

Clearly blogs are not for every business. I see little real value in retail businesses blogging but any business that is providing a service or connecting with their market entirely online NEEDS A BLOG. Local small business could benefit tremendously from blogging and could dominate local search results for a wide variety of local, community or regional searches.

If you are a small business owner seeking SEO for your business, adding a blog is the quickest, most affordable means of attracting local searches from local consumers. This I can guarantee this. Once you start getting real visitors to your blog who leave real comments, you will see the benefits of blogging and providing a voice for your business, employees and even customers.

Besides. It’s fun too.

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Hillary Clinton looks happier than I have ever seen her. One could say, almost giddy.

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Over 3 million people have viewed this video producing a 500% increase in online sales. So, do you YouTube? And if not, why?

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You can definitely get some recognition with a business name like that. This is one smart service man.

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I saw this and just had to share.

Here the are. The Bird Road gang!

Two Miami gang members taunted the Miami Dade Police Department in a video posted on YouTube . Obviously they thought they were being intimidating.  Unfortunately for them, they werearrested by U.S. agents and charged with federal firearms violations.

Gang member Road Rudy is the alleged leader of the gang and is seen on the video saying, “Metro Dade Gang Unit, here I am baby.” Gang member Villanueva went on in the video to say “we’s out here fighting a Cold War” and that “they come at us if they want to.”

U.S. attorney Alex Acosta said in a statement “Villanueva and Logan threatened law enforcement. They brandished weapons and told us, ‘Here I am baby. … Come get us if you want.’ Villanueva said come get me, and we did. We will not tolerate gang threats to our police officers,”

The video is titled “Bird Road Getting in Trouble,” and was posted on Jan. 3 and has since been taken down by YouTube.

Here is a link to the video. It is from ABC News so it will not be there long.

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This is a question I get alot. Pay Per Click is the quick and easy way to send searchers who are looking for your products or services. It can also be very expensive. To make PPC work effectively you need to optimize and monitor your PPC ads and the landing pages that your PPC traffic is sent to. When done right, PPC is a valuable source of revenue and exposure for any small business. I find most businesses doing PPC are not doing it right. Their clickthroughs are dismal and their conversions are bad making PPC very unprofitable for most.

This does not have to be the case but the whole experience makes many business owners ask, “if my business ranks, do I still need pay per click?”

Yes you do.

1. Rankings are not guaranteed. Just because you rank for anything now does not guarantee you will do so in the future.

2. A well optimized PPC campaign will MAKE YOU MONEY on a wide variety of keywords and phrases that consumers use to find businesses like yours on the Internet.

3. PPC is the perfect testing ground for new pages and information that you want to implement onto your site.

Personally, I like to use PPC ads to get real numbers from Google about search volume for keywords myself and others are wanting to rank for. Yes, there are many sources for keyword search data available online but in all reality, people who contact me are looking to be seen in Google. What better way to know how many people are searching for “Middle Tennessee Real Estate” than by adding that phrase to your Adwords account and monitoring the real traffic numbers that Google reports?

You can position your ad near the bottom of the list to save on the cost of the test and you really do not need more than 24 hours worth of data to know if it is worth the cost and effort to try to rank for any phrase.

So, you should use and optimize PPC as a means of branding, revenue and testing for your business as often as your budget allows.

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As someone who earns a living from a website and has done so for many years, I can appreciate the hard work that goes into making a business a success. To succeed, you must learn to be a marketer. Below I have posted photos of some great examples of marketing that I found on Flickr.

Enjoy!

Free markets are thriving in many parts of the Middle East.

?

Living in Tennessee, I have seen this site all of my life.

Creative potato chip subliminal message.

Living just minutes from Nashville, I am more than familiar with this lady. I just wonder, is this a photo of her condo?, bank?, resort?, “Land”???

Buck Fush. Another subliminal message?

Now that is creative marketing with built in buzz. You would definitely tell someone about this place.

Only in America.

It’s hard to see but the first part says Super. :0)

Only in America. Wait, I said that already.
Actually this guy is a marketing genius. You see, he’s cutting out the middle man.

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I get lots of questions. I decided to start posting some of the more relevant questions and my answers here as they come in. If you have a question and there is no answer here, send me an email and I will get back with you as soon as I can and I might even post the question here.

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