Archive for February, 2009

11 Things Small Business Owners Can Learn From Girl Scout Cookies

February 28th, 2009 admin

Writen by David Handler

1. Train ? The Girl Scouts use cookie sales to teach important life skills. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your team members?or hire a coach to help you.

2. Start Early ? The best cookie sellers start knocking on doors the first day, and deliver their cookies as soon as they arrive. “The early bird gets the worm” seems to work everywhere.

3. Know Your Value ? Girl Scout Cookies taste good and you get to help kids in your community. Make sure you provide similar great value to your customers.

4. Remember Your Manners ? As you learned as a girl (or boy), always say “please” and “thank you”?to customers (even when they don’t buy), vendors and your team members.

5. Dress The Part ? Brownies and Girl Scouts take pride in wearing their uniforms. Make sure everyone in your small business knows they only get one chance to make a first impression.

6. Go Deep ? Girl Scouts reach out to family, friends and, of course, their parents’ co-workers. Ask everyone you know for referrals to expand your prospect list and grow your business.

7. Up-Sell ? Did you know Thin Mints and Caramel deLites are impulse buys?

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Four Ways Of Keyword Research

February 27th, 2009 admin

Writen by Nik Chauhan

Steps to be followed in website development and Marketing

Keyword Research

Before one goes for the website development one should always do some research work on Keywords.

Why Keywords?

Keywords are analytical part of an website which helps in bringing up the site in search engine rankings.

It can be difficult to choose the Keywords that describe your business so that users will see your website when they perform an online search. How do you go about it? This article offers some useful tips.Obviously, you want people who are searching for what you can provide to find your website near the top of those results pages. How do you manage this feat?
The easy answer is “by using keywords and key phrases.”
The tricky part of that answer, as you might have guessed, is that you need to use the right keywords. choosing the wrong keyword would do no good from search engine point of view.

Choosing and researching good keywords is a process that takes several steps. I won’t have the room to cover all of the steps completely in this article, so I will cover the rest in a subsequent article. Basically, the process goes through four stages:

  • Collecting initial keyword ideas.

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Celebrate Coal!

February 27th, 2009 admin

I love coal and love the following event being sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Here’s the group’s news release:

Celebrate Coal! Rally Announced for Monday

Demonstration Will Counter Negative Propaganda of Capitol Power Plant Protesters

A rally to Celebrate Coal! and Keep Energy Affordable will be held in front of the Capitol Power Plant on Monday, March 2nd, from 1 to 3 PM, the Competitive Enterprise Institute announced today. Celebrate Coal! and Keep Energy Affordable is designed to counter the negative propaganda of Capitol Climate Protection’s protest scheduled for the same time in a park near the Longworth and Rayburn House Office Buildings.

CEI has applied to the U. S. Capitol Police for a permit to hold the rally in front of the Capitol Power Plant on the south side of E Street, S. E., between South Capitol Street and New Jersey Avenue, S. E. The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police have also been notified that the rally will be held on the north side of E Street if the Capitol Police deny the permit. The anti-coal protest group, Capitol Climate Protection, has apparently not applied for a permit to protest around the Capitol Power Plant.

“The goal of Celebrate Coal!

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The Evolution From Web 1.0 To Web 2.0, To Web 3.0 For Small Business

February 27th, 2009 admin

The “we’ve come a long way Baby” phrase certainly applies to the worldwide web. More importantly is how businesses of all sizes now use this media. I would define 1.0 as static or read only, 2.0 as interactive, and I believe 3.0 will be characterized as being adaptive (or inteligent).

The early internet (Web 1.0) was purely a space for people who could build websites …. and companies that could afford them including the occassional adding of content or basic function. All vanilla … no Tutti Fruiti.

I think we have to look at the tools we consider Web 2.0 to define what it is – Between blogs, social networks and constant communication we have seen the tools that bring the Internet to everybody and pull it from the dreary dungeons of its birth. Web 2.0 simplified the Internet and its tools are the resources people now use to adapt it and change it to their use without complex instruction or coding.

The direction much of the web seems to be going …. for small business at least …

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Starting A Pressure Washing Business

February 27th, 2009 admin

Writen by Lance Winslow

Are you thinking of starting a small pressure washer business to help clean up the world and make a little money? You might be surprised how many mobile pressure washers companies there are in the United States; approximately 45,000 of them. And since God made dirt on the Third Day; Genisis 1:9 ? 1:12. Obviously since God created the dirt it keeps getting all over everything and thus a business was born. Starting a Mobile Pressure Washing Business is not as difficult as you think. It is important to decide what types of things you would like to wash and specialize in a few. Here is a list of potential items to wash, think about it. What do you want to wash today?

INDUSTRIAL AND SPECIALIZED SERVICES

Aviation Fuel Tanks

Aircraft Hangers

Air Cargo Containers

Air Conditioning Units

Air Crushing Cardboard Containers

Antique, Classic Cars

Automobile Dealerships

Auto Detailing

Airport Runways

Amusement Parks

Amusement Rides

Animal Kennels

Apartment Complexes

Army

Asphalt

ATV’s (All Terrain Vehicles)

Awnings

Backhoes

Banners

Barrels, Giant

Bathrooms, Beaches

Bathrooms, Parks

Bathrooms, Schools

BBQ Trailers, Etc.

Bicycles

Billboards And Signs

Blimps

Block Walls

Booths

Brick

Bridges, Concrete

Bridges, Graffiti

Bridges, Steel

Buildings – Brick, Stucco, Wood, Plastic

Buildings, Portable

Bulldozers

Cable Dispensing Trailers

Cages, Zoos

Camping Grounds

Canopies

Car Frames

Car Washes

Car Waxing

Carnival Rides

Carousel Rides

Carpet Cleaning

Cemetery Headstones, Etc.

Chimneys

Churches

City Hall

City Sidewalks

Colleges

Common Areas

Concrete

Condominium Complexes

Concession Stands

Containers

Convalescent Hospitals

Cranes

Dairy Equipment

Decals Removal

Detailing

Docks And Boat Slips

Dog Runs

Doors, Loading Docks

Doors, Storage Yards

Drilling Equipment

Drive Thus

Driveways

Drain Cleanouts

Drainage Ditches

Duct Cleaning

Electric Cars

Electric Companies

Engines

Excavating Equipment

Farming Equipment

Fast Food Restaurants

Fences

Fire Damage

Fire Hose

Fire Planes

Fire Trucks

Flag Poles

Fork Lifts

Gas Tanks

Gazebos

Glass, Holiday Window Paint

Glass, Store Fronts

Go Carts

Golf Carts

Golf Courses

Government Offices

Graffiti Removal

Grading Equipment

Grease

Greenhouses

Gun Removal

Gutters

Hand Ball Courts

Handicap Ramps/Signs

Hangers

Helicopters

High Schools

Highway Signs/Markers

Historic Buildings

Hoods, Restaurants

Horse Stables

Horse Trailers

House Prepping

Ice Bins

Incinerators

Industrial Conveyor Belts

Industrial Hoists

Industrial Jet Engines

Industrial Machinery

Industrial Presses

Jeans

Kitchens

Landfills

Lockers

Mail Boxes

Military

Missions

Mobile Homes

Monster Trucks

Monuments

Motels

MRI – Mobile Units

Navy

Neon Signs

Nurseries

Oil Companies

Oil Wells

Outdoor Decorations

Paint Prepping

Paint Removal

Park And Rides

Parking Garages

Parks

Patios/Furniture

Pavement Sealers

Phone Booths

Pipe Companies

Plastic Pool Covers

Plastic Toys

Playground Equipment

Pool Decks

Port-A-Potties

Private Schools

Produce Stands

Property Management Companies

Public Parking Lots

Public Transportation Services

Public Utilities

Pumps, Irrigation

Racing Cars/Trailers

Racquetball Courts

Railroads, Equipment

Rain Gutters

Restaurants

Retaining Walls

Retirement Communities

Roof

Rust

R.V.’s

R.V.

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Incoming Searches that might interest you:

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Things To Consider Before Starting A Website

February 26th, 2009 admin

Writen by DeAnna Spencer

In the time that I have been using the Internet, (since 1996) I have seen a lot of websites. I have seen a lot of good websites and I have seen a lot that were just plain awful. Here are some things to think about before you start a website.

What is the purpose of your website? Is it meant to be primarily a sales site or is it meant to be purely informative?

Once you have decided on your website’s purpose, you need to decide on a theme. There is nothing worse than going to a website and having to play guess what this website is about. To pick a theme, I suggest that you write down a list of things that you are interested in and/or knowledgeable about.

Once you have written your list down, you need to do some research. Use a tool such as the search term suggestion tool on overture to see if there is a demand for your topic. If you type in your topic and see a lot of searches done for your topic then you should use that topic.

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Indiana Mobile Car Wash Business

February 26th, 2009 admin

Writen by Lance Winslow

Do you live in Indiana? Are you looking for a small business to run; one, which is simple and easy to operate? If so, I sincerely hope all is well, in the Great State of Indiana and I have an idea? Have you considered starting a mobile car wash business, in which you would be the sole proprietor?

When is the best time to start such a business? Probably in March as the weather gets better. Not in October thru February, which I would say is a bad time to consider such a launching date, as the mobile car wash business would have issues with weather that a busy season fixed site car wash would not. Generally you run into problem with water freezing at under 17 degrees even with continuous flow or bypassing in pressure washers system. Even if you heat the water, at 12-degrees, the towels freeze to the windows and the soap makes ice-sickles.

It you were in the Southern part of Indiana, you might be able to get away with starting late in the season, but could expect at least 22-35 days of inclement no-work weather.

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Make Your Website An Online Sales Tool

February 25th, 2009 admin

Writen by Andrew Rowe

In today’s day and age just about every company has to have a website. It’s widely accepted that if your company doesn’t have a website, it’s not considered credible in its market. Yet how many companies actually consider their website to be truly an online sales tool? In fact most companies spend a lot of money to design and build fancy websites but they neglect to think of how they’re going to turn the website into a work horse for generating leads and online sales opportunities for their company.

Most business owners and executives don’t understand that even if they’re not engaged in selling a product through an e-commerce system, there’s still a great vast opportunity to increase their lead generation through guerilla marketing techniques related to internet marketing. And the core competencies in that area are performing good search engine optimization and having strong pay per click advertising campaigns that are focusing in your core markets.

85% of business buyers go to search engines to find vendors when they don’t have a preferred source, so it’s absolutely critical that you have an online presence and that you are well optimized with your website so that when people type in keywords related to your product or service you come up at the top of the search engine, whether it be MSN, Google or Yahoo.

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Innovation in a Tough Economy

February 25th, 2009 admin

Even in a tough economy, entrepreneurs and businesses need to be finding ways to continue creating, inventing and innovating. After all, these are the strengths of the U.S. economy.

I came across comments delivered by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this month to the U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia.

One can argue with and debate some of the points Ballmer made. But the following is important to keep in mind:

The good news is that the U.S. economy is still the world leader in innovation. Our universities are the envy of the rest of the world. The American workforce is the best on the planet, and U.S. companies continue to drive technological progress in almost every industry. But the time has come when we need to renew our innovation capacity.

We went back and studied what innovation companies did during the time of the Great Depression. One company that stands out, if you study the Depression, is RCA. Now, the fact that RCA is not around today, this has nothing to do with their behavior during the Depression. There’s probably good learnings for a lot of technology companies in that.

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SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING FOR YOUR SMALL BIZ

February 25th, 2009 admin

If you don’t have the $$$$$ resources right now to develop a big ad campaign or a Fortune 500-esque public relations promo, don’t worry! You can reach thousands of people–make that millions of people– with news about your small business’ products and services by taking advantage of the various social media sites out there. There is no cost to join, promote, make connections and direct people to your website. There are so many options available. We are going to review the most popular:

TWITTER (twitter.com)

Start your own pr campaign promoting your products & services by sending out blurbs on yourself, your first small business, etc. in 140 characters or less. Log on, choose a user name & password and start “tweeting” Guy Kawasaki recommends that it is important to add “value” to the twitter-verse in order to pick up a lot of “followers”, so be careful to tweet about interesting items/events/statistics, etc. In other words, don’t only focus on your small business promotion. However, you will see that many use Twitter as their form of “performance art”, or use it to promote their products/services, and others use it to fulfill their ego with tweets all about themselves.

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