By Steve Wyrostek

As a small business owner, article marketing may be a good approach to establishing yourself as an expert and spreading the word about your business.

Whether you write the articles yourself or have them ghostwritten by a professional web writer, following are a few thoughts you might want to consider:

- Mechanics- Consider writing pieces between 400 and 700 words. That works for search engines as well as reading weary readers.

Write while roaming in the head of your prospect. What words do they use when they search for your product or service?

If you’re writing about exercise equipment does your prospect search for treadmills, weight machines, or exercise equipment? Is your business localized so that prospects search for Chicago treadmills?

Read article…

If you’re running an online business, and probably even if you aren’t, there are some online tools that you need to know about. Not all of these tools are a necessity for every business, but no matter what you’re in, there are sure to be tools below that you know you should be using.

The applications on this list didn’t get here because they look pretty. They got here because millions of freelancers have tried, tested, and swear by them. Do your business a favor and make sure you know about the applications listed here.

1. Wordpress

Every online business should have a blog and Wordpress is, by far, the most powerful blogging tool on the web today.

Alternative Resources:

Movable Type

Type Pad

2. Google Analytics

Using a good analytics system is a must have for any online business. Spend some time learning how to read your site metrics and what they mean.

Alternative Resources:

Mint

Clicky

3. Basecamp

Having a central place to organize and keep track of all your projects and notes goes a long way in making your life less stressful.

Alternative Resources:

Lighthouse

No Kahuna

4. Freshbooks

Because many freelancers are service oriented, it is essential to have some sort of invoicing system in place.

Alternative Resources:

Blink Sale

Ronin

5. Twitter

Having a Twitter account is almost as important as having a blog these days. Twitter is easy to use and free to setup. Why wouldn’t you use it?

Alternative Resources:

Facebook

Friendfeed

6. Crowd Science

This is a cool tool that will randomly ask your visitors to take a poll to help you gather demographics about your visitors. It never hurts to learn more about your sites visitors.

Alternative Resources:

Get Satisfaction

7. Mozy

Its is never a bad idea to have some sort of backup in place. Mozy, makes backing up your files affordable and painless.

Alternative Resources:

iDrive

Carbonite

8. Google Webmaster Tools

There are an amazing amount of tools here than can help you track your sites ROI, test designs, and much more.

9. E-Junkie

E-Junkie can be used for more than just selling products through affiliates, you can also use it to offer a reward system to your clients.

Alternative Resources:

iDev Affiliate

All Affiliate Pro

10. Netvibes

It is easy to be overloaded with RSS feeds. Having a tool that lets you easily organize that information will make it easier for you to digest.

Alternative Resources:

iGoogle

Page Flakes

11. WuFoo Form Builder

A good form builder app is always good to have an account with. You never know when you may want a new form, quiz, poll, etc.

Alternative Resources:

Form Site

Form Spring

12. Mail Chimp

Email campaign apps make it easier for you to send bulk emails to past clients, setup news letters, and send important notices to customers.

Alternative Resources:

iContact

Constant Contact

13. Skype

Skype is the ultimate communication tool, especially if you have clients all over the world. It is the default IM/Phone choice for freelancers who work abroad.

Alternative Resources:

Sight Speed

Google Talk

14. Alert Thingy

Alert Thingy allows you to manage and update most of your social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Basecamp, and more; all in one spot.

Alternative Resources:

Event Box

Friend Feed

15. Are My Sites Up

If you have a website, then there is no reason you shouldn’t sign up for this service. Its free and lets you know if your sites crash via emails and text messages.

What Are Your Essential Apps?

Do you have a few applications that your online business couldn’t live without? List your favorites in the comments.

You can’t open a newspaper or watch a news report these days, without hearing how bad the economy is.  The media’s focus is pretty-much exclusively on huge, national and multinational companies, reporting drops in profits and job cuts.

However, whilst many huge corporations really struggle right now, there are countless small businesses out there, doing really well!  Of course, their success is almost invisible, because it’s not carried in the newspapers or reported about on the news.

Marketing success in a recession

I spoke with a man yesterday morning, whose main problem at the moment, is recruiting enough good quality people to cope with the 300% increase in business he has seen since last June.

I spoke today with the owner of a recruitment business (one of the industries hit hardest by the recession), whose business is growing faster right now than ever before.  I also spoke with an accountant earlier, who has seen an amazing 50% increase in the size of his client base in the past 6 months!

All three of these businesses are clients of mine, so their marketing is brilliant! However, their success is only possible, because they are focusing on growing their businesses rather than survival. Their competitors are ‘hunkering down’ and hoping to just stay afloat, so my clients have been able to gain market share and will continue to do so!

Recession thinking

Because of the wall-to-wall negative news coverage, most small business owners right now are focusing on what they might lose.  Their thinking and strategies are all designed around avoiding loss - Rather than developing their business.

Even in a good economy, ignoring the development of a business and focusing on loss, will guarantee that a business fails!

That’s because what we focus on determines the actions we take.  Let’s look at a very simple example, which shows how a business owner’s focus will dramatically influence what he does; based on whether he focuses on survival or growth.

If Bob asks himself; “How can I avoid going broke during the recession?” He might come up with answers like:

• I could cut back on everything.
• I could work harder / longer hours.

However, if Bob asks himself; “How can I double my profits, even during a recession?”  He might come up with answers like:

• I could find a great new service to offer all my existing clients, which is also highly profitable.  Existing clients already trust me, so a high percentage will go for it.
• I could get my website professionally copy written, so we get more sales leads from all those hits we get.
• I could build an Introducer network, people who recommend me to their contacts in return for a commission. This way, unlike advertising, I only have to pay when a new client joins me AND I get an army of salespeople out there telling the world how great my business is.

I am certainly not suggesting that the current economy is a bunch of roses. It definitely isn’t!

What I am suggesting, is that we tend to get what we focus on; so why not focus on what you want - rather than what you fear?

In this post, I am going to show you how to get massively better results from your advertising – starting right now!

Making advertising work!

If you tried advertising in the past and found that the only winner was the person who sold it to you, you’re not alone.  Over the years, I have helped market the services of thousands of businesses, spanning just about every industry and profession.  During my initial conversations with the people behind these businesses, I would often hear a version of the following statement:

“We tried advertising - it doesn’t work!”

Advertising actually DOES work (really well), but only if you use it correctly.  I have personally sold many millions of pounds (and dollars) worth of products and services for my clients and myself, with the help of advertising.  In this post, I am going to share one of the secrets of my advertising success with you.

If you have a small or medium sized business and are advertising with the intention of making sales, boosting your profits and transforming your income; I suggest the only form of advertising worth investing in is action advertising.

Why is ACTION advertising so effective for smaller businesses?

ACTION advertising is designed to make the reader take action.  Big companies are usually seeking to get someone to switch from one brand of cola, razor blade or sports shoes etc to another.  These adverts can be effective by simply associating good feelings or famous / beautiful people with their ‘brand.’

Small businesses typically advertise in order to generate sales.  Their advertising needs to; get their phone ringing, fill their store with eager buyers or fill their inbox with sales requests and enquiries.  This means their adverts need to inspire some form of direct response or action from the reader / listener.  A good quality action advertisement includes the following:

-  It tells the reader who the advertiser is.
-  It tells the reader what the benefits of their product or service is.
-  It gives them a motivating reason to ACT NOW – to call, visit or e-mail the advertiser.
-  It tells them to contact the advertiser - usually with a time sensitive or limited availability element!

Here’s an example of a simple action advertisement I read (with the company’s details changed):

“ACME Widgets can save you a recession-busting 45% on your annual widget costs, that’s why we are inviting you to attend our wine and widget evening on 26th February at 7pm.  You can reserve your place now by calling Rachael on 012345 123123.  As places are limited, please call now to avoid disappointment!  Acme Widgets, 22 East Street, London.”

In contrast, most small business advertising creates little motivation for the reader to take action.  These ads are often based around the following:
-  They tell the reader the name of the service or business.
-  They show the reader the advertiser’s logo.
-  They tell the reader a little about what the advertiser does or their benefits.
-  They sometimes list a ’special offer’.
-  They usually give the reader some contact details.

These ineffective adverts provide information about who the advertiser is and what they do, BUT give no reason for the reader to take action and contact them.  Guess what – generally, no one does!  Here’s a real life example, (with the company name/details changed):

“Acme Widgets have over 20 years of experience and our customer service is second to none.  Last year our widgets were voted ‘Best Value Widget’ by What Widget Magazine.  Our best selling Orange Widget is just £250.  Acme Widgets, 22 East Street, London”.

The majority of small business advertising I see in the press or in trade journals, is far less effective than it could or should be.  There is nothing compelling about what they say - nothing to inspire the reader to do anything.  When I started out in marketing, back in the 1980’s, we used to call these ineffective advertisements ‘flick-through ads’ – because people would literally see them and just carry on flicking through whichever publication they were in, without doing anything.

Remember, all motivation comes from motive

If you want your advertisement to generate masses of new business, you can!  But you need to advertise where your ideal future clients/customers are and give them a BIG enough reason to inspire them to take the action you require.  People are not stupid and will only contact you if there’s a compelling / motivating enough reason for them to do so.  Just having your message “out there” is simply not enough!

One of the secrets behind the most successfully marketed small and medium sized businesses, is that they utilize more forms of marketing than their less successful counterparts!  In my experience, ‘the average’ business will use just two or three different kinds of marketing - yet the most successful businesses will be benefiting from eight or more.

Compound marketing leverage

By developing a marketing strategy, which leverages many complimentary forms of marketing, you start to build a ‘compound marketing’ effect.  This is where the results you get for your combined efforts, are far, far greater than they would be; if you had done each activity in isolation.

Also, by relying on a number of different forms of marketing, your business’ future is far more secure.  I interviewed a businesswoman once, who relied on an advertisement in an industry magazine for almost all her new business. A competitor then started advertising in the same publication.  Overnight, her sales and enquiries dropped by more than half and she eventually went broke!

If you currently rely on just a small number of marketing activities, no matter how effective they currently are, make sure you are not too reliant on any one of them and always look for new ways to get great results.

by Jules Rosen

Running your own business requires you to do it all. Sales , advertising, accounting etc. Even serving as your own marketing department as well. That’s where imprinted products can have such a big impact

The Small Business Association, said small owners often act “not only as the CEO of their company, but the head of sales, head of finance, and whatever else it takes to get the job done.”

If you’re the head of marketing at your company, you’re looking for ways to get your company’s name in front of the public, and you probably don’t have a huge budget to work with. Imprinted promotional products can be the perfect solution for the business owner. Read article…

(SearchEngineWatch.com)

April 29, 2008
Are there really opportunities for small business to succeed using social media?

Absolutely, if one factors the strengths and weaknesses of the media with the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of the company.

The reality of the matter is that various social media have different strengths and weaknesses. While it is true the most obvious benefit of social media is branding and traffic, the truth is that social media can also:

• generate lots of good, quality, relevant links, which we all know can help a site perform better in the search results
• help to forge relationships. Not necessarily relationships with potential clients, but with those who help to influence potential client decisions i.e. indirect sales
• generate direct sales
• build a company’s authority in an industry

In order for a small business to utilize social media to its fullest, and to determine which social media it should be using as part of its effort, it must understand the trade-offs it faces. Without being able to commit time or money to social media, many small businesses will seriously need to question their commitment to winning in their space in the foreseeable future. Read article…

Sometimes getting feedback from you customers is like pulling teeth. But in today’s post, we learn some helpful ways to get feedback that improves your business and improves relationships with customers. The trick is to encourage your customers to actually utilize this a feedback option for themselves and for your benefit. Here are five sure-fire ways to encourage customers to give you the feedback you need.

Make the Process Quick

When your customers are asked to provide feedback shouldn’t necessarily give them a list of hundreds of questions. What if you were in there shoes? While this might seem helpful to you, if a customer has to spend more than five minutes on a feedback form, chances are high that they will either lie or they simply won’t fill it out at all. Try to limit your questions to about five to ten questions with short or multiple choice answers. You can always rotate your questions out when you have enough answers and then find out the answers to new questions that come up.

Make Giving Feedback Easy

Feedback forms which are easy to find and easy to use are the ones that will get used more often. Place your feedback form somewhere along the checkout process when people might be waiting for things to happen - the form will pass the time. Or you might want to create a link in the receipt email that you send to them at the end of a transaction. You might also send out a short email after the transaction is over to see what their feedback might be.

Make Feedback Worthwhile

Some people will want to have something in return for their opinions. If this seems to be the case, you may want to offer a discount on their next order or perhaps create a sort of contest in which one of the names is drawn each day for a prize. If you find that your customers aren’t answering your questions, it may just be a matter of giving them something in return for their time - and it doesn’t have to be something substantial either.

Make Providing Feedback Fun

Feedback forms that are fun to use are the ones that will get used most often. Simple multiple choice surveys are bright and colorful and you can see the results of others surveys as well, if they are set up in a certain way. Perhaps when they click on a certain answer, they will see a picture or they might get a response for their opinion. Try to create a feedback form that is interactive to help engage them and make the time they spend pass quickly.

Make All Feedback Confidential

Customers are sometimes nervous to give feedback for fear they will be identified with a negative response. Make sure that you are not asking for any identifying information, if possible, to show that you simply want feedback and aren’t going to penalize anyone for something that went wrong during a transaction. Of course, this is harder to do when you have a feedback form during the checkout process, so you might want to leave the feedback as a separate transaction.

The value of feedback is immeasurable. It can help you find a new direction for your business or to choose a new product to sell. On the other hand, you might find out about problems that need to be addressed immediately. In any case, make sure that you are reading the answers and responding to them.

This post provided by Scott Oliver who offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of “Website Traffic Secrets” and “Minisite Creation Tactics” for FREE — immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com

With the extent of the economic slowdown, financial analysts are now starting to use the “R” word to describe the upcoming business climate. The “R” word, of course, refers to recession — which could result in a significant slowing of almost every economic activity.

If any single thing is key to small business success, it’s maintaining an optimistic, enthusiastic attitude. Even in the best of times, small business owners and employees face daily challenges. When the economy is slowing, these challenges are magnified. To overcome them and to keep moving forward, an enthusiastic attitude is crucial.