Archive for January, 2009
Use Your Website to Convert Leads
Your Web site is a powerful lead generation tool. This article provides tips that’ll help you convert your site visitors into new customers: http://www.mysolutionspot.com/lead-generation/tips-for-converting-leads-to-customers-1829/
Add comment January 30, 2009
How to Write Powerful Ads
Ever wonder what’s the secret to creating great ads? This article by an Ottawa advertising company offers some valuable tips:
Add comment January 28, 2009
Go Viral with Microblogging
If you use TwitterTM for either business or personal use, there are a few things you can do to maximize the reach of your “tweets.” Your TwitterTM account and other microbloggins sites are great viral-marketing tools that can quickly spread awareness of your business, its products, and its services. You can also work towards establishing yourself as an expert in your business by posting links to articles and studies that are relevant to your industry. Over at Coppyblogger.com, Dan Zarrella wrote a great article on using TwitterTM to help your business go viral. Check out “5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter” to get some tips on how to easily spread word of your small business by microblogging.
Add comment January 28, 2009
Maybe It’s Time to Go Back to School or Be Your Own Boss
If you lose your job when the economy is good, chances are, you will be able to find a new position in a matter of weeks. In the current economic condition, however, if you lose your job, it may take a while – a long, long while.
Right now, job-hunting is more aggressive than ever. The competition is extremely high. In fact, many businesses are announcing their layoffs weeks, or even months, in advance and offering rewards to those who are willing to resign. If you know that your job is in danger, perhaps it’s time to go back to school to train for a new career or start your own business. Before taking action, make sure you are fully prepared. Both starting a new career and becoming self-employed require a great deal of passion, patience, hard-work and money. In addition, success is never guaranteed.
Add comment January 27, 2009
Trimming Unnecessary Costs
About a month ago, many of us began to eat healthier, exercise more regularly and spend more time with our families. These New Year resolutions are wonderful. They will make us better people. However, they do nothing for our businesses.
This year, why not create a New Year resolution for your business, as well? So what if it’s almost February. It’s not when you start that matters; it’s how long you stick with the resolution. Let’s make 2009 the year you put your business on a diet.
As with all diets, your business will have to undergo a lifestyle change in order to achieve ideal results. Here are some tips for trimming down your overhead costs:
1) The Copier
No one really needs to use color ink when printing out a spreadsheet, and a flight itinerary will present the same information whether it’s printed on two pieces of paper or on both sides of a single sheet. You should encourage your employees to limit their use of color ink and print on double-sided pages whenever possible. The cost savings may seem trivial, but over time, they will be quite evident.
2) Turn Down the Heat
Yes, it’s winter, and sure, your employees may complain about a cold office, but that’s nothing an extra layer of clothing can’t fix. However, don’t go to extremes. Just a few notches will do. We don’t want your employees to suffer.
3) Use Less Electricity
There are numerous ways to cut down on your power usage. First, encourage your employees to turn off their monitors every day prior to leaving the office, and find out if your office equipments have energy saving modes. Also, assign someone the responsibility of turning off all the lights once everyone leaves the building. To make things easier, you can install motion-detector lights in rooms that receive less traffic, like bathrooms and break rooms. Motion-detector lights will turn off automatically when there is no one in the room.
4) Change Your Training Strategy
If you usually send your employees to conferences, you know how costly that can be. You can save thousands of dollars by asking your employees to attend online Webcasts, which are extremely informative and often free. You can also create in-house cross-training programs. Both of these options will enrich your employees’ knowledge and help them achieve new skills.
5) Clip Those Wings
Business trips are expensive. Therefore, solutions like Webcasts and Web conferencing are godsend. These alternatives allow for effective communication and enable your employees to act more efficiently. The best part is that they do not require you to pay for gas, airfare, hotel stays or meals. Of course, there are some scenarios that will always require traveling, so don’t cut your travel budget completely.
A new office lifestyle may be difficult to adopt, but given time, it will become routine. Just remain focused on the end result, and the rewards will come.
Add comment January 23, 2009
Show a Little Employee Appreciation
In the business world, one of the largest areas of focus is on the customer. This includes getting customers, retaining customers, customer service, customer appreciation, and so on. While your customers are always going to be one of the most important assets of your business, there’s another group of people that is absolutely vital to your business’s success: your employees.
Employee appreciation is just as important as customer appreciation for many reasons. An employee who feels that his or her work is valued will often perform better, and employees who feel appreciated usually miss less days of work. Showing your employees that you value their work is actually pretty easy. Here are a few ideas:
Provide refreshments. If you poll a group of working adults and ask them how they start their day, the majority of their answers will somehow involve coffee. Coffee is a cheap “benefit” that many members of the working world would love to find in their office. You can also offer snacks and beverages at a low price. This is an easy way to let your employees know that you want them to feel comfortable and remain stimulated while at work.
Celebrate. Even small events like reaching the end of a quarter are cause for celebration. If your small business experiences a hectic week, bring donuts in on Friday to thank your employees for working so hard. Have a potluck lunch at the end of a quarter to celebrate everything that was accomplished during that period. Set up an off-site mixer where employees can hang out without the pressures of work hanging over them. Small, non-expensive events like these give your employees a chance to relax and see you as not just their boss, but also their peer.
Be flexible when possible. Circumstances that call for an employee to miss part of the work day will always arise. If one of your employees needs to come in later or leave earlier than usual because of an appointment, consider letting it slide. Instead of making the employee miss out on a portion of their pay, offer to let them work later, or just forgive them the time they are missing. This lets the employee know that you trust their ability to handle their work responsibilities and get the job done.
Get everyone involved. Let your employees know that you value their opinions. If you ask your employees for their input and ideas, it will make them feel more like part of a team working towards a common goal. Your work team will feel inspired to keep thinking creatively, and this benefits everyone working with you.
For more information on employee appreciation, visit MySolutionSpot.comTM for articles on employee communication, management techniques, office culture, and more.
Add comment January 22, 2009
Be Careful What You Say
Thanks to the Internet, news spreads fast – sometimes too fast. Nowadays, a business’s reputation can be shattered in a matter of hours. The mere perception of wrong-doing is considered negative publicity, even if the business involved had no intent to harm.
Continue Reading Add comment January 21, 2009
The Benefits of Facebook & Social Media
The article below (“Using Facebook to Promote Your Business”) explains the benefits of utilizing one of today’s most valuable and affordable online marketing tools:
http://sazbean.com/2009/01/19/using-facebook-to-promote-your-business/
From low-cost market research to well-target advertising, sites like Facebook® present numerous benefits for the small business owner.
1 comment January 20, 2009
How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner
This MSNBC® video offers many excellent tips on how to survive and excel as a small business owner: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28604347#28604347. The speaker stresses the importance of having a strong Web presence, and points out that home-based businesses often have a lower failure rate than brick-and-mortar businesses.
Add comment January 16, 2009
Link Building in 4 Steps
There are numerous ways to make your business Web site more visible. One method that is often overlooked is link building. The article below provides a variety of tactics you can apply to generate more backlinks:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-optimize-your-site-for-link-building/8180/
Add comment January 15, 2009
