Mysolutionspot's Weblog

Free Small Business Marketing Webinar

mysolutionspot — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:14:27 +0000

On Wednesday, August 26, Network Solutions® is hosting a FREE small business webinar on successfully marketing your business during the economic downturn. Due to the economy, many small businesses have lowered their marketing budget in an effort to cut down on expenses. The GrowSmartBusiness team recognizes that marketing, in any form, is crucial to driving business growth and sales. The “How Do You Effectively Market Your Small Business in a Downturn Economy?” webinar is designed to teach entrepreneurs and small biz owners how to find and utilize creative ways to successfully market their businesses, all while staying within a smaller budget. Featured speakers include:

Jay Ehret, founder and Chief Steward of The Marketing Spot in Waco, Texas
Susan Gunelius, President and CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications provider
Jay Berkowitz, CEO of Ten Golden Rules, a business-to-business Internet marketing agency in Boca Raton, Florida

This event promises to be a great learning opportunity for all who attend–and it’s free! To register and learn more, visit http://growsmartbusiness.com/small-business-news/2009/08/free-webinar-how-do-you-effectively-market-your-small-business-in-a-downturn-economy/.

MSS Featured Articles: Holiday Season Preparation

mysolutionspot — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:57:36 +0000

Right now we have two articles featured at MySolutionSpot™ that are must-reads for all small business owners. Late summer is the perfect time to start thinking about the holiday season, and these articles offer great tips on preparing your business for the upcoming holiday rush.

In “Fresh Content in Now for More Holiday Shoppers Later,” we discuss how adding new content to your e-commerce site can increase the amount of traffic coming into your online store. By adding new content (like holiday shopping guides), or by changing your product descriptions so that they are different from your competitors, you can increase the chances of your online store showing up on search engine results. This is vital for the holiday season, when shoppers are looking for the best gifts and the best places to buy them.

In “Holiday Season 2009: Prepare Now, Profit Later,” Jill Rafalowski discusses some of the early steps you can take to ensure that your business is ready to capitalize on the holiday shopping season. Her advice includes expanding your social media presence; padding your company’s budget; brainstorming possible promotions; appealing to pre-shoppers; and a few more useful tips. By researching and preparing now, you can set yourself up for high profit later.

Do you have any other holiday preparation advice? Drop your comments below, or head over to the MySolutionSpot™ forums to discuss the 2009 holiday season.

MySolutionSpot™ Has a New Look

mysolutionspot — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:22:32 +0000

Like the changes we’ve made to the MySolutionSpot™ blog? Our new appearance reflects the changes that have recently been made to MySolutionSpot and the Network Solutions® storefront. We’ve changed our colors, updated our images, and cleaned up the layout of both websites. Head over to NetworkSolutions.com and MySolutionSpot.com, take a look at the changes we’ve made, and then let us know what you think!

MySolutionSpot is dedicated to providing small business owners with the tools they need to succeed; therefore, we want our community to be one that is enjoyable, resourceful, and easy to use. If you have any suggestions on how we can make our site even better, please send an email to support@mysolutionspot.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Tips for Your Business’ Facebook® Profile

thinklocal — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:29:21 +0000

If your small business has a Facebook® page, you should check out this list of things you should—and shouldn’t—do when it comes to filling out your profile, connecting with other Facebook users, and sharing information. Meryl Evans gives a lot of great tips (I encourage you to read her whole article), but there are a few that really stand out to me:

Tip #5: Separate your business and personal lives. You can give your business some personality with Facebook®, but don’t turn your business’ profile into your own personal profile.

Tip #10: Get a personalized URL. This is a relatively new feature. Now you can set your profile’s URL to something like “facebook.com/mybusiness.” Your customers will be able to find your business easier, and it’ll also help you from an SEO perspective.

Tip #11: Include a link to your Facebook® page in your email signature. This is an effort-free way to ensure that word gets out about your profile.

Tip #24: Suggest friends to your network. If you think someone can be a valuable contact for one of your contacts, encourage the connection. They’ll appreciate the thought.

Tip #29: Keep your contacts updated on company events. If your business is going to be present at an event, is offering a sale, or has added new products, write about it in your status or in a note.

Facebook® is free, easy to use, and effective—that’s a rare combination these days, so take advantate of it! With a little help, your profile page can become a successful way to promote your small business.

To read Evans’ full article and find great advice on maximizing the potential of your Facebook® business page, visit http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/21/32-ways-to-use-facebook-for-business/.

Make Money During Your Down Time

mysolutionspot — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:39:03 +0000

Today I found an article at MainStreet.com that can apply to both small business owners and their small businesses. In “4 Ways to Make Money on a Day Off,” Stacy Baker gives a few pointers on how to use your free time to bring in—or save—a little money. Her ideas are geared toward individuals, but I think they can apply to businesses as well.

Baker describes how one can turn their passions and hobbies into money-making ventures. Many small business owners have already done this—a lot of startups were the result of someone wanting to turn their hobby into a job. But your small business can also make a little extra money by catering to its customers’ passions. Classes or workshops are a great example of this. If you provide goods to a particular group, you can also offer them the chance to enjoy using these goods at your store. Cooking classes, wine tastings, scrapbooking workshops, and sport training sessions are just some of the activities your business can offer during its off time that can help bring in a little extra money and market your store.

Next, Baker suggests working within your network to gain valuable resources for your business. Try starting a relationship with another business owner in your community that will be advantageous to both of you. Find someone whose expertise or products you need, and who also can benefit from what you and your business offer. This type of relationship is very opportunistic from a marketing viewpoint, and you’ll also save money in the process.

Check out Baker’s full article at http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/bargains/deals/4-ways-make-money-day.

Ecommerce Merchandizing Tips

mysolutionspot — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:49:57 +0000

As a follow up to our “Are You Using E-Commerce Yet?” post, we’d like to urge all of our readers to follow the SMART Ecommerce Blog at http://www.smartecommerceblog.com/. Once there, you’ll find a collection of ecommerce-specific blog posts that will prove to be a valuable resource for everyone who owns an online store. Setting up an online store is the easy part; attracting customers and making sales, however, is another story. The folks at SMART Ecommerce Blog have made it their mission to help all ecommerce users find solutions to their most demanding problems, and with the upcoming holiday season looming, we can use all the ecommerce advice we can get.

During the holidays, many of us prefer to shop places where we can more than just one gift, and due to rising gas prices and crowded malls, Americans have been turning to the Internet as a time- and money-saving shopping option. To capitalize on this, online merchants can market their store as a ‘find something for everyone’ site. The SMART Ecommerce Blog post for today, “Merchandize Your Ecommerce Site Like the Pros,” offers advice on accomplishing this. Ecommerce merchants can make a few simple adjustments to their stores that will increase both product visibility and AOV (average order value), like adding a ‘best sellers’ column to each page. Other small details, like eye-catching photos, ‘free shipping’ banners, and generating a ‘related items’ list for each product in the customer’s shopping cart, can encourage your customers to purchase more products from your store during one transaction.

To view this full post, visit http://www.smartecommerceblog.com/2009/merchandize-your-ecommerce-site-like-the-pros/. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the SMART Ecommerce Blog for more tips on preparing your online store for the holiday season.

Are You Using E-Commerce Yet?

thinklocal — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:23:29 +0000

Now that it’s July, we’re in the 3^rd quarter of the business year. So let’s talk about Q4! Now is the perfect time to start thinking about the holiday season. If you haven’t joined the ecommerce world yet, you need to read this article. In “Why Small Businesses Should Embrace E-Commerce,” Nisarat Sujatanond describes how an ecommerce website can help your business increase sales to both local and extended customers. In addition to widening your customer base, selling online can also help you gain valuable marketing insight. Thanks to web analytics, ecommerce merchants can get a grasp on who their customers are, what they’re looking for, and how they shop. Online stores can be easily marketed using this information, thanks to services like Twitter™, Facebook®, and PPC advertising.

To read Sujatanond’s full article, visit http://www.mysolutionspot.com/ecommerce-101/why-small-businesses-should-embrace-e-commerce-1602/.

Happy Fourth of July!

mysolutionspot — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:02:07 +0000

We would like to wish everyone a fun and safe 4th of July weekend from MySolutionSpot™. Whether you’re taking a break from your small business to celebrate with family and friends, or you’re throwing a huge holiday-weekend sale, we hope that you get the opportunity to appreciate everything that Indpendence Day represents.

Smart Hiring Advice for Small Business Owners

mysolutionspot — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:27:22 +0000

One of the common challenges for small business owners is hiring the right employees. Since the employee base of a small business is often very small, all team members need to be competent and knowledgeable. So how do you find the right people? At Entrepreneur.com, Burton Goldfield has some smart hiring tips in his article, “Find the Right Person in 6 Steps.” Goldfield notes a few things that I find especially relevant for small business owners:

Don’t rush your decision. Hiring the wrong employee is more costly to your business than waiting for the perfect candidate.
Clearly state the abilities you’re looking for. If your small business needs someone who can handle multiple roles, make that very apparent when composing the job description.
Ask your trusted peers for recommendations and references. Those around you are very likely to know someone who is perfect for your business.

To read Goldfield’s full article, visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/humanresourceburtongoldfield/article202432.html. For more advice on putting together a strong staff for your small business, visit MySolutionSpot™.

Reminder: Holiday Retail Webcast is Tomorrow

mysolutionspot — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:00:21 +0000

Tomorrow is the “Online Holiday Retail 2009: Tips, Tactics, and Timelines” webcast. This event, which starts at 1pm EDT, will help online retailers start planning their strategy for the 2009 holiday season. For more information and to register for this webcast, visit http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc090625.