From laid off to start-up, one in ten Americans in 2009 (Petrecca) started a business.  The hardest part about starting a business is the decision of what to do, what product or service to offer.  Not everyone has to start from scratch, in fact, many of those that started businesses in 2009 joined already established companies as Independent Associates, such as Mary Kay.  Others took their trades and skills and started consulting firms offering their expertise.  Some found opportunity for profit in their hobbies; many photographers start their own photography businesses after developing a passion for taking pictures.  Many in retirement also find opportunity to start a business by applying the skills they practiced in previous decades.  What every business owner and entrepreneur discovers is that being self-employed provides more control over life. The great opportunity of our time according to Peter Bregman is “[s]mall companies with low overhead, reliable owners, a small number of committed employees, personal client relationships, and sustainable business models that drive a reasonable profit”.

President Obama said, “It’s worth remembering that every once in a while a small business becomes a big business and changes the world, that’s why it is so important that we help small business struggling to open, or stay open, during these difficult times” (Wingfield 10).  Some of those small companies that changed the world are; Microsoft Corp., CNN, General Electric Co., Hewlett-Packard, Burger King Corp., FedEx Corp., and IHOP Corp.  All these companies have brand names that not only Americans recognize, but that are recognized in many other countries as well.  Interestingly enough, all of these companies were also started during a recession (Caron).  Not every business is started by someone determined to change the world or interested in penetrating a global market.  Many small business owners start their business with the soul purpose of generating extra income to help offset their cost of living.  However, small businesses are generally run by passionate entrepreneurs who are interested in making their dreams come true, and living the American dream.  They want to see their ideas become a common household name, and provide better services and products at the same time. They look forward to getting out of bed every morning and going to work.  They love what they do and do what they love.  They are driven by desire and passion every day.

Do small businesses every fail?  Absolutely.  Do the owners every give up?  Probably.  In fact, 50 percent of starts-ups fail in the first year (SBA).  Ethan Epstein author of “Are Small Business Good for the Economy?” believes that small businesses are a “…drag on the economy”.  Epstein’s theory assumes that when small businesses fail they default on their government and bank loans suggesting “…failing small businesses do further harm to the already soaring budget deficit”.  Although he presents a reasonable theory, he does little to support it.  The idea that the governments and banks simply lose out on loans made to companies that fail is no different than loans made to people who stop paying their mortgage and force the bank to foreclose on them.  In 2009 a total of 89,402 businesses filed for bankruptcy, while 1.3 million consumers filed for bankruptcy (NumberOf).  Epstein mentions that stimulus packages, tax write-offs, and regulation exceptions offered to small businesses are the causes of our recent economic downturn.  While in 2009 the government offered a stimulus package to first time homebuyers with a promise of an 8,000-dollar tax refundable credit.  What’s more of a “drag on the economy”; “small businesses that provide profits, jobs, and the ability to draw new dollars into a local community” (Muske and Woods 97), or helping people buy homes, which only creates an illusion of recovery while raising the nation’s deficit?  “The housing market is unlikely to turn around while there’s so much cheap money about, or while the feds are subsidizing home purchases to such an extent” (Hutchinson).

Epstein further suggests that because small businesses account for 52 percent of the American workforce “…they are responsible for a stunning number of layoffs in times of economical tribulation”.  What he fails to mention is that when a small business closes its doors, it may eliminate anywhere from 1 to 150 jobs, but of those workers 1 in 10 will start a new business.  The other fallacy in Epstein’s claim is that every small business has employees, when in reality, “75 percent of small businesses are non-employer firms” (Petrecca). This suggests that the majority of the 2009 14.9 million unemployed workers came from larger corporations that do mass layoffs, cutting thousands of jobs at a time.  Small businesses, especially those that are non-employee firms, have a better chance of success mainly because they have lower overhead and a minimal cost of doing business providing more profits for the owners (Abrams).

I am passionate about business.  I have been self-employed for three years, and in my opinion there is nothing better then running a business.  I get excited when people are motivated to find ways to profit from their passions.  I have discovered through my own web development company that starting a business is hard and requires lots of work.  The idea of building a business around a passion is to prevent the hard work from interfering with the dream.  Building a business without the passion will end up creating just another job.  According to business experts, economist, presidential committees, and the Small Business Association, small business is so important because “[a] full economic recovery won’t really begin until small businesses start spending, and hiring again” (Anderson).  Most Americans spend their day working, some at a job they hate and others enjoying their work but feeling trapped or tied down.  Starting a business is risky, there is no doubt about it, but in today’s economy jobs can be just as risky.  We could see a significant improvement in our communities, economies, and lives if more people were to start a business doing something they loved.  For example, Michelle Donahue-Arpas, who just after becoming a first time mother started a web-based business called Genius Babies.  Her business is comprised of her two biggest passions, her daughter and pre-natal or infant stimulation.  Michelle has run a successful business for the past ten years.  In another success story, two people driven by unfortunate circumstances, David and Wendi Kast turned their hobby of candle making into a successful business after Wendi was laid off (Isidro).  “It’s been said that there are two kinds of people in life: those who make things happen and those who wonder what happened. Leaders have the ability to make things happen” (Maxwell).

Whether the dream is big or small it doesn’t matter.  What matters most is that Americans find more opportunities to improve their financial problems so that we as a whole can work to improve the economy.  Small business focus should be on relationships and personality.  Big corporations stiff-arm their customers keeping them at arms length while providing just enough service to keep consumers coming back.  Our “new economy” is fueled by passion and interaction.  Consumers want to be engaged and they want to know the people they do business with.  When small business owners are passionate about their service or product they can make huge impacts in individual lives and communities.  Their business is not just about the product or service they offer, it’s about the relationships they develop.

Will you become part of the solution?

Need Assistance with your startup?  Send me an email and I would be happy to offer any advice and suggestions!

Work Cited

Abrams, Rhonda.  “Strategy: It’s a good time to start a business. Really.”  Strategy & Leadership Jan. 2008.  Academic OneFile. Web.  22 Apr. 2010.

Anderson, Scott.  “Not Just Hype-Small Business Means Jobs.”  USBanker Feb. 2010: 39. Academic OneFile. Web.  01 Mar. 2010.

Bregman, Peter.  “Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy.”  Weblog entry.  Harvard Business Review 23 Mar. 2009.  Web.  06 Mar. 2010.

Caron, Sarah.  “14 Big Businesses That Started in a Recession.”  Weblog entry.  InsiderCRM 11 Nov. 2008.  Web.  22 Apr. 2010.

Epstein, Ethan.  “Are Small Businesses Good For The Economy?” Weblog entry.  True/Slant 30 Dec. 2009.  Web.  06 Apr. 2010.

Hutchinson, Martin.  “Housing Stimulus May Be Creating An Illusion Of Real Estate Recovery.”  The American Enterprise Jan. 1 2010.  Academic OneFile. Web.  22 Apr. 2010.

Isidro, Isabel.  “Small Business Success Stories.”  Weblog entry.  PowerHomeBiz.com. Web.  28 Apr. 2010.

Maxwell, John C.  Thinking For A Change.  New York: Center Street, 2003.  Print.

Muske, Glenn, and Michael Woods.  “Micro businesses as an economic development tool: what they bring and what they need.”  Journal of the Community Development Society 35.1 (2004): 97.  Academic OneFile. Web.  05 Mar. 2010.

“Number of Bankruptcies in 2009.”  NumberOf. Web.  22 Apr. 2010.  <http://numberof.net/number-of-bankruptcies-in-2009>

Petrecca, Laura.  “Recession, layoffs fuel many to start small businesses.”  Weblog entry.  USA Today 18 Aug. 2009.  Web.  06 Apr. 2010.

United States.  Small Business Association.  Office of Advocacy.  Small Business Research Summary.  Washington:  GPO, 2009.  Web.  22 Feb. 2010.

Wingfield, Brian.  “Obama’s Small Business Conundrum.”  Forbes 8 Dec. 2009: 50+.  Print.Similar Posts:

• At the Root of Economic Growth is Small Business
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Examining the good versus the bad in any situation where a business is faced with making a decision.  Generally these “business ethics” are prewritten and predetermined in order to support making the correct decision.  Businesses operate in a society and as such they are bound to duties and responsibilities within those societies.  Corporations should be held to a standard, they should be held accountable and their ethical systems should be made know to everyone that decides to do business with them.  How an organization chooses to conduct its business effects more then the parties directly related to that business.  Business ethics applies to all aspects of business conduct including both the individuals associated with an organization and the organization as a whole.  “Theoretically, a code of ethics sets guidelines for ideal behavior. However, in reality, it represents minimum standards of behavior. These minimum standards often become the goal, rather than a “trip wire” to signal unacceptable behavior.” (Schafer)

Complexities of Making Ethical Judgments

When making an ethical judgment, several things must be considered.  There are of course the ethics codes of the organization, moral principles, laws, professional standards and weather we agree or not individual ethics.  It can be considered a fact that individual values, cultures, religious beliefs and biases are going to have a large impact on the decisions one might make.  Ethic conflicts arise when the actions of a person group or organization interfere with the interests of another person, group, organization or the community as a whole.  Therefore, when making decisions a corporation should consider the impact that they will have on the community, economy, and the individuals within that community of which they are apart of.  In the article “What’s Your Price?”  we learned about 10 principles that a corporation should adhere to if they are to be completely ethical in their processes.  As we learned in class from our experiment with you, following these ethical principles is not that easy.  It requires understanding of not only the business ethics but also the culture and ethics of the society in which your business is a part of.  The subtitle of the article “Ten principles for saving a corporate soul…and (who knows?) maybe your own” is very appropriate given the seriousness of making ethical judgments.

In my own experience I have had to make a few ethical judgments, in the Internet/Wed Development field I often have request from companies that produce adult content, our ethical code says that we refuse to provide any type of service to those companies.  My understanding is that this ethical code would align itself with two of the principles in the article previously mentioned, numbers 2 and 10.  “A company will think of itself as a part of a community, not just a ‘market’” (Batstone).  I am interested in keeping adult content out of children’s reach and out of the homes of families.  “A company will not seek to generate any revenue from practices that threaten life” (Batstone).  Pornography threatens life in the sense that it can destroy relationships and families forever.  Was making this decisions hard for me, no, however the profit opportunity is usually very large, but I think what made this decision easy was my personal values and religious beliefs.

As of today I face another conflict that requires me to make an ethical judgment.  A client emails me last night completely out raged at the progress of his project and demanding answers and completion.  Principle nine, “A company will deliver what it promises, and promise what it can deliver” (Batstone).  In my understanding the project had been completed except for six cosmetic cleanups.  Final payment is 2 weeks past due and our contract gives me several rights at this point.  So I have to ask myself, first how do I respond to this email, and second do I complete the touchups before payment is received.  This decision is harder for me ethically, withholding payment is unacceptable and against contract, but even more I do not appreciate being talked at like the help.

Ethical Systems

For every business there are going to be different ethical systems and to assume that every company should have the same ethical system is unrealistic.  For example, in the Human Resource management department, why should a company have to be an equal opportunity employer?  If I want to hire all white men should I not be allowed to do so?  If I do a study that suggest white males at the age of 28 are more likely to sell my product more effectively then, why would I not focus my training at better equipping them over other employees?  In my business I deal a lot with intellectual property, using other peoples ‘open source’ products to support my clients projects.  Many of these licenses ask that you leave their links active on the site as the payment for using their software.  However, my dilemma is that it is unprofessional to have another company’s link on my client’s site; therefore I do not do it.  Other ethical systems can consist of,

• Marketing & Sales ethics – “A company will deliver what it promises and promise what it can deliver” (Batstone).
• Corporate Social Responsibility – company responsibility for impact on environment, consumers, employees, communities and stakeholders.
• Financial ethics – public companies being honest in their quarterly/yearly disclosures, paying taxes and all fees associated with the cost of doing business
• International Business ethics – Considering culture and laws of other countries and how they are affected by business relationships
• Law and Business – “to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in the law and those embodied in ethical custom” (Friedman).

Work Cited

Batstone, David.  “What’s Your Price?”  Sojourners Magazine Jan-Feb 2000. Web. 25 Feb 2010.

Friedman, Milton. “Business Ethics” Wikipedia. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

Schafer, John R. “Making ethical decisions: a practical model – police personnel” BNET.com May 2002. Web. 26 Mar. 2010Similar Posts:

• Challenges of operating in a multicultural environment
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• Business, Society and Their Interrelationship
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I used a tool called The Brain to display how I would recommend organizing her new site. The focus is to promote her services, event speaking and to grow her online coaching classes.

We will be using WordPress as the platform for her new site. She is currently using WordPress, but we are hoping to increase the functionality and usability of her site.

• Social and economical reasons for business community involvement
• Basic tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively
• An effective outline for your Sales Page
• Challenges of operating in a multicultural environment
• Business, Society and Their Interrelationship

For a recent client I wrote this outline to help him turn his sales page into an effective selling tool!

Headlines:

This needs to capture some attention and prepare the reader for the main headline..
The main headline should be written with the largest text you are going to use on the whole page. This headline needs to mention the biggest benefit…
The third headline the “post headline” should further clarify the main headline…

Introduction:

First few sentences should grab the visitors interest on an emotional level. Show the reader the benefits of your product by describing how they’ll feel or how things will improve once they read your report.

Your Credibility:

This should come early in the page…some ideas.

Talk about your expertise, what makes you credible to offer your product/service
User Testimonies
Provide contact info so people know that you are real. Phone, email and address…etc…

Benefits of product/service:

Use bullet format, easy to scan through
Itemize all the benefits (not features) in priority, first one the most important one
Better to have to many than not enough
It often takes one good benefit to get someone to by or click the buy/download link

Features and specifics:

Tell the reader exactly what they will get when they buy/use/download your product/service. This is also where you want to provide the details of the product/service.

Bonus:

Include something valuable in addition to the product/service. A good bonus will sometimes get people to fill out the form because they are more interested in it than they are the main offer. You can use your services or a join-venture with someone else.

Be sure to give a specific value to the free bonus.

Ordering:

Ask for the order..make the buy/download button obvious. Then provide detailed instruction on how the process will work. Imagine it is your readers first time ever buying/downloading something online.

Conclusion:

In a final paragraph summarize the important parts. Make a final request for the order (another buy/download button).
Repeat your contact info a link to your website so that it opens in another tab/window.
And sign it with your name.

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Your sales page should layout as the items are listed above or as close to it as you can get!

The design of your page does not need to be fancy, in fact I think that the less flashy your page the more attention people will give to your content! Here is a great FREE download for a landing page template that you can use to create your own “Sales Page”.

Download Now!

Best of luck to you, if you have any questions or would like to add some insights please use the comment section below!Similar Posts:

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This is for Mac users that want to share their internet connection without a wireless router. If you have a Mac and a PC you will still be able to use this function if your Mac is connected to the internet you are accessing the internet wirelessly via your PC.

I will help you figure this out in 6 STEPS…

List Instructions

• Step One

Connect your Mac to the internet. There are several ways to do this, I use a MacBook Air so I am connected to the internet via USB Ethernet. However you are connected, just be sure you are connected to the internet.

• Step Two

Open your System Preferences, click on Sharing in the Internet & Network section.

• Step Three

Click on Internet Sharing, additional options will be displayed on the right. Check the box labeled AirPort.

• Step Four

Click on AirPort Options at the bottom right of your screen. Set the following options;

1. Chose a Network Name
2. Leave Channel set to Automatic
3. Check the box labeled ‘Enable encryption (using WEP)’
4. Set a password
5. WEP key Length, select 128-bit for Mac to Mac sharing, if you are using a Mac to PC sharing select 40-bit.

Click Ok.

• Step Five

Click on Internet Sharing again. Then click Start the box next to Internet Sharing should now be checked.

• Step Six

It will now work just like any other wireless network. Go to your other Mac or PC, for Mac users turn on your AirPort, find your Network you just set up and connect to it. For PC users, do whatever you do to connect to wireless networks. Sorry it has been too long I do not remember!

You’re done, you are now Sharing your Internet connection.

Piece of cake! Have a question or technical problem, leave a comment I’ll try to help!

Detailed Instructions

Step One:

Connect your Mac to the internet. There are several ways to do this, I use a MacBook Air so I am connected to the internet via USB Ethernet. However you are connected, just be sure you are connected to the internet.

Step Two:

Open your System Preferences.

Click on Sharing in the Internet & Network section.

Step Three:

Click on Internet Sharing,

Additional options will be displayed on the right. Check the box labeled AirPort

Step Four:

Click on AirPort Options at the bottom right of your screen

Set the following options;

1. Chose a Network Name
2. Leave Channel set to Automatic
3. Check the box labeled ‘Enable encryption (using WEP)’
4. Set a password
5. WEP key Length, select 128-bit for Mac to Mac sharing, if you are using a Mac to PC sharing select 40-bit.

Click Ok.

Step Five:

Click on Internet Sharing again, this screen will display.

Then click on Start the box next to Internet Sharing should now be checked.

Step Six:

It will now work just like any other wireless network. Go to your other Mac or PC, for Mac users turn on your AirPort, find your Network you just set up and connect to it. For PC users, do whatever you do to connect to wireless networks. Sorry it has been too long I do not remember!

You’re done, you are now Sharing your Internet connection.

Piece of cake! Have a question or technical problem, leave a comment I’ll try to help!



Similar Posts:

• Basic tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively
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Using Twitter is not brain surgery and on the other end of the scope its not as easy as playing Go Fish either. However, it can be quite simple.

The first thing to do is determine way you are using Twitter

Wether you are staying hip to your friends lives, or marketing your business Twitter is a very effective tool. If you are just using Twitter as a cool way to talk to your friends then you probably wont care about the cool tips and tricks businesses and other can us to really expand this awesome tool.

I have recently been working with some unemployment centers on how to use Twitter to find work and market yourself for the job you want. A different avenue, but it works.

The second thing to do is get involved in the conversations that interest you

Here are some of the conversations that I follow, unemployment, blogging, WordPress, CRUSH IT (its a book), and social media. I do not have to “follow” hundreds of people to see these conversations. There is a couple of ways that you can watch these conversations;

1. Use search.twitter.com and search for those keywords
2. Use the built in search tool on your Twitter home page
3. Use a 3rd party tool like Seesmic Desktop

I prefer the 3rd option, a 3rd party tool. I can have as many conversations going as I desire and view them all at the same time. Below is a screen shot of what my Seemic Desktop app looks like.

From left to right…

The first window is where I monitor my Facsbook profile and Fan page. The next window is my Twitter account. The other windows are the conversations that I follow.

Now let me explain what I mean by “get involved”. It wont do you to much good to just watch these conversations. You need to add to them. Share your thoughts and ideas. Comment on other peoples tweets and share interesting articles, pictures, videos, podcast and what every you find that is beneficial and pertains to that topic.

The third thing you need to do is understand some of the Twitter vocabulary & how to use it

There are a bunch of articles that you could find with different vocab words and what they mean, but I am going to talk about five important ones. And really the only five that are important.

• Handle aka @username
• Re-tweet aka RT
• Direct Message aka DM
• Hashtag aka #sometopic
• Backchannel

1. Handle, this is used as a username or an identifier. My handle is @chrisegg, so if you wanted to find me on Twitter you could search for me by typing in @chrisegg or find my Twitter directly by going to www.twitter.com/chrisegg which is my handle without the @ symbol. Everybody on Twitter has a handle so if you are going to talk about them or mention them you should find and use their handle.

2. Re-tweet RT, when someone says or shares a link that you find beneficial you can re-tweet it so that your followers can see the tweet too. The nice thing about using this option is that you still allow the original tweeter to get credit for their tweet.

3. Direct Message DM, this is a nice function that allows you to send a private message that is only viewable by you and the person the DM was sent to. In order send someone a DM they must be following you!

4. Hashtag #sometopic, the hashtag is used for categorizing your tweets and it also allows you to reach a larger audience. The people that see your post are typically just those that follow you. Now when you use hashtags you can also reach out to hundreds of people that monitor those conversations. For example, if I find an article that is related to social media, when I twitter about that article I am going to attach #socialmedia to my tweet so that everyone who monitors that hashtag can see the info.

5. Backchannels, these are associated with hashtags. If you go to a 360 Flex conference for example they will encourage the attendees to use the backchannel #360flex when they twitter about the show. This creates a type of group or community for people to communicate during and after the show.

The fourth thing to do, start using Twitter

Twitter is a great tool that can help you build a large network quicker than any other tool I have ever seen. It is very effective and beneficial when used properly. Don’t just start using it to promote yourself and your business. Don’t be annoying and RT everyones tweets, bring original content to the conversation. Bring useful information the the conversation. Find a way to help someone solve a problem, reach out and offer advice and support.

The sixth thing to do is copy the following text into your Twitter feed and share it with your followers

@chrisegg great article on Basic Tips & Tricks for using #Twitter effectively http://url4t.com/-hX #socialmedia #twittertips #blog4biztips

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I would love to hear some other basic tips & tricks for using Twitter if anyone has any. Just leave them in the comments or twitter them using the hashtag #blog4biztips. If you leave a comment be sure to leave your handle at the end of the comment.



Similar Posts:

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WordPress Slow?

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5 Plugins To Make Your WordPress Blog Faster

WP Super Cache by Donncha O Caoimh- A very fast caching plugin for WordPress. This is what has been saving me from traffic spikes. In a normal WordPress install, every time a visitor comes to your site WordPress builds the webpage for them from scratch by pulling information out of the database and processing a variety of things in the software. The bottom line is, this is time consuming – and usually after you’ve published a blog post, it doesn’t change very much except when people comment. When a page is loaded, WP Super Cache caches a static (one time generated) copy of that webpage, and then every time a new visitor comes, it preferentially gives them the cached version of the page. This is much faster, and has totally saved me when a rush of people come from one of my posts going viral.

GZIP Output by Austin Matzko- This plugin automatically compresses CSS, Javascript and HTML output, allowing it to travel faster from your blog to a visitor’s browser. According to Best Practices On Yahoo! Developer Network: “Gzipping generally reduces the response size by about 70%. Approximately 90% of today’s Internet traffic travels through browsers that claim to support gzip.” This is a simple change that will not affect what your readers see at all – except that it will load in their browser faster.

WP Minify by Thaya Kareeson- This plugin uses the Minify engine to combine and compress JS and CSS files to improve page load time. Like the previous plugin, it also automatically shrinks the size of your files without you having to do anything.

W3 Total Cache by Frederick Townes- If I was starting a brand new blog today, this is what I would use on day one – and then go with a more complicated set up (like I have currently) after it grows. This plugin is amazing. It includes minify capabilities, caching (but less aggressive than WP Super Cache) and GZip compression.

Free CDN by Phoenixheart- If you have static files (images, javascript, css) taking a long time to load and slowing your site down, you may benefit by installing Free CDN – especially if you have large images. Briefly, a CDN is a content delivery network. Static files are cached on the CDN and pulled from their servers instead of your own – which means that your server has to do less work, and potentially can serve more people at once, faster.

Bonus: Upgrade WordPress! This isn’t a plugin, but every time a new version of WordPress there’s a good chance they’ve optimized the software so it runs faster than before. Be sure to test your blog after you upgrade to make sure everything still runs smoothly.

from Darren Rowse at problogger.net









Similar Posts:

• Mapping out your new site
• Basic tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively
• An effective outline for your Sales Page
• Social and economical reasons for business community involvement
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Let me show you what I mean by amazing benefits!

Just yesterday I ran a report on my blog, using Hubspots website grader tool. It’s free and I suggest that everyone give it a try. It is amazing what you can learn. So my blog (blog4biz101.com) has some outstanding results! The last time I ran this report was about 3 or 4 months ago, and I was ranking in the low 80′s. When I checked it yesterday here is what I found!!

What does this mean?

A website grade of 91/100 for blog4biz101.com means that of the hundreds of thousands of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 91% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data, website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.
Here are a few of the details, that the reports shows me, to help me improve my blog or website.

Bellow are a few things from my report, that are both good and that need to be improved upon…

1. This is something that you do not want to see ever! You do not want your pages to be missing Titles, Descriptions or Keywords!! I have this really great plugin called All in One SEO which makes optimizing your blog post and pages really easy, but I am not always good about using it.

2. You want to make sure that Google is indexing all of your blog post and pages. When this is done effectively it is like having hundreds and thousands of one page websites on all kinds of topics (depending on the things you write about in your blog). Another way to look at this number is like this…I have 227 chance to be found in Google search results for a number of keywords in a number of variations.

3. If Google is not crawling your site, then they are not listing you in their search results! If Google is only crawling your site once a year, then they are not placing very much importance on your site, because there is little to no change. You want them to be visiting your site as often as possible, once a month is great, but weekly is much better! You get them to do that by using tools like XML site maps and writing lots of content!

4. Links! Who and how many people are visiting, bookmarking, referring and subscribing to your blog? This is very important, search engines are looking to see how popular you are to determine how important your content is and where you should be ranked in the search results. I do not have very many links, however the links that I have are from qualified sources. That just means that I am not submitting my URL to hundreds of link farms trying to trick the system.

Really the huge benefit that I am pointing out here, is that blogs can make it so easy for you to get listed in Google search results and make it easy for people to connect to you, which improves your score and better scores lead to more people being able to find you using more keywords!

Lets compare to ProBlogger.net

One of the pro bloggers I look to for advice and guidance in improving my skill and blogging results is ProBlogger. I always compare myself to them because Darren is the best at what we do.

Here is his score;

The website problogger.net ranks 2,684 of the 1,442,856 websites that have been ranked so far.

Sure he has almost 1 million inbound links and over 7,000 pages indexed in Google giving him a Google rank of 6. All of these things have helped him achieve a great score! But the things that have really been beneficial to ProBlogger is his ability to write GREAT content and properly optimize his blog.

I am just going to say, I honestly do not believe that you can get much better results then Darren does with his blog!

So have you given any more thought to a business blog yet?

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself…

Do you have a blog set up?  A professionally looking blog that generates you 10-20+ leads per day?

In this economy and in today’s market place you’ve got to take the marketing approach of all the top earners (attraction marketing) you MUST have a blog!

Your blog is your central nervous system where your leads will go to learn more about YOU before they do business with you!

Make sure you sign up for a free training course. We’ll show you everything you need to know about setting up your blog, which will take YOU and YOUR BRAND to the next level… a blog is not optional anymore, its essential.

Check out some of the stuff you’ll be learning in this FREE Training Course………

* How to install WordPress on your HostGator or GoDaddy hosting account so that you have a much better chance at ranking on search engines and getting 100% free traffic.

* How to set the basic options required to get your blog up and running so you can get start building your blog today.

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• Basic tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively
• An effective outline for your Sales Page
• Leaving a Legacy – Its not to late Act Now
• Business ethics and the complexities of making ethical judgments
• At the Root of Economic Growth is Small Business

I do not even want to look and see the official date of out last blog post, mainly because I am ashamed that it has been so long.  But I want to go back a bit to get things up to date.  But first a little background on Blogging For Business 101 for those that might be new to our blog or just passing through.

Background on Blogging For Business 101

I started my company as a consulting firm in January of 2008, working with small businesses and start up ventures.  I quickly saw a need for a targeted approach, internet marketing and building an internet presence.  With the economy on the way down and companies cutting marketing cost and looking for new ways to expose their services and products, I turned to something that I loved and felt would be a great benefit, BLOGGING!

What ended up happening was, I got my first client in January of 2008, but he wanted me to design three websites for him…so I made a bit of an addition to the services I would offer.  With that little addition came 3-4 months of uncertainty, where is the business going to go, I started to drift way from what my focus truly was, helping companies implement blogging into their marketing and branding plan to expand the business.

From May to August another 3 months I struggled to find much business at all.  The company was still in this, ‘I am not sure what I am doing’ stage so I made a decision, my blogsite needed an overhaul.  I spent about 2 months adding content about services and business practices to my blogsite, so that people could really understand what it is Blogging For Business 101 really does.

At about the end of September I started looking for new ways to promote my business and find new customers, I wasted over $500 with an ad campaign that resulted in not one lead!  I then, some how was turned onto Craigslist!  I started browsing Craigslist for jobs and gigs related to web design and blogging, especially wordpress blogs.  And I started sending emails regarding job after job after job!  I new that I was in a huge bidding war with 50 maybe even a hundred others, but I kept it up.  Eventually I closed a couple of deals, made some money and kept at it.

Moving into 2009

Then I hit the jackpot twice with my Craigslist hunts, I found two other companies that were looking for a company or freelancer to outsource their blogging and website design work too!  That has been the source of most of my current work, which I must say has been keeping me busy.  I also have started to see a lot of people that I placed bids for on old Craigslist ads start to contact me 2 even 3 months later.

2009 has already proven to be a better year then 2008, but I can say that I got a lot of growing pains out of the way, and most of the start-up disasters taken care of early.

What is next for us in 2009

It is only February and most of my focus is on moving from a completed year 1.0 to year 2.0,3.0,4.0,5.0…etc.  With more and more success each year!  Thus far 2009 has proved to be more successful then 2008 by more than 200%.

I do not think that we are completely out of Beta, (end of 2008 closed beta 1.0)  but we are going to launch a new version of Blogging For Business 101 Beta this year.

Beta 2.0, and I am not complete certain what all of the changes or additions will be just yet, but I think that we are still a young enough company and that it is absolutely necessary for the growth of the company to launch Beta 2.0.

My goal is to be completely out of beta by 2010.  So that we can roll into year 3 with a completely functional version of our company, version 3.0.

Right now we are working on the schematics of this new release, I foresee the launch of Beta 2.0 taking place by the end of the first quarter, March.  Then an updated release 2.1 by the end of the second quarter, June.  Another and hopefully final updated release 2.2 by the end of the third quarter, September. Which will allow us to launch Blogging For Business 101 version 3.0 in January of 2010!

With the beta 2.1 version will also come some very unique things from us.  The details of which can not be discusses at this time, but it will be a very unique service that will move companies to new places in 2010.

What you can expect from us as a reader in the 2.0 versions

• More content, fresh & unique content
• A fresh new approach to blogging
• More how to articles
• Podcast/Video Cast
• A new look/design
• Free local business blogging conference
• New business network launch
• and there is more…

For you the reader, I want to make sure that I am providing you with what you need!  With new ideas new suggestions, better ways of blogging and so on.  I don’t just want to be another blog you subscribe to that has the same content as everyone else.  I want to be a resource, my vision was always about helping other people grow their business and be successful with their dreams.

Because I believe that a blog is only as successful as it makes its readers, I want to make a special offer.  To anyone that subscribes to our blog while in beta 2.0 or 2.1 I will giver you free access to all of our future content that will be for members only, and I will give you sneak peaks and first dibs on special programs that we are currently developing.

I have given you a few of our plans, but I want to know what you would like to see, what is something that you have not been able to find that would help you improve your business blogging or even just your business goals?

Just leave your ideas in the comments, and I will be sure to follow up!

Summary

Keep an eye out for the new changes and the new additions, which I will always blog about, so you will want to subscribe to our feed to stay informed. And let me know what I can do to better serve you as a blogging for business reader!Similar Posts:

• An effective outline for your Sales Page
• Major social and behavioral criticisms of business
• Economic Recovery: It Starts with Passion
• Business ethics and the complexities of making ethical judgments
• At the Root of Economic Growth is Small Business

What is Branding?

Well, my favorite definition for branding comes from wiktionary.org,

branding – process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living personal or animal.

I picked this definition because I believe that it gives us a visual image of what branding is, when you create a brand and then spend time building that brand, exposing that brand you want people to know that that brand belongs to you! It’s not a pride issue, its business! People remember brands more often then they remember the CEO of that brand. Oh, as a side not, I have a little suggestion, if you can come up with a catchy jingle to go with your brand people will start singing it at the most inappropriate times without any warning.  Its strange, it’s like they can never get it out of their head!?

Every time a farmer or rancher purchases more livestock they have to brand it. Well, I guess they don’t have to, but if they want to be sure to keep it, it is a wise idea for that farmer or rancher to mark his property.

A clothing designer would always be sure to place their brand on the clothing somewhere.

Every company has a logo, a tradename or trademark…something that they use to distinguish themselves.  If you are business owner with out one of these things, you should work on it, get one soon.

To answer the question, What is Branding?  A brand is your mark, the mark that represents you, your business, your style.  Who you are and what you do!  And branding is the process of marking your property, so people know who it belongs to.

Why is having a brand and branding your business important?

Its simple really.  You want to separate yourself from your competitors.  You want to stand out, and the bigger the brand (meaning popularity), bigger the price tag.  And maybe its not about the price tag as much as it is about being a leader.  For example, I think that MAC computers has done a great job of branding themselves and their products as the better solution.  They have been providing great products for years, and so when they slap their brand on something, most people want it.  And the other important thing about branding is customer service or customer relationships.  If you want people to want your brand build relationships with them, be willing to solve their problems.

How to market or expand your brand?

First off, let me start by saying there are wrong ways to build your brand, and not every effort will end successfully.  Look at this attempt;

**Disclaimer, no animals were hurt while filming this video.

Clearly there is a right way, and a wrong way to brand something!  And I can a sure you that it is more painful to do it the wrong way and then to try and fix your mess later.

So lets talk about expanding your brand.  When I talk with business owners and CEOs, they always want to know how they can reach out to more of their market.  How can they drive more conversions.  Now most business savvy people have already started to take advantage of a advertising method that was often not thought a lot about.  Internet Marketing.  I work with a lot of business owners that want to use google adwords and other advertising methods to expose their brand to consumers on the internet.  I think that google adwards are effective and we use them in almost all of our marketing campaigns, however, something is changing in the way consumers make their buying decisions.  It use to be that ads could sell just about anything, but now, with the use of the internet and all of the information available, consumers are becoming more aware.  Content is driving consumer awareness more then ads. And the good thing about google adwords is the fact that it is content based.  Meaning, ads are displayed based on relevance to searches made in the search engine.

When it comes to expanding your brand, I like to discuss, what we call The Big 5.

1. Authority
2. Presence
3. Findability
4. Consumer Relations
5. Cost Effectiveness

All 5 are important aspects to expanding your brand, and there is one way to combine all 5 into one marketing campaign. 

Starting a business blog!

Here is the offer, if you are interested in finding out more about how a blog can help you build your business and possibly save your business in this economy, do one of two things,

1. Call me Directly for a FREE consultation – 480-652-7414 – 877-90 Blogg
2. Fill out the form below and I will contact you!

If you do chose to take advantage of this FREE 30 min consultation then I will give you 20% off any of our blogging packages.  I will also provide you with the complete report on The Big 5, for FREE.  Which will explain how Business Blogging can help you take your business to the next level.

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