Business Archives - Page 22 of 47

How Do You Determine the Value of Your Online Business?

Valuing an online company is challenging because it lacks physical assets. But, just like any other business, this business is also subject to the same profit and revenue considerations. With these reliable methods, you can determine the value of any online business.

Determine the Revenue Model

Different online businesses have different revenue models. Understanding how a company generates money helps to know it. Analyze your business and determine how it makes money. Does it generate income from advertising, subscription, and lead generation or from selling products? This will help you to know where the money comes from, and you can determine whether that business is valuable.

Analyze Previous 12-Months Revenues

Professional analyzers value businesses by looking at the figures for the last years’ worth of gross income. Total these revenues. You can get this data from the business’s balance sheets.

Multiply by 3 or 6

Is your business commercial? Then, multiply the previous 12-month’s income by 3. If it is a content business, which generates revenue from advertising and donations, then, multiply the 12-month trailing revenue by 6. Compare it with similar businesses to see how you’re doing.

Estimate Annual Expenses

Discount the value of the business according to its costs. The expenses include advertising, merchants fee, hosting fee, administrative fees, and bank fees. For an online business, there is no formula on how much to deduct. However, know your expenses if they are 75% of the revenue.

Traffic

Traffic is the key driver of an online business. Without, traffic an online business is worthless because you won’t make any sales. Hence, traffic plays a crucial role in determining the value of your online business. What matters is quality traffic.

To determine quality traffic, use the revenue per user (RPU) method. This helps to know the value of each visitor. This is the best measure to use to determine which traffic channel performs best.

When looking at traffic statistics, consider concentration. This will help to know how diversified traffic channels are. Is 70% of traffic coming from organic search or are there different channels that bring small portions of traffic? When analyzing traffic, the higher the quality and diversified it is, the higher the value of your online business.

Customer Base

An active customer base will increase the value of your online business. Having an active customer base means you have repeat clients and people keep coming back to purchase. This is a pointer you have great products, and you have built a solid relationship with your customers.

Here consider the following factors:

How does your business gain customers?
What is the cost of customer acquisition?
How exclusive is your customer base and at what rate is it growing?
How many competitors do you have?
Do you have an established mailing list?
What is your churn rate?

To get the true value of your business look at the larger picture.

Product Manager – What Does Your Business Card Say About You?

So here’s a minor topic that might have some real significance for all product managers: what do you put on your business card? Yeah, yeah, I know that we’re living in the age of Facebook and LinkedIn but business cards are still what we exchange when we meet people face-to-face. What this means is that business cards still matter. What’s on your business card?

At this point in my career I must have had no less than 20 different business cards. Every once in awhile I’ll see a collection of them huddled together in the bottom of some drawer somewhere and I’ll have to smile as I realize just how much my description of myself and what I do has changed over time.

I’ll never forget when I got my first opportunity to sign up for business cards. This was it, I had made the big time. Despite being a lowly software engineer now I was finally going to have an “adult” way to communicate to others just how important I was. As with all large firms, most of the format of the business card was pre-established. However, I was given free rein to add my job title just under my name. Hmm, what to put? The first time out of the gate I put what the company listed for me in the corporate directory: “Software Engineer IV” or whatever.

It turns out that this was a big mistake. Outside of people who worked for my company, nobody else in the real world knew what a Software Engineer IV was! I’d get polite smiles and then the card would quickly disapper into someone’s pocket to probably be thrown away when it came time to do laundry.

A few business card iterations later, I started to get smarter. By this time I had moved over into the world of Product Management and so I changed my job title to “Product Manger”. This was much better. I don’t think very many people knew what a Product Manger was or did, but they sure thought that they knew what a manager did and so upon receiving my card they slotted me as a mid-level manager and left it at that.

The promotions came over time and whereas I was not yet a Vice President or a CIO yet, I had become a Senior Product Manger. At the next opportunity I updated the business card title to read “Senior Product Manger”. This seemed to garner me just a little bit more respect when I handed the card out. Once again, I don’t think that very many people knew what I did; however, they seemed to believe that I was now in the upper echelons of mid-level managers.

I was still finding that since folks didn’t actually know what a Product Manger does, they were struggling to pigeonhole me based on my title. The trick here is that if people can’t figure out quickly where you fit in the totem pole of responsibility, then they will end up not even bothering to try. I felt that one more evolution was required. I ended up dropping the “Product” and so today my business card reads simply “Senior Manger”.

Although less descriptive, I’ve found this title to be of great use at trade shows and when meeting with vendors. No, they still really don’t seem to know what I do for the company; however, they are easily able to realize that a “Senior Manager” is someone who must be very important. This means that they treat me as being someone important because they don’t have any reason not to.

One final note, with my obtuse title the very first question that I get asked is “what do you do?” This is a make-or-break question. If I identify myself as a Product Manager, this will get me classified as a low-level worker bee because nobody really knows what a Product Manager does. Over countless encounters like this I have honed my response to reply with a quick “I make problems go away.” In most cases, this generates quiet respect and there are no more probing questions.

AshMax Review – Is AshMax a Legit Business Opportunity?

If you are an internet marketer, or have been researching home based business ideas, you have most likely been hearing a lot of buzz in the MLM business arena regarding an online business known as AshMax. To help you in your research efforts, I would like to give you more information pertaining to this opportunity, so that you can decide for yourself if AshMax is the company that you want to call home for your income needs.

Before I begin, I would like to point out that I am in no way affiliated with AshMax, so you can rest assured that you will receive my unbiased opinion in my Ashmax Review. So, lets begin.

Created by Ash Mufareh, Ashmax is a newer MLM business opportunity that has combined forces with two other business models, Global Domains International (GDI), and Freeway To Success. In fact, Ash Mufareh has been a leader in GDI for some time now. Ashmax gives you the opportunity to leverage income from both GDI and Freeway To Success.

If you were to join the AshMax MLM business opportunity, you will need to sign up with both GDI and Freeway To Success. GDI has a monthly subscription fee of $10, and Freeway To Success has a one time $15 to join, and comes with a recurring $5 monthly fee. Adding this all up, you are looking at $15 per month to maintain your AshMax business.

The Ashmax marketing system is based on a 5×5 forced matrix. This means that you need to bring in 5 other motivated individuals to fill your matrix. You will have 20 days to achieve this, starting from the very second that you sign up.

When you successfully sign up 5 new members, AshMax will provide you with 3900 other downline members from the spillover of members that are above you. This process can take up to 100 days to complete. However, if you are unable to bring in 5 people in your first 20 days, you will be deleted from their system, and will lose your spot in the matrix.

AshMax claims that once you successfully fill your matrix with 5 individuals, that you are set for life. They claim that this accomplishment alone will earn you $22,300 per month for the rest of your life, starting in the next 100 days.

In my opinion, AshMax is a legitimate opportunity. They are not a scam. However, many who join AshMax will fail due to their lack of experience in internet marketing. For those lacking this experience, it will prove difficult for them to sign up 5 new members in a short 20 day time frame. You may not always be able to negotiate your skeptical family and friends into the program.

For those seasoned internet marketers who already have a sizable list of leads to market to, this opportunity could be a very lucrative one.

Writing Your Business Plan? Don’t Forget Your Own Professional Development

This may seem obvious to more serious or experienced individuals who are climbing the ladder of success, but one must endeavor to stay current and invest in professional development. Many of the business plans that I review fall short in this area, and a lack of vision at the outset of the planning process can eventually be fatal to the enterprise.

When a prospective entrepreneur shows me a plan that cuts corners in important ways, I become concerned. Going “bare on health care”; family members working for free; no plans for time off; delayed or unpaid salaries; a statement that marketing will all be done by “word-of-mouth”; and no budget for professional development: one or more of these is a sure-fire tip-off that there’s trouble ahead on the entrepreneurial railway. You see, if a product or service which is to be offered is really viable, it stands to reason that the business would be profitable enough to support necessary business expenses, which include creating an environment that is suitable for human beings, as compared to machines.

In addressing the subject of “professional development,” we might divide it into two sub-topics: How does one “do it?” and “What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?”

How exactly does one “do” professional development?

For the past couple of years, I have purchased an average of two or three books per month, which are related to a subject area that is of interest to me, either at a book store, or when a book club circular associated with this area of interest is delivered to my mail box. The reason I have not specified my area of interest is that it doesn’t really matter, relative to the overarching point, which is: You should buy books that address a topic of interest of your own, and read them. This practice (virtually made into a “habit” because of the book club) costs me about $50 dollars per month.

I also subscribe to about two dozen periodicals (journals and magazines). Some are industry specific, some are business magazines, and some are consumer magazines. Some are paid subscriptions, and some are complimentary subscriptions based on my ties with certain industries or subject areas (and some are included in membership fees). My paid subscriptions cost about $300 per year.

It is also very important to attend conferences and workshops. If one goes as a speaker, he or she can use the visibility of the conference platform as a means to network, create a reputation for having a certain type of expertise, learn from others who have different viewpoints or specialties, and justify travel expenses. If one goes as an attendee, he or she can accomplish many of the same objectives, sans the visibility of being on the official program. Conferences vary widely in price, but several hundred dollars for conference fees, and $1500 for food, lodging, and travel might be typical for a four-day national conference. Regional conferences are typically less expensive across the board, as they are held at less expensive facilities, have smaller conference fees, and may be within driving distance. I plan to attend a one-day workshop in Atlanta within the next month or so. That will cost $149 for the workshop fee, and mileage expenses (about a three-hour drive). Annually, one should probably budget at least a few thousand dollars for these activities (e.g., four or five), and of course, the “sky is the limit.”

Networking soirées are all over the place. These happen in any given community as social, cultural, and business events. Organizations such as a local chamber of commerce will often sponsor gatherings that allow people to mingle and meet over drinks and light fare. Many cities have bona fide networking clubs, which are operated to provide a free exchange ideas, resources, and contacts. The entry fee for most of these events is low: $30 may be typical. How often should one attend? Oh, I’d say about a hundred dollars-worth per month would prevent anyone from accusing you of being reclusive.

Professional memberships are also important. For any given discipline or area of specialization, there are probably three or four associations or similar organizations that one should join. (Hint: discounts on conference fees, publications, and other perks are usually available to members as an incentive to join). Being an active member is also important. Try to contribute in some way, besides paying membership dues. You can participate in the conferences and support the organization’s sponsors (which keeps the organization viable), serve on committees or in leadership positions, be responsive to other members, provide pro bono services, or the like. While fees and the availability of memberships varies widely, $1000 per year would be a good place to start.

Some training is covered above in the context of workshops and conferences, but you may want to also consider taking a formalized course from time-to-time, or even enrolling in a degree or certificate program. On a smaller scale, you could buy software, take courses, and stay current on the Internet (e-learning is predicted to be a major trend). If you are now convinced about implementing the suggestions that I have mentioned above, but still looking to cut costs, you can certainly spend time in the library, and online, conducting research and staying current. I would recommend that you do not attempt to cut all of the costs, because that would mean that I am back to square one, with regard to the purpose of this article. The issue is discipline, and creating positive habits. (Remember, I said that the book club circular ensures my own habitual behavior? Meeting announcements, membership and subscription renewals, and other regular reminders will help you make sure that you follow-through with action – if you are determined to do so in the first place, of course).

What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?

Now, some people will say they can’t afford to invest in books, conferences, workshops, and the other tools that would aid their efforts to either stay current, or advance in their careers. I would reply that it’s a matter of attitude and planning, at least to a great extent.

Can you afford to pay for your own professional development?

Well, that’s up to you, and your own attitude, and the choices that you make about your career and your business pursuits.

One’s own professional development (and the development of employees, assuming that you are still working on your business plan) is a far better investment than just about anything else you can buy. Paying attention to your own professional development, and addressing the means by which you will grow the people in your organization within the pages of your business plan will assist you in proving that you are long-sighted, adaptable, and worthwhile investment, yourself (if you are seeking outside capital).

As for me, I figure the several thousand dollars per year that I keep investing will eventually be worth far more than what I have spent. I know what I won’t have if I don’t invest: No current knowledge; no contacts; no contracts; no industry knowledge; and no ability to demonstrate that I even have a clue about what’s going on, as a so-called professional, among my cohorts in academia or the business community.

That would be a very high price to pay, indeed.

Permission Email Marketing Tips for Offline Small Business Owners

Unless your small business is situated under a rock, you’ve probably heard something about email marketing by now, and you may have even wondered if it’s time for your small business to get into it.

In its simplest terms, email marketing means communicating with consumers through email. But there’s a big difference between trying to talk to consumers who never asked to be talked to in the first place, and talking to your own customers, who at some point have said, “Yes, I’d love to hear from you.”

That’s where permission email marketing comes in. Permission email marketing means giving valuable information to consumers who have requested to receive it. It is the ONLY legitimate way to send an email marketing campaign, and it is the only way your small business can benefit from email marketing.

But how do you get your customers to say “I do”?

If you have an online business, or if your offline business has a website that receives many visitors, compiling subscribers can be as easy as adding a subscription box to your website. You would offer users something valuable, like a periodical newsletter or emails with discount coupons and, in return, your users would subscribe to your mailing list.

Sounds great. But what if your business is primarily offline, and what if you don’t even have a website?

Many businesses think that’s reason enough to step out of email marketing altogether. But what they’re missing here is that compiling a permission email marketing list offline can be as easy, if not easier in some instances, as building a list online.

We have advised many clients on tips to collect email addresses at the point of purchase. Here are some of our favorite tactics:

– Collect business cards, Offer a prize.

This is one of the oldest, most proven methods of collecting customer information in-store. Your prize doesn’t even have to be huge. If you own a restaurant, it can be as simple as a free dinner for two. If you own a hair dresser, it can be as easy a 50% off coupon towards their next cut. The beauty here is that customers who submit their business cards have expressed genuine interest in your products or services. So when you contact them by email with further offers, you know you’re talking to people who want to buy what you’re selling.

The one thing to keep in mind here is that you MUST inform users that by submitting their business cards, they are agreeing to receive email communication from you. This can be as simple as adding a sign to the business card drop-off box saying: “We will send you an email to notify you if you have won. We may also send you periodical emails with special offers and announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails from us, please write ‘No Email’ on your business card.”

– Start a V.I.P. Club

Many consumers like the idea of belonging to something exclusive, and receiving offers that are extended only to a select group of people. The labor on your part is minimal. It’s as easy as keeping a notebook by the cashier. As a customer comes up to complete a purchase, casually tell them about your businesses’ V.I.P. Club and ask them if they would like to join. Customers will appreciate this if you position it as a rewards club, or a way to say “Thank you, we love to have you around” to your most loyal customers. Of course, you should offer V.I.P. Club membership to any of your consumers, as you may find, once you start emailing them offers, that’s a great way to build your most loyal customers. Make sure the offers you send them are, in fact, exclusive, and that you email V.I.P. Club members often enough, but not too often to become annoying (once or twice a month is usually a good interval).

Again, when you’re collecting customer emails for the V.I.P. Club, make sure your customers know they’re signing up to receive email offers from you.

***

These are just some ideas to get your permission email marketing subscriber list started. The best news here is that compiling a list is actually the toughest part of managing an email marketing campaign. As long as you’re using an email marketing manager program that’s specifically designed for small businesses like yours, the rest of the process is a breeze.

Creating a campaign involves little more than selecting a professionally-designed template, typing text and choosing a few good images. Your campaigns will be scheduled and sent automatically, so you’ll never have to worry about being involved in that part.

What you will get to do (and this is probably the most exciting and most rewarding part of email marketing), is analyze your campaign after it’s been sent. You’ll be able to see how many people opened your email message, how many people clicked on each link within the message and, best of all, exactly who did what. Now that’s what we call accurate, detailed, and immediate consumer research (you actually get to track your consumers’ actions from the exact moment they happen). And while you would previously pay a fortune just to get this research data, today your small business can send professional email marketing campaigns and track detailed consumer behavior for less than it would cost you to print store flyers.

It’s the new age of marketing, and there’s never been a better time for your offline small business to get into the game.

How to Pick Your Business Proposal Writing Solution

Looking for a solution to help you write business proposals contracts, RFPs or grant applications? There are three main types of proposal writing systems available on the market:

Desktop software and template-based for PCs and Macs
Monthly paid subscription web-based services
Expensive enterprise class solutions

The prices of the various products vary; so do their features and how many add-on services you may have to purchase to make use of the system. How do you know which system is right for you? Here are basic descriptions and pros and cons of each system to help you decide.

Template-based products generally contain a variety of Microsoft Word documents that will work in many platforms and word processors, along with instructions, samples, and sometimes additional software to help manage the assembly or other processing of documents into a final polished proposal. To use a template-based proposal writing product, you simply download the product to your personal computer, and then use the templates with your word processing program to put together a proposal and print it or save it as a PDF for electronic delivery by uploading to a web site or sending via e-mail.

Template-based products are generally the easiest solutions to get started with, because most people already know how to use their word processing software. If you work remotely or while traveling, you can use a template-based product on any laptop or tablet with a word processor, regardless of whether you have an Internet connection at the time.

The license fee for a template-based product is a one-time license fee, and you can use the product as many times as you like, and as often or intermittently as you like without incurring additional costs. There are no ongoing subscription fees to contend with (which will substantially increase your total costs beyond the costs of template-based products within a couple months); you have complete control over the product material and you manage your proposal content (when you deal with trade secrets and confidential data you don’t want to be giving access to all of that material to an unknown entity that may not be able to keep your information secure).

The main issue to consider in template-based products is that the different offerings vary widely in quality, so carefully compare the actual contents of packages to be sure you’re getting the best value and a quality product. Look at packages carefully to avoid the low-quality knock-offs and don’t be afraid to ask questions and review demos.

Web-based proposal writing systems are exactly what they sound like: you type your proposal information into a web site to create your proposal online and your potential clients look at your web based proposal online. Advantages of using a web-based system are that it usually has a low starting cost (but those monthly fees add up quickly and quickly surpass the cost of a PC/Mac template package) and you don’t have to download and install a program to your personal computer, so it may initially seem cheaper and faster to use. Also, after your proposal is posted, you may have access to some analytics, such as the ability to track how many people view your proposal. However it is typically better to simply reach out to your prospects with the personal touch of a phone call or e-mail and you will gather more-or-less the same information.

A big disadvantage to using a web-based system is that the proposal software and your business information are stored on the web. A web-based system is potentially more at risk from hackers, because the data from thousands of businesses presents a high-value target for hackers seeking confidential business information. Also, a web-based solution may not be available when you need it, like those times you can’t log in when you are flying or on the road. You should also consider whether or not you can easily extract your proposal data from a web-based system for use elsewhere. Most web-based solutions are new business ventures without proven track records – and if you read some of their support blogs you will find out which ones have frequent web site outages.

Web-based programs generally offer users less guidance and formatting and styling options than template-based packages. Web programs typically favor more of a “blank slate” approach and are usually much more limited in the amount of actual proposal writing content (templates, samples, etc.) than a template-based package. Current web-based solutions do not offer many basic features or the layout, design, and graphics capabilities of word processing systems available on PCs, Macs, and tablets. You may be very restricted in how you can create, format, and lay out your proposal, so you might not end up with the most polished looking proposal when you use a web-based system (or even a web-based word processor).

Web-based systems are not very well designed for responding to RFP’s or grant requests. Most of the time you have to follow strict guidelines for how proposals are to be written, formatted and submitted that cannot be done with web-based subscription services. While it may seem they offer something “new” in a web-based interface they are typically 10 years or more behind the curve in creating proposal writing content and polished professional proposals versus other solutions.

While a web-based solution may initially seem like the lowest cost product, keep in mind that a web-based business model depends on extracting monthly fees from customers, using a subscription payment plan. Over the course of just two or three months, a web-based solution will generally cost more than a downloaded product – and the costs will keep rising.

Now for the third category: enterprise class proposal solutions. These products are targeted for the use of big businesses. Often you cannot find a price or place an order online to download an enterprise product; you typically have to schedule a talk with a salesperson to get started. Plan on spending thousands of dollars or even tens of thousands of dollars on an enterprise solution, plan on significant setup time, and plan on bringing in consultants to set up and teach your employees how to use the system.

Enterprise proposal systems may be the best solution for large corporations that need widespread collaboration for their proposal projects and large sales teams, but enterprise systems are not designed (or priced) for individuals or small businesses. Even within large corporations, an enterprise proposal system is sometimes not the most efficient choice for doing a quick custom proposal or a small team project. Low-cost template-based solutions are frequently used by individuals or small teams within a large organization for one-off project proposals or to prototype a very complex proposal.

The three types of proposal software systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive; they can also work well together. You may want to pick multiple solutions to cover a wide array of situations and needs. Many users consider a downloaded template-based package a low-risk investment and a great addition to their basic business toolkits.

Most large corporations use template-based solutions alongside other systems for quick one-off proposals and prototyping. A template-based system allows users to work anywhere, view more samples and get more writing assistance, and use formatting tools to create a polished proposal that can be delivered in print or PDF format.

Template-based proposal kit systems are generally more efficient for smaller projects. And the information from these proposal kit template-based systems can often be uploaded to an enterprise system or to a web-based system when you want to use the extra analytics and other tools they offer.

Social Media Marketing: A New Era of the Booming Online Business Industry

You need new and inventive ways to connect with your customers and prospects. Social media is currently a very powerful tool to reach the masses.There are many ways to utilize social media. A highly utilized method is through influencer advertising. If you think it won’t work, just look at the thousands of companies that are having successes with it. Every organization and business is now connected via social media.

Having owned Physical Therapy clinics in the past, I wish I had known social media marketing strategies as I have now. Looking back on what was accomplished with conventional marketing, (advertising in local papers, radio, bringing lunch to doctors, distributing flyers and business cards, etc.) I would have grown my private practice better with this powerful tool. Being a business owner opened my mind to self sufficiency and to always seek out better ways to position myself towards my lifestyle goals.

WHAT IS INFLUENCER MARKETING?

The best advertising method of all times is word of mouth. It costs nothing for someone to tell someone else about your products or services. Another advantage of word-of-mouth marketing is that it keeps you on your toes. You must ensure customer satisfaction for them to refer your company to others. Influencer marketing goes along the line of a friend telling a friend about an experience with a product or a service.

First you start by identifying strategic individuals within your target market. These people are going to influence others. The idea is unpretentious- instead of Taco Bell telling you how amazing their new Taco is, a spectacular review from a famous food critic can do more. The food critic is the influencer. In this hypothetical scenario, Taco Bell uses them to generate influencer marketing.

HOW TO BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTE INFLUENCER ADVERTISING

One example of influencer marketing is a company called Fab Fit Fun. This company sends out monthly box subscriptions to those who love their products. Now, you never know what is in these boxes. It could be anything from a scarf, to a throw, and even some make up and perfume. Many people are leery about monthly subscriptions that charge directly to their credit cards monthly. These boxes automatically ship whether you want it or not. So how does this company overcome this hurdle? Well, they get celebrities like Rhianna and Tori Spelling to do influencer advertising for them. A simple video of Tori Spelling opening her box subscription, going through each item enthusiastically and then sharing it on her social media network just made this subscription system a hit.

Another company came up with an idea. The Younique cosmetic company came up with a product, a mascara that gave a dramatic lift to the eyes. Now, there are more companies out there who have the same product. How did they step up their game? Their Moodstruck 3-D fiber lashes looks great on just about anyone.

To prove their point, they gave out free mascara tubes to the general public. All these recipients had to do was to post a video of themselves on social media using the mascara. What happened next was history. The company had so many orders that they were on back order for six weeks. Every woman wanted to increase their lash volume. By showing how well this mascara does, the company created a hype. The demand was overwhelming.

Now, I kind of went all girl here. Mascaras and Fab Fit Fun. However, this is just a few of the many creative ways that companies conjure to move their product on the market. What made their strategy work?

It was providing VALUE. By providing more value than the other companies and being talked about on social media gave them an edge over their competitors.

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

We have heard of ordinary people posting simple funny videos on You Tube, Facebook, Pinterest, on Instagram which goes viral by simply being shared multiple times on all social media networks. This just proves that people are watching. They are hanging out on social media. They see products, events, and they share it on their social media circles. This is very powerful.

It is no wonder that during the past few years, big online retailers like Amazon, Wayfair, and the rest have utilized social media advertising. Even brick and mortar businesses like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, have gone online to expand their market. It is sad to contemplate that it is also due to this era of online advertising that many companies have to close their doors. The competition has become rabid. Those who do not step up to the plate lose. The most recent one closing as you might have heard is Hhgregg.

FINDING A KEY PLAYER

What if you can be the influencer in your online business? Yes, you can be the Key Player in this success. Yes, it is more than possible. This is how many online entrepreneurs have positioned themselves as the experts, coaches and founders of online business systems which has created wealth for themselves and others they have mentored.

How many times do you see pop up on your Facebook page “sponsored” ads of webinars, free E-books, free courses, free videos or free reports? This is the power of social media at work.

The new era is here. An average entrepreneur can leverage his advertising budget by effectively using social media to his advantage. This is because customers hang out on social media networks. This is a very effective way of reaching out to to prospects and introducing your product or services.

Moreover, if your ad also comes with an added value, customer response is overwhelming. It is going above and beyond what everyone else offers. This has been proven many times by local businesses offering products and services. A free dental cleaning coupon from a dentist can end up in a 4-5k sales in orthodontics or other dental services because of the one free offer.

Online coaches and online business experts who offer free webinars have been known to make thousands of dollars from memberships or purchases made by participants in one webinar alone. I sure have attended some of them, and although I have never really purchased a product or a system initially, it had opened my eyes to the possibilities. There are ways to earn income online and work your way to a passive and residual income.

Whether your goal is just to make extra income to supplement your current one or to make it a full time occupation, there are multitudes of systems and programs that you can get started with online. Many have plunged into online businesses full time and never looked back.

The key is to find your niche, find what feels good and right for you. Explore your passion, your talents and your goals. Then act on it. That first step is always the hardest.

Most successful online entrepreneurs not only “engage” in their business; they also “live” it.

After all, it is up to us to explore all possibilities and take advantage of opportunities presented to us. With the onset of the Social Media Marketing Evolution, the future of digital marketing is here.

10 Things a Small Business Can Write Off

We all have one fear in common – everybody is just a little bit afraid of the IRS. Although a little fear is healthy, for the small business owner or self-employed individual, too much fear of the IRS can be bad for the bottom line.

If you want to pay less income tax, take the time to learn what others in your industry are deducting, and track every legitimate business expense. The savings could easily be several hundred dollars. Start with these ten categories.

Home Office Expenses: If you operate your business from your home, a portion of your household insurance, rent, repairs, maintenance, utilities, and other expenses could be deductible.

Business Mileage: If you track every business mile driven, you’ll pay less tax. But, if those miles aren’t tracked properly they can be disallowed.

Interest on Business Debt: Monthly business checking account fees, bank overdraft penalties, business credit card finance charges, interest on a home equity loan taken out to fund your business, and annual credit card fees are all deductible.

Self-Employment Health Insurance: Self-employed health insurance costs are a business deduction, and are subtracted on your personal tax return.

IRA and Retirement Deposits: Self-employment and small business Retirement Accounts and IRA Deposits are also posted to your 1040 personal tax return.

Promotional Expenses: If you spent money, or traded goods, to get your business name or product out to the public, that cost is deductible as a promotional expense.

Seminars and Classes: Any classes that make you better at what you do to produce income, as well as general business classes are all deductible. Remember to record all mileage and travel expenses if you have them; those are deductible too.

Subscriptions: All magazines, newspapers and newsletters you purchase to enhance your business knowledge, including online subscriptions, can be deducted on your business tax return.

Rent: If you pay rent for an office, desk space, chair space, or storage space, rent tools or equipment, pay for loft space, or have other rent expenses within your business, those expenses are deductible.

Inventory: Inventory costs are only deductible as inventory is sold; unlike most other business expenses, it is not always deducted in the same year as the money is spent. The IRS has specific rules for inventory management.

A tax professional can only work from the information you provide, and unless you understand what you can and cannot deduct on a business return, even a good tax professional will miss valuable deductions. Keeping good records, documenting all business expenses are all you’ll need should an audit arise.

Small Home Biz – Top 10 Home Based Business Ideas and Opportunities For a Beginner

Kudos to the small home biz segment that brings into a significant number of the educated, senior and entrepreneur work force from the masses. This section comprises of the people who cannot resist the temptation of working in niche areas and utilizing their creative skills without the corporate intervention and hypes. The small home business sector provides them the essential opportunity they are searching for. No fancy skills like web designing, computer programming and scripting are required for these top 10 home based businesses. It is a small leap from a full-time office job to a full-time “working from home” which eventually gives way to flexible hours when there is a steady source of income.

My choice of “Top 10 home based businesses” that will give you an edge and expedite earnings to break even quickly with your investments are the ones that produce results and have ways to measure your incremental success in steps, however small. A birds eye view of the systems that will make you a self employed home biz owner –

Plug-In Profit Site (PIPS)

Niche Profit Classroom (NPC)

Ewen Chia’s Super Affiliate Inner Circle Club

Internet Marketing Centre (IMC)

Strong Future International (SFI)

Empowerism

Global Domain International (GDI)

The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (IAHBE)

Warrior Pro

The Reverse Funnel System

Plug-In Profit Site commonly known as the PIPS program comes with a complete money making system that runs on auto-pilot. The package has everything – a professional website, reputed 5 affiliate programs, pre-written sales letter and automated emails by an autoresponder. It is all about earning a residual income from the internet. The advantage of the program is that it gives a kick-start to a newbie who is readily equipped with a useful internet product. A small disadvantage of the system is the initial cost of the membership programs and a 30 days training series that may end up in a total spending spree for an inexperienced marketer.

Niche Profit Classroom is a membership program that I have found very helpful from my personal experience. NPC provides one-to-one support, premier web hosting for 15 domains and ready made high quality niche websites that are very easy to customize and deploy. The video tutorials are very educational and are made keeping the view of a novice who is new to the internet with no expertise in computer skills. Every month, you get instant access to two ready made businesses and a step by step approach to implement the blueprint. The membership fee is slightly on the higher side for newbies who have just come in but worth investing.

Ewen Chia’s Super Affiliates Inner Circle Club is a monthly membership program in which the super affiliate shares the secrets, strategies and resources on how to make a fortune from affiliate marketing and various other online techniques. The membership provides 5 modules out of which three of them provide new content every month. One of the modules contains products that you have PLR (Private Label and Resale Rights) that alone is worth your investment in the program.

Internet Marketing Centre has 12 modules and each module contains a number of lessons, resources along with bonus materials that are broken down into small steps so that you can follow the time-tested, proven business building techniques in order to make profits. There is an action plan for you to follow once you read the lesson. You should join only if you are serious and ready for investing a significant amount of the one time yearly fee. With the latest upgrade, it comes in different options of quarterly payment as well.

SFI for more than ten years is successfully showing masses how to build a highly profitable internet business from the comfort of the homes. By promoting TripleClicks, an online store, the affiliates can earn commissions by simply referring the people to store. To grow in SFI, you need strong referral and sponsoring skills that can be easily built up with the online SFI training.

Empowerism is a great web based home business that provides state-of the art website, powerful SEO tools to help drive free traffic to your site, comprehensive training with full access to resources and free “Excellence” magazine that is filled with latest online success tips and strategies. The only thing which may deter one’s online business is that one needs to be good in referring and building network.

IAHBE is an organization that champions the home-business opportunities and provides access to an unparalleled, one-of-a-kind business building arsenal of your own. You will have at your disposal, dozens of exclusive reports, interviews with the internet’s most successful entrepreneurs, and much more!

GDI Fight the recession with the most powerful home business, an easy program to build an income from home. GDI offers a great product – domain, web hosting and it is 100% free to sign up for. This eliminates a lot of objections that prospects have when they are looking at online business opportunities. There is absolutely no risk involved.

WarriorPro comes with a subscription to Host4profit, membership to the world famous Warrior Forum and a complete Ad tracking system. It pays you for each person that signs up for a Host4Profit hosting account either through your PIPS site or individually and is a great way of earning residual income.

The Reverse Funnel System is an extremely profitable business built in the PIPS website where you get 100% commissions. It is not a scam but requires a significant money amounting to $2K to $5K for the membership schemes that are quite expensive. Hence it isn’t for all and does not provide a launching pad for people who are not prepared to invest.

Today there are thousands making it big with their home based business. Success is certain for tenacious people who are there for the long haul. Just take up some or all of the above and give your best shot.

An Incredible Guide to Use Social Media for Business

Remember how “Paper Boat” created a mass engaging campaign on social media last year? It actually made them become one of the brightest stars of the startups in India. Not only the newbies, but the well-known companies like Make My Trip, AirBnB and Nike plus Social awareness groups like Deepika Padukone’s Live Love Laugh Foundation used the power of Social Media to create ripples on the World Wide Web. If used in a right manner, Social Media can give a massive upsurge to your business.

Let us see how:

Using Digital Media is an inexpensive deal. If your brand is cool, it can get cooler with the hype you can get on Social media. Considering the rise of internet usage in India, we are adopting the digital trends with a really fast pace. So, it has become really essential to have a digital profile.

Make sure to use these Social Media tips in your campaigns:

Post videos: The rate of video engagement is really very high. There are predictions that digital videos can replace the ads on TV. Keeping this in mind, if you invest on videos, you can get true engagements on social media. Live video streaming, creating personal stories as web series, vlogs and making engaging videos related to your business can help you gain more traffic.

Upload personalized content and creative pictures: If your content and images are catchy, unique, personalized and speaks of the brand’s story, you can get more likes. People are bored of the monotonous and old fashioned stock image of brands. Posts including fresh content and creative pictures related to real activities help in gaining more traffic on social media.

Concentrate more on Mobile: As we all know that Smart Phones are slowly replacing internet usage on desktops. So, create the content which is mobile friendly. Also, create posts for the local audience and distribute it according to the right format, time and location. It will help you in targeting maximum people.

Create technology driven posts: No matter how and what we think about Artificial Intelligence, we are curious about it, and we love to read and discuss it. As we all are embracing the machine culture to our everyday life, putting it on Social Media can create interesting engagements. Creating posts related to technology, innovations, facts related to technology and Artificial Intelligence can help you gain more traffic. You can club technology with travel sector, health care, education and even the daily activities like using home appliances and equipment. It not only makes life easier but can help you grab more likes.

Hire a professional: Handling Social Media for business is a little different from posting from your personal account. You should always hire the professionals for the job, if you think you are not handling it correctly. People who are professional understand the trends, they know how to make strategies and how to deal with issues coming on the way. They know how to get more engagements on your content and they can create impressive digital marketing posts. They have the knowledge of the major platforms and they can offer a seamless lift to your current status on the web. You can also outsource your digital media to the agencies working in the field.

Be available: There is no particular time on which a potential customer can visit you and look for business. So, it is always suggested that, be available to your audience, if not 24×7, at least during your work hours. Reply all the questions asked by your visitors, if you cannot do that on the spot, make sure to tell them to wait and once you can, answer the questions. Having conversations with people who pitch you on digital media can help you in getting recognition. Reply to your messages and comments. Be thankful when they share your posts, it will create communication and improve your social media reputation.

Use meaningful Hashtags: Hashtags are popular and you can get a lot of traffic to your digital media profiles with the use of this powerful tool. It helps in categorizing the posts and making your content noticeable to people who are looking for similar stories. It will also help you in discovering the posts from your competitors. With the help of hashtags you can connect with various brands and people of similar interest and create an engagement. Using hashtags, which are related to your business can bring a massive traffic.

Now, when you know the tips for making engaging posts, creative images and impressive content for your social media campaign, let us check where to put these posts.

Here are the popular platforms for social media:

Facebook: As we all know that Facebook is one of the top social networking sites in the world and it tops in India, it can give you great business. Ever since Facebook came, more and more people are joining it. You can create your business account on Facebook or start a fan page. It is one of the best platforms for any business to get global audience.

Facebook Messenger: Also known as Messenger, it offers text, voice and video communication and you can use it for the promotion of your brand and also for telling your customers about the new things happening in your company.

Google Plus: People were not very sure of its success when it was launched in 2011, but today there are more than 500 million users on Google+, which is also known as G+. You can easily add people of similar interests and organize your connections with this platform. It has a global reach and you can post and share your images, texts, videos and web links on G+. Being a product of Google, it helps in indexing the content on Google really fast.

Twitter: It is a micro-blogging site which offers a unique feature of sending your messages in 140 characters. If you can be miser on characters and you know how to build unique and catchy content, you can advertise your business effectively. You can interact, communicate, pass information, talk about the latest news and target your audience with your products by using Twitter. It is a powerful platform where you follow people and they do the same. You can like or re-tweet posts which you find interesting and send personal messages on DM (Direct Message).

LinkedIn: It is a professional community where people can build their business or professional profiles. If you want to connect with professionals working in the similar field LinkedIn is the perfect platform. Here you can check the profiles of professionals because it has their education qualification, past work experiences, business network. Also, if you want to build a network of local professionals, you will find countless registered users.

YouTube: Founded by three former PayPal employees, YouTube is the most popular platform for video sharing. Each month, more than 1 billion visitors hit the website. You can upload your videos and reach maximum potential clients through video advertising on YouTube.

WhatsApp Messenger: For instant texting, WhatsApp is a great platform which you can use for your business. You can share texts, images, videos and voice clips through your Smart phone or Tablet. It is an effective platform for instant communication with your customers. You can also run your company’s ad campaign on WhatsApp.

Instagram: Instagram is a Social Networking platform where you can upload your pictures and videos. It has an amazing feature of filters through which you can edit your pictures and this makes Instagram a unique platform loved by millions of users. Instagram came in 2010, and Facebook bought it in 2012. Since then, the number of people on Instagram has up surged in a very high pace (as Instagram is linked to Facebook profile). Popular for its hashtags, Instagram can help in getting your business content viral instantly.

If you are not a part of these platforms, you must join these and start uploading your stories. It will not take much time to reach your target. So, you know what to upload of Social Media, where to post your content, your work will not end here, you will have to monitor your activities and the results. So that if you are not getting the desired traffic or result, you can change the strategy or work harder.

Managing and monitoring Digital Media:

It is not an easy task to manage all your accounts for Social Media and it is a time consuming task to login and log out from each of the sites. To make your task easier, you should start using Hootsuite and to manage your multiple Twitter accounts Tweetdeck is a perfect option.

· Hootsuite: It is one of the amazing options to monitor your postings on social media. It helps you in checking any activity involving your company or name. It also shows the areas of your interest.

· Tweet deck: If you use Twitter, you must not miss this resource. It will help you in managing multiple Twitter accounts plus it helps in organizing the mention and other engagements. You can jump into any topic of interest by searching it instantly.

Analyzing your social media insights:

To analyze the insights of your social media for business, you can use any of these services:

• HubSpot: If you want to see how far your social media efforts have gone, you must use this resource. It will let you know all about your social media posts.

• Facebook Page Manager: If you run a Facebook fan page, you must check the insights. It will help you in monitoring the traffic. You can check the most popular posts, from where the traffic comes and you can also connect with your audience by replying to them directly.

• Seesmic: For those who want to manage all the Social Media accounts from a single resource, this is a great application. You can use Seesmic on your desktop as well as a Smart Phone.

• Klout: Another amazing platform to check your Social Media reach is Klout. It helps in checking the most popular hashtags, posts and your overall progress of the Social Networking Sites.