10 Things Every Small Business Website Requires
November 12th, 2010
Posted By: Andy Willoughby
This is Entrepreneur.com’s top 10 list of small business website accessories. Stay focused, simple and make sure you search engine optimize.
1. A clear description of who you are
Someone who stumbles upon your website shouldn’t have to do investigative work to figure out what, exactly, it is that you do. That means clearly stating your name and summing up your products or services right on the homepage, says John Zhuang, of Web-design and SEO-optimization firm Winning Interactive.
2. A simple, sensible Web address
Don’t make things complicated.
“Your domain name is like your brand. It should be easy for a user to type it into a Web browser or an e-mail address,” says Ron Wright, the founder of business Web design and online marketing firm Accentix.
3. An easily-navigated site map
Clear links to the most important pages, and a site map, are crucial for guiding visitors to the information they’re looking for.
“Be sure your navigation is clearly laid out. I always recommend using drop downs in the navigation menu so the visitor can see the content under every heading from virtually any page. You want to make it very easy for your visitors to find what they are looking for, or what you want them to know,” Wright suggests.
4. Easy-to-find contact information
You wouldn’t want to lose a customer to a competitor just because you made it difficult for them to get in touch with you.
“Not every online visitor has the patience to click through every page on your website to find the contact information,” says Zhuang
5. Customer testimonials
Honest words from others help make your products or services more tangible to customers who are visiting you online.
“They help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new,” Zhuang says. “[And they] help shoppers to confirm whether the product [or] services meet their needs.”
59 Business Networking Commandments by SmallBizTrends.com
November 10th, 2010
Posted by: Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan, home-based business system
Here are a few business networking strategies that Dian Helbig reviewed on smallbiztrends.com.
1. Identify where you should go. All venues are not right for all people. You owe it to yourself to do your research and find the venues that make sense for your business.
2. Make a decision about which organizations you should join and which you don’t have to join in order to gain value from their events. For example, does it make sense to join a local chamber of commerce, or just go to the events that sound interesting and will most likely include people you should meet?
3. Register for the event and schedule it like a business meeting. Many people either don’t sign up for events or sign up for them and then forget to go.
4. Determine how often you should be networking in a given week, month or quarter. This will help you narrow down where you should be going.
5. Develop open-ended questions you can use to ignite a conversation. Try to find unique questions; don’t ask the same old “So, what do you do?” if you can help it.
6. Attend events with a plan to learn something new. This will keep you from talking too much about yourself and your business.
7.Prepare yourself physically and mentally for the event.
- Dress appropriately.
- Bring business cards.
- Turn your phone off or set it to vibrate.
25 New Technology Trends To Help Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners Who are Starting New Businesses in 2011
November 2nd, 2010
Posted by: Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan Home Based Business System
Technology trends are constantly evolving, and sometimes, entrepreneurs and business owners will need to decide if it’s time to update their products and infrastructure.
Here are a few products and technology services that every entrepreneur or business owner needs to see from www.Entrepreneur.com
- Web Based Office Software
The major software players are in a battle royal to sell you word processing, spreadsheets and other web-based office software. There’s Google with its Google Apps office suite, Microsoft with Microsoft Office software tools and Adobe with its Buzzword online word processor–not to mention new entrants like Zoho and ThinkFree. Yes, cloud-based office tools really can save you money and make the tech aspect of your business more efficient. All your work can be backed up, accessed and–most important–shared in real time from anywhere that has a web connection.
2. Mobile business apps
All that cool software on Apple’s iPhone really does have some competition: Google’s Android Market, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World and Microsoft’s Marketplace for mobile apps offer software that compete step for step with code coming out of Apple’s App Store. Troll the app markets for tools you can use in your business. (See related story, “The Smartphone Gets Smarter.”)
3. The touch kiosk
Perhaps the iPhone’s greatest gift to business society is that it got us in touch with touch. Devices like desktop HP TouchSmart 600t ($1,030) and AcerAspire Z5600 ($950), as well as printers from Epson like the Artisan 810 ($299) now come with powerful touch-activated options.
4. Office in a box
Ever wonder why you need all those different phone servers, e-mail servers, routers and document servers stuffed into your tech room? The truth is, you don’t. Products like the Sutus BC 200 (price starts at $2,000) and edgeBOX office SOHO (price varies by configuration) are combining phone servers, e-mail servers, routers, document servers and firewalls into a single low-cost device.
How To Execute Small Business Ideas
October 29th, 2010
Posted By: Andy Willoughby
Scott Belsky, entrepeneur and author of Making Ideas Happen, argues that most entrepreneurs struggle with jumping from one idea to another without following through and executing one solid idea and putting in into action.
From an article on Entrepreneur.com about Belsky, written by Tim Beyers, Beyers reports on Belsky, saying that startup failure rates suggest he is right, and he has built a business to address the problem. Belsky is the founder of Behance LLC, a firm in New York City which operates a networking website for creative professionals called The Behance Network, a tip site for productivity junkies called The99Percent.com, and sells web-based productivity software based on the Action Method.
The Action Method breaks work into a series of steps represented by verbs that specify the next things to be done in executing an idea. Write the plan. Ship the product. Invoice the customer. Belsky’s has three tips for using the Action Method to create a company that executes.
1. Hire the killjoys.
The first step to activating the Action Method, Belsky says, is to create an “immune system” that kills ideas. This means hiring killjoys to capture every action step and say no to new ideas — rightfully so, in most cases.
“It’s important for entrepreneurs to hire people they don’t necessarily want to have a beer with but who can be the immune system in their startup,” Belsky says.
2. Work with a bias toward action.
No doubt accountability is a key feature of the action-oriented startup, but perhaps the most important attribute is a propensity to act. For that to occur, Belsky says entrepreneurs need to unlearn some things.
3. Change your vocabulary.
While taking action can be the key to getting unstuck, talking action is often necessary to produce growth. “You need an environment where people are obsessed with taking action steps,” Belsky says.
Andy Willoughby’s Press Release Posted On MSNBC.Com Regarding How to Get Out of Credit Card Debt
October 27th, 2010
Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan, reviewed how some business owners may be able to get out of credit card debt. Approximately 576.4 million credit cards are in circulation in the U.S., according to CreditCards.com. The press release and white paper explains that if you really want to get out of debt, plan ahead.
“Do not use any credit cards without the intention of paying them off immediately. Additionally, call your bank to find out if any line of credit is available to you in case of a company emergency,” Willoughby said. “In order to keep the cash-flow stable, consider your hiring process. Do not over-hire and make sure you are willing to pay yourself first to cover debt; a company will not evolve without its leader taking in some money each month. Also, it is important to be compliant with the rules, regulations and laws around the type of entity you are operating under, i.e. LLC, corporation or sole proprietorship,” said Willoughby.
Three Key Questions To Ask Yourself When Starting A Business
October 20th, 2010
Posted by: Andy Willoughby
Entrepreneurs learn to appreciate businesses challenges, and for some of us, we learn to accept these challenges after we launch a company. However, this is not always the case for everyone. Sometimes it is best to take some advice from others when you are reviewing a company. Brad Sugars, writer for Entrepreneur.com, assesses his personal experiencesand shares three key questions he found to be helpful.
- Is there really a market for my product or service?
A truly viable market is an existing market in which people already spend money.Be careful in categories that are mature or with products that are essentially commodities (meaning buyers always buy based on the lowest price because there is no product differentiation). While you can make money in those markets, it is very difficult, unless you have a truly innovative answer to a long-standing industry issue or your product can always sell at a premium price point.
You also need to know what share of the market your competition has (keeping in mind the top three players in any industry will have the lion’s share of the revenues), based on the total value of the market in your area.
One of my former clients was a struggling transmission shop in an area with seven other shops and a total market for transmission services at less than $1 million per year. Some quick math will immediately show you why my client (and others) were having a rough go; there simply wasn’t enough business to go around.
You can also save yourself a lot by testing and measuring your product and service on a limited basis to a small test market.
In retail, this could mean finding “shelf space” by placing your product on a consignment basis with an established retailer, or going to local markets (flea, swap, farmers), setting up shop and seeing how things go.
In a service industry, this could mean partnering with an established company and offering your service as an added-value proposition (think web design services to an established conventional advertising firm).
The bottom line is if you are successful on a part-time or limited basis, the odds are good you’ll also do well full time, because you are successfully meeting the needs of a niche that is untapped or under-served.
- Do I have enough capital?
All companies need capital to survive, and a good rule is to have at least 18 months of both business and living expenses covered before going into business full time.Of course, that’s just a general number, and some companies (including my own) have “cash-flowed” themselves to success. But doing that requires a lot of creativity, courage and flexible terms with vendors and creditors (which these days can be tougher than it was several years ago).
So how much do you need?
A lot depends on your personal situation. Are you single, or do you have a family? Are you young (under 25) or a bit older (say over 40)? Are you willing to sacrifice and go without until your company gets going? Is your family?
Only you have the answers for yourself.
But above all, be as objective as possible and use the numbers as your guide. Ultimately, the numbers will determine your overall viability and success.
- Do I really know my numbers?
Numbers are the language of business, and you need to know and be able to measure your numbers to succeed and survive.What do I mean?
If you look at your projections and see limited positive cash flow and marginal profit on paper, there is little chance you will see anything different in the market.
You can rationalize all you want about what a great salesperson you are, or tell yourself that “if you build it, they will come,” but you need brutal honesty about the viability of a business that doesn’t show cash flow and profit in the planning stages.
Simply put, how much of your product or service do you need to sell every day to break even? How much to profit? How much does it cost you to get a new customer? How much will that customer buy the first time around? When will that customer buy again (knowing that repeat business is really where your profits lie)?
On the other side, what are your true costs?
Again, in the planning stages, nothing is really known. To get a better picture, add 30 percent to whatever you expect the expenses will be and reduce your expected revenue by 50 percent.