Article by Ron C.

You must have heard ’bout Dan Kennedy, the famous guru of small business marketing and advertisement. Go ask your neighbor Tom, an established online home-based small business entrepreneur, and he will recite you the whole life story of the famous Dan Kennedy.

Anyway, just so you know, this is what his website says about him:

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Question by BearLab: I would like to start a small business in Arizona but am currently living in Pennsylvania?
My husband will be transfered to Phoenix, AZ area, but not for 4 months and I would like to get going on my small business plans (estate sales/appraisals) from Pennsylvania that I want to start in Arizona. Do you think that this is feasible? At least to get the legwork down, make contacts, marketing, etc. What would you do?

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Article by Andrew Baird

In the past years, only large companies utilize costly online marketing strategies. Those were the times when small businesses do not see the need to use internet marketing. However, these days, searches for small businesses replaced the yellow pages. It means that if your small business is not advertised online, it will not grow, and there is a high chance that it will not last long.

There are many methods that you can use for small business advertising. One method is ad posting. This can be very profitable and productive if done properly, and can also be a waste of time and money if not accomplished right. There are sites such as Backpage that get a lot of classified ads postings and allow both graphic and text advertisements. However, many settle for the usual black and white text ads because they do not know or understand the html web language used to create picture advertisements. Thus, it is important to make an ad that is sure to grab the potential clients

Article by Bret Pippen

Securing financing through small business loans is a common pursuit for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Many good business ventures fall by the way side for lack of funding. Leveraging borrowed money is an important strategy for many small businesses. And, it can mean the difference between success or failure for your business.

Understanding why you need financing is important for your lenders. They can determine, based on your need, the most appropriate terms and manage the level of risk associated with the loan.

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Article by John Utz

Marketing is cited as one of the biggest challenges for most small businesses. Yet, despite this, they still need to market to market to grow. And without marketing, it is likely any business will stagnate and decline. For the small business, the marketing challenge results from a lack of time and lack of cash to invest.Fortunately, content marketing effectively eliminates both challenges. Not only is it cost effective, it is also not time intensive. In addition, it is highly scalable once the content is created. And the end result for all small businesses is increased traffic to your on and offline locations as well as growth in sales.What is content marketing?Content marketing is the process of identifying opportunities to deliver relevant, usable and valuable information to customers. It is then about using those opportunities to promote your organization.And as it turns out, in a world over saturated with advertising, the quickest way to close the sale is to help your customers first, to prove trustworthy. Then, if they are in the market for what you sell and you have helped them by providing objective, valuable information, it is proven that they are highly likely to purchase from you. You simply need to include a non invasive resource box at the end of the content.Note: A resource box is a small blurb at the end of the content that highlights your organization, product or service and asks the consumer to take a specific action. It is not a hard sell – which isn’t needed if you have properly built trust and proven a credible expert.How is content marketing delivered?How do you get content in the hands of potential customers? Content marketing delivers its message in three primary ways:* Through the vast number of sites across the internet* Through online discussions and communities* Through search enginesThrough these means you can gain visibility almost free using content.At the end of the day, content marketing uses highly trafficked websites communities, news services and search engines to share information. Why does it work?The internet was invented for sharing information. From this you can draw the conclusion that the best way to market on the internet is using information. Need more evidence? Just look at the most profitable business models of the internet, search and content portals. Their focus is using information and content to sell advertising. The bottom line is that the idea of information sharing aligns with the reason that people use the internet, to find information. In fact, anywhere from 50-65% of searches on the internet are focused only on information, having nothing to do with commerce. People seek information first and use it to inform their purchases.Search engines also put higher weight on content rich information. In turn ranking content rich sites higher in their results. A simple search for “digital camera” will reveal this fact. Most of the top results in Google, outside the paid advertisements, are for reviews. And unless you already know what camera you want, you are more than likely going to click on one to learn more.Then, after reading one of the reviews, you might move on to purchase the camera – fully informed. Well what if you had provided one of those reviews to a potential customer with a link back to your online site selling cameras, and a coupon for first time purchasers? I bet you would have earned the sale. On the internet, content rules – even as a sales and marketing tool. What does this mean for the small business?Content marketing gives small business a way to compete. On the internet, money doesn’t matter. The value of the content is what matters. Therefore, by creating quality content and distributing it online, small businesses can generate enormous traffic and capture new customers. Content marketing also provides the opportunity for small business to to build trust and credibility with millions of potential customers online at little or not cost. Content marketing is therefore truly a revolution in small business advertising. And content marketing has proven itself to work time and time again, for small organizations to giants like Southwest Airlines. Yet, to date, the potential of content marketing has been largely ignored. Those who sell traditional advertising have no incentive to promote it. And as it is also a relatively new concept, you are unlikely to find much published about it. Yet this same lack of attention provides the opportunity for small businesses to sneak in under the radar and seize customers, with little resource investment. A few examples of content marketing in action* An article placed on a site such as ezinearticles.com* Participation in a community discussion on startupnation.com* An online press release directed toward customers and optimized for certain keywords* A podcast published through one of numerous online servicesThe options are endless… Give it a try.Get the official guide to content marketing at SBIMOnline.

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Article by Mia Cusack

It’s just as difficult to gauge the likely success of an advertisement as of any creative work. Directors are never sure which movies will be hits, bands don’t know which songs will be the most appreciated… if they did, they’d simply follow the formula every time! The need for novelty and uniqueness means that advertisers are constantly testing the waters with their business advertising. However, there are some ground rules to help you foster a basis for excellence. We examine those eight elements of excellence in small business advertising here!

1. Know your target

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Article by Will Spencer

A small business plan outlines the purpose and goals of a business. A business plan is helpful when applying for funding for start-up or operational expenses. Before beginning a plan, individuals must identify the following: the product to be offered by the business, potential customers, and the means by which the business will be funded. Keep in mind that an effective business plan takes more than a few days to write.There are many key components that should be included in a business plan. The first is a mission statement that details the major goals of a business. A successful mission statement will pique the interest of potential investors and clients. Secondly, a business owner should provide a detailed description of the business. This can include the types of products offered, how the company began, and how the company will realize its goals. A successful business plan also includes a defined market for the product it offers. Business owners should think about who they expect will buy their product. They should also research the market for their product to provide evidence of a need for their goods. Next, a business owner should outline the management of the business by setting a certain number of jobs and describing the responsibilities of each. The next steps of a business plan are to define the product offered and compare it to the competition. Product descriptions should include materials needed and the production process. Lastly, a business plan should include goals for future growth, including how growth will be funded and executed. Some business owners also prefer to follow the completed plan with a summary of their company and key parts of their plan.Find restaurant advertising generally refers to the process by which restaurant owners find efficient ways to promote their business. Effective advertising gives a business a competitive advantage to businesses, which expands the number of customers a business receives. There are many traditional and non-traditional ways to find restaurant advertising.One method of traditional advertising, through newspapers, varies in price according to which newspaper and what options are chosen for the ad. Major newspapers may charge up to or more than seven hundred dollars per day for any size of ad. However, they also give discounts of thirty to fifty percent for individuals who buy large ads or pay for their ad to appear on multiple pages. The rates of smaller community newspapers may be considerably lower, but the ad will not reach as many potential customers. Billboard advertising costs seven hundred to three thousand dollars per day, but they also have a tendency to reach many more possible clients.The Internet has created new ways for business owners to find restaurant advertising. An individual may add his or her restaurant to search engine directories for as low as twenty dollars per month. Business owners may also consider paying another company or individual to design a website specifically for their restaurant. The rates of custom websites range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of the website. Restaurant owners should also invest the inexpensive means of finding restaurant advertising. Business cards, flyers, brochures, and postcards can also be used to expand the number of customers a business receives.

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Article by Tom Clifton

Small Business Plan

One of the key issues with business success is the small business plan. No plan – no direction – no progress. Each business needs to have an overall plan plus a detailed plan for each quarter, month, week and day.

Just to turn up at the workplace and react to the situation of the day is not an option. Your competition will swallow you unless you take action every working day. Consistency is the key here. Set up your plan carefully and then stick with it – through hell and high water.

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Article by Celeste Parker

People, who do business on small scale, often are at the mercy of lenders in availing much required finance. Lenders see offering loan to these business persons as risky. This is because small scale businesses are generally labeled as unstable. These people can take resort in commercial small business loan that is designed to provide hassle free funds at better terms and conditions. Small scale business operators can utilize commercial small business loan for starting or expending business, buying equipments, purchasing raw material, adding new technology or even clearing debts and improving credibility.

Like any other loan, commercial small business loan is provided under secured and unsecured options. To take secured commercial small business loan, business persons are required to place any of their business property like plant, machinery or equipment as collateral with the lender. Once the loan is fully secured, commercial small business loan seekers are in commanding position in deciding over the loan deal. Lenders may consider revising downward the interest rate which matters the most for small scale businesses.

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Small Business Taxes Made Easy, Second Edition

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Financial Management 101: Get a Grip on Your Business Numbers (Numbers 101 for Small Business)

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The Women’s Small Business Start-Up Kit: A Step-by-Step Legal Guide

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