Inspirational Tips On Starting A Business Blog To Really Connect

September 7, 2010

If you’ve noticed, everybody seems to have a blog these days including moms, churches and students and even your favourite virtual assistant. Do you have one? If you maintain a blog that is in line with the development of your website, you should never underestimate just how much business you can get from it.

Basically, business websites are where you go to do business. The pages within will tell visitors exactly what you do and go into detail about everything. They can find out all they want to know about hiring a gardener, choosing flowers, buying seeds and landscaping their dream garden if that is where your business is at. What they don’t usually find out about is your personal life.

Within a website, you can connect by reading the content. If you like what you “hear,” on many occasions you want to learn more. Readers may even want to know what is behind your passion for the sort of business that you have created. These details are not normally included in the website.

And, words can sometimes be deceiving. People can – and do promise a lot, but they rarely deliver on anything real. It can be hard to trust a voice coming through words on a screen without a face or any other information to go with it, backing it up, so to speak.

Blogs

Originally, blogs were online journals. In many respects, they still are. A blog is less business-like and more personal. Personal is what your readers will want from you. On a blog, they can meet you on another level that will help them to appreciate you even more on a business level.

Don’t think that you have to reveal all of your dirty secrets here, though! You are more interested in building relationships. So, in the interest of that, you can be the first to extend the olive branch.

Blogs are so successful, because readers and potential customers can interact with you all the time. They can sign in and give great feedback every day if they want.

Your posts don’t have to be very formal. Start by introducing yourself and talking about your road to the online business world. It is an opener that could be just enough to draw your readers in.

Communicating

When readers leave feedback they are responding to posts. Will you leave it at that? Remember that communication is two-way. Answer their comments as often as you can – which needs to be more often than not. Maintain a conversation with the people who have taken the effort to start it off.

Any online business consulting firm will say that blogging for business is a very useful tool for building relationships with readers and customers alike. It gives them a chance to see you as a real person just like them and not just a name who wants their sale. So make the change, and start building real and meaningful relationships, right away, and take your business to the next level! If you’d like some help, keep your virtual assistant in mind!

Sites, that you like, will benefit when you link back to them on your site. Organic links such as this will score higher in search engine terms, as opposed to simple link exchanges. Post reviews on their blogs within yours, or write posts that draw attention to each. This is essentially a review without calling it that.

Getting to know your readers by regular interaction is beneficial to you both. Those organic links work both ways. The beauty of all of this is that you never know who will become aware of your existence, due to your relationship building efforts and commenting work.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **Blogs**, **eBusiness**, Development | Comments

Surefire Tips On Social Bookmarking Services And Establishing Reader Relationships

August 26, 2010

Who wouldn’t want to be viewed as an expert in their field? This can lead to increased traffic, additional sales, enhanced credibility and more visibility. The readers that you already have and your activity with social bookmarking services and sites can really help you out.

When you find something that you love to read, you want to tell everyone. You want to remember where it is located, as well. This is the essence of social bookmarking, after all. When you provide good quality content, your readers are happy. They are sometimes so happy that they will bookmark your content on their favourite social bookmarking site.

You can come across social bookmarking services and sites for everything under the sun. Readers can tag content, videos, pictures and more. You can set up your own account at these locations and add icons to your online sites and blogs as well. The sites don’t copy your content but index a link to it when someone bookmarks it. This content or media is assessed by other members, who will vote on its merits. You could even be featured on the front page. Your inclusion here could bring you more visitors.

There is one crucial point: Readers won’t bookmark your stuff if you don’t try to build relationships with them. By listening to what is returned to you in surveys, you should make appropriate changes to your product lineup or website. If people know they are being listened to, they will respect you.

Keep going from here. Your readers may be writers in their own right. Take the time to find out what your visitors really like. If you find that they have their own blogs, visit and interact. When you come across some of their posts that you like, bookmark them. You might find some of their content already bookmarked and you should leave comments and vote on this.

Whenever somebody posts on your own blog, make sure you respond in turn. This is a way of starting a new conversation. You are gathering valuable information about them, at the same time as you are curious about why they are interested in your content or products.

When your loyal readers see your stuff bookmarked on a site like Digg or StumbleUpon, they will vote for you. Social bookmarking is one way to drive traffic to your site and help build expert status. You should select social networks that are appropriate to your niche.

If readers like and trust you, they may be more inclined to use social bookmarking to interest others in your work too. Reciprocate by visiting their blogs or websites and tagging their work. You can see a mutual relationship emerging between the business and the reader. If you’re looking for an expert to take care of the details for you, to get the ball rolling, consider hiring professional virtual assistants to get it all done, fast.

Blogging

Chances are, at least one third of your readers have some sort of presence in cyberspace. The majority of these will likely be blog sites. They could be fully fledged businessmen like you, blog in their spare time or be classified as a “professional” blogger.

One way to get to know them is to visit their sites. If you have your own blog for your business, have a category devoted to reader news. Offer free products or discount coupons when they volunteer to give their blog or website address to you.

Now, go to their blogs. Read what they have to say and the kind of topics they talk about. When you leave comments, remember to be creative and not just tell them that you are “pleased to visit their site,” or some other intangible. Really get involved.

If you have an RSS reader, you can include all of their sites in it so that you will be notified when there are new updates. Participate just like any other follower of the site. Everyone will appreciate the quality interaction.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **Media**, **eBusiness**, Development | Comments

Real Insight Into Social Networking And Quality Reader Relationships

August 24, 2010

Whoever said that social networking wasn’t any good for online business development, never tried it before. Giving your readers another arena in which to see you active is another way to build a quality relationship with them.

Before you begin using social networking, beware. It is very addictive. Keep in mind that there are many potential advantages for you and your readers, if you keep up with it on a daily basis.

Social Networks

Have you heard of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter? Your readers will have, as well. They will undoubtedly use these sites to interact socially with their family and friends, but you can introduce the business world to them here as well.

Start off by setting up both a business and a personal presence on these sites. Be thorough, providing as much detail as you can. You may well have a personal presence on a number of these sites, but this will be new for your business.

Facebook

Facebook is a very versatile tool for keeping your readers informed about you and your activities. You can set up the business page to tell everyone about conferences you’re going to, any podcasts you are hosting and list those blogs where you will be posting as a guest. Readers, that find you here, can sign up to listen to live podcasts, follow you to the guest blogs and also invite you to their events.

They may have questions to ask you, maybe about starting their own business or how to solve a problem and they can engage with you in private, or via your wall to get this advice. Via Facebook you can advertise e-courses, free classes and other solutions, when people opt in for services contained on your site. Also, let your readers be part of virtual focus groups to help you test new ideas.

YouTube

If you have a new product that needs feedback, post a video on YouTube. Readers and others can post their comments on your work. Use it as a forum to demonstrate products or services and also to tout the advantages of buying from you.

Twitter

Do you tweet? If you are familiar with this, then you can use them to communicate with people about what you’re doing. They can get timely information about your business and also about your personal life, should you choose.

Create a separate business and personal account so that you can manage both. If you find readers or customers who have potential as business associates and the like, you can choose to give them access to your personal space as well.

If you listen to a good online business consulting firm, you will realise that social networking sites are great places for people to see you in an environment other than the office. You can build a rapport with readers too by unveiling new products and services to them there.

Social Networking has the potential to change your online business, and if you truly apply yourself through these outlets, even take it to new heights, previously thought to be unattainable. There is no time like the present, so get moving and set up your profiles to start making contacts with people from all over the world.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **Media**, **eBusiness** | Comments

Proper Benchmarks To Consider When Buying A Business For Sale

August 21, 2010

Buying a business for sale is a multi-step process and each step is important. You should never think about proceeding to the next position until the preceding step is complete and whatever you do, don’t be tempted to short-cut ever. You can view any time spent in preparation and in the revelation of facts and figures about the business to be well spent and as such you will be ensuring that no horror stories come back to haunt you when you take over.

A lot of information can be revealed before you even talk to a prospective seller. One of the most important questions you must ask yourself before you go forward is what kind of enthusiasm you possess for the type of business you have your eye on. Do you really want to be involved in that industry and does it represent an area that you truly want to be engrossed in? Be advised, that unless you want to be a completely “absentee” owner and are considering the many additional steps that you need to take if this is the case, you should be enthusiastic about the business that you are getting involved in.

A process of due diligence requires you to inspect all kinds of documentation:

* Financials: these documents will include balance sheets, payroll records, tax reports, reconciliation documents and profit and loss statements. If the seller claims a considerable amount of “cash sales” but cannot point to these within tax declarations, then they cannot be counted and you must ignore them.

* Employee records: including information on individual behavior, attendance, length of service and pay scales.

* Licenses: including federal, state, city, county as appropriate, plus any certification licenses you must possess to operate the business. It would be in your best interests to look at records independently, certainly if you believe there may have been any problems in the past or possible discrepancies.

* Equipment records: including age, depreciation, maintenance, replacement cost, and any required inspections.

* Inventory records: re-saleability, turnover and overall condition.

* Supplier contracts: are they transferable, do you have alternatives and is there goodwill?

* Property records: are any rental agreements transferable to you without any problem, as this can be particularly important.

If you find that all records, licenses, contracts and agreements are in order and are workable for you going forward, you may be wondering how to arrive at a good value when you buy business assets. A number of different ways to look at this exist. Some of the methods used to calculate include:

* Asset-based multipliers, where assets are totalled and value is determined.

* Rule of thumb, where industry benchmarks are used to establish the value (not recommended).

* Revenue-based multipliers – a percentage is applied to monthly or annual revenues (not recommended).

* Cash flow multiplier, is where a business owner’s profit level is added to his or her salary and any other perks and certain expenses are deducted. This method is most commonly used to determine the value of a business.

While there are many documents and figures that can be proven to backup an owner’s claim, or not as the case may be, you need to take into account significant facts. What is the age and reputation of the business, the level of competition expected, its physical location in many cases, the legal structure of the business, the quality of the premises and/or the difficulty in obtaining a new lease. When looking at a business for sale, take everything into account as you determine whether you should buy a business like this.

Richard Parker is the author of the How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price series. As President and founder of Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center, his materials, seminars and consulting have helped thousands of business buyers realize their dream to buy a business.

Posted by Guest Post | Filed Under **Business** | Comments

Several Great Points On The Importance Of Business Relationships

August 19, 2010

So, how do you go about building trust with others? First of all, you take the time to get to know them and find out what they are all about. It is easier to do that face to face, of course, but it can also be accomplished in cyberspace if you are willing to really work at it. Is it really necessary to go through that procedure, though?

Yes, it is, as you have to build solid relationships with your readers, for online business development purposes. Remember that your goal is to make money, and for that you will need people – lots of people, to visit your site regularly. But, visiting is not enough in and of itself.

Look at it this way. Let’s say you launch an incredible new product. You advertise everywhere that you can think of. In the first months of your launch, your unique visitors go up 100% (it’s possible!) AND the sales go through the roof as well.

Don’t get too carried away though, as if you have too many one-time sales, your euphoria can be short-lived. It’s not much good if you make six figures for the early months, as the next eight months of very poor results, due to none of those customers returning, won’t compensate. That’s no way to run and grow a successful online business enterprise.

Instead, strive for repeat visitors each and every month of the year. How is it possible to do this? This is why it’s important to build a relationship with them all. And no, you don’t have to know them all by name, but you will want to pay a great deal of attention and give them what they want to keep them coming back – again and again.

People who visit your site are visiting for a reason, they are looking for something which is often very specific. They could very well be looking for your product, but if they don’t feel appreciated, they are not likely to hang around.

Consider some of these reasons why relationships with your readers are vital:

1. They have friends. You never know who is visiting and reading your site content. You are, however, aware that they will have an influence over someone, somewhere. You can utilise this influence, so long as the visitor is really satisfied with their relationship with you.

2. They have money. So long as they trust you, you may well be able to convert them from a visitor to a customer who uses your services or products. Now you have the potential for repeat business.

3. They represent a segment of the population. Whatever their connections, they can be useful to you in building a better business. Most online business owners can provide organic backlinks for you; bloggers can ask you to guest post for them; avid social bookmarkers can help lift you to expert status by linking to your content.

Don’t treat readers as numbers, they could be very important to the future of your business. Make sure you connect with them.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **Business**, **Media**, **eBusiness** | Comments

Inspirational Considerations On Buying A Business With Your Eyes Open

August 18, 2010

If you were buying a car, you would expect to check it out before you moved ahead, wouldn’t you? You would like to take it out into traffic to see if it overheated, to see whether gears crunched when you changed them or whether the transmission made any funny noises. We classify the purchase of a vehicle as a “big ticket” purchase and something that needs extra thought and attention, before we move forward. Shouldn’t you also “look underneath the hood” if you were considering buying a business from somebody else, as well? The creation of a due diligence checklist is critically important, as this is where any hype associated with the sale of the business is revealed and hard facts are established to either corroborate or overturn the claims of the seller.

Consider the car purchase, again. The major difference here, of course, is that the car is a mechanical object. When assessing the value of the car, what you see is what you get to a certain extent and any otherwise “hidden” elements can be revealed, with the assistance of a qualified auto shop mechanic if needed. Conversely, the purchase of a business is rather dynamic and is often very difficult to qualify or quantify. Often, a business relies heavily on goodwill and reputation and its value has been built up over a period of time. The owner may often establish a number of claims that are subjective and as business valuation is so difficult, the establishment of a due diligence checklist is even more important.

Before you will be able to access certain confidential figures and information, it is likely that you will have to place a certain amount of funding into escrow, in relation to the business for sale. Whenever you are requested to do so, always ensure that you have an accompanying agreement, couched in language to protect you. You should specifically note, that if you find information that causes you to change your mind, you will have the right to the refund of the deposit. Normally such clauses are accompanied by a specific time frame, during which time you will have the opportunity to inspect the assets and records.

People often assume that the most important records are the financial statements. While these documents are, of course, fundamental to the viability of the operation, you need to immerse yourself completely in the business in question and look laterally at the industry around you. While you will not have access to hard data from your competitors, take a good look at their operations and make certain assumptions by reading between the lines. Your interaction with prime vendors and other associated contractors could be critical to operations when you take over, so look at all their contracts carefully. How strong are these agreements, are they portable and can you see opportunities for improvement or, conversely, major issues ahead?

As you process your due diligence checklist, you should be able to gauge how the outgoing seller has marketed the business and take a view of how effective such marketing has been. This will give you an idea of the potential, or lack thereof, should you decide to take the reins!

Richard Parker is the President and founder of the Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center. His inspiring materials, seminars and consulting have assisted thousands of business buyers with achieving their life long dream to buy a business.

Posted by Guest Post | Filed Under **Business** | Comments

Some Thoughts On Taking A Genuine Interest In Your Readers

August 14, 2010

When you check the stats you are always looking to see how many unique visitors you have to your website development. To see those numbers go up every month, you need a method for attracting new readers. This method should also ensure that current readers return. So, how do you do this?

Readers will come to your website on each day. They are looking for information to begin with. They may keep coming back because of your charm and wit or to get to know you before they try your product or service offerings. Let them know that you are real person by returning the favour and visiting them too.

Everyone is a REAL person but not everyone comes off like they are. Business owners who appear to be “above” their readers are likely to get a hostile response and negative comments. They appear as if they live in ivory towers, or are some kind of royal presence, out of sight and out of touch.

Remember that you are only one side of the online business development equation. Your readers (potential customers) are the other part. Without traffic, you can’t hope to make a sale. Unless you build relationships with the readers, they won’t see any reason to stay loyal to you.

Who are you?

Every person wants to know that they matter to others. They can matter to their families, friends and even the people they do business with. Think why hair salons and barber shops are so popular. The business is based on delivering a finished product AND building a relationship.

As an online business owner, your readers want to know that their presence matters. They have come to you looking for something. Again, do you know what it is?

It would be naïve to think that each person that visits your website or blog is there because of you. They may not have known your name before they clicked on your link in the search results. After they leave your site, they many never remember your name again unless you do something to change that.

What do you want?

You have interests. The reason you started your online business is because you had a passion for something. Your readers also have passions. The informative content that you supply could be the final link to someone realising the dream of entrepreneurship, home ownership or even buying a new car. The best way to find out what you readers want is to take an interest in their likes and dislikes. If you need some support to get it all done fast, consider hiring expert virtual assistants!

Now, your website is about the business that you are building, but knowing something about the people who are getting you there can help your business to evolve. As an example, the information you provide may be about how to organise your life and your business, but most of the people who visit your site are looking for information on personal coaching. Starting a personal coaching line of products will meet their needs in a new and more focused way because you took the time to find out about their interests.

How may I help you?

Here are a few ways that you can get in touch with your reader’s interests:

• Surveys
• By offering contests through guest blogs
• Create a “reader spotlight” or a “customer spotlight” on your website
• Send out feedback emails with purchases

Readers have interests too and they are important for you to know. When you have all this information and know how you can help your readers, use these tools to find out about their needs. Then, give it to them! You’ll see an increase in readers, customers and sales because you took the time to find out what they needed and provided it to them.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **eBusiness** | Comments

Creating A Real Feeling Of Community With Readers

August 13, 2010

When you initially started your online business development, you were aware that traffic was very important to make it all work. You made a marketing plan, including ideas to help this happen. Did you think about this option: newsletters? Newsletters are beneficial in helping to impart knowledge to the reader and this could translate into money for you in the long term.

A business website gives visitors the basics of your operation. Use your resources to tell your visitors all about you, what you do and why they should deal with you. There is not always enough space to put columns or tidbits that would be important to readers, but which aren’t necessarily part of your main online business marketing agenda.

Newsletters are designed not only to inform, but also to let readers get to know you. There can be a column written by you that thanks them for being loyal readers and customers (leading them to buy if they haven’t already). Here, you can share honest appreciation for what they do for you.

Newsletters are Magical

Fun items such as free offers or contests may take up a lot of room and more in-depth items such as information about your product or affiliate programs may be important to your readers, so you should put them in a well constructed newsletter. There are several excellent formats for online newsletters:

• E-mail a one page layout to your subscribers.
• Send a link via e-mail to them, so they can access the PDF format document with multiple pages.
• Animated links on a website.

Usually, newsletters are sent to subscribers. These are readers who come to your site and opt-in for it by giving you their email address and name. On a regular basis, maybe every month, they will receive an e-mail including your newsletter or a link to get it.

If you are composing a longer newsletter with some valuable detail, create a PDF file, so they can access this to download, print out and distribute to their friends. This way, your newsletter goes viral to people who know your readers.

Creating a “Subscriber Only” section on your site gives them access to newsletters that have video or animation that they won’t see if they had a PDF. This creates a feeling of exclusivity, as they are accessing a place that is especially reserved for them.

The format you choose to use is up to you – but remember to take your time, and make it really nice. Whatever information you feel will interest your readers should go here. In the beginning they may not want a lot of flash, since it could occasionally be viewed as trickery by some people. Keep it simple until they ask for more. As always, keep in mind that if you’d like this done for you, in a snap, consider checking with an expert virtual assistant for support.

Spotlight on the Customer

If you want to publicise certain readers, newsletters are a great way to highlight them. You might have visitors who have decided to opt in for your newsletter or who have become affiliates. You can make them feel important to your business, by listing their names here.

What will you place in your newsletter? Creating one, to catch all the “tidbit” information that readers really love, helps them feel like a vital part of your enterprise.

Posted by Virtual Miss Friday | Filed Under **Media** | Comments

Telecommuting Is Taking The Place Of The Daily Drive To Work

July 31, 2010

Telecommuting or e-commuting is an arrangement where the company grants some latitude on the place where the employee works from. Traditionally this has mostly concerned personnel who Work From Home either full time or part time. In 2008 it was estimated that 50 million US workers may well work from home, nevertheless only 2.7 million employees said this was their place of work. The amount of occasional tele-commuters was around 17.2 million, but a lot of them spent time in cafes or other places where they could obtain access to a wireless link.

The proliferation in laptops and notebooks and UMD’s is making the practice of using a pc in a public place, akin to reading a book or writing a note in a diary. With no wires or power cords required, and only the space needed for a small plate, the social acceptance of these mobile devices is increasing steadily.Large groups of co-workers nicknamed “Jellies” are getting together in cafes or other locations, to talk about work, or just to socialise and to alleviate the loneliness common with personnel who Work From Home.

Most Online Jobs could be accomplished from home or a separate remote location. In spite of this the take up is somewhat slow. By 2011 the US Government envisages a growth of 65% in remote workers. Private industry envisages that their remote personnel associated with Internet Business will grow by 35%. The Federal Government is vigorously pushing for more tele-commuting. This is not an selfless action by them as the amount of financial savings is quite staggering. By permitting employees to Work From Home they envisage that a whopping $13.9 Billion USD could saved yearly on commuting costs. Tied to that same saving would be a year on year decrease in pollutants by 21.5 Billion lbs.

Social networking technology is also filling the gap that office socialising once filled. One of the benefits of Online Jobs is that employees can switch from a work related article to a social network site and back again at the drop of a hat. As more employers shove Internet Business out of the office and into the home and other remote locations, they will start to understand the requirement for connectivity between remote workers. Hopefully they will grant the indulgence of workers to intermittently view sites like Facebook or Twitter. Managers have to realise that isolated workers are in all probability more productive at home. Time frittered away in the office due to late starts, coffee breaks, gossiping before and after meetings etc will be substituted for some personal time used up on web browsing and domestic tasks. However overall productivity should be better as there will be less distractions and workers can opt to answer a call or e-mail immediately, or leave it till later.

UMD’s such as mini notebooks and mobile devices similar to smart phones etc are the latest group of gadgets that will transform Internet Business, and really permit remote workers to operate anywhere they want. Some devices will have partial functionality and will be modified for specific business requirements. This should lower their cost of ownership. As request for these UMD devices grows, the expansion of free wireless connectivity will also grow. Remote Online Jobs are not only the domain of the home and trendy coffee shops. Free wireless connectivity must be available in public places like malls, sports centres, parks and airports. It needs to be virtually anywhere you could potentially put in an hour of two of work and benefit from the presence of people around you. Only then will we realise true telecommuting.

Posted by Guest Post | Filed Under **Business** | Comments

Useful Tips For Buying A Real World Business For Sale

July 27, 2010

Do you see the prospect of buying an existing business for sale as being a leap in the dark, as this discourages many an enterprising individual? If they have never been involved in such a transaction before, it can seem to be very alien. After all, it is not like buying a more tangible product like a vehicle or a house, where in many respects “what you see is what you get.” To value a business correctly, you need to look at a number of different intangibles as well as assets that need to be inspected and you also need to consider goodwill in many situations. Goodwill certainly comes into the equation in a service related business, as does a good client list and as such your process of due diligence will require you to explore and reveal quite a lot as you inspect different documents accordingly.

It’s important to remember that there are two distinct and different viewpoints. The seller will have a clear indication of the worth that he or she places on the business. This may often be inflated by a natural enthusiasm and the sheer amount of hard work and dedication that may have been put into the business to this point. Never disrespect the sellers’ point of view of course, but look at the documentation and evidence that you will find in the cold light of day and remember that it is entirely up to you to determine if you’re going to get involved and buy business interests in this way, according to your value parameters.

When you decide that you want to move forward and investigate whether to buy a business of interest, understand that this may be a lengthy process. At this time, you had better have a good level of common sense and humor and be ready to communicate at length with the seller.

It is highly recommended that you bring in expert advisers and utilize proven resources, especially if you have no real experience of running a business in this line, or niche. This is not to say that you will simply hand off all the work to these advisers, barely looking at the documentation presented to you, as the decision-making must in the end be made by you and you alone. Be prepared to review all documentation and financials yourself first and be sure that you get a reasonable feeling about them all before handing them off for further processing.

A red flag will be raised if some of the financial documents are incomplete, information is missing, or they are poorly balanced or even not reconciled. Certain precedents must be maintained and accounting procedures completed. You may be asked to sign some non-disclosure or non-compete documents before these are made available, but the financials are the rock upon which everything else is built.

No two businesses are alike and every operation is dynamic in its own right. So many external influences are involved and any number of different events can come to bear to create a variety of different situations. You will undoubtedly uncover some surprises and come across unusual figures and facts, but remember that while industry benchmarks are definitely of interest, you are focused on real-world information here.

Posted by Guest Post | Filed Under **Business** | Comments