Small Business Success Strategies

Twitter Tip: High Visibility with Little Effort

Twitter can be both an amazing marketing tool and an exhausting pursuit of keeping up with the constant stream of new "Tweets". Not everyone has the ability nor the desire to stay plugged in 24-7. If that sounds like you, then you'll love this great tool that allows you to maintain online visibility and stay relevant with fresh content.

TwitterFeed is a site that allows you to import any RSS feed into your Twitter stream. Through a simple set up, you can automate the process to bring high quality content to your Twitter stream. I suggest you start off with your own blog to let people know what you're publishing. Then you can find other blogs, podcasts, or anything on an RSS feed that offers complementary content.

Read Nancy's entire article Twitter Tip: High Visibility with Little Effort

Nancy Marmolejo, our official Visibility Expert

The New Way to Sell eBooks on Amazon.com

Since Amazon.com acquired Mobipocket in April 2005, the online bookseller has made some dramatic changes to its ebook strategy. Publishers and authors used to be required to set up an account with Lightning Source to list ebooks with Amazon, but now ebooks are managed by Mobipocket.

To complicate matters further, the ebook version of a title is no longer listed with its print version. In fact, Amazon no longer indexes ebooks on its site at all. When you browse Amazon’s book categories and click on “ebooks,” you are directed to a link that takes you out of Amazon.com and onto Mobipocket.com. The reality is that ebooks are no longer actually sold on Amazon.com at all, but directly through its subsidiary.

Read Stephanie's entire article The New Way to Sell eBooks on Amazon.com

Stephanie Chandler, our official Entrepreneurial Expert

Marketing Essentials: the 15 Second Elevator Speech

You're at a conference. Someone steps in the elevator, notices your name tag and asks, "So what do you guys do?" Quick -- what's your answer? You've got about 15 seconds before the doors open.

For most business owners, getting to the crux of what they really do is the hardest, yet potentially most rewarding, one-minute conversation they will ever have. In that shortest of time spans, potential customers, vendors, and employees will make a complete assessment, deciding then and there if your company, products or services are worth pursuing. Why? Because it's all the time they have before the doors open -- so make it count.

Read Phil's entire article Marketing Essentials: the 15 Second Elevator Speech

Phil Davis, our official Branding and Naming Expert

Time Management Tips That Can Mean Dramatic Growth in Your Business

In my experience the biggest problem small business owners face is time management - getting stuck doing mundane tasks or putting out fires, instead of being the CEO, the one who develops and implements the strategy and uses their expertise delivering the services they are passionate about.

I am no stranger to this problem and have to work hard to keep myself on track and not get side-tracked with all the opportunities and ideas that come my way. But the payoff is huge. I know a number of entrepreneurs who are highly creative but suffer from lack of focus. It's important to be creative but the downside is lack of focus and planning. Even if you don't suffer from this problem, our sound byte society has shortened all of our attention spans to our detriment.

Read Janis' entire article Time Management Tips That Can Mean Dramatic Growth in Your Business

Janis Pettit, our official Small Business Strategy Coach Expert

How to Write a Press Release that Gets Results

A press release is a good way to announce something big about a business. Business owners may use a press release to tell about how their company raised money for a local charity or about how new technology they are using will impact the community. A press release is a tool by which a business owner can advertise their business without actually trying to sell to customers.

When writing a press release the business owner needs to keep in mind that news editors are not looking for an advertisement of a business. They want something news worthy that people will be interested to read about.

Read Stone's entire article How to Write a Press Release that Gets Results

Stone Evans, our official Home Business Expert

How to Simplify Having House Guests

Having House Guests. Simplified.

This is the time of year that many of us will be having friends and family come visit for several days, so why not implement some SMARTcutsR to keep life simplified? Just a slight bit of prior planning will make everyone have a better time...especially the hostess!

Here are some simple ways to make a big difference the next time you have house guests.

Read Debbye's entire article How to Simplify Having House Guests

Debbye Cannon, our official BusinessMom Mentor Expert

Create a Mastermind Group for Your Coaching Market

If you are only offering one to one coaching right now, this is the year to diversify your revenue streams. Your own Mastermind group is the easiest new program to offer. It’s a lower cost option for prospects to engage with you, and it will help you get off the money for time treadmill. As well as being a great stand alone program, a Mastermind group can be a great upsell or follow on program to a freebie, workshop or ebook.

A Mastermind is a group of like-minded individuals with similar goals, who meet regularly in person or by phone to support each other in manifesting personal and professional success. The members commit to attending group sessions, and participate by sharing stories and information while “holding space” for the transformative growth of each individual.

Read Rhonda's entire article Create a Mastermind Group for Your Coaching Market

Rhonda Hess, our official Coaching Business Expert

The Customer is Always Right, (Especially when you think they aren't!)

It takes a long time for a self employed business owner to build up a reputation for great customer service. I am a caring person, and putting customer service first is something I hold very dear as an important aspect of how I do business. And recently, I almost blew it. In a fit of irritation over a client's request for help, I made a very poor assumption -- and almost made an idiot of myself in the process.

As I reflected on that experience, I came up with these four elements of providing great customer service as a self employed business owner. I share them as a model of how to think about your own customer service interactions (especially those that occur via email) and as a reminder to myself too. I call it the CARE model of email customer service.

Read Terri's entire article The Customer is Always Right, (Especially when you think they aren't!)

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

How Much Do You Need to Know Before You're an Expert? Part 2 in a 2 Part Series

In the last issue we explored two common obstacles to striking out on your own to start your own business -- the Expert Trap and the Expert Myth. In this issue we're going to expand the definition of expertise.

A white paper by the National Speakers Association on "The Expertise Imperative" offers some fascinating observations about expertise. For example, being an expert goes beyond building knowledge. According to the article, in addition to having more knowledge (with the Internet there is no excuse for not accumulating a basic base of knowledge) one difference between experts and non-experts is that experts organize what they know in ways that make it accessible quickly.

Read Valerie's entire article How Much Do You Need to Know Before You're an Expert? Part 2 in a 2 Part Series

Valerie Young, our official Career Change Expert

Make Money with Free Targeted Traffic Generating Strategies

One of the items I keep coming across online is free traffic generating strategies, however if they do not produce sales you are wasting your time. Sure you could build a freebies site and never sell a single item, or you can generate free TRAGETED traffic to your website and make money!

I was on the telephone the other evening, helping a friend out with her website. She has a few businesses. A sign business in Raleigh North Carolina, as well as a couple vacation rental properties. I offered her some good free marketing techniques that have worked not only for me, but other successful online marketers as well. Some of these you may have heard of already, however if not applied correctly, you can be wasting your time.

Read Bruce's entire article Make Money with Free Targeted Traffic Generating Strategies

Bruce Galle, our official Getting Started Online Expert