Small Business Success Strategies

Monster Amazon Crocs – Why Creative Company Names Work Best

The most common company naming trap is this – creating a new business name that’s accurate and descriptive, but utterly forgettable. And it’s easy to see how it happens. Unlike real life application, naming is usually done in a vacuum -- with no context, no accompanying logo, website or brochure copy. A group of key decision makers sit in a boardroom and toss names around in the air. And with no supporting cast, no background, no props, the good names often seem disconnected and even ridiculous. It’s at this stage the mind wants to make sense of the names; and without context, without supporting elements, it defaults to free associations from the past. This is what kills off many a great brand name.

Imagine a committee looking for a brand name for a new computer company. Someone suggests the word "apple."

Read Phil's entire article Monster Amazon Crocs – Why Creative Company Names Work Best

Phil Davis, our official Branding and Naming Expert

5 Top Traffic Sources For Your Site

I believe if you asked any webmaster or online marketer what their most important aspect of running a site would be, you would get an answer that's some way related to traffic. Mainly because traffic is your site's lifeblood, actually without traffic you really don't have a site at all.

Traffic is king.

Traffic brings in the leads and the sales. Quality traffic is what produces your online revenue, whether from advertising or from sales on your site. Now, I have sites which get less than 50 visitors a day, I have a few sites which get around 200 visitors and I have one site which gets around 2,000 visitors a day.

Read Titus' entire article 5 Top Traffic Sources For Your Site

Titus Hoskins, our official Online Fax Expert

In Search of Originality: Avoid These Overused Words

One of the key components of branding is to create your own language. Every now and then a cool word trend comes along and for a while it's good . . . until it gets overused and the thing that was once the coolest is now the most UNcoolest and overused.

It's better to cash out your chips while you're still going strong. Check out the list of words below. If you're thinking about using them . . . my advice is to hold off and find something else. Instead, find something unique and original that will catch the attention of your ideal clients.

Here are my Top 4 . . . Please leave a comment below if you want to add to the list or disagree.

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Nancy Marmolejo, our official Visibility Expert

Five Counter-Intuitive Indicators Of Small Business Success

How do you know if your business is successful? In today's market place, don't be fooled by apparent versus actual business success. Here are five counter-intuitive indicators to judge your business success

1. Failure to win traditional marketing awards. If you have won any traditional awards, it means that you have lowered your marketing efforts to the standard of ‘status quo'. The standard of excellence inevitably has nothing to do with bottom line market share and revenue production, but in what I term, ‘cutsie' or funny ads. The best marketing is always the marketing that most webmasters, friends and other experts will tell you NOT to do. It is also the kind of marketing that gets your competitors angry.

Read Glenn's entire article Five Counter-Intuitive Indicators Of Small Business Success

Glenn Dietzel, our official Business Coaching Expert

The Key to Changing Course is to Start: 6 Tips on How to Get Started

Sometimes signs arrive when you least expect them. On a recent dog walk along the Connecticut River, I spotted a large white sign tacked to a tree on the opposite shore. The sign contained a single word: Start.

This simple but powerful word got me thinking of all the different places someone who wanted to change course could start. Here are 6 tips to get you started on getting started:

1. Start where you are. The great tennis player Arthur Ashe once said, "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Let's say the main thing holding you back from is money. You might start by downsizing your life now so when you do take the leap, you'll be better prepared to earn less in the short term.

Read Valerie's entire article The Key to Changing Course is to Start: 6 Tips on How to Get Started

Valerie Young, our official Career Change Expert

Quick Fixes for 10 Group Coaching Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes the First Time

Group coaching, masterminds, teleclasses and workshops are fantastic ways to leverage your time, earn significantly more and give your tribe a richer experience that has lasting impact. But if you are not used to working with groups, it can feel a bit intimidating.

group coaching Rhonda HessThe best advice I can give you is allow yourself to be vulnerable and let connection and collaboration take the lead. Sure be the authority, but also understand in your heart that the magic of groups is in the group

Everyone makes mistakes. They are never fatal to the program. At worst you might upset someone, but if you’re tracking the energy,

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Rhonda Hess, our official Coaching Business Success Expert

Online Marketing for Authors

There is a tremendous opportunity for authors to reach millions of potential readers by marketing books online. Even better, you don't have to be a technology guru or spend a lot of money to launch your online marketing campaign.

First and foremost, every author should have a website. You can use your website to not only market to readers, but to communicate with editors, agents and publishers. Your website is essentially an online brochure that can include as much or as little information as you're willing to share.

Website hosting is also surprisingly affordable with rates ranging from $5-$20 per month depending on the provider you choose and the services you need.

Read Stephanie's entire article Online Marketing for Authors

Stephanie Chandler, our official Small Business Growth Expert

Are You Undervaluing the True Worth of Your Talent and Knowledge?

So often I see business owners who overflow with truly stunning ideas and who possess impressive skills and experience still struggling to make money. Usually this happens for three reasons--

1. They are undervaluing and downplaying the rich and vast store of knowledge they have that others want and that could be turned into products and programs. They think that "everyone already knows that" (which couldn't be further from the truth).

2. They are creating amazing products and programs but have not mastered the marketing tactics and strategies that will enable them to get these offers out to the world.

Read Janis' entire article Are You Undervaluing the True Worth of Your Talent and Knowledge?

Janis Pettit, our official Small Business Strategy Coach Expert

The Fast & Easy Way to Start an Internet Home Business

Many people think that starting an Internet home business is hard. In fact, there is no business in the world that is faster or easier to launch. If you have 15 minutes and a connection to the Internet, I'll show you how to launch your own Internet business right away.

Before you launch your first Internet home business, you need to understand the basics. The first step of having a business on the Internet is having your own website. This is the major stumbling block for most people. They think getting a website is expensive or difficult. It's neither of those things. Actually, it's free and it's easy. In fact, let's go ahead and get your first website setup right now.

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Stone Evans, our official Home Business Expert

Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names

Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened "Premier Coffees." The names would be far more descriptive than their current ones. But they wouldn't embody the essence or spirit of the companies they represent. Even if they offered the exact same goods and services, it's unlikely Yahoo! or StarBucks would enjoy the same market share they now possess if given the more descriptive, and arguably accurate, names.

Now why is that?

In short, great brand names leverage our emotions. They resonate with the experiential right side of the brain vs. the logical left lobe. And emotions carry more motivational "charge" than logic. People buy emotionally and then justify rationally. And because great brand names create mental "pictures" they equate to a proverbial thousand descriptive words. They are the zipped files, the condensed soup, and the computer macros that all expand and unfold in our minds every time they are seen or heard.

Read Phil's entire article Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names

Phil Davis, our official Branding and Naming Expert