Although the term “cloud” is seeing increasing use, it’s necessary to clarify what portion of “the cloud” is of interest to a particular audience. For small and medium businesses (SMBs), there are generally two areas of relevance in the evolution of IT services to the cloud. The first is the application layer, commonly referred [...]
By Patricia Schaefer
During a recession, consumers’ discretionary spending is typically reduced and simply providing quality products or services at a reasonable price may not be enough to draw customers in. continue »
By Winmark Business Solutions
Owning a small business is not just another job. It’s a totally different lifestyle. You have to ask yourself whether you’re ready for a complete commitment to the success of your business. Just as importantly, you have to ask your partner, if you’re in a relationship, whether he or she is completely committed. continue »
By Hostway
A template-based Web site gives you the freedom to focus on your Web site content. With the design taken care of, you can pour your energy into perfecting the elements that make the Web site your own—the words and images. Here are five tips for making the most of your template-based Web site. continue »
By Winmark Business Solutions
In some situations, you may want to operate your business under a different name than the one on your articles of formation or other filings. Typically, this is most true for sole proprietorships that may want to distinguish between business and personal activities, but other entity forms may do this as well to highlight different activities within an organization. continue »
By Hostway
If you’ve ever seen a minimum sale price for credit card purchases posted near a cash register, you know that accepting credit cards is expensive. With an ecommerce Web site, your business will suffer if you don’t accept credit card payments. Credit card companies know that you’ll gain more in sales by accepting their cards than you’ll lose in fees, so you can’t avoid them completely. But with some research, you can find the best deal for your business. continue »
By John Metzler
A Google Webmaster Help video from Matt Cutts released on Nov. 10, 2009 got me thinking how the listing text in Google’s search results can easily be overlooked by some webmasters in their SEO efforts.
SEO is all about extending the reach of your Web site content to your target market using online search platforms. You can tell when this has been achieved, and to what degree, by using Web analytics software to monitor referral and visitor data. But what that data won’t tell you is how your site appears to users in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Sure, you’re getting traffic, but perhaps you’re missing out on a lot more because your listing text is weak. You wouldn’t take out a newspaper advertisement without looking at the final proof first. So don’t be in the dark over how your site appears to people who use Google. continue »
By Hostway
Email is taking center stage in today’s small business marketing plans as advertising budgets are squeezed and doing more with less is becoming the norm. If you’re not emailing your customers, you’re missing out on one of the least expensive, highest return methods for increasing sales and building customer loyalty. Here are the five emails no business can afford to skip. continue »
By Janet Attard
The holiday shopping season has started. The shoppers are looking in your windows, walking in your doors and making purchases. Nevertheless you could be losing sales every time a customer walks out the door. Here’s why—and what you can do about it. continue »
By Winmark Business Solutions
One of the best-known and most widely used business entity forms is the corporation. The main advantage of a corporation is the liability protection it provides the owners or shareholders of the business. Liability is limited because the corporation is a legal entity that is separate from its shareholder owners. Forming a corporation is more complicated and more expensive than forming a sole proprietorship or a simple partnership. However, the formation process is not that difficult. continue »
Just like blogs took off in popularity, now podcasts are gaining popularity and becoming an effective means for getting your message across. If you haven’t heard of podcasting yet, you just might be in the minority. According to Forrester Research, by 2010 podcasting should have about 12.3 million listeners. That’s a huge potential audience just waiting to hear what you have to say. continue »
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