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By Nick Stamoulis in Featured

The three major components of inbound marketing are social media marketing, content marketing and SEO. Each of those campaigns requires hours of planning and implementation, constant monitoring and consistent progress. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of work that goes into a strong inbound marketing campaign, but that doesn’t mean you have to struggle to keep your head above the water. Here are 7 tips for keeping your inbound marketing campaign from running away from you:

Think twice before you post/tweet/update/share.

Nothing published on the Internet can ever really be deleted. Even supposedly private communications like internal emails can end up published somewhere. Before you share/post/tweet something take a few seconds and think about how it could potentially impact your brand. The beauty (and danger) of social networking sites is that a piece of information can travel around the world in less than a second, so your words/actions can’t be easily hidden or taken back. You might think a comment is funny, but sarcasm doesn’t really read well over the Internet, and someone might take offense. Think before you speak to avoid any nasty reputation management scenarios!

Create an editorial calendar and stick to it.

It’s too easy to push blogging to the back burner when your plate gets full. In order to make sure you are fulfilling your guest blogging agreements (you never want to burn those bridges!) create an editorial calendar for yourself each month and stick to it. Where do you contribute monthly as a guest author? When do those sites expect to see an article from you? Do you need to allow time for revisions? You can also build in time for your own business blogging efforts to ensure a steady stream of new content for your own content marketing strategy.

Develop a link building strategy.

The search engines like to see a slow and diversified approach to link building. While it may look great to your manager to show that you created 1,500 new links this month you have to remember it may raise a red flag with the search engines. In order to keep yourself from going overboard with your link building (and make sure you are building a diverse portfolio with numerous link sources) create a 12 month link building strategy before you begin your offsite SEO. This will help you stay focused and on track throughout your SEO campaign.

Minimize number of active profiles on social networking sites.

You do not need @CompanyCEO, @CompanyVP, @CompanyMarketing, @CompanySales, @CompanyEmployee23 (and so forth) to have a strong social media marketing campaign. Remember, every social profile you create for your brand is one more that you have to maintain and actively use to benefit from. The fewer social profiles you have the more consolidated your brand messaging will be and the easier it will be to connect with your target audience. If your company’s marketing director wants their own Twitter handle, let them create a personal profile and promote your content through it (in addition to whatever else they want to help build their own reputation), but keep the branded profiles to a minimum.

Find a niche and dominate it.

When it comes to SEO, you have to be honest with yourself. A small e-commerce site is not really competing with Amazon for business, even though you both sell similar products. Chances are your company just doesn’t have the money or the manpower to take on mega brands and rank first for broad keywords, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find and dominate your own niche. What unique value does your company offer that you can leverage to earn a bigger piece of the online market share? What targeted consumer can you reach better than everyone else? Don’t waste your time fighting an uphill battle you’re never going to win and focus on the real SEO progress your site can make.

Publish content consistently.

Publishing 4 blog posts today, three next week, and then nothing for a month and suddenly 6 posts all at once is not the best way to run a content marketing campaign. The key to a great content marketing campaign is consistency. You have to create a content marketing schedule for yourself that you can keep. Maybe that only means one blog post a week, maybe it means two a day—it’s whatever you can consistently stick to. The content you create is going to fuel your social media marketing strategy, as well as help you build a stronger online brand presence. The more consistent you can create that content the easier it is to keep everything else moving.

Limit who has access to social accounts.

In order to ensure brand and messaging consistency, it’s important to assign one person (or a small team) as the social media “voice” for your company. When too many people have access to your social accounts is easy to lose track of what is being published. You want to make sure that the tone and messaging of each social update is consistent across all social profiles. You also don’t want the wrong person sending out an inappropriate reply to something because they don’t know how they are supposed to respond.
These are just seven easy ways that marketers can keep their inbound marketing under control. The best inbound marketing campaigns incorporate all three elements equally, and you don’t want to forget about one because you are so focused on the other two.

Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing a Boston SEO and SEO consulting firm. With over 12 years of Internet marketing experience, Nick Stamoulis has created SEO strategies for small and large companies in almost every industry. In order to share his SEO knowledge, Nick Stamoulis regularly writes for the Brick Marketing Blog and publishes the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 150,000 opt-in subscribers. Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com

By Sara Schoonover in Featured

spn_exclusiveJust because you have a killer business idea doesn’t mean you have killer business skills. The most successful young entrepreneurs recognize their own limitations and lack of experience. They rely on a network of seasoned and successful business mentors to give them the advice they need when they need it.

Finding those mentors is often easier said than done, however. While some people may have success walking into a CEO’s office and simply asking, there are more effective and more natural ways to find mentors.

Here are 10 tips to get you started building your network of mentors:

1. Know what you want to get out of a mentoring relationship. Not every mentoring relationship is the same. You need to know exactly what it is that you need help with, and how the mentoring relationship should benefit you. You might need help with business strategy, networking, the work-life balance, or more. Maybe you need comprehensive advice, but in some cases you may just need a sounding board.

2. Find a mentor with whom you have chemistry. Don’t just accept anyone into your network of mentors. You need to click with these people. If you have diametrically opposed views on marketing, for example, you’re going to have a hard time connecting on related topics.

3. Start by looking at your family and friends. Your first mentors may be people with whom you’ve had a relationship most of your life. A trusted aunt or a grandfather, for example, may have business experience from which you can learn. These are wonderful early mentors, because they may be more patient and understanding as you grow and develop, and they may be more willing to make that mentoring commitment early on.

4. Grow your network of mentors via your extended network of associations. After you’ve exhausted resources among family and friends, start looking to acquaintances, colleagues, former or current employers, and others in your extended circles of influence.

5. Some of the best mentorship opportunities will come from strangers. Let’s face it: unless you’re going into the family business, chances are you’re not going to find a mentor who’s wildly successful in your field. That means you need to seek out those wildly successful people. Approach those prospects humbly and delicately. Schedule a brief telephone conversation, limit the call to a handful of very specific questions. If it goes well, raise the idea of a repeat phone call. After a while, you may be able to raise the prospect of a more formal mentoring arrangement.

6. Look into SCORE. SCORE is a group associated with the Small Business Association. It consists of retired executives and professionals who have a passion for helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs. They offer free and confidential mentoring. SCORE mentors can be a bit hit-or-miss, depending on your industry, but in general they can offer a useful perspective and are more than willing to give advice.

7. Check out the Chamber. Many local Chambers of Commerce offer mentoring connections. The key thing here is that, if a given chamber member is in the same niche as you, it’s going to be much harder to convince them to work with you. After all, if you’re currently starting a business, they don’t want to be responsible for training their competition.

8. Look for industry specific opportunities. For example, if you do contracting for the federal government there is a mentor program offered by the Small Business Administration that helps you understand how to grab government contracts.

9. Consider local options. Larger cities often have mentorship programs in their business communities. The Silver Fox Advisers in Houston is a good example of this. Chicago, Detroit, and Jersey City all have non-profit groups that focus on mentoring for businesses run by women and minorities, too.

10. Pay for it if you have to. There are paid mentors out there, as well. Often going under the moniker of “Business Coaches,” these mentors will often be very hyper-focused. They will provide some of the most efficient mentoring relationships, mainly because both of you realize that the relationship is costing you money.

Finding and building your network of mentors takes some serious legwork. Chances are you’ll face some rejection along the way. The good news is that there are many people out there in business who have experienced success, and who are more than willing to take a budding entrepreneur under their wing in a mentoring relationship. Keep looking until your mentoring needs are met, and you’ll find your business skills growing by leaps and bounds.

Sara Schoonover is Vice President of Ticket Kick, a California company that helps drivers get red light tickets, speeding tickets and other traffic tickets dismissed by helping drivers through the trial by written declaration process. The company, which formally launched in 2010 after providing similar services since 2006, is the leading company in this space and growing rapidly.

By Donna Gunter in Featured

business1The old adage, “Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket,” is especially true in today’s economic climate for any business. Just as you would never let all of your income be derived from one or two clients, creating a diversified business where you have multiple streams of income is the key to success with an online service business. If one income stream tapers off for a time, you are adequately covered by the others. I have been doing this very successfully in my business for the last 8 years.

Where things become confusing for your prospective clients is if you have income streams that are all over the map and serve different target markets, like a career coach who buys, renovates, and flips homes on the side. It’s quite challenging to run a business like this because you’re actually running two different businesses in this example and the streams don’t relate well to each other at all. I recently experienced a situation where a career coach I’ve been following emailed his list about real estate development, which really annoyed me. I’m not interested in real estate development, nor do I expect to hear from that person on that topic.

The easiest way to create multiple streams of revenue in a service business is to create off-shoots of what you’re already doing serving the same target market in your core business. This has been referred to as “going deep” with your customers and providing them with additional products and services rather than “going wide” into other markets. In this way, you can create a great client transition process that would provide multiple ways to serve the same clients. Believe me, it’s easier to continue to sell to people who’ve already purchased from you than to try and cultivate new clients.

Here are 6 quick ways to stabilize your business with multiple streams of income:

1. Consulting/Coaching. Can you work with clients in a more in-depth fashion than you do currently? If so, you may want to add consulting or coaching to your income stream mix. Or, if you can help colleagues in the same industry grow their businesses, coaching or consulting in your own industry may provide the additional revenue stream you have been seeking.

2. Done for You Services. If you’re a coach or a consultant, adding done-for-you-services are a great option for members of your target market who don’t want any part of doing something themselves. So, if you’re a career coach who routinely helps clients polish their resumes, perhaps you could add a done-for-you resume service where you create a polished resume for your clients.

3. Affiliate Marketing. I love making money from recommending products and services that I already use in my business. This is an easy sale for me, as I’m an affiliate only for products and services that I have used or that have come highly recommended from a colleague that I respect. There’s nothing sweeter than getting my monthly PayPal notifications of payments from various affiliate
programs to which I belong.

4. Membership/Continuity programs. If you have a great deal of content lying around in your hard drive, a membership site or continuity program may be in your future. This is an effective way to create a recurring stream of income in your business.

5. Teaching/Training/Speaking. Are others interested in learning the “how-to” of what you do? Then adding teaching, training, or speaking to your revenue stream in the form of teleclasses, live events, or webinars will add a healthy income stream to your business.

6. Information Products. Whether you have developed your own or sell PLR (Private Label Rights) products, the sale of information products can be a lucrative revenue addition to your business. Developing products that are sold at different price points serve as a reasonable price alternative to help your target market solve a problem if they aren’t able to hire you for 1:1 assistance.

Take some time to determine how you can “go deep” with your target market and add additional revenue streams that complement what you’re already doing. You’ll soon discover a sense of relief to have the extra income should circumstances cause your income to drop in another part of your business.

Article by Donna Gunter. Discover other unique ways to stop the client chase and create an online service business drives traffic to your
web site with free instant access to this ebook, Turbocharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

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From Donna Gunter, the Internet Marketing Coach for
Introverts

By Cathy Goodwin in Featured

copywritingOnline marketing requires considerable planning, especially to those promoting a service. Service business owners and independent professionals face multiple challenges of promoting themselves as well as communicating the value of their services.

Therefore service business owners often question whether they are ready to launch a full-scale online marketing effort. Almost always, the question can best be answered by the copywriter – the resource charged with creating and implementing the business’s message strategy.

Copywriting as a Litmus Test

The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines a litmus test as, “a test in which a single factor (as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive.” They give an example of a political party using gun control as a test for a candidate’s acceptability for office.

Over the years, I’ve become convinced that copywriting is the litmus test of an online service business owner’s marketing readiness. For example:

A few years ago I got a call from someone I’ll call Jeanne. She wanted me to write a sales letter for her new high-end coaching program. She had spent a few thousand dollars with a marketing coach who was helping her schedule the launch, with dates for preview calls, letters and joint venture partners. Now she wanted me to work on the copy for the sales letter.

“Terrific!” I said. “I’ll just need some information.”

Jeanne was scheduling a 6-month program. What topics would be covered each month? She didn’t know and she wasn’t planning to decide right away.

Now I was hearing alarm bells. I asked Jeanne for some testimonials from previous clients. She didn’t have any. She had just left her corporate job. She wanted to begin a high-end program, working with a 12-person group over 6 months.

“Okay,” I said. “Maybe your corporate background qualifies you for coaching. Let’s see how we can present your experience.”

Jeanne’s life history was extremely colorful. She had come through some challenges and overcome setbacks. She could have published a memoir. But, she warned me, “You can’t use this in the copy! It’s all private. I just wanted you to have some background.”

In the end, I couldn’t do anything for Jeanne. She just wasn’t ready for copywriting. But the truth is, she wasn’t ready to open the doors for her business. And, like many business owners, she didn’t realize I could have helped her develop a product strategy and brand so she could avoid arriving at a dead end in this way. Sadly, from what I can find online, she’s given up the business and returned to the corporate world.

Copywriting Creates Action

When we start to write copy, that’s where the rubber meets the road. The gaps show up immediately. Even if you’ve worked with half a dozen other consultants, you often won’t know what you need till you start to write. That’s because copywriting requires you to answer questions like

What are you offering?
Who is going to benefit?
Why will they benefit?
Why will they care?
Why are you qualified to deliver those benefits?
How can you make them believe you are qualified?

Once you answer these questions, you know you are ready to share your service with the world. You have a solid offering that prospects can evaluate. Now you can begin creating your actual sales letter – your online advertisement – and get ready to enjoy the rewards.

Are you getting the best possible results from your online marketing? Copywriter Cathy Goodwin creates compelling website content for business owners who are pressed for time. Discover how you can increase your online marketing revenue and attract more clients without killing your productivity or your bank account. Download your free 5-point checklist to assess your own website: http://www.CopywritingWithCathy.com

By Mark Hunter in Featured

business1You’ve had what you think is a great sales call. You feel you’ve done everything correct, and you are certain the customer will soon say “yes” to your offer.

Just as quickly as you think the customer will buy, they say something along the lines of, “I like what you’re offering, but your price is way too much.” Without missing a beat, you begin to shudder at the thought of losing the sale.

Let’s look at why your customer doesn’t like your price.

It comes down to one reason. The one and only reason your customer doesn’t like your price is because they have failed to see enough value in what you are offering to warrant paying the price.

Don’t believe for a moment it’s because a competitor might be offering a lower price. Certainly don’t allow yourself to believe the customer would be better off waiting for a better deal. Finally, don’t even entertain the thought that your price might really be too high.

The correct answer is the customer simply has not seen enough value in what you’re offering.

The easiest way to correct this problem is to get the customer’s input. Don’t wait to do this after they’ve rejected your offer, but rather do it at the beginning. At the start of the sales call is when the customer’s input is the most valuable. The reason I say this is because the first half of the sales call is when the customer is going to be the most forthcoming with information.

It’s not unusual during a sales call for the customer to begin sensing the salesperson may try to ask for the order. If the customer begins to believe this and they are the least bit hesitant, they may very well start throwing out false information. The customer may start talking about objections that are really irrelevant to their real need. They will do this purely to disarm the salesperson.

This is the reason why it is so important to engage the customer early in the sales call and to get them to begin sharing with you their wants and needs. The earlier they share with you this type of information, the better job you can do later in the call in following up on this information. You can then drill down deeper to get even more specific information. Your objective is to get the customer to really see that the issues they’re facing are significant – and the only solution available is the one you are offering.

Some of you might think this is manipulative selling or arm-twisting, but it’s not that at all. If you, the salesperson, are merely asking questions and getting the customer to do the majority of the talking, then how could it be called arm-twisting?

Your objective as the salesperson is to get the customer to share with you at least three reasons they need what you’re offering. One of the three should be time sensitive. The customer’s time-sensitive need will allow you to close the sale now. It’s the other two that will allow the customer to see why they need to buy.

I use three benefits as the minimum, but the more the customer shares with you, the higher the probability you will be able to close the sale. I use the number three because more often than not, if you try to close before the customer has shared three of their wants or needs, you won’t be as successful. Of course, this excludes the overwhelming benefit or need they share with you that is so big and time-sensitive that it invites an immediate close.

When the customer shares with you a time-sensitive need, this is a perfect opportunity to first validate the time need. You validate it by asking them a question to get them to share more about why time is an issue. By getting the customer to explain this further, you will discover that the customer usually becomes even more conscientious about why they need to buy from you right now.

When you feel as if a customer doesn’t like your price, you simply need to remember they only fail to see the value of what you are offering. As long as you remember it is your job to help them see the value, you will increase your odds of success dramatically. I’m not going to say you’ll be 100% successful with this approach, but I know the more you use it, the less often you will hear the “price” excuse when a customer doesn’t buy.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunter and www.LinkedIn.com/in/MarkHunter.

Reprinting of this article is welcomed as long as the following is included: Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2011

By Mark Hunter in Featured

socialmedia2Social media has blown onto the scene the last couple of years with the popular websites of Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and many others. Nobody can tell for sure what social media will look like five years from now, but what everyone can agree upon is that the concept of using the internet to socially communicate is not going away.

For salespeople, an important question is, “Can social media help in negotiating?”

My answer is, “Yes, it can.” I’m not saying you should directly negotiate with another person by way of a social media (although I suppose there might be exceptions where this is possible). What I am saying is that social media is a perfect tool that someone can use to help frame a situation or build their on-line reputation before the negotiations even begin.

Negotiations are won or lost in two critical areas. The first is the period of time leading up to the start of the negotiations, when both parties are preparing to negotiate. The second is at the end, when the two parties are working out the details of the negotiation.

With regard to social media, I am not an advocate of conducting business negotiations in public. The reason I feel this way is because it is important throughout the negotiation process to maintain respect and integrity for everyone involved. This can be very hard to ensure if stuff is being thrown around for others to read and see. This is the reason I say the best use of social media in negotiations is before the negotiations even begin.

Using social media before negotiations begin allows you to establish the context of who you are and what your expected outcome might be. Best example of this is Donald Trump. He uses social media tools and the media in general to let everyone know who and what he is.

Trump’s goal is to make his brand known, and his brand really is himself. He wants his brand to appear favorable. He does this by coming across as a shrewd businessperson, and he uses social media to further this persona. On the one hand, this gives him an upper hand in any negotiations. On the other hand it also alerts everyone who might be planning to do business with him that he most likely is going to be very tough.

Conversely, a person who has used social media to cast a tough but fair image is billionaire investor Warren Buffett. The image he has crafted in social media and the media in general is one of a very smart long-term investor known for making quick deals based on how he sees a situation. The result of this image is many people might be far more willing to enter into negotiations with Warren Buffett under the belief they would be treated more fairly than if they were negotiating with Donald Trump.

The examples I use are extremes, but you see the picture. This is why I am a very strong believer that anyone who is planning to do any amount of negotiating with others needs to make sure their internet image is the one they want.

Use social media sites to position you and your company in the manner you want to be seen by others. Be active in how you do this. If you’re not active yourself, other people may craft an image of you that is not accurate.

If you are about to enter into negotiations with another party over a business contract or anything else for that matter, the other party likely will “Google” your name or company to see what they can learn about you. (This is a very common practice).

The other party is going to read all they can about you, and what they read, may impact how they choose to negotiate with you.

Some people may like to believe that social media does not have a place in the professional business world. Sorry, but that is old-school thinking (or maybe I should say, “That is so 2009 thinking!”) Today, search engines capture everything, and people expect to find out everything. When someone can’t find something on the web, they become that much more suspicious.

Finally, don’t think for a moment the web is going to become any less powerful in the years to come. Just the opposite is true. It’s going to become more powerful. The sooner you accept the reality that you need a solid social media strategy, the better. The strategy of what you post, how you position yourself and so forth is up to you. Choose wisely and be consistent.

Always remember that the respect you show to others and the integrity you live by are priceless. If you build your social media strategy around respect and integrity, you’ll be well on your way to positioning yourself properly for today and tomorrow.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunter and www.LinkedIn.com/in/MarkHunter.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2011

By John Casey in Featured

socialmediaLet Uniqueness, Users and Usefulness PR Your Online Campaigns

“Let’s hire an intern or recent college grad to do our social media!”

For small and medium sized businesses this seems like a smart and cost-effective idea, mainly because many believe that social media is a necessary evil that the younger crowd “gets.” But, this plan goes in the wrong direction since social media is rapidly becoming the number one PR tool for businesses, and as such, requires a smart and effective PR strategy that focuses on the uniqueness, users and usefulness of the company.

The Case of “Love Simple”

Let’s take a look at the story of a small film whose own use of the three “U’s” translates successfully to a small/mid-sized business. “Love Simple,” a small, low budget film appeared at several festivals, received a nice review in the industry trade Variety, and then after rejections by film distributors to pick-up the film, it was about to run out of gas, until a social media campaign stepped in!

Unique

By Gayle Hawks in Featured

spn_exclusiveThere is a link “below the fold” to a YouTube video entitled “Advertiser vs Consumer” – please watch it. It conjures up various feelings in everyone who watches it. However, it also highlights some major flaws in true, reliable, customer service.

As a business owner, are you truly meeting the needs of your customers? There are tons of blog posts and articles on the Internet from business men and women going on and on about nightmare clients and their sometimes ridiculous demands. Many of them are valid rants. However, there are also many that may be the direct result of failures on the part of the business owner. This shouldn’t be a shocking revelation, but business owners and upper management aren’t always innocent.

Failure is a part of every occupation, every business, and every person. To deny it would be ridiculous. Knowledge and implementation of knowledge is what reduces the frequency of those failures. As people who are heavily invested in the success of our own companies, we need to make sure that we are doing all we can to properly meet the needs of clients (our customers).

How is your company using the Internet to its advantage?

“The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” ~Bill Gates

Using Mr. Gates’ quote as a focal point, what part of the ‘village’ are you gearing your products and services to? This is an essential element to consider when creating your marketing and advertising plans. Make sure that your website operates in a way that your customers will “get it” and understand why they should choose to use your services or purchase your products. If customers can interact with your site in a positive way, then your website will be successful.

What’s being said about your business on the Internet? Have you looked at Yelp and other review sites to see how people gauge their interaction with your company, your employees or how they perceive the value of your products/services? If you’re not checking for those “word of mouth” referrals or unfortunate negative reviews, then you’re missing a critical component of being able to provide the “right stuff” to your customers. If you’re not listening to them and are unwilling to take a look at your internal policies/procedures and quality control standards, then you should just stop reading this article right now.

David Ogilvy, who is considered by many to be the father of modern advertising, always stressed the importance of the “BIG IDEA”. He always capitalized those two words in order to make them stand out. Are you doing your best to ensure that your company’s customer service, reputation, and quality standards are an integral part of America’s economic, political, and social life? What is the BIG IDEA that drives your business? By listening to your clients, understanding their wants and needs, and adapting, you are better able to refine your customer service procedures and better produce the products and services your customers desire. In doing this, you’ll be able to convey your company’s BIG IDEA in an easier, more effective way.

This isn’t an easy task. There isn’t one tried and true formula to achieve this – it’s more of a mindset and method of operating. In some ways this might seem a bit obtuse and nebulous. The beauty of it though is that this method of operating is one of the major facets of what you’ll see when you study the successful models of companies such as Amazon, Dropbox, Google, and others who do a great job of listening and interacting with their customers.

Here is the link to the video mentioned in the beginning of this article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSudg-tfIk. Hope you enjoy it!

Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards websites. We’re eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Cheap Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding online business cards design or business card management.

By Gayle Hawks in Featured

employeesIn today’s difficult economy many small businesses are operating on thin to non-existent profit margins. With it being difficult to just stay afloat, it’s important to get creative when it comes to maintaining employee satisfaction. So with that in mind, here are several effective and affordable ways to make your business a place where your employees are dedicated to a common goal and happy to be working with you.

1. Say Thank You

Seriously. Make it a point to single out employees when they do a good job and say thank you. Be genuine and sincere. If you have a client or customer who thanks you for your services, be sure to pass that on to your employees too. Publicly recognize them for their role in satisfying that customer’s needs. If a customer or client singles out a particular employee, send a thank you note to them at their home praising their good work and efforts. Send out a tweet or Facebook post acknowledging that employee’s contributions.

2. Be Accessible

Take breaks with your employees or eat lunch with them. Do more listening than talking. By spending time with your workforce, you will be able to glean more ways to take care of them in practical ways.

3. Use Gift Cards

Employees always welcome gas cards, grocery store cards, big box store cards, coffeehouse gift cards, and even movie tickets. These are nice, relatively inexpensive rewards to use when money is tight, yet you want to say thank you in a tangible way that they’ll appreciate.

4. Support Community Involvement

Provide company time for employees to serve a meal at a local shelter, help out a local food pantry, adopt a family for a holiday, or raise money for a common charity. This not only serves as a great team building opportunity by engaging in something your employees are passionate about, it also creates a positive public image for your business.

5. Free Drinks or Ice Cream

Open up the office soda machine and give out free drinks occasionally. Make arrangements on a hot summer day to have an ice cream truck stop at your business, have your employees choose their favorite item, and you pick up the tab.

6. Free Food

Announce that you’re bringing in coffee and bagels or donuts for your staff the next morning. Find out what bagel or donut is their favorite so you will have it for them. You can do the same with lunch by bringing in pizza or other take out foods.

7. Fun and Games

Put a foosball table, pool table, or air hockey table in the break room. Let people have fun with them during breaks and lunch. Challenge one of your employees once in a while (hopefully you’ll win a few games).

These are a few inexpensive ways to build morale and keep your employees motivated during tough times. It’s important to foster a culture that shows you’re going the extra mile for them. Don’t forget…it’s not the dollar amount that matters, but the thought you put into it that will have the greatest effect on your employees.

Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards websites. We’re eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Online Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding business cards design or business card management. Be part of the professional business cards company.

By David Jackson in Featured

nicheThe key to successful niche marketing is to pick a niche small enough to dominate, and large enough to be profitable. It’s an extremely delicate balance that requires both skill and luck. But when you strike that perfect balance, and are able to dominate a niche, you automatically become the recognized expert and authority in your field – and suddenly, your cup runneth over!

In this article, I’m going to introduce you to 13 brilliant niche businesses that are thriving in niches you probably never thought of or knew existed. Hopefully, this article will inspire you to create or develop a profitable niche business that matches your individual personality, talent and interest. Enjoy!

Romeo Mendoza
Can’t pay your mortgage? Then, paint your house. That’s right, if you will allow the folks at Adzookie, a free mobile advertising company to turn your house into a giant billboard, they will pay your mortgage for as long as your house remains a billboard.

Romeo Mendoza, Adzookie’s founder and CEO, says his idea serves two important purposes: 1. It helps struggling homeowners. 2. It spreads the word about his free mobile advertising company. With home foreclosures in the news almost on a daily basis, from a PR standpoint, this is an absolutely brilliant idea! Romeo’s website: http://www.adzookie.com

Alex Tew
You may not know his name, but I’m pretty sure you know his fame, The Million Dollar Homepage. It’s a website that was brilliantly conceived in 2005 by Alex Tew, a college student from Wiltshire, England. The purpose of the website was to raise money for his college education. The home page consists of a million pixels arranged in a 1000 × 1000 pixel grid; the image-based links on it were sold for $1 per pixel in 10 × 10 blocks.

Alex’s ultimate goal was to sell all of the pixels in the image, thus generating a million dollars of income for himself. He achieved that goal on January 11, 2006, when the final 1000 pixels were put up for auction on eBay. Mission accomplished! Alex’s website: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com

Darren Berkovitz
Got a chore that needs to do done? Too busy to do it yourself? Imagine being able to go to a website and post a chore that needs doing. For example, walking your dog, mowing your lawn, or doing laundry. Here’s how the service works: Individuals or businesses in your area will bid on your proposal online. You simply choose from among the bids. This clever idea of Darren Berkovitz is sort of a combination of Craigslist and eBay. Darren’s website: http://www.domystuff.com

Marla Cilley
Who knew being a professional nag could be so profitable? Marla Cilley, “FlyLady” makes millions by nagging her approximately 550,000 e-mail subscribers known as “Flybabies”, to do things such as get up and get dressed for work, polish their sink, get their nails done, cook dinner and yes…go to bed! In 2010, sales of Marla’s nag business reached 4 million. Marla’s website: http://flylady.net

Eric Hozle
What do you get when you combine DNA with online dating? You get ScientificMatch, an internet-dating site launched in December 2007 by Eric Holzle, who, before launching his site spent years doing research about human chemical attraction. The site is based in Boston, Massachusetts where its service is offered.

The company uses your DNA to maximize the chances of finding compatible physical chemistry with your matches. Oh, in case you’re wondering, the membership fee is a whopping $2000! Eric’s website: https://scientificmatch.com

Dusty Regan
Dusty Regan, a self-proclaimed “geek” and lover of technology, is the creator of FriendorFollow, an extremely useful twitter tool that tells you who you’re following who’s not following you back. This tool allows you to stay on top of your unfollows, as well as “trim your Twitter fat”, so to speak. Dusty’s website: http://friendorfollow.com

Claire Lamont/Jo-Anne Stayner
I’m a Mrs., an online marriage name change service was created by best friends Claire Lamont and Jo-Anne Stayner, as as result of the quest for the perfect shower gift…and to help newly married friends who spent hours going through the name change process.

I’m a Mrs. provides all of the forms, instructions and personalized letters new brides need when they embark on their official name change journey. The service is easy to use and can help brides save a tremendous amount of frustration and time.

Launched in 2008, I’m a Mrs. is now available in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Claire and Jo-Annes’s website: http://www.imamrs.com

Dmitry Davydov
If you need a memorable, easy to pronounce domain name that exactly describes what your website is all about, you might want to check out PickyDomains. They specialize in finding available domain names that are descriptive, concise and are easily remembered.

And here’s the best part: If they can’t find a domain name, or you don’t like any available domain names they suggest – you don’t pay anything – making the service completely risk free. Dmitry’s website: http://www.pickydomains.com

Bryan Caplovitz
Bryan Caplovitz, a former business technology consultant, in trying to build market share for his consulting firm, saw the need for a service where non-professional speakers could find speaking opportunities. He thought the Internet was an ideal way to bring speakers and opportunities together, and SpeakerMatch was born.

Here’s how the service works: Organizations list their events and speaker needs for free, while speakers pay a small monthly fee to post their profile on the site and pursue leads for possible speaking engagements. SpeakerMatch.com has become the preeminent online destination for those looking for speaking engagements. Bryan’s website: http://www.speakermatch.com

Aibek Esengulov/Kaly Mochoev
Looking for a useful, fun blog to help guide you through the web and tell you about exciting, hot websites that you have never heard of, including the best software programs, and all kinds of “how to” tips for computer users?

Then, MakeUseOf is definitely the blog for you. Launched in July, 2006 by Aibek Esengulov and Kaly Mochoev, MakeUseOf has approximately 350,000 subscribers and ranks among the most popular blogs on the planet according to Technorati. Aibek and Kaly’s website: http://www.makeuseof.com

Sami Bayrakci
Do you like surprises? SomethingStore is an interesting website launched in October 2007 by Sami Bayrakci, that will send you “something”, an item selected randomly among thousands of products from their diverse inventory, for $10 (free shipping in the US), and you will discover what your something is when you receive it. Sami’s website: http://www.somethingstore.com

Paul Singh/Aaron Dragushan
Have you ever called a company only to have an automated operator tell you, “Due to an unusually high call volume, you have to wait for several minutes”? Don’t you just hate when that happens?

Well now, instead of waiting on hold for an eternity, you can have someone else do the waiting for you. Thanks to a clever new service called FastCustomer, created by Paul Singh and Aaron Dragushan, all you have to do is type in the name of the company you are trying to reach and your phone number, and FastCustomer will call you back as soon as it gets someone on the line. Paul and Aaron’s website: http://www.fastcustomer.com

George Burke
Imagine being able to swap unlimited ebooks with thousands of readers nationwide. eBook Fling allows you to do just that. Here’s how it works: Simply share an eBook with others and in return, get back the eBook of your choice. You can choose from the hottest bestsellers, classics and even textbooks and tech manuals.

But wait…it gets even better! You can even trade Kindle™ and Nook™ books using your e-reader device, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry™ or Android™ smartphone. ebook Fling is the brainchild of Bookswim.com founder and CEO George Burke. George’s website: http://ebookfling.com

In closing, niche marketing may or may not be your cup of tea…only you can decide that. But as you’ve just seen from reading this article, the possibilities are virtually endless!

David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com

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