Archive for category Advice and Tips
Announcing Free No-BS Guide to Twitter For Small Business
Posted by Robert Bacal in Advice and Tips, No Bs Guide To Twitter/Social Media For Small Business, Small Business and Twitter on February 19, 2010
We’ve been railing at and exposing the bull*** of self-proclaimed social media gurus with vested interests trying to convince you that Twitter is an essential tool for small business. It’s a raindrop in the ocean, but here’s a small shift. We don’t have enough social media “reach” to counterbalance the crap put out by the [...]
Suggestions For Improvement of Small Business Human Resources Management
Posted by Robert Bacal in Hiring and Personnel (HR) on February 18, 2010
Here’s an interesting report that contains hints and idea about how small businesses can address the challenge of having to manage human resources (hiring, benefits, etc.)
Small Business Human Resources –
Business Continuity Tools For Any Business
Posted by Robert Bacal in Advice and Tips, Free Stuff For Small Business, General on February 18, 2010
Here’s a set of documents, check lists and ways of keeping records so, in the event of a horrible event such as fire, earthquake, etc, you are prepared and continue to do business. Protect yourself. You may only need the information once or twice in a lifetime, but if you don’t have it, the results [...]
17 “Must Ask” Questions for Planning Successful Projects – Small Business
Posted by AdeleS in Intro To Small Business, Small Business Challenges, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Starting A Small Business on October 23, 2009
17 “Must Ask” Questions for Planning Successful Projects
By Adele Sommers
Editor: For more by this author click on the tag Adele Sommers below. In this article Adele tackles a simple way to plan your successful projects. In small business, this is absolutely critical for two reasons. First, owners have a tendency to be people who prefer [...]
Do You Have Your Own “Business Success Criteria? You Should.
Posted by AdeleS in General, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Starting A Small Business on October 23, 2009
Do You Have Your Own “Business Success Criteria”?
By Adele Sommers
Editor Note: We’re pleased to be able to offer you Adele’s wisdom on a number of subjects. We’ll be carrying more of her articles in future. If you want to read more from her, click here name Adele Sommers, in the tag area below. In this [...]
Small Business Website Design – How Do You Choose What’s the Best Value?
Posted by Robert Bacal in Hiring and Personnel (HR), The Building of a Small Business Website on October 19, 2009
Small Business Website Design – How Do You Choose What’s the Best Value?By Pete Wise
There’s no shortage of companies out there offering low cost website design for small or medium sized businesses. But how can you spot what’s best for your business? As well as the obvious factor of low cost, it’s important to work [...]
Small Business Strategy: Competing On Price Dangers
Posted by Robert Bacal in Advice and Tips, Small Business Challenges, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Small Business and The Law on October 11, 2009
In my previous post I talked about the problems with focusing on low end, high maintenance customers. There is a matching issue which has to do with competing on the basis of price. This also comes from my unpleasant stay at a Motel 6/Studio 6 chain (twice).
I found out a few interesting things about Studio [...]
Are You Attracting the Wrong Customers To Your Small Business? You’d Better Think About It
Posted by Robert Bacal in General, Small Business Challenges, Starting A Small Business on October 11, 2009
I’m sitting in a Studio 6 motel room, with almost know sleep after dealing with a group of young people partying across the hall, and IN THE HALL 2 feet from my room. I’ve had a similar problem in another stay at the chain. Calls to the front desk at 1am and 3am were not [...]
The Power of Understanding Your Core Business – It’s About Survival
Posted by Robert Bacal in Advice and Tips, Don't Do This!, Small Business Challenges, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Starting A Small Business on October 9, 2009
The universe sometimes conspires. I spent a good part of today talking with a colleague about how important is is for a small business owner to understand his or her core business, AND to orient all activity towards furthering the core business. Then I realized, I haven’t been following my own dictums. Oh dear, it’s [...]
The Final Twitter Report For Small Business – Effectiveness? Part 1
Posted by Robert Bacal in General, Small Business Challenges, Small Business and Twitter on October 4, 2009
This is the first part of a report evaluating the usefulness of Twitter for small business. It is based on my observations as an active Twitter participant for almost a year, and the use of various techniques to leverage Twitter to contribute to small business success.
To provide a context, I’ve run a successful small business [...]
Women, have your say on the status of women in small business.
Posted by Robert Bacal in Small Business Challenges, Starting A Small Business on September 25, 2009
We’re building a library of articles and resources for women involved in small business, and in the process, it occured to me that maybe women do not require “special” articles or resources to help them in small business. Then I realized I didn’t know the answer. So I’m asking, particularly of women”
Do you feel that [...]
Stop Wasting Money! Reduce Spend without Reducing Overall Performance of Your PPC Campaigns
Posted by Robert Bacal in Free Stuff For Small Business, Marketing, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Small Business and The Internet, The Building of a Small Business Website on September 18, 2009
Short Description: Discover 7 key strategies to help reduce your PPC campaign spend without impacting performance.
Long Description: Are you spending money somewhere in your PPC campaign that isn’t yielding good profits for you? These days it’s imperative for marketers to be as efficient as possible with their marketing budgets. This white paper identifies 7 areas [...]
Spot and Avoid the Predators of Search Engine Marketing Malpractice
Posted by Robert Bacal in Free Stuff For Small Business, Marketing on September 18, 2009
Short Description: With friends like these who needs competition? Discover the tell-tale signs of search engine marketing malpractice.
Long Description: Before you choose a search engine marketing agency or provider, be mindful that the world of SEM is still evolving. This means that there are a significant amount of questionable trends and marketing practices that could [...]
Questions to Ask Your Prospective Paid Search Advertising Agency
Posted by Robert Bacal in Free Stuff For Small Business, Hiring and Personnel (HR), Marketing, Small Business and The Internet on September 18, 2009
If you are managing a paid per click ad account yourself, such as Google Adwords, or the similar systems from Yahoo and Microsoft, you’ll know that it’s not an easy thing to do. It really does require some specialized skills and knowledge to do it correctly, but the good news is that PPC ads can [...]
If you hang around long enough in your small business, good things happen. All That Free PR
Posted by Robert Bacal in General, Marketing, Micro Businesses, Small Business Challenges, Small Business Strategy and Decision-Making, Small Business and The Internet on September 16, 2009
Amidst a week from hell, with a raft of technical problems that are affecting access to our network of websites, I was taking a break, and used google to search for my name. Now, let me be clear. I don’t hunt around for a quick ego gratification jolt (you buying that?). Actually, I periodically search [...]