Increase My Small Business

Passive income is so important to have in your income mix. Join us on Facebook or at www.increasemysmallbusiness.com or LinkedIn and twitter at Mark Stowers where we talk about small business issues and tips, from small business mentors, coaches and small business owners.

Let’s talk about driving traffic to your online business!

When you start an online small business you will be stopped dead in your tracks if you are unable to generate traffic. I want to share seven tips with you to help you increase your traffic:

1. Optimize your website. This can’t be emphasized enough. Without keywords and phrases your website pretty much does not exist to search engines…and these are what determine your popularity online.
2. Blog, blog, blog. Writing this blog (that you are currently reading) has been a great learning experience for me and helped bring traffic to my website. It is simple and can be very effective if done right.
3. Write articles. This is similar to blogging, fairly simple and effective. The great thing about articles is that you can choose to submit your articles to online directories and they will distribute them to sites all over the web. The more you’re out there, the more likely you’ll be seen.
4. Keep your website up-to-date. You do not want any of your contact information and content to be old. It will end up hurting your business because you may lose credibility. I would suggest posting blogs at least three times a week and articles about once a week.
5. Make it look nice. You want your site to look professional, neat and appealing to all visitors. If you have a black background with navy blue writing you might run into some problems. One small business startup idea I have for you is to consider hiring someone to design your website for you. I did and it paid off.
6. Have an email opt in button. With this you will be able to potentially generate long term traffic/customers.
7. Have a lot of good content. First, you want to make sure you that you are generating new content on a regular basis. Second, you want to make sure that it is actually good content. This means that it should be error free and relevant. Don’t just write so you’ll have a post for that day. Put in some time and effort.

These are just a few ways to increase your online traffic. Add these to your online business startup checklist and you will be noticed in no time.

If you happen to find yourself struggling hire someone to do some start up consulting. They will be able to guide you onto the right path. Don’t give up.

Thanks for reading. This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business here to provide you with small business coaching. Also, be sure to join us on increasemysmallbusiness.com and on Podomatic for Increase My Small Business.

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This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business.

I am here to help you increase your small business success by providing you with some business coaching.

To achieve a goal and obtain small or new business success, there is a process you should implement. With some business plan tips or a business mentor you can be on your way toward business success! The process of obtaining small business or new business success is streamlining and analyzing your objectives. Begin at the very beginning, the smallest and specific part first. Concentrating on the small parts first are the most important steps to take when meeting guidelines and trying to reach business success. A clear objective is a way of knowing what plan of action to take and how to identify the expected results. This plan for small business success provides a set of directions so that making decisions will not be as complicated as when the goal is first being considered.

2 out of the 5 steps for management by objectives and personal plans, introduced by Peter Ducker:

1. Successful small business plans should be SPECIFIC. It is better to accomplish one goal at a time rather than thinking of several different plans at one time. A single objective cannot be derived if multiple results are expected. It is important to clarify what is to be achieved and that should have your full attention.

2. Successful small business plans should be MEASURABLE. It is hard to measure non- tangible things. Take the service crews for example; it is hard to measure how the service was delivered without the number of complaints being counted. Specific numbers can be used to rate the effectiveness of the service, and same is true for any successful business plans. Successful business plans do not use general terms when making objective statements. Clear and specific terms such as; to write, to recite, to perform, to fix, to process, to designate, to purchase, to choose, to reprogram, etc., should be used.

Read part 2 of Setting Clear Objectives for the next 3 steps!

Thanks for reading. This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business. Also, be sure to join us on increasemysmallbusiness.com and on Podomatic for Increase My Small Business.

This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business.

I am here to help you increase your small business success by providing you with some business coaching.

Marketing a small business can be tiresome as you spend endless hours creating, implementing and testing marketing techniques. That’s what makes networking so affective. You can network with other business owners or those thinking of starting their own small business to share promotions and profits. If you’re not sure how networking can work for your business, read the tips below for business start-up help.

Find a Product:

Before you can begin networking, you must focus on what products and services you will offer. Because there are many business opportunities to choose from, narrow your search to products or services that you are familiar with or that interest you. There is always a demand for innovative products.

Depending on how much time you are able to spend on your small business and how creative you are with marketing, will help you determine how many products to market.

Find a Partner:

Networking is nothing more than finding a partner or a few partners with the same business goals in mind. Finding people who share similar interests will boost and create ideas. Therefore, Working with partners will do two things: keep new ideas flowing and provide support for all participants in the network.

Affiliate Yourself with Other Small Businesses: 

In your local town there might be business owners who meet as a group weekly or monthly to discuss their businesses and get to know others in the community. This is a great way to network your small business and to meet others with small business interests.

Find Networking Partners Online:

You can also contact other small business owners online to create an effective online marketing campaign. There are millions of people online who are either getting started with a small business or thinking about it. Joining forces can help increase new business success for both owners!

One way to contact people online is to ask for a link exchange, and use this as an open door for conversation by email. Another way is to contact someone and ask if you can showcase their products at your website with reviews about each. Then, you can casually mention the types of products you offer. Your network is almost like a business mentor that collaborates on ideas and gives you business plan tips.

You can also write articles or hire someone to write articles about subjects related to your products. You can submit the articles to others selling related products to get exposure for your website.

After finding partners or associates, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. Referrals are one of the most powerful selling tools you can use to find new, interested customers.

Use these networking tips to create a strong team of marketers for your products and see your small business success rise! Your small business will grow as you help others achieve their goals.

Thanks for reading. This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business. Also, be sure to join us on increasemysmallbusiness.com and on Podomatic for Increase My Small Business.

This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business. My question for you is, “what do you do if you lose your main source of income?” I want to share with you some business planning tips to ensure that you will always have income coming in. How? Well, it’s quite simple; you will want to create multiple streams of income, some of them lead to other streams but here are a few ideas:

1. Starting a blog. My business mentor suggested this to me and as you can see, I took his advice and started blogging. To make money off of blogging you will want to consider selling products or eBooks on your blog, you can include sponsorships, or even get in involved in affiliate programing. These are just a few suggestions for things you can do to make money blogging. All in all blogging has thus far been a great learning experience for me. Give it a try!
2. Have multiple jobs. If you have the time and are willing to put forth the effort you may want to consider having both a full-time and a part-time job. You may be passionate about what you do full time, but you may also be passionate about something else as well, or possess a special skill that you want to put to use. Without a doubt, two incomes are better than one so consider picking up a second job.
3. Get involved with business coaching or with a small business consulting firms. You may be a very successful or knowledgeable business person. If that’s the case, you want to ask yourself if you’re willing to share your experiences and ideas with other people to help them reach small business success. Many people are willing to pay a lot of money to get help so be sure to look into joining a firm or starting your own.
4. Write an eBook. This is so simple. I actually just completed my second eBook. If you’re not a good writer you may consider hiring someone to edit your eBook for you. When considering a topic you want to think about what sort of information people are in need of. For example: I found that a large number of business people did not know how to start an online business; with that I decided to do more research and ended up writing my very own eBook on How to Start an Online Business in 30 Days. With this you may find great success and another avenue for generating income.

There’s nothing wrong with playing it safe and having multiple streams of income.

Thanks for reading. This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business. Also, be sure to join us on increasemysmallbusiness.com, smallbusinesscopilot.com and on Podomatic for Increase My Small Business and Small Business Copilot.

This is Mark Stowers with Increase My Small Business and I want to start off by asking you if you have an idea notebook? I actually have three idea notebooks: one in my nightstand, one at my office, and one that I take on-the-go. I am always looking for ways to acquire small business success and being an entrepreneur, I am constantly looking for new ideas. When I talk with people and get ideas or ideas pop into my head I immediately write them down in my idea notebook. Sometimes my friends give me grief because I am constantly whipping out my idea notebook to jot things down. An idea notebook is exactly what it sounds like; it is a notebook full of ideas concerning business, opportunities or pretty much anything that will help you reach small business success.  Do you have an idea notebook? If you do, is it always accessible to you? If you don’t have one, you definitely need to invest in one. It is great for accumulating tons of ideas.

You should go back through your idea notebook every month or every six months to see what ideas you have gathered. These ideas may be useful to your current business now or in the future. Also if you’re thinking about starting a new business these ideas could be very helpful and assist you in reaching new business success. One suggestion I have is that you try to have some structure or organization in your idea notebook. This will help you when you want to apply these ideas to your current or future business.

There are honestly so many opportunities out there for you to make money on just about any idea you have. You may find a million dollar business hidden in your idea notebook.

Thanks for reading. This is Mark Stowers with Small Business Copilot. Also, be sure to join us at smallbusinesscopilot.com and on Podomatic for Increase My Small Business and Small Business Copilot.