SmallBusinessNewz

Is There Any Point To Your Product?

Every morning, I make the same breakfast. I’ll put the coffee on, then make myself an egg bagel. Pop the bagel in the toaster, fry up a couple of eggs, and good to go. Except it’s not.Every morning, without fail, my smoke alarm goes off. “Adjust the toaster,” you might say. I did, and still the alarm goes off. “Cook the eggs on a lesser heat,” another good suggestion. Which I’ve tried. And still the damn alarm goes off.

How Google Wave Will Impact Business

Did you realize that email was designed in the 1960's? Do you think it's ready for an update? Lars and Jens Rasmussen of Google thought so when they began working on a project that turned into Google Wave. They wanted to incorporate new forms of communication into the older forms.

Business Plan Parts 4 and 5: Products/Services and Sales and Marketing

It has been a while, but we are finally getting back to our Business Plan series with two sections: Products and Services and Sales and Marketing. The Products and Services section doesn't need a whole lot of discussion since it is short and self-explanatory. Although the Sales and Marketing section is a bit more complicated as illustrated in the video below, we will try to break it down and not overwhelm you.

Don't Spread Your Business Too Thin

I was reading an article today called "Combining Existing Business Concepts" at Small Business Compendium. The topic of the article is pretty clear from the title. They cite YouTube who combined TV and the Internet. They also cite Google who has branched out from being simply a search engine to providing all kinds of services like maps, blogs, and all of their wonderful tools (not to mention buying YouTube).

Copywriting: Writing Great Product and Service Benefits

I just got done reading Clayton Makepeace’s blog article: Make your product’s benefits SPARKLE! Although it’s written specifically about finding product benefits, the tips he provides work equally well for selling services too. In case you aren’t familiar with Clayton, he’s been a successful direct response copywriter for 35 years and is credited with helping multiple businesses make millions of dollars. His is one of the handful of online newsletters I subscribe to and read regularly.

Street Vendors and Business Lessons

Last week when I was in NY, I passed a street vendor selling sunglasses for $5 a pair. They were clearly copies of best selling designs from top designers, and had fairly obvious quality flaws. It would be a miracle if any of those sunglasses lasted more than a couple of weeks. And yet several people were still buying them. Why? Was it an impulse buy walking down the street?

Get Your Product Categorization Right

Like a sound site architecture and directory structure, product categorization can play a significant role in how both search engines and users are able to access your products. There are two important things to consider when determining how to categorize your products. 1) Is each product assigned to the most appropriate category or categories? and 2) is multiple categorization creating duplicate content? The first issue frustrates your users and the second the search engines.

Burger Phones and Business Lessons

If you haven't seen the film Juno, I suggest you check it out. It's a really good movie. A lot of other people feel the same way, and even if you don't read movie news, you can tell this just by the number of "hamburger phones" that are selling online.

Be THE Resource for Your Niche

One way to gain significant ground in your industry is through targeting a niche. Instead of trying to cover a broad spectrum of a demographic, try focusing in on a narrow slice of the pie. Chances are you will be able to excel in that niche because you will be dedicating more time to it.