Work At Home Adventures

The recent sub-prime mortgage crisis and the interlinked subsequent turmoil in the financial markets has generated many concerns in businesses and the general outlook on the economy. The question we want to answer is: will it affect small businesses?

There is no easy answer to this question. But let’s examine the different drivers at play.

On one hand, we have a mortgage market that’s become a lot tighter. This will make it increasingly harder for people to get mortgages. Traditionally, borrowing against your home has been one of the most common ways of funding a new businesses (according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Small Business 25% of start ups use bank loans as their main source of funding, while 49% use bank overdrafts). So these facts would indicate that the credit crunch will have a knock-on effect on small businesses by affecting entrepreneurs’ ability to raise funding.

Equally, a lot of people who are already on the property ladder will find that their equity is being squeezed by the drop in house prices, so again making it harder to gear up.

On top of this, banks have gone into saving mode, switching from looking aggressively for borrowers to looking for lenders. So even with property to secure against, chances are that people will generally face it more difficulty to get a bank loan.
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The traffic statistics page for Robert’s new small business web site starts to load. He scrolls down the page, dismayed. Just one or two visitors daily. Robert sits back and sighs. Most were probably curious friends and family.

When his internet-savvy nephew suggested promoting his small business on the Internet, Robert designed a simple but attractive five-page small business web site. He added meta-tags and keywords, and waited for the search engines.

Robert wonders, “What now?”

Robert’s experience is common among small businesses getting started on the Internet. He has just faced the first big lesson for a small business web site: the web site is not enough. Unlike the weekly advertisement Robert places in the local paper, he needs to promote the web site itself. In a sense, he needs to advertise the advertisement.

What Robert doesn’t realize is that he already has the most valuable asset a small business can leverage online — knowledge and experience. Anyone who runs a small business off-line is an expert on something that other people would like to know about. Writing articles can turn that knowledge into targeted traffic. Article writing is the ideal free method for a small business to promote itself on the Internet.

Every small business has expertise it can share in 500-1,000 word bites. A landscaper could write about the uses for different kinds of turf grass. A window installer can describe new types of energy-efficient windows. A home cleaning service can provide cleaning tips.

Customers ask Robert five questions repeatedly. He can easily write five simple articles to answer them. Then, he just needs to add a “resource box” which advertises and links to his web site.

Robert can also include a few of his web site’s keywords in each article, and, if possible, in his resource box. Robert’s business depends on local customers. Including his city’s name in anecdotes within the articles, or in the resource box, can help his articles to appear in local searches for that city.

Robert would start by uploading his article to a new web page. This gives visitors more to read — and starts to establish Robert as an expert. More importantly, the article becomes “spider bait” for the content-loving search engines to find and index.

He could stop there, but his new article gives him a more valuable opportunity to promote his site.

Next, Robert can offer his article to other web sites. Most article directories accept submissions of articles. They offer those articles for others to use in newsletters or on web sites. A quick search for “article directory” will yield a sizable list of sites that accept article submissions.

Prepared, with a simple text file ready to copy and paste, it takes just minutes to submit an article to an article directory site. Once posted, the article provides a link to Robert’s site. Other webmasters may reprint his article, also linking to his site.

Article marketing is viral, multiplying the links — and visitors — to the author’s site each time an article is republished. Just one popular article can attract a growing number of information-hungry visitors as the article spreads across the Internet.

Many article directories also include new articles in RSS feeds and e-mail announcements to their lists. Robert doesn’t even need his own e-mail list or feed to advertise his web site to readers of his article.

Finally, if Robert has more time, he can search for “ezine directories” to find newsletters that accept articles and offer his article directly to them. If he is willing to spend some money, he could use article submission services.

Over time, the growing number of links to a web site can improve its “link popularity” and Page Rank. As the site rises in the search engine rankings, it attracts even more visitors.

Articles spread those all-important links across the Internet without the tedious process of sending out link exchange requests (often declined or ignored). Better still, webmasters who reprint articles rarely ask for reciprocal links back to their own sites.

The benefit of writing an article builds over time, yet articles require no ongoing maintenance once they are written and submitted. Other options like newsletters, blogs, and forums can demand more upkeep than a small business can afford.

Best of all, articles can remain up on web sites indefinitely, driving free traffic immediately — and long-term. Most other kinds of advertising stay posted only as long as they are paid for. An article’s “views,” “reprints,” and “click-throughs” can increase — without increasing advertising costs.

Writing articles is a powerful way to leverage a small business’ expertise, transforming it into traffic. The currency of the Internet, information, makes advertising a small business web site affordable. Promoting with articles can jump-start the online presence of a small business and continue to market it for a long time to come.

(c) 2006 Wendy MakiMay be reprinted in email newsletters and on web sites. Must be unedited and include the resource box. All other rights reserved.

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Most of us can easily list off 5 professional, and consequently unprofessional, business experiences we’ve had recently.  Our interaction with these businesses may have been in the form of an email, a retail shopping experience, or a telephone conversation.  In several cases, the deciding factor between a professional and an unprofessional experience may have been something so small, so simple, yet so significant.

Running a home-based business often means wearing the hat of everyone from order taker to customer service specialist.  A stickler for a ‘professional’ image, I believe it is essential I constantly make myself aware of how clients, contractors and the public are viewing my business practices.  As the sole owner of my Virtual Assistant business, I have to – nobody else is going to do it for me!

I’m a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. method of business relations – Keep It Simple, Stupid.  The following five points may seem cliché, and ever so simple, but it’s surprising how often home-based business owners forget to take notice of them.

1. Spell check.  Whether you are writing an email, creating a brochure of your services, adding text to your website, or writing a thank-you card, double check your work!  Just about every program you work in will have a ’spell check’ function – use it!  For projects such as text for my website or brochures featuring my services, I hire a professional editor to review what I’ve written.  You may ask, “Isn’t a professional editor going to cost me a lot of money?” No!  There are hundreds of Virtual Assistants who, for a surprisingly low fee, will edit your correspondence.  It will save you the embarrassment of spelling mistakes, an error which may very well cost you a future customer.

2. The telephone.  Have you ever called your favourite retail shop or your local notary public to hear them answer, “Hello?”  No?  Neither have I.  Businesses answer their phone stating their business name, as should you!  Unfair or not, some potential customers have a negative preconceived notion about home-based businesses, so let them know from the moment they call that you are a professional organization.  Ensure your answering machine or voicemail clearly notes your business name, and directions for leaving a message or alternate contact information.  If your business line is also your home line, instruct others in your home how you want calls answered during business hours.  Also explore the option of getting a smart ring number or a voicemail system with multiple mailboxes.

3. Professional documentation.  Business cards, brochures, emails, website content, faxes, written quotes and RFPs.  Always give out typed, clean-looking, professional documentation with your company contact information.  If budget allows, hire a graphic designer to create your company’s brand image so you keep a consistent branding with all of your correspondence.  Lots of Virtual Assistants have a background in graphic design, and offer these services.  Not in the budget just yet?  There are easy-to-use software programs with template designs, which you can customize with your own information and flair.

4. Mind your manners.  Smile when you are on the phone.  Say please and thank you.  Treat each and every phone call and email with this kind of care, and you will surely see repeat customers and referrals.  Let customers know you appreciate their patronage.  A sincere “thank you for your business” will go a surprisingly long way.  Dealing with a home-based business is often a new experience for customers.  Show them your level of professionalism by keeping your manners in check.

5. Know your policies, your product, your business.  It is most unprofessional when the owner of a company does not know the answer to a question about their business.  When someone asks for a quote, they are expecting an answer of how much your business will charge to provide them with a service.  Potential customers don’t want to hear how you’re just redoing your pricing and you’ve never done this before but think $40/hr sounds fair.  They don’t want to hear that now you have people sign a contract because once upon a time you didn’t sign one and you were never paid for that assignment.  You are the professional.  Give clear answers to the inquiries you receive about your service offerings, pricing, policies, etc.

Just be mindful.  Operating a new or home-based business of any kind is certainly a lot of work, and a continuous battle to gain confidence from customers who may well be used to dealing with larger, potentially more established businesses/industries.  Step up to the plate, be mindful of your professionalism, and others will be confident in hiring your services, or purchasing your products.

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Article Source: Home Business with a Professional Image