Small Business Brief

Weekly Newsletter - Date

Hi All!

Here is this week's edition of our newsletter.

Keep in mind that what you are currently looking at is a template. Although it has the current news up until today's date, my actual opening remarks for this week are only available in the newsletter once it is delivered.

Just let me know if you have questions or comments.

See you next week!

Linda Riley
Editor - Small Business Brief
linda @ smallbusinessbrief.com

Be sure and drop by our Small Business Ideas Forum. It's a friendly community where we share knowledge, find help and encourage one another.

 

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Small Business News

Time Management For Home Business Owners
jobbankusa.com - As each day passes, and more and more things need to get done with your business, you may find yourself alittle overwhelmed with how much is left to be done. This is nothing new, and a problem that almost every home business owner encounters.

A Special Report With Secrets to Selling Consumer Electronics Online
articleplus.com - Are you selling consumer electronics online? If yes, you must read this article because it tells you how to sell consumer electronics online effectively.

RSS Provides Multiple Opportunities to Share Your Information
businesstoolchest.com - RSS content syndication is a relatively new member of the internet marketing family of campaign options. And, it seems as though new uses for RSS content are coming about very quickly. This is possibly due to recent changes in the way that major search engines like Yahoo! and Google want web site owners to advertise.

Hey Me! Get Out Of My Way
successfuloffice.com - Give yourself a chance and get out of your own way.

Top Ten Ways to Use Audio on Your Site
successfuloffice.com - Audio can provide an added dimension to your site. It creates a warm atmosphere where visitors feel like they know you. And it can enhance your reputation as an expert. Here are the top ten ways you can start using audio on your site.

Where should I put my money, toward a better Web site or more online marketing?
allbusiness.com - You need a Web site and you need to market it. A Web site without online marketing is a little like the proverbial tree falling in the forest -- it's there, but will anyone find it?

How Do Autoresponders Work?
ezinearticles.com - Have you ever received an email telling you that the person you emailed is on vacation and will not be answering his email for the next week? What about a company that answers with an email thanking you for your interest and that they would get back to you in a day or two? Or even an email saying that the email you tried to send could not be delivered? Each of these is a different version of what we commonly call an autoresponder.

Starting a Small Business 101
about.com - Starting a small business requires determination, motivation, and know-how. Here's a list of available resources to provide you with the know-how to have a successful small business startup.

Call Centers Tap People Who Will Work at Home
startupjournal.com - For many years, demand for at-home employment far outstripped supply, giving rise to a perennial crop of work-at-home scams, from pyramid schemes to phony job referrals. Now, working at home is taking a leap forward -- in the customer-service arena.

Advertising On Web - Do's and Don'ts
smallbusinessbrief.com - Advertising your business in the correct manner is a sure shot key to success. Advertising helps you to reach out to a larger number of people from other websites. You definitely cannot expect these many people to come to you on their own.

A Work At Home Mom New Year Resolution
smallbusinessbrief.com - There can be plenty of things you might want to do to jump start your work at home business. Or maybe even simplify it? Here are some ideas for work at home mom's to do if you are not already doing so. The "action" is example tips of how to take action on your resolution.

Good Computer Maintenance - Part One
smallbusinessbrief.com - Normally we think of maintenance as a chore, something we have to do to keep things running smoothly and prevent problems down the road, whether with our car, house, or computer. But with a PC, maintenance can actually be fun ... approached from the right perspective.

5 tips for spurning spyware and browser hijackers
microsoft.com - Here are five things to know and do when it comes to hassling with spyware/adware.

Office Space Options For Small Businesses
bytestart.co.uk - Starting a new business is an equally exciting and stressful time. In these early stages there are many business decisions you will have to make, but one decision that is critical in getting right is finding the best premise for your business.

Writing Effective Email Newsletter
workoninternet.com - Most Internet marketers utilize newsletters to maintain the interests of their subscribers. These newsletters, called eZines or electronic magazines, are usually filled with informative pieces about the subject of our business which our subscribers have shown interest with, by virtue of their very subscription.

Website Resolutions
workz.com - As all of us view the new year, we determine various ways to improve ourselves. Whether its eliminating bad habits, or improving quality of life, January 1st is seen as a new beginning and starting point. Your website too, can use a new look. Consider taking the website to task with these down and dirty quick improvement tips for the new year.

eBay Says Glitch Hits PayPal Site Wednesday
auctionbytes.com - Some users of eBay-owned PayPal had trouble logging into the online payment site on Wednesday.

Paying Yourself: From Startup and Beyond
entrepreneur.com - Determining your salary is one of the most important decisions you'll make as a business owner. Here's how to do it.

Online Sales Up, Service Down
ecommerce-guide.com - Online merchants had a great holiday shopping season. But they'd better watch out: Customer satisfaction is dropping.

When Is Your Web Site Deductible?
businessweek.com - Costs associated with site design and construction may be allowable, but since the IRS has never issued formal guidance, it's not so simple

Profiting With Private Label Rights
smallbusinessbrief.com - There are three basic rights you should know about when it comes to resale rights marketing. These are resale rights, master resale rights and private label rights.

Get Off To A Running Start With Microsoft Word XP
smallbusinessbrief.com - Just as we were getting comfortable with our cozy, fuzzy version of MS Word, along comes Word XP. This article explains some of it's important new features and how to make the most of them. Time to get your sneakers on and let's get off to a running start with Word XP.

The Testimonial Writing Machine
smallbusinessbrief.com - I accidentally stumbled on a way to get clients to systematically write testimonials. And, I found that this method actually produced far better, results oriented, copy than anything I had done on my own in the past. Here's the system.

Online Marketing: Online Auctions
smallbusinessbrief.com - Many people have not considered the value of using online auction houses, such as eBay and Yahoo! Auctions, to promote their own businesses. No matter your business, with a little creativity, you can use this tool to market yourself.

Let's Make a Deal
morebusiness.com - Smart buyers will always ask for a better price. Unfortunately, too many sales people and business owners automatically think that reducing their price is the most effective way to respond to this request.

Podcasts in E-Newsletters: Give Your Articles a Voice
clickz.com - Have you noticed a little reader fatigue setting into your e-newsletter publishing efforts? Now you can get your readers to perk up their ears for what you have to say by adding podcasts to your e-newsletters.

Ecommerce Sales Increased 24 Percent in 2005
auctionbytes.com - Thanks to a last minute shopping spike, ComScore Network's prediction for online sales during the 2005 holiday period was met and exceeded by 1percent (a 25 percent increase over 2004). Throughout the entire year, online retail spending has increased by 24 percent.

The Sales Tax Conundrum
businessweek.com - If you're confused about your responsibility when you suspect a customer may be evading sales taxes, you're not alone

How To Improve Your Pictures and Sell At a Higher Price on eBay
devshed.com - A picture is worth a thousand words. Nowhere else is that more true than on eBay!

Telephone Etiquette
ezinearticles.com - The telephone is still a key method of communication & thus proper telephone techniques an important part of a top-notch business. On a phone call the only impression a customer gets is that of your voice and the manner in which you speak. In order to project the most positive & friendly image one should follow the simple tips below

Select the Right Work Desk
businessknowhow.com - Will that desk you’re thinking of purchasing suit your workstyle and meet your job needs? Will its size fit well within the parameters and constraints of your office or work space? Can the desk surface withstand the daily-use demands of your particular job and work environment? These are just a few of the things you need to consider when choosing a work desk. And that’s because the right desk can aide immeasurably in accomplishing work tasks in a comfortable, ergonomic and productive manner.

Searching for Small-Business Tech at CES
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Plasma TVs, DVD systems and multimedia gadgets weren't the only items on display last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Companies also took the opportunity to showcase the latest tools aimed at small businesses. While there were more products than we can mention in this forum, we've got a sampling of new hardware that might just help you run your business a bit more efficiently. Here's what we found.

Time for Your Financial Checkup
inc.com - With the New Year comes the perfect opportunity to get the financial side of your business in order. You need accurate numbers in order to make intelligent decisions. So sweep out the mistakes and clutter that have made their way into your financial statements and kick the New Year off right. Here are five smart things you can do to put your financial house in order.

Accepting Credit Cards - Positives vs. Negatives
smallbusinessbrief.com - This guide is all about is giving you the education to make a decision on a Merchant Account Provider, a bank, or even a third party processor based on a cost benefit analysis and your service needs.

Getting a Business Loan
allbusiness.com - Gone are the days where business owners were dependent almost entirely on banks or loans from friends and relatives. Today, there are many different sources available for business loans.

How To Investigate A Business Opportunity
1-marketingstrategies.com - Business opportunity packages are called "turnkey operations." The theory is that all you have to do is to launch the business opportunity is buy the package, read the material, study the manual or video, "turn the key" and open your business. Some of these start-up business opportunity packages cost $100 or less. Others cost thousands of dollars. But there is one common denominator: the opportunity should be investigated. Remember, let the buyer beware. There are several ways to investigate a business opportunity.

Your E-Newsletter: The Basics
devshed.com - When designing your newsletter always keep in mind the amount of time you can expect your reader to spend viewing your newsletter. Everyone today is information hungry, but always in a hurry. How you display your content within your newsletter can capitalize on this assumption. What Information Should I Include in My Newsletter?

Using XSite Pro To Produce Websites On The Fly!
businesstoolchest.com - The New website building software called Xsite Pro allows you to create websites easily and without having to use html. The software developer, Paul Smithson hasn't re-invented the wheel, he has simply improved on it! Xsite Pro was developed to allow anyone to create either a complex website or a simple niche website quickly and easily.

Advantages of Viral Marketing Through Content Distribution
ezinearticles.com - How does viral marketing fit with content distribution? I'm glad you asked. If you offer high quality articles, white papers, reports, ecourses or ebooks, you can be sure that they will be passed around to others, and others will pass them on to others and so on and so forth thus producing a 'viral' effect.

How to Cut the Cost of Mailings
mailingknowhow.com - If you do a lot of mailing, chances are you can reduce the cost of sending mail to customers and prospects without reducing the number of times you communicate with them. Here are 9 practical ways to reduce your mailing costs.

Minority report: You can get help getting started
usatoday.com - As a woman and a minority, I figure there has to be some special help and resources available to me. I have done a bit of research, but it all seems fairly overwhelming. Where do you suggest I start?

When Data Spills, Who do You Notify?
smallbusinesscomputing.com - A few weeks ago, someone stole my backpack, which contained my laptop, my PDA, my pager and my wallet. If you were to lose it all, how would you recover? Do you have a policy of notification in the event of what they politely call 'a data spill'? Are you allowed to say, ''Oh, it's OK. It was in binary and no one will piece it back together''? Did you know that certain foreign goverments employ people to do nothing but put 1/16-inch shred back together like a giant jigsaw puzzle? You need to be worried about your zeros and ones to be sure.

Setting a High Goal To Stay Focused
startupjournal.com - Laura Modrell, 31 years old, grew up around Ozark, Mo., where she waited tables as a teen and took a few classes at the community college. By the mid-1990s, she was a working mom with a baby boy and a husband in construction. She was in her sixth year as a telemarketer for a long-distance service -- a stressful, burnout job if ever there were one. "It was tough," she says, "but it gave me the mind-set for reaching goals." Then she searched to buy a toy train...

Discovering Needs, Wishes, Wants, Desires: The Marketing Research Challenge
marketingprofs.com - A long time ago, it became clear to me that marketing research had only one purpose: to search for the consumer need, wish, want, or desire that would be the key to the unleashing the marketing "money river." While this is an honorable goal, it is a very elusive one.

The Wholesale Misconception
smallbusinessbrief.com - Some people think that working with a real Wholesale Supplier means that they will magically be able to sell products for less than anybody else on the planet, for ever and ever. Then they have to compete with companies who have more buying power and get better price breaks, and suddenly the honeymoon is over. They run around screaming that the supplier is not a real Wholesale Supplier, and is cheating them. The truth is that they've simply been confronted with a perfectly normal aspect of retail sales.

Small Business and Disability: Myths and Misconceptions
smallbusinessbrief.com - According to the U.S. Census Department, approximately fifty-four million Americans are disabled, or have considered themselves disabled at one time or another. Seventy percent of Americans with disabilities who want to work are unemployed. Of the remaining thirty percent, only a fraction is gainfully employed full-time. As a result, people with disabilities are almost twice as likely to start their own businesses as their non-disabled counterparts.

Homeshoring and Its Impact on Small Businesses
smallbiztrends.com - You have heard of offshoring — the practice of companies establishing part of their operations outside the country, i.e., offshore. Well now one research firm, IDC, points out the growing trend of homeshoring.

Optimised online copywriting - why bother?
bytestart.co.uk - Producing effective online copywriting is a creative process blending art and science in a balanced technique combining many different elements. This integration of disciplines is required to satisfy both the technical and the aesthetic objectives of a website.

What is Graphic Design and How Can it Help my Business?
workoninternet.com - Graphic design is an art and for professional results you should be utilising the skills of someone that can demonstrate relevant experience in the field of design, advertising, typography, print and the use of colour.

Work-at-Home Mom Website Launches Career Kit That Helps Women Make Money
powerhomebiz.com - Bizymoms.com debuts a Career Kit to help women start their own home-based Virtual Assistant business.

5 Tips to Step Boldly into the World & Set Yourself Apart from Others
morebusiness.com - To take your life and business to a level that makes you ecstatic there is a good chance you will need to step boldly into the world and stand distinctively apart from others. Here are 5 tips to support you to embrace the unknown in a big way and maximize your results.

Supreme Court won't hear spam appeal
zdnet.com - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from an online dating service that claimed it had the right to send unsolicited e-mails to thousands of University of Texas e-mail accounts.

Blogs as eBay Marketing Tools
auctionbytes.com - Online sellers have to do their own marketing. Auction sites like eBay, Overstock.com, Amazon, Yahoo and others do market the auctions they host on their sites, but in today's competitive environment, a seller has to market their auctions and online stores in other ways too. One way is to use a blog.

Referrals for Your Business
businesspundit.com - If you have a service oriented business, check this out - particularly if a referral program is something you need.

Straight Shooting
entrepreneur.com - Your customers are all over the web, and they're not easy targets. Make sure your message hits its mark by keeping up with new technologies.

E-Commerce Year in Review: 2005
ecommerce-guide.com - ECommerce-Guide.com picks the top five stories in 2005, which had a significant impact on the world of e-commerce.

False Security About Assets
businessweek.com - Don't assume that forming an LLC or corporation will always shield your personal assets. Even if you operate as a corporation or LLC, a creditor can still go after your personal assets if:

Scaling the electrical summit
bizjournals.com - How a small business plugged into customer needs and grew large

Very Important: Update on Severe Windows Security Flaw. What To Do Right Now To Secure Your Data
smallbusinessbrief.com - Earlier we warned you about a serious security flaw, so-called "WMF flow." Several days later nearly one hundred different instances of exploitation of this newly discovered vulnerability had been found.

Is Your Business Card Correct or Corrected?
smallbusinessbrief.com - Imagine how many business cards exchange hands every day. Now, imagine how many of those cards have some kind of correction on them; address scratched through, phone number changed. You wouldn't go into a business meeting with duck tape holding your sleeve together, and you shouldn't hand out a business card that is corrected instead of correct.

Three Steps to Starting Your New Business With a Clean Credit Score
smallbusinessbrief.com - For many people, starting their own business is a personal dream. Before fulfilling your personal dream, it's necessary to get your personal finances in order. At this early stage you'll be using your own personal finances to start your business and if you want to succeed you must approach your personal finances with a professional eye.

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