Empowering Small Business

Small Business 101

Yesterday's New York Times featured a resource-rich, "how to" article for entrepreneurs starting up a business. According to the Times (and I agree), one of the best places for learning about how to get started is the Small Business Administration.

The Saba's website provides a full spectrum of information including how to write a business plan, apply for grants and find & leverage local resources near you. In particular, their monthly web chats provide real-world perspective on pertinent daily issues such as health care, tax planning, regulatory practices, financing and disaster preparedness.

For entrepreneurs who need in-depth guidance in business planning, Bplans offers 100 free template business plans as well as blog advice. I regularly use the U.S. Census Bureau for key demographic and usage statistics, and see it as a must-have tool for business and marketing planning. The Times also recommends FedStats for deep statistics, data access tools and relevant federal agency data.

Another important step to take is to conduct some primary research with your target customers.  Interview potential buyers (phone, in-person or email) to test your business idea, get feedback on your proposed products or services and discover pricing tolerance and elasticity. Get a sense of enthusiasm regarding your business plan, or better understand the customer resistance points. You need to find out if your great idea has resonance in the market as well as in your mind.

An economist with the Office of Advocacy states that if you are a new business you have approximately a 50-50 odds for making it to a five-year anniversary. To help you mark that milestone, take a look at some of these great business builder tools.

Shivonne Byrne, Innuity CMO

The Dip - Stay the Course or Quit?

Best-selling author and business blogger Seth Godin is launching his new book The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) mid-May. While I was reading Guy Kawasaki's blog interview with Seth previewing the book, I realized that every small business owner should take a look at the subject of examining when to let go and when to persevere.

Seth says, "It's time to quit when you secretly realize you've been settling for mediocrity all along. It's time to quit when the things you're measuring aren't improving, and you can't find anything better to measure. But the worst time to quit is when the pain is the greatest. Decisions made during great pain are rarely good decisions."

"What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts. Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you'll get more than your fair share of profits, glory and long-term security."

In an interview with the "A-HA!" blog Seth clarifies that the book isn't really about quitting - it's about mastery and how to achieve it. He says that people who own businesses often quit too soon, linger too long in a wrong situation or keep shifting strategies without giving adequate time to see results.

The Dip helps business owners analyze whether they're in a Dip that's worth their total investment, and if they are, what they need to do to make it through to "the other side."

Shivonne Byrne, Innuity CMO

In Search of Traffic

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal Report on "Search" outlined its view of the key criteria small businesses need to pay attention to in order to make sure customers can find them online. Bottom line, a website's value depends on how many customers see it.

The WSJ is right. Burst Media's research indicates that 57% of shoppers say the Internet is their primary source of information pre-purchase. People are looking for information about products and services they want to buy, and small businesses need to help those customers find them.

This "Search"article talks about the importance of adding relevant descriptions - common search phrases or keywords - to a business site's text. This process helps sites place high in search results (known as natural or organic search). Innuity's search engine optimization (SEO) packages, based on its Optify technology, help small businesses understand which keywords have the best probability for achieving high natural search engine rankings.

"Think Locally" was another key consideration - and focus on local search optimization. Small businesses are not very interested in getting traffic from around the world when they are a local restaurant, nail salon, barber, car mechanic and the like. The best way to optimize your website from a local search standpoint is to use LeadConnect, Innuity's recent local SEO offering. In one easy step get all your key locally-based business information sent out to the major search engines, and you'll see how quickly your business pops up when a customer or potential customer does a local search in your business category.

As the article states, "Local search is still kind of open, and many businesses don't realize it's an option. so there's a lot of opportunity for that right now."  Shivonne Byrne, Innuity CMO

Innuity: www.innuity.com and www.leadconnect.innuity.com. WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117769688676085058.html?mod=2_1293.htm_1 . BlogBusinessSummit post: http://blogbusinesssummit.com/2007/04/seo-search-engine-optimize-small-business-wall-street-journal.htm#comments