Small Business Blog

This is the third article in a series that provides tips for working with freelancers and independent contractors. Our topic of discussion today is defining scope and setting reasonable expectations. When you take steps to clarify expectations before the project begins, you are far more likely to be satisfied with the project outcome.

You have a project to complete, and you’ve decided to find a freelancer to do it. Maybe you’ve collected a few phone numbers and you’re ready to start interviewing your prospects. Don’t do it until you are prepared! Before you pick up the phone, you must take the time to clarify the scope of your project and define your own expectations. The success of your project depends on it. Here are a few reasons why:  (continue reading…)

According to a recent survey by Compete Online Shopper, free shipping offers can and do impact consumers’ decisions to purchase online. Further, free shipping also affects customer satisfaction. The presence of shipping costs, particularly on small purchases, creates bad feelings with consumers. But free shipping offers make your customers happy and encourage them to purchase more.

Key takeaways from the survey include these data points:

• 93% of respondents said that free shipping offers encourage them to buy more.
• 66.6% of respondents said they’d increase their online purchases if returns were free.
• 67% of respondents said they buy items in stores to avoid shipping costs.

Bottom line: absorbing the cost of shipping your customers’ orders can pay big dividends in the form of happier customers and bigger orders.

See the survey data here.

Intuit QuickBooks Billing Solution promises convenience and faster-paying customers. But does this service really measure up to that promise? In my experience, no. Read on for the gritty details.

One of the challenges of running your own business is finding the time to manage the details and still do the work that makes you money. If you are a graphic designer, for example, you must market, sell, bill and collect — while still finding the time to design. When your scarcest asset is time, you are attracted to services of convenience, services like the Intuit QuickBooks Billing Solution. (continue reading…)

This article is the second in a series about working with freelancers and independent contractors. Once you’ve made the decision to retain a freelancer, the next step is to find the right person. Try these five tips to help you find and select the right freelancer. 

Get referrals

Ask everyone you know for a referral to a qualified freelancer. Post a note about your search on your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. Colleagues who’ve worked with an exceptional freelancer are usually happy to share information. If someone does pass on a name, press the referring individual for details. Questions to ask include:

1. What were the freelancer’s strengths? Weaknesses?
2. How well did the freelancer accept direction?
3. Was the freelancer able to work independently?
4. How quickly did the freelancer adopt the goals of the project? (continue reading…)

SmallBusinessNewz published an article today defining the five steps you need to take to make an effective television commercial. The article is accompanied by a video hosted by Jon Bond, Co-Chairman of creative agency Kirshenbaum, Bond, Senecal and Partners. In the video, Bond explains the five steps of commercial-making, four of which are really just questions you need to ask yourself. The answers to those questions will shape the creation and production of your commercial. I would add that small business owners and entrepreneurs should be asking these five questions before producing any kind of advertising.

Who are you talking to?

Who are you?

What is your brand’s personality?

What is the offer?

Make your commercial.

See the full article here.

Here’s your small business sound byte for the day: all of the millions of Web searches completed daily can be group into just three categories. Do you know what they are? (continue reading…)

How To Post Automatic Updates to LinkedIn From Your Joomla Site

Small business owners and entrepreneurs often don’t have the time to delve into establishing themselves in the social media realm. Some have ignored Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn altogether, while others have lonely profile pages that are starved for content and followers. Are you feeling that dilemma? If you are, and you have a Joomla-based Web site, we have a solution. (continue reading…)

All marketing activities, including free tactics, come at a cost.

This cost may be measured in terms of money, time or even missed opportunities. That’s why it’s so important that you understand who your most profitable customers are, and focus your energy on finding and keeping them.

To do this, you’ll first need to define your ideal customer profile. This will help you focus your efforts like a laser, enabling you to get the best ROI for your lead generation efforts. (continue reading…)

This article is the first of a series on working with freelancers and independent contractors. Because giving up control is extraordinarily difficult for any entrepreneur or small business owner, our first conversation in this discussion will cover the advantages that come from working with a freelance professional.

Think about the progression of a regular work day in your life. You rise early, work long and hard throughout the day, have a few hurried meals, put out a few fires, and then go to bed thinking about all the things you didn’t get done. Am I close? You have too many tasks to accomplish in any given day. And you have trouble delegating, probably because you’ve learned the hard way that no one does things the way that you’d do them. You don’t feel great about paying an employee to do a shoddy job, when you can do a better job yourself. Trust me, I understand your perspective completely. (continue reading…)