Web Designing

An expert said, there is one very common and huge mistake for entrepreneurs is to hire a web company. Without the inside knowledge of that space a web company inevitably will sell you what you might not need or require. Or even charge you for tools and service that are available for free. A thousand times better strategy it to hire an expert consultant who will then act on your behalf and will purchase only the services you need. This way you make sure that the expert speaks the web business lingo and acts with your interest in mind. For a person who must dedicate himself to the core of his business to waste time on graphics and web sites is a disastrous move.

Business Suicides

You ask for the business from customers or the prospects for the business.
You are not a peddler. You are not a beggar. You are a problem solver, solution provider, advisor, consultant, expert and educator. Does your lawyer get on his hand and knees for your business? Does your doctor? No. And you neither should you. This isn’t a matter of ego or pride. It’s about being a sales professional. When you ask for the business, you:

• Appear desperate and lose professionalism.
• Rely on a stunt as opposed to creating a compelling sales performance. When you instill trust in yourself, you don’t have to ask for the business; your customers and prospects ask for you. So don’t ask for the business. Make the offer so attractive the business asks for you.

Reminding yourself of your prospects’ patterns before you walk in the room is critical. Replay the movie of your last meeting in your mind before you enter the room. Doing this provides you with strong and reliable signals and patterns for how to conduct yourself this go-round--this new opportunity.

You rely on referral sources
Building a network of referral sources and having them recommend you to their friends and family, these are always good things. But relying on them is a big mistake. That’s because you pass control of your own destiny on to others, who may or may not act on your behalf. There’s too much at stake for you to risk the “may not.” Far better to go out everyday with a goal to educate, influence, and build trust. Then the dollars will come.

Improving Business Cash Flow

No matter how much you sell, if you don't collect the money, you're going to go out of business. You could be wrong to simply focus on total sales dollars; you also need to focus on the cash collection of those sales. Here are tips for improving your business cash flow:

1. Require a down payment on projects so that your customers fund the project, not you.
2. Set your terms to be payment in full upon completion. Don't extend out 30 or 60 days after you've completed your work. You don't get to use your hard-earned cash until payment is received from your clients, so get it as soon as you can.
3. Negotiate terms with your vendors for 30 days or more so you have an opportunity to complete the work, bill your customers and receive payments prior to paying your vendor.
4. Have a collection process in place, and follow through. When your customers delay payments, they're using your cash. You need to ensure that you're being diligent in collecting from your customers.
5. Set up a line of credit at your bank that you can use in case of emergency. Often, lenders rates will be less than the late fees your vendors will charge. This line of credit will help you cover a lapse in cash flow for short periods of time.
6. Minimize the amount of draws you take personally from your business. Each dollar you take from your company reduces the amount of cash flow you'll have available for the business to grow.

Tips for Starting a Business

Do you dream about starting a business but don't know where to begin? Does the idea of being your own boss and creating a company that provides great products and services excite you? Yet all you do is dream, unable to move ahead. You're not alone. Below are five step-by-step strategies that can help you launch the business of your dreams.

1. Commit to one business.
You must commit to one business. Throughout the years, I've met people who have the passion to become entrepreneurs, but they keep spinning in circles, never committing to one business. Look at it this way: Once you succeed at building your first company, you can always start another one.

Don't choose a business unless you are passionate about it. This is not about the latest fad or fashion. It's about making a commitment to something that will absorb large amounts of your time--and possibly a lot of money. So choose wisely. If you want to start an online business, then commit to it. If you want to open a retail store, go for it. If you want to be a contractor, move ahead. But don't hang yourself up by wanting to do all three things at once. Make a choice and commit.

2. Research that business.
Today it's easier than ever to learn about any business in the world. For the fastest results, look online. Google the type of business you want to start.

Find out about professional organizations in the field. Read blogs and bulletin boards written by people doing similar things. Learn about sources of help. Read industry articles and buy the magazines or books that can teach you more. Participate in web seminars.

You also need to reach out to businesspeople and others who may be able to help you. You can do this through networking at local events, seminars, business groups and online through social networks. Make sure you understand the business that you want to start. The more you know about it, the greater your chance for success.

3. Have a plan.
Don't worry about a formal business plan, at first, unless you want to raise money through venture capital or obtain a commercial loan from a bank or other source. Most people start businesses with their own funds or a personal loan.

What you actually need is a three- to four-page business plan that serves as your personal guide to navigating the road ahead. Here's what goes into a business blueprint:

* What the business does (your products or services)
* Who it serves (your potential customers)
* Your competitors and why you're different
* How the business will run on a day-to-day basis.
* A list responsibilities as the business owner.
* An estimate of what it will cost to run the business for the first year.
* An estimate of how you will cover these first-year expenses, either through sales or from some other source.

Once you create a written picture of how the business will function, you'll be able to move ahead to the next step.

4. Start from small
One of the biggest myths about starting a business is thinking that you can start big. You can if you have lots of experience and have been there before.

5. Surround yourself with positive people.
Many times you'll question yourself, wondering whether you're doing the right thing. That's why it's essential to surround yourself with positive people. Negative people encourage self-doubt. They drain your time and energy, and undermine your ambitions.

Negative people come in many guises, from those who don't want you to get ahead to the ones who see the downside of every situation. They are everywhere. Some may even be family and friends. Try not to share your business dreams with them. Instead, share your ideas with people who are supportive. Positive people will help you build your business. Seek them out for counsel and advice.

Starting a business may seem like a daunting task. But if you are passionate and committed to making it work, then following these steps will help make the journey easier, less complex and much more fun.

How to attract businesses to purchase banner ads on your sites?

You should think of the advertiser as your customer, and your website as your product. You need to package information about your website in a way that appeals to an advertiser. Particularly, you need to quantify your audience--visitors, page views, loyalty, demographics.

If you've got a good audience within a clear niche, you could simply approach potential advertisers that you think are relevant to your audience. Most banner advertising is based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions)--the value ranges depending on how desirable your audience is.

If you don't have a lot of visitors, or a particular niche--and even if you do--then advertising networks (like Google Adsense) are a great, and simple way to get going.

The network takes care of finding advertisers, charging them and paying you. Of course, they make a profit while doing so--some of the advertising revenue goes to the network. Affiliate networks (like Commission Junction) will let you choose which advertisers you show, and you'll earn money when your site visitors complete a purchase after clicking on your ads.

How do online businesses make money?

It depends on which type of online business you're talking about.

Some businesses sell products or services and some make their money through advertising revenue or Pay Per Event (PPE) services like Google AdSense.

And, still some online businesses make their money through membership fees.

How to start an online business?

Step 1: Research

Learn about your market, other existing networks and how you can create a better service.

Step 2: Revenue Model

How are you going to make money out of your site? Give some thought to this. Are you going to sell it, sell ad space, charge for a premium membership or sell products/services to your members?

Step 3: Create the Website

It will take you a few months so get started as soon as possible.

Step 4: Start Preparing Your Marketing Campaign

Start building your lists, Facebook contacts, Twitter followers. Start participating in forums, blogs and discussion boards. Contact list owners and give them a reason to promote your new network. Don't forget about your off-line marketing plan. Think about 1) Who is your target market? and 2) Where can you find them? (magazines, websites, radio stations, etc.)

Step 5: Launch Your Marketing Campaign

Launch all your campaigns at once. Your community has to grow extremely fast at the beginning. Encourage people to invite their friends to participate.

95 percent of the success depends on your ability to grow the network quickly at the beginning. If you get the snowball rolling down the hill, it will get bigger and bigger. The initial push is your main challenge now.

The Secret to Team Unity

A leader can build unity by fighting the five enemies that tear it apart: poor communication, gossip, unresolved disagreements, lack of shared purpose, and sanctioned incompetence.

1. Poor communication is when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Most companies use “mushroom communication”—leave them in the dark and feed them manure—as a growth strategy. That won’t work. Winning organizations must have a culture of communication. Without it, team members are detached and insecure.
2. Gossip is discussing anything with anyone who can’t solve the problem. Gossip is degrading and destructive. People need a place to express themselves, but it should be to someone in a position to do something about it. In our company, negatives go up and positives go down—period. We’ve made gossip a fireable offense, and we’re crystal clear about that in the hiring process and in staff meetings. The team loves it!
3. Unresolved disagreements destroy unity. Sometimes the leader doesn’t even know they exist—that’s poor communication. Other times the leader avoids confrontation—that’s denial. Either way, the team loses. With hundreds of people working together, some will inevitably lock horns and bump into each other. A leader should act quickly and decisively when that happens by pulling the splinter out, cleansing the wound, and allowing some time to heal. Sometimes it’s messy, but the alternative is to act like nothing has happened and later wonder what went wrong.
4. Lack of a shared purpose is caused by the leader not restating the goal, vision and mission early enough or often enough. At our company, new team members memorize the mission statement and our leaders constantly review it with the team. Everything we do is measured by that mission statement. And, since our company has a unified purpose, every team member knows exactly how he or she fits into the grand scheme.
5. Sanctioned incompetence is when someone has a destructive attitude and no one addresses it. That demoralizes everyone. Team members will eventually become de-motivated when they see a leader who will not take action when someone on the team cannot, or will not, do their job.

A leader will go to battle early and often with these five enemies of unity. There is going to be a lot of drama in any workplace, but leaders must invest the time and energy to deal with issues instead of blindly writing paychecks and hoping for the best.

Don’t be scared to address these problems in your workplace whenever and wherever they appear. That’s called leading. It’s not easy. It’s not pretty. And it’s not going to be your best day in the office. But, it could just be your best day as a leader.