Starting up a small business is a challenge for anyone, even the most seasoned and experienced entrepreneur. Reading is one of the keys to keeping yourself stimulated and learning new things that can help you grow your business. Thanks to the internet, we now have access to more information than we’ve ever had before—and there are hundreds of ebooks that allow you to increase your knowledge. Even better, many of these ebooks are free; and there’s not a small business owner out there who doesn’t appreciate the meaning of that word.
My brother and I have compiled our top ten list of the best ebooks for small business owners. We are certain that you will find these useful regardless of what kind of business you have, or what stage of development you’re in.
1. The Bootstrapper’s Bible
http://changethis.com/8.BootstrappersBible
The internet business and marketing guru Seth Godin offers up a fantastic book on starting up and running a business without going in over your head; a must-read for every entrepreneur in the current economic climate.
2. 50 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using
http://www.bootstrappingblog.com/ebooks/50_Guerrilla_Marketing_Tactics_
You_Should_Be_Using.pdf
All’s fair in love and…marketing? You bet! This collection of fifty “guerrilla” marketing tactics is a great way to start setting your business apart from the pack by creating memorable, compelling marketing campaigns.
3. How to Start a Business Blog
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3046411/How-to-Start-a-Business-Blog
One of the most comprehensive ebooks on the subject, How to Start a Business Blog is an 82 page book that covers practically every aspect of creating and using a blog to market your business.
4. Let’s Talk: Social Media For Small Businesses
http://officeliveoffers.com/ebook/socialmedia/SocialMediaEbook.pdf
Web 2.0 and social media have been around a while, but they are just starting to catch the attention of the mainstream business owner. This is a simple but practical book that can get you started using these powerful tools.
5. Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
If you plan to do business online, the key to success is driving traffic to your site. SEO is the art of constructing your website and writing text that is search engine competitive.
[Read more →]
It’s that time of year again! Pop the champagne, stay up until midnight with Dick Clark, get melancholy about the past year, and make some resolutions for the one coming up. 2009 is sure to be an exciting/interesting time for small business owners, so I have a few suggestions for some New Year’s Resolutions that will keep you moving onward and upward as the months go by.
1. Keep Your Chin Up
This is one of those ‘harder than it sounds’ resolutions. Let’s face it: things are looking gloomy for a lot of businesses during the current recession, and if you have a small business, you may be holding on for dear life right now. But the reality is that no matter how hard it gets, being discouraged and panicking will only make it worse. In fact, you can literally sabotage yourself by worrying so much that you end up manifesting your fears. Instead, resolve to stay positive and keep yourself from dwelling on the ‘what ifs’.
2. Invest in your continuing education
Many of us become so engrossed in running our businesses that we may forget how important it is to continue educating ourselves in order to stay competitive. Make a commitment to periodically enroll in training, seminars, and classes that can keep you up-to-date on the rapidly changing practices and technologies in the marketplace. It may mean setting aside some time and spending a little money, but in the end it really is an investment in your business.
3. Take care of yourself
You simply cannot ignore your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and expect to be successful. Granted, hard work and dedication are essential to making a small business work, but it must also be tempered with rest and relaxation; exercise, nutrition and sleep; nurturing relationships and taking time to enjoy your family. If you find yourself unbalanced more often than not, sit down and evaluate how you can reprioritize your time to better take care of YOU.
4. Set specific, attainable goals
Goal setting is one of the most basic of business practices; but the key to reaching your goals is making sure they are both specific and attainable. Having small weekly, monthly and quarterly goals is a great way to keep yourself moving forward toward your larger annual goals; and it keeps you from being overwhelmed by the idea of attacking the big goals all at one time.
5. Celebrate Your Successes
Reaching your goals is great, but to really make them count it’s important to take the time to acknowledge and celebrate them, too. Share your successes with friends, family and employees. Reward yourself in small ways—perhaps going to dinner or taking the afternoon off to play golf—as a way to recognize your own hard work.
[Read more →]
Almost three years ago in February 2006, Blogtrepreneur.com was born as a way for a young UK student named Adnan to share his ongoing exploration in blogging and business. Since that time the site has grown in readership and popularity thanks to his passion for online entrepreneurship, and his dedication to building Blogtrepreneur.com into a powerful resource for other businesses, online and off.
This month, we bid a fond farewell to Adnan and thank him for the strong foundation he laid at Blogtrepreneur.com. As he moves on to bigger and better things, he will always be a part of the ongoing success of this website. The thousands of readers who have benefited from his hard work and commitment to online business will forever be grateful for his work here. If this blog is any indication of his talent, his future endeavors are surely to be a great success. Adnan will definitely be keeping in touch still through blogtrepreneur.com and will surely be commenting on posts too!
At this time I’d like to introduce myself and my brother as the new bloggers/owners of Blogtrepreneur.com. We recently acquired Blogtrepreneur.com and have some exciting plans for the growth of Blogtrepreneur.com! Stay tuned for the new blog design that will go live within 2 weeks!
Matthew and I are the founders of YoungEntrepreneur.com. We consider ourselves ’serial entrepreneurs’ with over twenty years of combined experience in the areas of marketing, business development, entrepreneurial emergence, entrepreneurial strategy management, business growth techniques, innovation, and new venture creation; and we are thrilled to pick up Adnan’s torch so that we can share our passion for business with you.
The two of us have pioneered an exciting method for improving the profitability of under-performing businesses using a unique ‘bottom line’ program. On our other websites, we offer specific instruction on management and finance concepts for struggling small businesses. Our efforts are based on both extensive research, and hands-on experience with our own successful businesses.
We hope that you will continue to benefit from and participate here at Blogtrepreneur.com. The two of us are committed to bringing you regular, topical posts that can be of practical use to you in your blogging and general business operations. We also plan to increase the number of posts and provide you with an inside look into some of the “hard to get” secrets that we have used in all of our business ventures, which will be available exclusively on Blogtrepreneur.com to include in-depth marketing, SEO strategies, advertising, public relations, small business research, affiliate strategy management, and social media to name a few.
As regular readers and participants in the dialogue at Blogtrepreneur.com, you are a valued part of a community that encourages sharing information and experience which is a powerful component to business growth and success.
Matthew and I invite you to register at YoungEntrepreneur.com and participate in the thousands of ongoing discussions in the forums. We also welcome your comments and feedback on our blog posts here at Blogtrepreneur.com and look forward to reading what other entrepreneurs have to say. Please email us any time if you feel there is a topic of specific interest that you would like to see covered. Stay tuned for some great contests and prize giveaways!
We wish you the best as you pursue your dream of building a successful business, and we look forward to being one of your regular online destinations. Thank you for your continued support!
Once again, good luck Adnan - best of luck and thank you for all your hard work!
Adam Toren
Matthew Toren
Blogtrepreneur.com - “For entrepreneurs that demand excellence in business”
YoungEntrepreneur.com - “Inspiring Millions”
With a hard-hitting credit crunch beginning to take its toll on the masses, and rising fuel and food costs already causing distress, more and more people are turning to the web in order to cut costs and to make use of the valuable financial tools that exist online. We hope this list comes in handy, and let us know if you feel there are anymore that deserve a place below!
Budgeting & Money Management
There’s an always increasing number of tools and websites devoted to helping you manage your money. Each of these will be unique, but many have similar functions for budgeting and tracking expenses, and some will integrate with your bank accounts. The list includes both free and paid tools:
1. Quicken Online - Manage your personal finances and online banking accounts.
2. Mint - Free personal finance software to assist you.
3. Yodlee - The most comprehensive online banking solution on the market.
4. Expensr - A solid solution for a young adult’s simple finances.
5. Wesabe - Save Money, Spend Wisely and Reach Your Goals.
6. Walletproof - Search for money saving deals recommended by other Walletproof users.
7. SpendView - Analyze your spending in a simple, automated and efficient web based personal finance tool.
8. billQ - An easy way to keep track of your bills.
9. Buxfer - Free online personal finance software for budgeting and expense management.
10. Pear Budget - Start an easy budget for free.
11. Geezeo - Free online personal finance managment service.
12. Mvelopes - Lets you create a household or personal budget.
13. iOWEYOU - Expenses sharing calculator.
14. Billster - Helps people organise their personal and shared expenses.
15. BudgetTracker - An online finance manager.
16. Budget Pulse - An interactive, web-based budgeting utility.
17. Dimewise - Financial management you’ll actually use.
18. Spicy Digits - Managing your recurring expenses is a breeze.
Online Savings Accounts
Online savings accounts offer much higher interest rates than you can get from traditional bank savings accounts, and they can be pretty convenient too. Of course, these banks will not be available to all parts of the world. The list is separated by the US and UK.
[Read more →]
Most bloggers would love to get more traffic with social media, regardless of how much they’re getting now. Unfortunately, a relatively small percentage of bloggers ever see significant results. If you’re looking to get more out of social media it’s important to know what’s holding you back so that you can fix it.
1. Lack of a Network
When most bloggers start using social media they wind up submitting their own posts to Digg and maybe some other social media sites, and they get very few votes. At this point, it’s typical to wonder how others can get hundred or even thousands of votes while your submissions barely get any.
One of the keys to being noticed on social media sites is to build a network. Digg is notorious for favoring users that have a huge number of friends (although changes to the algorithm have improved this somewhat).
A strong network can help you with just about any aspect of blogging, and social media marketing is no different. There are a few specific ways that your network can help you to get some exposure through social media. First, members of your network are more likely than others to vote for your posts.
I’m a frequent user of social media, and I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes my voting decisions are influenced by my relationships with other bloggers. I think it’s only human nature to want our friends to do well, so building a strong network will lead others to look for opportunities to vote for your posts.
Second, many social media sites include a feature for sharing a link with a friend. StumbleUpon’s share feature can be used directly from the toolbar, and Digg’s shout system is also used extensively by many Diggers. The more friends you have, and the better relationships you have with these friends, the more opportunities you will have to request a vote when you need it most. Also, many bloggers send requests to friends via email or IM.
Third, your network will impact the overall readership of your blog. Those who are very well-connected and active networkers tend to have large, responsive audiences. These audiences will be more likely to vote for your submissions without any prompting. On many blogs you’ll see buttons (such as the “Digg This” button) or links to make it easier for readers to vote.
If you’ve been struggling to gain any momentum with social media, take a look at your networking habits. Have you been actively getting to know other bloggers and social media users (this involves more than simply adding someone as a friend at Digg or StumbleUpon)?
2. Lack of a Plan
Social Media Marketing is like any other type of marketing, it requires strategy and execution. If your current plan only involves submitting your posts and hoping that they get a bunch of votes, that’s not much of a plan.
Your social media plan should be defined by what you want to accomplish. The most obvious benefit of social media marketing is traffic, but the traffic means very little if it doesn’t convert into something. Otherwise, you’ll be left with some impressive stats for a few days, but nothing of real value to show for it.
Do you want to use social media to gain subscribers (difficult, but possible)? Do you want to build links? Do you want to brand yourself or your blog through social media? Whatever your goals are, it’s important to understand what is most important to you so you can develop a plan to make it happen.
Your plan should also include the type of content that you’re going to promote through social media. Are you going to use informational posts, resource lists, controversy, humor, news? Find the type of content that will best help you to meet your goals.
The specific social media sites that you’ll be targeting should also be a part of your plan. There are hundreds or thousands of different social media sites, and it’s just not possible to effectively target more than a few. To have the best results you should be an active user at the sites that you’re targeting so you can get to know the users and what types of content work well. Then you can cater your content to that specific audience.
3. Lack of an Audience
[Read more →]
