Most businesses have taken a hit for the worst during the recession, but the key is get back up after you get knocked down. By no means can we say that we should look at the recession with optimism because people have lost their jobs and even some major banks have declared bankruptcy, yet some businesses have found ways to deal with the problems related to the bad economy. What has enabled these small businesses to survive the recession?
• Adaptability
The economy and consumer behavior get extremely unpredictable during a recession. Companies need to adapt to the changing markets by first analyzing the consumer. The products that people could afford to buy a year or two ago may be out of their budget now and no longer in demand. You need to change your inventory with lower-priced products, and although they may not be of high quality most customers will probably be willing to compromise on quality for price.
• Experimentation
It is important for you to test the new market. Don’t get stuck with business mottos or company rules and become open to new ideas. You should welcome whatever suggestions you can get that will encourage more cash flow. Perhaps you could start a side business or work more through referrals. Some changes may only be temporary while others will prove profitable enough to become a part of your permanent business setup. Don’t be afraid of change, in fact being able of changing is perhaps the best attribute that your business can have for surviving the recession.
• Budgeting
Remember that there are two ways that you can increase your net income. The first is to increase you gross income, but this becomes difficult to do when the economy is bad because people don’t have the money to pay for the products that you are selling. The second method that you can use to increase your net income is to cut back on expenses, and this is in fact easier to do during a recession. The employer has the upper hand in the job market when the unemployment rate is high so you can hire employees that are willing to work at lower rates. Advertising agencies are also desperately seeking clients so the cost for marketing your products also goes down. Compare rates when hiring new employees or signing up for an advertising campaign and you are very likely to make a considerable saving.
• Payment Options
Listening to your customers is vital at all times. Many customers may not be able to make a full upfront payment for your products, but if you offer them a financing plan that is practical for them to pay off then they may still end up purchasing your product and eventually paying the full price. In fact, some businesses may even be able to charge interest for offering financing plans, but keep in mind that the purpose of offering financing is to strengthen the customer’s purchasing power rather than scare customers off with high interest rates.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
2012 is Good for Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses
Are you having a tough time during the bad economy? It isn’t surprising to find people getting frustrated when unemployment rates are high and it is hard to hold on to the job you have due to lay-offs. However, you may also be surprised to realize that a recession can be the best time to pursue your dreams and perhaps start a business of your own. 2012 is proving to be good for entrepreneurs because of the following reasons.
• Lower Living Costs
You get more bangs for your buck during a recession because other businesses are more desperate to earn the dollar in your pocket. The cost of food tends to go down because people are looking for deals at restaurants and the same goes for groceries shopping. All this means that your savings will last longer, giving you more time to explore options for starting up your own business.
• The “Big Fish” is Dying
You may be wondering why you should even consider opening up a business of your own when so many preexisting shops are shutting down. Well, the truth is that it is the larger companies that are hit worst by the bad economy because they have higher overhead costs. Many franchises and big fish names such as Sears and Taco Bell are expected to disappear in 2012, making more room for the smaller fish to take their place. There will be less monopoly in the market because the big companies will no longer dominate and you will have a better chance of filling the void in the market and making a name for yourself as a startup company.
• Lower Shop Rent
Usually it would cost an arm and a leg to open up a shop in a mainstream mall, but large businesses and franchises are cutting down on their store locations so there are many vacant spots available right now. Hence, the rental rates are much cheaper and commercial real estate owners are willing to show more flexibility and negotiate according to your terms. The store location that was way beyond your budget a couple years ago may well be within your reach this year.
• Affordable Supplies
Brand owners are desperate to get their products on as many store shelves as possible and willing to offer very appealing incentives to shop owners. You can get the products that you want to sell at much cheaper prices and sell them with a higher profit margin. You can get great deals on whatever you need to fill up and operate your store, including everything from cash machines and computers to furniture and vending machines.
• Cheap Advertising
Advertising agencies are looking for new clients and are offering some very cheap advertising options. You could have your company website built for less than $100 as a one-time payment and hire sales companies to promote your business and sell more products for you on a purely commission basis. Advertising companies are realizing that the consumer trend is switching towards small businesses so they are customizing more packages that suit the entrepreneur’s needs and budget.
• Lower Living Costs
You get more bangs for your buck during a recession because other businesses are more desperate to earn the dollar in your pocket. The cost of food tends to go down because people are looking for deals at restaurants and the same goes for groceries shopping. All this means that your savings will last longer, giving you more time to explore options for starting up your own business.
• The “Big Fish” is Dying
You may be wondering why you should even consider opening up a business of your own when so many preexisting shops are shutting down. Well, the truth is that it is the larger companies that are hit worst by the bad economy because they have higher overhead costs. Many franchises and big fish names such as Sears and Taco Bell are expected to disappear in 2012, making more room for the smaller fish to take their place. There will be less monopoly in the market because the big companies will no longer dominate and you will have a better chance of filling the void in the market and making a name for yourself as a startup company.
• Lower Shop Rent
Usually it would cost an arm and a leg to open up a shop in a mainstream mall, but large businesses and franchises are cutting down on their store locations so there are many vacant spots available right now. Hence, the rental rates are much cheaper and commercial real estate owners are willing to show more flexibility and negotiate according to your terms. The store location that was way beyond your budget a couple years ago may well be within your reach this year.
• Affordable Supplies
Brand owners are desperate to get their products on as many store shelves as possible and willing to offer very appealing incentives to shop owners. You can get the products that you want to sell at much cheaper prices and sell them with a higher profit margin. You can get great deals on whatever you need to fill up and operate your store, including everything from cash machines and computers to furniture and vending machines.
• Cheap Advertising
Advertising agencies are looking for new clients and are offering some very cheap advertising options. You could have your company website built for less than $100 as a one-time payment and hire sales companies to promote your business and sell more products for you on a purely commission basis. Advertising companies are realizing that the consumer trend is switching towards small businesses so they are customizing more packages that suit the entrepreneur’s needs and budget.
Friday, February 10, 2012
SEO Content Development Deal
Here is what we will do for the company:
- We will edit existing content and create more content for the website, especially for the landing pages being used for AdWords.
- We will analyze the content on individual pages in terms of word count and keyword density to make sure they meet expected SEO standards.
- We will enhance internal links and build more to create a more integrated and browser-friendly website in order to retain traffic (keep visitors on the website for longer durations and earn their trust).
- We will find and implement more ways to generate more leads and have more website visitors follow call-to-actions (purchase products/services, fill forms, sign up to receive more information, etc.).
- We will contribute towards building a company blog, subscription newsletter or new website pages if requested.
The intended results of this will be a website that provides more practical information to the viewer, which is a major appeal for attracting more website visitors and also increasing conversion rates. It will increase the page rank of the website on search engines such as Google/Yahoo/Bing and also make the AdWords campaign and all offpage SEO/advertising more efficient because the website's Quality Score will go up.
Suggested invoicing method: $/article.
Email me at nadeemalim@gmail.com for your content writing needs. Thank you.
- We will edit existing content and create more content for the website, especially for the landing pages being used for AdWords.
- We will analyze the content on individual pages in terms of word count and keyword density to make sure they meet expected SEO standards.
- We will enhance internal links and build more to create a more integrated and browser-friendly website in order to retain traffic (keep visitors on the website for longer durations and earn their trust).
- We will find and implement more ways to generate more leads and have more website visitors follow call-to-actions (purchase products/services, fill forms, sign up to receive more information, etc.).
- We will contribute towards building a company blog, subscription newsletter or new website pages if requested.
The intended results of this will be a website that provides more practical information to the viewer, which is a major appeal for attracting more website visitors and also increasing conversion rates. It will increase the page rank of the website on search engines such as Google/Yahoo/Bing and also make the AdWords campaign and all offpage SEO/advertising more efficient because the website's Quality Score will go up.
Suggested invoicing method: $/article.
Email me at nadeemalim@gmail.com for your content writing needs. Thank you.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
AdWords Management Deal with Enhancements
Here is a list of what we will do for the company:
- We will enhance their list of desired keywords (what they want to sell) using industry-related keywords research, Google tools and information provided by the company.
- We will further focus their campaigns according to their target locations (where they want to sell) using location-specific keywords and ad types (geo-targeted advertising).
- We will revise, improve and manage their AdWords Campaign Management, Ad Groups/Types/Text, bidding strategy (Max CPC's and CPM's), Conversions (CTR/URL tracking reports), Analytics (click-rate, traffic sources), etc.
- AdWords account will be handled by people who have passed the Google Advertising Professionals exam/program and have been certified by Google as an "AdWords Qualified Individual."
- We will present reports to show the results of our efforts as requested.
The intended results of this will be an AdWords campaign that is more organized and unified in its theme and also has more optimized advertisements. This will enable us to utilize the budget better by eliminating clicks from customers that we don't want and reaching out to more of the type of customers that we do want (ie. attract more relevant traffic).
Suggested invoicing method: $/month.
Contact us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you'd like us to manage/enhance your AdWords campaign.
- We will enhance their list of desired keywords (what they want to sell) using industry-related keywords research, Google tools and information provided by the company.
- We will further focus their campaigns according to their target locations (where they want to sell) using location-specific keywords and ad types (geo-targeted advertising).
- We will revise, improve and manage their AdWords Campaign Management, Ad Groups/Types/Text, bidding strategy (Max CPC's and CPM's), Conversions (CTR/URL tracking reports), Analytics (click-rate, traffic sources), etc.
- AdWords account will be handled by people who have passed the Google Advertising Professionals exam/program and have been certified by Google as an "AdWords Qualified Individual."
- We will present reports to show the results of our efforts as requested.
The intended results of this will be an AdWords campaign that is more organized and unified in its theme and also has more optimized advertisements. This will enable us to utilize the budget better by eliminating clicks from customers that we don't want and reaching out to more of the type of customers that we do want (ie. attract more relevant traffic).
Suggested invoicing method: $/month.
Contact us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you'd like us to manage/enhance your AdWords campaign.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
SEO Services Deals
Initial Setup Deal (one-time cost):
The following brand enhancements will be made:
• Create profile page on Aboutus.org (a professional Wiki page)
• Add to online business directories (Google Maps, Yelp, Yahoo Maps, Superpages, etc.)
The following onsite enhancements will be made to the blog:
• Indexing/Organizing Content:
- Add index page (a live feed of all content).
- Add labeling system (label feeds, label links and label tags to categorize blog posts).
- Add site search (allows users to search within the site).
• Retaining Visitors/Integrating Pages:
- Create internal links within blog posts.
- Add menu links (“Featured Articles,” “Topics,” “Popular Posts,” “Archive,” “What is Citycast?”).
• Onsite Social Networking:
- Add Facebook “Like” button.
- Add Google Plus button.
- Add “Share” buttons (so visitors can share links to blog posts via email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
The following offsite enhancements will be made for the website:
• Submit blog URL to search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).
• Setup live ping feeds so search engines are notified whenever new content is added or old content is updated.
Social Networking & Maintenance Deal (monthly subscription):
• Add fresh content regularly (write and publish at least 2 blog posts/week with enhanced keywords optimization).
• Edit any additional blog content submitted by other writers to enhance SEO.
• Comments exchange (exchange comments with other bloggers).
• Blogroll exchange (exchange template links with other blogs).
• Feed exchange (exchange blog feeds with other blogs).
• In-page links exchange (get mentioned with links to website/blog on posts of blogs by other individuals and companies).
• Twitter correspondences (create Twitter account, post blog feeds, share company/product updates, gain followers, etc.).
• Press releases (write and publish press releases on prominent PR websites such as www.pr.com).
ADDITIONAL SERVICES/DEALS:
• AdWords – account management fee depends on PPC budget.
• Website monitoring (measuring and assessing page views, Google ranking, traffic sources, trends in traffic, etc.) – fee depends on website traffic and amount of detail required in reports.
Email us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you wish to hire for any of these services. Thank you.
The following brand enhancements will be made:
• Create profile page on Aboutus.org (a professional Wiki page)
• Add to online business directories (Google Maps, Yelp, Yahoo Maps, Superpages, etc.)
The following onsite enhancements will be made to the blog:
• Indexing/Organizing Content:
- Add index page (a live feed of all content).
- Add labeling system (label feeds, label links and label tags to categorize blog posts).
- Add site search (allows users to search within the site).
• Retaining Visitors/Integrating Pages:
- Create internal links within blog posts.
- Add menu links (“Featured Articles,” “Topics,” “Popular Posts,” “Archive,” “What is Citycast?”).
• Onsite Social Networking:
- Add Facebook “Like” button.
- Add Google Plus button.
- Add “Share” buttons (so visitors can share links to blog posts via email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
The following offsite enhancements will be made for the website:
• Submit blog URL to search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).
• Setup live ping feeds so search engines are notified whenever new content is added or old content is updated.
Social Networking & Maintenance Deal (monthly subscription):
• Add fresh content regularly (write and publish at least 2 blog posts/week with enhanced keywords optimization).
• Edit any additional blog content submitted by other writers to enhance SEO.
• Comments exchange (exchange comments with other bloggers).
• Blogroll exchange (exchange template links with other blogs).
• Feed exchange (exchange blog feeds with other blogs).
• In-page links exchange (get mentioned with links to website/blog on posts of blogs by other individuals and companies).
• Twitter correspondences (create Twitter account, post blog feeds, share company/product updates, gain followers, etc.).
• Press releases (write and publish press releases on prominent PR websites such as www.pr.com).
ADDITIONAL SERVICES/DEALS:
• AdWords – account management fee depends on PPC budget.
• Website monitoring (measuring and assessing page views, Google ranking, traffic sources, trends in traffic, etc.) – fee depends on website traffic and amount of detail required in reports.
Email us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you wish to hire for any of these services. Thank you.
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