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Ideas, insights, inspiration and information for entrepreneurs
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Ken and Daria Dolan recommend SmallBizDaily.com as a great web site for fledgling entrepreneurs. For the full transcript go to CNN.
Ken and Daria Dolan
By Rieva Lesonsky
In his State of the Union address Wednesday night, President Obama made lots of proposals to help small business. These included:
Will all these proposals come to pass? I don’t know, but for my take on what small-business owners can do—now—to get their businesses moving with or without government assistance, read my AllBusiness.com column.
For a real-life example of businesses that aren’t waiting for government assistance, but are finding opportunity in the downturn, read my AllBusiness.com Franchise Blog.
And for some good news for small-business owners seeking business loans or other funding, check out my blog on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends.
By Rieva Lesonsky
I’ve met some really smart people over the 28-plus years I’ve covered entrepreneurship and small-business issues. Eric Groves (right), SVP of e-mail marketing services at Constant Contact, is one of those folks. Hundreds of thousands of small-business owners use Constant Contact’s products and services to market their businesses. Whether you use Constant Contact or not, Eric’s new book, The Constant Contact Guide to E-Mail Marketing, will tell you everything you need to know to grow your business using e-mail.
E-mail marketing is all about relationships, Groves says—and that makes it especially useful in today’s challenging economy, when keeping your existing clients is key to staying in business. The lessons Groves shares in the book have been learned by interacting with Constant Contact’s small-business clients. “I know the strategies in this book work because I have personally taught them to thousands of small-business owners and watched the results,” writes Groves. He also used the same techniques to help build Constant Contract from an unknown startup company to a leading technology firm.
Don’t have a lot of time? Just check out the first chapter, “40 Know It or Blow It Rules of E-Mail Marketing,” to read a quick summary of the key points in the entire book.
Of course, once you read that you’ll be hooked and want to know more—and Groves shares much more, including how to build a good e-mail list, the 3 rules of content, how to format your e-mails, writing effective subject lines and “from” lines, how to deal with spam filters and other deliverability problems, and how to track the results of your e-mail campaigns.
Clear, actionable and thorough, The Constant Contact Guide to E-Mail Marketing is an essential handbook for any entrepreneur interested in harnessing the power of e-mail. Visit Constant Contact’s Web site to download the first chapter for free.
By Rieva Lesonsky
Want to get your Web site to the top of Google’s search results? (Don’t we all?) A new series of e-books from my friends over at StartupNation can help.
The “Google Rocketship” three-part series shows you how to “rocket” your site to the top of Google’s rankings.
Book 1: How to Find the Money-Making Keywords for Your SEO Campaign and Discover Exactly What You Need to Do to Crush Your Competition, explains what SEO is, how to research keywords (including both free and paid tools for doing so), and how to optimize your Web site so you’ll rank above your competitors.
Book 2: How to Make a Website and Create Content that Google and Your Visitors Love takes you more in-depth on the technical aspects of SEO, such as proper URL structure, TITLE tags and anchor text. (Have no idea what those are? I didn’t either, until I read the book.) It also goes in-depth on content creation and how to use good content to drive traffic.
Book 3: The Definitive Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Thousands of Great Links and Dominating Your Market in No Time Flat focuses on the importance of link building and walks you through the most effective link-building tactics that will raise your profile on search engines. It also explains how to measure the results of your SEO campaigns.
Each book explains clearly and simply exactly what steps you need to take to improve your results. I’ll definitely be putting these tactics to use for my own site.
Each e-book is just $24, or buy all three for $59. Better yet, if you join StartupNation (which is free), you can buy all three for $49.
Author Zeke Camusio of The Outsourcing Company is a search engine optimization expert who has started six Internet-based companies of his own and helped hundreds of clients improve their online marketing and SEO results.
For more information about the Google Rocketship series, visit StartupNation.
By Maria Valdez Haubrich
Looking for a way to get the word out about your new product or invention? If you’re an independent inventor and/or small-business owner (big guys not allowed), submit your product to YakAboutIt.com.
The creators of this site wanted to give the “little guys” (i.e. the ones who do not have mass distribution and large marketing budgets) an opportunity to showcase their new products, get feedback and maybe even sell some items.
Every week, two new products will be highlighted on the home page in a friendly competition for “Most Yakable.” When the new products get highlighted, the previous Most Yakable gets a “trophy” and moves to the “Most Yakable” position on the home page. Every product includes photos, the story behind the product and the inventor and the opportunity to buy it.
The goal, obviously, is to get noticed by retail buyers so you can get your product on their shelves. YakAboutIt.com gets consumers talking and we all know word of mouth is as important as (and a lot cheaper than) a large advertising campaign.
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