The U.S. Small Business Administration and Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence (CMI) launched a cooperative Strategic Alliance Memorandum to promote opportunities for women entrepreneurs through education, training and counseling.

The launch, held in Washington, D.C. at SBA’s headquarters, also recognized Women’s Small Business Month.

The alliance between SBA and CMI will help to strengthen and expand small business development opportunities, particularly those to women entrepreneurs.  The alliance is intended to promote collaboration on the development of resources and information to benefit the needs of the small business community, and of women-owned small businesses.  SBA and CMI will develop a joint podcast on business start-up and financing, as well as a Web chat on small business issues affecting women entrepreneurs.

“SBA shares a common mission with Count Me In to help encourage more women to be entrepreneurs and to give them the tools to succeed as business owners,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills.  “Coordinating efforts with this tremendous organization will help to ensure that we reach even more women- owned small businesses.”

Speakers at the event included Administrator Mills and Nell Merlino, president and CEO of Count Me In.  They addressed an audience of small business owners, local business women and SBA employees, and recognized oovoo design, a woman-owned small business that has thrived during the challenging economy.

Pauline Lewis, owner of oovoo design, is a wholesaler of unique handbags and a past recipient of CMI’s Make Mine a Million $ Business Award (watch the great video at this site) that encourages women entrepreneurs to increase their revenues and develop their businesses.  Lewis received counseling and training for her business from the SBA’s Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia.  The center is part of a network of more than 100 WBCs that provide education and training to help women start and grow small businesses.  Barbara Wrigley, executive director of the Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia, was also highlighted during the event.

For more information on how SBA can help you start or grow your business, visit the SBA website.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

This element of Web 2.0 Marketing is located in the third ring of the graphic below because although it is effective, it has a lower return on time invested. Nonetheless, it can be worth the time and effort if done correctly. So let’s take a look at how to use this element the most effectively.

The first step is to find public forums and blogs that are discussing the same topics as you have in your blog and website. You can use Google Blog Search to find blogs writing about things similar to what you are writing. You can find this search engine under the “more” link at Google’s main site.

To find forums where discussions on your topic are taking place, use Google’s main search using term “(YourTopic) Forum”. If you locate forums that require you to login to even see the posts, they will be of less value than those that allow you read the posting but require you to login in order to leave comments.

Once acceptable blogs and forums are identified, look for articles and/or discussions that are perfect for you to leave your comments. Remember that most blogs and some forums are moderated and the owner/manager will decide which comments will be approved. If your comments look like spam they will not be accepted.

You can have your comments prewritten and saved on a document so they can be copied and pasted. However, you should edit them once pasted in to personalize them and make it appear as though you typed them from scratch. You comments need to fall in line with the other comments. It is best if you can work your link into the comments. If not, use it as part of your signature.

This practice will increase traffic to your site in two ways. First, remember that you found this site with a search engine and it ranked high for the search term you used. Others will find this site as well when they search using the same search term that you used. As they read the comments they are likely to click on your link and go to your blog/website as well. That is if your comments are compelling enough. Second, each link to your blog/website improves your credibility with search engines and soon you will become one of the top ranked pages for that search term.

If you make a point leave three or four comments every day, it will not take long for you to build your credibility with blogs, forum and search engines, make friends on these blogs and forums that will subscribe to your RSS feeds (remember, they are interested in the same topic(s) as you are) and soon you will have a steady flow of visitors to your blog/website.

This is just one element of those shown on the graphic and by itself will not make a huge difference. However, as you add this to the other elements in the graphic it will make a big difference. So be sure and read the other articles in this series as shown below and select as many different techniques as you can to drive the most traffic to your blog/website as possible.

Those that enjoyed this article, also enjoyed:
Web 2.0 Online Marketing Series – Overview
The Elements of a Web 2.0 Website
Web 2.0 Blogging For Business
Web 2.0 SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Web 2.0 Email Marketing & Autoresponders
Web 2.0 Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Web 2.0 Online Press Releases & Ezine Articles

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

More than 50 Non-profit Organizations to Receive SBA PRIME Grants to Assist Micro Entrepreneurs

The U. S. Small Business Administration announced today that 58 non-profit organizations from 32 states and the District of Columbia will receive grant funding under the Program for Investment in Micro Entrepreneurs Act (PRIME) to assist low-income and very low-income entrepreneurs with training and technical assistance to start, operate, and grow their businesses.

Competition for PRIME grants was open to applicants in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. SBA received more than 400 applications. Last year, SBA funded 35 grants in 12 states on a non-competitive basis.

“The SBA remains committed to helping small businesses start, grow and succeed, and PRIME is one of our many tools for doing this,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “Thanks to larger funding this year, we were able to provide grant dollars to more recipients across more states.  These grant recipients are on the front line of helping entrepreneurs in particularly underserved communities with critical tools to help them maximize the potential of their businesses, create jobs and help strengthen the local economy.”

SBA’s PRIME grant funding is intended to establish management and technical assistance, access to capital and other forms of financial assistance, and business training and counseling through qualified organizations to small businesses with five or fewer employees that are economically disadvantaged, and to businesses owned by low-income individuals, including those residing on Indian reservations and tribal lands.

The grant funding received will be used to provide training and technical assistance to disadvantaged micro entrepreneurs, to provide capacity building services to organizations that assist with microenterprise training and services, and to aid in researching and developing the best practices in the field of micro enterprise development and technical assistance programs for disadvantaged micro entrepreneurs.

This year’s total program funding amounts to $5 million. Grants range up to $250, 000 with a 50 percent match required of the recipient organization.  The PRIME grant is open to micro entrepreneur training and technical assistance providers in all 50 states and the territories, and has a one year performance period, with four 12-month options.

To view a list of non-profit organizations receiving these grants, click here. For more information on these and other small business activities, visit the SBA website.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

Changes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs led to a rebound in SBA- backed loans for small businesses and greater access to much-needed capital.

Since the Recovery Act was signed on Feb. 17, SBA has supported more than $11.3 billion in lending to small businesses through its two largest loan programs and seen its average weekly dollar volume increase by more than 60 percent in comparison to the weeks before the Recovery Act.  Additionally, the average number of loans approved per week has increased by more than 50 percent. The dollar volume for September 2009 ($1.9 billion) was the highest single-month total since August 2007.

“These numbers, along with our conversations with lenders and small business owners around the country, show that the Recovery Act hit the mark,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “The Recovery Act was critical to unlocking the market and as a result we’ve helped put billions of dollars of much needed capital in the hands of small business owners during this tough economic time, and brought more than 1,200 lenders back into SBA’s loan programs.  With half the nation’s workforce either working for or owning a small business, these dollars played a critical role in driving economic recovery across the country.”

As a result of the credit crunch, SBA lending saw a significant decline in the fall of 2008 and early 2009. For the seven weeks prior to the Recovery Act being signed, SBA’s average weekly dollar volume was $165 million.  The average weekly average since the Recovery Act was signed, through Sept. 25, was $275 million.

Mills cited Recovery Act provisions that reduced fees on SBA loans and raised SBA guarantees to 90 percent, as well as actions that reinvigorated the secondary markets for SBA-guaranteed loans as especially helpful in improving access to SBA-backed credit.

Overall, SBA loan approvals for the fiscal year amounted to a combined 50,829 loans (preliminary number) worth $13.1 billion under the 7(a) and 504 loan programs.  The comparable figures for fiscal year 2008, which ended just as the nation’s economy entered the financial crisis, were 78,317 and $17.96 billion.

The dollar volume totals for SBA loans in fiscal year 2009, which ended September 30, do not include loans made under the agency’s ARC, (America’s Recovery Capital) loan program.  Launched on June 15, the agency has approved 2,715 ARC loans worth more than $88 million as of September 29.  Thus far, nearly 740 lenders have made ARC loans, and the number of participating lenders is increasing by an average of about 50 per week.

Today, Emily Maltby of the Wall Street Journal posted a great article, Sour Year for SBA Loans Ends With Uptick, about it. She has a great graph that tells the story. Hopefully, this all is a sign of a recovery on its way!

For more information on SBA loans, visit the SBA website.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

The primary advantage of incorporating your business, large or small, is to protect your personal assets from liability for actions taken by the business. Whether you choose a C-corp, S-corp or LLC, the law creates what is known as a “corporate veil” to shield your personal assets. What most people either don’t know or don’t take seriously is that you must do more than form the entity and register it with the state. The corporate entity must be properly managed to avoid the risks of personal loss. The moral of this story: if you don’t want your entity disregarded, don’t disregard it yourself.

So I teamed up with Donna Seyle, attorney and blogger at Freelance Law Firm to share a story that points out how the “corporate veil” can be pierced, leaving your personal assets vulnerable, and what you can do to prevent it. Here are her thoughts.

Let me tell you about my friend Steve. He’s a great guy, a successful real estate broker and no dummy. During his career he invested wisely in his own real estate portfolio and had significant assets to protect. So, when Steve decided to form his own boutique brokerage, he did the smart thing: he incorporated. He was joined by three real estate agents who were enticed to leave their big-name brokerage because Steve offered them partial ownership in the corporation. They each made a capital contribution to fund the business for a few months until some of their deals closed. In addition to receiving commissions, they split corporate profits at an agreed-upon percentage.

Everything was fine during the real estate market boom. In order to capitalize on the market, they developed the habit of taking almost all the profit out of the business to fund their personal investments. If they ran short, they just pooled the money together to put back into the business to pay the bills. They never found time for meetings or kept corporate records. Then the sudden slowdown came. The market tanked and left the brokerage with a massive debt they couldn’t pay because they weren’t selling property.

Together they agreed to file corporate bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the bankruptcy judge wasn’t buying it. Under the doctrine called “piercing the corporate veil”, (in bankruptcy it’s known as “substantive consolidation”) the judge determined that Steve and his friends had so blatantly disregarded the separate corporate entity and used the corporation as a tool for personal business that they were not entitled to protection of their personal assets. Need I go on?

In order to preserve protection against personal liability you must show that you have a real business, not just a sham created to dodge personal liability. While Steve’s brokerage was, in fact, real, the courts won’t  uphold protection when the corporate privilege is misused to protect fraud, misrepresentation or promote other injustice.  Such misuses include under-capitalization, a failure to observe entity formalities, commingling of funds, insolvency at the time of a transaction, siphoning of funds by those owning or controlling the entity, or the absence of corporate records. In these circumstances, many courts will deem the corporation to be the “alter ego” of anyone who dominates or controls the corporation’s finances and business practices.

Here are some specific things to do to avoid the law of unintended consequences:

1. Comply with all state filing requirements
2. Create and maintain all state-required documentation and formalities, including any on-going filing requirements
3. Hold regular board meetings and maintain minutes
4. Keep adequate business and accounting records
5. Adhere to requirements of any by-laws or operating agreements
6. Maintain adequate capitalization of the business at all times
7. Do not enter into contracts without the current ability to pay
8. Maintain a separate business bank account
9. Never commingle funds

If you are considering incorporation, be sure to consult with your attorney regarding the specific ways to comply with these requirements in order to shield yourself from liability. If you have already incorporated and are concerned that you may not be adequately adhering to necessary business practices, don’t hesitate to review your practices with your attorney now. It is never too late to turn it around. Better to make any changes necessary now than not at all. Judges are significantly impacted by a show of good faith.

DISCLAIMER: The above is intended as an overview of the law related to business practices that affect personal liability. Nothing in this article is intended as legal advice, nor does the reading of this information create an attorney/client relationship.

If you would like to contact Donna Seyle you can do so through her LinkedIn page or by her email at dkseyle@gmail.com.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

The main objectives of a Press Release are for publicity, marketing buzz, credibility and driving traffic to your website. Press Releases (if reprinted or broadcasted) will build far more credibility for your business than you can buy with advertising. Best of all, the news media does not charge to reprint or broadcast your Press Releases.

There are two ways of distributing Press Releases: On and off line. Each provides distinctive but different benefits.

Offline Press Releases
The traditional ways that companies have been distributing Press Releases since their invention are generally by mail, fax, and/or email. Although online Press Releases offer certain advantages over offline, the traditional method still has specific advantages.

If you are a local business only, you are more likely to attract attention of the local papers, TV and radio using the traditional offline distribution methods. If you have a really great human interest story, you may even secure a television interview. Most TV stations have websites and will post the video interview on their website with links to your site. Chances are you can even secure a digital copy of the interview and include it on your website.

It is less likely this sort of thing will happen with online press releases, unless you have your own video that you can include a link to in your Press Release. As an example, I am reminded of the recent Kevin and Jill Heinz wedding here in St. Paul where the wedding party danced down the isle.

They filmed it and put it on YouTube. It spread like wildfire and soon even all of the national networks were clamoring for an interview. If you are not one of the more than 25 million that viewed it on YouTube or the millions that saw it on TV, you can see it now by clicking the link above. A video like this will gain widespread visibility regardless of the distribution method.

Online Press Releases
When you distribute press releases online you enjoy a different set of benefits. While other elements shown on the Web 2.0 Online Marketing graphic remain vital pieces of your online marketing strategy, online Press Releases can play a major role in driving traffic to your website as well as build great brand recognition and credibility.

When submitting a press release through an online distribution service such as PRLog.org (free), PRWeb.com (fee-based), MarketWire.com (fee-based) and others, it will be submitted to various search engines, news search engines, and media sources. In addition, online Press Releases with newsworthy information and/or human interest stores can be optimized with keyword-rich content that can make them easy for journalists and consumers to find when searching the web for information on a specific topic. Plus, many journalists and consumers subscribe to RSS feeds, JavaScript feeds, HTML feeds, Google Web Gadget and multiple daily newsletters.

Here is some interesting data that may help you better understand the importance of online Press Releases:

98% of journalists go online daily:

• 92% for article research
• 81% for research
• 76% for new resources or experts
• 73% for press releases

On an average day, 68 million American adults go online

• 30% use search engines to find information
• 27% to get news

Sources: Middleberg/Ross Survey and Pew Internet and American Life Project

In a matter of hours, your Press Release can be on hundreds of websites and in the hands of millions of people. Your Press Release can be optimized with specific keyword terms and include links to your website and/or blog. If you read my previous post, Web 2.0 Search Engine Optimization, you already know the importance of links to your website as it relates to search engine rankings. For maximum exposure I would try to find opportunities to add links in your press release to both your website and your blog. This will give you twice the bang for your buck.

Here are a few of the many benefits of using online Press Releases as part of your overall Web 2.0 Marketing strategy:

• Publication within hours of submission
• Top news search engine rankings for targeted search terms
• New listings on search engines with links back to your website and/or blog
• Posted on hundreds of web sites with links back to your website and/or blog
• Distribution through RSS feeds, JavaScript feeds and multiple daily newsletters
• Wide distribution to consumers, journalists and researchers
• Increased brand awareness for new and existing customers
• Help in building link popularity for your web pages
• Archived press releases continue to provide long-term link value

As you can see, online press releases can be a very effective way to create marketing buzz and publicity, build credibility for your company and your services/products, and drive traffic to your website and/or blog.

Ezine Articles
For those who lack newsworthy or human interest content for a press release, the alternative is using a service like EzineArticles.com where you can post articles about your business or your industry for free. Naturally, you can include links back to your site and/or blog and your article can be optimized with keyword-rich content that search engines love.

There is a long list of benefits (longer than this post) for using EzineArticles.com or a similar service. Rather than listing them all here, simply click here to go to their benefits page to review.

Although this is a great tool, you should first carefully read the Editorial Guidelines and Terms of Service. It allows publishers or other blogs to reprint/repost full copies of your articles on their sites just like a Press Release. Plus they require that it is original and not posted elsewhere. The minimum number of words required is only 250. So it is pretty easy to write fresh copy.

There are already hundreds of thousands of articles there, so search engines love the EzineArticles.com website. Top authors have posted tens of thousands of articles that they have written themselves.

Those that enjoyed this article, also enjoyed:
Web 2.0 Online Marketing Series – Overview
The Elements of a Web 2.0 Website
Web 2.0 Blogging For Business
Web 2.0 SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Web 2.0 Email Marketing & Autoresponders
Web 2.0 Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Web 2.0 Forum & Blog Commenting

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

Entrepreneurship education is becoming more available at American universities, and researchers are looking at the results, according to a new study supported by the Office of Advocacy. The study is based on initial findings from a survey funded with a challenge grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies of New York University.

Students who took an entrepreneurship class were more likely to have engaged in three types of “innovation”: offering new products or services, obtaining patents or copyrights, and using production techniques that differ from those of the industry’s main competitor. Not surprisingly, graduates who have taken such courses are significantly more likely to select careers in entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship education is more and more available to people looking at career options, whether at the beginning of their working lives or in mid- career,” said Advocacy Chief Economist Chad Moutray. “The Office of Advocacy continues to examine the education of entrepreneurs and to encourage colleges and universities to include entrepreneurial research and data in their curricula.”

Results suggest that there is a strong correlation between respondents having taken an entrepreneurial course and their self-reported skill in identifying new business-related opportunities. The researchers hope additional data will help instructors identify educational approaches to train prospective innovative entrepreneurs by helping them identify promising technological developments and other opportunities for innovation.

The study is based on a pilot survey of students at five universities conducted in April and June 2008. Lessons learned in this analysis will be incorporated in future surveys, which will include additional universities in the United States and elsewhere.

The full study is available online. The Office of Advocacy, the “small business watchdog” of the federal government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the President.  It is the source for small business statistics presented in user- friendly formats, and it funds research into small business issues.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

In the face of unprecedented challenges, it seems that change is the only thing small businesses can predict with any certainty. Last year’s technology breakthroughs are quickly outdated and replaced with the newest craze.  If this isn’t enough to keep small businesses hopping, customer behavior is fickle, requiring continuous shifts in marketing strategy.

If only you had a crystal ball. Then you could anticipate trends, new technology, and shifting customer desires. As your business grows, change is inevitable. So, if you are in a holding pattern, operating your business the way you’ve always done it and selling the same products and/or services the same way you’ve always sold them, you are most likely going to fall behind.  The quicker you can adapt to or, better yet, get ahead of changes in the market the better your chances are of succeeding.

You may be wondering how you can tell the difference between a fleeting fad and a legitimate trend. Louis Patler, market research guru for companies such as American Express and Dell, has spent years tracking emerging trends. Patler asserts that successfully piloting a business in the years ahead will require new ways of thinking. Hanging onto traditional approaches will only hold you back.

Patler suggests in his new book, “The Consistent Consumer: Predicting Future Behavior Through Lasting Values” that values, not just past behavior, will help you better define and understand today’s diverse consumer groups and more accurately anticipate how these distinct “value populations” are likely to behave in the future—and what they are likely to buy as a result.

Intense global competition for customers is driving a new focus on customer retention, repeat orders, and cross-selling. Although all businesses need customers, some are better than others.  Some customers are just more profitable than others. These are the customers you should be giving the most attention to with special savings and service offers.

Small business owners who know how to acquire, manage, and utilize customer information are in a unique position to dominate their market. That is why knowledge about customer needs, wants, behavior, and values is absolutely critical.

A common mistake of business owners is to make assumptions about their customers. And, when they are wrong, which they often are, it costs them dearly. Hence, the proliferation of customer surveys. New technology makes it possible to collect customer data from a number of sources today. However, if a company doesn’t have a way to manage and utilize this information, the data has limited value.

Until recently small businesses have not had the ability to integrate the intelligence from their website, call centers, etc. Enter Predictive Analytics which relies on statistical analysis and math to study customer data in order to make better business decisions. Analytics is the closest thing to a crystal ball that small businesses can get.

One major obstacle successful small business owners have in leveraging predictive analytics is a learned trust in their own experience and judgment. This tendency is a mistake because predictive analytics have been shown to be 40-60% more accurate than judgment alone. As technology, customer behavior, and values shift, it is imperative that business owners have access to relevant, current, and most importantly, accurate customer data. Neural networks can help business owners to “learn and objectively adapt” based on actual customer behaviors.

One of the chief benefits of predictive analytics is how it can help a company match the right customer for the right offer using the right medium. This approach helps a company enhance its relationships with customers. When a company is “tuned in” to a customer’s needs and wants, the customer feels the company cares about them; which builds trust. And, in today’s uncertain world, trust builds brand and customer loyalty.

According to Dave Schrader of Teradata, companies can access all kinds of information relative to customer wants and needs from sources including purchases, web browsing, call center utilization, responses to marketing initiatives, responses to surveys, emails, and various wireless communications. Predictive analytics allows a company to collect, analyze, and then implement the information to predict customer behavior so they can make the right product/service offers to the right customers at the right time at the right price.

Event-based marketing is yet another effective predictive analytic strategy. For example, if a department store notices that a particular customer made a large purchase from the bridal department they can extend other product offers related to weddings.

Schrader makes the point that analytics benefits customers as well as companies. The average person in the USA receives 34 pounds of junk mail and 2600+ emails per year. Most of this mail does not meet the customer’s wants, needs or time frame. Mass email messaging is no more effective. It irritates potential customers and clogs their mailboxes.

According to Randy Erdahl, President of Clario Analytics, predictive analytics is not just for big companies.  Your small business can leverage predictive analytics to dramatically improve customer loyalty while increasing revenue per customer. These outcomes can net significant savings in marketing dollars and give them a remarkable return on investments they make in analytics consulting and software.

Using proprietary analytic tools (designed and priced for small biz), Erdahl’s team applies a state-of-the-art approach to customer data that solves challenging marketing contact optimization problems, such as what is the best contact strategy for each customer.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a great tool in the correct situation. Regardless of how small your advertising budget may be, it should be considered. As with any of the Web 2.0 marketing tools shown in the graphic below, PPC advertising has its pros and cons. In most cases though, the pros outweigh the cons.

What is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?
In the broadest terms, pay-per-click or PPC advertising is an Internet advertising model whereby other websites (search engines and Internet publishers) post your ad on their website and you pay that website a fee (cost-per-click or CPC) each time a web-surfer clicks on a link to a specific page on your website.

The most common use of PPC advertising is through search engines (listed as “Sponsored Links”) but many other websites that compliment your site will post your ad for either a cost per click or a cost per sale. Generally this is done through a different Web 2.0 marketing tool called an “Affiliate Program” that we will cover in a future article in this series. In this article we will focus on PPC advertising as part of a search engine marketing (SEM) strategy.

How Pay-Per-Click Advertising Works
Most search engines use an ongoing auction system whereby you bid for placement. If your bid is the highest CPC then you will be listed in the top or #1 position of the sponsored ads. If your bid is the fifth highest, your ad will be listed in the fifth position of the sponsored ads.

You bid on each keyword or phrase by which you wish to be found when searched. The more popular search keywords or phrases generally cost more (per click) than the less popular ones. There are many tools (listed in Web 2.0 SEO – Search Engine Optimization) to help you select the right keywords and phrases.

Advantages of PPC Advertising
Although it can takes weeks or months of hard work to secure an organic (non-paid) top search engine ranking, you can be in the top position of a search engine results page (SERP) in just a few minutes with PPC advertising.

Since part of the algorithms used by search engines to determine your organic ranking is the amount of traffic to your site, initially using PPC advertising will help your organic (non-paid) rankings as well (of course, you still have to do all the other SEO work as well).

Most web-based advertising charges you by the number of impressions (those that view the ad), while PPC charges only if someone takes the initiative to click on the link and visit your specific web page.

You can manage and fine-tune your campaign on a daily basis and alter your strategy based upon results before you are hundreds or thousands of dollars into a campaign that is producing poor results.

Disadvantages of PPC Advertising
It can become costly (although no more costly than typical brick and mortar marketing) if you use broad keywords or phrases.

Some web-surfers are prejudiced against sponsored ads or PPC and will only click on organic listings.

The maximum number of words in a PPC ad is much more limited than in an organic (non-paid) listing. To compensate, you have to learn to convey the most with the least number of words.

How To Find PPC Search Engines
First you can search for them on Google and secure a list. SearchEngineWatch.com offers a list. Just keep in mind that the majority of all searches are done on Google, MSN (Bing) and Yahoo (Google alone accounts for about 65% of all searches).

Pay Per Click Advertising Strategies
The very first thing I would point out is that you should ardently track your results. If you are paying $1 for each click through (generally, minimum bid is 10¢) and it takes you 25 click throughs for one conversion to a sale, this means it is costing you $25 for each sale you secure through PPC advertising. Obviously, if there is not more than a $25 margin in what you are selling, this will not make sense.

Several years ago, I was selling a product for about $5,000. No one came to the site and just bought. I would email them a proposal and have several conversations with them before the sale was closed. Nonetheless, I tracked what we were spending in PPC advertising for each month for our leads and how many sales we secured. I don’t remember the exact amount, but our cost per sale from PPC advertising was about $500. Our margin was about $2,500, so this worked great for us.

Although you will have to bid against competitors, you do not need to be in the #1 position to succeed. Several years ago, I read an article where the author claimed to secure more click throughs in the #3 position than in the #1 position. Not only did he enjoy increased results but it also cost him less for the #3 position. You can test and track this sort of thing for yourself and see the differences the position makes for you.

It is very important that your search terms (keywords and phrases) are well defined as you do not want to pay for click throughs by people who are not your prospects. For example, we only wholesaled the $5,000 product I mentioned above. Since we did not retail the product, we did not want our PPC ad to be shown to retail prospects. We did not want to spend the money on these prospects or be bogged down dealing with them because that was what our retailers were doing. So we made sure our ad showed only when the search term “wholesale xxxx” was used. Otherwise, we would have paid for many click throughs from people who were not our target market.

Finally, even though a vast majority of searches are done through Google, MSN (Bing) and Yahoo, don’t overlook the less popular search engines as there are some real values there. The much lower cost of these second and third tier PPC search engines can assist in lowering your overall average cost per click.

If you are reading this article in the morning and you currently are not using PPC advertising, you can more than double the amount of traffic to your site before the sun sets today, by simply using pay-per-click advertising.

Those that enjoyed this article, also enjoyed:
Web 2.0 Online Marketing Series – Overview
The Elements of a Web 2.0 Website
Web 2.0 Blogging For Business
Web 2.0 SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Web 2.0 Email Marketing & Autoresponders
Web 2.0 Online Press Releases & Ezine Articles
Web 2.0 Forum & Blog Commenting

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.

Maintain a Master List & Identify Each Stored Box

Typically, most of us keep everything for fear of not having the right document at the right time.   Our file cabinets and boxes grow until there is no more room, or until a major change in life circumstances forces us to downsize.

In this brief (comparatively) article I hope to cover most of the record retention requirements.  I teamed up with Robert Long of Coral Springs, Florida to make sure I provided accurate information. Robert is a CPA in his own practice (Robert E. Long M.A., C.P.A., P.A.) and has been serving small businesses for decades. As the internet and email has made our world more virtual, he is now serving small business owners in many states across the nation. Here are his thoughts on the subject.

Before you head for the trash can, make sure you’re not disposing of records you may need. You don’t want to be caught empty-handed if the Treasury Department contacts you.   And, please keep in mind, these are guidelines for both personal as well as business records, so they should be applied accordingly.

There may also be legal issues to consider, such as documents concerning environmental hazards within or on real property; be certain to discuss these situations with your attorney.

From the perspective of the IRS, there is a broad stroke that states, “Keep all records for as long as you might need them.”  In other words, in order for you to support the information reported on your tax return, the record or document must be available.  Records such as receipts, canceled checks, and other documents that prove an item of income or a deduction appearing on your return should be kept at least until the statute of limitations expires for that return.

In most cases this means that records should be maintained until after the expiration of the statute of limitations for a particular tax year.  The federal statue of limitation is three years from the date the tax return is filed or two years from the date the tax is paid, whichever date is later.  So, does that mean you’re safe from an audit after three years?

Not necessarily.  There are exceptions:

• If the IRS has reason to believe your income was understated by 25 percent or more, the statute of limitations for an audit increases to six years.
• If there is suspicion of fraud or you don’t file a tax return at all, there is no time limit for the IRS.

Also, it is important to know that the statue of limitation does not begin until the tax return is filed and if the return is considered fraudulent there is no limitation on when the records can be summoned.

Even with the statute of limitation, there are records that do not have to be maintained for more than a year, some three years, other seven years, and certain documents need to be permanently maintained.  You should keep some records indefinitely, such as property records, since you may need them to prove the amount of gain or loss if the property is sold.

There is a need to use common sense to find the balance between keeping too much and not keeping records long enough.  For specific information please seek the advice of your accountant or tax advisor since business requirements can vary.

Keep the following documents for a minimum of three years:

• Bank Reconciliations and Statements
• Canceled Checks
• Correspondence with customers and vendors
• Duplicate bank deposit slips
• Employment applications
• Monthly accounts receivable and accounts payable aging reports
• Petty cash vouchers
• Physical inventory tags and records
• Purchase orders and receiving reports
• Sales Records and Journals

Keep the following documents for a minimum of seven years:

• Accounts receivable and accounts payable ledgers
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable year end aging reports
• Bank statements
• Canceled checks
• Customer invoices
• Expired Contracts & Leases
• Interim financial statements (monthly or quarterly)
• Inventory summaries
• Loan payments and schedules
• Payroll Records & Tax Returns
• Time Sheets
• Personnel records after termination
• Vendor invoices
• Vouchers for Payment to Employees for Reimbursements, Allowances, etc.
• Sales Tax Returns – State regulations vary.  Check with your tax advisor for the required retention period for returns and supporting documentation.

Keep the following documents in a permanent file indefinitely:

• Annual financial statements
• Contracts & Leases Still in Effect
• Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws
• Company Policy & Practice Manuals
• Board meeting minutes
• Employee pension records
• Insurance Policies (including expired policies)
• Charts of Account
• General ledger
• Depreciation Schedules
• IRS audit reports
• Real property documents including closing statements, appraisals, deeds, mortgages, property tax records, and canceled checks
• Real estate records – Keep these for as long as you own the property, plus three years after you dispose of it (according to IRS guidelines) and report the transaction on your tax return. Throughout ownership, keep records of the purchase, as well as receipts for home improvements, relevant insurance claims, and documents relating to refinancing. These help prove your adjusted basis in the home, which is needed to figure the taxable gain at the time of sale, or to support calculations for rental property or home office deductions.
• Securities -To accurately report taxable events involving stocks and bonds, you must maintain detailed records of purchases and sales. These records should include dates, quantities, prices, dividend reinvestment, and investment expenses, such as broker fees. Keep these records for as long as you own the investments, plus the statute of limitations on the relevant tax returns.
• Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) – The IRS requires you to keep copies of Forms 8606, 5498 and 1099-R until all the money is withdrawn from your IRA accounts. With the introduction of Roth IRAs, it’s more important than ever to hold onto all IRA records pertaining to contributions and withdrawals in case you’re ever questioned.  If an account is closed, treat IRA records with the same rules as securities. Don’t dispose of any ownership documentation until the statute of limitations expires.
• Completed tax returns – Many tax advisers recommend that you hold onto copies of your finished tax returns forever.  Why? So you can prove to the IRS that you actually filed.  Even if you don’t keep the returns indefinitely, you should hang onto them for at least six years after they are due or filed, whichever is later.

Backup records – Any written evidence that supports figures on your tax return, such as receipts, expense logs, bank notices and sales records, should generally be kept for at least the three year period.

• Exceptions – There are some cases when taxpayers get more than the usual three years to file an amended return. You have up to seven years to take deductions for bad debts or worthless securities, so don’t toss out records that could result in refund claims for those items
• Issues affecting more than one year - Records that support figures affecting multiple years, such as carryovers of charitable deductions, net operating loss carry backs or carry forwards or casualty losses, need to be saved until the deductions no longer have effect, plus seven years, per IRS instructions

The burden of proof, or the responsibility to substantiate items on your tax return, at one time rested entirely on the taxpayer. Since the passage of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the burden has shifted to the IRS in the event of a courtroom proceeding, but only if you meet the requirements to retain proper records and make them available for inspection. So while the law now takes some of the heat off taxpayers, it only applies if you diligently maintain records and cooperate with reasonable requests from the IRS.

For additional information on record retention, view the IRS Publication 552, “Record keeping for Individuals.”   If you are an employer, you must keep all your employment tax records for at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later.  For additional information, refer to Publication Number 583, starting a Business and Keeping Records.  People in business often have expenses for travel, entertainment, and gifts.  The documentation you should keep for each of these expenses can be found in Publication Number 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses.

Whew!! I’m glad I didn’t try this all on my own. :-)

Hopefully, this article has given you the information you need to reduce the amount of documents you save. If you would like to contact Robert Long, you can do so by calling him at 954-603-0480 or emailing him at rlong33424@aol.com.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mikeclough2002 @ yahoo.com or visiting my LinkedIn page.