Mine Your Own Business

Web Site Tips

Remember the Internet way back in the days of gopher, Archie, VERONICA, and JUGHEAD? A few of the major milestones of the Internet were in 1991 a new protocol based on hypertext became the World Wide Web, in 1992 Delphi became the first national commercial online service to offer Internet access to subscribers followed later by AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe. But probably one of the most important developments was in 1993 with a graphical browser named Mosaic and the rest, as they say, is history.

So what does all this have to do with Web site tips? The very brief history above just shows quickly our world has changed since the early 90's due to the explosion of the Internet and that even small businesses can reap great benefits by having an on line presence. Here is an article that gives 4 Web site errors that should be avoided and even provides some inexpensive ideas for creating your first Web site.

So do you already have a site for your business, and if not are you planning one in the near future?

Workplaces and the Scout Law

I don't have a very good memory and it clearly is not getting better as I get older, but there are a few things I memorized in my youth that have stick with me somehow.

One memory from my Boy Scout days are the 12 points of the Scout Law.  A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.  I do think of these often and believe that if we all worked a little harder to evidence these qualities in our lives our world (and our workplaces) would be a little better.

So, you will understand that as I read the following article containing a list of 15 Personal Skills for the Workplace, I thought back to the Scout Law.  I do like the fact that Vigor is included.  The importance of having a passion for what we do and therefore doing it with vigor are lessons I learned after my Boy Scout days.  (I'm not sure that adding Passion to the Scout Law would have gone over too well.)

Here's the article.  Be prepared!     

Bill

Borrower Beware

Sure, the normal phrase is buyer beware, but in the current credit crunch and the troubles of CIT Group the phrase borrower beware is important for small businesses. Here's an interesting article that stresses that any small business who sometimes needs to borrow some money needs to have a back up plan. While most banks are being very cautious on loaning right now, the article states that credit unions might be a good source and provides a number of links to other lending sources.

Has your small business experienced any problems with credit or have you managed to escape the credit crunch so far?

Some Secrets for Happy Employees

We all know that happy and motivated people make the best employees and that good employees have a huge impact on a small business. Good employees can help sales of course, but they can also make life much more pleasant for the employer by being willing and able to assume more responsibility thus reducing the burden on the owner.

So, how do you keep your employees happy and motivated? Here's an article that provides four tips that any small business owner can use to improve employee satisfaction with their jobs. Do you have any other tips to add to the list?

Tips for word-of-mouth marketing for your small business

Word-of-mouth is one of the most effective means to advertise your small business. The question is how do you get your customers to tell other people about your business? Here is an article that provides 16 tips for creating word-of-mouth advertising yourself. Not all of them will be applicable for your particular business, but some of them should be useful for any small business.

Don't miss the comments at the end of the article, some of them are pretty insightful and who knows you might want to post a comment yourself.

Fun with your small business

Here is a very different article that stresses some ways to have fun with your small business. The article begins by reminding small business owners of some of the reasons they may have opened their small business in the first place, such as no demanding bosses, endless meetings, and a general lack of freedom. It then goes on to describe some of the reasons the recession may have spoiled some of the fun of owning a small business. The final part of the article describes some possible ways to restore some fun aspects of owning a small business.

Do you have any other ideas for having fun at your business, maybe bringing your grill to work and making a really nice lunch or dinner? Who knows, maybe the smell of grilling may even attract some new customers.

More recession survival tips

We've done several postings on small businesses and the current recession in the past several months, but here is an article from USA Today that proposes four tips that should help any small business survive and even get ahead. The four tips are from one of the top small small business experts around, Rieva Lesonsky. She wrote a best selling book and has appeared on numerous television shows, and these are just two items on a very impressive resume. You can find out more about Rieva and her four tips by reading the article here.

Slick new Google tool

We did a posting on April 22nd on favorite computer downloads and mentioned that Google Earth was a fantastic tool. As usual, here's a link to the posting in case you want to read the original posting. Now Google has come up with a new Google Gadget (try saying that three times fast) that makes it easier for  customers find your business. The article provides a link to this particular Google Gadget so you don't have to search for it.

The second part of the article provides a link to a brief review of the gadget and the review describes how to create a Directions page to make it easy for search engines to map out you location. So not only customers, but search engines as well will find it easier to find your location if you follow their directions.

Job cuts in small businesses moderate

There may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel for job cuts in the small business area. Here's an article that states that while small businesses still cut jobs in the second quarter the losses moderated greatly in June. The article further states that small financial situations should improve before larger retailers.

The article then goes on to give the thoughts of several small businesses on their particular situation and whether they think an upturn is finally on the way. There is even a podcast of the article that can be downloaded if you would prefer to listen to it and don't mind a very short commercial before the rest of the article.

Bankruptcy and small businesses

On May 15th we posted about whether your small business was thriving or surviving, here is a link to our original posting if you would care to read it. Now comes a new article from USA Today that states the case that many small businesses are not thriving or even surviving, many small businesses are being forced to declare bankruptcy.

The second part of the article describes how small companies may be the hardest hit and combined with fewer start ups this can be especially troubling for our fragile economy. Bankruptcy doesn't have to be the end of a small business and the article goes on to give some further information on small business and bankruptcy.