Christian InTech Articles - Small Business

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12 Free Tools For Starting a Home Business With No Money Want to start your own home business but short on cash? These proven and expert 12 free tools can help you make the move from corporate life to calling the shots. By Bruce Scher Home business ownership is the best way to start any... Online Resources for Innovators Small businesses, independent innovators, authors, and artists often find it difficult to locate useful sources of information and services pertaining to intellectual property industry. A number of online forums, including Patentcafe.com,... Tax Advantages In A Home Business Every year, several thousand people develop an interest in "going into business." Many of these people have an idea, a product or a service they hope to promote into an in come producing business which they can operate from their own homes. ... Tips to Starting your own Business The 9-to-5 grind can make you feel like a just another cog in the corporate machine, constantly punching the clock for someone else’s vision. One day, while dreaming of the world outside the cubicle, you have your big “Eureka!” moment—you’ve... What are the benefits of blogging for small business? Copyright 2005 UpLevel Strategies Blogging has become quite popular for small businesses as of late. I have noticed on PR Leads that there are several story requests for experts to talk about the benefits of blogging for small businesses. So, I...         12 Ways to Increase Traffic and Sales (for FREE) 1. Clone your advertisements all over the Internet by allowing your visitors to give your online freebies away. Just include your ad somewhere inside them. You could also start an affiliate program and pay people commissions to run your ads. You could also give your affiliates viral marketing tools to use like e-books or articles. 2. Build a professional looking web site even if you have a small budget. You could use free graphics, designs, list servers and other tools offered online. Just go to your search engine or web directory of choice and type in "free (what you want)" and you will usually find it. 3. Test your web site regularly for ordering glitches, bad links, broken graphics, etc. Those types of errors will make your business look unprofessional. If your visitors can't order, navigate to where they want to go or see pictures of your product, they likely won't revisit or order. 4. Test different web site color themes to see which combination will sell your product better. You can also test the size and style of your web site text. For example, red usually signals: stop, anger, excitement, love, sex, fun, etc. Another example, blue usually signals: relaxation, authority, coolness, etc. 5. When you offer a freebie from your site, submit it to freebie sites. They provide target categories which mean targeted traffic. So if you're submitting software, you could submit it to the "free software" section. Just remember, some freebie sites want you to link to their web site before they will list your freebie submission. 6. Create a free e-zine directory. You'll attract a lot of traffic from e-zine publishers and people who want to subscribe to the e-zines. Your listings could include name, subscription instructions, publisher’s name, etc. Of course you could put your own e-zine listing at the top of your directory to get extra exposure. 7. Create an alliance with 3 or 4 web sites. Include each of your ads or banners on the other web sites. You will all share targeted traffic with each other. For example, you would instantly have 3 web sites selling for you without paying them an affiliate income. You would just be giving them ad space on your web site. 8. Persuade e-zine publishers or webmasters to run your ad for free. Just allow them to join your affiliate program and earn commission on the sales. You could also offer them a freebie, such as the product you’re selling for free, an advertisement in your e-zine in return, etc. It also helps to compliment the publishers as well as praising their e-zines. 9. Turn your banner ad into a trivia question. Post the question on the banner and tell readers they can win a prize if they answer the question at your site. People love trivia because it makes them feel smart when they get the right answer. The prize is just an extra incentive for them to click on your banner. 10. Use free advertising as much as possible. Test a wide variety of free advertising options like banner and link exchanges, classifieds, newsgroups, ad swaps, joint venturing, viral marketing, web rings, message boards, trading content, etc. Don't be afraid to try something new. 11. Keep your loyal customers happy because they are your future profits. Give them discounts and free gifts as often as possible. If you are thoughtful and loyal to your customers, most of them will be your customers forever. They will make up about 80% of your business and profits. 12. Use a "P.S." at the end of your ad copy. This is where you either want to repeat a strong benefit or use a strong close, like a free bonus. For example, "P.S. You can get (product), worth over ($), for the low price of ($)!" Another example, "P.S. I can not guarantee the (No.) bonuses will be here tomorrow!" One last comment, educate yourself with new strategies to increase your sales. You could take classes, subscribe to e-zines and magazines, read books or e-books, etc. Internet business and technology move at lightning speed. You need to keep up so you don't get left behind. E.D. Zuck is the owner of Capt EZ's World, (www.captez.com), a unique provider of content, software, and ebooks for your website; as well as 10 Dollar Specials, (www.10dollarspecials.com),where quality software and ebooks are provided on a weekly basis for $10!