AS far as employment options go, the Internet has opened up a host of opportunities for people looking to make money outside their daily nine-to-five jobs. In fact, there have been many online ventures that started off at home and went on to find global success.
Read More...If you think back not even 20 years about home-based businesses, you might envision a low-tech service business such as a daycare or landscaping company. To run a professional business, you needed to be located in commercial office space. Not only did commercial space provide the technical services you needed, but it also provided a professional atmosphere appropriate for meeting with clients.
Read More...“No small business can afford to be without a website anymore, and until
now, owners had to choose between hiring a developer and paying for
constant updates, or using a static ‘one-size-fits-all’ template,” said
Dan Soha, founder of Five Mill Ventures in San Francisco, whose vertical
market strategy is to deliver a new website solution to potentially
millions of small businesses.
“The Power Mom’s 5 Steps for Stay-at-Home Business Success” series offers new guide, “Are you Ready for 21st Century Success?” written by Kim Power Stilson. The guide is as an introduction to solutions for those who need a 21st Century way to work successfully from home.
Read More...To Serve Your Visitors, Use this Checklist of Ten Things to Avoid
The following things tend to turn most people off. Many will leave without trying to see if you have the information they are looking for:
- Video they must watch before they can get to your first page of information
- Flashing backgrounds – these can be really irritating to people trying to read
- Cluttered or messy look – people want information fast; they want it convenient; a cluttered or unorganized site is too much work.
- Lots of little flashing things – they become an irritation and distraction when they keep hitting your peripheral vision
…
You don’t have the resources to invest in a web designer or consultant, so how do you go about optimizing your website on your own? Try the following tips.
1. Keep Content Fresh
Read More...Reasons You Need a Website for Your Small Business
- The Yellow Pages and other printed directories are dying
- Traditional advertising vehicles are disappearing
- Searching is faster and easier on the Internet
- Prospects love customer reviews and product ratings
- A web presence is cost effective, especially a blog
- If you can’t be found, you appear to be out of business
- Online sales are increasing year after year
…
For many people, saving physical documents provides a sense of psychological security. It can be comforting to have tangible proof that you actually own what you think you own or paid what you thought you paid.
Read More...Here are some of the things I learned about the home office deduction while looking into whether it applied to my small business.
First and most importantly, the main requirement for deducting home office expenses is that the office is exclusively and regularly used as your principal place of business or as a location where you meet with customers or patients. The area you use doesn’t have to be a room or a space that is separated by a partition or some other barrier, but it can’t be used for any other purpose but your business.
Read More...
